A/N: I have used the anime effect of Spell Calling, going from how Judai used it in season 2. The TCG effect is a little different: "When this face-down card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard by the effect of a Spell or Trap Card controlled by your opponent, select 1 Quick-Play Spell Card from your Deck and Set it after showing it to your opponent.". Judai set 2 cards, and he never showed them to his opponent – although at the time it didn't matter what they were. I've kept the stipulation that they must be quick play spells, however I'm still using 2 instead of the one defined by the TCG card text. Because Judai's deck is so different in TCG, I've stuck with the anime on this issue, even though other matters like Prisma being a level 4 and Necroshade being a level 5 do not come up in this fic.

Also, Kouichi is not a reincarnation of Gentle Darkness in this fic although he is the warrior of Darkness and in essence (as far as most of my crossover material goes) it is the same thing. Rather, it is AncientSphinxmon who is the embodiment of the reincarnation, and its spirit that reincarnated in Lowemon and bonded with Kouichi. In other words, Kouichi becomes Lowemon, but he isn't Lowemon ultimately. The spirits separated after the defeat of Lucemon, proving they, despite the connections, are separate to the human form. So it's Lowemon who's really the reincarnation of Gentle Darkness, and hence Yubel does not recognise Kouichi. The backstory with AncientSphinxmon is something I plan to address in Before the Seal is Broken…or its sequel probably.

Lines to Cross

Chapter 5
Lust

Judai could see the situation had been diffused, however he could not see exactly how, nor could he see clearly what had stirred the spirits up from their resting place. He could tell though that the earth had been destroyed as there was soil scattered everywhere, and Hane Kuriboh was strangely anxious as he looked around.

Yubel, as always, never strayed far from him, even as he made his way to the middle, where the only other person in the area was removing a card from his duel disk.

'He is powerful,' Yubel commented.

'I see,' Judai replied, although in truth he did not see. The duellist – for he must be a duellist, and with a new duel disk model from Industrial Illusions (as far as he knew, it wasn't even on the market yet), must have had a reason for being all the way out at the ruins, particularly on a privately owned island. 'You're not a student here, are you?'

'Really Judai,' Yubel sighed, as the other shook his head.

'Well,' Judai shrugged. 'It doesn't hurt to ask, does it?'

The duel spirit did not answer, instead looking at the stranger – or not a stranger, as they did know his name – who was in turn looking at her. Or through her; it was a little hard to tell whether or not he could actually see her or not. His expression was too closed for that; with people like Judai or Johan or even Manjyoume, it was quite easy to tell.

'So,' Judai continued. 'If you're not a student, then what are you doing here?'

'That's my business,' the other replied, though not rudely. 'If you'd entertain me with a duel though, I'll tell you.'

'A duel?' The brunet looked around. 'Did you have something to do with the spirits suddenly going crazy?'

'Maybe,' the other replied, showing he wasn't going to give any answers without the duel. He probably would have even activated his duel disk if the duel disk hadn't already been armed.

'Well.' Judai shrugged. 'Why not; I never back down from a duel…though I would like to know what that is for.' He pointed to the small machine floating about the ruins.

'It's not dangerous if that's what you mean,' the other responded. 'It's a prototype from Industrial Illusions.'

And indeed, they could see the small insignia when it floated a little closer.

'For?' Judai asked, before giving it up as a lost cause as he was answered by silence. 'So we'll let our cards do the talking.' He armed his duel disk. 'Kimura Kouichi, was it?'

The other blinked in surprise, but his voice did not betray that emotion. 'Yes,' was the simple answer. 'And you are Yuki Judai, yes?'

'I guess my reputation precedes me once again,' Judai responded sheepishly. 'Only this time, no-one's trying to blast me with cool looking dragons.'

The other looked vaguely startled, but the demeanour was starting to remind Judai an awful lot of Marufuji Ryou during his first year at Duel Academy and the older male's final.

'Is something funny?' The tone was neutral, but they made the brunet aware of the small smile that was stretching across his face.

'Oh, no.' Judai waved a hand before changing the motion to draw five cards from his deck. 'You just reminded me of Kaiser.'

'Hell Kaiser Ryou,' Kouichi said slowly, before shaking his head. 'A man who duels to win and only to win. A man who puts his heart into this game…trust me, I am far from being someone like that.' He drew a sixth card, beginning the duel before the other could go off on a tangent again. 'I set a monster and two face downs. Turn end.'

