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Yu-Gi-Oh GX: Searching For A Hero (Muse & East)


For Fubuki, those sisterly motions, that affection that only Asuka could get away with and showcase meant the world. He already knew his feelings were strange, that a brother shouldn't want to hug his sister for as long as he held Asuka, or that the smell of her even with a strange shampoo that wasn't her usual brand, left him feeling elevated was weird. Yet as she ruffled his hair he knew he would follow Asuka into hell and back. That he would basically do anything for her, even if it was detrimental to his survival at times. He knew he didn't want to go back to the spirit world, but that there weren't any other options.

She was right, they had to go forward with this plan, and they needed Judai if they were going to save the world. But as she left to go be with the rest of the group, his eyes lingered on her, and he knew that his own motivations weren't really about saving the world, that he just wanted to protect and care for his little sister. He felt better about that and could gather his focus, but he knew it would be a long day ahead of them.


For Fubuki walking up to the island wasn't unnerving anymore. He worked there most of the time alongside Asuka and had learned a lot from his time here but the goal of breaking into the spirit world left him wondering exactly where they should take that crossing. He pulled out Daitokuji's old journal looking over notes and thinking things over. "The problem is that the spirit world is actually very big. If we had a week I might be able to pinpoint Judai better in that other world, but since I don't I just kinda have to pull the widest net possible." He opened the box of shadow charms and started to pass each one out to the rest of the group.

"The shadow charms, are finicky tools, they were made in the shadow realm, weaker counterparts too much more powerful and ancient artifacts each one has a fragment of the shadows inside it. As long as it stays on your body you will have some protection from the effects of the other side. However, they were never designed to work together. As for where we can enter the spirit world, there is really only one good option... The place where the shadow realm is the strongest."

Fubuki took the lead but stayed next to Asuka, she was right that right now he needed her support. Taking them to that old long-abandoned dorm. The basement where Asuka had once dueled Titan, and where the shadows lurked constantly. "This is where I was first dragged into the spirit world, where Nightshroud was born." Fubuki trembled for a moment.

Sho broke the tension with a line of his own. "You sure the pool isn't a better option? I don't mind my clothes getting a little wet." He said jokingly, which did get a chuckle out of Fubuki.

Of course, now he had all of the former professor's notes on the spirit world, years of one of the greatest sorcerers' knowledge put into his hands, along with the experiences and memories he had from being Nightshroud gave him plenty of knowledge of how to open the door. He reached out and grabbed Asuka's hand. "Everyone is going to need to hold hands so we don't get lost."

Without missing a beat Jun grabbed Asuka's free hand on her other side, the show grabbed his hand, followed by Ryo who closed the circle with Fubuki. Fubuki closed his eyes, and focused on the pendant around his neck, which glowed in response calling forth the gate to the other side.

Which activated all of the other items. Each member of the group had taken, and immediately each charm tried to reject the others, actively pushing each person apart. In the moment Fubuki lost his grip, and the circle was torn apart as a blinding light ripped through the group and tore each of them away from one another as they fell to the winds of the spirit world.

Only one person seemed to manage to hold onto Asuka, his grip on her was like an iron vice as the two were tossed asunder.



Jun lost consciousness in the fall, but when he awoke he was at the least still wearing clothes that were infinitely better than his previous trip to the spirit world. The ground was lush and warm, and also breathing, as he wasn't really on the ground, he was on top of Asuka. He groaned as he pushed himself off of her, and laid on grass, they were in a clearing, in the woods, but this place didn't have the same tropical treeline as Academy island. It lacked the smell of the sea and was much more inland than the volcanic island's forest.

For the moment he waited for Asuka to regain consciousness, putting her head on his lap so she could at least be comfortable in the moment.
 

Asuka's heart began to pound as Fubuki began explaining how things were going to work. This really was it. They truly were about to back into the Spirit World. And yet even still, there were no alternatives, no 'better ideas' to consider using instead of this. Then again, even if she could think of one, they were already here. It felt a bit redundant to try mentioning another idea. So, she simply took the choker and put it on as it was handed to her.

Both Sho and Ryo were flashed a silent but apologetic look. Mainly in case either had wanted to try to conquer their demons with that item. The brothers definitely had more personal reasons that they could have wanted it instead, but on the flip side, maybe they wanted nothing to do with the collar. Asuka was hoping it'd end up being the latter. It'd just make the process easier, really.

