Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh GX
Title: Dirty or Hungry
Focus: Shou, Ojama Yellow
Word Count: 1,498||Status: One-shot
Genre: FriendshipRated: PG-13
Challenge: Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section C, #037, starts & ends with the same letter; Written for the One Character Boot Camp, prompt #30, empty
Notes: This is set during the Haou's reign, after Shou decides to follow Juudai and before he makes it to Haou's castle.
Summary: Dueling to kill others is one thing. Dueling to get food is something else altogether. Or at least that's what Shou has to tell himself. There are no grocery stores or lunch rooms in Dark World.

"Huh?" Ojama Yellow peered into the food sack, somehow managing to look even more forlorn and upset than he usually did. "Nothing at all?

Shou tied the empty sack back up and tucked it under his cloak. "Not so much as a crumb." They would have to do something to get food.

At least the rain had stopped. That was one good point in this neverending nightmare. They'd left the river behind long since, which meant no fish and nothing edible grew on what few trees he could see. There didn't seem to be any villages in the area, which meant little to no chance of bargaining work for food and a place to rest.

"So what are we going to do?" Ojama Yellow perched on Shou's shoulder, which didn't give him much of a better way to look at Shou, but Shou didn't have to stare him in the face. As Manjoume could've told him, there was only so long anyone could look at an Ojama.

He didn't answer right away. Instead, he looked around, trying to find an answer close at hand. He hadn't noticed how low their supplies were getting and he still didn't know how far it was to wherever they had to go.

In truth, Shou didn't know where they were going. He wanted to find Juudai and see if he really was as evil as Shou thought. He'd heard rumors about someone called 'Haou' and everything he'd come to understand about Juudai led him to think there was a connection.

But hearing about Haou's existence and knowing where he lived were two different things. No one wanted to talk about that. Those few people he'd gathered rumors from actively avoided mentioning anything that could guide someone there.

"If you see his warriors coming, don't try to fight them," one of those advised. "Just run. Sure, you could duel them. But that never works out. Either you lose and you die, or you win and whoever they leave behind takes you to Haou anyway. Just get out of there as fast as you can."

Given that Shou refused to duel at all, running did seem like a good idea. Whenever he'd come anywhere near someone who even remotely looked as if they were the type to work for Haou, he hid in the shadows and found a way to avoid being seen. He trailed them sometimes, as long as he could without being noticed, but he'd yet to actually find where Haou lived.

"Big Bro Shou?" Ojama Yellow patted the side of his face. "What are we doing to do?"

Shou pulled himself back to the present. "Find somewhere we can get some food, I guess. Let's go." He chose a direction at random and started that way. Dark World could only be so big. He'd find something sooner or later.

They hadn't walked for more than ten or fifteen minutes when Shou's luck in avoiding Haou's warriors ran out completely. More involved with trying to locate any tracks or trails that could possibly lead to a place with food, Shou didn't notice the signs that indicated a patrol was in the area. He and Ojama Yellow were surrounded in a matter of seconds.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" The chief of the patrol, some Demon-type that Shou couldn't place offhand, stared down at him.

"Just a traveler," Shou replied, tensing. A quick glance around showed there wasn't any way to get out of here. They ringed him in too close for him to worm his way out of the surrounding circle.

"Hey, Big Bro Shou, ask if they've got something to eat!" Ojama Yellow tried to whisper. He wasn't very good at it.

The patrol chief lifted what passed for an eyebrow. "Something to eat? We eat very regularly in Haou's army. If you know anything about dueling, you're welcome to join us." His smile did not reassure Shou. Shou didn't think he was trying to. "Assuming you can pass the test, of course."

Shou shook his head. "I don't want to duel." Dueling in this world held neither honor nor respect. It was simply something to kill other people with.

One of the other warriors shoved at him, almost knocking him over. "You don't duel, then you don't eat. Guess you're going to go hungry."

Another one of them shoved Shou from a different angle. "I don't know. I'm sure there are other things he could do for us to earn some food." He laughed loud and long. "We could always use someone to polish our duel disks, right?"

More laughter, from everyone in the patrol now. Shou set his jaw hard. The thought of working for them just long enough to get enough food to last for a few days wasn't a bad one. It would probably lead him right to Haou, which would mean he could accomplish his own mission at the same time.

Yet he couldn't bring himself to trust that they would just let him go. Not with those looks that kept slicing towards him.

"These are your choices then, boy," the patrol leader declared. "Either you become our slave and we'll feed you after you work hard enough, or you'll duel one of us and if you survive, you can join us and share our food as a fellow warrior."

The thought of killing someone with his dueling sickened Shou. It was everything he'd fought his brother once over, the complete lack of respect for one's opponent. Being their slave meant he wouldn't have to kill someone, but he didn't trust them not to kill him, either.

The only person he could count on in this world was himself. Which meant he had to make up his mind on this, and do so quickly. He squared his shoulders. He hated every moment of this.

"If those are my choices, then I'll fight one of you." He pulled out his duel disk and prepared for battle, his stomach churning and nauseous.

He wasn't surprised to see the patrol leader take out his own duel disk.

"If you're going to fight, then you fight me!"

"If that's what you want," Shou said, shuffling his deck. He could not deny the thrill that shot through him at the thought of dueling once more. Now was not the time.

Ojama Yellow remained on his shoulder, thankfully quiet for now. Perhaps Manjoume had told him to be quiet in duels enough that he got the message without Shou having to say anything.

It wasn't a very long duel. Shou could see a very quick win just from his opening hand. He made up his mind not to use it, though. If I have to fight, then I'm at least going to respect my opponent when I do.

One of them wouldn't walk out of this alive. They all knew that. Shou was determined that it wouldn't be him. He couldn't follow Juudai if he died.

The rest of the patrol cheered their leader on, throwing mocking remarks toward Shou as well. The voice of the one who suggested that he be their slave rang loudest.

"Come on, you can't win! You would've been better off working for us. At least you'd live a while longer!" He nudged one of his friends. "A while!"

Shou grit his teeth. He'd never seen an underground duel, only heard of them from his brother and a little research that he'd done on the internet. What he heard reminded him of what he thought they were like. At least this time he didn't have to worry about electric shocks.

The duel took longer than Shou suspected, but it did end the way he predicted: with his monster taking out the last of his opponent's life points, the patrol leader collapsing backward, eyes wide in shock, fading away without even a chance for last words.

"He won," the would-be enslaver whispered. "You beat him. No one's ever beaten him before."

Shou turned to them, his mouth open to ask a question that never came. For all of their talk about him joining if he won the duel, the patrol pelted off into the distance as quick as their legs could carry them. Shou bit his lip. Did that just happen?

"Big Bro Shou!" Ojama Yellow hovered over a crack in the rocks. "I found where they left their supplies! We can eat for days!"

Shou headed to where the small monster pointed wildly. Indeed, a sack redolent of well-made food rested in there. He managed to work it out of the crevice, pulling out a round, ripe apple from inside.

Eating food won by killing other people didn't taste as good as he'd hoped it would. But at least he was eating at all. If it came down to the dirty feeling of having broken his vow not to fight or the clawing pangs of hunger, Shou knew which one he would rather deal with.

The End