Duelist Kingdom. It was almost like a dream to actually be here. This wasn't just any old card tournament being held on this island but a chance to test your skills against the best duelists in the entire world. And it turned out he was one of the best.
Ryuunosuke had never really considered that he might be more than just pretty good at the game of Duel Monsters. Sure, he'd won several tournaments, but that didn't seem like much compared to some of the other people here. From just the small preview at the docks, he could already spot the National Champion and runner up, plus several other famous contestants. Even some kid who was rumored to have beaten Kaiba Seto was supposed to be there, though he had no idea who that might be.
He wasn't worried, though. He was just as worthy of being here as everyone else; the red glove and star chips stowed away in his backpack were proof enough of that. Plus he had his Holy Night Dragon by his side. Sure, maybe that didn't automatically make him unbeatable, but it didn't hurt.
Good cards and a proven track record were only part of it, though. Unlike the others here only fighting for glory or to greedily get their hands on the prize money, he had a reason to win. A reason that meant he absolutely couldn't lose no matter what.
In the middle of picking some lint off his red sweater (rolling around on the ground all night wasn't great for style), one of the men in black suits began barking orders at the lot of them. Looks like things were about to start. Now they were all to move from the docks over to the huge brick castle a short ways in the distance. This really was starting to feel like a dream.
But this was no dream. Unlike in a dream, he'd get to keep the proof of his victory once he left and went back home. No, this was all real, and he'd really be taking home the gold soon enough. Watch out, everyone. He wasn't about to show any mercy once they were turned loose in this place.
Ryuunosuke didn't come from money. In fact, it was quite the opposite, his family being dirt poor for nearly his entire life. His only real solace during these early years was Duel Monsters, and that was mostly due to being lucky enough to pull Holy Night Dragon from a pack early on and establish himself as a skilled player.
He thought this meant he could somehow beat the odds and make it to the top. His early tournament successes definitely seemed to validate that, as did the invitation to compete in Duelist Kingdom in the first place. But all it really amounted to was a higher and higher peak to fall from.
And fall he did. Like he'd told himself at the beginning of the tournament, he didn't accept the invitation just to play cards or for some materialistic desire. He wanted the money to be sure, but it wasn't for himself. It was all meant to be for his mother.
One of the reasons his family remained in poverty was her, after all. A few years after he was born, she'd developed a rare kind of blood disorder. Costs were high to keep the disease at bay, though it was always framed as a fruitless endeavor. It would buy her a few years or maybe a decade at best, but that was only if they could continue to pay for the costly medicine and treatments.
But then Duelist Kingdom came along. It was like a miracle made manifest right in his mailbox. Compared to the small cash payouts his previous tournament wins had netted the family, a 3 million yen grand prize for the winner was too good to be true.
This was the lifeline they'd been wildly grasping for for so long. When the news first came about his mother's disease, the doctor had briefly mentioned a type of surgery that had the potential to cure her. It was far too costly, though. Not even an option worth considering given the price the specialists charged for it.
But with the prize money, things were suddenly different. If he could just make it to the finals and win, he'd have enough money to save his mother and then some. He believed he could do it. So did his family and friends. He had to do it. The stakes were too high for him to lose.
And then he lost. Considering there was no Ryuunosuke listed as the victor of Duelist Kingdom in the history books, it should be obvious how things had turned out for him. While he'd managed to hang in there for two whole rounds, a single loss had robbed him of all four of his star chips. It was like a nightmare come to life.
Before he knew it, he was being tossed onto a rowboat and told to navigate his way back to Japan with about a dozen other losers. Miraculously, they made it home without anyone dying. Maybe that was the real dream-come-true, after all.
After that, Ryuunosuke didn't do much dueling. It wasn't for any reason as pathetic as a bruised ego, however. He'd just come to recognize his own inferiority. Why play after something like that? Better to just not try.
It turned out that things like pride or honor or a reason to fight didn't matter in the slightest once you put your cards down. Trying to make it among the professionals was a herculean task, one he wasn't cut out for. He just didn't have the skills or cards or blind luck to pull it off.
He broke the news to his parents after that. They both seemed to take it well, congratulating him for making it as far as he did and thanking him for trying. Empty words, though. The truth was he was now responsible for what was going to happen next. He wasn't strong enough to win, so now his mother's death would be on his hands.
