Going Pro
Chapter 24: Old Faces
To be honest, Jesse was not expecting this. However, he has dreamed of it. There was only one person he would chase down to the ends of the Earth, and he was standing before him right now. He would not let this chance slip by.
"Trapper!" Jesse shouted.
The man's face slipped into a smirk. Jesse stood ready with his duel disk.
"It was you, wasn't it?" Jesse demanded.
"Oh kid, it's been me all along…" His tone was completely mocking.
How? How was he everywhere?
Jesse's teeth clenched. "Give them back!"
Trapper looked thoughtful for a moment. "Hmm… no," he said.
Jesse tried not to let Trapper's attitude get to him. "It is not optional," Jesse said seriously.
"Might I suggest an alternative where you get exactly what you want?"
"Like what?"
"A trade."
Jesse frowned. There was no way in a million years he was going to trade anything to this man. "What makes you think I'd agree to something like that?"
Trapper leaned against the back of the truck with a knowing look. It was no less than smug. Jesse could not wait to wipe that look off his face. He just needed Trapper to agree to a duel, and then everything could be solved.
"Well, are you ready to duel? I assume you want an ante, like my deck, right?" Jesse bit out. He hated the thought of such a wager.
Trapper's smirk grew and he closed his eyes in thought for a second. "Your mother is a remarkable woman," he said suddenly.
Jesse's eyes widened. "Wha…?" He had a bad feeling.
"I know you have some amazing power there kid, and I tried really hard to find you–to get as close as I could," he continued. "I thought that if I could just get in close enough I could just…" he made a swipe motion with his hand. "But as soon as your mother figured I was up to no good, she did everything in her power to throw me for a loop so I couldn't find you, especially after the news broke about Vegas, but by then she had nothing more to do with me."
"You… you used my mother?" Jesse nearly growled. He thought seeing red was a myth. It turned out to be a very real condition. If flashed across his vision aggressively for a moment. In that moment, his mind spun and churned while adrenaline burst through him almost painfully.
The sudden need to move, a new job, letting him study abroad at a boarding school literally surrounded by walls even though she didn't really support the industry… It all made sense now.
It couldn't be.
Was it really all because of this one man? She tried so hard to keep Jesse away from anything duel spirit related too… was it because…
"Why!?" Jesse shouted.
"You have powers unlike anyone else I have ever seen before," Trapper said. "Show me more! Show me the strength your spirits, kid, so I can take them!"
"Duel me!" Jesse declared. "Right here, right now!"
"With pleasure…" Trapper reached into the truck and picked up the duel disk. "As long as you're still not up for a simple trade, it would save us both a lot of time."
"Dream on!"
Trapper chuckled and slipped the duel disk onto his arm and activated it.
This was it.
Jesse would not screw this up. He had no idea what kind of tricks Trapper had up his sleeve, but he knew he should be ready for anything. This was his chance. Losing was not an option.
"Jesse!" Opal's voice shouted.
Jesse didn't dare move. He waited for the duel to begin.
"Stop that man!" Opal ordered loudly.
Trapper looked beyond Jesse with shock and stepped back. Jesse dared a quick peek over his shoulder. An armed security force was closing in. This was serious business.
"Looks like today's just not our day, kid!" Trapper said quickly. "But I'll get those beasts of yours!"
He couldn't say anything else as Trapper ran away, leaving everything behind. The armed security team quickly followed after him. Jesse moved to follow. Opal ran in front of Jesse, stopping him in his tracks.
She was surprisingly fast in high heels.
"I can't let him get away!" Jesse said as he tried to maneuver around Opal, but she kept blocking his path and eventually pushed back on him with a firm grip on his shoulders.
"Jesse, stop! I can't let you follow that man!" Opal tried.
"But he has the decks, he still has Jerry Beans Man, he'll keep hurting them!" Jesse shot back.
"It's my job to make sure you are safe, I can't let you go!" Opal exclaimed. "Jesse, please!" she pleaded when Jesse continued to try to get around her.
Opal struggled to hold Jesse back as he pushed forward. He probably could have pushed her aside or worse, but she wasn't his target and he had no desire to fight her.
Another duelist of all people stepped in and assisted Opal in getting Jesse to the elevator, where he was powerless to do anything unless he wanted to fight his friends. He wouldn't do that. There wasn't anything in this universe that Jesse believed could make him do that.
Defeated, Jesse turned away as the elevator took them up and then he leaned his forehead against the wall. He didn't say anything as Opal rubbed his back in a comforting gesture. He was silent and stoic.
