Title: If One Steps into the Gentle Darkness

Genre: Adventure/Humor

Summary: Being the Herald of Gentle Darkness sure was hard work, even without a new power manifesting on a daily basis. And just where has Judai landed himself this time? "What? That was me? But I thought it was always you, Yubel!"

Note: Disclaimer at the end!

Chapter One: If One Steps into the Gentle Darkness

"Judai, enemy coming in from six o'clock!" Yubel's urgent warning was duly noted by the running boy, who put on an extra burst of speed at the spirit's words. Jumping over a low shrubbery, his bag slamming against his knee with a yowl that could only belong to Pharaoh, the brunette sprinted towards the encroaching darkness of the center of the abandoned park; a darkness that beckoned with promises of safety.

"How long 'till we lose them, Yubel?"

"At this rate, a very long time. They might even catch us."

"Can we lose them in the trees?"

"Depends on how thick the trees are?"

"Even in the darkness?"

"You forget, Judai; you are the only one without a flashlight."

"I can see perfectly well in the darkness!"

"That's beside the point."

A gunshot sounded behind them.

Swerving instinctively, Judai began to run in a zigzag, careful to stop his bag from bouncing more than it should, before he dove into the forest that sprang up in front of them, "Oh, boy. They are bringing out the big guys, it seems."

"More running, less talking!" Yubel snapped as she materialized to fly besides him, "and send Hane Kuriboh or someone to scout ahead!"

"Roger that!" Fumbling to take out his cards while running at full speed, he held up the furry monster's card, "Hane Kuriboh o shoukan!"

"Kurii!"

"Oi, aibou, mind helping us out of this pinch?"

"Kuri kuri!"

"Alright! Map us the perfect route to get out of here! Make it as confusing as you can."

With a last kuri, the little fur ball with wings flew ahead, his light guiding the boy and his soul-spirit.

Another gunshot sounded closer this time, accompanied by confused shots as the Chasers entered the dark forest.

"It seems like the trees were thick enough, ne, Yubel?" Judai grinned cheekily at his winged-mate.

"We are not out of danger yet, Judai! Keep your guard up." But Yubel dematerialized anyway, as there was no immediate danger.

"Yes, ma'am!...sir?...ummm, Yubel-sama?"

"Oh, shut up!"

Hmm, what are you saying? That you are confused? You want to know how Judai ended up in this position? Well, dear Readers, lets rewind a little, to approximately 3 hours ago, when Judai was still traveling around the world, on his duties as the Herald of Gentle Darkness, going to wherever he needed to be, whenever he was needed. At this particular point in time, Judai was on an Unnamed Island somewhere in the Pacific, just offshore of Peru, and being chased down by, yes you've guessed it, a group of natives with sharp weapons and the occasional gun.

"I can't believe our luck!" Yubel yelled in Judai's mind, "This is the third time within the past 2 days we have been chased by mobs out to get us! This has never happened before; usually people don't even notice our presence until after we've done our meddling, and everything's back to normal again, so what's going on!"

"I won't necessarily call it meddling, Yubel." Judai chuckled in his mind while running on the small island, parallel to a looming forest that seemed quite foreboding, with the soft sand slipping beneath his sneakered feet, and a bundle of cat in his arms that was being surprisingly quite. Natives yelling in a tongue he did not understand pursued him, determined to chase him out of their island and into the sea, where he would inevitably drown, if he was any other person except the Supreme King. "'Cause if you say that, then there is actually a good reason why they are chasing us."

"But my point is, usually no one notices you until we have fixed everything! And in my opinion, this island really needs fixing! Have you noticed the Nothingness encroaching on the shores? The Sea is going to drown these people if they don't leave or unless we do something!"

"But that's what I don't understand, Yubel. The Nothingness was always there, of course, but it never moved this fast before. I am sure these people knew about the rising sea levels, and were preparing for it, but even now, the Nothingness is approaching fast, as though determined to wipe these people out within the year! And did you notice, the Nothingness was like that, too, in the last few places we visited."

"Well, we might have been able to figure that out, if these people allowed us to snoop around a bit, but noooo, they are chasing us as if the devil itself is on their tails. And those mobs from the mainland places were no better, if not worse!"

"All I'm saying is that this is really strange!" Judai muttered as he adjusted Pharaoh in his arms, the cat slowly losing the hard-earned patience it had gained from traveling with Judai so much.

"Psst!"

Judai ran past the tall tree before noticing the young girl waving discreetly to him from behind it. Judai quickly backtracked, running to the girl before the rest of the mob rounded the corner of the island.

