Disclaimer: We don't own Yugioh GX.


Asuka's POV

The servant took me to a bathroom to get cleaned up, which told me that the Neospacian castle had indoor plumbing. This country was still strange, mixing the ancient past with some of the modern conveniences enjoyed by the rest of the world, but it was at least nice to know they'd agreed to have running water in their homes.

Several maids came along to help me—not that I needed it. They drew me a bath, complete with luxurious bath oils, and let me have at it. But there was one thing they weren't aware of: Johan and my crazy brother hadn't even given me a chance to pack anything before dragging me here. I'd been brought to a foreign country with nothing but the clothes on my back. When I told the maids this, they assured me it wasn't a problem, and one went to find me something to wear.

When the servants took me to a guest room, I learned how different fashion trends were in Neospace compared to Kalmar. The maids dressed me in an orange gown in some kind of Medieval style that I couldn't name if I wanted to. The skirt went all the way to the floor, and the long sleeves were fitted tightly until they reached my elbow, where they gradually flared out as bell sleeves. My shoulders were left bare due to its off-the-shoulder neckline. To complete the look, the maids tied a gold sash around my waist.

Once the maids had left me be, I looked myself over in the mirror, stunned. This looked more like something a princess would be wearing, not a normal girl from Kalmar. I didn't feel right running around dressed like something I very clearly wasn't. "...Alright, note to self: Send for my own clothes if I'm here too much longer. 'Cause this is—"

A knock on the door caught my ear, causing me to cut myself off. Given where I was, there was only one person that could be, and I wasn't eager to see him while I was masquerading as a Medieval princess. This was the sort of stupid thing my brother would have made me do!

"Asuka?" Judai called from the door.

Great. Just who I thought it was.

I sweat and called, "Uh, j-just a minute!" Silently, I added, Crap!

I looked around frantically for something I could throw over that dress. I didn't want Judai seeing me like that. It felt wrong enough for me to see myself dressed like nobility. Luckily for me, the large wardrobe had a white silk robe in the back. I took it out and threw it on over the dress, tying it shut before I opened the door.

"Hi, Judai," I said, slightly nervous. "How are you?"

As soon as I asked it, I realized it was a stupid question. For some reason, he didn't look happy. In fact, he looked really upset, like he'd just gotten some bad news. Regardless, he put on a smile and asked, "Uh... This a bad time?"

Of course, he'd ask that. I looked like I'd just gotten out of the bath or something!

"No. Of course not," I answered, combing my hands through my hair. "What is it?"

He just looked at me for a second before, smirking, he asked, "It's the clothes, isn't it?"

I sweat. How had he seen through me so easily? We didn't know each other that well! "N-no. I just—"

"Didn't bring any clothes?" he asked. "So you're wearing something that's actually Neospacian?"

Well, this was uncomfortable. He'd guessed it in one try. Was I that predictable, or did he just know me better than I thought?

After a moment's silence, I decided to change the subject. "How's Sho been lately? I noticed I haven't seen him around."

The look on Judai's face told me I might have picked the wrong topic. His smile faded, and he closed his eyes, looking annoyed. "He's probably building card houses with the castle staff."

I blinked, confused. Given how close Judai and Sho were, I couldn't figure out what Sho could have done to annoy Judai so much. And what did he mean, building card houses with the staff? That example was oddly specific, telling me that Sho had, apparently, actually done that. "W-what?"

"Yeah, he's got too much time on his hands these days."

Well, I had Judai off the topic of my wardrobe—or lack thereof. But the new topic...seemed like something he needed to get off his chest. I debated what to do for a moment before asking, "Wanna come in and talk about it?"

Judai looked off to the side for a bit, apparently thinking about his answer. Then he shrugged and said, "Sure, why not? I've got a little time."

I stepped aside, and he came into my room. To give us some privacy, I shut the door.


Judai's POV

I hadn't planned on talking to Asuka about my issues with Sho, but I did have an hour before I had to go to class and help my dueling instructor with Sho. Besides, maybe talking to Asuka would help me sort through my feelings about this whole thing. I couldn't exactly talk to anyone else about it—my parents wouldn't get it, Yubel would call me out for being so petty, and Sho definitely didn't need to hear any of the stupid thoughts running through my head lately.

"So? What's going on with Sho these days? I thought you wanted him to stay with you," Asuka asked as she sat down on the bed.

I sat down beside her, saying, "Sure, I wanted him to stay. I just didn't expect..." I trailed off, suddenly feeling like a jerk, and shook my head. "Never mind, it's stupid. I feel like an idiot for even letting it bother me."

