A/N: Sorry for the late reply. Shinya proved harder to write up than I thought he'd be.

Lines to Cross

Chapter 3
Greed

Shinya was surprised to find his father hanging on to the duel disk passed on to him by Kouichi, and he was also surprised to find that, when he called Yutaka for an update (as his bedtime unfortunately came before the end of the tournament) that Kouichi was visiting his family and wouldn't be back until Tuesday at the earliest.

'That was sudden,' he said, slightly worried. 'Did something happen?'

'No,' Yutaka replied. 'Well, nothing earth-shattering or anything like that. I suppose he was just feeling a little…nostalgic.'

'That's…good I suppose.'

There was a moment of silence.

'I get the feeling you don't like him very much,' Yutaka ventured eventually.

'It's not that I don't like him.' Shinya fiddled with his friends.

'Of your brothers friends the least I mean.'

'That would be his brother.' A small scowl formed on his face. 'Kouji-san's mean.'

Yutaka laughed a little at that. 'Harsh certainly,' he agreed, 'but I think "mean" might be going a little too far.'

'He's always fighting with my brother.'

'And they're best friends.'

'Of course that'll be a bit of a problem,' Yutaka admitted. 'Conflict of interest; you want to spend more time with your brother and so do his friends, but that applies just as much to the others and least to Kouichi-kun.'

'Only because he lives far away from them,' Shinya pointed out.

'Not necessarily,' Yutaka said thoughtfully. 'You know the whole story, don't you?'

'I'm not a kid,' the other snapped, fiddling around with the cards, still in their holster. 'Still, that was years ago.'

'Then why is Kouichi-kun still in our world and both our brothers in the Digital World?

Shinya had to admit he left his best friend's brother's office rather more steamed than he entered. It probably wasn't the best discussion to get into, especially since he couldn't see his brother or his best friend and the two of them were probably together with Takuya's best friend to boot. On the other hand, Kouichi should feel worse than he did, as he had just as much of a right to be in the Digital World as the other past warriors except that he was chosen to stay behind. But Shinya could still grudge the fact that the other had – if not technically – been there at least the first time.

Whoever said you can't miss what you never had was with a few loose screws. Because till this day he didn't know whether he had missed out from a lack of a mobile phone (with his parents saying he was too young for one at the time) or because he wasn't pure at heart. Even a lot of children in his class had a glimpse of the place, but he had nothing.

It was comforting to know Yutaka hadn't either, but he was quite frankly too old. But Kouichi, who didn't have a mobile either, still managed to see that world, so if he was being completely honest with himself, he was a little jealous of that fact. The exception to the rule in a sense…but it went beyond that.

Maybe it was their personalities that clashed; Kouichi was, true to his element, a person who never strayed far from the shadows even when he was in the spotlight. Shinya was more like his brother than he cared to admit; he wanted to be big, in the spotlight. And he most of all hated being useless.

And all he was good for was moral support, just because he was too young and was stuck in school. Not like Yutaka who had graduated. Not like Kouichi who had completed compulsory education and had elected to drop out instead of continue. If Shinya could make that decision he would, but not only would his parents not allow it, but he simply wasn't at that stage yet. So he was stuck in school, and worse he was occasionally stuck out of the loop because of that and curfew.

No-one else he knew had a bedtime. He knew his parents wanted what was best for him, and he also knew staying up late wouldn't help since he had nothing to contribute, but it was still frustrating. He hated being useless. And he hated how everyone still treated him like a kid, no matter how much older he got. Beecause, naturally, they all got older as well. It was a gap that was never filled.

Still, he was glad that he had the duel disk now, even more so that the deck was still inside. He finally had a chance to accomplish more than simply finding an advertisement and passing the word along. After all, anyone could do that. Especially Kouichi, who was out and about so often it was unbelievable he didn't notice stuff plastered on the walls.