Judai drew a card and contemplated. On the one hand, he knew what sort of deck the other ran. On the other hand, his own deck wasn't exactly well equipped to counter that strategy once it was set up. The best thing to do was to break through the stalling phase before the cards were set up correctly; while it would be interesting to see how his heroes did against a life-draining deck (other than Ayukawa's, whose they had only briefly seen because of the situation), once the ball got rolling his chances of his high level monsters dealing damage would be limited.

'I activate Fake Hero,' he said, revealing the card he had drawn. 'And use it to summon Elemental Hero Bubbleman. And by Bubbleman's effect, I draw two cards.' He was pleased to find Polymerisation as one of them, but he had a different play in mind for that turn. 'I equip Grade Sword to Bubbleman, then sacrifice him to summon the Elemental Hero Blade-Edge.'

'Impatient as always,' Yubel teased.

'No point in having cards if you don't use them,' Judai countered, before ordering an attack. The set monster revealed itself to be A Cat of Ill Omen, and it was destroyed for 2300 points of penetrating damage.

'I activate A Cat of Ill Omen's flip effect,' Kouichi said, removing his deck. 'I select a trap card from my deck and place it on top.'

Judai was a little surprised to find the card to be The Eye of Truth, but that simply meant the other must already have Bad Reaction to Simochi in his hand…or face down on the field.

'I play one card face down,' Judai said. 'Turn end.'

'My turn.' Kouichi drew, a card whose identity they both knew. 'I play two more facedown cards and that's it.'

'I know I'm going to get sick of those facedowns,' Judai sighed, drawing a card before blinking at R-Righteous Justice, then again as Bad Reaction to Simochi and The Eye of Truth revealed themselves on the other's field. He showed his hand thereafter, showing not only the spell that could destroy that combination (if the other didn't have Dark Bribe facedown), but Polymerisation, Neo Spacian Aqua Dolphin and O-Oversoul. All spell cards; any one of them could trigger the second effect of The Eye of Truth and, when combined with Bad Reaction to Simochi, decrease his life points by 1000.

As he moved into his main phase, he played R-Righteous Justice. 'I target –' He broke off as Kouichi revealed the third of his four cards: Imperial Customs. 'Imperial Customs,' he finished, seeing as the continuous trap didn't allow any other continuous trap cards to be destroyed. 'Now, Blade-Edge attacks directly.'

Kouichi's lifepoints dropped to 3100, but he didn't seem concerned. Indeed, he simply revealed the last of his trap cards: The Golden Apples. 'When I take damage without a monster in play,' he said. 'I can activate this trap and special summon a token with the same attack and defence points as the damage I just took, and then regain that many life points.'

His lifepoints rose back to 5700 and now Blade Edge was at a stale mate.

'I play two cards face down and end my turn.' If nothing else, at least he could avoid the life point cost if he drew a monster or a trap next turn.

Kouichi drew a new card. 'I play Upstart Goblin,' he said, and Judai's life points sunk to 6000 as Kouichi drew a card, then leeched another thousand life points with Meteor of Destruction. 'Turn end.'

'You'd better hurry up and do something about this,' Yubel commented.

'I know, I know,' Judai muttered. 'It's harder than his looks, but I trust my deck.'

'I should think so.'

Judai drew Convert Contact, which cost another thousand life points before he activated it, discarding Aqua Dolphin from his hand and Neo Spacian Dark Panther from his deck to draw two cards. 'I play H-Heated Heart, raising Blade-Edge's attack points by five hundred, and then I attack your token.'

Kouichi's life points dropped to 5200 as the defending monster was blasted into pieces.

'Turn end,' Judai said, showing the final card in his hand to be Neo-Spacian Glow Moss.

Kouichi drew his next card, playing Dark World Dealings. 'I discard the Fabled Catsith, triggering its ability and destroying one card on the field. I select the face down card you played in the first turn.'

The face down card shattered, revealing itself to be The Flute of Summoning Kuriboh. Hane Kuriboh's voice hummed in his aibou's ears as he sent both his partner's calling card and Elemental Hero Neos to the grave.

Although, he had to wonder why the other hadn't targeted O-Oversoul.

'Next, I activate the equip spell Soul Taker. I target your face up Blade-Edge, then destroy it and you gain – lose – 1000 life points.'

He ended his turn after playing the last card in his hand facedown, and Judai drew Neo-Space, a card he was both relieved and a little pained to see. After all, it did cost him 1000 life points, leaving him with 3000. Luckily, or faithfully rather, he had the cards he needed to destroy that combination. Although the newest facedown was, as usual, an issue.