It wasn't like Sho asked for special treatment. It wasn't his fault, so why was I so upset at him? He hadn't done anything except try to adapt to his new home and new life, and here I was acting like he'd done something horrible. Maybe I wasn't any better than the people back in Tiller.

"What do you mean? What happened?" Asuka asked, looking concerned. "Come on. You can tell me. I won't tell anyone."

Yeah, but you might judge me yourself. Still, I sighed and answered, "My parents adopted Sho."

Asuka's eyes widened. "What!?"

"Yeah. So now he's part of the family." Looking away, I mumbled, "The lousy royal family..."

"I'm sorry. Did you just call your family 'lousy?' But wouldn't Sho having a loving home such as this be a good thing?"

"Oh, yeah, that's not the lousy part. For him, things have never been better. My parents love him." I couldn't keep the bitterness out of my voice, although I sure did try. It still slipped out, my resentment over the fact that Sho had more freedom than me, even after officially joining my family.

Asuka stared at me for a second, probably analyzing my tone. "Why does it sound like you don't? Aren't you the one who wanted Sho to be treated better in the first place? You got on me about it back when you first heard his life story, after all."

"Yeah, I know," I said guiltily. "I just...think it's ironic that the idea everyone who's not a prince has is that you get things handed to you on a silver platter and that's only true for the adopted kid."

Asuka blinked and asked, "What?"

"Sho gets to spend all day goofing off, with the exception of, like, three hours of lessons, some of which he wanted. He gets away with breaking every rule my parents lock me up for breaking. And just about anything he wants, he just has to say the word."

"Oh, come on, Judai. That can't be true. Can he leave the castle unprotected?"

I laughed. Sho? Leave home without a guard? "As if he'd want to."

"Is he allowed to stay up all night throwing parties with the castle staff or something?"

I shrugged, thinking of the stupid house of cards, and answered, "It wouldn't surprise me."

"Oh, come on, Judai," Asuka said, and I could tell she was trying not to laugh. She really was trying to keep from judging me right now, and I appreciated it. "That's just plain silly."

"Well, he's already allowed to break almost every other rule I get in trouble for," I countered.

"Such as?"

"Well, for one, I'm not allowed to ask the castle staff to drop everything and help me build a house of cards!" I snapped, my anger getting the best of me for a second.

"Seriously?" Asuka asked. "That's—"

Exactly what she was going to say, I never found out. Right then, we heard Sho walking by, calling, "Aniki! Where are you?"

I sighed and got to my feet, saying, "And I've gotta go."

Asuka looked confused as she stood up, too. "What do you mean? It's just Sho, isn't it?"

Then, showing he clearly needed to learn some manners, Sho poked his head into the room without even bothering to knock. He caught sight of me, and his face lit up with a smile. "Oh, Aniki! There you are!"

"Knock before entering someone else's room, Sho," I chastised lightly. "It's poor manners otherwise."

"Oh! Right! Sorry. Guess I forgot." He rubbed the back of his head, then looked at Asuka. Seeing her in a bathrobe, Sho stared for a moment before asking me, "Uh, Aniki? Should you be in here right now? She—"

"Invited me in. To talk," I clarified, hoping to avoid having Sho starting rumors about me getting involved in inappropriate activities with a guest from another country. That would be a great way to get my dad all over my case. "And I'm thinking she's fully dressed under there but doesn't wanna show us what she's wearing because it's Neospacian."

Sho just stared for a moment, not sure what to make of that. I couldn't blame him, really. The idea that Asuka was embarrassed by the clothes she had on was kind of comical, especially since she had obviously packed nothing. What had she been thinking, visiting a foreign country unprepared?

"Oh, uh, okay... Hi, Asuka..." he finally said.

Asuka was blushing something awful, which is honestly the only reason I knew I was right about the clothes thing. She kept reacting so strongly to it each time I mentioned it. "...Hi."

The awkward silence stretched for a couple of seconds before Asuka said, "So, Sho! You wanted to see him, r-right?"

Sho started, "Well, I—"

"Great! I'll let you two get on with it, then. Wouldn't want you to miss your important business, now, would we?" she cut him off as she pushed us both toward the door, an awkward grin on her face.

Well, so much for getting help sorting through my feelings about Sho. Guess I'd have to figure out how to deal with this senseless jealousy on my own.

"Yeah, okay, but you're gonna have to stop hiding eventually," I pointed out as she pushed us into the hallway. "Otherwise you just wasted your time coming here."

