A/N: Well, I'm really mad at how they continue to ignore Misawa. And I tend to write my best fics when I'm really mad about any subject. So I'm giving this a shot.

Could that be a hint about what'll go down in this chapter? You'll see...XD

This part probably won't be as long as the first one, since the first one was two parts put together. This chapter will wrap up the rest of what happens at Duel Academia, and then there will be an epilogue later on.

Note: Pokeballs are called Monster Balls in Japan (as far as I can tell).

Disclaimer: I don't own GX. But I do more or less own what Misawa does in this fic, because he wasn't even IN 102-104 (one of the few benefits of his absence).

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Taro and Natsume were in battle stance. Automatically, Taro reached for his belt, where he kept his Pokemon in their Monster Balls. He then realized he had left them all at the gym. And even if he had them with him, they probably wouldn't work here-it didn't look like there were any Pokemon at all in this place.

At any rate, the mystery person was still approaching them. Taro and Natsume could both sense that this person was walking slowly, with no real destination in mind.

A short time later, they smelled it. Cigarette smoke.

Natsume snorted.

"Really, who in the world is dumb enough to smoke in the middle of a forest? Something could catch on fire!"

Taro replied as he pointed, "Apparently this person is dumb enough to smoke in the middle of the forest, Natsume-sama..."

For when they had been chatting, the mystery person had finally shown his face.

Natsume had an instantaneous and rather baffling reaction to seeing this person. She glared at him while shouting, "Not you again!"

Taro bemusedly asked if this was the infamous cousin. Now it was Taro's turn to get glared at.

"Of course he's not my cousin, you dimwit! He's just an extremely annoying guard who works for my cousin."

This guy didn't look like an extremely annoying guard. For that matter, he didn't look much like a guard of any kind. He just looked like a guy who had wanted some alone time, cigarette or not. And now he was shuffling away.

This wasn't good. They needed him to help them get out of this forest. Taro would have to work quickly to repair the damages that Natsume's short temper had caused. He was used to doing similar things back at the gym, so he knew the routine by now.

Taro rushed over to block the young man's path away from them, and immediately began a long-winded apology.

"Please excuse Natsume-sama's words. She likes being blunt, and she means you no real harm. In fact, she knows very well that we could use a guide such as you. We are new to this place, and very lost indeed. We need you to show us to our destination."

At this, the kid perked up somewhat.

"Someone needs me? That's new..." he said flatly.

The apology was working. They just might get their guide after all!

Taro decided to cement the deal.

"Of course we need you," he said. "We are hopelessly lost in this jungle, like I said before. You, on the other hand, look like you know your way around these parts. And don't worry about Natsume-sama...she just needs time to get accustomed to new people."

The guy turned around.

"Okay, then...if you're that desperate for help, I could show you around. It's not like I have anything else to do."

The person started walking towards where Natsume was, but Taro stopped him.

"Put out that cigarette first-those things annoy Natsume-sama to no end."

The stranger rolled his eyes, but did as he was told.

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A few minutes later, they were on their merry way.

Natsume just didn't seem to get along with this person. As soon as they headed off, she dove into a lecture of all the diseases that smoking caused. Taro finally had to walk between them to avoid any conflict.

Their guide (who had said his name was Misawa) really didn't have much to say, unlike Natsume. He just kept on leading the way to something called "Duel Academia". Interesting name for a school, Taro thought. They didn't have Pokemon here, so what could the "duel" consist of?

Taro got more and more curious as to just what this Misawa person was thinking. It had to be something important if he wasn't talking. So Taro activated his telepathic powers as furtively as possible. He was nowhere near as good at masking the fact that he was reading minds as Natsume was, so he hoped that Misawa wouldn't notice the intrusion.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the foremost thought was longing for another cigarette. Apparently, this was a new habit, because there was also a lot of guilt lying around. Misawa knew it was horrible for his health, but it was the only way he could take his mind off things.

Taro wanted to know what these things were, but managed not to look too closely.

Okay...moving on...

It was obvious that this guy was not happy here. There were hints that he had once been happy, but now he just wanted to go home. The name "Captain Fluffball" kept surfacing. Taro deduced that this was the name of a family pet of which Misawa was quite fond.

If only Natsume had thought to read his mind...maybe she wouldn't have been so harsh on the poor guy.

Out of respect, Taro switched off the telepathy. It was just as well, because they had apparently reached their intended destination.

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They found themselves in front of a large building. People were present by the hundreds. It looked like some kind of important event was taking place.

Occasionally, some of the bystanders shot curious glances at Natsume and Taro. No one looked at Misawa. Taro was about to call them on this, but Natsume was beckoning to him. So he followed Natsume to where she was arguing with what looked to be a teacher.

