A bit earlier this week, but I've made you all wait long enough in the past ^^
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh GX
Part IV. Oceania
Chapter 11: New Zealand, Wellington
They'd been sitting under a tree close to the parliament building for about half an hour when Shou arrived, slightly out of breath. Yubel noticed him first, and slightly nudged Juudai, who hadn't been paying attention to the road. Instead he'd been trying to fashion a chain of small leaves, using his darkness to weld them together. It was working out admirably well.
"Aniki!" Shou shouted from across the road. He let a truck pass and then crossed it, waving at Juudai.
"Shou!" Juudai greeted, quickly finishing off his chain with a flower he'd created himself and attaching the two ends to each other. He eyed it critically. Not bad, even if he did say so himself. "Good to see you!"
He decided to forgo the exit and instead jumped right over the hedge, onto the sidewalk. Pharaoh followed him a bit slower and walked up to Shou, tail in the air. Shou picked him up and petted him on the head.
"Hello, Aniki," Shou said, sounding out of breath. "You haven't been waiting long, have you?"
"Not long at all," Juudai assured him, pulling his jacket closer around him. One problem with traveling around the world was that you never quite knew which season you'd end up in. Wellington was still a few weeks away from Spring, and a strong wind was blowing through the city. Shou was better dressed for the weather. He'd obviously been forewarned.
"We're staying in an apartment at the bay," Shou explained, leading Juudai across the road. "Our sponsors set it up. It's not much, but we probably aren't staying long anyway. Oh, did you hear? Asuka-san has just started her first term in America last week!"
Juudai knew Asuka had gone to America to study, but he hadn't been able to visit her. Maybe later, when all this was over. There were so many places he hadn't gone to yet and so many people he hadn't seen yet… The universe was so big, and he had the power to go almost everywhere he wanted. Juudai was determined to make use of it. But first there was Chaos to deal with, and he really wanted to know what Shou wanted to show him.
"So Kenzan-kun and Rei-chan will be going back to Duel Academia soon, and Fujiwara-san is probably joining them," Shou explained. It was a nice Monday evening, and several people were on the road, going home, or, in the case of a few groups of students, planning to make the most of the night. They turned a corner and suddenly ended up at the seaside. The wind blew even stronger here, and Juudai tried to huddle deeper into his jacket, with little success.
"I'm sure they'll do great," he told Shou. Knowing Kenzan and Rei-chan, they'd rule the school. "Is it always this windy here?"
"Pretty much," Shou nodded. "You get used to it. But we're almost there."
"One moment," Juudai said, looking at the improvised necklace he was still holding and shrugging, before hanging it onto the branch of a nearby tree. Maybe a passing bird could use it to build a nest. A well-protected nest, if Juudai had any say about it.
Shou waited patiently until Juudai was done and then led him inside a small apartment building. There weren't many people inside. Shou greeted a couple passing them on the way to the exit and waited for the elevator to come.
"We have two floors," Shou said. "They were very generous and the place is nice." He entered the elevator with Juudai and let it take them to the fourth floor. "We have a kitchen and everything!"
He left the elevator and opened a door a little down the hall. "Here we are. Do you want anything to eat? Or to drink?"
"No thanks" Juudai said quickly. He didn't often forgo food, but he wanted to know what Shou had discovered. "What was it you wanted to show me?"
"Just a second," Shou said, bending over and taking out a slim laptop from a drawer near the TV set. He turned it on and waited for it to finish booting up, explaining what they'd found at the same time. "It's a video clip we got a few days ago, with Johan dueling. Apparently this happened on the same day we got the clip."
"When was that?"
"Three days ago, I think," Shou replied. Juudai quickly did the math. That meant the duel had happened a little after Athena had called him when they'd been in Jakarta.
"It was an unofficial duel," Shou continued. "And we're lucky we even have the footage. His opponent is not anyone we know, but the duel was filmed in Europe."
He started the clip. The image was blurry, but Johan was clearly visible. His opponent was a girl of about the same age. Her duel disk was a custom-made model, strapped to her right arm, and she was using her left hand to draw her cards. They were standing in plain public, on a large square with a tower in the background. The duel seemed to have attracted a lot of attention, because the two duelists were surrounded by a crowd of onlookers. The
"I'm fast-forwarding a bit," Shou told him, moving the cursor and restarting the clip a little past the middle. "The first part is not terribly interesting. It's here that it gets strange."