"Thanks for the advice. See ya!" Still smiling broadly, she slammed the door in our faces.

...That had to be the weirdest conversation I'd had with her in my entire life.

"What was that about?" Sho asked.

I shrugged and said, "Hey, I haven't known her that long. How am I supposed to know?"

Sure, I'd guessed she wouldn't be a fan of Neospacian clothes and been right, but that was more luck than anything else. Why she was so embarrassed about it was a complete mystery to me.

"Oh. Okay..." Sho paused for a bit before he looked at me and asked, "Aniki? Can we talk?"

"What about?" I asked.

"...I, uh..."

From the sound of things, this was probably not something we should be talking about in the hall, where anyone could hear us. Looking at my watch, I saw that we still had 30 minutes left before our dueling class, so I decided to deal with this as quickly as I could.

"Come on," I said, walking off. "Let's take this somewhere more private."

"Okay," Sho answered, and he followed me.


We headed to Sho's room since it was the closest place where we could reasonably expect some privacy. I shut and locked the door, just in case anyone did decide to barge in on us, then turned to Sho and asked, "So, Sho, what's wrong?"

He didn't answer right away, apparently trying to figure out how to say what was on his mind. "It's—" He cut himself off with a sigh, then continued, "About class today. I don't think I wanna go..."

He sounded really dejected, which made sense. After all, for some reason, he was trying to quit class, and it didn't sound like it was because he didn't want to go as much as it was...something else.

"Why not?" I asked, although I already had a pretty good idea.

"Well...I don't think I'm cut out to be a duelist. I-I mean, back home, all the other kids..." he said, looking down.

I knew all about them. Sho didn't even need to finish that sentence for me to have a counter.

"All the other kids back home were jerks, so I don't care what they thought. I wanna see you duel, so you're not skipping class. You'd be in trouble for it, anyway," I said, grinning at the end.

"True..." he responded. "B-but, Aniki! What if I make a fool out of myself? Again! I mean, even Kabayama said—"

"Sho, the only people you'll have to worry about are me and him."

"I know! But—"

Clearly, Sho was really worried about embarrassing himself. Kabayama wasn't kidding when he said Sho was unsure of himself. The guy had no self-esteem at all, did he?

"Sho, you're not skipping class," I said firmly. "You can't possibly be as bad as you think if Kabayama wants us in the same class."

"...Wanna bet?" Sho asked, sounding for all the world like he thought I was the one who was wrong.

I wasn't going to take that lying down. Since we needed to get going to make it to class on time, I grabbed Sho's hand and said, "Come on, Sho. Let's go."

He protested, "But—"

He cut himself off as I ignored his complaint, dragging him off, anyway. I fully intended to prove Sho wrong. I was sure he could do better than he was claiming, and it was high time he learned to believe in himself a little more, too.


Kabayama pitted us against each other in a duel in our class, which made for a nice change for me. For once, I wouldn't be dueling my teacher. Sho, however, was insanely nervous about this turn of events. No surprise, considering he'd seen me duel and thought he was terrible.

"I-I don't know about this, Sensei. W-what if I mess up again? I'm gonna—"

"You'll do fine, Sho," Kabayama assured him. "You just have to believe in yourself. Just remember what I taught you! Take a deep breath and concentrate. Okay?"

Technically speaking, Sho was a prince. However, in class, Kabayama was more inclined to drop the formalities and just use his students' names. He even dropped my title during class. Maybe that was why I hated when he used it outside of class. I'd gotten used to not hearing it from him.

Sho took a deep breath. "O-okay..." Looking nervous, he readied his duel disk.

"You ready, Judai!?" Kabayama called to me.

See? No title.

"Always am!" I answered, eager to go. This was one class I actually enjoyed.

Kabayama nodded and said, "Okay, boys! Let's keep this clean! Ready? And begin!"

Judai: 4000
Sho: 4000

"Alright! I'll start!" I pulled a card from my duel disk, saying, "Draw!" I glanced at my card, then added it to my hand before pulling another and playing it on my duel disk, saying, "I summon Elemental Hero Sparkman!" (Atk 1600)

In a burst of electricity, Sparkman appeared.

"Then I play one card face down and end my turn," I said, inserting a card into my duel disk. It appeared face-down in front of me.

Sho gave a start as his turn began. "O-oh! R-right. I-it's my turn." He drew his card, looking uncertain. "I..." He looked at our teacher for reassurance.

"It's okay, Sho. You've got this," Kabayama said.

