Judgement of the World
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Me.
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If someone had asked Aki if she would ever be in a normal school having lunch with a group of friends? She would have laughed not to long ago. The idea that she could ever have such an idealistic life seemed impossible. Wake up, go to school, hang out with friends, do all the same things that people born without her psychic powers did. It was something she had secretly longed for when her powers first awakened. Then when she gave up on that dream she made herself hate it, reject it in an effort to sustain herself and keep the sadness and depression away.
Its what Divine taught after all, that hate had more power than any other emotion.
And then she met Yusei.
It retrospect it was insane how meeting one person could change a person's whole life. A life time of negative experiences, ideas, philosophies and expectations wiped away by one duelist. It sounded like some fairy tale with those heroes that she had heard when she was a child. That one person could change her life and perceptions so much that now she had friends.
Right now for example, she was having lunch at a large round table with every spot taken up.
Starting at her right was Isao, Kazushi, Ryo, Asuka's friend Momoe, Asuka herself, and Junko all chatting away. Well among the humans that's all there was at the table, include the spirits and her Witch, Hibikime, Djinn, all three heads of Cyber End Dragon was peaking out, Sky Scout, CyberBlader, and Cyber Harpy and 'then' the table got crowded.
The table was surrounded by friends and the air behind them was filled with Duel Spirits, and yet it felt almost right. Even around them as older students hosted duels and filled the air with holographic images. Which was probably the only reason the whole school had a dedicated lunch room area rather than just eat in class. Social time, duel time, not everyone came to the lunch room, but those who often did were in various classes and wanted to meet up. Or they were looking for a duel to partake in and the gym was in use.
Even if this was the first time she got to meet Junko and Momoe, Asuka's closest female friends. Aki couldn't help but notice the connection between the the trio, with Asuka having a constant 'Cyber' Duel Spirit companion, Momoe had a winged Sky Scout, and Junko having a Cyber Harpy. It was a pleasant blend and as she thought about it, even the Cyber End Dragon made a connection through its name.
It brought her mind back to Yusei and how the Dragons were all connected via, well, Dragons. Which made Crow's placement a bit odd, and the only thing she could think of was that Crow was going to have to obtain a dragon of his own. But would their dragons accept the new one he would be bringing to the group?
If everyone in the group had a past life involvement with the others, Crow would literally stand as the actual 'new' friend and fellow warrior in this age.
"So what's it like? Dating the Turbo Duel King?" Momoe asked Aki directly with excitement.
"That's right! You first arrived with the Turbo Duel King! And his D-Wheel isn't designed for multi riders, how was the ride?" Junko followed up eagerly.
Aki blinked in surprise and her cheeks went bright red before she lowered her eyes to her bento. "Well, no, I was chauffeured that day to the school, but yes I've ridden on Yusei Go before. Just sat on one of the bars on the side," she confessed. "It's not a bad ride either, very smooth, and quite enjoyable given that he built his by hand."
"Isn't that name a bit..." Junko asked trying to think of a polite way to suggest 'arrogant'.
Yet Aki only smiled good naturedly, "say it in English."
Junko, as well as Asuka and Momoe exchanged looks before they began saying the name out loud, slowing it down and trying to enunciate it more in English.
And the light of comprehension filled their eyes as Aki nodded at their awareness.
"It must be cool to be so close to a champion," Momoe dreamily commented.
"How did you two meet?" Junko asked growing excited.
The question made Aki blink in surprise and at first wondered how she could explain her identity as the 'Witch'. Only Kazushi suddenly interrupted, "don't tell us you met at the Fortune Cup?!"
"Meeting your boyfriend on the field of battle?" Momoe's voice grew even louder and there were hearts in both hers AND Junko's eyes.
"Competing in a tournament, overseen by the former Turbo Duel King and catching the eye of the Current Duel King!" Junko bubbled forth with excitement, the glow in her eyes almost unnerving.
"There aren't enough women duelists, but that you two met while dueling is rather inspiring. I remember watching the duel and you were so intense." Isao commented pulling, gazing intently at Aki before his attention was grabbed by Kazu.
"Yeah, especially after the way you put everyone else away. I was amazed at how strong he was for getting back up and continuing. He was fearless!"
"That..." Aki mentally started to panic over the fact that they recalled her previous duels and how she behaved during all of them. The girls were still gushing about the romantic part of it all, while the guys seemed excited at the prospect of meeting the current Turbo Duel King via Aki.
