Series: Hole In Your Heart||Story: Divergences
Characters: Shou||Pairs: Juudai x Johan, Juudai x Yubel, Yubel x Juudai x Johan, Shou x Black Magician Girl, O'Brien x Sea God's Priestess
Word Count: 6,113/60,000||Chapters: 1/10||Stories: 1/10
Genre: Drama, Angst||Rated: PG-13
Challenge: Diversity Writing: Hole In Your Heart: L19: 5+ fics; One Friendship Boot Camp, Juudai & Shou, #39, order; Christmas Advent, day #17, write a fic set in the same universe as another fic written for this advent; Valentine's Day to White Day 2016-2017, day #23, everything turns out all right in the end
Notes: This series is a complete rewrite of seasons three and four of Yu-Gi-Oh GX, from the beginning to the end. I am going to do my best to have the timeline make sense and will also include Dark World politics and Duel Spirits doing more than just dueling. Also, the main part of the chapter and story itself (i.e., when the transfer students arrive) takes place on Wednesday, October 11, 2006.
Summary: What Shou expected out of his third year at Duel Academia: duels, meeting new people, maybe finding out what's going on with his brother, and preparing for graduation. What he didn't expect: all of that, plus everything else that actually happened, from a Duel Spirit from Juudai's past to finding himself enslaved to his best friend.


Return to sender, stamped clear across the envelope in bold tones. Shou tried not to look at it very often, but no matter how much he wanted not to, his eyes remained drawn to it.

What is wrong? He knew that his brother had chosen a different path of dueling, no matter how much that knowledge hurt him. But he hadn't ever cut off communication this cleanly. He'd at least answered e-mails and taken phone calls, even if they'd never been very long ones.

But in the last couple of weeks, that was exactly what had happened. Letters were returned unopened, phone calls and voicemail remained unanswered, and e-mail may as well have not even been sent.

Something wasn't right and Shou not only had no idea of what it was, but no idea of how to fix it. He didn't even have any idea on if it could be fixed or if he were the one who could do it.

He rubbed his forehead with his sleeve and let out a long, weary sigh. He'd tried. He'd been trying for so long and it just didn't seem to do any good.

Am I supposed to just let him go? That didn't feel right. But he still couldn't guess at what he should do.

His lips thinned a little. As much as he disliked it, there was only one real thing he thought he could do about it: ask aniki for some advice. The only problem with that was that he would have to wait until he got back to school to do it.

Shou glanced at the clock ticking away the time softly in one corner of his room. At least he wouldn't have to wait very long for that. Their third year officially began in just a couple of days and he would be returning to school in the morning anyway.

All of his bags rested against one wall of his room, ready to go. He felt reasonably certain he'd remembered everything this time around. Not like his first year, when he'd had to send word to his parents to send him his two spare spectacles.

He ran his finger over the set he had on now. Brand-new; he'd just picked them up today, absolutely flawless and with an updated prescription as well. There were not many people, he felt, who understood the glory of a new pair of glasses to someone who lived their life looking at the world through them.

Something else tugged rapturously at his soul and he had to go over to his luggage and take a peek, just to make certain it really was there and not a figment of his imagination. But there it was: an Obelisk Blue uniform, tailored to his size.

I did it. I really did it. He pulled the letter that had come with it out of the bag as well, reading it over for what felt like the thousandth time. Due to his grades and his determination, he'd been promoted to the coveted blue dorm. The letter held his new room assignment and a small map to some of the perks of being a third year Blue that the lesser years weren't aware of.

The room assignment made him want to laugh, but it wasn't a very amused sound. He'd been in that room before, only once or twice to be sure, but he'd been there all the same. He didn't know if it had belonged to anyone in his second year, but in his first? This room had belonged to his brother.

I wish I could tell him. That was just one of the things he wanted to talk to Ryou about. Even after everything that had happened just a few months earlier, he thought his brother would be at least a tiny bit proud of him, now that he'd made it into Obelisk Blue.

Well, he'd find a way to let Ryou know, somehow. Maybe Fubuki-san had better luck keeping in touch with him. That was someone else he could talk to about this once he was back at the school.