"I need to know where he is! I'm family!" she was exclaiming.

"Ma'am," replied the teacher, "I'm sorry, but you can't see him. It's too dangerous. And besides, we're in the middle of the deciding duel of the Genex tournament. We can't spare any teachers to go with you."

"Look...um, what's your name?"

"Kabayama."

"Look, Kabayama-san, if you aren't going to help me, I'm doing this myself."

"Well, all right...you're not a student, so I can't control what you do. Just don't sue us if you get hurt."

"I won't sue you, and I plan not to get hurt."

"Okay then..."

This Kabayama person still sounded very skeptical, however.

And with that, Natsume walked off again. Taro had no choice but to follow. Misawa had apparently wandered off to be by himself again.


They were soon in front of another building. This one was painted spotlessly white. Taro had to look away from it for fear of being blinded. However, it didn't seem to have any effect on Natsume. She marched up to the front doors, confident like always.

At the door, she turned back to Taro.

"No annoying guards this time!" she said in a voice that was almost cheerful.

The cheer faded quickly as she tried the door handles.

"Damn...locked...should have expected as much."

She then tried unlocking the doors via telekinesis. But that was just as futile.

"Looks like he foresaw my arrival again. There's a mental lock put on these doors as well as a physical one."

Taro thought of jokingly saying, "Oh well. We tried," but decided it was too insensitive.

Suddenly, Natsume paused.

"It can't be..can you sense that? If I didn't know any better..."

Sure enough, Taro had sensed it too. A distinct aura was emanating from the building. It was remarkably similar to an aura they had both sensed before, many years ago.

Satoshi...

But no. It wasn't him. It was close, but a different person who happened to have a similar personality to Satoshi.

Natsume seemed to calm down a bit.

"Seems like this Satoshi-like person has things under control," she said. "So all we need to do is wait and hope for the best...WHOA!"

For a psychic shockwave of epic proportions had just cut through everything. And just as it had appeared, it was gone.

Natsume sniffed.

"Well, it looks like they didn't need our help after all. Ironic, isn't it? Still...we should stay and see if everything is all right."

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Natsume and Taro hid behind some trees as a group of people emerged from the building. That person in red had to be the Satoshi-like person. They could just sense it.

And that had to be the cousin. He did look a bit like Natsume.

Natsume was smiling for the first time in a while.

"Taro-kun, that really IS him this time!" she pointed out.

The news got even better as a stranger arrived via helicopter. Natsume informed Taro that this was the OTHER cousin, Mizuchi. Natsume decided that this was finally her cue to reveal her presence to those people. And so she did, and there was even MORE merriment.

Taro felt a bit left out, seeing as he had only found out about this a few hours ago, and was still confused. So he went off by himself. He knew Natsume would summon him when it was time to leave.

At first, Taro didn't know where he was going. But then he realized that he was intentionally looking for that Misawa person. The kid probably needed someone to talk to.

It actually didn't take him long to find Misawa. He was standing rather morosely on a cliff. No cigarette accompanied him this time.

Taro joined him, but there really wasn't much to say.

Misawa did mention that he was going home for a bit.

"I might be back, I might not," he said. "I just don't know if I belong here anymore.."

Taro really didn't know how to reply.

And anyway, Natsume was sending him a telepathic message that it was time to leave, so he did.

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The flight back to their native city was a lot merrier than the flight leaving it. Natsume was busy making plans for training sessions and renovating the battle arena.

"It's so gloomy and intimidating, Taro-kun. I want to get better lighting so I'm not always sitting in shadow."

Taro agreed that better lighting would be an excellent idea.

Natsume's dad was waiting at the airport. When he saw them, he raised an eyebrow and wryly said, "So did you two save the world?"

Natsume thought a minute before replying, "No, but we had an interesting time. It was so interesting, I never want to go there again!"

Natsume's father laughed and said, "Now there's the Natsume we were all missing! Good to have you back."

Then he turned to Taro.

"Thank you for making sure that my daughter didn't kill herself. My wife does have a point-you would make a great son-in-law."

Natsume sweatdropped.

"Father, I've told you before, Mother is hopelessly sentimental. Don't listen too hard at what she says about those things."

But everyone knew she wasn't really angry at either of her parents.

And it was thus that they got into the taxi back to the gym, where things would return to normal.

THE END (of the regular story)

Like I said, there will be a short epilogue, where the real Saiou makes another appearance.

Captain Fluffball may very well have a fic of his own soon. I mentioned him as a sort of teaser. I'll think about writing the fic if people are interested.