Asuka's eyes gazed at the others, watching everyone select their item ... and then felt Fubuki take her hand into his. Her eyes closed as she took a long, deep breath. She grasped onto Fubuki's ... and then the other hand that had intertwined with her own. She wasn't overly picky who it was at this point. Now the fear and adrenaline were definitely kicking in and the best she could hope for was to not go into this alone.

"Ngggh!"

Asuka tried to tighten her own grip and hold onto someone, be it her brother or whoever else had squeezed tightly onto her other hand. Asuka winced ... but returned the gesture, not wanting to be separated.

....

And when she finally stirred and opened her eyes, she saw she at least got some of her wish. Indeed, she wasn't alone. But .... poor Fubuki. He was probably beside himself now.

"Hey Jun," she managed to groan out, rubbing at her head which was throbbing slightly. Probably from the very abrupt and sudden force that everyone had been forced away from one another.

"Give me a few more minutes, if you don't mind. I umm .... need to gather my bearings."

"Also, you're comfy."

But she kept that part to herself, not daring to utter the thoughts. It didn't feel right, even less so after the talk she and Sho had that went very awkwardly last night. Still, as she kept her head on Manjoume's lap, some part of her figured it made sense that he was the other person who grabbed her hand. When one took Judai out of the equation, she had been closest with Jun.

Of course, that was also when one only counted other classmates, otherwise it probably would be Fubuki. And even then, she'd had quite a few moments with Jun. Some of which ... she could have done with them being in better circumstances. Namely during their second year, when the Society Of Light had been brought into the school and they were both manipulated and brainwashed.

A ghost of a smirk at the memories tugged at her lips ... if only from remembering how Jun had looked in that silly white outfit. It wasn't the worst ... but black truly did look much better on him.

A low groan elicited from Asuka as she stretched before slowly, carefully sat up. "Okay, so ... forest. Hopefully that's a good sign. More .... I guess friendlier spirits should be here than not."

"Hopefully ..." she added again her head, slowly pushing herself up to her feet. Angels, fairies, and spellcasters ... those were the very first things that jumped to her head when she thought about forests. Maybe dragons, she supposed, but that was a huge maybe as it was. Warriors? Possible, though Beasts and Beast-Warriors were also viable options.

Nodding at that, she glanced down ... and let out a small sigh of relief upon finding her duel disk remained firmly attached to her arm.

"So ... how do we wanna do this? Just ... try going a certain direction and hope for the best, or ... ??"
 
Jun didn't mind having Asuka resting on his lap. The entire thing was a bit domestic and made his heart beat a little faster. It didn't surprise him that he still had feelings for Asuka after all these years, she and Fubuki had basically been kinder to him than members of his own family, but now really wasn't the time to focus on his own feelings. He had to put those aside until they found the others. Hopefully, they weren't very far from where the others fell. If they landed in this forest maybe everyone else did as well?

He wanted to make sure Fubuki was okay, and he was a little concerned for Sho as well, but he figured if anyone could handle themselves it would be Ryo. For now, he just had to watch over Asuka and make sure the two of them were safe. "Take your time." He said a little relaxed and a slight blush on his face. He may be able to put his feelings for Asuka aside for the moment, but this was still as domestic as the two had ever been. It was a bit of a dream come true to have her relaxing with him. If he had grapes on him he would have happily fed her some like an Egyptian goddess.

The daydream faded to the much colder reality that the two of them were stuck in a forest, alone together. They would need to find food, water, and some kind of shelter if they really wanted to survive. As she got up from his lap and voiced her own concerns about the forest he nodded. "It's bright and open. The forest seems almost kind of magical." He breathed in the air, it definitely didn't feel like the toxic nightmare world the school had been sent too the last time they were in the spirit world or anything Fubuki had told him about when they had spoken about the spirit realm. "Hopefully we will find someone who is willing to help us."

Once he was able to get to his feet she asked him how they should proceed, and he looked around. Walking up to a tree he used the hard edge of his duel disk to mark the tree with a star as a sort of starting location. "I'm going to climb this tree and see if there is any smoke or anything." A smoke signal would mean civilization or even one of their friends. It would mean a fire that they could huddle beside for warmth. Either way, he started to climb his way up to try and get a better view.