A yawn caught him by surprise and he glanced again at the clock. Later than I thought it was. Time to get some sleep, then, and wake up on the final leg of his journey through school. On the other side of this year lay (hopefully) the Pro Leagues and whatever else came after graduation. Shou tried not to think about this a whole lot. The closer he got to it, the more jittery he became. It was like knowing there was a test that he hadn't studied for and couldn't study for coming up.

I'll make it. No matter what happens, I'm going to make it.


Juudai rolled over, cracked one eye long enough to look at the clock, then rolled back over, put his head under his pillow, and tried to get back to sleep. It was too early to wake up! Why was his body trying to tell him to wake up?

Try as he might, though, he couldn't get his eyes to properly close. That wasn't usual for him. More often than not, all he had to do was close his eyes and lay still for a few minutes, ten at the most, and he was off happily into the land of dreams. But now, with the alarm bell ringing safely an hour and a half away, he couldn't get himself to stay asleep at all.

He blew out a breath of air and scowled. This wasn't how he wanted to start off this year. He never wanted to start off anything in a bad mood, but if he didn't get his ten hours of sleep, he'd be in a bad mood.

He threw himself around one more time and glared at the clock as if he expected it to have changed the reading in the few minutes he'd ignored it. It had: but only by those few minutes. He glared at it again.

"Just great," he muttered, reaching for the pillow again. Did he have to be in class to properly drop off? Not like it would be the first time if it was. He kind of thought maybe he should try to get some better study habits, maybe even think about doing his assignments when they were given out and not thirty minutes to two hours before they were due.

Oh, who was he kidding? It wasn't as if he needed to do the paperwork anyway. The real meat of dueling was always in the duels themselves and he aced those without even trying.

He wriggled around in an attempt to get comfortable. What had woken up him, anyway? He thought it had been something and not just a random cracking of his eyes. He hadn't really paid much attention to it until he just couldn't get back to sleep. Had one of his spirits called him? That seemed the most likely.

But when he bent his ears toward his deck, there was nothing at all there, just that soft awareness that his spirits were there in the first place. He'd never asked if they slept. Maybe he'd check with Hane Kuriboh once the sun was actually up and see if anything had happened that he should know about.

When his eyes just wouldn't close again properly, he gave it up as a bad job and stared at the ceiling in thought. It still kind of felt as if a spirit of some kind had been trying to get his attention while he slept.

Maybe it was a dream? Wouldn't be the first time. He vaguely recalled having dreamed a lot about spirits talking to him when he was very little. At least he thought they were dreams. Now that he could talk to spirits, he couldn't be really sure anymore.

What if I could, back then? He'd thought it had happened. What was to say that it hadn't?

Well, if it had, then what about it? He didn't have any of the cards that he'd had back then left.

What happened to them? He frowned. It wasn't like him to lose track of his cards, but the more he thought about it, the more he couldn't remember. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more it hurt to even think about it.

He winced, rubbing his forehead, and tried to jam his eyes shut in hopes of sleep, no matter how thin they were. This was part of why he never tried to think too much about being a kid. It hurt.

He'd never told this to his parents. He didn't think they'd understand. They weren't bad people by any means. Juudai loved them deeply. But they didn't understand spirits and they really didn't understand what it was like to communicate with them. They hadn't even realized how wonderful it was that he had Hane Kuriboh, given to him by Mutou Yuugi himself!

That was something that even he had problems getting his head wrapped around on occasion. Some days he would just stare at the card for hours, wondering how he'd had good luck like that. If the train just hadn't been late that day, then...well...he wouldn't have his partner. He wouldn't have won a lot of his duels, including the one that got him into the school in the first place.

As if called by his thoughts, Hane Kuriboh whiffed into existence in front of him, sending out a curious noise. Juudai knew at once that his partner wanted to know if something was the matter.

"Not really, buddy," he murmured, wiggling a little more and rubbing his head. "I think I had a dream or something and it woke me up." He frowned a little. "There aren't any stray spirits hanging around the place, are there?" It wouldn't be the first time Hane Kuriboh had warned him of such and he doubted it would be the last.