Except the duel disk didn't fit him properly; it was just a little bigger, the perfect size for a late teen but for him it slipped down his arm, getting stuck at the elbow. It made him feel even more like a child, but that he could tolerate for a little bit of the action.

And he knew exactly where he could go for some duels. Somewhere, happily enough, where neither Kouichi nor Yutaka could.

'What brought you here anyway?' Sho asked, when a day had passed and Judai hadn't brought the subject up. Not that Sho minded his best friend from Duel Academia visiting, but the brunet wasn't the sort who came on a whim simply to say "how do you do".

Judai, who was busy enjoying Sho's homemade tea, didn't answer for a while. 'Your tea hasn't changed a bit,' he said happily once he had drained the cup.

'I made more,' Sho replied. 'But, Aniki –'

Judai suddenly burst into laughter, getting odd looks from Pharaoh (and Professor Banner), Sho and a transparent Yubel. 'It's just been ages since I've heard you call me Aniki,' the brunet explained. 'I'd say you haven't changed at all, but you have.'

Sho didn't know whether to be flattered or annoyed at that. Judai was entirely avoiding the question.

'The Principal called me over,' Judai said finally. 'And I thought it was a good opportunity to return Cyber End Dragon – ' He suddenly stopped, fishing around in his duel case. 'Aha, here it is.' He pulled out the fusion card, handing it over.

Sho took it in some surprise, before his small smile became a full-fledged grin at the sight of the precious card he had inherited from his brother. 'So you caught the thief?' he asked. He'd heard about Fubuki's Red Eyes Black Dragon disappearing, and O'Brien had called later saying Johan's Rainbow Dragon had gone missing as well, but he hadn't heard anything from anyone getting them back.

Judai rubbed the back of his head. 'You could say that,' he said. 'Turned out the guy came from the future and did a whole lot of jumping around. So this other guy came from the future – Yusei, really cool – and we went back into the past back when Yugi was taking names, and the three of us teamed up and took down Paradox.'

'Paradox?' Sho asked, but as usual Judai's enthusiasm was contagious.

'Anyway…' As usual, Judai was rushing off without ample explanation. 'I also wanted to talk about the new league you guys are running. Going okay?'

'Uh…' It took a few seconds for Sho to orient himself to the change in conversation. 'Things are going alright. We had a few problems kicking off, but we've hosted a few small tournaments and done some advertising around others. Ni-san's a little disappointed though I think; he wanted something…more grand I suppose. Somewhere where duellists can stretch beyond the current limitations of duelling.'

'Ah.' Judai leaned back. 'Sounds like the Kaiser alright.' He paused a moment. 'Yusei mentioned something interesting about that: a new sort of duels called Riding Duels.'

'Riding Duel?' Sho repeated. He'd never heard of it. But hadn't Judai just said this Yusei character was from the future? Maybe that was why.

'Duels on motorcycles,' the other explained. 'You said Kaiser was looking for something to change the Pro Leagues; this could be it.'

Sho nodded. Duelling on motorcycles certainly sounded like an interesting twist to the conventional duel. 'Of course,' he commented. 'There has to be more to it than duelling on a motorcycle with the conventional rules.'

Judai shrugged; he wasn't one for coming up with rules that worked for anyone other than himself. 'I'm sure you guys can figure it out.' He moved to drink more of the tea, before realising his cup was empty. 'Any more tea, Sho?'

'Coming up,' Sho replied, thinking Judai was as much a hurricane as ever, even when sitting on a couch in his living room.

'So, you wanna duel kid?'

Shinya scowled. 'You're the same age as me. And you know my name.'

The other shrugged. 'Maybe, but you still get riled up by getting called a kid by someone your age.' He shrugged, then grinned. 'Well Shinya? Or are you in too bad a mood?'

'I'm in a perfectly fine mood.' Of course, Shinya's tone contradicted that, although Hideki didn't bother calling him out on it. It wasn't as though they were friends anyway.