Looking around from what felt like the top of the world he started to look around. It was like a sea of green, of densely packed forest that they could easily get lost in. He wished he had a seeing glass or anything that would have helped to provide him with a better chance to see. At first, he didn't see anything, but once he used his gloved hand to shadow his eyes he started to make a bit more sense of the world and saw some smoke. "That way!" He pointed towards a pillar. "I think I can see a village." It would at the least give them a direction, even if it looked like it would take a while to get there.

He scrambled down the tree quickly, not wanting to fall, and took a few breaths to steady himself once he was back on solid ground. "If we keep marking the trees with our duel disk, we should be able to avoid walking in circles, and we can make a straight path to that village." It at least gave them a direction they could wander in that was better than just random.
 

As Jun began to climb up the tree, Asuka stood nearby it. Sure enough, he didn't really need a boost like - perhaps - Sho may have. So instead, she just made certain his muscles were functioning well enough that he wouldn't accidentally fall. It'd be funny in its own rights if Asuka had to try to catch Jun ... but on the serious side of that coin, it wouldn't do anybody any favors if they got direly hurt. This might be the Spirit World, but physical damage was as real as the emotional and psychological they'd all endured. That memory made her grimace slightly ... and caused Asuka to internally pray they wouldn't be forced into any duels anytime soon.

Now's not the time! she chided herself, gripping lightly onto her lower lip as her mind began to replay past duels that had occurred here ... at least in t his same realm. Definitely a very different biome and environment, but when all was said and done, it was ultimately the same. Her fists clenched as she shook her head.

It's not going to go like that again! she convinced herself. And just as quickly as she tried to persuade herself things would be fine, she heard her head quip back.

Oh yeah? And what makes you so certain?

Before she could start a back-and-forth battle with herself, Asuka's head quickly jerked up as she heard Jun speak up, silently relieved he'd helped drag her out of her invasive thoughts. "Really?!" she cried out, relief surging through her mind and body. A soft sigh resounded from her as a smile adorned her lips. "Thank goodness," she muttered, moving a few blonde strands of hair behind her ears.

"Perfect. Careful getting down."

But once his feet landed on the grass, she allowed her arm to link with his and followed his lead. Every now and again, she'd use her own disk, helping him ensure they could recall where they had already walked by. It was an unorthodox, yet similar in its own rights, way of leaving a trail of bread crumbs. But, in Asuka's mind, this was smarter. If the right, or wrong depending on one's point of view, creatures did reside here ... their trail could easily vanish in a matter of moments.

Her head slowly moved from side to side as she continued to walk alongside Jun. She wasn't just taking in the scenery, but ... it was hard to explain. The forest did indeed feel very magical, and it was exactly because of that very reason that it felt ... odd. She couldn't pinpoint what exactly that meant, nor if it was necessarily a bad or good thing. She just knew this area was anything but normal.

And that would soon get confirmed as minutes ticked away and steadily became hours. The sun hadn't set yet - which was good, at least. But her eyebrows furrowed in concern. Asuka slowly turned to look at Jun ... and even though she didn't want to ask this, she at least wanted to make sure she wasn't going crazy just yet.

" ... Are we ... somehow lost, Jun?"

Even though they had taken precautions, it did indeed seem to be the case. In fact, part of her had the weird instinct that if they attempted to backtrack, their markings would - somehow - be gone. Hopefully that much wasn't true, and part of her didn't want to turn around and find that was indeed what was going on. But on the other hand, a small part of her did want to ... if only to see how well her newly discovered sense of paranoia may or may not be helping them out at the moment.
 
Asuka's arm linked around his, and he felt his heartbeat skip a little. The two of them walking arm in arm together was almost like this was a date. In his head he knew this was simply one more way the two could ensure they stayed together, that there wasn't anything special going on, that he needed to stay focused, and yet there was a small chance to daydream and let his mind wander off about how this could have been a romantic date window shopping in the downtown area, going to various card shops. It was all very cute, and domestic.

His mind snapped back to reality, and he reminded himself that the last time they had seen downtown it had been on fire, a lot of those boutique shops were leveled to the ground and that it would only get worse as more and more spirits invaded the real world. They needed to find the Slypher Slacker first, and then he could daydream about dates with Asuka once the world got unfucked. Focus Jun, now is not the time to bring up anything flirtatious.