His spirit wasn't entirely broken, though. Not at first. Over the next few months, he tried everything he could to make the money his mother would need for the surgery. He competed in other tournaments, losing all of them before even making it to the finals. He tried using his entry in Duelist Kingdom to leverage appearances or exhibition duels like some local celebrity, but no one was all that eager to take up an offer from a nobody who didn't even place.
Pretty soon, his goal shifted to what felt like the more realistic option of helping to pay for her medication. He was working a part-time paper route now to try and scrounge up what little cash he could as a student. A particularly good day came when he managed to find a buyer for his Duel Gauntlet. That was a pretty penny right there and more than a reason to celebrate.
It didn't last long, though. Medicine was expensive and a few thousand yen wasn't going to cover it forever. Soon enough, he turned to selling his cards. The more common ones didn't amount to much, though he did get rid of a few rarer specimens for a good price. Things weren't looking too bad for a time.
Eventually, though, he was forced to do what he'd resisted for so long. Money was quickly drying up one month and, with his father already pulling as much overtime as possible and his paper route scheduling him for every morning for two weeks, he had no choice but to finally sell Holy Night Dragon.
Up until now, Ryuunosuke had done his best to remain as stoic and collected as possible through all of this, to "be a man" as people would often say. That night, though, he let himself cry all the tears he'd held back over the years. The loss of his favorite card was more than devastating; it was the culmination of all the sorrow and heartache he'd experienced and the final, decisive moment that eradicated any hope he might be able to climb his way out of this hole.
His mother died four months later. It was much less dramatic than he'd anticipated. A few days before, she seemed to be doing well, spirits high as she tried her best to keep the house tidy and together on the little energy her body could retain. A day later and she was bedridden. The day after that and she was doubled over in pain, rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. And the day after that she was gone.
It was strange feeling that her death came both so slowly and so quickly. Her passing itself was sudden, but she'd been dying for years. That left him and his father in a strange place, already having made peace with these events some time ago but still feeling the hurt just as strongly now that she was gone.
People moved on eventually, though. They had to. That's just how life worked. Shortly after the funeral, he had to attend school again. Some classmates offered condolences, but he brushed them off one after the other. As if they really cared about him or his mother. They only did this because that's what the world had decided you had to do when someone died. Frankly, he respected the ones who didn't bother to talk to him at all much more.
An even stranger thing happened a few weeks later when he quit his delivery job. Since there were no longer any medical costs to think about, he figured, he had no reason to continue working like this. He had free time for the first time in forever. A relief, yet that relief came at the price of guilt so overwhelming that he couldn't even enjoy it.
How could he be feeling relief right now? Relief that someone had died? That he didn't have to waste his precious time working for his useless mother? How selfish could one person be? He was scum, he thought. Not just relieved, he figured, but happy that his mother was gone. He must have been.
Part of him knew that these thoughts weren't his true feelings, but that part was too beaten down and tired to put up a fight. That meant he'd just have to carry on hating himself. It was the only option, of course. The only way to atone for these thoughts. Maybe even his actions. After all, who could say he didn't lose Duelist Kingdom on purpose in the hopes that this would all end up like this?
Hating yourself usually doesn't leave much room for a compelling personality or interesting hobbies. As a result, Ryuunosuke's social circle dwindled to no one but his father after only a year or so. He'd driven away anyone who might have cared for him with his bad attitude and angry outbursts. Soon enough, he was even driving a wedge between himself and his father.
By the time he graduated high school, the two barely spoke. They lived in the same house, but their schedules kept them apart at almost all times. What free time they did have was always spent apart, Ryuunosuke wandering the streets of Domino and getting into fights while his father drank or looked over old family photos and videos.
For obvious reasons, he didn't bother going to a university. He was skeptical one would have even accepted him given his subterranean grades during his last year. The total lack of extracurricular achievements or notable life experience wouldn't help, either.
Because of that, he simply moved away to work at a machining plant in a neighboring town. Academics weren't his thing, but physical labor was more than doable. It was hot, exhausting, monotonous work, but it paid well enough to afford a terrible apartment and food to eat. That's about all he lived for these days.
His father never spoke to him after he left home. Was he even still alive now? That was fine, though. He had nothing to say to him at this point. Their resentment was no doubt mutual, Ryuunosuke fully accepting the blame the old man must have laid on him for his wife's death. He was as much a failure of a son as he was a duelist. Better to cut ties than pretend otherwise.