Both Johan and his opponent had no more monsters left on the field, but Johan had Ruby Carbuncle, Sapphire Pegasus and Cobalt Eagle in his spell and trap card zone and still had all his life points. The girl had two cards face-down and 3800 of her life points left.
"My turn," Johan announced loudly, drawing one card. He added it to his hand and took another one out.
"I activate Gem's Contract." He played the card. "And it lets me summon one Gem Beast from my spell and trap card zone. Come out, Ruby Carbuncle!"
Juudai nodded as on the screen, the little monster appeared in a bright red flash. He could see what was going to happen.
"Ruby Carbuncle's effect activates when she is special summoned," Johan continued. "I get to summon all the Gem Beasts in the spell and trap card zone."
His opponent visibly blanched and Juudai saw her quickly do the math. She didn't have much time left. Cobalt Eagle and Sapphire Pegasus appeared on either side of Ruby Carbuncle.
"Through Sapphire Pegasus' effect, I get to take out one Gem Beast from my deck and put it in my spell and trap card zone," Johan continued, taking out a card and playing it. Amber Mammoth's gem appeared. "Now, Ruby, Sapphire and Cobalt. Direct attack!"
The girl shielded herself as the three monsters hit her in quick succession. Her life points dropped all the way down to 300.
"I play one card face-down," Johan concluded, placing the last card in his hand on his duel disk. "Turn end."
His opponent got up slowly and drew one card. Unexpectedly, she smiled.
"I have to thank you," she told Johan. "For summoning so many monsters. Because it means I can do this." She flipped the card she'd just drawn. "I summon Super Hot-Blooded Baseball Kid!"
In a flash of fire, the little kid appeared, tightly clutching his baseball bat and glaring at the Gem Beasts. They weren't impressed.
"He's only got 500 attack points," Johan pointed out.
"But he's got a powerful effect," his opponent replied, undisturbed. " For every fire monster on the field other than himself, he gains 1000 attack points. And before you say that there aren't any fire monsters, I'm playing this."
She took out a second card. DNA Transplant.
"This lets me change the attribute of all monsters on the field," she declared. "And of course I'm choosing Fire."
Ruby Carbuncle's tail orb was suddenly surrounded by flames. She yelped and frantically waved her tail up and down, trying to extinguish the fire before noticing they didn't harm her. Johan smiled slightly at the sight of her. Meanwhile, Sapphire Pegasus' and Cobalt Eagle's wings transformed into what seemed to be pure fire. And Super Hot-Blooded Baseball Kid's attack points shot all the way up to 3500.
"Now I activate both Spirit Barrier and Astral Barrier," the girl continued, waving at the two face-down cards on her field. "Astral Barrier directs all attacks straight to me, and Spirit Barrier prevents me from losing life points as long as I have a monster on the field."
Juudai, still watching the clip intently, nodded. Not an unbreakable lock if you had the right cards, but it was definitely good to stall Johan for some time.
"Now, attack Ruby Carbuncle!" the girl announced. Red Hot-Blooded Baseball Kid tossed up a ball and hit it with all his might. It turned into a flaming mass and knocked out Ruby Carbuncle, destroying her and bringing Johan's life points down to 800. Ruby's gem reappeared on the field and Red Hot-Blooded Baseball Kid's attack points went down to 2500.
"I play one card face-down as well and end my turn." Johan's opponent said as a new card appeared. "Uh, are you okay?"
Johan didn't reply. His head was bowed and his hands clenched. Juudai bent closer to the screen, trying to get a better look, and Shou shook his head.
"Here it gets weird," he said to Juudai. "Watch the next turn."
In the clip, Johan had regained his composure. He gave the girl on the other side of the field a hard look, and drew one card.
"I don't like people who hurt my family," he said slowly. His opponent stared incredulously.
"It's a duel!" she shouted back at him. "What do you expect me to do, let you run all over me?"
Johan ignored her. "I activate my face-down card: Gem Prayer. By sending one gem to the graveyard," Ruby Carbuncle's gem disappeared, "it lets me destroy one card on your field, and I choose Red Hot-Blooded Baseball Kid."
