DISCLAIMERS:

1) Don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!, yadda-yadda-yadda (-Garasu).

2) All original cards depicted in this fanfic, unless otherwise specified, are the product of my own imagination. Any similarity to others' original cards or ideas is purely coincidental and unintentional.

3) The contents of any chapters as initially posted are not necessarily final, the main reason being that if I let my perfectionist streak have its way, I'd never be able to post anything at all.

A/N: Well, would you look at that? I actually posted something for the first time in almost a decade! I hope everyone had a happy Halloween!

That said, this project has been a long time coming. I once wrote a terrible YGO fanfic on FFNet way back when I was 16 called Joey Wheeler, Revamped. Dissatisfied with it, and with life getting in the way, I eventually took it down without backups, so it's gone forever and good riddance. But since life continues to happen and as I look back on those simpler times, I wanted to revisit the old fic's basic premise of Jounouchi (Joey)'s journey to becoming a pro duelist and kind of reincarnate that old fic into something that's actually competently written. Hopefully, it will turn out much better now that I'm 15+ years older and wiser.

Without spoiling too much, this fic does entail Jounouchi dealing with people from all over the world, and on that note, using the 4Kids dub names for the canonical main and supporting cast, even though they're more familiar to me, won't make any sense here. As far as canon/continuity fit goes... well, I'm not gonna worry too much about that, within reason.

I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

EDIT 2/23/2022: Okay, I promise this is the last major additive/subtractive change I'll make to this post, and it's the biggest one of all: I decided it was better split into two parts. The first section recapping Jounouchi's growth in the series and where he's at now is perfect as-is for a prologue, while the second part taking place in the present day functions well as the first actual chapter. Don't worry, all that deleted text didn't go away! That post is coming in a few days from now!

Apologies and appreciation for bearing with me!

Prologue: The Fading Flames of Passion

Katsuya Jounouchi's claims to fame were all related to the Duel Monsters trading card game. Though "fame" was a bit of a stretch, he had indeed become well known in the game's community at large as a duelist whose meteoric rise from total beginner to perennial tournament finalist in a very short time was almost unheard of.

He was among the greenest of amateurs when he first began a few years back, initially constructing his deck with only Monster Cards, with no Spell or Trap Cards to either support them or stymie those of his opponents. But under the strict tutelage of gaming legend Sugoroku Mutou, and the guidance and support of Mutou's prodigious grandson—and his own best friend—Yugi, he far exceeded anyone's expectations by soon becoming the runner-up to Pegasus J. Crawford's Duelist Kingdom tournament. What's more, he used all the prize money not for his own benefit, but to pay for his younger sister Shizuka's surgical operation to restore her eyesight. Weeks later, he would again defy the odds and finish as a semifinalist in KaibaCorp CEO Seto Kaiba's Battle City tournament, all the while becoming entangled within a sinister plot by the last keeper of a certain ancient Egyptian pharaoh's tomb. Those were quite bizarre circumstances, though fortunately, no large-scale harm was done.

Everyone loves the stories about underdogs and rises from nothing to achieve great things in life, and Jounouchi's story so far has checked every mark on their collective list. Some would sneer and deride his use of luck-based card effects—involving coin flips and die rolls—as cheap and unsustainable, never an adequate substitute for actual skill, likened to a quiz show contestant blindly guessing his way to the top prizes. Those who looked down their noses at him were only quite a small minority, however. The majority of duelists considered him a genuinely skilled duelist in his own right, and it was all the more amazing that he would be a contender without the access to resources and disposable income the regular pros had, saying his results spoke for themselves. Others still saw his sheer moxie and utter refusal to back down against long odds as an inspiration to tackle their own life issues the same way.

For Jounouchi, Duel Monsters was simply fun. Often a means to an end, sure, but his drive and passion were what truly defined him as a duelist, what made him more than the sum of his skills and luck. That was the Katsuya Jounouchi, that never hesitated to push ahead and spite the odds, that many duelists and even a not-insignificant number of laypersons came to admire.

Life had never been easy for the scrappy duelist. His parents fought frequently while he and Shizuka were kids, and the only solace either child could take was in each other, where he resolved to keep her safe from all the bad and ugly things of the world, least of all the ugliness of their own home life. It then devastated them both when their parents finally divorced, and they were split up between them; their mother took Shizuka with her, and took her maiden name Kawai, while Katsuya remained with his father, whose ill behavior and worst habits now went unchecked. Embittered by this change of events, he resented not only his father for being a drunken, degenerate-gambling deadbeat, he also resented his mother for taking his beloved sister away from him, and leaving him defenseless against their dad's abuse, as well as being forced to shoulder his significant debt along with him. The only silver lining he could find in it was that Shizuka didn't have to see that ugliness anymore, and the memory of her innocent, ingenuous smile was oftentimes the only thing keeping him going.