It was Ryo who proved to be the more aware of, perhaps of Aki's surprise, or her discomfort, and recalling her past inability to control her powers. He felt it would probably be for the best to let her air out what happened, or her feelings, while out in a safe place and not confined or alone. "Your style of dueling 'has' changed though, and knowing what you can do. You seemed the most positively affected by his presence. So if you could tell us what happened? What did he do that helped you so that if we are confronted by people like you. Who don't have control over their powers, perhaps we can help them the same way Fudo helped you."
The statement was surprising, thoughtful, to the point and managed to cut the chatter on either side of Aki like a knife. It gave her a platform to speak about her experiences, while not placing blame over the results of her power. His question even provided a positive spin, the willingness to take initiative and help others. The kind of compassionate understanding structured in such a way as to provide protection, insight and acceptance.
How was Ryo 'not' in a relationship?!
"My powers were awaken when I was a child, and there was no one to really explain things for me. Imagine, just one day suddenly able to hurt people, because that's what happened, I ended up hurting my daddy. I never thought to associate my feelings with the response my powers gave, and over time it became a cycle. When I dueled, I was afraid that I would hurt the person I dueled, and suddenly find my powers waking up to do just that. It was terrible, I loved dueling, but every time I did I hurt a person and as I got older the damage grew more as my powers grew..." She explained after a long silent introspection on her past.
But the others grew quiet and attentive, even Momoe and Junko dropped the 'swoon over hot guys' act and gave her their full attention. In a strange way it felt like the whole area had grown quiet despite the area still populated with fellow students having meals and socializing.
"What Yusei did was... something I never faced before. Someone who saw my powers, was harmed by my powers, and believed that there was more to me than 'just' my powers. When I was with the Movement, we were taught to embrace whatever it was that triggered our powers. There 'are' people who see their powers as a tool for more power and will be aggressive and destructive with it. But there were others like me who just wanted... a place of our own. A place where we weren't treated like monsters or walking nukes."
"I think the thing that Yusei did for me, was standing his ground and facing me without judgment. He has always listened to my feelings, respected them, and worked to comfort me when I'm upset. Because of that I was able to learn what my powers were actually doing, and that I don't have to rely on the fear or hate to use them. In fact my powers don't have to hurt anyone to begin with."
Aki finished with her Witch sitting on the table beside her so that her tiny hand could rest over Aki's. "Its ok Aki, we understand better now, and even if you order us we're still going to protect you, but well, we'll be more observant."
The rest of the table was also quiet, the Spirits were focused on their partners with thoughtful expressions on their faces.
"It sounds so simple, and we're used to seeing Spirits, well, holograms of them so we should be braver than just running the moment we see them." Kazushi commented first, amending the difference between a simple hologram as oppose to the actual self aware Spirit.
"It sounds as though Fudo is more than just the Turbo Duel King, or rather, he carries more traits of a king than Atlas had." Ryo commented leaning back in his seat with a thoughtful expression on his face. "A king who inspires others to duel is all well and good, but a king who cares for his subjects and helps them grow? That's more the type of king I would rather challenge."
"Yeah, unlike Atlas who stayed up in his condo and never really had anything to do with anyone who wasn't top tier. Fudo sounds like someone anyone might be able to challenge for fun," Isao noted with a cheerful nod. The others following suit with their own comments while Aki stayed thoughtfully silent.
"I don't know for sure about that, sure he duels. But I always have the impression that its not his focus, he uses it more as a means to communicate rather than fun." Aki confessed noting the odd look she was getting from the girls.
"So... how do you two talk then?" Momoe asked, her head slightly tilted as she tried to imagine using dueling as a form of communication.
"We... just do? I mean there are segments where we just sit in silence..." Aki began when Junko and Momoe suddenly broke into more delighted squeals.
"Listening to the sound of each other's breathing!"
"Its so romantic!"
Aki grew quiet, while Asuka shook her head in amusement and fiddled a bit with her chopsticks at the pairs antics. She almost felt bad for Aki, given how the girl wasn't just a Psychic duelist with dangerous powers, but also the unofficial girlfriend of the Turbo Duel King. "You're lucky though, the two of you met each other at the right time."
Aki blushed slightly at the constant pokes that she was essentially Yusei's girlfriend, the title and topic wasn't something she was used to and it was enough to make her a bit shy. Yet, "but I've seen lots of guys show interest in you...?"
Asuka nodded with a seemingly tired smile, "yeah, but you've noticed right? There aren't a lot of us girl duelists. Even after Mai, she's been the 'only' woman to hold the title of 'Duel Queen', there just isn't a lot of us girls. Most guys approach more out of the novelty of having a 'girl duelist' rather than because they like me for who I am. For them? I'm just a pretty face that knows how to use a deck of cards."
"Yeah, it can get annoying to, because we can't 'just' go out to a tournament, we 'have' to bring the guys." Junko added her own voice disgruntled.
