Disclaimer: We don't own Yugioh GX.
As I flew back to Elise's place, I thought about what had happened back there. Those guys were seriously convinced that I was the prince they were looking for, and I got the feeling that they weren't the good guys, considering they locked me up.
I racked my brains, but I couldn't think of what that place could have been. A retirement home? No, the residents were mostly young—some were only about my age. A psychiatric hospital? Doubtful, considering the only guys who didn't seem to be patients were insane. A jail? Nah, the only one who was locked up there was me. So what was that place?
While I was trying to sort through this whole thing, Flame Wingman flew me over mountains, forests, lakes, and rivers. I didn't know which way I wanted to go, but Flame Wingman must have because he eventually touched down in front of Elise's house. Well, with that in mind, I wondered if I should ask him to take me home. Then again, knowing my luck, he didn't know where that was, either. That, or I didn't have a home.
The clock on the wall read 8:56. How I managed to beat Elise back, I'll never know, considering I had to fly halfway across the world. Maybe it wasn't as far as I thought it was, though. But I was too tired to think about that, so I just flopped on the couch and tried not to think too much.
Failed there.
Where was that place? What was that place? I mean, I get that it was their hideout, but those four emperors aren't alone in this gang of theirs, so who are they, exactly? What do they want with me?
I hadn't come up with any answers to any of my questions when Elise came through the door at 9:25. She walked into the living room, a bag of takeout in hand, to find me still lying on the couch.
When she asked, "I'm back, Jaden. How'd it go?" I figured I shouldn't tell her what had happened. She'd flip and call the police again, and I was starting to get the feeling that Asuka was right—the police couldn't do anything to help.
"Oh, fine," I told her. "How was work?"
"Oh, it was alright. We had to do a blood test today to determine..." Since I wasn't really interested, I tuned her out as she went on and on and on about how work was. Seriously, did I ask for the detailed version of her day? As she was talking, she moved to the dining room, so, in the interest of pretending I was interested—and to get some of the food she'd brought home—I followed. She kept talking while she put the bag down on the table and pulled a salad out of it. Finally, she sat down and said, "But enough about that. How was your day?"
"Oh, pretty uneventful," I answered, waving my hand. "Sho came over, so we hung out. That's about it."
Yep. That was it. Nothing else. No attempted kidnappings, no successful kidnappings. Nothing. Nada.
She must have believed me because she said, "I see. Sounds like fun. Although, you did remember to do your chores first, right? As I always say, a clean house is a happy house."
"Yeah, I did my chores."
"Good." She took a bite of her salad. Then, pointing at the bag on the table, she added, "Oh, I took the liberty of ordering you a club sandwich. I hope you don't mind."
Well, I sure didn't mind! I sat down and pulled the sandwich out, feeling half-starved. "Thanks."
"No problem."
We didn't talk anymore that night as we ate our very late dinners.
In my room that night, I found myself thinking about that place again, even though I knew full well that I wasn't getting any closer to figuring out what was going on.
What was that place? Why was everyone dressed in white? It seems...bad. And that voice I keep hearing... What is it? I guess it's friendly since it helped me out, but that doesn't tell me what it is.
I couldn't figure it out. The worst part was that I didn't think this place was bad because they kidnapped me. No, I was thinking that all the white was bad. What did I have against white? Was there some sort of gang that wore white? I mean, apparently there was some kind of group that did, but what was it?
I spent a couple of hours thinking about it before I finally figured out that it wasn't doing me any good. Then I finally managed to get some sleep.
The note Elise left for me the next day said to clean the kitchen and bathroom, in addition to dishes and vacuuming. Ugh, I hate vacuums!
I groaned. "Seriously?"
There were directions for cleaning the kitchen and bathroom on the back of the note, but I still didn't want to do it. Besides, why did she need the floor vacuumed every day!?
"I'm not sweeping the floors again," I said to myself. "I've done that two days in a row! It can't be that bad again already!"
The note taunted me, though: "A clean house is a happy house! Never forget that, Jaden. ;)"
I gritted my teeth and said, "Talk about being a neat freak!"
Well, since I hadn't cleaned the bathroom or the kitchen yet, I did do those, but I made sure that I didn't use any dishes—that way, there weren't any to wash—and I decided not to vacuum.
I was wiping down the counters in the kitchen when Elise's phone rang, so I picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Hello. Is this the Tomasko residence?" a man asked on the other end.
Tomasko. Right. That was Elise's last name.
"Yes?" I said. "Who is this?"
"I'm calling about a request she put in to see the king. Is Ms. Elise available?"
"She's at work right now. She won't be home until late. Can I take a message?"
"Tell her that her request has been processed and, due to the circumstances, and appointment has been made for this Friday. Did you get all that?"
Well. That didn't take long. "Uh-huh. I'll tell her. Thanks."