"What?" Juudai shouted in disbelief. "He did what?"
"It's almost over," Shou said quietly. "Keep watching."
"I activate Emergency Provisions!" Johan's opponent shouted before Red Hot-Blooded Baseball Kid had even disappeared completely. "And I tribute Spirit Barrier, Astral Barrier and DNA Transplant to regain 3000 life points!"
"Won't save you," Johan said, taking the card he'd just drawn. "E-Force. This allows me to summon one Gem Beast from my spell and trap card zone. Come forth, Amber Mammoth!"
He paused for a second, looking at the three monsters on his field, then said, almost in a whisper: "Direct attack."
His opponent barely had the time to look afraid before the three monsters stomped over her. The clip ended just as her life points hit zero.
"Rewind it, quick!" Juudai ordered. Shou didn't even ask for clarification, but went back to the point where Johan activated Gem Prayer.
"Johan destroyed an opponent's card…" Juudai whispered. "Johan destroyed an opponent's monster!" Why is he doing that!"
He remembered the first time he'd dueled Johan, almost a year ago now. Johan had been furious when Juudai'd destroyed Ruby Carbuncle through a card effect. And in every subsequent duel, he'd never once destroyed an opponent's monster through anything that wasn't battle. Johan had showed him his deck once, and Juudai was sure Gem Prayer had never even been in it. Why had he added it now? What was he doing?
"Aniki, you said that Amethyst Cat had disappeared, right?" Shou asked quietly.
"She has, yes." Juudai replied, not taking his eyes off the screen. Something else was off, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
"There was something he said," Shou said, rewinding the clip again. "Here, before he activates that card. 'I don't like people who hurt my family'. Do you think that's the problem?"
"That makes sense, he's trying to protect them." Juudai stared at the screen again. "But why didn't they say something to him…That's it!"
He took the mouse from Shou and started watching the movie a little earlier, this time paying special attention to the Gem Beasts.
"Aniki?"
"I didn't realize it because of the commotion with Gem Prayer, but look at the Gem Beasts."
"They look normal to me," Shou said hesitantly, watching the clip closely with Juudai.
"Exactly," Juudai nodded. "They look normal. But you know Johan talks to his monsters, right?"
"Yes," Shou confirmed. "Like you do."
"You wouldn't have noticed, but I've never seen him duel and not talk to them, or they to him." Juudai started watching from the very beginning to confirm his theory. "But look, nothing. He's not talking to them, they're not talking to him. They're just normal monsters."
"That's not right, is it?"
"No, no, it's definitely not. This combined with that Gem Prayer card…" Juudai paused as a thought came to him. "Chaos said he blocked the connection with Amethyst Cat. What if it's not just her? What if it's all of them?"
No, Juudai, look.
Juudai followed Yubel's advice a bit quizzically and stared back at the screen.
Look, when that girl uses DNA Transplant. Look at Ruby Carbuncle.
"I see!" Juudai exclaimed. On the screen, Ruby was trying to shake off the flames around her tail and Johan was smiling at her. It was a very small smile, not at all like what Juudai was used to, but he was smiling nonetheless.
"It's not all of the Gem Beasts," Juudai explained to Shou, pointing at the screen. "He still has a connection with Ruby Carbuncle. Chaos didn't manage to block them all!"
"Chaos?" Shou asked, puzzled. "What's Chaos?"
"Oh!" Juudai smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry, I haven't told you yet. It's a bit of a long story, so maybe we should wait until Kaiser gets back? I don't want to tell it twice."
"That's good," Shou replied, shutting down the computer and standing up. "He should be back soon, it's almost dinnertime. And Aniki," Shou got up and took out his deck. "How about we play a quick duel?"
Juudai smiled widely. "No need to ask me twice!"
0o0o0
Juudai eventually won the duel, but it was a very close call. The Pro Leagues had evidently benefited Shou. He was much more confident in his abilities and the new deck he was running, made from his old deck and the deck his brother had used to play, seemed to follow his every wish. If it hadn't been for a conveniently placed A Hero Emerges, Shou would have beaten him in his second turn.