Over the weeks, Opal had learned Jesse was fairly expressive. To see him like this was unsettling.
Jesse couldn't believe how close he had come. Just one duel, that's all he wanted. It didn't matter if Trapper played dirty and cheated. He could have found a way.
He could have done something.
"Jesse," Opal began.
"He got away," Jesse said. "He keeps getting away." He had a feeling the people chasing after Trapper would not catch him. That man was a professional. There was no way he was getting caught by authorities.
"You're not the only one chasing him," Opal said. "He has been targeted by Industrial Illusions for some time, there's a bounty out for him."
Jesse didn't say anything in response.
Eventually, the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened to the show floor. There was quite the display of life-sized duel monsters along the path to the duel arena. Before entering the arena, they veered off to the side and down a long empty hallway where storage closets, restrooms, and miscellaneous rooms, one of which was used as the lounge for the duelists.
People were talking when they entered.
"It was likely on a timer, he must have shut down the whole block so no one would suspect anything and made sure he was in position when it happened," someone theorized while reading something on their PDA.
"Or he had inside help. Remember what they said about a Las Vegas tournament a while back right?"
"Jordan was so nice too, now he's banned from competitions."
Jesse took a seat and Opal sat next to him. The duelist with them joined the conversation.
"We have to look out for each other, who knows what really happened," he said.
"And what now, what about the show?"
"The show? What about our careers? Our decks are gone."
"Some of those cards won't be easy to replace."
"The venue isn't responsible for lost or stolen items, so only Industrial Illusions and the sponsors might help us out if we can find reason they could be at fault."
"That's not going to be easy."
The conversation continued on like this. The duelists and their mangers were wondering what they were going to do. As it was, only Jesse and maybe one other duelist who arrived just after he did still had their decks. It won't be much of a show with only two duelists able to compete.
Some of the managers were looking into creating a new show out of the event. One idea was to make random mock decks to show off the duelists' skills with any card and deck. It wasn't the best of plans, but it was something.
The show must go on, as the saying goes.
Jesse continued to sulk like a grumpy teenager. He was not having a good day. First this morning he had to sneak around fangirls who only saw him as some shiny new princely figure because of the media. He was almost late to this event because of it. He was already stressed out and forced on an erratic sleep schedule to sour his normally mild mood. Then all this happened.
Trapper causing trouble and then escaping like he always did rubbed Jesse in the worst of ways. Jesse wouldn't even feel this bad if he had lost every single duel today.
Ruby Carbuncle appeared on his lap and tried to comfort him. Just little chips and nuzzles.
Someone came in and said something to the room full of duelists and managers. Jesse didn't listen to it. He just closed his eyes and leaned back in seat so the back of his head leaned against the wall. It was so early in the day and he was already so drained.
"Did you hear that, Jesse?" Opal said while resting a hand on his shoulder.
He sat up straight and looked at her. "What?" he asked quietly.
"All the decks were left behind in the truck, everyone is getting them back right now," she said.
Jesse shot to his feet and his eyes blew wide.
"Was there anything else?" He really hoped there was.
"I don't think they know yet. Want to follow them so we can check it out?" Opal offered.
Jesse nodded and followed her.
Someone was handing out the decks in the hall. The decks were still in their holders and everything. The duelists were looking through the cards to make sure everything was still there and so they could report anything if it was still missing.
In the end, there was not a single card out of place. Trapper hadn't made it very far.
No Jerry Beans Man either. Trapper didn't leave that behind after all.
Opal placed a hand on Jesse's shoulder, drawing his attention downwards to her. "This is thanks to you, you know that right?"
"Huh?" Jesse drew his head back defensively. "It's not my fault Trapper is insane."
Opal laughed. "No, no, I meant it's thanks to you everyone got their decks back and the show can start on schedule," she explained.
"Oh, right," he blushed a little from embarrassment and scratched the back of his neck. "It's… it was nothing."
"How did you think to look there so fast? Security hadn't even made it down there yet," Opal asked.
Jesse looked towards the duelists with their decks, clipping the holders back on their belts. "Just a hunch," he said.
Opal simply smiled at him and then joined the other managers to begin preparing for the event. There was still much to do and a schedule to get back on. Within minutes, plans were set in motion and mangers and staff were running around to get their duelists ready. Even so, the producer and event director still went nuts over what happened and were on the phone with Industrial Illusions coordinators to complain about what happened.
