Notes – Done for ygodrabble. Set sometime after Duelist Kingdom.
The very first thing you needed to have to play Duel Monsters was simply the cards.
You could have all the strategies you wanted planned out, you could know your opponent as well as you liked, but if you didn't have the cards you needed then you couldn't play the game. That was the fact of the matter.
Because of this fact, great attachments could be built up between a person and their favourite cards – it was easy to tell a duelist by their most used monster and in the cases of those who got famous from playing the game their fans would look forward to seeing their signature card pulled out.
It was called loyalty – that bond between duelist and monster.
Most had stories to tell about how they pulled the card in question out of a pack as a child, not believing they could find something so rare, and have never let go of it since.
To the other extreme there was something of any urban myth concerning people who stole cards. It wasn't that the cards wouldn't register on the system when played by the person who stole them or even that someone couldn't duel well with stolen cards, but somehow it felt as if the card wasn't truly part of who they were.
The Red Eyes Black Dragon had not been stolen. But neither had it been a cherished part of Jounouchi's deck since he was a child.
Once upon a time it had been one of the signature cards of "Dinosaur" Ryuzaki, the former Japanese champion of the game. Many people associated that card with Ryuzaki, looking forward to seeing it summoned, at one point.
Yet somehow it felt wrong. Within the printed image of the dragon it did not feel a true connection with Ryuzaki or that it belonged in his deck.
Perhaps that was why it felt glad when Jounouchi took it from him.
This boy was so passionate about everything – the game, his goals, those who he was with. Everything Jounouchi did cried out with dedication, and the Red Eyes Black Dragon felt that. It felt Jounouchi was a kindred spirit and part of who it was.
It might not be able to have a lifelong bond with this boy, and he wasn't the first duelist associated with using its card, but the connection between them… the card felt that was true loyalty regardless.