Hitch and Trixie dashed over from their viewing grounds as the holograms disappeared. Trixie was still cheering like a hyperactive child, while Hitch helped the boy off the ground. Limestone and Pinkie hurried over to their sister, who dusted herself off with a disgruntled look on her face. They opened their mouths and were about to speak, but Limestone was storming over to where her opponent was before the two got a word out. Her sisters nervously followed, and overheard the conversation between Trixie, Hitch, and Mona, as they drew closer.
"That was nuts! How did you even pull that off? I mean I know how you did it: I was there, after all, but like..." Trixie words became jumbled as her ramblings grew longer and faster.
Hitch, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes at Mona as he pulled him up by the arm. "You alright?" he asked.
Mona's eyes were slightly glazed, but through his tired breaths, he said, "Yeah....Yeah I'm fine."
"That card, Machinex," Hitch said abruptly. "Where.... no, how did you get that card?"
Mona turned to look at Hitch, surprised by his sudden question. He didn't respond immediately, only looking down near his feet in exhaustion. "....It's complicated."
"Hey-" Hitch tilted his head. Under the streetlamp in the parking lot, Mona's face was slightly hidden under the shadow of his long dark hair, but Hitch could still see the exhaustion in Mona's eyes. Trixie, on the other hand, was more interested in the approaching party of Pie's, smiling deviously.
"Well?" said Trixie, confidently folding her arms. "Was that performance convincing enough for you?"
Limestone spat some of the dust that had entered her mouth earlier onto the ground in front of Mona. "This duel doesn't prove anything," she said.
Trixie's smug expression immediately changed into one of shock, and Hitch and Mona glanced in curiosity. "What!" Trixie said, tugging on her long, white hair. "He beat you! What more do you want!"
"Limestone...." said Marble, "please, just be reasonable for once...." her voice grew quiet when Limestone gave a silencing look at her.
"I am being reasonable," said Limestone, turning her attention back to Mona. "And all I got from that duel is that your skill's aren't enough."
"Seriously?" Hitch asked, incredulous.
Mona scoffed as he retracted his duel disk. "Enlighten me, please," he said rolling his eyes.
Limestone cracked her knuckles, and pulled her deck out of her duel disk, causing it to retract. "Think about it," she explained, showing her deck to Mona. He glanced down at it, then at Limestone as she continued. "If my Dragite had hit a third rock monster, I would have been able to bounce Divine Zero King Rage, and let your contract do the rest. Not to mention, Gogogo Golem still had an overlay unit. I could detach it, add literally any of the Adamancipator tuners in my Graveyard to my hand, and special summoned Seeker to attack, or even use Researcher's effect to go into my other synchros."
"Seems like an oversight on your part," said Trixie, snickering. Hitch shook his head in mixture of disbelief and confusion. "Wait, so, why didn't you do that?"
"Cause I was being nice," she said, scowling, "and felt bad that you thought that you could win."
Mona was silent as Limestone tore into him. Trixie shifted uncomfortably as Limestone fired off her points like a PowerPoint presentation, until she jumped slightly when Hitch interjected. "That's enough," he said firmly.
"...she's right," said Mona, much to everyone's surprise. Even Limestone raised her head back slightly in confused anticipation. "I knew something was up when you just attacked with your Number and ended your turn with just that."
Limestone smirked. "Great," she said confidently. "Then if we're all done here, I'd like to go home and track down this Tempest Shadow figure, and show her how the Pie's roll. " She turned her back to Mona and began walking away, pushing past her sisters.
"...I'm not strong enough," said Mona, as he felt his eyelids go heavy. "That's why I need you by my side."
Limestone froze in place, and turned around, utterly stunned. "....excuse me?"
Hitch and Trixie watched and Mona, somewhat unsteadily, stumbled towards Limestone. Pinkie and Marble looked at each other, curious.
"I'm not good enough on my own," said Mona, as his eyes began to shimmer and moisten. "I don't want to be stuck like that forever, either. My whole life, I've been trying to get stronger. Be smarter. Just be better, you know?"
Hitch noticed the spite in Limestone fade slightly as Mona continued. "Problem is, through all of it, I couldn't do it. Trust me, I tried. A lot." Mona instinctively rubbed his right arm, and held it close to his chest.
"Is there a point, or are you just gonna give me your entire life story?" Limestone asked. There was less anger in her voice now.
Mona quickly tucked his hands into his pockets and sighed. "All I'm trying to say is that I can't do this on my own. No matter how much I want to, I can only do so much by myself. I need help from someone way stronger. Someone like you," he said, looking up at Limestone. She was silently listening to his words, but her expression betrayed no sign of judgement or anger.
The boy turned back to Hitch and Trixie. "Same for you, guys," he said. The two of them saw the thin flow of water dribbling down his left eye. "I know it's wrong of me to ask you of this. You just met me after all. And it's my fault this all happened in the first place. But," he said, his breaths becoming heavy again, condensing in the cold air. "Will you help me? To get stronger, I mean?"
There was an uneasy silence that filled the air. After a few seconds Mona, seemingly regretting his words, wiped his eyes and looked down at his shoes. "Sorry. That was weird of me. You don't have to say yes, you can just forget about it."