'I play O-Oversoul, summoning Elemental Hero Neos from my graveyard, and then I summon Neo Spacian Glow Moss. Now, Contact Fusion! I summon Glow Neos from my extra deck.'

'Contact fusion,' the other repeated, before starting suddenly. 'Huh?'

'I said –' Judai began, but the other waved a hand at him.

'Sorry,' he said, covering one ear before turning his head slightly and muttering something too quiet to be picked up.

Yutaka found himself abandoning his work and focusing all his energy on his…it was far from an extra-curricular research project, even if that was what it was written as. But he had been rather surprised to find the spike of energy…and a little panicked, because he knew the portal couldn't handle large bursts of energy. After all, the destabilisations during the previous year had caused a great deal of collateral damage both in terms of duel monsters and the land as a whole. It was in fact the reason why the deck was structured as it was, and why Kouichi, who continuously held himself back, was the best person to use it. While it was true they could have used other cards to manage the same feat, those were what responded best and they had helped their cause.

However, it seemed whoever Kouichi was duelling was another matter entirely, and while it was always a gamble with opponents and he varied the input accordingly, he had never seen such a high spike. In fact, it matched…

He quickly snatched up his communicator, apparently startling the younger boy.

'Who in the world are you duelling?'

'Huh?' came the incoherent reply.

'Who are you duelling?' Yutaka said, a little more slowly. 'Whoever it is is going to wind up costing me overtime.' His fingers rapidly flew across the keyboard as he spoke.

'Oh,' the other said. 'I – ' Kouichi broke the line of thought. 'Yuki Judai.'

'Yuki Judai,' Yutaka repeated. 'The Yuki Judai. How the heck did that –' He stopped talking suddenly as he picked up the conversation going on across from him. 'Hey you two, what was that?'

The two men stared at him. 'Duel Academia,' one said. 'You know stuff's always happening over there.'

'You said something about spirits,' Yutaka said.

'Well…yes,' the other replied. 'I suppose you didn't hear. The Principal called Pegasus-sama about it; apparently, restless spirits suddenly appeared, went on a minor rampage, and disappeared.'

'Spirits,' Yutaka repeated. 'Duel Academia. Right, thanks.' He turned back to his desk, returning his attention to the task at hand and Kouichi. 'You wouldn't have had anything to do with this, would you?'

There was a brief silence, then: 'Did you forget who I'm duelling?' He sounded a little distracted.

'Did you forget who you're talking to?' was the dry reply, although a small pit stone sunk in Yutaka's stomach as the other avoided the question. That meant he had done something he didn't want the other knowing about.

'No, I – ' There was a pause, and then: 'Well –'

'Hang on,' Yutaka interrupted, staring at the monitor. 'Are you still duelling?'

'Yes,' the other replied.

'Stop!'

There was a sharp intake of breath as, hopefully, the two duellists did just that.

Kouichi replied to the other while turning back to the duel at the same time. With a wave of acknowledgement, Judai continued with his turn.

'I activate Neo Space, so Glow Neos won't return to my deck at the end phase,' he said. 'In addition, it gains 500 attack points, and now I can activate its special ability, destroying one card on the field for every turn it's out on the field. I select Bad Reaction to Simochi, and since it's a trap card, Glow Neos switches into defence position.'

'Before you activate your effect,' Kouichi said, covering the earpiece to avoid a more complicated discussion. 'I activate Emergency Provisions, sacrificing both Bad Reaction to Simochi and The Eye of Truth to gain 2000 life points.'

'Nice,' Judai commented. 'But at least that trap is gone now, so I do have to wonder how you plan on damaging me now.'

'You'll see,' the other responded, drawing. 'I play Pot of Greed.' He drew two cards and glanced at them, 'then a facedown and end my turn.'

Judai drew, wondering if the facedown was another trap. Still, it was probably safer to take it out as far as a deck almost completely reliant on spells and traps went.

'I use Glow Neos' effect, destroying your facedown card.'

'Spell Calling,' Kouichi replied, showing the spell. 'When it's destroyed by my opponent's effect, I can select two spell cards from my deck and play them facedown.'

'And since Glow Neos destroyed a spell card,' Judai responded. 'He can attack you directly.'

Kouichi's life points dropped to 2500.

'Turn end,' Judai said.

'My turn.' Kouichi drew his card, choosing not to play it immediately and instead revealing the two quick-play spells he had played in the previous turn. 'I play Scapegoat to summon four earth tokens in defence mode, and then I activate Mystical Space Typhoon to target your field spell: Neospace.'