"Come, and follow me!" The girl was no more than 11 or 12, but there was an air of wisdom that made Judai trust her instantly. The girl dove into the underbrush, traveling at a brisk pace. Judai followed as silently as he could, occasionally glancing around him. Pharaoh started to grow restless after a while, and jumped down from Judai's arms, ambling off to do whatever it is that cats do when they are bored. Sleep, most probably.

"Oi, Pharaoh!"

"Do not worry," the girl said, still walking at a relentless pace, "the Forest will not harm him. Just follow me, and everything will be clear."

Soon, they entered a clearing with multiple pillars surrounding it, and a beam of sunshine that hit the tallest pillar in the middle of the clearing.

The girl turned around, facing Judai with a frown. Judai stopped as well, watching her warily; he wasn't scared, because that feeling of trust was still present, but he definitely wanted to be on his guard anyway. Just in case.

"You are really late, Herald Yuki Judai."

Yubel instantly materialized, ready to attack. Judai held her back with a hand, "Why do you say that, Priestess?"

"We were expecting you 2 days ago, right after that Disturbance."

"Disturbance? You mean that weird rippling effect…wave…thing…"

"Yes, precisely. We thought you were bound to come here before the Disturbance took root and fix everything, but you have arrived too late."

"Ummm, sorry to seem rude, but why would I come to this island after the Disturbance? From what I can see, the Disturbance had a wide-spread effect on the entire world!"

The girl sighed, "Because we can actually tell you the Source of the Disturbance and give you information on how to fix it!"

"Oh."

"Yes, oh." the girl sighed again, "Now, listen closely to what I am about to tell you, Yuki Judai, for this information concerns the fate of the world, not only as we know it, but as we knew it, and as we will know it."

The girl took a deep breath, and turned towards the center of the clearing, "Do you remember, when you were in Italy about a month or so back?"

"You mean the Paradox Incident?" Yubel cut in.

"Yes, the Paradox Incident. This Disturbance is tightly woven with that incident. You remember when Paradox said that Duel Monsters will destroy the world as we know it?"

"Yes, but the future is constantly changing; no one can be sure how everything will play out, right?"

"True, but Paradox did not mention that it was Synchro Monsters who will destroy the world in his timeline."

"Synchro Monsters?" Judai asked with a deer-caught-in-the-head-lights-look, "What are those?"

"A new type of Duel Monsters that should be created as we speak," the girl tilted her head as she stared at him intensely, "very like your Contact Fusion, I'd say. I would even say that it was inspired by Contact Fusion."

Judai blinked as he tried to imagine Contact Fusion on a large scale, "O..kay? But that still does not explain the Disturbance? Unless Paradox caused it? But I thought…"

"No, it does not explain the Disturbance," the girl cut in, "but Paradox is actually part of a larger Organization called Yliaster. The goal of Yliaster is to change the past so that the future will be safe from destruction. Paradox acted by himself, but his goals were the same. However, he failed when the 3 Legendary Duelists defeated him, and he went back to his own time, where eventually he died."

"What! He… died? Just like that?"

"Everyone dies eventually, Yuki Judai; even the Supreme King has experienced death."

Judai opened his mouth to speak, while Yubel hissed in indignation, but the girl suddenly held up a hand, "Stop. I do not want anymore interruptions before I am done speaking. This information cannot wait any longer."

Judai reluctantly closed his mouth, and pouted. The girl inwardly sighed at the immaturity of the Herald of Gentle Darkness, "As I was saying, Yliaster is an organization set on changing the past, and the Disturbance we felt 2 days ago is actually a Ripple in Time if you will, a sign that Change has occurred in the fabric of the Universe. And before you interrupt, yes, this Ripple is the main reason why the Nothingness is moving faster than usual."

"So, Yliaster meddled in the Past again?" Yubel asked, "They somehow changed something, and they are pushing the destruction of the world closer and closer?"

"Yes, and no." the girl said ambiguously, "Yliaster's actions have changed the past, but for us, it's the future, or rather the present. They have stopped the creation of Synchro Monsters. As I was saying before, 2 days ago should have been the first time Synchro Monsters made their appearance in the world. But the agents of Yliaster have somehow stopped it, and erased all traces of Synchro Monster in this timeline. While the Synchro Monsters did eventually destroy the world in Yliaster's timeline, the Synchro Monsters were also the key to keeping the encroaching Nothingness back, and that is true for All Timelines."

"So, what am I suppose to do?" After hearing all of this, Judai was still clueless.