"Its embarrassing. Like communicating your assertiveness and stuff is all great and fine in a duel! Its super romantic when done 'right', but when a guy spends the whole time propositioning you." Momoe agreed with a sigh before glancing at Aki and taking in the terrified expression that Aki had. "Its not that bad, so long as Ryo and the guys are with us, and you'll have an easy time with the King."
"You'll have an easy time because the first guy who gets fresh with you is probably going to end up with a face full of angry Duel Spirits laying them out," Junko amended.
"Exactly!" Witch of the Black Rose inserted for Aki.
"True, you don't need a duel disk to make it happen either, so I can't see anyone getting away with treating you badly." Ryo agreed with a nod, "And the girls are right about what happens at the tournaments, I want to say it gets better the higher you go... however..." he ended the sentence with a faint shrug to say 'it is what it is'.
"Its hard to be attracted to someone who sees you as a piece of meat, I think we would be all lucky if we could have lives like you Aki. That we just find that special person that we connect with and who respect us for who we 'are' and not because we're girls doing supposedly 'boy' things." Asuka commented with a faint sigh.
"Easy for you to say Asuka, the boys adore you and throw themselves at you," Junko pointed out pragmatically.
"I'd like an aggressive guy," Momoe added, "just someone who asserts themselves. Like all the guys in my deck I picked because they're tough."
"But that's not what gets you hired for a job or anything," Kazushi pointed out, feeling a bit deflated at the comment. "No one is going to hire a guy who stands up for himself."
"True, everyone has to work until they drop near dead from exhaustion. I don't see my dad, save once a week because of the hours he works. He couldn't even get a job in the city and has to commute to the next city," Junko amended remorsefully.
Aki sat there quietly absorbing what they were saying, and as the group started talking about the employment state of Japan she felt her eyes getting opened. She wasn't the only girl who never really saw her daddy growing up? As powerful as her dad was as a Senator, he was still at the mercy of the time clock?
"Say... Fudo is our age right? Will he be coming to school when the bridge is finished?" Isao asked in curiosity, looking to change the topic from what had brought the girls down.
"That's right! Wow that would be super exciting if he joined!" Kazu exclaimed in mutual excitement and desire to brighten the girls' collective moods.
Aki blinked out of her own lonely thoughts as she looked over at the guy and the face palming Djinn. Mentioning the idea that Yusei would want to attend high school brought her memories back to when she visited him for the twins. His quiet longing to be among peers and free of the isolation that came with being on Satellite. "He'd probably enjoy it, I know he comes off cold and cut off, but he's actually very caring. He's stuck back on Satellite, but he always expresses interest and concern over the twins. Especially after Rua's fall," she began, and felt the mood switch back to the twins.
"Wow! Look at all the Duel Spirits!"
Aki started in surprise as she heard that comment, as did everyone else at the table, Spirits included. She had to bodily turn in her chair to see who had spoken, and found a pair of students behind her. The short one with glasses was giving Ryo nervous glances, while the taller one was literally in awe of what he saw.
"Ahh, big brother Judai...?"
"He... he can see us? Well that's new huh Aki?" Witch commented as the guy went from looking at one to the other before he heard her speak. Then he focused his attention on her then over to Aki in amazement.
"You can see Duel Spirits?!" 'Judai' asked in growing excitement, while the kid next to him looked increasingly uncomfortable.
"Hello, Sho," Ryo finally called out, his voice tempered with patience and a calm neutral tone.
"Ahh hello Big Brother," 'Sho' spoke up looking nervously at the group sitting around the table.
"Yes, well," Aki blinked at how forward Judai was, but if his ability limited him to 'sight' and communication with Duel Spirits...
"Its great isn't it?" Judai asked as he reached down to his hip and pulled out his own deck. From the deck rose a Duel Spirit with a green body, it bore a large feathery white wing, but its right hand was replaced with the head of a large red dragon head and a tail that sported the same red color. There were long claws on both hand and feet and it lacked much in the way of a human face. But with her eyes traveling from Judai to look at the being, the duelist grew more excited. "You see Elemental Hero Flame Wingman?! Its great to have someone else who understands what I see! What's your name? I'm Judai, Yuki! And this is my friend Marufuji, Sho!"
"Uh... Hi..." Sho passively squeaked out while Judai was openly inviting his whole deck out to 'meet the new girl'.
"That's not necessary!" Aki blurted out in mounting alarm as his deck actively responded and more Spirits began to manifest in the area.
"Uh we're still here!" Isao called out as though to remind the strange pair that they had literally just walked in on another group's lunch.
Unannounced.