Chapter two! This one just kept going... and going.
Headache.
Extremely agonizing headache.
It was questionable how, when he wasn't even in his physical body, he could have a headache, let alone a tangible body, but that was it.
Somehow, when he'd traveled realities, Juudai must have lost consciousness along the way. He didn't know how that had happened, his headache limited his capability of thinking properly. Only a few things were in immediate reach for his thoughts. One of them was Yubel.
He couldn't feel her. Even less than when he had searched for her on the rooftop. Where was Yubel? Maybe it was because he'd traveled realities. However, he didn't feel anything of her. Not a bit.
Now he started to feel his surroundings. Warm, soft. A bed? Cushions? Juudai couldn't believe his luck. He had landed on a bed!
But then he realized something had to be wrong about that. A spark of logic in his head reminded him that even with his extraordinary luck, there was no way he'd land on a warm bed with a cover over him. It didn't even make sense. The cover, that was.
The third thing he'd noticed was Hane Kuriboh. He heard it, fighting with... no way!
Juudai opened his eyes immediately, trying to get up, but he sank back into the soft pillows when he realized he had no strength to get up.
"Ah, you're finally awake," he heard an all too familiar voice say. A familiar voice to which belonged a pair of emerald eyes.
Johan.
Probably not the Johan he knew, but if Yubel was right, that Johan was probably friends with another version of himself around here. He'd need to come up with a backstory if Johan was going to ask him anything.
And there Hane Kuriboh was next to Johan, fighting with Ruby Carbuncle, a display of their affection. Of course, both of them were in spirit form.
Juudai took a few moments to process the information that he had just received. He took a moment to realize that he apparently was in this reality's Johan's room. The fact that he still needed a good excuse for looking exactly like this reality's Juudai was still in the back of his mind, but the headache and the thirst didn't make it easy to think.
Just as if he'd been reading Juudai's mind, Johan tossed a bottle of water in Juudai's direction. The latter caught it with ease, drinking half of it in one go.
"You are not Jaden, I can tell that by your clothing," Johan said. Wait... Jaden? Did he have a different name here? Johan didn't leave him time as he continued: "And Winged Kuriboh spilled half of your secret, anyway. Was it a secret, Juudai?" He gave Juudai the smile that he'd always give him. Hane Kuriboh was Winged Kuriboh here? That would take a while to get used to. The headache increased.
Juudai, taking another sip of that bottle, looked at Johan. "I meant to keep it a secret, yes. But Hane Kuriboh seemed to have other plans." Hane Kuriboh gave him a sheepish "Kuri!" before it flew out of the room, followed by Ruby.
"Well, he didn't mean to spill it, he was just excited to see Ruby again," Johan said with a chuckle, looking at Juudai's clothes. "My name is Jesse. Jesse Anderson."
"Jesse," Juudai repeated. He wasn't used to the name. It sounded... American? He didn't know. "So, what exactly did Hane Kuriboh spill, Jesse?" The name sounded so odd.
At the sound of 'Hane Kuriboh', Jesse smiled. Of course he did, because the names for everything were different here. "Kind of... everything and nothing," he said, brushing a strand of teal hair out of the way. "He said you're from another world... another reality. And that you're here to try to help me... and Jaden, too, if I understood it right."
"That's pretty much it," Juudai confirmed, sitting now. The headache was driving him mad, though. "It might be rude, but, do you have some painkillers?"
Another toss. Another catch. Jesse seemed to have been prepared for that.
"Thanks," Juudai said, swallowing the pill with a sip of water. "So, how and where did I land?" He didn't think that he just conveniently landed in Jesse's home.
"On the street," Jesse replied, pointing out of the window. "Around ten minutes from here. Jaden had just left from here and when I saw you on the ground in those clothes, I knew you weren't him, but I wanted to help." Juudai still didn't know what was wrong with his clothes. He looked out of the window. So many huge buildings. They reminded him of his field spell, Skyscraper. He hasn't used it in a long time.
"What's the problem about my clothes?" Juudai asked, tilting his head as he looked at Jesse. Jesse was dressed the way that Johan would definitely dress in his free time - a shirt with frills and some normal pants.
