Duel spirit lines are in quotes and italics. Also Midna Azusa says cookies go to whoever can guess who the two girls at the end are.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh GX.

WARNING: OCs.

Faint voices were heard in the distance.

"Judai."

"Aniki."

"Where are you? Judai."

Down in the ravine, the brunette moaned, slowly opening his eyes and getting up off his stomach. "Oh, geez," he groaned, rubbing his head. Looking up, he added, "Well, that wasn't fun..."

"Judai! Judai, where are you!?" he heard Asuka cry from above.

"Aniki!" Sho and Kenzan called.

"Guys? Hey! Down here!"

"I wonder where they went," Asuka said. He could see her standing near the edge of the ravine. Clearly, though, she hadn't heard him. "I knew this was a bad idea! Why did we let him go off alone?"

He got to his feet and tried again. "Guys!"

"Maybe we should split up and look for them," Sho suggested. "They couldn't have gone too far, right?"

"Guys, I'm down here!" Judai yelled at the top of his lungs.

Asuka looked thoughtful for a moment before she nodded and said, "Okay. We'll meet back at the clearing in an hour. If anyone finds him, remember to send the others a message, though."

"Okay!" Sho and Kenzan said.

Asuka nodded again. "Right. See you later, then!"

The three of them ran off, splitting up to look for the guy who was right below them.

"Why didn't they hear me?" he wondered.

Sure, he was in a deep ravine, but he could hear them talking. Was his voice just not carrying to the top? Regardless of how deaf his friends were being, he decided he should just go back to that clearing and wait for them. That is, if he could find a way to climb out of this ravine.


It took him a while to find his way out of that ravine, but he managed it somehow and headed back to the clearing, where he sat under a tree and waited. Soon he saw Asuka coming toward him, along with Kenzan coming from the left.

"Hey, gu—" he started, standing up.

Asuka ran right passed him, heading over to Kenzan and Sho, who had come up behind him. "Any luck, guys?" she asked.

Sho shook his head sadly.

Kenzan looked down, kicking the dirt. "Man! How could we be so stupid!?"

"Aniki... What could they have done to him!?"

"Come on," Asuka said. "We better tell Temporary Principal Cronos."

The other two nodded, and they all ran off—without so much as a glance at Judai.

Judai stared after them for a moment, stunned. "What? She...she just ran right passed me...as if she didn't even see me?" He looked at himself, but he didn't see any reason they shouldn't have seen him. What, am I invisible? That didn't seem likely. "Huh... What's going on here?"

He crossed his arms, thinking about it. "Okay, I lost that duel, so the guys cut the bridge... I fell...then..." His eyes widened as he realized what he should have realized sooner—that fall wasn't something you could survive uninjured. "Oh, no way. I can't be—"

Unable to finish that thought, he ran back to the ravine to check things out.


Judai stopped at the edge of the ravine, almost afraid to look. When he finally worked up the courage to peek over the edge, he couldn't really tell what was down there. He headed back down into the ravine, and the sight that met him made him feel sick.

Lying there among the shattered wooden remains of the bridge was a body—his body. There was blood everywhere—it was hard to tell where it was all coming from, but it seemed a significant amount had pooled around his head. His limbs were pointing in all the wrong directions, broken from the impact. Some splinters from the bridge had also been lodged in his body. There was a particularly large one in his stomach. His eyes were open in a look of terror, but they were completely lifeless.

"N-no way...," he said, horrified. "Th-that's..." He made his way closer slowly, white as a sheet. "That's...me..."

As this realization dawned on him, he dropped to his knees. "I-I'm dead..."

He just sat there in silence for a few minutes, trying to get over the shock. Finally, he spoke, coming to terms with what this meant. "Aw, man! S-so no more fried shrimp."

That simple and ridiculous statement led him to think about his friends. "How's Sho gonna take this one? And Asuka...I never told her..." He growled, closing his eyes. "Why am I still here, even!? Now what!?"

He stayed there the rest of the day, thinking about what exactly this all meant. It was late at night when he finally came to terms with the whole thing.

Sighing, he thought, This isn't going to do me any good... Might as well accept it. But I need to let the others know that I'm never coming back...and there's only one guy I know who can see me now.

He rose and headed off to find Manjoume.


