A/N: Here's chapter 2! Enjoy! We don't own Yugioh GX.

Judai took a good long nap under a tree nearby, with Johan staying near, before he went home to his parents. Sure enough, Johan was right about the reaction he'd get—there was a lot of hugging, kissing, and cuddling from his mother, especially.

When he finally had five minutes to breathe, he headed to his room, locking the door so they couldn't just barge in on him. On the way, he glanced at the calendar—if any time had passed, it had only been a few days. Heck, his friends being here probably meant no time had passed at all. They would have been at Duel Academy by now, wouldn't they? And it wasn't like it was summer or anything. At least, it didn't feel like summer. It felt about the same outside as it had earlier.

"Wow. Your parents really love you, don't they?" Yubel observed, jolting Judai from his thoughts. "Now I'm jealous."

Judai just grinned, sweating, and laughed shortly.

"You know, you really are lucky to have a family like that. Mine was never there..."

"Because you were an orphan, yeah."

"Why did they have to do it? How could they both leave me like that? I'll never forgive them."

"I'm sure they didn't want to...any more than any parent wants to leave their child," Judai told her. "Life can be cruel sometimes."

"Yeah. No kidding," she said. "I mean, look at us, for example. I'm a monster spirit. My misguided hatred ruined your childhood, and now this. What's next? We gonna turn into a tree or something?"

"I hope not. As it is, I already don't know what I am!"

"Well, it's obvious I'm a ghost duel spirit now. So maybe our next transformation will be like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," she said, rolling her eyes.

Judai paled. They'd read that story in school recently, and he knew he sure as hell didn't want to have something like that going on! This was close enough as it was.

"Don't even go there..."

"I wouldn't worry about that, young ones," a voice said.

A muscular white man with blue and red designs came down through the ceiling.

Yubel started. "Y-you're—!"

"Neos!?"

A hero from another planet, Neos was the one who had helped Judai save Yubel from the Light of Destruction. He had provided Judai with a means of freeing her from its control...even if that had resulted in him getting fused with her, creating a new body for him.

"I've come to congratulate you on your hard work so far," Neos said. "Thanks to that, you've grown much stronger, not only as a duelist, but as a person, too. Your fusion with Yubel only served to increase your powers even more. Perhaps the light misjudged how things were meant to play out because you now have more than enough power to awaken these cards and defeat Darkness once and for all."

As he spoke, Neos held up six rectangular stones, each tinted a different color—black, white, yellow, red, green, and blue. Each one looked like they could be card cases or something.

"Wait. What are you saying?" Yubel asked. "That this was a good thing? Are you crazy!?"

"Unfortunately not," he answered. "You're a monster of the dark attribute, and his powers grow in strength using the Darkness of Creation to fuel them. So, by fusing with a dark monster, it has magnified his powers tenfold."

Judai didn't understand a single word Neos had said, save that Yubel was a dark-attribute monster. He stared at him for a moment before saying, "Okay."

"Here, Judai. Try using your new powers to awaken these cards," Neos said, holding the colored stones out to him. "Then you're all set to fight Darkness whenever he appears."

Judai looked at the stones for a moment, unsure.

"What's wrong?" Neos asked. "They're not dangerous like the Super Polymerization card was. Trust me. Take these cards, and things will start getting better."

"Tree, Judai, tree," Yubel whispered in his mind, worried about what those cards would do to them.

Judai thought about that a second. "You sure about that?" he asked Neos.

Neos nodded.

"Okay, then," Judai said.

He reached out and took the cards, but nothing happened. They were just colored stones still.

"So, that's it?" Yubel asked, looking at the cards lamely. "Ooh, scary. Colored stones. What's so great about those?"

"You must use your new powers to activate them," Neos said. "Otherwise they'll remain useless."

"Powers? What powers?"

Yubel started. "Wait, I think I know..."

She transmitted her idea to Judai so he could try to activate the cards. He did as she instructed, transmitting dark energy to the cards in his hand. The cards reacted, glowing, changing, until he was holding six Duel Monsters cards.

As six new monsters appeared, Yubel gaped at Judai, staring at his face. He didn't notice—he was too busy gaping at his new monsters.

A large black cat—a panther—wearing a cape yawned and said, "What time is it?"