Of course minutes, slowly turned to hours, and the two were still walking among the endless sea of trees. Jun was in disbelief and frustrated. "I don't get it, the village didn't seem like it was that far away." The sun also hadn't moved, which was very bad for navigation purposes. They only had their marks but the longer they walked the longer he was getting a sinking suspicion that if they did turn back they wouldn't find their way to the clearing that they had started in, not that he would even recognize it at this point.

She voiced the idea that they were lost and he had to agree. "It doesn't make any sense, we went in a straight line, we should have hit that village." Another thought hit him, the two of them had been walking for hours, in mostly silence.

So where was the horrible trio? They never left him alone for any amount of time, they rarely even let him sleep, now he was actually lost in the spirit world and the three of them weren't trying to help? "And where are those three losers when I actually need them!"

Frustrated Jun sat down for a moment giving up on walking forward. "Walking further will only exhaust us further, we need to think this through for a moment. If this was a normal forest then we would have gotten to that village by now, but think about it, the sun hasn't moved overhead at all, and this is the spirit world. There has to be more to it than just walking forward. Plus it's been hours, my feet are killing me, and I'm starving and thirsty, so if we can't figure out a way to get our base needs then we are going to die here."

As if his words had summoned it, the two of them would suddenly hear the distinct trickle of water to the distance, a small river winding its way through the forest a short way off the path the two had been walking.
 

Survival and the desire to avoid getting completely separated from everyone were the main incentives directing and guiding her actions. That said, she couldn't deny that were things differently ... there very likely would be other motives behind everything she was doing. But right now, it didn't feel appropriate to dwell on that side.

Besides, is it really fair to only be that way with Sho?

Asuka fought off the urge to raise an eyebrow, not wanting to look too odd in front of Jun. Instead, she shook the thoughts aside, trying to keep her focus on the here and now.

So what happens if you can't even find Judai?

"Don't fuck with me like that."

When she realized the words slipped past her lips as opposed to echoing in her head, red immediately painted her cheeks as she bowed her head. "Sorry. My ... mind has been really odd. I've been having a lot of pessimistic and invasive thoughts, probably from the last time we were here and all. And it just asked what happens if .... "

But before she could finish revealing that inner thought, her eyebrows furrowed as she shook her head no firmly.

"Actually ... that's not an option. So umm ... I'm going to just ignore that rhetoric. But umm, sorry. Those words definitely weren't directed at you. I know that otherwise probably sounded really random and weird."

It really wasn't, either. At least in the more logical and realistic part of Asuka's mind, they had to find Judai. Failing to do that? Well ... the near apocalypse that was ongoing back at Domino City would be sealed. There would be no 'near', and the only people that could survive it were other duelists like herself and all of the guys. It wasn't really a picture she wanted to dwell on, and it had been why she ended up cursing out loud. Because if they couldn't find Judai?

Her heart may literally sink, drop, and then just stop altogether. In that order, too. And even with her history she'd have, hope would likely fade away faster than any love she still had for Judai.

As the two continued walking through the forest, Asuka tried to talk about something else. Literally anything else. But every time she mustered up enough courage, her mind scolded her and insisted she had to focus on the task at hand, as well as ensure they weren't lost. The latter, however .... she was finding something that was certainly making her heart beginning to sink. Whether Jun had noticed it or not was a different story ... but she was almost positive she saw them walk by a few marked trees.

Which meant that, somehow, they had gone in circles ... or done something of the like. Either way, it was clear enough that they were indeed lost. And just in case Asuka needed anymore reassurance? It would come in the form of Jun's words as he finally spoke up.

"Oh god," Asuka muttered, slumping beside him. She honestly hadn't thought about it, but he was completely correct. Not only that ... but the Winged Kuriboh she added to her deck also seemed to go quiet all of a sudden. "Damn. I ... "

Her head bowed as a frustrated sigh resounded.

"Not gonna lie, at least one of them being here would actually be super helpful right now. Maybe they'd recognize exactly where we are?"

One would hope given this was the Spirit World, meaning spirits knew this realm far better than most typical humans. But now with each and every bit of hope seeming to try to vanish, this was feeling as crazy as the idea had merely sounded just in her head.