"Well, to put it in a nutshell: In Domino City, we have two kinds of people: More-or-less wealthy people and... very poor people. There's nothing in-between. So now you probably know what I mean." Suddenly, Jesse had a sad expression. It was the kind of expression that Johan had when he was worried for Juudai. So with that, Juudai immediately understood why Jesse was sad.
"That means Jaden is not as lucky as you, I assume?" Juudai asked, being horribly blunt about it. He didn't want to spend too much time on the topic, the Society of Light and Darkness could be here. In fact, if Yubel had sent him here, it must mean that they were up to something here.
A nod was all that Jesse gave him. Of course. That was just another proof of how strong the friendship between Jaden and Jesse had to be if it extended over those boundaries. Well, they were the same people, just from another reality. A smile showed up on Juudai's face and he felt his headache decrease slowly. Again, Juudai questioned why the painkillers actually worked. But wait... he remembered the images he'd seen. The images of him and Johan doing those things that definitely weren't friendship.
"Jesse? What kind of connection do you have to Jaden?" Juudai asked, carefully choosing his words to not make it sound all too strange. It didn't seem to work as Jesse laughed.
"He's my best friend," Jesse said, smiling. "We met in an alley when we were trying to find a place where no one could hear us talking to our spirits. That's how we got to know each other. After all, most people don't believe in spirits." He took out another bottle for himself, taking a few sips before closing it.
Juudai sighed in relief as he wasn't pleased with the idea of him and Johan having romantic affection for each other. He was glad that in this realiy, that wasn't the case. That nightmare would come and haunt him, though, if he kept saving various versions of himself.
Juudai wasn't a homophobe. In fact, he couldn't care less for gender and all that meant nothing to him. I was just that he wanted to preserve the innocence of his and Johan's friendship, for it was something that he'd always cherish, even though they didn't see each other very often. And so, sitting in Jesse's room felt strangely good, almost as if he had come home after a long journey. But he knew that in fact, this was just the beginning of his new journey.
"Why is Johan not here?" Jesse asked as he cocked his head to the side. "At least Winged Kuriboh said his name was Johan." Jesse seemed to have problems with the same for he looked like he didn't like it at all. Juudai could understand that, he didn't like the sound of 'Jaden' either.
"Good question," Juudai said, sighing. "To be honest, I still don't know if I want to visit him. I haven't seen him since half a year." The indecisiveness in his eyes was clearly visible.
Jesse sat down next to him on the bed. "You know, you shouldn't worry if you get him into trouble. He'd probably want to help you and you'll make him sad if you just try avoiding him." In that moment, Juudai was sure that those were words that Jesse had always wanted to tell Jaden.
"Thanks, Jesse," Juudai smiled a little and noticed that his headache had significantly lost its intensity. That meant he could talk about the serious matters now. "Do you know something called "Society of Light"? An organization led by a man called Takuma Saiou?"
"I know of a Society of Light," Jesse responded with a serious expression. "Although in this world, the man is called Sartorius. By the way, he has a sister called Sarina. She's helping him. They are trying to take over the city... in fact, they are trying to take over the government with their sect. Nobody takes them seriously right now, though. They have a weird god that they call 'Light of Destruction' and all." That explanation sounded exactly like what Juudai had expected it to sound like. Obviously, this was exactly the situation Duel Academia had been in. So now all there was left to know was how far the Society had come already.
Juudai tried to find a way to ask a question that didn't involve too many names because the names were different anyway. "Are they brainwashing people?" It was not exactly what he had wanted to ask, it was better than nothing.
"Yes, kind of," Jesse said, rubbing his neck. "The name thing is getting difficult for you, isn't it? Maybe we should go over the names before we talk about the rest." He chuckled softly.
Happy that Jesse was so attentive, Juudai nodded. He hoped that Jesse would have a solution for that. Probably Jesse did have a solution for that.
And Juudai was not disappointed as Jesse took out his cellphone - that, by the way, looked really similar to the PDA from Duel Academia that he used to have - and showed him a picture.
A picture of everyone. Literally.
There was Edo, Asuka, Manjoume, Shou, Ryou... and basically all the others. Even Daitokuji-sensei was there! Juudai smiled as he looked at them. He also noticed Jesse and Jaden on the picture, both of them trying to not laugh, apparently.