'I use Glow Neos' effect to destroy an earth token,' Judai said, a little disappointed. Without Neospace, his Contact monsters would return to the deck at the end phase.'

'Shards of Greed,' the other continued with his turn. 'Each time I draw a card in the draw phase, I place a Greed counter on this card, then I can send this card with two or more Greed counters to the graveyard and draw two additional cards.'

Judai drew Graceful Charity and considered the other cards in his hand. 'I play E-Emergency Call,' he said, 'and add Elemental Hero Sparkman to my hand, and then I activate Graceful Charity to draw three cards from my deck and discard two.' He was pleased to find Dark Factory of Mass Production and Elemental Hero Burstinatrix amongst them, and chose to send the latter and Elemental Hero Avian to the graveyard. 'Next, I play Dark Factory of Mass Production, returning Avian and Burstinatrix to my hand, and then I activate my facedown Polymerisation to fuse Avian and Burstinatrix to summon Elemental Hero Flame Wingman.'

It was, from the standpoint of a quick duel, a shame that Judai didn't have Spark Gun in his hand, however he was curious to see how the other would damage him without his ace trap.

'Both my heroes attack your tokens.' And they did so, leaving only one behind. 'I play one facedown. Turn end.'

'My –' Kouichi began, before jumping a little at Yutaka's sudden explanation. 'Don't be so sudden.'

'Gomen,' Yutaka responded. 'But go slowly from now on; the energy is reaching critical levels.'

'Critical, as in…?' Somehow, it seemed a little unreal, but then again, Kouichi wasn't as patient as most people seemed inclined to believe. 'Finally…'

'Be careful,' the other cautioned. 'Remember, even one card over the limit can destabilise it.'

'I know,' Kouichi said, fighting to keep his voice even. 'I play a facedown and end my turn.'

'My turn.' Spark Gun. 'I equip Spark Gun to Sparkman, and use its effect to switch your token into attack mode, and then I attack it.'

'Waboku,' the other countered, flipping up his face-down card. 'My monsters cannot be destroyed this turn and I take no battle damage either.'

'Turn end,' Judai said.

Kouichi drew his next card. 'With two counters, I can send Shards of Greed to the graveyard and draw two additional cards.' He paused, finding the small prototype machine hovering nearer than ever. 'Yutaka –'

'Good timing,' the other replied, accompanied by the sound of rapid typing. 'That should be enough – hang on.'

'Your machine's going crazy,' Kouichi said, eyeing the beeping contraction as it danced – literally danced – to the middle of the duelling field. 'Please,' he muttered to it. 'Don't fail…'

Yutaka said nothing; apparently, whatever was happening on his monitor was enough to keep him fully occupied.

'What in the world?' Judai said, and even Yubel looked a little bewildered.

Kouichi looked down. 'Over a year ago,' he began. 'Five teenagers disappeared. The authorities eventually gave it up as a lost cause, because they simply vanished off the face of the earth…'

His hands shook slightly as he continued. 'Everyone said they were dead,' he continued, his voice still trembling a little at the thought. 'But those people – they are very dear to me – they're more important to me than anyone – and I didn't – couldn't believe it. And then, one day –'

'You found out they were alive?' Judai guessed. 'You spoke of Kaiser the same way Edo did when we were working with the interdimensional duel system.' He looked at the small machine, who was now shooting a thin beam of light into the sky. 'They're in another dimension and you're trying to open the door to get them back.'

Judai had to admit it; he was impressed. It wasn't like the materials had been conveniently at one's disposal…unless he'd already tried and failed the reckless way.

'Yes,' the other confirmed. 'A world we had once all visited years ago, but my body has never been there. Only my soul. And that world was in trouble again, and so their guardians called upon them again…but the Gate was damaged, and they became trapped on the other side with no way of fixing it. So instead, I – we – are trying to open it from this side instead.'

Judai looked at the machines. 'You're not pulling a Cobra, are you?'

'I should take personal offence to that,' Yubel muttered, causing both boys to look at her. 'So, you can see duel spirits.'

'Hmm…' Judai said thoughtfully. 'How did you manage to pull this off then?'

Yubel would have stared at the human in disbelief, but the other had started explaining.