"The king looks forward to your visit, sir. Have a nice day."
The guy hung up right after that, so I just put the phone back on the hook.
"Huh," I said. "That was quick. I'd think it would take longer to get in."
I didn't figure that amnesia was that important that the king would drop everything to deal with it. That is, unless they were thinking I might be someone important. Oh, were they thinking I might be that prince, too? There was no way that I could be a prince! At least, I was pretty sure there wasn't...
There was a knock at the door, dragging me from my thoughts. I headed for the door and checked the peephole before answering—hey, no reason to open the door for my enemies, right?
Uh, well, maybe there was.
That Asuka girl was standing on the porch. Sure she might not have been an enemy, per se, but she wasn't somebody I wanted to open the door for. I probably wouldn't have if she'd been alone, but she wasn't. She brought company. Those two black-haired guys from the grocery store were with her. I was pretty sure I'd heard their names before, but I couldn't remember what they were. One of them was wearing a pretty expensive white suit, but the other guy... Good grief, where did he get his clothes!?
He was wearing a black shirt that looked like silk, very expensive-looking leather pants that I figured were one of a kind, brown boots that must have cost enough money to make a small town go without food for a month, and a deep blue trench coat with—and here's the kicker—gold trim. Literally, he was wearing gold. I'm not talking gold colored trim, I am talking genuine gold. Not on jewelry, on his coat! There was a crest on the left side of his coat, over his heart: the kanji for 10,000 with a circle around it.
Besides their clothes, their looks were different. The not-so-crazily-rich guy looked confused. Captain Gold Coat looked annoyed. When I opened the door, my expression was more closely related to that of Normally Dressed Dude than Captain Gold Coat—confusion. For more reasons than one.
"You're back?" I asked Asuka. "And you brought... Who are these guys?"
"These guys are here to help you, Jaden," she answered, as if she actually wanted to help. "They come from the upper parts of town and might be able to identify you, if you're lucky. If you're really a prince, we'll know soon enough."
I bit my lip before I could say that she probably only wanted to know so that she could scold me for running away.
Gold Coat humphed. "This is stupid. Why would a runaway prince hide out here, of all places?"
"You don't look like a prince to me," the other guy said. "Mind if we ask you a few questions?"
"Go ahead, but don't be surprised if I don't know the answer," I said.
"Great. Mind if we come in, then? Or are we gonna play 20 Questions out here where everyone can hear us?" Gold Coat asked, annoyed.
I wanted to tell him to take his fancy gold coat and go for a long walk off a short pier, but I stepped aside and, flatly, said, "Come on in."
Yeah, I guess I'm just too nice sometimes.
The three of them walked in, and Gold Coat complained almost as soon as he was through the front door. "Arg, what a dump. When's the last time you cleaned?"
"What are you talking about?" the guy in the suit asked. "It's not too bad in here."
"Can you two please focus?" Asuka said before I could snap that I'd cleaned yesterday and the day before and had been cleaning that day. "You're here to help identify this guy, not criticize his living space."
"Whatever."
They followed me into the living room, where the rich guys sat on the couch.
Needless to say, it wasn't up to Gold Coat's standards.
"Hmph. Even the seats are crappy. Glad I'm not this bad off," he muttered.
I just blinked at him, too stunned for words. What did he have in his home, clouds?
"Well, anyway, my name's Daichi Misawa," the less rich guy said, "and this here's Jun Manjoume. He comes from one of the richest families around here, so don't be surprised if he's a little uncomfortable. He's not used to these lumpy couches, that's all."
"Anyway, you two, you were saying?" Asuka said, trying to get them back on track before I asked about how that couch could ever qualify as "lumpy."
"Right," Misawa said. "Okay. First off, how good are you at combat? Do you know how to use a sword?"
Combat? Sword? I thought about it for a second, then said, "I think so."
He pulled a wooden stick out of nowhere and tossed it at me—a practice sword. "Here, catch!"
Well, I was good at playing catch, anyway. I got it by the handle, even. Misawa stood up and pulled out another, which is when I realized that he actually wanted to try some sword-fighting in the living room.
"Alright! Let's see your skills! Just so you know, I'm well-educated in all forms of swordplay, so you'd better be prepared."
"Uh, Elise isn't gonna be too happy with me if we make a mess," I said.
"Point made. Let's take this outside, then," he said, heading for the door.
Asuka followed, then Manjoume got up, looking smug, and headed outside, too, saying, "This I gotta see."
Well, since I really didn't have much of a choice, I followed the three of them outside. Hopefully I did know how to use a sword because, otherwise, this would probably be embarrassing.
We stood across from each other, a few feet apart. Misawa adopted a stance I was pretty sure you used in fencing and said, "Alright! Prepare yourself! 'Cause I'm not holding anything back!"
"Let's go, Jaden!" Asuka called—cheered? "Show us what you've got!"