"Well, isn't it obvious, Judai? You'll have to Time Travel or something to change the Past." Yubel sighed at Judai's cluelessness.

"Actually, all the signs point at you going to Japan instead." The girl interrupted this time, "it seems what you seek shall be in Japan. If you get there within the next 12 hours, all shall be answered."

"Next 12 hours?" Judai yelped, "But I am still on an island in the middle of nowhere! Being chased down by a mob of people that looks as if they want to kill me. How am I supposed to fly to Japan if I can't even get off this island?"

It was the girl's turn to look at him weirdly. "How did you get here in the first place?"

"Hmmm, by boat?"

"There have been no boats from this island to the mainland since 2 days ago."

"Yubel flew me over?"

"I did no such thing!"

"But I just remember waking up this morning, on this island! This has been happening ever since I started traveling around the world. I'd settle down at a place, and sleep or take a nap or something, and when I wake up, I am always in a different place that needed my help or something!"

Yubel almost smacked herself on her forehead, before she remembered that she had talons for hands and a third eye right in the middle of said forehead, "That was you Judai!"

"What? That was me? But I thought it was always you, Yubel!"

"No, no, no. That was not me. I did not fly you anywhere every time you fell asleep, Judai! That was part of your Supreme King/Herald of Darkness powers! It is part of Traveling, Space Distortion Traveling, I'd say."

"Huh?" Judai looked dumbfounded, "I had such a cool power and you never told me, Yubel?"

"I thought you knew!" Yubel sighed, "After all, that was the first power to ever manifest itself in this life time."

"But why did it happen all the time while I was asleep?"

"Because you still have no control over your powers. Basically, the Traveling is manifesting itself whenever you don't have consciousness."

"Okay, stop!" the girl was rubbing a hand on her forehand; it seems that Judai's complete idiocy was giving her a big headache, "Now that you know how you can Travel out of here, please do, before the mob finds us."

"But Pharaoh…!"

"Meow."

"Oh, there you are Pharaoh!"

"Now that you have your cat, Herald, get out of here!"

"Okay, okay! Geez." Judai backed away from the now irate girl. He closed his eyes, face scrunched up, trying to concentrate. Yubel disappeared once again, into Judai's soul. After 3 seconds where nothing happened, Judai opened his brown eyes, and chuckled sheepishly, "How am I suppose to do this again?"

"Just concentrate, Judai." Yubel said in his mind.

"I am concentrating! It's not doing anything at all!"

"Stop whining!" the girl yelled at him.

"But…!"

Suddenly they heard loud voices echoing around the forest. It was the mob, and this time they sounded really angry.

"Oh, for the sake of all that's holy…!" the girl groaned, as she started to shake Judai, "get out of here now! Can't you hear what they are saying?"

"Umm, no? Am I supposed to understand this language? It sounds nothing like Japanese."

Once again, the girl looked at him weirdly, "You mean you can't? Never mind, just get out of here! They are going to try to kill you now, since trying to drive you away and into the ocean was obviously not working."

"Kill me!" Judai paled considerably.

"Less talking, Judai," Yubel ordered within his mind, "More concentrating!"

Judai once again squeezed his eye shut, his heart going about a million miles per hour. The sounds of the mob was coming closer, and the harsh breathing of the girl next to him was not helping him concentrate at all.

"Focus, Judai!"

Judai was really trying! But he couldn't feel anything different at all!

Suddenly, his eyes snapped open, revealing yellow orbs instead of the usual brown. The girl gasped next to him, "Supreme King Haou-sama!"

The mob bursted into the clearing. The eyes of the Supreme King stared at them, stopping all of them in their tracks. A smirk graced that angelic face, before he disappeared.

Does that answer your questions, Reader? No? But this makes perfect sense to me! Who's the girl you ask? Well, it could be anyone! Maybe it's you, Reader-chan? Or it could be your sister, Reader-kun? Or maybe it's even me, the Narrator? Or it could be the Author? What? You still don't understand how Judai ended up being chased in that forest? Come now! Think about it! It really is not hard at all. No, you still don't understand, you say? Oh, fine! I'll spoil you with the details then.

Judai landed hard on his feet, the wind knocked out of him.

"Oomf! That was definitely not a fun way to travel; that place was way too dark." Judai plopped on the ground, before taking in his surroundings. He was in an abandoned warehouse, and a group of men with the looks of Yakuza was near to where he was lying.

"Judai, you might want to take a look at this…" Yubel's voice sounded grave in his mind.

