A/N: Spent alot of time working on this. Their duel is one of my favorite and I love the passion and honesty. I couldn't do this drabble series without adding one on him. Though they don't meet often, their meeting are very important. This is my little tribute to Yami Yugi. Please review and tell me what you think. I'm trying to focus on the True Duelist idea.
Disclaimer: Unfortunatley, Kazuki Takahashi still won't sell me Yu-Gi-Oh.
What chance gathers she easily scatters. A great person attracts great people and knows how to hold them together. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)
He would never forget that day, and he would never forget him. But how could he? It was impossible to forget the Legendary Duelist. And though many years had passed, and many things had changed, the memory of their first meeting had not faded from Judai's mind. His fingers still felt that smooth slide along his palm and into his fingers. Judai didn't know it then, but one day that Winged Kuriboh would mean the world to him. One day, it would be part of how he became a true duelist. It would, Judai didn't just know it then.
But he did. The duel king did. The duel king knew. And if you looked at his eyes, you would think he knew everything. They spoke of many things. Things so complex and difficult, it seemed like a puzzle. But one thing was clear. There was some deep pain. It was the only thing that was clear. The only things those eyes gave away, and only because they couldn't help it. And for a few seconds, those eyes had focused on him. And in those moments, he didn't care about anything, the exams, the academy, or that his feet felt just about ready to fall off. He just wanted to know the answer to that puzzle. His last thought as he ran was if he ever could figure it out.
Led again by Winged Kuriboh, they meet four years later, four years for Judai at least. But to the man he was dueling, they've never met each other, that future meeting years away. All the duel king knew about him was through a dream. And things are different. Judai's is not the same drop out-boy the king would meet years later. He is a strong, experienced duelist with the spirit of Yubel on his side. But that's not it. The pain in his eyes that Judai noticed earlier isn't there now. And there's something about him now that isn't during their meeting later. He had the strongest duel-energy that Judai had every felt, but that's to be expected from the Legendary Duelist. It's in that one blinding moment when that transformation happens, when Yubel, not him realizes it is the Nameless Pharaoh. With the confidence, strength, and quiet power only a king could possess. Together, the duel king and Pharaoh seem almost inhuman. It was the passion that this duelist held that had inspired so many others and pulled them forward. It's in a moment during that duel that Judai realizes something. That puzzle in the Legendary Duelists eyes will never be solved, because it just isn't meant to be.
In that moment, he understands, what Yubel understood right away.
Yugi Motou is the True King of Duelists.
There is so little life, and it is fraught with chance. We meet, we don't meet, we take the wrong turning, and still bump into each other. We conscientiously choose the 'right road' and it leads nowhere. - Jeanette Winterson