A black, humanoid scarab beetle asked, "And who are you? Are you the chosen duelist?"

Judai stared, somewhat stunned. "Uh, I guess..."

"Well, it's an honor to meet you," said a red bird, humanoid, with white wings. "My name is Air Hummingbird, and these are my companions. Flare Scarab, Grand Mole, Glow Moss, Aqua Dolphin, and Black Panther."

Looking at them, Judai could guess which was which—the beetle was Flare Scarab, the cat Black Panther. The others were equally obvious—Grand Mole was a giant mole with pieces of a drill split in half around it; Aqua Dolphin was a blue, humanoid dolphin; and Glow Moss was the glowing man.

Black Panther yawned, apparently still half asleep.

"I'm Judai..."

Aqua Dolphin nodded. "Well, Judai, since you awakened us, I assume you're the one we've been waiting for. So, from now on, we pledge to fight alongside you, and, together, we can put an end to Darkness once and for all."

The others nodded.

"It's all up to you now," Black Panther said. "The fate of the world is in your hands."

The six new monsters disappeared, and the cards entered his deck, which started glowing in rainbow colors for a moment. When the glowing ceased, Judai looked through his deck and found many new cards—Neos and the six Neo-Spacians he'd just met, along with support cards and Neos fusion monsters.

"...Okay, that's cool," Judai said, staring at his new deck.

Neos nodded before he, too, vanished, entering Judai's deck.

"...Judai...find a mirror, please...?" Yubel said, pointing at him in shock.

"Huh? Now what?" he asked her, worried.

She pointed at his bedroom mirror, wide-eyed, and said, "Just take a look..."

He walked over to the mirror and looked, not sure he wanted to know what had happened to him this time. What he saw made his eyes widen—which made the difference even more obvious. His eyes had changed colors. One was orange, the other was green.

It took a moment for him to recover and say, "Aw, man! How'd this happen!?"

"Beats me, but...can I have my eyes back please...?"

"...How...?" he asked, not sure how to get his eyes back to normal.

There was a knock at his door. "Judai?" his mother called. "Honey? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Mom!" he called back. Could her timing be any worse?

"You sure, son?" his dad asked. "Can we come in and see?"

Crap, they're both out there! What do I do!? Judai stared at the mirror, frantic. "Uh..."

The doorknob rattled. "Judai? Why's your door locked? Come on, son! Let us in! Don't make me break it down!"

I can't let them see this! What do I do!?

"Sunglasses! Over there!" Yubel said, pointing at a pair on top of his dresser. "Hurry!"

"Judai, I'm gonna count to three, and, if you haven't opened up by then, I'm coming in there!" his dad called. "One, two..."

Judai grabbed the sunglasses, putting them on as he opened the door.

"Thr—" His dad stopped, looking at him in confusion. "Why are you wearing sunglasses at this hour, son?"

Why am I wearing sunglasses, why am I wearing sunglasses...?

"The light in here's kinda bugging my eyes right now?" he said, sweating.

"Nice," Yubel said lamely.

"Oh, my poor baby," his mom said. "Are your eyes still recovering from that whole incident this afternoon? It's okay. I'll turn the lights down."

"Well, why didn't you say anything sooner?" his dad asked. "We can understand that, Judai. It's not that big of a deal. Sure. We'll turn the lights out. I've got a flashlight in the closet we can use instead."

"Good idea, dear." She turned back to her son and asked, "Would that help some, sweetie?"

"Yeah," Judai said, thinking that they couldn't see his eyes in the dark. "But you don't have to do that..."

"Nonsense," Mom said. "If it helps you, it doesn't matter what we have to do. I was thinking of going to bed early anyway. This just gives me more reason to." She smiled.

"O-okay..."

"Well, anyway, I'd better get that flashlight," Dad said, walking off.

"And I'll go light some candles," Mom said. She put a hand on Judai's shoulder. "It's going to be okay, sweetheart."

Yubel tried to suppress a laugh.

Oh, cut it out, Yubel, Judai thought.

"Candles. Priceless! Can't wait for dinner, then." She burst out laughing, unable to contain it.

I said, cut it out!

Yubel kept laughing as Judai's mom walked off.

"I can't!" she laughed. "It's too much!"

It's not that funny. Stop laughing and help me figure out how to fix this!"

