Judai spent the next few days avoiding his hosts as much as possible while staying in the boundaries of basic politeness. Unfortunately Judai wasn't really familiar with the rules of politeness. He was usually able to ignore the rules without offending anyone so actually knowing the rules had never seemed very important. This time was different though. He really didn't want to talk to the Martinanies, he didn't think he could handle their questions again, but he also didn't want to them to think he wasn't grateful for their hospitality and he was having trouble doing both. Trying to do both had ended up involving a lot of guess work. Yubel tried to help but her suggestions ranged from unhelpful to bizarre and possibly dangerous. Eventually he just gave up and started avoiding them completely. He kept teaching the class though and he hoped that this would convey the appropriate message. Not that he had any idea what that message would say.

Two days before he planned to leave Judai had a dream. The dream started as a memory. He was walking along the path that had led to the town when he felt the darkness grip his heart. This time however the premonition did not fade away. Judai could feel the power behind it. It was searching for duel energy to feed on so that it could upset the balance. Judai could also feel that it was weak, compared to him anyway. He knew he could defeat it, he also knew that he wouldn't. There were some lessons that didn't need to be taught twice.

Isabel watched from her favorite corner as her father paid the teacher or maybe he was just Judai now that the classes were over. Whoever he was, he was leaving. The man who had opened the world of dueling to her, told her of her powers and then dropped the weight of the world on her shoulders like it was nothing.

He'd told her this morning that a danger was coming to the town and it was her job to protect it. He had also said that she shouldn't tell anyone until after he was gone but once he was gone it would be a good idea to inform her brothers and Robin. She was responsible for fighting whatever was coming but she didn't have to do it alone. For the first time Isabel was really beginning to grasp what being a duel warrior meant. It wasn't all heroics like she'd imagined. There was the possibility that she might lose and in losing she would hurt others. Even if she won she could end up hurting others.

She was still young but even she knew that little girls weren't usually expected to age this much in such a short time. She felt so much older than the naïve little girl who had imagined fighting grand battles just yesterday. If she felt so aged by the thought of having to defend the town what would happen to her after she had her first fight? Would she be the same person?

If Jake had looked into his sister's eyes at that moment he would have immediately recognized the expression they held even though he had only seen it once before in brown eyes flecked with gold.

Judai had warned Isabel before he left because it had seemed the right thing to do but he had given her strict instructions not to tell anyone else until after he left. He was still explaining to Neos why he wasn't staying to fight and protect the little girl even as he walked out of town. If he was having trouble convincing Neos he didn't have a prayer of convincing the girl's parents that he was doing the right thing.

Judai interrupted Neos's latest plea to his sense of honor and duty to ask Winged Kuriboh which way they should be headed. Once he had his bearings he resumed his argument with Neos.

"You can't just walk away and leave a child to defend a whole town. You are a hero. Hero's protect. You have a duty to protect the girl and the town. You can't just walk away."

"I am not a hero. I am a King. I lead and heroes follow. Heroes protect the king so the king can protect the kingdom."

"Judai! Where is the arrogance coming from? You are a hero that is why you fight with heroes."

"No, No, No. Don't you see? Don't you remember? When I went to find Johan and the others followed me I thought the way you did. I thought I was the hero and it was my job to rescue my lost friend while protecting the friends who had followed me."

"You were right."

"No, I was wrong. I wasn't the hero. Chazz, Cyrus, Alexis and Fubuki were the heroes. It was there job to protect me so I could fight Yubel and protect the world but I didn't let them do their job. I pushed them aside because I wanted to protect them and that nearly got them killed. I thought it had gotten them killed and I gave myself completely to the Haou, if I hadn't had hero friends who survived my mistake the world would have ended. I learned my lesson. I do my job I let the heroes do theirs. Isabel has the potential to be a hero. I have to let her fight her own battles or she won't grow into her potential. I made the right call and even if I didn't it is my call to make. I really don't want to talk about this anymore."

There was silence as all the heroes in Judai's deck reevaluated their purpose. After a while Judai took advantage of the heroes' preoccupation to have a conversation with Yubel in relative privacy.

"Why did you change your mind about being placed in Robin's deck? You didn't have to you know, I would have accepted your decision. I wasn't going to force you."

"I know." Yubel replied and then was silent. The silence stretched on and Judai let it until she broke it. "Ever since I was given this body I have been focused on the duty that went with it. It is my responsibility to protect you and I have done my best to do just that. Only recently I have started to realize that I am not the only one with a duty. You too have responsibilities. In fact I was assigned as your protector so that you could fulfill those responsibilities. I had forgotten that. It is my duty to protect you but it is not my place to stand in your way when you have your own duties to fulfill. These were the thoughts that were beginning to grow in my mind when you first proposed your idea but they were not enough for me to overcome my feelings of betrayal and help you until I thought of it in those words. To help you." Yubel stopped there knowing Judai would see the rest.

"Thank you, Yubel."

"You're welcome, Judai."

Eventually the road became busier and the boy with the deceptively innocent brown eyes managed to hitch a ride to Domino.