A/N: Here's the next chapter. Enjoy! We don't own Yugioh GX or Yugioh 5D's.

Carly hopped in her car and drove straight to Manjoume and Jack's apartment. She parked in front of the building and ran to their door.

"Jack!" she called, pounding on the door. "Open up! It's me!"

Manjoume groaned, getting out of bed and heading for the door. It's nine in the freaking morning, people! I work the night shift! Show up later!

Annoyed and tired, he opened the door to see Carly standing there. "What do you want?" he demanded.

Carly ignored him, barging right past him.

"Hey!" he protested. "You can't—"

"Jack!" she called. "Where are you!? This is big news!"

In the bathroom, Jack groaned, turning off the water and grabbing his bathrobe before heading out. "What do you want, Carly?" he asked, his arms crossed.

"I've come to invite you both to Yusei and Aki's Christmas party this December 24th!" she answered. "It's going to be huge!"

"And just what makes you think—" Jack started.

"What makes you think we want to celebrate Christmas with a bunch of rich snobs?" Manjoume cut him off. "We don't even do Christmas!"

Carly put her hands on her hips. "Well, what if I said all your friends were the guests and not a bunch of 'rich snobs,' as you so rudely put it, Jun!"

He humphed in response, crossing his arms. "I don't want to hang out with a bunch of idiots, either."

"Yeah," Jack agreed. "Why waste time and money on people we can't stand the sight of? I'm not spending the day with Crow!"

"Or Judai! Now get lost!" Manjoume demanded, pointing at the door.

Deciding it was time to break out her trump card, Carly asked, "Well, what if I said we'll have a dueling contest? Aren't a lot of those guys Pro duelists, like you are? Don't you wanna know who's really the best in the whole wide world? It would be the scoop of a lifetime if either of you won!"

Manjoume smirked, his attitude about this changing drastically. "Alright! I'll come. It's about time I showed that idiot that I'm a better duelist than him!"

"Ha!" laughed Jack. "You can't even beat me, let a lone that idiot. I'll show everyone why I'm the real King."

"Oh, it's on, Jack!"

"Bring it!"

The two were in each other's faces by this point, and Carly figured that now would be a good time to wrap this up and leave before they could back out.

Very quickly, almost unintelligibly, she said, "So that means you're both coming!? Great! I'll go tell Yusei! See you, Jack! Oh! You, too, Manjoume! Bye-bye!"

And she ran out, leaving two rather baffled men staring after her.

"What just happened?" Jack asked after a moment.

Yusei, meanwhile, called the one who was the reason for this scheme—Judai. Unfortunately, things weren't going so well. When he heard Yusei's plan, his reaction was to refuse immediately, claiming he couldn't come.

"Why can't you make it, Judai?" Yusei asked. "It's not like you had any plans, anyway. Come on, man."

"A hero's work is never done, Yusei," he answered, effectively avoiding the question with a response that hardly counted as an answer.

"You can afford to take one day off. Come on. All your friends are gonna be there."

The fact that Judai added a new excuse left Yusei with the impression that he had said the wrong thing. "Yeah, well, I don't even know how I'd get there in the first place," the brunette said. "I'm not exactly in the same country."

"I don't care if you're in Siberia!" Yusei told him. "I'll get you some transportation, so get over here, already! You said you don't do Christmas because you're always all alone. So, by joining us for it, you'll have someone to hang with this year. What do you say?"

"I don't know, Yusei..."

"Come on, man. I'm doing all this for you. No one should be alone on Christmas. Please?"

After a moment's hesitation, Judai answered, "Okay. I guess I'll try to be there."

"Great. Where are you right now? I'll send someone to get you right away so you don't miss it."

What Yusei didn't tell Judai was that he was also making sure that he didn't back out at the last minute, which the "try" seemed to suggest might happen.

"India," he answered reluctantly. "Close to Mumbai."

"Right. Don't go anywhere! And I mean it this time. You'll be sending one of your own friends on a wild goose chase this time if you do, and I'm sure you don't want that. They'll be by to get you as soon as they can."

"Yeah, okay."

Needing to make sure that he was being clear, Yusei added, "I'm serious, Judai. Be. There. This. Time. Having to track you down all the time's why a lot of my pals don't want to come, okay?"

Over the last few years, whenever Yusei had tried to meet up with Judai, he—and his friends—had wound up going on a wild goose chase, only to end up never finding the brunette. All Yusei's friends who didn't know Judai were starting to think that he was a myth.

"Yeah, okay," Judai said, sounding a bit guilty.

"Good. See you soon." Ending the call, Yusei said, "Well, one down, a hundred to go." He called the next person on his list, thinking, Hmm. Wonder how the others are doing?