In Manjoume's room, it was hard to believe he was asleep. Well, at least now Judai knew why he slept with earplugs. There was a party going on, and every duel spirit in Manjoume's possession seemed to be involved. Petite Dragon flew by, Tenderness was spotted, the Ojamas were floating around... Even the Black Scorpions were there. It was a good thing he had remodeled his room because even the Armed Dragons were in on the action, and the room would have been too small before for all of these spirits to party.

Don Zaloog, the leader of the Black Scorpions, turned his one eye on Judai, a bottle of sake in his hand. "Hey there, pal! You here for some fun, too!?" He held up the sake.

Judai stared at him for a second before saying, "Uh...not really."

"Judai!" said Ojama Yellow, coming over and looking happy to see him. "Where have you been!? We were so worried about you!" The little creature paused, snail-like eyes taking in the sight before him, before adding, "Hey, wait a minute. Since when can you fly?"

Judai glanced down, realizing that he was indeed floating a couple inches off the ground. Nothing too noticeable, really. "Since I...er..." He trailed off.

A big white Ojama barged in, wearing a green cape in addition to the polka dot underwear of the Ojamas—Ojama King. "Hey, guys!" he said. "The life of the party has finally arrived!"

"I'm sorry, your Majesty," Yellow said, "but, with all due respect, I think I'm gonna have to be a party-pooper tonight."

All the other spirits stopped partying, with the exception of Don Zaloog, who seemed to be drunk.

"Huh!? But I just got here! Why?"

"'Cause I've gotta wake Aniki up. We've got a serious problem here!"

"We do!? What is it!?"

In response to his monarch's question, Yellow pointed at Judai. Ojama King looked and gasped.

"W-why, he looks like—"

Yellow nodded and flew over to wake Manjoume, saying, "That's why I've gotta tell Aniki! He needs to know this right away!"

The Ojama King nodded and watched with concern, along with the others.

"What are they going on about, you rascal?" the drunk asked Judai.

"Aniki, Aniki!" Yellow said, getting up in Manjoume's face and smacking him a couple times. "Wake up! Don't make me do something drastic!"

Manjoume groaned, reaching out to grab the spirit as he slowly opened his eyes. "What? And this better be—"

He cut himself off, seeing Judai. His eyes widened as he demanded, "Judai!? Where on earth have you been!? We were worried sick about you! And why are you bothering me at 3 in the morning?"

"Manjoume...I..."

"What?"

Ojama Yellow, freed from Manjoume's grasp, floated out of the way.

Judai hesitated. "I'm..." He took a deep breath, then decided to just get on with it. "I'm dead."

"What!?" Manjoume demanded. He sat up halfway, taking a closer look—he could see right through Judai, who was also floating an inch or two off the ground. He stared at him for a moment, his eyes bugging out of his head. "No way. N-no way. I must be dreaming or something. Th-there's no way you're—"

"Manjoume, I already did that today," Judai said sadly.

Looking stunned, Manjoume asked, "B-but how? How can this be? If this is some sort of sick joke, I'm gonna—!"

"I got into this duel with a guy earlier today," Judai answered. "He...he said that the loser would die. We were dueling on a bridge over a ravine, and I lost, so some other guys...cut the ropes holding the bridge..."

Suddenly Manjoume bolted upright. "This is crazy! So, if you're really dead, then why are you here!? What do you want from me!? Y-you're not here to—"

He cut himself off, thinking about the idea of being haunted by Judai for the rest of his life. Wasn't it bad enough that he had hallucinated about him right before he wound up at North Academy? Wasn't it bad enough he had duel spirits partying in his room every night? Did he really need his rival haunting him?

He felt woozy; he wobbled back and forth a bit before falling onto his back, his legs in the air, moaning and twitching at the very thought.

"I just need you to...to let everyone know...I'm not coming back... I mean, you're the only one that can see me now..."

Manjoume sat straight up again. "Oh. Is that all? Then okay... Yeah, that's fine. Totally fine."

He looked relieved, but he sounded like he was in denial. Judai certainly hoped he wasn't going insane. The brunette cocked his head, confused by this behavior.

Manjoume took a deep breath, then said, "So what you're saying is that you died and came looking for me, but not to haunt me, just to let people know about it?" He growled, then, sounding angry and...something else, asked, "Why are you so selfish!?"

Judai was confused. "Huh? What? You want me to haunt you? Because I could do that, I guess."

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT, YOU IDIOT!"

"Well, what do you mean?"