Juudai helped a smiling Shou clear away the notepads they'd used during the duel. It had been a long time since Juudai had dueled without a duel disk, and he had to admit that his calculation skills weren't what they should be, something Yubel was still teasing him with.
"Aren't you supposed to be on my side?" Juudai asked good-naturedly as Yubel pointed out all his mistakes one by one. "At least Hane Kuriboh doesn't laugh at me."
He pointed at the little monster hovering over his left shoulder. Shou looked up to see who he was talking to, but didn't seem surprised to see no one.
"Oh, it does. It just makes sure you don't hear it," Yubel teased. Juudai threw a mock-betrayed glance at Hane Kuriboh, whose face was covered by its wings. Juudai hoped it was because the little monster was too ashamed to face him, but he had a sneaking suspicion that it just didn't want to see it laugh at him.
"Traitors, all of you," Juudai said, smiling at the two of them. "I'm looking for another partner."
"You'll never find anyone as good as we are," Yubel retorted immediately. Juudai laughed out loud.
"Alas, it seems my quest has met an unfortunate end!" he exclaimed. "However will I cope?"
"Spare us the dramatics, Juudai," Yubel giggled. "You're not very good at it."
Shou was following Juudai's half of the conversation with keen interest, and finally interrupted: "Aniki?"
"It's fine," Juudai grinned. "Yubel just won't stop laughing at me. She says I can't do math."
"Well, you did make some pretty big mistakes," Shou grinned in return, catching on quickly. "When you won, you didn't even realize it because you'd miscalculated!"
"Not you too…" Juudai groaned. "That's it. I'll go live on top of Mount Fuji and no one will ever see me again!"
"There are thousands of people who climb Mount Fuji every year," Shou replied, unperturbed. "You'd hardly be alone, Aniki."
"Oh, spoilsport," Juudai said, but his grin was back in full force. "Anyway, that was a great duel!"
"It's nice to duel without it being an official match, sometimes," Shou mused. Juudai refrained from pointing out that most of the duels he'd had the last few months had involved the fate of the world in some way or other. "The Leagues get exhausting."
"How's that coming along?" Juudai asked, putting his hands behind his head and following Shou to the kitchen. Pharaoh appeared out of nowhere and tagged along, probably lured by the promise of food. "Edo said you'd created a new league!"
"We have," Shou confirmed. "And we're doing fine! It was a bit hard to find sponsors at first, but Manjoume-kun joined, and that really helped. Jim said he might join us for a year, but he's off on some dig in Australia. And we wanted to ask Johan, but well…" Shou made a face. Juudai agreed. In Johan's current situation, the Pro Leagues definitely weren't the best place for him.
"What about Edo?" he asked. "Has he agreed yet?"
"He thinks he's too good for us," a new voice came from the doorway. Hell Kaiser had returned. "Keeps saying we're idiots. Well, technically he keeps saying that I'm an idiot."
"Yeah, he said something along those lines when I last saw him," Juudai shrugged. "I'm sure he'll come around. Hello, Kaiser!"
Hell Kaiser gave him a nod in return and walked into the kitchen. Juudai noticed it still took him some effort, but his health seemed to have improved a lot.
"How about you, Aniki?" Shou asked, trying to feed Pharaoh bits of tuna and frowning when the cat refused to eat. "Are you interested in joining us?"
Juudai seriously considered it for a minute. When he'd just entered Duel Academia, he'd thought he'd enter the Pro Leagues after he'd graduated. But now, three years later, he could think of several things he'd rather do. Dueling for a living had seemed fun to him at the time, but the Pro Leagues were ruthless. If one loss could mean losing all your sponsors, then how could you still have fun? He had everything he needed right here.
"Ah, I'm sorry, Shou. I think I'll pass."
Shou shrugged good-naturedly. "I hadn't expected you'd want to, but it was worth a try. I guess you have more important things to do."
"Oh! Yes, Chaos," Juudai recalled. "I was going to tell you about that, wasn't I?"
"Yes. Maybe it's better if we sit down," Shou suggested, leading Juudai and his brother out of the kitchen and to a small living place. There were several sofas, and Juudai picked one opposite of the window.
"Would you guys mind if Yubel appeared? It's easier to tell the story like that."