You idiot! You just sent all of them and yourself on a suicide mission! What the hell were you thinking?!

Before the tears that had started to form could fall, Jun's words finally gave her the same sense of faith and hope she almost lost completely. "Wait ... what now?" Sure enough, she lifted her head and saw he was correct. The sun was still overhead which was already an odd sign in itself. "But ... that's impossible. I haven't forgotten time moves differently here, but it shouldn't be directly over us, either. So ...."

Now Asuka allowed her eyebrows to raise curiously.

"Is it .... fake, somehow? I mean, how else do you explain the sun refusing to move unless ... this is some sorta illusion? And .. it would explain why we've gone by some trees we already marked, doubly so since we have gone straight the whole time."

Okay. That was definitely a good start. But how did they deal with this predicament?

It was something that not only Asuka wanted to know, but more specifically, her stomach did too as it growled in frustration. Asuka covered her midsection, blushing furiously as she merely muttered, "I know, shut up. That's why we're working on things."

Her gaze moved to her duel disk ... and it was at that moment when a very 'Eureka!'-esque moment came up in her head made her eyes widen. "Wait a minute .... we can duel here also, and that causes cards to manifest, right? So ... if we played a magic or trap card properly ... would it not be able to help out somehow? A Mystical Space Typhoon, for example, to dispel the illusion, or something like that?"

It was a wild shot, sure. But it was one of the few things she could even think of that made even the smallest amount of sense.
 


Jun was taken aback slightly when she cursed, seemingly at him, but Asuka was rather quick to explain that it wasn't actually pointed at him she was just venting frustration which to be fair there was plenty of reason and need to vent in the moment. They were struggling against a force that neither of them of them could fully explain. She was having doubts about the mission which he could honestly understand.

after all he did leave us to come be here, so why are we even chasing after him?

He shook that thought off he didn't really like Judai to begin with, while he would call the other man his friend that didn't mean they were exactly friendly with one another all the time. He was more like the constant annoying pain in the back of his neck. "We will find that idiot." He said with absolute confidence, it wasn't just because they needed too, but because he felt like there was still a score to settle between the two of them.

The idea that the world was fake and that the two of them were trapped in an illusion was a good one. "If so it means we could be surrounded right now and we wouldn't even know it." He said getting defensive for a moment. the thought was creepy and kind of intrusive that their every moment had been monitored since they got here, not that anything had really happened between them.

Besides she will just leave you alone again after she gets to Judai anyway. Everyone abandons you after they use you. Just look at your Brothers. Once people have used you, they turn around and toss you aside to forget you exist.

He was fairly used to silencing his own negative thoughts, as he had faced his demons before time and time again. He had conquered a lot of the darkness in his heart, but the fact was Asuka and Fubuki treated him better than his own family had, he was closer to them than anyone else, but a lot of that effort was one sided. Fubuki spent a bit more time with him, but Asuka didn't do a lot of follow up calls.

For a moment he was zoned out thinking about everything that happened to him over the last few years, and how for the most part he was alone. Only to snap back when Asuka started to talk about how they could break the illusion.

He was quick to draw out an MST from his deck. "We can certainly give it a try!" Standing up again he drew out the card and activated his disk getting into a dueling stance.

"Okay spirit world, your messing with the Manjome's head, and that means you're going down. I play Mystic space typhoon targeting your illusion!" He inserted the card into his duel disk, expecting something to happen, only for his duel disk to give a loud 'dun' an error noise, along with the flashing red indication that came with... "Illegal play?! are you kidding me right now show me the rulings! Call in the judge!"

Of course there was no judge, and no one to explain it. Jun fell back too his ass, sitting down in annoyance for a moment. "It should work." He mumbled thinking it over for a moment.

Take a moment, think about this, we are in a forest, under a spell, and for some reason or another spell cards won't work. They were in a forest, under a spell that prevented them from playing spell cards. A few moments passed, before it hit him like a ton of bricks. "Ah for fuck sakes! We are in the hidden village of the spell casters! that's why we can't just negate their illusion, we can't play spells unless we have a spell caster on our field, and all of my monsters are beast types." He groaned for a moment. Looking to Asuka hoping she had some way to break them out of this illusion.
 
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