Because his father couldn't be bothered to be a reliable breadwinner for the household, it fell to young Katsuya to seek special permission from his middle school to obtain part-time employment, which they granted. He became known as the school's lone paperboy, hustling through his regular newspaper routes across town, so by the time he would get a full-time job as an adult, he'd be more accustomed to the daily grind than most his age. Keeping a job had been a challenge unto itself, as he had also become a delinquent by this time, falling in with a terrible middle school gang led by a thug named Hirutani. Though he eventually left the gang, finding Hirutani too sadistic for his sensibilities, his delinquent background would continue to be held over his head even to this day.

Around the time he'd left Hirutani's gang, he met fellow delinquent Hiroto Honda, who, like himself, was fundamentally good at heart, though similarly lost and embittered by the state of his own life. Together, while neither could truly solve the other's problems, they did find in each other a kindred spirit, and they realized that they really weren't alone in this cruel world. Together, they resolved to pay back the world in kind.

The crucial point in his emotional development came over a certain two-day period in high school. Jounouchi and Honda had been bullying one of their classmates, a short, milquetoast boy their age named Yugi Mutou who kept to himself and played all these odd games alone. One day, they grabbed out of his hands a gold-plated metal box with Ancient Egyptian symbols on it, and saw fit to try to teach him to "become a man". They were immediately chased off by his childhood friend, a spunky tomboy named Anzu Mazaki, but not before Jounouchi peeked inside the box and subtly swiped a piece of its contents—an oddly-shaped puzzle piece with an eye symbol on it. Frustrated by the turn of events, as well as detesting the apparent weakness of Yugi's character, he tossed the puzzle piece into the school's swimming pool.

The next day, Jounouchi and Honda ran afoul of the school's self-installed hall monitor, a mountain of muscle and thick eyebrows named Tetsu Ushio, whom even the teachers feared. Ushio, knowing the two had been bullying Yugi, effortlessly beat them up. This, however, was not a gesture of goodwill, but was in fact the preamble to extort Yugi for "protection", charging an exorbitant 200,000 yen for his services. Neither able nor willing to pay, as well as horrified that Ushio had pummeled the two on his alleged behalf, Yugi threw himself between Ushio and his victims, even going so far as to call the two his friends. Disappointed, Ushio beat up Yugi as well, and directly threatened him—with a knife—to pay up or else.

Jounouchi witnessed everything in complete shock. Never in a million years did he expect the wimpy Yugi Mutou to stand up to the school's most feared bully, much less for the sake of the two guys who had themselves been bullying him. For all his blustering about teaching Yugi to become a man, here Yugi stood risking his life to protect those whom he considered friends regardless. If that wasn't what a "real man" would do, he didn't know what in the world would. Later that evening, Jounouchi dived into the pool to retrieve Yugi's puzzle piece and return it to him at his house, the Kame Game shop. Yugi's grandfather Sugoroku met him at the door, and Jounouchi informed him of the situation with Ushio. He then went home without another word.

The next morning, Ushio was found on the school grounds writhing in a pile of leaves and garbage, in such a strong delirium that he believed it was all money. Seeing their opportunity, the school faculty unanimously decided to expel him, and then he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. No one had seen or heard from him since, though everyone was glad to be rid of him.

For Yugi and Jounouchi in particular, exactly what had caused Ushio's downfall was less important than the fact that he was now no longer a threat to anyone. They met in the hallways, still bandaged from their beatings, and Jounouchi told Yugi about a treasure of his own that he wanted him to see; with a grin, Jounouchi stated that it was "something you could show, but couldn't see." As Yugi thought about it, Jounouchi gave him the answer: friendship. From then on, Yugi and Jounouchi were friends for real; Yugi had had his wish granted, and Jounouchi had someone whose pristine character he could truly emulate. Soon, Jounouchi befriended Anzu after he and Yugi discovered her working as a waitress at Burger World—for which, unlike him, she was not given special permission—and promising to keep it secret, and Yugi then befriended Honda after helping him try to confess to a girl he liked, even though she turned Honda down.

Now a group of four, they had many adventures together, most significant of which was when Duel Monsters was released and became a global phenomenon. Through it, Yugi and Jounouchi shocked the world; Yugi with his upset victory over world champion Seto Kaiba by being the first on record to assemble all five parts of Exodia the Forbidden One, and Jounouchi, as stated before, growing in skill at an unprecedented rate. Together, they competed in Duelist Kingdom, Battle City and the KaibaCorp Grand Prix, as well as taking a trip to Egypt to solve the mystery of Yugi's Millennium Puzzle once and for all. All throughout, they met many unique and amazing duelists, each with their own agenda, but each duel was a learning experience for all parties.

Man, those were the days, Jounouchi frequently thought as of late.