It was obvious Jesse's head wasn't quite in the game during his first duel. He was first scolded by the director for it. His showmanship was not to suffer.
He did better the second time. The duel was a good one, so the duel itself helped take his mind off of things. Opal talked to him again afterward, to reassure him he was doing alright even though the director was still giving him looks of disapproval.
With each duel, the incident with Trapper seemed further away, more like days behind him. Dueling was his passion. Nothing kept him down for long if there was a good duel involved. He was a little surprised with his self.
In some ways, he was such a simpleton.
By the last duel, he was on fire. Some of the best trash talk of the tour took place and he and his opponent put on quite the grand finale for the show.
Everyone loved it and the director was very pleased with the result.
"Good job, Jesse," Opal praised when he returned backstage after the final duel. "You did great out there!"
"Thanks," he said with a smile. "It was a great duel."
"It sure was, I bet people will be talking about it for a while," she chuckled and then was back to business, checking the schedule on her tablet. "You'll get a few minutes to take a break, and then we're going to finish up with the post-duel interview."
Jesse nodded. "Sounds good."
As soon as Jesse was left alone, he breathed out a sigh and shook out his arms.
"Are you alright, Jesse?" Sapphire Pegasus asked.
"I am now, just shaking off that last of the nerves," Jesse chuckled. "How are you guys?"
"We're great," Sapphire Pegasus said. "Dueling with you beings us much joy and excitement." Despite having a horse's head, he still smiled widely.
"Good to hear," Jesse smiled.
The post-show interview went well. He had a lot of good things to say about the last duel so he focused on that.
Before long, he was back in the car with Opal.
There were only two more stops on the tour and then he had to return to North Academy. He hoped Opal could be his tour manager next time. She seemed to love travel and really did have notes and recommendations about everywhere they went.
They sat in the car in silence as they each looked at their PDAs. Opal was writing up her report and likely checking flight scheduling to make sure everything was on track. Jesse was checking his messages for word back from Julia.
He hadn't had a chance to respond all day, so he wasn't surprised there was a message waiting for him.
"I have free time tomorrow morning, right?" Jesse asked.
Opal blinked at him for a moment and then smiled knowingly. "That's right," she said. "Is that when you want to meet your… friend?"
Jesse nodded. "Yes, if that's alright."
"I think I can make that happen, just tell me where you need to be," she said.
Jesse nodded and began planning the meetup with Julia. Once it was cleared with Opal, Jesse returned to his hotel room.
It was a standard room, nothing too fancy. The bed was nice and big though. He was used to the long twin bed at his dorm in the Academy.
He ordered some room service, courtesy of Industrial Illusions which he tried not to take advantage of, and then sat in the middle of the large bed. A few of the Crystal Beast spirits lounged around him. Amethyst Cat, Topaz Tiger, and Ruby Carbuncle made themselves comfortable.
"Why are you staring at that?" Amethyst Cat finally said when Jesse stared at his phone for five minutes.
"I should call mom," he said. "But I don't really know what to say."
"About what happened today?" Topaz Tiger asked and Jesse nodded solemnly.
"Bi-bi…" Ruby Carbuncle shook its head.
"You think I shouldn't?" Jesse asked. Ruby Carbuncle shook its head again. "Then what should I do?"
"Perhaps you should wait a little longer, once you gather your thoughts," Amethyst Cat suggested.
"And consult your friend?" Topaz Tiger offered.
Jesse put his phone aside. "You're right, it's not something I should talk to her about now, and maybe Julia can help." He didn't like the idea of asking Julia for emotional support when they haven't seen each in so long and when she was going away soon. It just didn't seem right to him. Still, he recognized the benefit of an outside perspective of someone he could trust.
By the next morning, he already felt more level headed. He was actually more excited just to see his friend again. There was one little hang up, he realized.
"Do you have to come along?" Jesse asked as he waited at a park between a transit station and shopping center. He wore a baseball hat and sunglasses to hide his appearance from the public.
Opal was sitting beside him. Her tall heeled boots only just allowed her feet to lay flat on the ground while sitting on the park bench. "It's my job," she said cheekily.
Jesse gave her the most unamused expression he could muster up. "Can you at least…" he really wasn't sure how to word it politely. Was he allowed to ask her to leave him alone?
"Give you some space when your friend gets here?" Opal offered.
Jesse nodded. "Yes."
"That I can do, I won't be far though, I have to keep you in sight," she said. "But not close enough if you get mobbed by media and fans, so watch out."