"Go ahead," Shou nodded, but he couldn't help flinching as Yubel appeared. He still carried a certain amount of fear with him, but tried to hide it as well as he could. Juudai smiled at him. Unseen to both Shou and Hell Kaiser, Daitokuji-sensei appeared when Juudai put Pharaoh in his lap.
"Okay, I think I better start at the beginning," he began. "The first time I saw Chaos was a few weeks ago, but it probably appeared long before that."
He quickly explained what had happened in Potosí and Cardiff, but spent a lot more time on Amethyst Cat's disappearance.
"So that's what happened," Shou mused after Juudai told him the story of how she'd been taken. "I see why Johan's acting like this, then."
"Yeah, it hit him very hard. He left that morning to look for her. So we decided to go on as well."
He didn't spend much time on his meeting with Apollo and Artemis, nor on what had happened in Cape Town. Telling about himself almost dying was hard enough, but seeing the shocked looks on Hell Kaiser's and especially Shou's face made it that much harder. He shuddered. It was one of the memories he'd rather not relive.
The next part was a little easier to talk about, even though Shou had been shocked to learn about Johan's powers. Hell Kaiser hadn't shown any reaction at all, except for a shake of the head.
"We went to Egypt after that. And that's when we found out about the Light of Hope."
This time, he and Yubel took turns to tell what Bast had revealed. Shou looked like he wanted to interrupt a few times, but his brother shook his head. Juudai didn't pay much attention to it, instead opting to share what Chaos had said in Jakarta, and why they had to find Johan.
"So you see, for some reason it's targeting him specifically," Juudai finished his explanation. "I want to find him first and see if we can do something about that. And afterwards, I'll look for the Light of Hope. Wherever it is."
Shou and Hell Kaiser looked at each other a little incredulously for a few seconds, before Hell Kaiser slowly started talking.
"Juudai… You're looking for the parts of the Light of Hope. And at the same time, Johan is apparently important enough to get attacked by Chaos, and has gained powers almost out of nowhere."
Juudai tilted his head as Yubel cringed slightly. "What do you mean, Kaiser?"
"Have you ever considered that Johan is part of the Light of Hope?"
"Johan?" Juudai exclaimed, laughing. "C'mon, you can't be serious! That's impossible, right?" he asked, smiling at Yubel. She didn't smile back, and Juudai's own smile faded.
"I mean, it's impossible, yeah?"
"Juudai…" Yubel said slowly. Warily. "I think they're ri-"
Juudai jumped up. "So you knew! You knew and you didn't tell me!"
"I suspected," Yubel said calmly, crossing her arms. "Juudai, please calm down."
But Juudai whirled around to face Daitokuji-sensei. "And you? What about you?"
"Juudai-kun…"
"So everyone -everyone- knew?" Juudai demanded furiously. "You all knew and none of you thought it might be a good idea to tell me?"
Shou shrank down a bit, but Ryou, unperturbed, said: "I told you just now."
Juudai didn't listen. "Anything else I need to know? Or no, don't say it! After all, it's so much fun to keep me in the dark, isn't it? Never mind the fate of the world, let's all keep secrets!"
"Juudai," Yubel began. "You wouldn't have listened…"
But Juudai wasn't about to let her speak. "I thought I could trust you! I thought we had no secrets!"
"You didn't want to know it!" Yubel shouted after him as he stomped out of the room. "You didn't want to realize! Do you think I never tried telling you? Juudai, you never knew because you were trying your very best to stop yourself from realizing it!"
"Rubbish," Juudai muttered as he stormed up the stairs, not bothering with the elevator, and stepped out onto the roof. "Utter nonsense. Why would I stop myself?"
He sat down, letting his legs hang over the edge of the roof, and stared in the distance. Another beautiful city, like so many of the places he'd visited, but he wasn't here to appreciate the view.
"Juudai."
"Oh, great," Juudai replied, angling his body away from Burst Lady. "What is it? Came to tell me you knew too?"
"Well, yes, actually-"
"Fantastic," Juudai growled. "So even my deck knows. Was there a worldwide broadcast or something? Is there anyone who doesn't know? A lonely penguin on the South Pole, maybe?"