"...Of course we'll help you," said Trixie, taking his hands into her own. Mona's face immediately flushed red, and tried to slowly remove his hands from the death grip she had. "Honestly! You're our friend! All you needed to do was ask!"
"Of course," she added with a coy smirk. "I am a little angry that you didn't think of asking me, the great and Powerful Trrrrixie, for dueling advice first!" She struck a pose as she trilled her name, much to Mona, Hitch, and Limestone's chagrin.
Hitch rolled his eyes. "She's right," he said, tucking his hands into his pockets. "About us helping you, at least. Heck, the whole reason I asked you to join the club was cause I saw you had that spirit in you, trying to get out. A light in the dark, if you will."
Now it was Trixie's turn to roll her eyes. Mona, on the other hand, couldn't help but laugh at the utter corniness of Hitch's words. Hitch was slightly offended, before he himself broke out in laughter. "Guys, I'm serious..." he said through his laughs.
"I'll help you, too!" Pinkie piped up, much to the others' surprise. "I'm gonna do my best to make you get through this with a smile on your face!" She skipped, almost bouncing towards the trio.
"M-Me too!" Marble said, nervously hiding part of her face in her scarf when Limestone glared at her in wild shock. She walked over to Mona, and fidgeted with her mittens. She tried to form the words, but she fumbled over them a few too many times, until she simply said, "....I believe you."
Limestone watched as five pairs of eyes turned to her in anticipation. She gave a heavy sigh and shook her head, muttering, "Unbelievable..."
She finally raised her head, walked over to Mona, and offered her hand. "Fine. I'll help you. For now."
Mona exhaled in releif, and accepted the handshake. "Thank you," he said. "I swear, I'll make it up to you somehow."
"Don't get ahead of yourself. I'm doing this for Maud, not you."
There was an awkward pause after the handshake ended. Pinkie leaned in between the two, curious. She said, "So....are we good now? No problems? We can be friends?"
Mona and Limestone looked at each other simultaneously, then looked back at the pink, restless girl. "Yeah... we're good."
Trixie slapped Limestone on her back in celebration. "Great! Welcome to the club!" She looked up and immediately backed off upon seeing Limestone glaring daggers at her.
Marble took this opportunity to timidly raise her hand. "Um...I have a question: What do we do now?"
A silence fell over the group. Hitch rubbed his chin in thought. After a moment, he snapped his fingers. "I got it. Step one, we find Tempest! Step two, we get her to spill any information she has on how to free Maud!"
".....Gee, thanks Captain Obvious," said Limestone. "The real question we should be asking is HOW we're gonna find Tempest."
This time Mona raised his hand to get everyone's attention. "If I may suggest something," he said, "My sister seems to be interested in collecting 'Number' monsters. I don't know her ulterior motive for wanting such things, but when she saw Maud summon one, she seemed weirdly overjoyed."
" 'Numbers' ?" Limestone's ears perked up. "You mean like mine?"
Mona nodded. "For whatever reason, she is desperate to find them and take them for herself... no matter what." He turned to look at Hitch, who seemed to be ready to speak, but after a bit of thought, he shut his mouth and just nodded.
Limestone took no notice and just scratched her head. "Well, its a start, but where are we gonna find another 'Number' user?"
Pinkie piped up: "Ooh! Ooh! I know another 'Number ' user!"
Hitch's eyes widened. "What?" he said, grabbing onto Pinkie's shoulders. "Who are they? Where are they?"
"My friend, Fluttershy!" said Pinkie, unfazed by Hitch's touch.
Trixie let out a loud groan that seemed to get louder and louder as it went on, much to everyone's surprise. She tugged at her hair as the sound escaped her lips, until she finally grits her teeth and let out an exasperated sigh.
"No...." she moaned. "Anyone but her....."
Hitch folded his arms, both interested and annoyed by her outburst. "Is something the matter ,Trixie?" he asked.
Trixie sheepishly pressed her fingers together, pouting. "I might have....offended Fluttershy a few times...."
Hitch's hand smacked his forehead in utter dismay. At any other point, he would have screamed into his own hands, but by this hour, he was too tired to be bother.
Pinkie giggled and said, "Oh, don't worry about that! If you apologize, I'm sure she'll forgive you! She is very sweet in that sense."
Mona was deep in thought, as if he were trying to recall a very distant memory. Marble and Limestone caught his expression, but only Marble spoke up. "Mona? Is something wrong?"
Mona glanced up at Marble, his trance broken. "Oh..." he stammered. "I was thinking to see if I know anyone who could either help us or possess a 'Number' card."
"....And?" said Limestone impatiently.
"I know this one girl, Twilight Sparkle..." Mona said. "She and I both attend Crystal Prep Dueling School. We take the almost all the same classes together. Very smart girl. Top of almost every class....including dueling." At this point he was half-speaking, half-mumbling to himself, as if he couldn't decide if his thoughts were complete or not.
"You think she's also got a 'Number'?" said Limestone, upon hearing Mona complement this girl's dueling skills.