The flying fuzzball whirred softly under its breath and bobbed up and down and side to side before shaking itself all over in a clear negative. No spirits in the area, at least not ones that they didn't already know about.

Juudai yawned deeply and curled himself up under his blankets in firm resolution to get what sleep he could. "Thanks, partner. We're heading back to Duel Academia tomorrow, you know. Better get some shut-eye while you can."

Hane Kuriboh whirred at him, suggesting that he do the same, and Juudai grinned. "Just what I had in mind."

He didn't bother waiting to see if his partner vanished, but closed his eyes tightly and much sooner than he would've thought, faded off to sleep.


Hane Kuriboh watched as the tension in Juudai's shoulders faded away and he began to snore. A soft laugh shook the fuzzy flier and he nudged his partner just a little, more from affection than anything else.

Neos appeared next to him, looking down at Juudai with much the same expression in his eyes. "Something is going to happen this year," the Elemental Hero murmured. "Something very dangerous."

None of the warriors in Juudai's deck held any power to foresee the future. But there was something in the air all the same, something they were all worried about. They'd sealed up the Light of Ruin, at least in that manifestation, but their mortal enemy had a thousand tendrils, a million ways to revive itself, and it could return in any number of guises.

That they hadn't yet told Juudai. They needed to. He of all people needed to be aware that the fight wasn't over, would never be over.

But he was still a child in so many ways. If he knew that the battle against the Light could never be completely won, none of them could guess how he'd react.

Hane Kuriboh nudged against Neos, giving a warning little trill. Neos nodded in agreement. "It could be. I don't know for certain."

Something had changed in Juudai between the time he'd created the Neo-Spacian cards and the time he'd found them in Neo-Space itself. Neos couldn't guess at what it was, but he had a few thoughts on the matter. The fact Juudai had scarcely even remembered creating them in the first place before being nudged to it told him a few things. Not enough by any means, but just enough so that they all kept a careful watch on what was going on around Juudai. So far nothing had happened that they couldn't handle. That didn't mean the future would stay so neatly intact.

But they would all do what they could to help Juudai. That was what he'd created them for, after all. They'd burned away the Light's influence on him and restored the fire of his duelist's soul when it bid fair to flicker and die completely. So long as he had that, then they could handle anything.


Johan couldn't stay asleep. He bounced up half a dozen times staring at the clock and wishing it would move that much faster. How could anyone sleep, really, when they were so close to the biggest and best part of the year?

"Johan, go to sleep," Amethyst Cat said, almost before she finished appearing in front of him. "If you're not careful, you'll miss the boat."

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" He waved her concern away, staring out the window in hopes of seeing just a little bit of sunshine, a thin line that would tell him dawn had finally arrived.

He wasn't scheduled to get on the boat until the afternoon, but Johan believed in getting a good start. Given that he'd gotten lost in his own hometown several times over the years, he liked to plan ahead and give himself as much extra time as he possibly could.

Amethyst gave him one of those looks, the ones that only a mother or an elder sister could manage. "Johan." She was clearly not taking no for an answer.

He pouted a little and threw himself back down on the bed. "I can't sleep. I'm too excited. We're going to Duel Academia!" He vibrated just at the thought of it.

"I know. You've been telling us that ever since you were chosen," the pale violet cat reminded him, hints of amusement in her tone. "None of us have forgotten."

"This is just so incredible. Everything happens there. I mean, everything!" He'd read all the reports that had been sent out concerning events there. Not everyone got those, but the four champions of the sibling schools got more than just a free pass into Obelisk Blue. They were supposed to know everything that had happened, just in case anything else turned up this year.

Everyone sort of knew that it would. Why would this year be any different from the others? No one could guess at what it was, though. Johan could hardly wait, since whatever it was, he'd be a part of it. He'd be there to see it for himself instead of reading it in dry, boring text that never seemed to completely catch the adventure of what was really going on. How could there not be adventure with someone like Yuuki Juudai being there?