Hideki shrugged, clipping his own duel disk to his arm – which unfortunately fit quite well. 'I prefer the days where we'd duke it out with good ol' fists, but my mum prefers this method.'

'Then run along home.' Shinya could usually give as well as he got…but that was more thanks to his brother's fast mouth. He wished Takuya didn't have such an influence on him; it just made him feel even more like a kid.

'You run along…kid.'

Shinya swore to himself that one day soon – preferably, that very same day – people would stop looking down on him as a kid.

'Let's just get to this.'

He wondered who would be taught the lesson.

Judai bid farewell to Sho sometime around noon and dawdled on his way to the pier in Domino City. The bus ride was as boring as ever, and he spent it arguing lightly with Yubel on the subject of his laundry. He was still hopeless at it, but she refused to become corporal for such a menial task.

'If I did it for you,' she'd say, 'it's just more of an excuse for you not to learn.'

'I have tried,' Judai'd whine in reply. 'Me and clothes washing don't go together.'

And then Yubel would mutter: 'how can you not know you don't put white clothes with the coloured clothes. And how can you not do simple measurements?'

Hence there were such things called Laundromats, but the problems with those was the waiting. And his mother certainly wouldn't be happy with him if he came home once a month simply to dump unwashed boxers, singlets, shirts and jeans (chances were slimmer that his jacket too would require a wash) and then disappear again. Especially since she rarely did her own washing anyway, being too busy with work…though, like every mother, she could make room to see her son every now and again.

'Maybe after Duel Academia,' Judai said aloud, threading through crowds of people. 'It sure has been a while since I visited after all.'

'This time remember to call,' Yubel sighed, giving up the laundry issue. 'Remember what happened last time?'

'Yeah, yeah.' Judai waved a hand. 'I do learn from my mistakes, you know.'

'Oh, do you?' the spirit shot back dryly. 'That's news to me.'

'Okay, well most of them,' the brunet amended. 'You can hardly blame a guy's inability to wash his own clothes.'

'You can if they don't intend to settle down and get married so their wives can pick up their slack.'

'Geeze, I can cook at least.'

'Remotely,' Yubel said in amusement.

'How would you know?' Judai asked. 'You've never tasted my cooking?'

'No, I leave that chore to Pharaoh.'

They'd managed to amass a bit of a crowd, and it was no wonder. Shinya, little brother of the best – and currently missing – captain of the regional baseball team and one of the best schoolyard fighters around, and Hideki whose very goal in life was to create situations where people like Shinya would have no choice but to fight…or watch their friends get beat up.

Except this time it was Shinya who had brought the fight, seizing the opportunity that had hung at his door. Because Hideki was all brawn and no brain, but he was passionate. It was perfect, eliminating two problems at once. Using the new craze in the playground that had rippled from Domino City and other land-marked gaming areas of the world and spreading until even people in the middle of Antarctica knew the game and how to play. And there were researchers from Kaiba Corp or Industrial Illusions there; Shinya always managed to get the two mixed up, so he wasn't sure exactly which.

But Hideki was never one to be outdone, although he would have to grudgedly admit, if pressed enough he did respect Shinya for his stance on bullying, even if he did have a very limited view on the matter. Sheltering shrimps was hardly going to accomplish anything after all.

'Ready to duel?'

'Ready.'

A pause, then the start of the match was declared.

'Duel!'

They each drew five cards, then played a few rounds of rock-paper-scissors before Hideki won the toss and went first.

'I play a monster in defence mode and one face down.' He set the two cards, one flat on the surface of his duel disk and the other into a free spell/trap slot.

Shinya drew his sixth card. 'I summon –' He stopped, fighting down a blush before gulping. 'Witch of the Black Forest in attack mode.'

There were a few titters in the crowd as the violet woman appeared. Illegal in tournaments, it was a perfectly acceptable card to use on a common street duel. And with a useful effect as well…though Shinya didn't think there were any monsters with a low defence mode but a high attack power in the deck Kouichi had built.