"You're having a candlelit dinner with both your parents... Hilarious!" She smirked, thinking of his reactions to her attempts at romantic dinners with him when he was younger. They always made him so uncomfortable.

Yubel!

"R-right, sorry." She snickered again.

Judai shut his door and took off his sunglasses, looking in the mirror again as he thought about how to fix this little problem of his.

"Okay... What the heck caused this?"

"Well, I'm guessing using those new powers of yours did," Yubel said. "'Cause you were fine before that."

"So how do I undo it?"

"Hmm..."

While they tried to figure it out, Judai's eyes faded back to brown, though he couldn't figure out how it had happened—was it something he did or did those things have some sort of timer?

"...What just happened?" Yubel asked, slightly stunned.

"I don't know."

"Judai!" Mom called. "Dinner!"

He made his way through the (candlelit) house to dinner (by candlelight). Afterward, he and Yubel spent the better part of the night trying to figure out what had happened to change his eyes back to his original color.

"Judai? Honey? You planning on sleeping all day?" his mom asked, shaking him gently. "Come on, answer me."

He moaned. "Five more minutes..."

"So you're still recovering from that horrible ordeal, then? I take it that means you're too tired for breakfast?"

His eyes shot open. "Breakfast?"

Yubel humphed, sweating. "Typical."

"Oh, my! So you are awake!" Mom laughed, then said, "Then why not get up and get some breakfast. We have a surprise visitor for you."

Surprise visitor? Judai wondered. "Okay."

Mom smiled and walked out.

"Hmm. A surprise guest, huh? Three guesses."

Judai got dressed, then headed to breakfast. Sure enough, Yubel was right—Sho was sitting at the table, eating breakfast with Judai's parents.

"Aniki!" he said, a huge smile on his face. "You're up! How are you feeling!?"

"I'm fine, Sho," Judai answered with a smile. Please don't pounce me again, please don't pounce me again...

Sho sighed. "That's a relief. Your parents said you weren't feeling too well last night. So, are your eyes better today?"

Judai sweat. "Yeah."

"Yeah. They're fine for now, at least." Muttering, Yubel added, "Still don't get what happened, though."

"That's good. So, are you hungry? 'Cause your mom made scrambled eggs this morning!" Sho said cheerily.

"Yeah, I'm starved!" answered Judai as he sat down to eat.

"So, Aniki, if you're really okay, then, uh, would you feel up to going to the park today?" Sho said as they ate.

Judai swallowed a bite of food, then said, "Yeah, sure!"

"Great! 'Cause everyone's looking forward to seeing you again! They still can't believe you're really alive, Aniki!"

"I'm telling you guys, I saw it with my own two eyes!" Johan said to the others as they waited for Sho and Judai in the park. "He's alive and will be here soon to prove it!"

"Are you sure you didn't dream it?" Akiko asked for the tenth time.

Haruko sniffled and said, "You'd better be right, Johan..." Her face was red from crying over Judai's death. While she may not have loved him, she certainly didn't like having a friend of hers die so young, especially one with such a tragic past.

"No, it's true!" Asuka insisted. "Honest! He's a bit different now, but he is alive! So you can stop worrying about me now, Fubuki!"

Yep, her brother was among those gathered there. When he had learned that her friend had died—something that Haruko had called him about in tears—he'd been ready to comfort his sister on the death of her boyfriend. Then she came home smiling. When he mentioned the death, she had insisted he was alive and well. Feeling she'd gone into denial, Fubuki had decided to never leave her alone until she was out of it, even going so far as to sleep in her room the night before, regardless of how many times she hit him.

"But, Asuka—!"

Kathleen gasped. "Hey, guys! Look!" she said, pointing at something.

Everyone turned to where she was pointing to see Sho coming over with...Judai. All but Johan, Hayato, and Asuka stared.

"Hey, guys! Look what I brought!" Sho called as he ran over to join the others.

"Pinch me. I'm seeing things," Manjoume said. "Is that really who I think it is?"

"Hey, guys," Judai said.

Haruko stared. "He's..."

"Alive," Akiko finished.

Haruko stared another moment before correcting, "Hot..."

Asuka glared at Haruko. "What was that, Haru!?" she demanded.

"An observation. Don't worry, I know a guy who's taken when I see one!" she answered with a wink.