It had now been one year since he graduated from Domino High School, and longer still since that heyday. He'd known his grades were never great to begin with, so any prospect of him going on to university was unrealistic at best, but having a high school diploma would at least open a number of entry-level career doors. Before long, Jounouchi had landed a job driving a forklift for the nearest construction firm. Although the weekly pay was considered only average for a working adult, it was a much better amount than his old part-time paper route could offer, but the albatross of his father's gambling debts remained ever on them. The money kept them afloat, but just barely. Jounouchi made sure they at least had food, utilities, a roof over their heads, and sent regular piecemeal payments to the almighty creditors, while his father inevitably squandered the rest on more beer and lottery tickets.

Sometimes, his father would put on a show of contrition upon seeing the pay he brought home regularly—and after having knocked back several beers in one sitting. "Son," he'd say to that effect, "I knew you could do it, m'boy!" Jounouchi never believed it for a minute, since this always came from the same guy who, just earlier those mornings, would shout obscenities and toss half-empty bottles of Asahi Super Dry at him on his way out the door. That said, Jounouchi had to admit even a drunken, insincere pride in him was better than nothing or otherwise.

During a recent night when he'd finally have some peace and quiet after his father drank himself to sleep, Jounouchi's mind wandered, ever and always to the times spent with Yugi, Honda, and Anzu, and the ordeals they had all endured together. His mind specifically beckoned the memory of their "symbol of friendship": a smiley face Anzu had drawn across the backs of their right hands with a black marker, during one such ordeal long ago.

"Someday, we'll graduate and be separated, and we'll have painful and lonely times," said Anzu. "These marks will remind us. We'll remember being in this room together. Even if I'm in New York, learning dance, I'll still remember. This magic ink may wash off, but it'll never disappear from our hearts!"

As Jounouchi lay on his bed, he raised his ink-free hand in the dark bedroom, lit only by the ambient city lights outside his window, knowing full well that his own ordeal remained ever an obstacle for him. Of his three best friends, only Yugi remained easily within his reach. He knew Yugi remained at home, preparing to inherit the Kame Game Shop when his grandfather would eventually pass away. In the meantime, he had become quite busy developing new games for people to play and enjoy. Though he remained perhaps the best duelist in the world, he chose to retire from the game, feeling he had accomplished everything he had ever wanted from it; winning championships were merely incidental. Jounouchi didn't want to force Yugi to duel if he didn't want to, and despite Yugi and his grandpa always having him welcome to the shop, the number of times he had visited in the past year could be counted on one hand. Honda had reluctantly taken a job at his father's factory upon graduating, working full-time swing shifts. The pay for him was good, about 50,000 yen per week to start, but the work was physically demanding and left him too tired to do much else outside of it. Anzu had moved to New York City to follow her dream of becoming a professional dancer, and though she would occasionally correspond via letters with them all, the fact was that she lived on the other side of the world.

Jounouchi gave a heavy sigh. Despite finding steady employment with his construction job, he remained trapped by the circumstances his father had left him in, and those old feelings of angst and bitterness threatened to return with a vengeance with each passing day. His father's abuse never relented, and in some respects, only got worse once he became an adult. He didn't know how much more he could take of it. What better time than now, he thought, for him to lean on the memory of those good old days?

As his eyelids became too heavy to keep open, he spared one more thought for his old favorite hobby, Duel Monsters. The game was as popular as ever, and new duelists appeared on the scene every day. But at some point, he realized that his life had gotten in the way of it and refused to budge. Days passed, then weeks and months, since he had had a serious duel with someone or even kept up with the latest Core Booster sets. He kept his deck securely on his person at almost all times, just in case someone had challenged him to a duel, but not a single coworker of his was interested in the game. It had even come to the point where he had to sell his Duel Disk a few months ago just to have some spending money, his reasoning at the time being if it wasn't going to see any use in the foreseeable future, he may as well not have it anymore, though it didn't make the sting of handing it over to the buyer, a twelve-year-old girl just getting into the game, hurt any less.

The stark reality of adult life had set in quickly, and set in strongly; Duel Monsters was a luxury he could no longer afford. This was the Katsuya Jounouchi whose adventures he shared with Yugi, Honda and Anzu seemed to have happened to someone else, someone who felt he could take on the whole world, someone who had their love and support. The further he drifted from it, the more he'd allowed his present circumstances to affect his enjoyment of it, the weaker the fire of passion inside him—by far his greatest asset as a duelist—had become, now at risk of being snuffed out for good.

Jounouchi sighed again and finally drifted into sleep, but not before wishing desperately that he could have back the freedom to have that kind of fun again.

A/N: Life continues to get worse for Jounouchi, and he's got his work cut out for him now. Can he ever overcome his own ordeal and return to the Jounouchi of old?

Also, for the handful of you who still get activity alerts from me or my posts, and waited all this time for me to come back and post again, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I promise that this will be a new beginning. Keep in mind, however, that I do have a full-time job to keep the bills paid, so updates are going to be rather sparse, but with a renewed inspiration, I'm in a better frame of mind to tackle these projects.

Peace.