A/N: Hey guys! Pororing here with a GX fanfic for you! I doubt I'd have a lot of duels in this one (or any at all) but that will be justified. I will try my best to have this story as close to canon as possible, with OCs that are NOT Mary Sues and won't hog the spotlight. Even though I finished GX including Season 4, I only followed it with the dub, not the subs (I was like 10 by the time I had an urge to watch the series again, and I DID watch it eventually in subs thanks to S4) so I had to be very careful with myself in this one since the dub sort of butchered the canon plot, ha ha. Please point out any errors in canon in the reviews. Hope you guys enjoy!

Back to Basics

"Yuki Judai…how long was it since we last once met?"

From the looming shadows, emerged a tall and foreboding dragon with its bat-like wings outstretched, a pair of long, white horns, and a body of shining, black scales. Its golden eyes stared at the boy menacingly, striking the unusual sense of fear into the boy. "You look frightened." The dragon sneered. "I don't think you remember me at all."

"You…but how…?" Judai rasped.

"An idiotic boy like is unfit to bear the title of Herald of Darkness." The dragon growled, ignoring Judai's question. "It's best for you to die, don't you think? You already done so much for both the humans and the Duel Spirits, it's best for you to rest…"

The dragon stretched out his black wings, while unleashing a fearsome roar that not only shook the earth but cracked it too, unleashing tongues of flames that circled around the duo, while the dragon continued to laugh uproariously like a madman as the flames grew, until it became tall enough to block out the dragon. The only thing that carried through the flames was the dragon's last sentence, which was, "Die Yuki Judai! Perish in these flames! Die knowing that you failed! Die knowing that it is YOUR fault that the world will be DOOMED!"

Immediately, Judai jolted from his slumber, with a look of horror frozen on his face. For awhile, the world around him blurred and he heard a flurry of noises, with the dragon's last words remaining ever loud in his head continuously mocking and haunting him like a ghost. He blinked, and then the voice ceased. The only thing he heard was the loud blare of a horn. After a few moments, Judai remembered why exactly he was here…the night before, he had snuck into a ship bound to Japan while its men were too busy cursing each other out and loading baggage and merely rested in the lazaret. A stream of light snuck through the dark, cluttered room, indicating a person was near. Swiftly, Judai hid himself behind one of the crates.

In all honesty, Judai had no reason to return to Japan. He had done his job in defending the world from Darkness, and now there was nothing left to do but to put his powers to good use by traveling the world. Other than the fiasco with that odd man named Paradox who wanted to destroy the timeline, there was a long and awkward period of peace. Yet then there was a strange phenomenon concerning the Duel Monsters cards – they were slowly fading away, leaving nothing more than blank, white spaces where the cards used to be. It wasn't like the work of a madman such as Paradox, since such a phenomenon was already reaching the news by the time Judai heard about it, and his era seemed to be safe.

Soon, Judai found his own cards disappearing – from his E-Heroes, to his Neo-Spacians, and up to his own treasured card, Yubel herself. There was no warning of her disappearing, or any sort of omen that hinted in this; it seemed that even Yubel was not safe in this strange event, even if she was fused within him. Following this, Judai found himself dreaming the same dream over and over again – a bipedal, black, and golden-eyed dragon that continuously taunted him and presumably killing him with violent flames. Somehow, this dream as well as the current string of events was connected in some odd reason. In conclusion, Judai decided that there was a new and treacherous foe in the midst, and that he might as well be waiting in the Academia, seeing as how the school attracted all sorts of events from the Sacred Beasts to the all-powerful Darkness.

Light eventually flooded the storage room, and Judai heard heavy footsteps and the low grumbling of men. One by one, they began carrying out the crates, grunting and making comments as they began to unload each crate. Judai knew that he needed to escape the ship, yet his mind was blank on exactly how he was to escape. Yet there was no other choice; he had to at least try to escape or else he would have to endure the wrath of the ship's men. Swiftly, he darted past each crate and baggage, hiding whenever some of the men came near. Slowly the light grew nearer and larger until Judai finally found himself out of the dark and musty lazaret.

The sun had barely risen by the time the cargo ship had docked in Japan. The sky was still dotted with stars and yet far overhead, the sun was beginning to rise. Usually, docks would be noisy but at this time of day, it was unusually silent. Far off, little dots that were probably other cargo ships were nearing the docks, and the loud blare of horns slowly filling the sky. For some reason, fear was creeping up within Judai, and he knew he had to reach the Academia soon…which was an emotion that Judai was used to feeling.

In Neo Domino City, crowds of kids were already filling card shops, holding up blank pieces of paper that used to be cards. A flurry of screams crowded the little store as the kids fumbled and wondered why their precious cards suddenly turned blank. From the rooftop of a building, Judai stared down on the commotion. It seemed that already the phenomenon had reached Japan, and possibly the Academia. Yet why? There was nobody that Judai knew of that knows fully well what's happening, perhaps Johan yet he was far from here and would have conducted his own search already before Judai even had a chance to hear about such an incident.

"Stupid humans…how can they be so naïve?"

Judai lifted up his head, turning away from the scene. That voice…certainly, it wasn't Yubel's for the voice was much more energetic and younger, and it had a mystical feel to it, much like Winged Kuriboh's or Ruby Carbuncle's. Was it possible that a Duel Spirit could be in the midst? Slowly, Judai turned his attention away from the commotion and towards the direction of the voice. Even if the voice belonged to a Duel Spirit, it certainly didn't seem ready to accompany nor trust him.

