Hey friends! Just a reminder that this fic is actually a sequel to a short story I wrote before called "Let's See This Next King of Games". You don't technically need to read it to get this story, but the context from it lays the foundation for some characterization later on.
Any ways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
"Welcome home, Mr. Muto."
The scenic view of Domino City slowed to a stop, resting on the sight of a skyscraper in the distance. A new Kaiba Corp office, one could tell, what with the giant 'KC' plastered on the side and all. Oh Kaiba, never change.
"I said you're home, Mr. Muto," the voice of the driver cut in, stirring Yugi from his daydreams. Quickly apologizing, Yugi paid the man for the trip, before stumbling out of the car with his suitcase and backpack in hand.
He'd made it, Yugi was home.
Looking back up at the sight of the skyscraper in the distance, Yugi smiled, the new building somehow more familiar than the ones he'd been seeing for years in New York. He hated to admit it, but he kinda missed seeing Kaiba's name on everything.
"Heh, maybe I can ask him to open another office where I live," he mused to himself, before turning back to his grandfather's game shop. "I'm sure he has the money for—"
"There he is!"
"It's Yugi!"
And before Yugi could even get another word in, he was surrounded, absolutely mobbed on all sides by, well, a mob. Reporters with microphones, kids and adults alike decked out with duel disks, and a fair share of girls wearing shirts with Yugi's face on them— they filled a sea of people all around Yugi, blocking any path for escape.
"Please duel me!" Incoherent voices screamed, to which Yugi furrowed a brow.
"I'm sorry, I don't—"
"Please sign my shirt!" Another one called.
"Well, maybe later, first I need to—"
"Mr. Muto! Can you comment on why you're back in Domino City? Are you here to finally put an end to the claim that Joey Wheeler is the current King of Games?" A reporter shot that one out, making Yugi do a double-take.
"What, I don't even know—"
And more and more questions and requests hounded Yugi, never letting him complete a thought nor an answer. If he didn't do something, this would continue forever.
Yugi began to push through the crowd, putting on a smile as he began answering questions.
"Can we please duel!?" a voice shouted.
"Let me go get my deck," Yugi answered.
"Sign my duel disk!" another cried out.
"My special signing pen is inside~!" Yugi explained.
"Sir, I have more questions to ask—!"
"I'll give you an exclusive, inside," Yugi promised.
And like that, the crowd began letting Yugi through, as the promise of everything they wanted came at the simple request of moving out of the frigging way. After a few more moments of bartering with the mob, Yugi finally reached salvation, the gate. The locking gate.
Without another word, Yugi slipped in through the metal bars of the fence he had installed and just as quickly locked it behind him. Cries of frustration rang out from the crowd as they realized they'd beeen duped.
"I'm sorry, but I'm here on important business and I just want to rest," Yugi called out, hoping the crowd would listen to reason. Of course, none did and the group remained. Sighing, Yugi turned, ready to head inside and settle in for the day.
It was then that one particularly loud reporter spoke up, silencing the rest of the mob with her voice.
"Mr. Muto! It has been nearly ten years since the world has seen you duel, and some even doubt the legitimacy to your claim as King of Games!" she began, waving at Yugi as he neared the front door. "So I ask! What would convince you to return to the game and perhaps eventually pass on your title!"
That question made Yugi pause, though he wasn't sure why. Perhaps it was the assuredness that if he returned to the game, it'd be to 'pass on' his title. Yugi certainly hadn't lost his fondness for Duel Monsters, he loved it like all the games he played. He just didn't have time for it anymore. He had his own game to get off the ground, funds to raise, promotions to make.
Heck, the only reason he was back in Domino was to sort out what's happening with his grandfather's game shop.
Turning back to the crowd, Yugi frowned.
"Well, Mr. Muto?" the reporter pressed. Then, Yugi answered.
"If the world was in danger again, I'd consider it."
And with that, Yugi entered the card shop and closed the door behind him.
"Arriving in, Domino City Station A," the voice on the intercom announced. A few moments later, the train began to brake, sending one sleeping duelist tumbling to the floor below.
"Ahhhh! I got that essay done, Professor Banner, I swear!" Jaden screamed, his school days still haunting his mid-day cat naps years later. As he fully awoke and became aware of his surroundings, however, Jaden gave an awkward laugh. All the passengers around him were staring. "Ah, heh, just a dream it seems."
"Why do you even have those dreams about my class? I didn't even make you write essays." The ethereal voice of Professor Banner cut through the background noise of the busy subway cart, as Jaden stretched and rose to his feet.
"I'll admit, I may be turning his dreams into nightmares ." Another voice, this one of the spirit Yubel, broke in as the subway cart began to unload.
"Why!?" Banner shouted, pulling a note of annoyance from Jaden as he stepped off the train.
"It was time to get up!" Yubel shot back.
"You guys really gotta stop with the whole talking whilst I'm surrounded by a bunch of people thing," Jaden cut in, as he made his way through the bustling crowds of the subway station. "I look like a crazy person trying to answer ya!"
"Oh, because talking to two spirits only you can see doesn't already make you crazy," Yubel retorted.
"Oh, it makes me crazy. Don't get me wrong," Jaden said with a laugh. "But I don't wanna look crazy, you know?"
As the crowd around Jaden began to disperse, the ghostly sights of Banner and Yubel phased into being, not even eliciting a reaction from Jaden as the polar opposites suddenly came into view— A middle-aged man with a ponytail and a demon with claws that could tear Jaden's heart out, if she didn't already live there.