He nodded, as he stashed away his deck into his deck slot on his belt and shifted his duel disk back. "I've seen her use it perhaps only once or twice, but it's very powerful. I'll talk to Twilight in the morning and warn her about my sister's plans."
"Better if she's willing to join our little crew here. The more, the merrier" added Hitch.
"I'll do my best," said Mona. He untied the hoodie around his waist and slipped it back on, for he had been standing in the cold night air for a while now. "I'll head on home then. I'll see you-" he stopped himself midway. At first, Hitch was confused as to what thought could have interrupted him, until he recalled Tempest's words to Mona earlier in the evening:
"I'm going home, and I don't care if you ever come back."
"....Mona," Hitch blurted out. "If you want, you could stay over at my place."
Mona's eyes immediately lit up and looked at Hitch. "You mean it?" he asked as a small fraction of a smile crept up his face. Hitch nodded in response as he tossed Mona a bike helmet from his duel runner.
"C'mon, we'll head there now," said Hitch, grabbing the keys. "We'll talk to you girls later, okay?"
Trixie's eyes widened, and she ran after Hitch. "Hey, wait up! I left my bike back at the community center!"
Hitch reached into his duel runner's compartment and pulled out another helmet. "Mona, are you coming?" he asked as he fastened his own helmet.
"One second." He walked over to Marble and pulled out his phone. "Could I get your number? We should call each other if something happens."
Marble felt her face grow ever so slightly red, but she nodded and entered her number into his contacts list. "There....you can call me whenever you like, if you want..."
Now Mona's face turned slightly red. He chuckled as he took back his phone, saying, "A-alright...."
Trixie made a mock gagging face as she watched the two interact, and Limestone nearly legitimately gagged. Mona joined Hitch and Trixie, somehow managing to fit his surprisingly small frame with Hitch and Trixie's on the vehicle. Limestone watched as Mona gave a small wave as the three of them rolled out into the street. She looked over her shoulder to see Marble mimicking the small wave, holding her phone close to her chest.
"Oy. Marble," said Limestone. "Don't get any funny ideas with that Mona fellow. We don't want another Daystar incident, okay?"
Marble seemed to stiffen at the mention of that name. Pinkie patted her sister on the back, smiling as she attempted to comfort her. "C'mon, Limestone. That was a long time ago! Just let her be."
"It wasn't that long ago," said Limestone, but Pinkie wasn't listening. She and Marble were already discussing their plans for the next day and walking towards a bright pink duel runner. As she fastened her helmet, she looked over at her sisters. Marble was already sitting in the back seat, staring at the new number on her phone. Limestone had made her way to the car a few stalls down, and scoffed as she unlocked the door. Pinkie revved the bike, as Marble held onto her sister, and Pinkie swore she could hear Marble mumbling.
"Mona...can you really help us save Maud?"
_________________________________________________
Trixie was completely exhausted by the time Hitch drove her back to the community center. She almost stumbled out of the duel runner when they arrived, much to Hitch's and Mona's worry. A sigh of slight relief escaped her lips when she saw her bike still parked next to the community center's wall.
"Thanks, guys..." said Trixie, rubbing her eyes. "'I'll call you later, alright?"
Hitch could only nod at this point. Mona was already drifting off to sleep, but he groggily waved his friend goodbye as he and Hitch pulled out into the street, and rode off into the night city.
Trixie's own bike ride back to her trailer was quiet, save for the occasional passing car or cawing night bird. Her unsteady thoughts translated into her pedaling, and a few times she found herself trembling not from the cold night air, but rather, some strange emotion resting in her heart. It was the same sensation one felt when jumping off a high dive, or if you were riding on a rollercoaster that was just beginning it's first descent. The feeling distracted her so badly that she nearly crashed into the side of her own trailer had she not looked up in time. She squeezed the breaks and swerved, half-falling off her bike, and half-stumbling onto the ground.
The light from inside the trailer had been left on, giving off a warm, yellow glow. Trixie sluggishly locked her bike to the stair rails, fumbled with her keys, and slammed the door. The lock clicked into place, and she found herself faceplanting right into her mattress. Her head spun with hundreds of thoughts, the memories of today clouding her every sense.
"Maud...."
Sleep eluded her, and she restlessly tossed and turned around in her mattress, trying to let her exhaustion take over her body. Her heart seemed to have other plans, and it ached every time her thoughts inevitably drifted back to Maud.
She opened her eyes, and glanced at her deck sitting on her desk. Scrolling through her cards, she went through each and every one, as she had a hundred times before.
She had to win. She had to beat Tempest.
Trixie opened her binder full of cards, and spread her deck out like a fan, removing and adding cards as she went along. Another hour passed, before she finally was satisfied with the upgrades. As she went to put her binder back on the shelf, a small plastic object caught her eye.
"What the..." She bent down to pick it up. It was a card pack, seemingly dusty and forgotten under her table for a long time. The pack read "Photon Hypernova", and had the image of a crimson dragon on the front. Slowly she tore open the pack, examined the contents.
Her eyes widened. "No way...."
She slowly picked up one of the cards, making sure that it wasn't her eyes playing tricks on her. The cards was very real, and she stared at them in awe.
"Bystial...."