In the decade or so since Duelist Kingdom, Ryuunosuke had considered trying to duel again many times. Part of him longed to pick up a card and feel that same joy of summoning monsters and casting spells as before, but that was unfortunately the same part that didn't hate himself. It wasn't listened to.
Even so, he couldn't help but steal a glance into the windows of card shops he might be passing by throughout the years. The game seemed to evolve at a rapid pace, any card he might recognize fading out of the displays to be replaced by something new, only for that something new to be replaced by yet another something new not long after.
The longer he waited, the more complex the game seemed to get. That was fine, though. That just discouraged him from ever trying it again. That was for the best. He was a failure back then and he'd be a failure now, especially if he didn't even understand all the new rules they'd introduced since he quit. Better to just not try.
It was a hard day of work finally done. Trudging back home towards his apartment, Ryuunosuke made a brief stop off at a convenience store to grab dinner – a reduced price chicken croquette box that had sat out since earlier in the day and a tall can of beer. Not the most nourishing meal but it was what he enjoyed and could afford.
Unlocking the door, he stumbled inside over the same bit of cracked entrance he never worked up the energy to fix. Closing the door behind him, he kicked his shoes off into a pile and walked the narrow hallways into the rest of the room.
Switching on an overhead light, he tossed his food onto his unrolled futon before flopping down beside it. That job was really killing him lately, though it couldn't be helped. So many people at the plant had just up and disappeared into thin air. Still, that meant he had to cover for those lazy bastards. Get abducted on your own time.
Switching on the tiny box TV situated atop some old boxes of clothes he never bothered to unpack, he cracked open his meal and began shoveling it into his face, washing it down with large gulps of his beer. Everyone always made a big deal about home cooked meals, but he'd take this garbage over all of that any day. Tasted about the same if you weren't lying to yourself (though given it had been years since anyone last cooked for him, maybe he was just biased).
"Ryuunosuke," she said from the entryway. Wait, who was making that sound? He lived alone.
"Ryuunosuke," the woman repeated. This time, he bothered to look in the voice's direction, dropping his meal onto the floor. This couldn't be real. He had to be dreaming.
"I've come for you," his mother said. She began walking towards him, a wide grin across her face as wispy shadows circled around her feet. "Let's take a look at the darkness that lives inside your heart."
This couldn't be real. It absolutely had to be a dream. His mother couldn't be here right now. And yet there she was right in front of him. And it was definitely her, or at least someone who looked exactly like her. Same bony figure, same overly neat white dress, same flowing scarlet hair, same strict but loving auburn eyes. Even after all these years, he could never forget that much.
His whole body froze as she touched the center of his chest, an icy chill running down his everything. The darkness that shrouded her before began to spread to him now. Was this what his mother had felt all those years ago in that hospital bed?
Senses slowly fading, he could barely make out the changing features of the figure that had once taken on her face. It was really a man, or at least it looked like one. Slicked back hair, a dark bodysuit, and red glasses obscuring his eyes. That disturbing smile hadn't changed.
He had to fight it. He couldn't just slip away like this without any kind of resistance, right? Even if he was bound to lose, he should at least make some kind of effort. Kick, scream, yell for help, anything. Just anything that might show that he was alive right now. Like his mother had done for all those years.
He didn't have that kind of fire left inside, though. Even the memory of Holy Night Dragon wasn't enough to spark any last embers of hope. He'd abandoned that card long ago and all the hope it brought with it. He had no right to look to it for inspiration when he'd so callously thrown it away.
Better to just not try.
Anyone want some angst? Because that's what you're getting.
It's always interesting to me to think about the random jobbers we never meet in events like Duelist Kingdom. They never get an episode fighting the protagonists or character development or cool traits or anything that might make them memorable. They're just part of the background. But they ostensibly made it to these tournaments on merit. They all have their own goals and motivations even if we never learn them. What happens when they have to go home a loser?
I left a couple clues as to who Ryuunosuke is supposed to be. If you go back and watch the early episodes of the anime, you might be able to find him. That's actually what made me think of all this since I'm rewatching the series again (now in Spanish). Some of those early episodes had some good art direction.
Expect a short followup to this at some point. Maybe next month, but I make no promises. If it makes you feel any better while you wait, anyone who's finished GX knows this has to have a happy ending.
That's all I've got for now. Thanks for reading. Share if you enjoyed. Always remember to go for gold.