"I'll tell you who doesn't know," Burst Lady told him briskly. "Johan doesn't."
Juudai finally turned to look at her. "He doesn't?"
"How could he? He doesn't have the information you have. He never met Bast and he never got told about the Light of Hope, he probably doesn't even know it exists."
"I guess…" Juudai mused. "But why didn't you tell me? Why didn't any of you tell me?"
"Juudai, I hate to say it, but Yubel was right. You didn't want to know. I've been part of your deck for years, and I know you. You're not stupid, you could've connected the dots easily. So ask yourself: What was stopping you?"
Juudai didn't reply. In hindsight, it seemed obvious. Johan's aura had always been light, and his powers were distinctly light-based. Then there was Chaos' focus on him, which meant...
"Chaos knew too," he muttered. "Chaos knew before all of us. How come I didn't see it?"
"Because you didn't want to," Burst Lady repeated. "And that doesn't make you a bad person, Juudai. You want to protect your friends from what you yourself went through. But you have to let them grow up. If you could do it, you have to give them the chance."
She put one weightless hand on his shoulder. "And sometimes, you need reality to slap you in the face."
Juudai made a face. "I don't think I like that image."
"Deal with it," Burst Lady replied mock-sternly, but Juudai heard she was smiling. "So what will you do now?"
"I… suppose I should apologize." Juudai said slowly.
"That's a good start."
"And thank you," he added sincerely. "I needed that."
"I know," Burst Lady said simply. "Like I said, I know you, Juudai. I've known you for years and you're not really that different from before. Just be yourself and you'll be fine." She ruffled his hair when he got up, a touch he didn't feel but that comforted him nonetheless. "We're your deck and we're all here for you. Don't forget that."
"I won't," Juudai replied gratefully, walking back towards the stairs. "Really, thank you."
"Oh, Juudai, wait a second," Burst Lady asked him quickly. "One more thing. I know you wanted to protect Johan from the things you went through, and that's sweet of you. But you're already too late. He's already experienced the loss you did and all you can do now is support him and help him out."
Juudai tilted his head carefully.
"Be his friend," Burst Lady continued. "Find him, make sure he has someone to rely on, because he needs it. In the end, it doesn't matter if he's connected to the Light of Hope or not. You're too late to protect him and the only thing you can do is pick up the pieces. Help him heal."
"Amethyst Cat is still alive," Juudai mused. That much he was sure of, if only because Chaos wouldn't want to lose its advantage over them. "If we could find her…"
"Exactly. Scars never disappear, Juudai, but they're a reminder of healed wounds. Make sure those wounds can heal. Make sure they can become scars." Burst Lady followed him to the staircase before slowly fading from view.
"Thank you," Juudai told her, knowing she would hear him. He slowly made his way down again. He'd have to apologize and he didn't think it'd be easy. Yubel was obviously still connected to him, but she'd shut him out. He heard Shou and Hell Kaiser talking when he arrived on the floor he'd come from, but Yubel was nowhere to be seen. For a minute he debated checking on the two brothers first, but he quickly changed his mind. Yubel was more important now. Quietly, so that neither Shou or Hell Kaiser heard him, he turned around and headed further down the stairs. Yubel was standing in front of a window on the floor below the one he'd come from. He cautiously approached her. He knew she knew he was there. There was no way she wouldn't know, but she was obviously waiting for him to speak first.
But 'sorry' seemed so inadequate…
He silently walked in the room and came to a halt in front of the window, right next to her. She didn't look at him or even acknowledge he was there.
"Yubel," Juudai began quietly. "I know you were right." He chuckled softly. "And I know you know I know that, but I still want to say it. I'm sorry."
She spared him a quick glance, but still didn't reply. Juudai took it as a hint to continue, though.
"I shouldn't have reacted so furiously. I didn't give you the chance to tell me."
"No, you didn't," Yubel replied curtly. It was an improvement.
"I didn't want there to be secrets between us… So it hurt. But I know you tried. I'm really sorry."
"Apology accepted," Yubel said, finally turning to clearly look at him. "And I should apologize too. I have been keeping secrets."
"You- Really?"