Jesse stretched out his legs and leaned back in the seat some. "Yeah, I know."
He wasn't worried about the media today. They probably figured he left the country last night after the tournament was over. He was going to leave in the afternoon instead. It was just how the schedule lined up best, according to Opal. She also thought it would be nice to sleep properly in a hotel bed instead of on a plane.
Jesse watched the station closely. He held onto his PDA in his jacket pocket for when she would message him upon her arrival.
It didn't take long. As soon as he got the message and looked up again, Julia was exiting the station.
"There she is," Jesse said as he stood up. "I won't be long."
"Have fun," Opal beckoned.
Jesse watched her move to a place off to the side so she could wait for him. Then she looked up and tilted her head to the side as she spotted him, trying to make sure it was him. He waved to acknowledge her.
"Long time no see, Julia!" Jesse grinned.
"Yeah!" she smiled back. "It's good to see you."
"Want to take a walk with me?"
Julia nodded and stepped beside him. They started with the shopping center, easily blending into the flow of people. As they talked about their trips, Jesse snuck a few glances behind them to check for Opal's location.
Opal was shadowing them, stopping to look at shop windows in order to keep a certain distance behind. Julia noticed how Jesse kept checking behind him and eventually looked back as well.
"Is something wrong?" she asked.
Jesse stiffened and sputtered for a moment. "Er no, not really, sorry," he said quickly. "My manager has to keep an eye on me when I'm out because I'm underage and stuff."
"Oh, okay," Juila said. "Does that bother you? We can ask your manager to join us if you don't like being followed."
"I'd rather be followed right now," he admitted. "I kind of wanted to talk to you about something personal."
Julia's brow raised in surprise. "What is it?"
"It's about my mother," he started. They were entering the far end of the park now, so they were going to follow the pathway as they continued to talk. There weren't as many people in the park yet, being early in the morning.
"How is she doing?" Julia asked.
"That's the thing," Jesse said. "I don't know, she's been lying to me for a long time."
Julia clearly didn't know what to say. "What happened?"
Jesse told her about his encounter with Trapper the previous morning and what he said. It was a familiar truck and he was still after Jesse's spirits. He told her how he was sure Trapper really did use his mother to get closer to him and to get information about where he was.
"Unbelievable," Julia eventually said. "But like you said, it does offer some explanations, but the only way to know for sure is to confront your mother about it, you can't know otherwise."
Jesse sighed. "Yeah, I know, I just don't know what to say to her, how do I even bring it up?"
"That does sound… complicated," she said.
"I don't even know if I should," he said. "She obviously hid it from me for reasons, even if I don't understand what they were."
"If that's true, then those reasons still put you in danger," Julia reasoned. "If you knew you were being personally targeted by a crazy person like that, who had also gathered personal information about you, you should have known so you could protect yourself."
"North Academy is a pretty safe place," Jesse offered.
"Except that time someone threw your cards over the wall and into a snowstorm," she countered.
Jesse winced at that. He still didn't know who was behind that. He wasn't sure if he would ever know. Nothing like it had happened since, so he was just glad it was behind him. If it was a third year behind it, they would have just graduated now.
"Yeah, that was dumb," he muttered quietly.
"Ever since then, I've been worried you were being bullied and just haven't been telling me," she added.
Jesse stopped. "What? No! That isn't the case at all," he said.
"Jesse, I know you," Julia said. "If you were unhappy there, you would grin and bear it because the opportunity was the best thing for you."
Jesse deflated. "I guess you're right, that does sound like something I would do…" He started walking beside her again. "But nothing like that is happening at North Academy, at least not to my face, can't say if there is anything going on behind my back, but I have a feeling Sean and Ray would find out and tell me, especially Ray, he can't hide anything." Jesse chuckled for a moment.
Julia smiled at that too. "I hope when I go to my new school, I make friends just like you did," she said.
Jesse grinned. "You will." He was sure of that. If someone as weird as him, who talked to seemingly nothing all the time, could make friends at his new school, then someone as nice as Julia would for sure.
"Thanks," she said. "Which reminds me, I wanted to ask you for advice about going to a new school overseas."
Jesse thought for a moment and then lifted up a finger. "Just be yourself, honestly."
Julia laughed. "That's it?"
Jesse rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, be free to experiment however you want, but when it comes down to it, just be yourself," he said. "I tried to be cool during an interview once and ended up being called charming of all things."
Julia laughed and had to cover her mouth with her hand. "But you're such a dork!"