'Witch of the Black Forest, attack!'

The face-down monster flipped up to reveal itself as Mezuki, whose 800 defence points were no match of the wind fairy. Hideki looked perfectly at ease though, and Shinya frowned before throwing Kunai with Chain facedown and ending his turn.

'My turn then.' Hideki didn't bother looking at his card; he immediately went to one in his hand. 'First, I'll activate the field spell: Zombie World. This card changes the type of all monsters on the field to Zombie, and neither of us can tribute summon anything other than a Zombie type monster.'

A few of the girls squealed as the new duel field appeared, but most of the spectators were interested in what was to come.

'Next I activate the spell Foolish Burial, and I chose to send Red Eyes Zombie Dragon.'

Shinya scowled; he knew what was coming next.

'I remove Mezuki in my graveyard from play to summon forth my Red Eyes Zombie Dragon!'

'And the crowds just make him look bigger,' the brunet muttered under his breath, looking as the larger than life hologram appeared. 'What a pain.'

'Red Eyes Zombie Dragon, attack!'

'I activate Kunai with Chain.' Shinya flipped his face down card, relieved that it had a second effect. 'Not only does it switch your monster into defence mode, but it gives mine an extra 500 attack points.'

'Not much good.' Hideki revealed his face down. 'Zero Gravity changes the battle position of all monsters on the field, so my Zombie Dragon's attack goes through after all.'

Shinya didn't know whether to be relieved his life points were safe or annoyed the other could now resummon Witch of the Black Forest to his own field.

'Witch of the Black Forest's ability still activates,' Shinya said, sifting through the deck before selecting Old Vindictive Magician. 'I select a monster with less than 1500 defence points and add it to my hand.'

'And now I activate Red Eyes Zombie Dragon's special effect, summoning your Witch of the Black Forest to my field, and I'll use it to attack you directly.'

Shinya gritted his teeth as his life points dropped to 6900, annoyed he had lost life points so early in the match.

'I play a card facedown. Turn end.'

'I draw then.' Shinya drew, displeased at the lack of powerful monsters. He knew there weren't many, but he simply didn't have the patience to tiptoe around everything…and he didn't see why he had to either. The deck was rather annoyingly built in that aspect; it would take a minimum of eight rounds to win, and that was mostly pure luck.

And until he drew Bad Reaction to Simochi, half the cards in his hand were completely useless.

'I set a monster and end my turn.'

'My draw then.' Hideki considered his hand, much smaller than his opponent's. 'I summon Shutendoji in attack mode, and I'll activate its special ability, returning Mezuki from my banished cards to the top of my deck. Next, I'll set one card, and then attack with Red Eyes Zombie Dragon.'

The shadowy blast flipped over Old Vindictive Magician. 'I use Old Vindictive Magician's flip effect,' Shinya declared. 'My target is Red Eyes Zombie Dragon.'

'Of course it is,' the other said easily, putting the card into the graveyard. 'Hence why I'll attack directly with Shutendoji and Witch of the Black Forest.'

Shinya's life points sunk to 4300, while the other's stood strong at 8000.

'My turn's over.'

Shinya stared at the deck, wondering how anyone could get anywhere. He was sure the three had thrown ideas about for a stalling deck, but so far he was getting clobbered, his hand next to useless in his current situation.

'I draw.'

Monster Reborn. That, he could use.

'I activate the magic card Monster Reborn.' The ankh key appeared in the centre of the field. 'From your graveyard, I resurrect Red Eyes Zombie Dragon, and I'll use him to attack…' He paused; he knew the zombie archetype had generally low defensive power as opposed to their offence…and any exception wasn't in this particular deck. Therefore Witch of the Black Forest could give him almost any monster he wished for. '…Shutendoji.'

The colourful zombie shattered with a shriek as Hideki's life points dropped by 900.

'Finally,' Shinya sighed, glad for the damage. 'Next, I'll use Red Eyes Zombie Dragon's monster effect, summoning Shutendoji to my field in attack mode. Turn end.'