Manjoume's head was low, his hands clenched into fists and shaking. "Why. You." His head snapped up, and he glared at Judai with tears burning in his eyes. "WHY DID YOU HAVE TO TELL ME THIS!? I DIDN'T NEED TO KNOW YOU—"

He sounded devastated, leaving Judai at a loss for words—he had thought that it was less selfish to tell them that he was dead so that they wouldn't waste their time looking for him and risk running into his broken body in that ravine unprepared.

Guess there's just no way to win this one..., he thought.

Manjoume lowered his head again, still fighting back tears. He pounded his fist on his bed.

Judai looked at him sadly. "Manjoume...I'm sorry..."

Manjoume growled, his head still low. "Just g-get out of my sight! I've got enough company already!" he said, pointing around at the duel spirits.

Yellow moved to comfort him. "Oh, Aniki. It's okay."

He didn't even protest—he just groaned a bit and half-heartedly swatted the Ojama away.

Yellow wasn't so easily deterred—he flew back over and sat on Manjoume's head. "Aniki..."

As Judai watched, Manjoume started crying, but he was trying hard to cover it up and keep it hidden. His head was still low. This scene was making him feel guilty, and he wanted to help, but he knew that anything he did would just make things worse.

With nothing else to do for his friend, Judai headed through the door and out of the room.

Outside, a furry brown spirit sat on the railing at the bottom of the stairs, looking sad. Its white wings were folded.

"Kuriiii..."

Seeing the spirit, Judai walked over and picked it up. "Hey, Aibou..."

The Winged Kuriboh looked down. "Kurii..."

Judai just stood there, petting the spirit as he waited to see how badly Sho would take the news.


The sun rose over Duel Academy Island, and a frantic Ra came bolting out of a room on the second floor of the Red dorm, dressed for a safari.

"Okay!" Sho exclaimed. "Today for sure I'm gonna find him!"

Judai, leaning on the railing outside of what had once been his room, looked at him sadly.

Sho turned back toward the room and called, "Kenzan! Hurry up! Aniki's not gonna rescue himself!"

"I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying!" Kenzan answered. "Sheesh! Just give me a minute!"

Winged Kuriboh kuried again, though this time his noises had meaning. "Guess they don't know yet..."

"Yeah... Guess not...," Judai said.

Sho was dancing around impatiently when Manjoume slowly came out of his room on the first floor, his head down so that his hair was hiding his face.

"Hurry up, already!" Sho called to Kenzan. "We need to get going if we're gonna find him!"

"I already did...," Manjoume said.

Sho looked down over the railing at him. "Huh!?"

"Well, darn it, Manjoume, why didn't you tell us!?" Kenzan demanded, coming out and looking down at the boy in question. Seeing how depressed he seemed to be, he added, "Hey, what's wrong with you?"

"Here we go...," Winged Kuriboh said.

Manjoume looked up slightly, catching sight of Judai up on the second level. He looked down again and pointed at him, saying, "He's right there..."

Sho looked "What!? Where!? I don't see—"

"Exactly." He looked at Judai again.

"Whoa. Back it up a bit," Kenzan said. "What exactly are you trying to say?"

Manjoume glared at Judai and asked, "Well, why don't I show you?"

"Huh!?" Sho and Kenzan asked, totally lost.

As much as Judai hated it, he knew what that meant: where's the body? Manjoume wanted him to lead them to the body.

"You heard me!" Manjoume snapped, glaring impatiently.

Judai hesitated for a moment before heading for the scene, saying, "This way."

Manjoume ran after him, calling, "Come on, already!"

Sho and Kenzan were totally lost, but they followed anyway.


Meanwhile, Asuka had recruited two of her dorm mates for help with this. Both had talents that she thought would be useful, even if they didn't get along that well. One had long, wavy hair and red eyes. The other was a short-haired blond with blue eyes.

She saw Manjoume, Sho, and Kenzan running toward them.

"Guys!" she called. "Where are you off to so fast?"

"Don't know!" Sho answered. "But Manjoume said he'd found Aniki!"

"Wha!? He did!?" the red-head asked.

"Well, that makes this a waste of my time, then," the blond said. "Where is he?"

"Just follow me!" Manjoume said, not stopping. "You need to see this!"

That didn't sound good. Asuka ran off after him, along with the worried red-head and the other blond girl. Whatever they were going to find, they were sure it wasn't going to be good.