Jesse started pointing at the persons on the picture, telling Juudai all those unfamiliar-sounding names for persons he'd known for years. "That's Aster Phoenix, there is Chazz Princeton, the small one with the glasses is Syrus Truesdale, the one that looks like a dinosaur is Tyranno Hassleberry..." He took quite a while to name them all.
Juudai repeated them a few times over so he would remember them. It was fairly easy - some names sounded really horrible, but he could deal with it. Not like he was gonna stay here for long.
"So, uhm, did Manjou- I mean, did Chazz get defeated in a duel by Saiou already?" Juudai asked, finally able to ask the question he'd wanted to ask.
"A duel? What do you mean? Do people in your world solve problems by fencing?" In Jesse's emerald eyes, a huge amount of confusion was being reflected.
And then Juudai realized why these alternate realities were dangerous. Without dueling, what could he have possibly done? And what could Jaden in this world possibly do?
"In my world, we solve problems with a... card game." Juudai suddenly realized how stupid that sounded. He had never really thought about it. Was a card game really the way to determine the fate of the universe? He slightly shook his head at the thought. In his reality, it apparently was because Darkness had dueled him, in fact. The Light of Destruction hadn't been that kind. In fact, Juudai had needed Neos' help to force the Light to duel. Perhaps, in this world where Duel Monsters didn't even exist, the Light was stronger than anything Juudai had ever expected. Slowly, he took out his deck, wordlessly showing Jesse the card of Hane Kuriboh.
Jesse immediately understood, albeit he still had a surprised expression. "So spirits come from these cards, huh? Here, they just follow us around. Anyway, let me answer your question. Chazz was taken to the headquarters of the Society. We don't know what happened there, but when he came back, he was a different person. After Alexis tried to save Chazz, she got brainwashed, too." The events seemed to play out exactly the same way they had in Duel Academia. What was left now were the keys to SORA... Juudai was honestly worried about his other self, now.
Suddenly, the loud ringing of a doorbell ripped Juudai out of his thoughts. Immediately, Jesse stood up, running out of the room. Juudai heard Jesse's feet hurrying down the stairs and he decided to follow him.
On the way, Juudai noticed that the house didn't seem to have any inhabitants aside from Jesse. It didn't surprise him. As far as he knew, Johan didn't have any family aside from the Gem Beasts.
"Jaden!"
"No time for explanations, pal, just close that door and we talk inside."
"Okay!"
Juudai watched as Jesse talked to Jaden. It was only when Jesse closed the door that Juudai had the time to look at his other self's clothing, if one could call it clothing at all. It was partially torn and it looked like it hadn't been washed for a long time.
And there was Hane... Winged Kuriboh, flapping its wings when it spotted Juudai. Jaden turned to look to the stairs where Juudai stood.
Grinning sheepishly, Juudai did his signature gesture as a greeting. "Hello."
It had taken quite a while to explain everything to Jaden. He had been way too excited about seeing an older version of himself from another reality, so he hadn't really concentrated on the topic at all.
The first thing Juudai had noticed was Jaden's slang. Lots of it. Juudai himself did speak with a lot of slang words, but Jaden took the whole thing to a new level. Juudai didn't know whether he liked it or not, but the cheerful nature of his other self made him smile.
Another thing that was in Juudai's mind was that he could've sworn that he'd heard someone calling out to him. But he'd figured it was his imagination because of the lack of sleep. Maybe even because of the stress.
"So, Jaden, why did you come here so suddenly?" Jesse asked as he ate some fried shrimp. Apparently, he'd made some in advance in case Jaden would visit. Well prepared indeed. They were sitting at a round table in the living room.
Juudai questioned whether eating here was a good idea. He wasn't in his physical body and it confused him enough that he was tangible. He didn't want to try eating anything. He figured that he'd have to come here, for real, to do anything in case his advice wouldn't be enough. Yubel hadn't thought about the fact that other rules applied for her and Juudai as she was a spirit and he wasn't. A sigh escaped his lips as he realized that looking for a way to get here in his physical body would be hard.