He walked past buildings, and crowds of confused kids holding blank cards, with his duffel bag slung over his shoulder. He scanned past each building, and each person, hoping to see a beast of some sort, but he saw nothing. Perhaps the voice was just a hallucination. Maybe it was just the heart getting to him or his mind playing games with him. Yet it seemed that it wasn't like that; from the corner of his eye, Judai saw a beast; a tiny, white, and four-winged dragon with a pair of yellow eyes in a glowering stance towards the crowd, peeking out from an alley. "Humans disgust me to no ends…why was I even chosen to enter this world? Why not someone else?" It growled to itself.

Judai's face lit up. That was exactly the same voice he had heard! Immediately, he ran towards the alley, where the dragon seemed to be located. "Hey!" He cried out. "Hey, you!"

The dragon lifted up its head, its eyes livid with the apparent reason that somebody – a human to be exact, was able to see it. "What do you want?" It hissed. "Humans with the ability to see Spirits like me aren't that exciting to see, you know."

"Well, sorry." Judai replied. "Wait, how come you aren't affected by this? Shouldn't you have disappeared like the others, too?"

For awhile, the dragon became merely curious, losing his antagonism towards Judai. Then, it stared at the Duel Disk that was strapped on to Judai's right arm, and immediately it hissed at him. "You're just like everybody else I see here! A stupid, no-good duelist!" It bellowed. "You people bet entire lives on my kind! I suppose none of you know hand-to-hand combat or any of the like, do you? This is exactly why I detest your kind!"

Suddenly, the dragon leapt at Judai with a tiny screech. It hissed and scratched at Judai, constantly clawing at the Duel Disk and biting at it. Judai tried his best to swat the dragon, yet it continued to cling on to the boy, hissing and growling, until it finally loosened its grip and let go of the Duel Disk, sending it crashing towards the ground. "Why are you so hateful towards me?" Judai asked. "There's nothing wrong with being a duelist!"

"Nothing wrong? Of course someone with your intellect can easily say that!" The dragon spat. "My kind live under constant oppression and when we die, the only thing we can look forward to is our souls being reincarnated as cards that humans like you abuse to no end!"

"That's not true!" Judai told the dragon. "We don't abuse your kind! We duelists care for you! In fact, some of the Spirits that you call 'your kind' actually trust us!"

"Those are nothing more than foolish cretins, young boy!"

"Please trust me! Is there any way I can possibly get that through your head!"

"There is no need! Perhaps the Spirits back at the Vanguard Faction have lost their mind, but I will certainly knock a little sense back into them for wanting to put their faith in a stupid human!"

Spirits? Vanguard Faction? Already it seemed too much for Judai, and while his mind continued to fumble on what the dragon might actually be saying, he found himself wrapped in a flurry of tiny scratches; a rather awkward attack for a creature that was supposed to be feared by most. The scratches didn't manage to blur Judai's vision, as he was able to take hold of the dragon's tail, stopping it from its attack. "Let go of me!" The dragon roared. "Why is it that you continue to pressure me so!"

"I only asked for one thing!" Judai cried. "You're a Spirit, aren't you? Then you probably know what's happening around here! Please, just tell me why all of the cards are disappearing!"

Finally, the dragon stopped squirming and once again grew curious. "Your tone of voice…you seem to be quite desperate, are you?" It asked. "As selfless as it is, it seems you're in this for…truly personal reasons, hm? Not just for the wellbeing of our two kinds?"

Judai remained mute. He stared at the dragon's eyes, as he began to loosen his grip on its tail. "Ah, it seems I took some words right out of your mouth." It chuckled. "You're different from them – if you would kindly release me, I can shed some light on what exactly is happening."

"How would I know that you won't escape?" Judai asked suddenly, tightening his grip further.

"A Spirit keeps its word." The dragon replied. "I remarked that your different from your kind, did I not? It means that I trust you to some extent."

Judai glared at the dragon. Considering the dragon's behavior from before, from insulting humans to outright attacking him, it could be merely trying to outsmart him. Yet what other choice did he have? This dragon…it either held the key to figuring out this whole conundrum, or it could have just been playing with him all along. He could never find out unless he tried. Slowly, Judai loosened his grip on the dragon's tail, until he finally let go, dropping the Spirit onto the ground.

The dragon dusted itself, and stared at Judai curiously, then looked up at the sky. Then, it shook its head. "In a place like this, we could have attracted some attention." It finally said. "It's best we find somewhere else safe, perhaps somewhere…private, where other humans won't find us." Then, it took off, with Judai tagging along right behind it.

The dragon continued to soar past the crowds and buildings, going on an unpredictable routine of it stopping and looking around and just shaking its head before it took off once again. It almost seemed that the dragon was being a prankster and did not live up to its end of the bargain, until the duo reached a little cottage, whose teal paint was chipping off overtime and its windows and door being barricaded by long planks of wood. Grinning, the dragon flew up to the roof where it rested, followed by Judai. "Looks like this place is good enough for you." He said. "Mind telling me what's going on now?"

The dragon remained silent, gazing down on the roof's red painting before it raised its head, its livid gaze turning into a worried one. "You searched for answers…and now I am ready to supply you with them to my best ability." It whispered. "I hail from the Dark World, where we enjoyed a slight period of peace since the tyrannical Haou was defeated…yet that peace was quickly disturbed by several upbringings from a far more terrifying enemy…"

A/N: And there you have the first chapter! I will see you guys later whenever my fanfic muse decides to give me more ideas!