Johan shivered all over just thinking Juudai's name. He'd never met his fellow third year in person – at least not yet – but he'd heard a lot about him, mostly from Pegasus J. Crawford. He's supposed to be able to see duel spirits too. That alone would've given Johan enough reason to want to meet the guy. The fact Juudai was probably the best student that any branch of Duel Academia had seen since...since… since the Kaiser just added an extra something.

Oh, how Johan wanted to duel him. He'd heard so much about Juudai's wonderful Elemental Hero deck and his strategy and tactics that if he actually did duel him, Johan almost feared that he'd be too busy squealing to actually fight back.

A soft paw, little more than a thought but there all the same, brushed against his knee. "Johan," Amethyst Cat murmured. "You really need your sleep."

He wanted to tell her that he could survive just fine on thoughts of dueling and thoughts of such a wonderful duelist. He opened his mouth to do just that, only for a yawn to catch him before the first word made it out of his mouth.

"Maybe you're right," he said instead. Besides, how would it look if he actually met Juudai and dozed off before he could give him a proper greeting? Juudai would never want to duel someone who couldn't even stay awake in front of him.

"Of course I am." Amethyst Cat chuckled and nudged her head against his side. He reached down to rub her ears gently. He couldn't really touch her, but he could almost feel the warmth of fur if he closed his eyes and didn't think about it that much.

He didn't know what he'd do without his family by his side. Despite only having them for a year and a half, more or less, Johan couldn't even begin to imagine what it was like without them anymore. He didn't want to, either. Even when they hadn't known each other, they'd been out there, waiting for him.

They were the only family he could ever remember having. No matter how far back he searched his memories there hadn't been anyone else. Just a distant guardian whose name he couldn't even remember most of the time and occasional people who did the basics of taking care of him, such as making food and keeping an apartment for him to live in when he wasn't in school.

What other kind of family do I need? he thought as a drowsy stillness stole over his thoughts. They're the best. He'd put them up against any stuffy batch of aunts and uncles and cousins and brothers and sisters any day of the week. He didn't need anyone but them.

Well, maybe one more. Just one more, to complete the family and make them whole. It would probably still take a while to find Rainbow Dragon. But when they did, then they really would be a complete family, and Johan looked forward to that day with all of his heart.


The first day back at Duel Academia dawned bright, clear, and shining. Not a cloud touched the sky. Everything seemed bent toward providing good omens for the beginning of this year.

Juudai wasn't much for omens himself, except where they pertained to dueling. He didn't put a single thought to having woken up in the night, vaguely thinking that he'd heard a spirit's voice calling to him. Hane Kuriboh had said there wasn't anything there, so he didn't worry about it. He had so much else to think about, like if there were going to be any new students who could give him a challenge.

He'd rather liked Edo's challenge the year before, even if it had ended up with him unable to see his spirits for what had felt like forever. Still, he'd gotten the Neo-Spacians out of it and he'd been able to save the world, so it wasn't as if it had been a bad thing in the long run. If he could have fun and improve his deck and get to know new spirits, Juudai tended to believe anything had worked out for the best.

Eyes closed, he lounged on the roof of the main building of the school, drifting in between being asleep and awake.

Juudai...my beloved Juudai...

The words slipped through his mind and he opened his eyes, confused. Had he heard them at all? Or had he dipped down into sleep and dreamed again?

He lifted his head and looked around. Almost at once he decided it was a dream, because what else could he think when he saw himself on a pile of bright yellow sand that stretched out for miles?

Pulling himself up, he saw something in the distance, almost invisible as the wind of his dreams tossed sand all around. He thought he recognized the shape of it and started to stumble forward, wanting to know if he were right.

Just visible through the sand rose a building he knew all too well: Duel Academia itself. Juudai shook his head, trying to figure out what was going on, only to catch sight of something else. The wind died down, revealing the shape of half a dozen or more of his friends, carved or built out of sand. Most of them he recognized, Shou, Kenzan, Manjoume, Fubuki-san, Asuka, Chronos-sensei, and a few others. Some of them he didn't, but a prickle at the back of his mind said that he should.