Misawa lunged at me, and I parried his strike, retaliating with my own. We wound up going back and forth like that, both of us trying to catch the other off guard with feints and surprise strikes. He nearly knocked my blade out of my hand, but I tossed it over to my left one before he could, switching back later. Surprisingly, we were pretty evenly matched. That is, until we got locked in an intense struggle and I finally managed to knock Misawa's blade out of his hand. Then I pointed mine at his chest like I was going to finish him off.
Uh, I meant his stick. It was wood. Not a blade, a piece of wood shaped kind of like a blade.
Apparently I wasn't the only one who was surprised by my actually knowing how to use a sword. Manjoume and Asuka were staring in silence.
"Th...that was..." Misawa breathed.
Stunned, I hadn't lowered my blade yet. I hadn't even realized how I was standing until just then. My shoulders were back, my body turned slightly so that my sword arm was closer to Misawa. I relaxed my stance, still getting over the fact that I knew what I was doing with that.
After a moment of stunned silence, Asuka said, "Wow... Jaden? How'd you do that? Misawa never loses!"
"Who is this guy?" Manjoume asked quietly.
I thought that was a good question—they both were, really—so I answered Asuka with, "I...I don't know."
"Okay, next question!" Manjoume said, storming over to me. "Have you ever been horse-back riding? Come on! Out with it!"
I thought about it, and my eyes widened slightly as an image of a muddy brown horse came to mind. "I...think so. I...I remember a horse..."
Manjoume whistled, and a horse as black as night ran over, saddled and bridled. The saddle matched his trench coat. Yep. In the middle of a not-rich suburb, Captain Gold Coat had brought a horse with gold on its saddle.
Asuka gasped, showing me that I wasn't the only one who thought it was weird. "You brought a horse to a small suburban area like this!? Whatever for!?"
"Then prove it!" Manjoume said, not answering Asuka's question. "Get on it and do a lap around the block! Make it quick, too, or I'll assume you lied and got horse-napped."
Horse-napped. Nice word, Manjoume. Still, I did what he said. Consciously, I didn't have a clue what I was doing, but my body took over for me. I put one foot in the stirrup and pulled myself up. Gripping the reins, I sat up straight, feeling...strangely powerful and important. Then, leaving the other three staring after me, I urged the horse off for a run around the block—or whatever it's called.
Asuka's POV
The three of us just stood there, staring after Jaden, as he called himself. The way he'd handled himself in that match against Misawa, it had been like watching a professional match. Jaden had started by testing his opponent, guarding himself very carefully while still pushing forward. He never let Misawa slip past his guard, and I'm not even sure that he was entirely aware of everything he was doing at the time.
Then, the way he handled that horse... First of all, I had the urge to bow or call him "sir" when he mounted it. He just had this aura of power about him, even though he was dressed in clothes that probably cost even less than what I was wearing at the time. Then, when he rode off, he didn't have any trouble controlling the animal.
"Wow..." Misawa said, surprised. "You may be onto something after all, Asuka. He really could be Prince Judai..."
"Prince, schmince!" Manjoume said. "What kind of prince runs away from his own kingdom to become a nobody!? He's no prince, as far as I'm concerned."
I didn't say anything. I had to agree with Manjoume—if Jaden was Prince Judai, and he had run away, then he wasn't much of a prince.
Speaking of Jaden, he turned the corner and came back just about then, slowing the horse to a stop before dismounting like a pro.
Jaden's POV
"Jaden," Asuka said. "That was..."
"Right. Next question!" Misawa said, his hands behind his back. "Which do you like best. This?" He pulled out a picture of something kings might have worn in about the 1300s. It had poofy shoulders and fur lining the cape. "Or this?" The second picture was more modern, losing the fur and the poofy shoulders. The cape was held on by a gold chain up near the neck. "And what adjustments would you say would make your favorite even better?"
"And how's that gonna prove anything?" Asuka asked.
I grimaced at the ancient one—seriously, not even if you paid me, Misawa—and then pointed at the second, saying, "But ditch the cape. Those are for formal occasions and public appearances only. You don't need them for everyday wear." I blinked, realizing what I'd just said, then asked, "Where did that come from?"
The other three gasped.
"Impossible!" Misawa exclaimed. "Th-there's no way—"
"Alright, then, genius!" Manjoume yelled, getting up in my face and glaring at me. "Here's my next question, then! Can you duel or not?"
Can I duel? I didn't even hesitate with that one. "Yes."
No sooner had I said that then Manjoume activated his duel disk, saying, "Prove it! Let's see you beat me! But, just so you know, nobody beats Manjoume Thunder at dueling, so you better prepare to lose!"
I activated my duel disk, excited about this challenge. "Okay! Bring it on, Thunder!"
"Here goes!"
"DUEL!"