His family.
"So, what brings us to Domino?" Banner asked, scanning over the crowd of people looking for the exit. "Sight-seeing? Or are you perhaps going to finally challenge Yugi for that title you've talked so long about?"
Jaden laughed as he laid his head back in his hands.
"Nah, Yugi hasn't been in Domino City in years, anyways," he began, spotting the exit to the subway and turning towards it. "Besides, I've got way more important business to attend to."
"Oh?" Banner leaned in with a quizzical look, drawing a laugh from Jaden.
"I ain't say—"
"There's a diner here he went to once as a child and has been waiting to go back to ever since," Yubel shot out, spoiling Jaden's secret all in one go.
"Ahhh, come on Yubel, why do you gotta ruin my fun?" Jaden whined then, as Banner looked on at the two in confusion. He always forgot how close those two were, sharing a soul like they do. Even memories, it seemed, weren't secrets between them.
"Okay, I admit it, I'm here for the food. But! I'm also here to watch some kick-butt duels!" Jaden explained as the trio reached the top of the stairs leading to Domino City. The whole city opened up to the three, begging a moment of pause from Jaden. He, of course, didn't grant it. "Joey Wheeler is facing off against a challenger for the title of the Duke of Dueling!"
"Duels and food, the vital portions of Jaden's soul," Banner commented, rolling his eyes.
"Hey, Yubel's mixed in there too, don't forget," Jaden shot back with a laugh, eliciting a huff from the demon. "Okay, so! Food first, then the duel! Sounds good?"
"We literally do not have a choice in the matter," Yubel answered.
"Awesome, let's go!"
"I'll take your number eight, the mini-corn dogs, please!" Jaden's child-like glee drew a strange look from his waitress.
"The number eight? You know that feeds a family right?" she explained, cocking her head.
"Ma'am, I know what I am about," Jaden reiterated, patting his belly. "Besides, I'm eating for three anyways."
The waitress gave Jaden another strange look as she pursed her lips. Deciding she wanted this conversation to end as fast as possible, she nodded and jotted down Jaden's order, before walking away as fast as her job would allow.
Jaden and Yubel broke out with laughter.
"Why do you always have to do that when you eat somewhere," Banner asked, perching his ghostly elbow on the table as if he wouldn't pass right through it.
"You've got to admit, it is pretty funny," Yubel answered, leaning against Jaden's side as he dug through his bag.
"I prefer we didn't make people uncomfortable," Banner muttered under his breath, as he saw Jaden pull out a familiar sight: his deck box. Banner clicked his tongue. "Working on new strategies, Jaden? Perhaps we can discuss integrating—"
"Nah, I'm just, thinking about them," Jaden interjected, pulling out the 'them' in question: the Sacred Beasts. "Seeing these guys every time I fan through my deck is still, surreal."
Jaden laid the three cards on the table in front of him, Uria, Lord of Searing Flames, Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder, and Raviel, Lord of Phantasms.
"It's funny how I used these to nearly kill you, and destiny brings them back to you in the end," Yubel commented as Jaden picked up the final card in the line-up, Raviel. He remained silent, causing Yubel to purse her lips. "Sorry, I'll shut up about the times I tried to kill you."
Jaden's mind went back, back to his unexpected trip to Duel Academy, to his surprise duel against the world's number two duelist, Seto Kaiba, and to his stunning procural of the card's laid out in front of him.
Jaden's head slumped onto the table.
"Why couldn't they give these guys to someone who could actually use them," he groaned. "Continuous Spells, Continuous Traps, Fiend Monsters— I have barely any of those!"
"You could always take my offer to use some of the cards I had when I possessed the Sacred Beasts," Yubel brought up, as the waitress from earlier returned with a platter of food. "Or just leave them out, you don't have to play them."
"You know that's not how it works. Crowler explained— Oh thank you." Banner smiled up at the waitress as she put down the humongous platter of mini-corn dogs, forgetting that she couldn't see him, of course. As Jaden began diving into his meal, Banner continued. "The point of giving Jaden the Sacred Beasts was so they can't be stolen so easily. Monsters like these, they must be owned, or else anyone can take them without even a duel."
"So it's settled, Jaden will begin using some of my cards then," Yubel quickly jumped in to say. Jaden shook his head at that, as he stuffed another corn dog down his gullet.
"I dunno," he said after swallowing. "I'm just not a fan of the idea of kicking out any of my kickbutt Heroes or a Neo-Spacian, just so we can play around with one of these guys."
Jaden paused before taking his next bite, a rare sight at that.
"It just, feels like betrayal, ya know?" he explained, before silencing himself with more food.
"Was it betrayal when you added the Neo-Spacians to your deck?" Banner asked then, causing Jaden to furrow his brow.
"Or when you added me?" Yubel added, flicking a finger through Jaden's deck. Jaden swallowed his food as he gave it a moment of thought.
"Nope, I guess not. I just made it work," he explained, picking up the Sacred Beasts with his non-greasy hand. "But, I don't know why, but it just feels like a betrayal."
"To yourself, perhaps?" Banner suggested. That made Jaden pause. Both from his absolute destruction of about 3000 calories worth of mini-corn dogs and from his train of thought.
Was that the reason he's been resisting integrating the Sacred Beasts into his deck? That it felt like he was betraying himself?
"That, is a good question."
End of Chapter 2