Hideki was none too pleased to find his favourite monster on his opponent's field. 'I draw.' Mezuki, as expected from Shutendoji's ability. 'I set a monster, and then I'll attack Shutendoji with Witch of the Black Forest!'

The black magic backfired upon the purple clad witch, ripping her holographic image to shreds.

'Now, using Witch of the Black Forest's ability, I can select a monster with 1500 or fewer defence points and add it to my hand. I choose Getsu Fuhma.'

He ended his turn there, and Shinya drew his next card, getting Pot of Greed which he immediately used to gain Negate Attack and Raging Flame Sprite. 'I summon Raging Flame Sprite, and I'll activate its ability, allowing it to attack your life points directly.'

Hideki's life points dropped to 6800, and Raging Flame Sprite's attack points increased by 1000 due to its second effect.

'Next, Shutendoji attacks your facedown monster.'

Mezuki flipped out before his axe shattered again.

'And last, Red Eyes Zombie Dragon! Direct attack!'

'Not so fast.' Hideki flipped his face down card. 'I use Ultimate Offering and pay 500 life points to summon Getsu Fuhma from my hand, and its monster ability destroys any zombie or fiend type monster it battles.'

'You'll still take the battle damage,' Shinya pointed out, disappointed his play had fallen in so quickly. 'I set a face-down and end my turn.

Hideki still had more than 1000 life point advantage, though Shinya had narrowed it down quite effectively. Still, Hideki mused to himself, there's something funny about that deck.

'I draw.' Mystical Space Typhoon. 'I activate Mystical Space Typhoon to blow away your face down card.'

It flipped up to reveal Negate Attack.

'Hmm, thought so.' Hideki shrugged, a little disappointed. 'I remove Mezuki from my graveyard to resummon Red Eyes Zombie Dragon, and then I'll normal summon Paladin of Cursed Dragon.'

Anyone who'd watched Kaiba Seto's past duels would recognise the root of that monster, although its colouring differed from the white dragon.

'Red Eyes Zombie Dragon, attack Shutendoji!'

Shinya's life points sunk to 3400 as his defence was slowly picked apart.

'Next, I use Red Eyes Zombie Dragon's monster effect to resurrect Shutendoji to my field, and then I'll use Paladin of Cursed Dragon to attack your Raging Flame Sprite.'

Shinya's life points further decreased to 2800.

'Next up, Paladin of Cursed Dragon's monster effect, chained to the field spell card Zombie World. I can summon one monster destroyed in battle this turn from your graveyard to my field. Naturally, I choose Raging Flame Sprite, which thanks to my field spell was a zombie when it was destroyed.'

The fiery boy appeared with his broomstick and ragged hat.

'Then it's a double direct attack.'

A further 1800 points of damage, leaving Shinya with only a 1000 life points left.

'Turn end.'

He needed a miracle draw…but he never got miracles.

'I draw.' A pause. 'Damn, I can't use this!' The card fell from his fingertips: End of the World. Strangely appropriate, but useless with neither the monster to ritual summon or its tributes.

'Guess that's it then.' Once again, Hideki didn't bother looking at the card he had drawn; he had more than enough power on his field. It was a bit of a chore deciding with what monster to end the battle with, but in the end he chose his prized dragon; he did respect the other after all. He wasn't so far down to deserve being dealt the finishing blow with his own monster.'

'Why did you challenge me?' Hideki asked curiously, after the crowd had, some happily and others disappointed, flitted away.

Shinya remained slouched against the wall and said nothing.

'Geeze, come on.' Hideki sighed. 'It's not like I've picked some little guy in awhile.'

'You say that as if you're proud of it,' Shinya snapped finally.

'People grow up faster when they're pushed.' The other shrugged. 'Not much point cuddling them; you of all people should know no-one ever really got hurt.'

