By popular vote, this story's staying as straight as an arrow. No boy-on-boy stuff. I'm actually really happy that everyone voted the same thing. That way, no one's mad... Anyway, thanks for all the opinions. =) Also, I would really like to thank frost2438 for coming up with an amazing idea that I'm going to use, but I won't say what it is, 'cause that'd be spoilers, now wouldn't it? Now for my usual thank you to animeluver64, who has favorited this story. Oh, and I probably should've done this a few chapters ago, but I'm pushing the rating up to T from here on out, because it turns out Marie can have some colorful language. Plus there's going to be anime/duel monsters violence later on. And now, back to the story.
Judai sat on the floor of his room, staring blankly at his cards without really seeing them. He was too busy thinking about just how far out of control things had gone to go over his strategies for the competition tomorrow. All Judai had really wanted was a quiet school life.
No reminders of his past, and definitely not another looming disaster that he had to take care of. It was fun back in Duel Academia for a while, but when it all went south, dueling kind of lost its appeal. It wasn't fun when the stakes were the lives of his friends and he was losing. It was a long time before Judai learned to have fun while dueling again. And now the past was coming back to haunt him.
There was another threat on another duel academy, and Judai was getting more innocent people involved. He wished that he could just give it up sometimes. Not dueling of course, but saving the world. It got really tiring and Judai was sick of it. But he knew that there was no way that he could just ignore what was going on. If he just walked away, then even more people would get hurt.
A light knock came at the door and Judai was thinking about ignoring it before it came again, slightly more insistent. Judai reluctantly got to his feet and went to see who it was. "Hey, there pal!" Johan Andersen chirped happily, giving Judai a smile and a little wave. His face got serious when he got a good look at his friend. "Ya look awful, Judai. I though' you might be lookin' forward to the tournament tomorrow. Somethin' the matter?"
"Not really," Judai lied.
"Ya sure?" Johan asked, not convinced. Judai nodded, which still didn't convince Johan, but he didn't press the issue. "Can I come in? I'm supposed to give ya a message from Pegasus."
"Yeah, sure, come on in," Judai said, sounding a bit surprised. He backed up to give Johan space enter the room and closed the door once he was inside.
"Sure brings back memories, don' it?" Johan laughed a bit as he dropped onto the matress. He looked up to the rafters and saw a familiar fat tabby sitting on one of the beams. "Ha, even good ole Pharaoh's here. How'd ya get him in?"
"He snuck in by himself," Judai answered, chuckling. "When I opened up my backpack, he's just sitting on my stuff, completely at home. I dunno what he does when I'm in class. He seems pretty happy though." It wasn't the truth, but it was close enough.
"So why did you disappear for ten years, Judai?" Johan asked suddenly, getting to the question that Judai had become sick of hearing.
"You said you had a message from Pegasus, right?" he asked, trying to change the subject.
"It can wait," Johan told him adamantly. "First tell me why no one's heard from ya in so long."
"Can't you tell just by looking?" Judai snapped, earning him a startled look from Johan, but he didn't care at the moment. "Don't you think it might just be a little hard to explain why I haven't gotten any older after graduation?"
"In case ya hadn't noticed, I haven't exactly gotten any older myself, Judai!" Johan yelled back. This caused Judai to notice that his friend looked exactly the same as he did when he attended Duel Academia. Johan's voice dropped a bit as he continued, "And I made a perfectly fine future for myself. Besides, ya still coulda told us. I'm always gonna be yer best bud, Judai. And I know that everyone else still woulda been right by ya too."
Judai didn't have an answer to that. He already knew that his friends wouldn't have cared if he stayed the same old Judai he'd always been, but he just couldn't handle another reminder of just how different he was from them. It brought back bad memories that Judai would rather forget.
He attempted to change the subject again to break the awkward silence that had settled over them. "So what did you want to tell me?"
Johan sighed. "Pegasus wanted me ta tell ya what exactly he's planned up. I know about the Crimson Dragon already. That's why I'm here. The plan is ta get me ta come back here, which will cause a duelin' competition to start in celebration of my return. You try ta reach the final rounds, and Marie's sure ta be there too, since she has the Crimson Dragon ta back her up. Ya beat her, and the card is returned to safe hands through the ante rule placed on the final rounds. If by any chance you can't beat her, then I get a crack at 'er.
"That pretty much sums it up, but he did say ta keep an eye out for any new activity from that card throughout the competition. If ya do see anything, ya report it ta me, and I call Pegasus ta tell him what happened."
"With something so important, you'd think he'd be here."
"He wanted ta be, but there was a problem with his private jet and only I was flown over instead. He should be here in time for the finals with Sho."
"Why does Sho need to come?" Judai wondered, inwardly groaning at the thought of getting bombarded with questions and lectures again.
"Why, that's cause he's the one who organizes all the duelin' competitions for Industrial Illusions!" Johan replied, as if he was stating something horribly obvious. He chuckled. "He's grown up quite a bit, too. Ya wouldn't believe how much he bragged when he grew a few inches. And now, as a sign to show that he's older, he's upgraded to square glasses."
Judai cracked up. "Yeah, that sure sounds like Sho." He sat down on the floor and gathered his cards. "You up for a game?"
"Of course, pal, I'm always up for a good duel!" Johan said, Ruby Carbuncle appearing at his shoulder.
Hane Kuriboh showed up by Judai, crying out a challenge.
"Let's duel!"
So, whaddaya think? I tried to do my best with Johan's accent.
If Judai and Johan were too OOC, then let me know please. Sometimes, ya can't tell when you're writing. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and the next chapter will be getting into the competition.