Sho nodded timidly and pulled a card to play. "I...I summon Cycroid!" (Atk 800)

He played his card on his duel disk, and an orange bike with hands for handlebars and a single eye where the reflector on the front would normally be located appeared in front of him.

"T-turn end..."

I blinked. That didn't seem like a good move, and I wasn't sure what to make of it. Sho had just summoned a monster with 800 attack points to face my 1600-point monster, and he hadn't played anything else. He couldn't be trying to lure me into a trap—Cycroid didn't have any effect. Its card description just said it was friendly and could "arm itself with training wheels," if I was remembering right.

"Sho, you summoned it in attack mode," I pointed out.

"So? W-was that wrong?"

...Oh, boy.

"Its defense is higher, and Sparkman's attack beats it. You wouldn't take damage from me attacking a defensive monster, but you will if I destroy that monster when it's in attack mode."

"Uh..." Sho sweat.

Apparently, he'd been so nervous, he hadn't even noticed the attack values of the cards on the field? That was a new one for me.

"He's right, Sho," Kabayama added. "A monster like that doesn't stand a chance against a monster like his. Besides that, you left it out there totally defenseless. You need to calm down. We're not going to judge you if you lose."

"Yeah," I agreed as I drew my next card. Then, figuring that maybe I should go a little easy on him this first round, I pointed at his monster and commanded, "Sparkman, attack his Cycroid!"

"Oh, no!" Sho cringed, bracing himself.

Sparkman attacked, zapping Sho's Cycroid and wiping it off the field, along with a chunk of his life points.

Judai: 4000
Sho: 3200

"Turn end."

"Ugh... My turn, draw..." Sho looked upset at first, but then his face lit up. That's how I knew he'd drawn something good. "Alright! Now you're in trouble! I summon Steamroid in attack mode!" (1800)

Good thing we had trains in Neospace! So far, Sho hadn't summoned anything I didn't know how to describe. Steamroid was a steam engine for a train, red and gray, with eyes, like all Vehicroids. It leaned back on its rear wheels, using its front wheels as arms.

Sho laughed, sounding more confident than he ever had in his life. "Bet you're in shock! My monster's way stronger than yours! You don't stand a chance now!"

Okay, maybe confident was the wrong word. Cocky might have fit this situation better.

"Go, Steamroid!" Sho said, pointing at Sparkman. "Attack!"

Steamroid drove forward, whistle blowing, heading straight for Sparkman.

"And, when he attacks an enemy monster, he gets a power bonus of 500 points!" Sho pointed out.

So, in other words, I was being attacked by a monster with 2300 attack points, not 1800. That would be a lot of damage if it got through. But that was a big if.


Sho's POV

I did it! I thought as my monster charged at Aniki's Elemental Hero. With this, I'll be able to win the battle this turn! Aniki's gonna be so proud! Why, he may even start calling me Aniki instead!

I got so lost in imagining that scenario that I almost missed Aniki's next move.

"I activate my face-down, Hero Barrier!" he said, pushing a button on his duel disk and flipping his card to reveal a trap. The image on the card looked like a weapon of some kind being spun in a rapid circle and blocking an electrical attack.

"Huh?" I asked, startled.

"Very good, Judai. Nice move," Kabayama said, nodding.

Aniki grinned at me and said, "Nice try, Sho. But this card negates one of your attacks when I've got an Elemental Hero on the field."

Was he serious!? That wasn't fair! My eyes widened, and I cried, "W-what!?"

The spinning shield appeared in front of Sparkman, and Steamroid hit it, instead, before returning to my field. His attack when back to 1800. I'd missed.

Kabayama nodded, apparently proud of Aniki. I couldn't blame him—Aniki was a real duelist, not an amateur like me. "You see, Sho, your opponent had a face-down card. That card allowed him to defend his monster from your attack, so it's just as important to watch out for those as it is to watch their monsters."

"R-right," I stuttered.

Boy, I'd really messed that up! I should have known I couldn't hit Aniki that easily. He'd beat the Society of Light, including Prince Ojin's one-turn-kill deck, Johan's stolen family heirloom, and the leader Saiou. What chance did I stand against someone that good?

"It's okay, Sho," Aniki assured me. "You would've had to attack eventually. At least you got rid of my trap so your next attack can actually get through."

He was just trying to make me feel better, I knew. I wasn't any good, and that move had proven it. "R-right..."

"So? You done?"

"Uh... Let's see." I looked over my hand to see if there was anything else I could or should play right now. Finding something, I pulled it from my hand, saying, "Oh! I play a card face down." I slid it into the slot on my duel disk, and it showed up on the field. "Turn end..."