The brunet pushed off the wall and looked curiously at the other. 'Maybe,' he said cautiously. 'But most of those kids also got picked on by other…bullies.'

Though he was starting to see the point of what the other said.

'Do you think I'm as bad as them?' A raised eyebrow.

'No,' Shinya admitted finally. 'Someone like that would be gloating now. You're acting almost…concerned.'

'I respect you,' the other said, before covering his mouth. 'I never said that, got it?'

That reminded him so much of Takuya that the younger Kanbara couldn't help but give a watery laugh, sniffing a little.

'Look at me,' he said, rubbing the forming tears away. 'Crying over something this stupid.'

'Which is?' the other asked.

'People problem really.' Somehow, it was easier to talk to someone he had a mutual rivalry with, as opposed to someone he saw on a more friendly basis. The truth was though, they weren't his friends. They were friends of his brother. Or brothers of his brother's friends…though Kouichi was most definitely both and Yutaka was arguably so.

'Maybe 'cause you're trying to be someone else instead of yourself.' Hideki put his hands in his pocket. 'That didn't seem like the sort of deck you'd be comfortable in using.'

'It's…someone else's.' He struggled to find a word to describe Kouichi. 'A…friend I guess.'

'Not sure?'

'He's my brother's friend really,' Shinya confessed. 'Part of that group he's really close with.' His own fingers slid into the flaps of his jacket. 'His brother disappeared too, but he can do so much more than I can in trying to find them.'

Hideki whistled. 'Sounds like a mess. Seems to me this friend of yours…or brother's friend…is someone very different from you.'

'How can you tell?' the other deadpanned.

'Easy, that deck.' Hideki pointed to the duel disk. 'Whoever uses that likes playing with multiple pieces. He'd seen not only the stalling cards but The Eye of Truth as well. 'Probably a terror to get around in chess.'

'Yes, he is,' Shinya agreed, remembering how he would play with Junpei while Takuya swung a baseball bat around. Something about them being apprehensive about his serve…although Takuya seemed pretty sure they had been joking. 'But what has that got to do with anything?' He pointed at the deck. 'I don't have the patience to use this; I thought I could, but –'

'Oh, it's not a patient deck,' Hideki laughed. 'A tricky one, but certainly not patient.'

Shinya blinked.

'You think the guy who built this is patient?'

'Well…yeah.' He didn't see how one could describe Kouichi as anything but.

'Would a patient person put all his resources towards building a net to fish things out of?' Hideki raised an eyebrow. 'Sure, it takes time to set up this combo, but when it's going, it's a pretty robust one…as well as putting down all those cards like Emergency Provisions and Spring of Rebirth and Dian Keto the Cure Master that could save game. With no way to increase your life points, the only way you can go is down, and if there's a strong enough defence in the way, then…' Hideki shrugged again. 'This guy sounds interesting, but not exactly straightforward.'

Shinya had to admit he hadn't thought of things like that.

'What sort of deck do you think suits me?' he asked.

'A more straight-forward one,' Hideki said immediately. 'The attacking sort. I dunno…dragons maybe? They're pretty powerful and not much by the way of going via sidelines. Or maybe not. You're not really the super-power sort. Or…you could make it work. Stuff like Spear Dragon and Troop Dragon and…' He went on, and Shinya found himself only half listening, wondering how and when they'd starting talking as if they were friends.

Judai, much to his surprise, found himself at the docks hours earlier than the boat would depart. 'Oh great,' he groaned. 'No what?'

'An early dinner?' Yubel offered.

'Good idea. I'm in the mood for a cheeseburger.' He looked around, and Pharaoh mewled his own demands from inside the pack. 'I guess some fish too.'

'I don't think there's a cheeseburger shop at the harbour,' the spirit pointed out.

Judai shrugged. 'We've got time to shop around.'

'Funny, you were fine with fish at Duel Academy.'

'Except for Sandwich Day. Nothing but the Eggwich after all.'

'And spinach.'

'True.'