One of them tugged at his attention, one of those that he didn't completely recognize. He had time only to give it a bit of a glance before the wind picked up, wiping away the statues until nothing at all was left of them. He couldn't even get a good enough look to have an idea of what that one should've been like!

Then a familiar trill broke through the rising wind and his eyes flashed open to reveal the familiar sight of the ocean stretching before him and the roof of Duel Academia around him. Hane Kuriboh appeared, bumping against his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm all right," Juudai murmured, rubbing the back of his head. "That was some weird dream, though."

Hane Kuriboh trilled again, but in a different tone this time. Juudai looked over to where his partner's attention seemed focused and blinked at what he saw there. Small, sort of reddish, with a gleaming stone set in its tail, the first thing that came to mind was a squirrel.

Then someone else stepped around the corner, and Juudai couldn't think of anything else but don't I know you?


Yubel writhed and squirmed, hissing words that no one could hear or would have understood if they did. The old tongue of Kuragari hadn't been heard here for eons. Perhaps dear Juudai could've understood it, even if he didn't know why. But regardless, he did not hear the words and Yubel did not mean for him to hear for some time.

Yubel could feel him, so close, glimmering with power even now. Not as much as he should have, but something had clearly touched him enough to awaken it. Part of Yubel wished to thank it; if it weren't for that, then he might not have sensed how close they were to one another. Even if he didn't know that was what happened.

But another part of Yubel wished to find whatever it was that forced his power to awaken while he was on his own and destroy it utterly. How dare any being threaten Juudai? Yubel's very existence revolved around making certain that didn't happen.

Whatever it was, however, he'd clearly overcome it. Yubel was once again torn in two on how to feel about that. He'd become stronger, but he shouldn't have had to.

Regardless. Yubel was here now, and Yubel would make certain this never, ever had to happen again.

Only a few obstacles existed that would need to be swept out of the way. Then they would be together forever, as had been ordained since the moment he'd sworn his oath on the rock by the sea, and when Yubel pledged the same in the honeysuckle-scented garden.

And if anyone dared to get in between them, then Yubel would see to it that they learned how foolish they were.


Shou knew that Juudai had to be around there somewhere. He hadn't seen him since they arrived back on the island, but where else would Juudai be?

Kenzan lumbered alongside of him, as eager to find their mutual brother as Shou was. Seeing Juudai for the first time was the high part of both of their days. Shou kind of felt a little sorry for the younger student; he only had one more year to spend here with Juudai, whereas he and Juudai would both graduate together. Kenzan would spend his last year all by himself.

Oh, well, it wasn't as if they'd all vanish into thin air. E-mail existed, as did phone calls. They'd keep in touch.

That brought around another thought about his other brother. So far, no one he'd talked to who knew Ryou had heard from him at all in the last couple of weeks.

Fubuki-san said he hasn't answered his phone, and Asuka-san said that her letters came back unopened too. What's wrong with him?

He really wished that Ryou had had more friends while attending Duel Academia. Maybe then he would be able to find someone who could get in touch with him.

Shou mounted the last of the steps and poked his head over the side to see Juudai standing at the top of the building, holding someone's hand. Shou blinked a few times. He didn't recognize who this guy was; was he a freshman? His outfit was in shades of blue, but it wasn't the uniform for Obelisk Blue any any means.

A spark of something very like jealousy flared at the sight of their hands touching. Who was this person that Juudai was so close to already? What were they even doing up here?

"Aniki!" Shou found his voice and glared at Juudai. "So here you are. We've been looking for you."

"Oh, hey, Shou!" Juudai waved with his free hand, glancing away from the stranger. "What is it?"

Kenzan gave only a brief look at the boy in blue before looking toward Juudai himself. "It's almost time for the welcome back ceremony. You don't want to miss it, do you?"

"Huh?" Juudai blinked, his eyes widening. "I forgot all about that!" He dropped the stranger's hand and started away, then looked back. "Guess I'll see you there?"

"Sure!" The other's Japanese had a slight accent to it, one that Shou couldn't identify off the top of his head. That wasn't too surprising; while Duel Academia didn't get many foreign students, there were a few who did turn up, such as Edo Phoenix. He was probably one of them.