Aniki drew, glanced at his card, then activated it right away. "I activate Polymerization to fuse Sparkman with the Elemental Heroes Avian and Bubbleman in my hand!" The other two monsters appeared on the field briefly before all three swirled together as a new one was formed. "Come out, Elemental Hero Tempest!" (Atk 2800)

As things settled down, a man in blue and yellow armor just like Sparkman's appeared on the field. He had green and white wings like Avian...and way more attack points than Steamroid.

I took a step back, knowing what was coming. "T-twenty-eight hundred!? But that's not—"

"Tempest, attack his Steamroid!" Aniki commanded, pumping a fist out toward my monster.

"Ah!" I nearly panicked and missed my timing, but I pushed the button to activate my trap and said, "Uh, I activate my trap card! Supercharge! When you declare an attack and all I've got out's a Roid monster, I draw two cards!" I took two cards from the top of my deck.

When Aniki's attack hit, destroying Steamroid, my life points dropped more than I expected. Steamroid had 1800 attack points, which made him 1000 points weaker than Tempest. But my life points didn't drop by 1000.

Judai: 4000
Sho: 1700

I looked at my duel disk in surprise. "Huh!? B-but my monster had more attack than that! What'd I do wrong?"

"Steamroid loses 500 attack points when it's attacked," Aniki answered.

"I-it does?"

That meant Steamroid's attack had only been 1300 when that attack hit. That was why I'd lost 1500 life points instead of 1000.

Aniki just nodded.

Great, Aniki wasn't just better than me. He knew my own cards better than I did. I dropped to the floor, defeated. "Oh... Ugh... That's it. I give. I can't win..."

"Aw, come on, Sho! You can't just give up!" Aniki encouraged.

"Why not?" I asked, glum. It wasn't like I stood a chance against him. He was a master duelist, and I was just a weakling who didn't even understand how his own cards worked, let alone his opponent's.

Aniki smiled kindly at me and answered, "This is a class. We're supposed to be learning. This is the time to make mistakes so you can learn from them and get better."

He had a point, I guess. Even if he was wiping the floor with me. I got back up, saying, "I-I guess you're right. My turn, then, draw." I looked at my card for a second, nervous, then looked to Aniki.

He smiled, nodding encouragingly.

Well, if Aniki thought I should keep going, then I couldn't let him down. I cleared the lump from my throat and played my card, saying, "I...summon Thunder Nyan Nyan! In attack mode!" (1900)

A pretty girl with red hair appeared on my field, a drum set around her. She wore a tiger-print bodysuit, boots, and gloves with a transparent blue skirt, and she had her drumsticks in her hands.

I started swooning, happy to see Thunder Nyan Nyan, like always. "Isn't she just the prettiest girl you've ever seen? She's my crush card, Aniki. And soon she's gonna crush you!" I told him, trying to sound like I had a plan. Well, just as soon as I figure out how, that is. Let's see... I looked over my cards again, then pulled one and slipped it into my duel disk, saying, "I play a card face down. Turn end."

Kabayama shook his head, apparently disappointed. "And therein lies one of your problems, Sho."

"What do you mean? She's got high attack points!" I pointed out. What was so wrong about having her in my deck?

Aniki drew his card, looking neutral, like he agreed with Kabayama but was thinking of the best way to say it. "Yeah, but she doesn't really work with your deck, given her effect," Aniki said. "She can't stay on the field if you control a monster that isn't light attribute, and those Roids of yours don't seem like light monsters to me. But, hey, it's your choice. If you know how to use her, it still shouldn't be a problem."

I sweat. She couldn't be on the field with a monster that wasn't light? Had I just never read the text box before? Why didn't I know that? "I, uh..."


Judai's POV

I wanted to give Sho the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he did know how Thunder Nyan Nyan worked and had some trick up his sleeve to get around that effect of hers. But his reaction didn't leave me with much hope on that one.

"You see, Sho, you know your basics, but you need to pay more attention to monster effects," Kabayama said, and I couldn't help but agree. That was the second time Sho hadn't known them well enough. "A lot of monsters have them, and they can make or break a duel, depending on how you use them."

"Oh...okay..."

"Go on, Judai. Show him how it's done," Kabayama instructed me, smiling.

"I play one card face down," I said, inserting one into my duel disk.

"Hold on! I activate my face-down! Dust Tornado! This lets me destroy one of your face-downs!" Sho said, activating his trap.