"Yes." Yubel sighed. "About Johan. The night Amethyst Cat disappeared, we talked for quite a while. You were asleep. I think we solved some issues, but most importantly, it was then that he decided he didn't want you to join him in his search. He doesn't want to bother you with his problems. I also told him he had the potential to unlock more of his power that night. You know how that turned out."
"After that, I called him once, when we were in Cape Town. You were asleep, so I used your phone. He told me how his powers had awakened a little before that. That's how I knew where to take you when you… When you got shot."
Juudai took a deep breath. The memory, combined with the memory of Naledi, was painful.
"Do you know where he is?" he asked finally.
"No, I'm sorry," Yubel shook her head slowly. Since we spoke to Bast, I haven't heard anything from him. He's as lost to me as he is to you."
"He can't be gone," Juudai said. "We'll find him. We have to."
"We will," Yubel told him, putting a hand on his shoulder. She hesitated for a second. "There's more. But he begged me not to tell you so I won't. Not yet. I at least want to give him the chance to tell you himself."
Juudai wanted to insist, but he decided against it. Yubel would tell him if he asked long enough, but if she didn't want to, he would respect it. Her revelations came as a bit of a shock, though. He was glad Yubel and Johan had been working through the issues they undoubtedly still had, but he didn't like being left out of it. There was one question still on his mind. A delicate one, about a period neither of them liked to talk about, but they'd promised to be fair with each other so he might as well ask.
"What's on your mind?" Yubel asked before he could even open his mouth. She knew him too well.
"Are you ever jealous?" Juudai asked slowly. He wanted to say more, but finally didn't.
To his surprise, Yubel laughed softly. "Of Johan? I suppose I could be, but no. Not really. We're together, he's not a threat to me."
Juudai smiled. "That's good."
"We'll never be best friends," Yubel continued. "But jealous? No, I'm not."
"I'm glad." Juudai hugged her tightly. "Love you."
"I know," Yubel smiled, wrapping an arm around him. "Now come on, let's find that idiot before he gets himself in even more trouble."
Juudai laughed and let go of her. "Yeah, let's."
0o0o0
"He's definitely been in Europe," Shou announced the next morning when he entered the room. "But that's the last we know. He was in Greece, then went on to Western Europe, and that's where that duel took place. He's also been in Norway so we think he went home, but that was two days ago."
"Anything else?" Juudai was staring at his phone, as if that would make it start ringing faster.
"Nothing." Shou shook his head, going over a list with phone numbers of the people they knew. "If he's been in America, Asuka-san doesn't know, and Manjoume-san hasn't found anything either."
"He's getting desperate," Hell Kaiser cut in. "His money will be running out soon. He can't keep this up much longer."
Juudai agreed. He himself had the luxury of being able to go wherever he went, but Johan had not exhibited any teleportation powers. He must've earned money in the Pro Leagues, but it wouldn't last him forever and plane tickets were expensive. He tapped his fingers impatiently against the armrest of the sofa, then dived for the phone as it suddenly did start ringing.
"Yes?"
"It's me, O'Brien."
Juudai sat up straighter. "Do you know where Johan is?"
O'Brien didn't waste time. "Not where he is right now, but he contacted Jim. He's going to Australia tomorrow. Jim asked me to let you know."
"He is?" Juudai hadn't quite expected that, but at least he now had a trail. He'd be able to catch up with Johan now. "Where?"
"Yulara. There's an airport nearby." O'Brien told him; Juudai had never even heard of the place. He'd have to look it up before he left.
"And Juudai," O'Brien continued suddenly. "Before you hang up, I have another message for you."
"What is it?"
"Pegasus-sama is very concerned about the disappearance of the spirit of Amethyst Cat. He wishes to tell you that he has been researching her origin and will inform you the moment his research yields any results." O'Brien sounded like he was reading a text in front of him, but Juudai was more interested in the actually message.
"He is? Good. Thanks, O'Brien!"
"Good luck," O'Brien told him, and Juudai was greeted by the dial tone before he could reply. He shrugged and ended the call, feeling marginally better than before. Shou looked at him expectantly.
"He's going to Australia," Juudai told him. "Wants to see Jim. Which means," he held out his hand for the phone list, smiling slightly, "that I'll need his number. We have planning to do."
Comments, concrit and questions welcome as always!