"But—that's... I mean, you can't be—What?" Kathleen stammered in total shock.

"I hate to say I told you so, but...," Johan said with a grin.

"Aw, come on! You all thought I was dead?" Judai said, also grinning.

"But that's impossible!" Amon said. "You couldn't be alive! Not without a body, that is!"

Judai shifted. "I have a body," he said defensively.

"It's true, guys!" Johan assured them. "And it comes complete with a beating heart, too, see!?" He gestured to Judai.

Manjoume gaped. Akiko, not taking Johan's word for it, grabbed Judai's arm.

"Hey...," he protested.

"...Well, Aki? Surely not, right?" Kathleen asked. I mean, something feels way different about him. What is that unusual power I'm feeling?

Akiko timed it, checking his pulse to make sure it was actually normal, not just there. After a minute, she let go, saying, "Well, not only does he have one, but it's normal."

"What!? But that's impossible! He doesn't feel normal!" Kathleen exclaimed. She covered her mouth, realizing what she'd just said. "Oops."

"What do you mean by that!?" Manjoume demanded.

Ojama Yellow appeared beside Manjoume, saying, "She's right, Aniki. He sorta feels like me, but not quite. Something's really off here. Why not ask him what's up?"

Manjoume looked straight at Judai, concerned.

Judai looked around at them all, suddenly worried. "What?"

"Judai, you feel kinda...supernatural," Kathleen said. "Like you're straight out of some horror movie, but I can't quite place my finger on what kind. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde comes to mind, though..."

"Okay," Yubel said lamely. "That's just rude."

"Wh-what!?" Asuka stared at him, concerned.

Judai just stared, not sure whether he should be insulted by Kathleen's words or worried by them.

When he didn't say anything, Asuka asked, "Judai, what exactly happened to you out there? I know what you said you were doing just before you disappeared, but what happened after that?"

"...I fused with Yubel... That's all I know."

"So let me get this straight," Kathleen started. "That declaration to fuse yourself and her actually worked? So are you saying you're part Yubel now, and she's what I'm sensing?"

"That's what I'm guessing..."

"So you're part duel spirit, now... Okay," she said. "I guess that's it, then. I take it back. You're not out of a horror movie. Just a fantasy one..." She laughed awkwardly.

Unbeknownst to anyone, Fubuki stood gaping. He's...what, now? Part...duel spirit? B-but that would mean... Nah, I must have heard them wrong. That can't be it!

"Okay. That's kinda cool," Manjoume admitted. "What's it like?"

Judai thought about his eyes changing colors last night as he answered, "Uh... Weird."

"Aw, come on, pal," Johan said. "Tell us what it's like. Bet it comes with some sweet perks! Like maybe you're less vulnerable to injury or disease now? Maybe you got some cool new superpowers, like the Hulk or Spiderman! Hey! Maybe I should try it!" He laughed.

"No," Judai said, sweating. "You shouldn't. Not unless you have to. I'm still figuring out what exactly it's done to me."

"So what have you learned so far?" Amon asked.

"That I've got new powers and my eyes change colors when I use them."

"Really!? Can we see!?" Kathleen said, getting overly excited. "Pretty please!? Huh!? Well!? Please!"

She had her hands cupped together, batting her eyelashes in an attempt to look cute. She reminded most of them of an excited fangirl asking her favorite celebrity for an autograph.

"No!" Judai said. After all, he didn't know how to undo it.

Kathleen deflated. "Aw, come on. Why not?" she whined.

"Three reasons..." He counted them off on his fingers. "1, We're in public. 2, I don't know exactly what that'll do. And 3, I don't know how to get my eyes back to normal afterwards!"

"Well, what causes them to change, exactly?" Kathleen asked.

"Using my powers, I guess..."

"Then I think I've got an idea," she said. "Come on! Let's take this some place more private!" She ran off, apparently not taking no for an answer.

"Kathy! Wait for us!" Johan called, running after her.

"Heh. This I gotta see. Come on, you idiot," Manjoume said, grabbing Judai's arm and dragging him off after Kathleen.

"But, I don't..."

The others followed, including Fubuki. Only later would anyone realize that it wasn't wise to be letting an outsider gain this sort of information about their friend, even if he was a brother of one of them. By the time they realized this, it would be too late.