Juudai grinned, waved, calling for Hane Kuriboh to come along with him. Shou wondered at times what it would be like to be able to see Duel Spirits. Sometimes it seemed that Juudai had a richer dueling life than he did, being able to talk to the spirits of his deck.

Then he recalled how Manjoume could do the same thing, and they drove him nearly mad with everything they did, and he decided he didn't really want to do that after all. Some chances he didn't want to take.

"So who was that?" Kenzan asked as the three of them got to the bottom of the ladder and started for the main part of the building where the assembly would be held. "Some freshman?"

"Yeah, he said something like that," Juudai said, his eyes tracking something else for a few moments before he turned to look at them. "I didn't get his name, though." He rubbed the back of his head again. "Probably should've done that."

"Is he an Obelisk Blue?" Shou wondered. "Why isn't he wearing the uniform?"

Juudai gave a somewhat careless shrug. "Didn't ask that, either. It was weird, though. I kind of feel like I should know him. Don't know why, but it felt like we'd met before, somewhere. He thought so too."

The small spark of jealousy buried deep in Shou's heart flickered and twisted in the wind of Juudai's words. He'd never felt anything like that between Juudai. Juudai hadn't even liked the idea that they might've known each other before!

He kept his mouth shut, though. This was just some freshman. This guy didn't have the years of knowing Juudai that he did, even if they thought they knew each other. Juudai probably wouldn't even see him again, since the different years didn't take classes together.


Johan Andersen. Shou's hands tightened into fists. Someone who had a special deck, one given to him by Pegasus J. Crawford himself. Someone who could see spirits, just like Juudai did. Someone who dueled on an entirely different level, just like Juudai.

In all of his life, Shou hadn't ever wanted to hate someone as much as he wanted to hate Johan Andersen. He watched the newcomer duel Juudai, every move made with a kind of skill that so few people could ever dream of possessing.

My big brother would want to duel him. Hell Kaiser wanted to duel people of overwhelming strength and that was what Johan had.

Most of what everyone else was talking about Shou ignored in favor of watching the two of them duke it out against one another. Every move one made, the other countered or absorbed somehow, finding an extra flair of joy in fighting someone who could stand against them like this.

Shou's breath caught in his throat when Johan began to summon Rainbow Dragon. He'd only heard of the great ace of the Gem Beast deck in that moment, but his duelist's heart burned to see such a wonderful creature for himself.

And then… nothing. Johan laughed, taking his defeat as if it were little more than a minor setback, and explained that Rainbow Dragon didn't even actually exist yet.

He… he... There wasn't a single word Shou could think of to continue the sentence, even to himself. Johan was too much like Juudai in so many ways, but he wasn't Juudai, all at the same time.

Shou found himself walking along the beach, his attention focused on the lapping of the waves and the movements of his shoes through them. A thousand thoughts skittered and whooshed through his mind, most of them surrounding Juudai and Johan.

What if aniki likes Johan more than me? He'd gone through that with Kenzan once already, with the only difference being that as far as he could tell, Juudai hadn't really favored one of them over the other. He hadn't thought about it that much the year before, but now when he looked back, he could see it.

But what if it were different now? What if his big brother really did care about Johan more than him or Kenzan? How could he? They'd both gone through so much for him and with him, and this new guy thought he could just waltz in and take it all away with his flashy deck and his talking to spirits and -

Shou found his fists clenching again and stomped one foot hard on the sand. "No. I won't let him do that. Aniki is my aniki." He'd learned from his time spent around Kenzan. He wasn't going to let this slip away without a fight. He never had and he never would.

But those two little words still kept slipping and sliding into his mind. What if? No matter how hard he fought, if aniki didn't want to be his friend anymore, then how to keep him? Should he keep him?

This was the kind of thing he wanted to talk to his big brother about, but Ryou just wasn't there to do it.

Shou let out a long breath of air. It was only the first day, and already things looked darker.


A dark heart? Could that be true, so soon? And such a dark heart, one that thumped and called and Yubel wanted to dig into that heart and find out what made it the way that it was, find out if the owner of the heart could be of use in their tentatively laid out plans.