'Duel energy,' Kouichi said simply. 'I had no idea how to do it myself, but Yutaka-san, the older brother of one of my friends, works at Industrial Illusions. He knew about the interdimensional duel system, and so he asked Pegasus-sama for a favour, got access to the research materials and modified them so – hopefully – they wouldn't cause the damage that occurred the last time. And with the matter of the duel energy, he realised it would be better if the energy was slowly collected as opposed to a powerful burst at once; there was a lower likelihood then of destabilising the portal and causing collateral damage then. But still, we hadn't realised that the energy would still awaken all the spirits that have been laid to rest on this island.' He gritted his teeth slightly. 'We never wanted that to happen, but…'

'But you probably still would have gone ahead with it, because some restless spirits causing a few minutes of chaos is worth getting your friends back home.' Judai smiled slightly. 'Good thing you're not as reckless as me. Or this friend of yours.'

'I'll say,' Yubel agreed. 'But then again, sounds to me like Kimura-san knew his friends were safe and sound, and you did not.'

Kouichi nodded at that.

Judai shrugged. 'Still, after the possibility that they could have been dead for months – or weeks – I'd have been climbing walls.' He reconsidered. 'Actually, I wouldn't have even waited that long. But…how did you get calm the spirits down? And why didn't you just tell us all this sooner…not that it really mattered,' he amended. 'Since you needed the duel and all, but –' He paused as the sky lit up in an array of colours. 'What the –'

'That's it,' Yutaka said through the earpiece, and Kouichi repeated the words, holding his breath. Between the duellists who had now abandoned the duel, the machine hovered at the centre of the ripples of colour.

'I'd say that looks cool,' Judai said slowly, staring at the display. 'But – it looks cool.'

Yubel would normally have said something to that, but she was too busy keeping an eye on the slowly opening portal. While she had to give credit to the kid and whoever he had worked with for not rushing the issue, she couldn't be pleased that Judai was now in the centre of it. She really would rather not have to get lost in a dimension she had no knowledge about…although the possibilities of the portal leading to such a world were slim. She knew almost all the worlds that existed after all, chasing after and protecting the numerous reincarnations of the Gentle Darkness. She didn't fancy going into a new one with the one who had banished the light though.

Still, she needn't have worried as the portal seemed to be too high in the sky to suck them in. However…

'I do believe your friends are going to be squashed by gravity,' she commented, watching the small black dots in the centre becoming rapidly bigger and stretching her own wings, ignoring the gasp of horrific surprise and turning to Judai and fading into him. The brown eyes turned dichromatic and Elemental Heroes Sparkman and Flame Wingman became solid as they flew into the air, and between them, managed to catch the falling humans.

Once they set them down, they turned back into holograms, leaving five disoriented teens to gain their bearing for a mere moment – before Kouichi knocked them off their feet, attempting to hug them all at once.

'Oww,' the dark skinned brunet groaned. 'Kouichi, couldn't you have done something about that landing?'

'Well, I didn't know that you all were going to fall out of the sky,' the other exclaimed.

'They should at least thank you,' Yubel sighed, materialising again.

'Ah, leave them be,' Judai laughed. 'If I hadn't seen my friends for years because they were stuck in another dimension, I'd probably be just as –' He stopped when Yubel raised an eyebrow. 'Okay, that's different.'

'It is,' Yubel agreed. 'Or was, depending on which you're talking about.'

The confusion of voices stemmed off as everyone regained their bearings…and Kouichi took the opportunity to sink to the ground. He was, to be honest, feeling the slightest bit dizzy. Perhaps it was the relief, or maybe he had bee running on adrenaline the whole time…or maybe he had cried a little too long, because he'd pretty much burst into tears with the first hug.

'We'll find a way to make sure this never happens again,' Kouji whispered in his ear.

'You had better,' Kouichi retorted back, feeling exhausted. 'Trying to be patient was driving me a little crazy.'

'Ack,' Junpei muttered from behind them. 'My stomach's still doing backflips. I don't think I'll be able to look at pancakes again.'

A snort that didn't come from the six of them made Kouichi suddenly jump to his feet. 'Oh,' he exclaimed, before hurriedly bowing. 'I'm so sorry; thank you for your help.'

'No worries,' Judai replied. 'My job's helping people, though I admit that was a bit of a new one.' After a pause, he added: 'if you don't mind, can I get the rest of the duel and an explanation? The Principal's going to want one too.'

The five others stared at Kouichi, who groaned, then attempted to glare at his earpiece when the connection died. Either Yutaka was taking a breather or calling Shinya and their parents, having surmised what had happened from the chaos of voices, but that didn't change the fact that it left him with all the explaining.

'I believe it was your turn,' Judai said, as the others crawled out of the way, looking rather bemused.

'I'll make this quick then,' the other said.

