A/N: How long this will go on is hard to say. I'm simply writing short vignettes on a character by character basis, mostly depending on what comes to mind and who interests me to write about (although, knowing me, you know who is probably going to pop up more often than not.) There's no real plan, no grand, epic, story to tell. It's simply the GX kids, living their lives while things drastically change around them. The size of the time jump between GX and 5Ds is mostly my own speculation, given that canon has yet to give us any answers on that front and could very well be jossed eventually. I'm personally going off of the common speculation that the 2021 that appears in the 5Ds opening is the year simply because it's as good as any theory and works for my purposes.
This particular part also contains vagueish spoilers for episode 18 of 5Ds, although I suppose they're not easily recognizable as such.
Judai hasn't been in Domino (Neo Domino, although it still feels strange to think of it that way) for years now. Things have changed so much, unnervingly so in some ways, that he doesn't feel like he could ever be comfortable there again.
There are still people he keeps in touch with, though, and when Sho sends him the news story about the young girl who claimed to have visited a world of Duel Monsters Judai decides that maybe a visit is long overdue. And, as hard as it probably is for Sho, Judai is thankful that his old friend doesn't live quite in the high-gloss heart of the city, not quite sure if he could handle it for any amount of time.
They meet for drinks in a grubby little bar and after all the obligatory, "How have you been"s and "It's been a long time"s (with a sidebar about Kaiser which results in a slight smile from Sho and a softly murmured, "No one calls him that anymore but you, you know.") Judai gets to the point: the girl, and her claims of seeing the Duel Monsters' world.
"It's strange," Judai says simply, fiddling with his glass, "I know there are others besides myself, and Johan and Manjoume, of course. But seeing it in the news like this…."
"So you believe it then," Sho replies with a slight nod, not that he expected anything else. Not from Judai.
"She's three, she wouldn't think to lie."
"Yes, but she's three. She could have dreamed it and wouldn't know the difference. Not that it matters." Sho pausing to take a sip of the drink in front of him before continuing, "I just thought you'd want to know. You and…." He doesn't finish, doesn't say Yubel's name out loud, but Judai nods all the same.
"We appreciate it."
The conversation turns back to more light, frivolous, things after that. Judai describing some of the places he's gone and the people he's met, Sho idly bringing up the various leagues and the Next Big Thing in dueling ("Have you seen any of those Riding Duels yet? I swear, if that actually catches on it's going to change the face of the game forever,") and Judai is nostalgically reminded of those early days at Duel Academia. Idyllic times that seem like a lifetime ago, when both he and Sho were just that much more carefree, before they were dragged to hell and back through mad quests to save the world.
At the end of the night, when they each stand poised on the curb, ready to once again move on in their separate directions, Judai hesitates for a moment, squinting towards the halo of lights that mark the heart of Neo Domino proper where the new KaibaCorp building looms over it all.
"It's been too quiet for too long," Judai says after a moment, drawing a vague hum of interest from Sho. "After three years straight of madness all this silence is just…." He shakes his head, as if to clear it and for a split second Sho is positive that he can see something flicker across Judai's eyes. Maybe Yubel, maybe the Supreme King, given the surrounding darkness it's hard to say. "Something's building. I swear, I can feel it, like an ache in the back of my skull and soon enough something huge is going to go down. Not tomorrow, of course. Hell, maybe not even a year or two from now. But it will happen, Sho. I can feel it."
There is nothing, absolutely nothing, Sho can say in response to that. Because he knows that Judai is more than likely right.