"Sartorius gave me that key," Jaden explained, holding the small key out to the other two. "I don't know what it is for, though. Anyway, suddenly people from the Society started to chase me because of it. I really don't know what that guy is thinking."
"I don't know, either," Jesse said with a shrug. "Juudai, do you-"
"It's a satellite key," Juudai interrupted Jesse. Looking at Jaden now, he continued: "A satellite named SORA that can destroy this entire planet. Sartorius is being brainwashed by the Light of Destruction. He gave you that key so he couldn't activate it under the brainwashing. Edo... I mean, Aster has the other key." At least now they weren't completely oblivious to the danger, anymore.
Jaden and Jesse stared at Juudai with a shocked expression as the latter kept his calm behavior.
"And what can we do about that?" Jaden asked, recovering from the shock quicker than Jesse did. He was much like Juudai had been in his second year, but that wasn't even surprising. What surprised Juudai more was the fact that Jesse and Jaden accepted the existence of alternate realities like it was an everyday thing.
"Well, what means of solving conflicts do you have?" Juudai responded with a question. He assumed there were none.
Jaden took a moment before he opened his mouth and closed it again.
"There are persons who use guns and knives," Jesse muttered as he looked at the table. "Jaden and I don't like that, though. That's why all we have is the spirits that protect us. It isn't enough against the Society of Light, though." Apparently having lost his appetite, he pushed his plate over to Jaden, offering him the last of his fried shrimp. The latter happily accepted it and ate it immediately.
Typical.
But that information was a problem. Juudai knew that he would have to do something about this - there was no way that Jaden and Jesse could handle it on their own. Perhaps he was able to use his powers here even without his physical body? He tried to channel the darkness into his hand to create a sphere of dark energy, but unlike what he was used to, nothing happened. Probably part of his energy was stored in his body so he couldn't use his powers. That was proof, actually. He'd have to find a way to move his physical body here.
"I want to help you," Juudai slowly said as he looked at Jaden and Jesse. "But I need to find out how to get my body here. Right now, it's lying on a rooftop, and I'd rather have it here to access all of my powers, to be honest."
"You have powers? What kind of?" Jaden could've been mistaken for a puppy with that excited behaviour, but Juudai knew of the danger that came with power.
"No power that you would ever desire to have, trust me," Juudai muttered.
Perhaps the power of my counterpart from your reality can help you to get here physically.
Juudai tried to find the source of the deep voice, only to realize that he heard it in his head. Jaden and Jesse had heard it, too, apparently, because they looked to the direction of the window.
Rainbow Dragon. One eye of it, at least. Apparently there was no space for it in the house, so it was around the house.
"Rainbow Dragon," Juudai said. "It's nice to see you. So, you think that my reality's Rainbow Dragon could help?" He took a sip of water.
Yes, but you would need to take Johan with you. Only he is the chosen one of the Crystal Beasts.
Juudai let out a long sigh. He didn't even bother thinking too much about the term 'Crystal Beasts' - different reality, different names. Then he looked towards Jesse who gave him a mild smile.
"Don't worry, Juudai. I told you, he'd definitely want it that way. And now go," Jesse said with a grin.
Jaden gave Juudai his signature gesture. "Exactly what he said, man. Go home and when you return, bring that other Jesse with you!"
Honestly, Juudai didn't feel good about leaving so soon, yet he knew he had no other choice but to get his physical body into this reality to save it from being destroyed. Again, he faintly heard something calling his name, but that calling felt painful, so he blocked it out. Somehow, when he tried to think about the calling's origin, he lost track of his thoughts, even forgetting what he had thought about in the first place.
Juudai sighed once more. "Alright. I'll be gone now." Instinctively, he created a door in front of him. He didn't bother questioning why he could do that because it probably just was the rule of traveling realities with your soul only. Something felt strange about the door, though. The darkness surrounding it wasn't like the darkness he was used to. Again, Juudai decided to ignore that because nothing was ordinary, lately. In fact, nothing had ever been ordinary.
He waved his hand as a goodbye. "See you soon." Opening the door, he looked back one more time before he walked through... and stood in his and Yubel's shared room in their inner mind.