Jesse laughed too. "I know! But I don't know what happened!"
"Oh that is gold, I need to read the articles about you now, I just have to!"
Jesse groaned. "Yes, laugh at me some more," he pretended to be hurt.
"Why did you try to act cool?" She asked between giggles.
"I don't know, it was stupid," he said. "I just heard a lot about how appearances factor a lot in the pros and I didn't want to be… weird again."
Juila straightened herself. "Well, charming is not bad, it's a lot better than weird," she offered.
"Yeah, I know, but charming is weird to me," he said.
"Everything is weird."
Jesse nodded sagely, but then they both broke out into laughter again.
By the time their laughter subsided, she had to wipe a tear and he was trying to hold down the extra giggles. When they looked at each other again to speak at the same time, they burst into giggles again.
"It was good to see you," Julia finally said. "I missed this."
Jesse nodded. "I hope you have a blast at your school in Canada," he said.
"Me too, and now I'm looking forward to it even more," she smiled.
"I'm glad."
"Don't forget to message me," she said.
"Yeah, I know," he said. "I'll try not to forget for a month again," he said. "I heard they are adjusting the curriculum again, so I hope it won't be as intense as last term, which was ridiculous."
"I know how much you dislike studying," she said.
Jesse nodded. "At least at the academy, I have a more clear goal in mind to help motivate me, I really want to do well and not let down Mr. Pegasus."
"Sounds like a lot of pressure."
"Oh it is," he admitted. "But it's not too much."
"Good."
"What about you? Are you doing okay?"
Julia looked at him. "I'm going great," she smiled. She checked the time and frowned. "Looks like I should get going now," she said. "I'll message you when I get settled in Canada."
"I look forward to it," he smiled. He hugged her goodbye and then watched her return to the station.
She turned back and waved, and he waved goodbye one more time before she went inside.
"Have a nice visit?" Opal said as she appeared by his side.
"Yeah," he said. "Lead the way Ms. Manager," he grinned.
She quirked an eyebrow at him but got back into work mode. With time to spare, they were to go to the airport and fly all the way to Japan for the last set of his tour. He was going to be a second year soon, and he was scheduled to return to North Academy during the same days the rest of the students were returning.
Hours later he was finally on the plane and it was quiet. When he was able, he retrieved a notepad from his carry-on bag and started drafting what he wanted to speak to his mother about. He flipped through multiple pages to move things around, make notes, and even started drafting a letter.
He didn't want to send a letter or an email. He wanted to at least have this conversation over the phone. Writing it out helped gather his thoughts and narrow down what was important. He didn't want to yell or accuse his mother of anything, he just wanted the truth.
With a crazy man like Trapper out there, he hoped she was doing okay.
Opal tried to glimpse at the pages every now and then, but he covered them with his sleeve as he worked. Jesse took long breaks throughout the flight and even during the layover in Hong Kong.
By the time he got to his hotel in Japan, he felt ready to speak with his mother about what happened. First, he was going to make sure she was doing alright, and then he was going to try his best to ease into what happened. He knew she wouldn't like it, but he had to.
The Crystal Beasts offered their support when he was back to mustering up the nerve to pick up his phone again. He even had planned out what he was going to say if it went to voicemail.
"Okay, I'm ready," he said and finally hit the call button and began to listen to the ringtone as he waited for his mother to answer.
- - - - - - - - Just a Line - - - - - - - -
Author's Note:
The chapter in which Jesse has a lot of feels. Feels about Jerry Beans Man.
As you could probably tell from the beginning of the story, I headcanon Jesse has a person who feels intensely in the moment. He doesn't usually hold back his emotions, bottle them up, or wait until he's alone to let out whatever is bothering him. What he does do is let his feeling show, and then talk about it when he ready with the Crystal Beasts, his safe support. In this particular case, it goes with how young he is and his honesty, as in he doesn't hide his feelings much. I might be completely wrong from what his character intended, but as I said, it's what I got out of it. Writing a character like this is a bit difficult for me, being the opposite in terms of feelings. For example, when I've experienced grief or betrayal, it doesn't show and I have become physically sick when I am not able to let those emotions out in a way I'm comfortable with in a timely manner. The science behind the phenomena is fascinating to learn about, annoying to experience. Writing about Jesse is an interesting experience to explore that kind of personality.
I'm going to start closing up this fanfic. It's a bit premature. I'm cutting out a bunch. So 1-3 chapters left now. Thanks for the support these last few years.