"Hey, bro!" Crow said when Sho picked up. "How's it hanging?"

"Uh, not too bad," came Sho's answer. "How are you, Crow?"

"Oh, I'm okay. Say, you got any plans for the holidays yet? Or would you like to join us over at Aki's for a special gathering?"

"I was actually planning on staying inside this holiday season so I don't get trampled by last-minute shoppers!"

...Okay, that answer was unexpected. Even coming from Sho.

"Dude! Are you saying you're hiding!? Christmas isn't dangerous!"

"Oh, yes, it is! I got trampled in the store last week, knocked over outside my own house, and I can't even go to the grocery store without that happening! I'm not going to risk my life for a Christmas party!"

Crow covered the mouthpiece and called to the other room, "Hey, Yusei! You get Judai to come!?"

"Yeah, I got him!" Yusei called back. "Why!? What's wrong, Crow!?"

Crow grinned, now having just the information he needed to get Sho here quicker than a flash. "Oh, it's nothing! Thanks, man!" To Sho, he continued, "Well, what if I told you that Judai Yuki was coming?"

"R-really!? Are you serious!?"

"Yup! It's too bad you're staying home. I bet he'd love to see you."

"Who said I'm staying home!? I'll be there, definitely!"

"Really?" Crow asked, still grinning. "But I thought you wanted to survive this year? You do get trampled a lot, after all."

"So!? If Aniki's coming, then I'm coming! I'll see you then!"

And Sho hung up, without so much as a goodbye.

Crow grinned wider. Man, that was almost too easy. Turning to his list of names, he said, "Now, let's see..."

Ruka, meanwhile, had gone home with Rua and called Duel Academy. Unfortunately, there was no answer.

Rua leaned against the wall next to her, his arms crossed, and watched her failed attempts. He humphed. "I still can't believe you're trying this. She's our teacher, Ruka! You don't invite your own teacher to your parties! That's just plain weird."

"She doesn't have anyone to spend it with, Rua! How many times I gotta tell you that!?" She hung up the phone for the third time, having still received no answer.

"Heh. Like you can reach her, anyway," he said triumphantly. "We should just go help Aki get the party ready and forget about it."

"I'm not giving up that easily, Rua. She must have her own number I can call. I just have to figure out what it is! Now, let's see..."

She grabbed the graduation album from last year. While she had only been a first year at the time, she had gotten one simply because some teachers tended to write their phone numbers in them. It seemed ridiculous, but Cronos had started it about four or five years ago, she heard, and most of the other teachers just went along with it, figuring that they'd never hear from those kids again, anyway.

Rua closed his eyes with a grin and shrugged. "Heh. You're too nice sometimes, Ruka. She probably doesn't care, anyway, right?"

"I've got it!" Ruka cheered, dialing the number.

"Huh!? Rua asked, startled. "Y-you do!?"

"Hello? Miss Tenjoin?"

"Ruka?" Asuka asked, confused. "How did you get this number? Is something wrong?"

"No. Nothing's wrong. Sorry, it was in an old graduation album I collected last year. I was just calling to see if you wanted to attend our Christmas party this year. It's going to be a lot of fun."

"Ruka, that's sweet, but are you sure you want to invite your teacher to your party? I mean, don't you think your friends might feel a bit awkward?"

"Well, not really," she answered. "Most of them are closer to your age, and it's my friend Aki Izayoi that's hosting it, so..."

"Aki Izayoi? You're friends with her?" Asuka asked, startled.

"Yes. We met her through my friend Yusei Fudo. Why? Something wrong?"

Asuka could hardly believe what she was hearing. Ruka and Rua were friends with Yusei and Aki, and those were the friends they were spending the holidays with. "No, nothing's wrong," she answered. "Sure, I'll be there. When is it?"

"December 24th. At the mayor's house in Domino city. I think she said it started around 6?"

"Alright, then. I'll see you then, Ruka."

"Great!" Ruka said, smiling. "See you soon, Miss Tenjoin! Goodbye now!"

She hung up the phone and turned to her gaping brother.

"Sis! You really invited her!? But that's so weird!"

"That's enough, Rua. I'm not arguing with you about this anymore. She's coming, anyway, so you might as well just shut up and act your age." Muttering, she added, "Not your dueling IQ."

"H-hey!" he stammered, insulted. "Ruka, I'm not that bad!"

"Okay. Now let's go help Aki prepare! I want this to be Miss Tenjoin's best Christmas ever," Ruka said, heading out.

Rua stood there another moment before, "H-hey! You can't even drive!" Running after her, he added, "Wait for me, already!"

The rest of the week was spent getting ready for the party. Somebody went a little overboard with the invitations, but the more the merrier, right? Besides, they were all friends of somebody in their little group—well, mostly.