The Yakuza-looking guys looked to be in a stupor, but the leader with the red necktie recovered fast enough.

"What are you doing here, boy! Didn't your mother never tell you not to interrupt in other's affairs?"

He was speaking Japanese, thankfully, Judai thought. That means he was in Japan; at least the Space Distortion Traveling thing worked out.

"Hey, I'm talking to you boy!" The man shouted angrily at him as his thugs moved restlessly around.

"Hehe," Judai scratched the back of his head, "I am sorry, I just sort of …fell here, I guess?"

Then he heard an unmistakable plea for help from the midst of the Yakuza group.

"Please, please help me!"

It was the voice of a girl, a cry for help at Judai, who, like usual, happened to land at the right place at just the right time.

"Shut up, you ****!" The man turned back to yell at the frightened girl.

"That's not a nice way to treat a lady, sir." Judai said as he stood up; his hand reaching instinctively for his deck.

"What do you know about treating a lady, boy," the man sneered, "I bet you've never had a girlfriend in your life." The Yakuza guffawed at Judai.

"I think we'll leave my love life out of this," Judai said dismissively. He discreetly signaled to Yubel in his mind, telling her to leave his soul and free the girl. Yubel gave a mental nod as she flew from Judai's body, not materializing but able to be seen by a select few. The trapped girl, luckily, was one of them.

As Judai confronted the Yakuza, Yubel flew to the girl, whispering in her ear, "When my master gives the signal, run for it!"

The girl looked afraid, so Yubel reassured her, "It's alright; my master will free you, and won't let anything happen to you. That's why he sent me to protect you."

"NOW, Yubel!"

Yubel materialized within the midst of the Yakuza. Most of the men started screaming and running around. Within the chaos, no one noticed the girl sprinting away and disappearing behind the doorway.

"Now, let get out of here, Yubel!"

Once again, Yubel dematerialized, and flew next to Judai as he made a dash for the opposite door that the girl had ran out of.

"What are you all doing, you wimps! Chase after him! That was a hologram, you dolts!"

Author's Note: Hmmm, don't kill me please? This is an experiment in a new style of writing. And new genres, too. Usually, I can't write Humor at all. Now that I think about it, maybe this is only funny to me….? As for adventure, I am actually pretty bad at writing it. I tend to read angst more, and also want to write angst more. But this will be an interesting experiment nonetheless. Actually, this whole plot was cooked up from doing too much physics, organic chemistry (you see the influences by these?) and Japanese, not to mention history, and influenced at the most subatomic level by my Short Fiction English class. This will be used to occupy my time during finals week. And yes, this is a result of procrastination. But heck, 6 finals and a paper all in final's week can do that to you. If you like, please review. No like? Tell me WHY! No flames please. All flamers will be thrust onto the altar to appease the gods of exams and used to secure myself all A's. Thank you~

Tune in next time for:

Chapter Two: Traveling Through the Wrinkle of Time

And I have two quotes for you that may or may not appear in the next chapter.

Quote: "Oh man, we sure aren't in Kansas anymore, Yubel."

Quote 2: "Ohhh, won't it be cool to meet our future selves, Yubel?"

"If you did, you would create a worse paradox than Paradox ever could."

Disclaimers:

1. The name "Herald of Gentle Darkness" is not mine! I came across it first in the fic "So Far, So Good" by Heleentje-sama. I do not know if this name is canon or not, as I have tried looking it up. I also do not know who first came up with this first, as after I came across it once, I seem to see it more and more often now. Maybe when people English-subbed that episode, this was the name given? I wouldn't really know, since I watch all of my Yu-Gi-Oh anime with Chinese subs….Anyway, I just really like this name, and I will use it, so there!

2. The Traveling through Darkness thingy, or Space Distortion Traveling, is also not thought up by me. I have come across references to that multiple times in the Yu-Gi-Oh/Yu-Gi-Oh GX fandom. First time I saw it was probably with History of Magic in the Yu-Gi-Oh fandom. Or maybe it was with the author esama? Anyway, I also came across this idea in "So Far, So Good" as well, so in case people start accusing me of stealing ideas, I am just putting it out there NOW that yes, I have read these people's works. But just as with the idea of Time Traveling, surely this does not count as…anything, right? Never mind, I think I'm rambling.

3. Finally, the Most Important Disclaimer of All: I DO NOT OWN YU-GI-OH GX or YU-GI-OH 5DS or YU-GI-OH ANYTHING! I am just a poor, poor, poor college kid who is at her wits' end because of the crushing pressure of STUPID FINALS!

Ja ne!