Cobra was a good tool. Yubel would not discard such a good tool before his time had come, and he'd barely begun to be of proper service. Already the energy taken from Juudai and Johan glowed deep within. Not enough yet to begin to pull the scattered pieces of Yubel's body together, but enough so that the darkness of the hearts on this island could be noticed in more detail.

And such dark hearts. That one alone thrilled Yubel, though exactly what made it dark would require some effort to uncovered.

It wasn't the only one, though. Here and there others glowed with sullen fires, just waiting for the right moment to sink into the deepest depths. Yubel was very good at finding those depths and using them towards Yubel's own ends.

Yubel couldn't count them all just yet. There was only a vague awareness that others besides Cobra's existed. Yubel thought there were at least three of them, but those were the ones that existed in the deepest depths so far. More energy would be required to get more details.

But Yubel knew that energy would come. If not from Juudai and Johan, then from others. The power generated by dueling rang close to that of Yubel's own. Only that power could be used for Yubel's purposes.

How sweet it was that Juudai still dueled, that whatever had happened during their separation hadn't taken that from him. There had been a chance, Yubel knew, that his interests would shift or that something would just happen. Not a very large one, but a chance all the same, and if it had happened, then Yubel didn't know what might've fallen out.

But he did duel and Yubel knew of his deck, for Cobra had researched it and watched him duel, and what Cobra saw, Yubel saw, and even more than that. His deck wasn't what he'd used when last they'd known one another, but Yubel could adapt. It would be some time before they faced one another anyway, and Yubel would use that time to learn his new strategies and his new tricks.

Something else teased at the edge of Yubel's awareness, though, and while being near Juudai was a strong comfort, this was something else altogether. Not a dark heart, but something else. Something that Yubel would've defined as light if Light itself didn't infuse every ounce of Yubel's being.

Yet that was the only word that seemed fitting. Not like the Light whose power suffused Yubel, but something akin to Juudai's own. Something that Yubel didn't like at all.

And it was far too near Juudai as well. It seemed connected to that boy that he'd dueled earlier. Yubel could do nothing but watch for now, and when the time came, that strange light would be extinguished, once and for all.


Neos appeared in the ether between worlds, arms folded over his muscular armored chest. The other Neo-Spacians and Elemental Heroes weren't there, but he didn't need them to be, not for this.

He waited, silent and patient as the stars. Then, between one breath and the next, they appeared. Seven creatures, each with a different gemstone on some part of them, all of whom looked directly at him.

"Gem Beasts," he said with a slight tilt of his head. They'd fought one another only a few hours earlier, but this concerned something else altogether.

"Neos," Sapphire Pegasus replied, bending his own head. "A pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise." With the courtesies taken care of, Neos looked from one of them to the other. "Your duelist is very strong. Quite nearly as much as Juudai."

Amber Mammoth chuckled low and deep. "We know. We're very proud of Johan."

"Is that all you wanted to say?" Amethyst Cat wondered, her tail lashing. Neos shook his head and got down to business.

"I've sensed a strange new kind of power here. It's only recently arrived, but it reminds me of Juudai and his power. But tainted, twisted somehow."

The Gem Beasts looked at one another, then back at him. "Have you told this to Juudai?" Topaz Tiger wanted to know. Again Neos shook his head.

"Juudai isn't ready to know the full extent of who and what he is. We told him a little last year, when the servants of the Light roamed here, but I think he's tried to forget he ever heard it." Neos lowered his head. "Juudai is still very much a child, despite all that he's seen and done since arriving here."

Ruby Carbuncle let out a low trill of concern. Like any Duel Spirit, Neos could understand the small creature.

"I can't say how dangerous this could get. If this is who I think it is, and I fear it might be, then Juudai will be in deep danger." Even without a mouth, he frowned. "We all will be, human and spirit alike."

To Be Continued

Note: No clue on when this will be updated. But I will, in due time. While the series itself will roughly follow the general storyline, I will attempt to have it make more sense timeline wise and plot wise.