'So no more stalling? Good to hear.' Judai grinned. 'Long duels are fun, but not when you're not having fun and giving it your all.'

'Fun?' the other repeated, before smiling in return. 'I think I see what you mean. Anyway, I play the Ritual Spell Card: End of the World, sacrificing Ruin, Queen of Oblivion from my hand to summon Demise, King of Armageddon. And by sacrificing 2000 life points, every card on the field other than it is destroyed.'

'So much for Elemental Mirage,' Judai said remorsefully, staring at his facedown card. 'Good thing I'll still have another 600 life points left.'

Kouji and Izumi both gaped as the hologram field rushed at Judai, weapon raised. Tomoki was however quick to explain it was simply a hologram, glad that Junpei and Takuya were a little more up to date with the game. Enough to know about the duel disks anyway; he hadn't gotten around to showing anyone other than Junpei his own model, but Yutaka got along well enough with Kouichi to show things and the Kanbara brothers were as obsessed with games as the Himi pair. Still, it was only him and Takuya actually following – of a sort – the duel in progress; they had after all, missed the start, and it was still rather dizzying to suddenly be back in the real world.

It was probably better than being overwhelmed by well meaning parents though, so a deserted – somewhere – was probably the best place to hang around for a little bit. And watching a duel didn't hurt either. And they were seeing Kouichi, who they hadn't for quite a while. For Kouji especially, that was more than enough.

'I'll end my turn with a facedown card,' Kouichi said, playing his one remaining card.

'My turn,' Judai said, drawing once it was clear the other could do nothing else, and displaying the card. 'Miracle Fusion, activate. I fuse Elemental Hero Sparkman with Elemental Hero Flame Wingman in my graveyard to summon Elemental Hero Shining Flare Wingman. And sure, they're removed from play, but there are three other heroes that can give my monster an attack point boost, and when it destroys a monster in battle –'

'The opponent takes damage equal to its attack strength,' the other finished, watching the shining knight tear down his fiend. 'Magic Cylinder stops your attack and reflects it back.'

'Defusion,' the other hurriedly played, splitting his fusion monster into, much to his opponent's and anyone who was following's surprise, Sparkman and Flame Wingman.

'How..?' Kouichi began.

'With this.' Judai revealed the second card he had played: Burial from a Different Dimension. 'I returned Sparkman and Flame Wingman to my graveyard, just in time to call them out in defence mode.' He paused. 'And that's it for this turn.'

Kouichi drew and played the monster: Copycat. 'I select Flame Wingman as its target,' he said. 'So he now gains 2100 attack points. Now, attack it attacks Sparkman, and my Demise can take care of your Flame Wingman.'

Judai drew, before grinning and showing his card.

'Hero Flash?' Kouichi repeated.

'Yep,' the other replied. 'And judging from your tone, I guess you don't know what it does, so let me explain. I remove H-Heated Heart, E-Emergency Call, R-Righteous Justice and O-Oversoul from my graveyard, then select one Elemental Hero monster in my deck and special summon it.' He raised his duel disk. 'I select Elemental Hero Neos, and then the second ability of Hero Flash kicks in, allowing all Elemental Heroes I have out to attack you directly.'

They all watched the neo warrior to appear in a flash of brilliant light and karate chop through Kouichi, dropping his life points to zero while the holograms faded. After a moment of staring at the single digit, he shrugged. 'It's a bit of a shame –' He sank to his knees on the spot.

'- that after duelling for the sake of duelling alone, it didn't last very long?' Judai asked, coming up. 'This doesn't have to be the end though; for whatever reason you started duelling, you're a duellist now…err, after being a friend and all of course.' He rubbed the back of his head. 'Now, explanation time?'

'I think Kouichi would rather go to bed,' the younger twin spoke up finally, glaring as if daring the other to disagree. 'And quite frankly, so would I.'

There were a few mumbled agreements.

'Not here,' the blonde moaned. 'The Digital World is one thing, but even there we weren't sleeping on broken rock.'

'You're in for quite a hike then,' Kouichi said tiredly, sitting down on one of the said rocks. 'I don't fancy it at all.'

'You won't have to,' Judai said with a laugh. 'I admit the picture is pretty funny, but Principal Samejima is coming up here…along with a few other people.'

Kouichi just groaned and mumbled something into his hands.

'But first, can I get the rest of your names? I don't want to be calling you guys black haired guy, brown haired guys 1, 2 and 3 and blonde girl.'

Takuya for one thought he would like the other a lot more if he was feeling 100%. At the time though, he was wondering if others found him this annoying at times.