It was strange. It felt less connected than before. In fact, Juudai could've sworn that the room had even shrunk. Perhaps it was because Yubel was still in another dimension?
Juudai didn't exactly know and somehow, the thought faded from his mind again. He briefly wondered why he hadn't fainted again, but he welcomed it as a gift as he decided to leave his inner mind, waking up on that rooftop in London once more.
Standing up, he looked at the sky. The sun was about to rise soon. Apparently, time flowed differently in other realities. Great.
And so, Juudai's initial hesitation about teleporting had to face the urgency of the situation: He had to reach Johan. As soon as possible.
"Juudai." Neos had appeared next to Juudai, floating. "I can locate Rainbow Dragon. If we combine our powers, you should be able to teleport directly in front of Johan's house."
Gulping, Juudai nodded. "Alright." He petted Pharaoh who had been sleeping next to his body before, carefully putting the cat into his backpack. Juudai wasn't even surprised when Pharaoh didn't wake up.
From the ground, he picked up his Osiris Red jacket and put it on. He sure wouldn't forget that.
His eyes flashed golden as the all too familiar darkness enveloped him. He also felt Neos' darkness. While it was similar to his own darkness, it still was different. A good kind of 'different'. Concentrating on his desire to teleport, he felt himself fall.
That feeling of 'falling' always came whenever he teleported. At first, it had been scary, but by now, Juudai considered it to be the most enjoyable part of teleporting. It felt like he was free, free of all responsibilities.
It did not last long.
Within a second, Juudai stood in front of an apartment building that looked kind of ordinary. A look at the street signs next to him was enough to know that he indeed was in Norway now.
Dizziness came over him, but Neos' mental support and his own resolve made him go on. He really hated the feeling, though.
Juudai walked towards the entrance of the building, reading the names of the inhabitants that were next to their doorbells. His eyes stopped at the name 'Andersen'.
Taking one deep breath, Juudai pressed the button twice. A quick glance at his cell phone told him that it was 6 o'clock in the morning. He immediately wanted to hit himself for not having thought about that, but then again he'd have had to do it anyway. Not only Jesse's and Jaden's lives depended on that, but also his own and Johan's lives.
The signal sound that would indicate that he could open the door now didn't come. Juudai wondered if Johan was out of town or simply didn't hear the bell.
Suddenly, the door in front of him opened and Juudai faced Johan's happy emerald eyes. In fact, Johan didn't seem to be surprised by Juudai's appearance at all.
"Nice to see you again, Juudai." Johan smiled and Juudai faintly noticed that Johan was fully clothed and very much awake. Had he not slept?
"You seem kind of tired, come in," Johan continued, dragging Juudai into the building and leading him to his apartment.
Juudai knew he shouldn't be tired, but with all the dizziness and the lack of sleep, he was very tired indeed. He sighed, trying to concentrate somehow, yet the only thing he noticed was the fact that Johan's apartment mainly featured blue colors.
"Wanna sleep, first?" Johan asked as if he read Juudai's mind. Chuckling, he continued: "You never took it well when you hadn't slept enough." He pointed towards the bedroom.
Juudai shook his head. "I can't, I've got something urgent to talk to you about." He knew he wouldn't be able to do much in his current state, but he could try, right?
Apparently, Johan had other plans for him. "Remember the last time you tried doing something while you were in a bad condition? Yeah, exactly, it didn't go well." He didn't plan to take 'No' for an answer when it came to whether Juudai would sleep or not.
Juudai opened his mouth to say something but just then, Johan yawned. "And I don't think I'll be able to listen, either. I've been awake for 24 hours or something like that." Well, he had a point.
And with that, it was time for Juudai's first sleepover at his best friend's place. In fact, the first sleepover that Juudai ever had. When he tried to think about why Johan had been awake for so long, he realized he couldn't manage to think properly anyway, and so he let Johan guide him to the bed. Juudai let Pharaoh out of his backpack before lying down and enjoying the softness of that bed, wondering if every bed in Norway was like that.
"I'll sleep in the living room, no worries," Johan simply said, smiling. "Good night, Juudai." With that, he turned to leave.
"Good night, Johan."
Reviews are always appreciated!
