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: Red To Black: Chapter 4: Hot Anger To Cold Judgment
Characters: Juudai
Word Count: chapter: 1,063||story: 4,303
Genre: Drama, Angst||Rated: PG-13
Challenge: Yu-Gi-Oh GX Non-Flash Bingo; Diversity Challenge, section I, #19, chapters between 1000-2000 words
Notes: This begins in episode 136, just after Jim and O'Brien leave to follow Shou. Juudai's mind did not fracture into Juudai & Haou and this will be a retelling of how he came to power.
Summary: Juudai's always won before and it always fixed everything. But now that he's won and it's fixed nothing, what can he do?

Fury burned through him; not to the levels that he'd experienced against Brron, but a darker sort of anger all the same. He couldn't let this go unavenged. Mockery of those who'd died to Brron's evil schemes or innocent commentary, Juudai didn't care. All he cared about now was putting an end to the foul tongue of the one who'd said those words.

All the others in the tavern cleared out of the way, and his rage wasn't assuaged at all by seeing them nudge each other and whisper about how long it would take Prominence Knight to finish him. No one here had come from Brron's arena. No one had seen him duel before.

They would never forget seeing it this time.

He started the duel, scanning his cards, and vaguely noting that something about them appeared different. They hadn't changed however, so he ignored that faint ghost of a shadow, and focused his attention on finishing this duel with all due speed.

"Kid, seriously, you're going to regret this," Prominence Knight told him, shaking his head even as he pulled out his cards. "At least, I hope that you will." He looked at Juudai across the far too short distance. At least in Juudai's opinion it was too short. He kept wondering what it would be like to strangle his opponent instead of dueling him. "When you calm down, we can stop the duel."

Juudai bared his teeth. It wasn't even close to a smile and no one would've ever mistaken it for one. "I would hope you know the rules of your own world. Once a duel's started, it can't be stopped."

He actually didn't know if that were true or not. There had to be exceptions, otherwise, no one could duel for practice. He doubted anyone dueled for fun here. But at the moment, he didn't want any answer aside from the one he'd just given.

A sigh was his only answer. The betting stakes against Juudai rose higher. He stopped caring about those. They would learn the truth, if he had to burn it into each and every one of them.

In all truth, it couldn't have been called a duel. Or it might've been, but anyone who tried saying it was would've been wrong.

This was a slaughter and Juudai was the slaughterer. Prominence Knight inflicted less than two hundred points of damage by his second turn. He did not get a third.

What caught Juudai's attention more than anything else was the way that his cards looked. That alone distracted Juudai enough that the knight gained a second turn in the first place.

Fusion looked different. It worked the same; he figured that out by fusing Burst Lady and Featherman. But to his eyes, for a few passing seconds, he'd thought he'd seen a slightly different design and other words on the card.

Dark Fusion? He'd never known that card before. He knew, or thought he knew, just about every kind of Fusion card there was. But that one was new. Or he'd never seen it before.

A blink or two to clear his sight put Fusion back the way it belonged and he finished the duel with heartstopping power. Prominence Knight didn't get a chance for any last words, vanishing with a pained scream that echoed off the walls.

Juudai gathered his cards back together and turned toward all the others gathered together. Not one of them looked ready to say anything at all to him. From how pale and terrified they all were, he wondered if they felt like saying anything at all, ever again.

That was fine by him. He doubted they had anything intelligent to say in the first place.

He wrapped his cloak back around himself and headed for the door. This time, no one stopped him.

He didn't know how long it was before he found a place to rest for a while. He scarcely spent a thought on Prominence Knight. What consumed all of his interest was Fusion.

Or the vague image he'd had of Dark Fusion.

Juudai stretched out, having taken refuge in a small cave, and stared down at the card. It didn't look any different now than it had all the other times he'd used it. But he did not forget what he'd seen, strange as it was.

Slowly he took his deck apart and laid out each of his fusions, staring at them with the same intent he did Fusion itself. None of them looked any different. Nor did their fusion material.

He traced one finger over Neos and wondered. Was I just seeing things?

It wasn't impossible, he guessed. He'd been beyond furious when it happened. He counted himself kind of lucky that he'd been able to stay focused enough to win in the first place.

Though, he had to admit, when he got mad, he didn't have to worry about losing focus. The reverse happened. He got so focused he couldn't think about anything or anyone except what had ticked him off in the first place.

He brushed that away for now. This was a lot more important.

"Neos," he murmured low, knowing that the Neo-Spacian leader heard him. "Did Super Fusion do something to my deck?" This hadn't happened until after he'd put Super Fusion into the deck anyway.

For long minutes he waited for the answer, and with each passing breath, Juudai grew more and more nervous. He wanted the answer, but he didn't want it at the same time.

Then, finally, Neos spoke. "No, Juudai. Super Fusion hasn't done anything to your deck."

Juudai nodded, then began to gather up his cards again. It was too late to do much else about this, but he made up his mind. He needed to find out more about what was going on here, because even if Super Fusion hadn't done anything, then something had happened. He knew it. He didn't think that he'd seen things. At least not things that didn't exist.

So he wanted to find out what Dark Fusion was and what it meant for him to see it in his deck.

He'd seen smoke rising from chimneys before he'd curled up in this cave. He would go there after he rested. And he would find out what was going on with his deck.

To Be Continued