Kabayama nodded, and said, "There you go, Sho. Not bad."

Well, so much for that card. It was a good move on Sho's part, even if he had missed half of Dust Tornado's effect. He could have played another face-down card himself after using it. Still, his tornado blew away the card I'd just played.

"Tch..." Oh, well. It wasn't like it was a game-changing card. I hadn't lost any life points yet, so I could afford to lose it. "Tempest, attack!" I commanded, and he did.

Sho cringed as Tempest sliced through his monster, destroying her with ease. "Ah! Nyan!"

Judai: 4000
Sho: 800

I figured it was about time to end this duel so we could debrief. Sho's confidence would need a major boost after this. One thing was clear to me. When Sho told me he didn't have a deck, he'd been lying, but he probably hadn't been wrong to basically say he didn't duel. I doubted he'd ever used his deck for a game of Duel Monsters before he started learning from Kabayama.

So, to get this over with and start on the damage control, I pulled a card from my hand and activated it, saying, "Next I activate De-Fusion!"

Sho's eyes bugged out. "W-wha!?"

"De-Fusion," Kabayama explained. "A quick-play card that allows you to turn a fusion monster back into the monsters that created it. An excellent move for a time like this."

"Quick-play... Whoa..." Sho looked awestruck. Apparently, I wasn't far off thinking he'd never dueled before—he'd never heard of quick-play spell cards, and anyone who'd actually dueled knew what those were.

"That's right! So I'm de-fusing Tempest, letting me summon his material monsters from my graveyard!"

Tempest split into the three material monsters, and Bubbleman, Sparkman, and Avian all appeared, each in attack mode. Any one of them would be enough to take out Sho's remaining life points.

Bubbleman: 800 Atk
Sparkman: 1600 Atk
Avian: 1000 Atk

"Now, Bubbleman, attack him directly!" I commanded, pointing at Sho.

"Aw, crap!" He ducked, covering his head.

As Bubbleman blasted Sho, he screamed and fell on his back as his life points dropped to 0.

Judai: 4000
Sho: 0

"Good work, boys! Good show!" Kabayama said, applauding.

I flashed a finger gun at Sho, saying, "Gotcha!"

"Excellent, Sho. That was much better than yesterday!" Kabayama said, pleased.

If that was better, I could understand why Kabayama wanted help with this. Sho really was lacking confidence, and it was definitely holding him back.

Sho sat up, looking dejected. "B-but I lost..."

"I know. But that's because you forgot the importance of monster effects and how to use them. A duel is full of variables and requires absolute focus and respect if you want to win them. When you were bragging about your monster that one turn, that wasn't really respect, was it?" Kabayama informed him.

Much as I might give my teachers a lot of grief, I couldn't help but think Kabayama was the right choice for this job. Sure, he was already the dueling instructor for one prince, so it made sense he'd take on the adopted one. But his personality made him a better call than, say, Cronos de Medici, who had quit working for my father a long time ago after losing patience with me. Kabayama, on the other hand, was patient and gentle.

"I, uh..." Sho started.

"He's right, Sho," I added. "You've gotta respect your opponents and pay attention. You're not a bad duelist."

While I could see Kabayama's problem and definitely saw some issues with Sho's dueling, I could also see that he was right about Sho having potential. Honestly, given that Sho hadn't dueled much in his life, I was impressed he'd done as well as he had. Sure, he hadn't dealt me any damage, but he'd done pretty well, for a newbie.

"R-really? I'm not?" Sho asked, disbelieving.

"That's what I keep trying to tell you, Sho. You've got the makings of a true champion in you," Kabayama answered. "You just have to learn to believe in yourself, like we believe in you."

"I don't know... I—"

"He's right, Sho," I cut him off.

Sho looked at me and asked, "R-really, Aniki? You think so, too?"

I nodded. After all, he'd built what looked like a promising deck—minus that Thunder Nyan Nyan of his. He knew some about his cards' effects. He did have most of the basics down. With more study and practice, he could probably duel with the best of them.

Sho looked at me for a bit, and I worried that he might start laughing and say I didn't know what I was talking about. Finally, though, he said, "Okay. I-if you say I can do it, then I..."

"That's the spirit, Sho! Ready to try again?"

Sho nodded and got back up, readying his deck and duel disk for a second round. "R-ready!"

Kabayama turned to me expectantly, smiling.

I shuffled my deck, then activated my duel disk, sticking my deck back in, and smiled as I said, "Alright! Let's go another round!"

"Ready!" Sho said again.

"Duel!"