All right, the start of this fanfiction! Where to begin? Well, I think that this one has a lot of potential depending on how much attention I pay to what I am doing...Nothing much else to say, really, for I do not want to give away too much about what I have planned for the next few chapters.

Major, major thanks to avalokannon who looked over this and made a lot of corrections and virtually wrote the beginning of this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. All characters will be responsibly handled. Any damage to brain cells is totally not my fault. This is your fair warning, 'kays?

Indistinct. A few beeps here and there, like droplets on a leaf. Then a steady, vague noise.

Johan Andersen opened his eyes. His eyes drifted to his right, and the blurry world resolved to the sterile and dimly lit interior of an aeroplane. Yuuki Juudai was assaulting a defenseless PSP with agile fingers. The waking boy considered the youth next to him who, despite being a guranteed star in the world of Duel Monsters and a savior of the entire world, still found time to mess around with video games. Johan, himself a boy of just nineteen, smiled his ever-present smile and tittered quietly.

"Having fun, Juudai?"

Juudai paused his game and set the white PSP on the large arm rest of his chair. Of course it was not large by first-class standards, but it was large by their standards, having never done too much traveling by air.

"You know, it's hardly three a.m." To give backing to his point, Juudai pressed a button on his PSP and slid it over to Johan. Three hours and six minutes was displayed in the top left corner.

"Ah...Good evening?" Johan tried, sounding bemused. "Glad to see you in any case, Juudai!" He smiled.

"Mm, glad to see you, too. While you were sleeping the flight lady came through here...She should be back again soon."

"I would think so, since they patrol first-class every fifteen minutes, I think."

"Much better than economy. I can stretch my legs." Juudai demonstrated by bringing his feet up the edge of his seat and then extending them until they glanced the seat in front of him. "Very awesome!" the brunet caroled.

"Mmhm," Johan agreed. He stretched as well, then reached into his carry-on. Juudai watched as he dug around in his bag, vaguely interested in what would be pulled out.

What was pulled out was a rather thick book written in English and covered with photographs of Jun and Edo on the back and front respectively. Juudai eyed the thing while Johan sat it down and turned to Juudai.

"Haven't you finished reading that?" Juudai asked, almost querulous. "It's not as though you need any help with your strategy or technique."

"I've finished reading it, but I want to review it. And it's fun to read all the references about you. Edo speaks highly of you, you know."

"Yeah, I've heard that from too many people too many times. Go back to sleep or something, dude. You need it," Juudai said with a quick wave of his hand.

"Heh, okay, then. See you in New York," Johan added in an attempt at humor. Juudai smiled at him as he rolled onto to his side to face the window. Within minutes he was sleeping.

Juudai, now in silence--or as much silence as there ever is on an aeroplane--relaxed himself. His mind refused to let up, though, thoughts darting like agitated pigeons. It was not his fault that he could not calm it--nor was it the fault of anyone on earth, but rather someone who was currently missing in action: Yubel. He had become so used to her presence that, after she had decided to take a "rest", he was admittedly lost without it. On one level he almost felt empty, naked on another for part of his soul was seemingly missing. Also, with the lack of Yubel moving in his mind, came a lack of some sort of connection with Johan. Juudai had not forgotten Johan in any way, but Yubel was their shared experience, as painful or pleasant as it was. Both of them had had to deal with her and both had been influenced heavily by her—Johan had been turned against his friends and used as bait while Juudai was forced to grow up to fit into the role handed down to him by his former life. And since both of them had had Yubel attached to their soul for some time, they were in a way entwined souls, albeit indirectly through an unknowing philanthropist.

A polite snoring came from Juudai's left. That was another thing troubling his mind, though he could not place why Johan was such a concern. Ever since the restoration of the world from the realm of darkness, Johan had been with Juudai, both directly and indirectly through letters and e-mails and telephone calll. Of course he had gone back to finish his year at North School and tie up loose ends, but after everything was sorted out he took off for Japan with a one-way ticket and his entire life packed away neatly in two suitcases. Juudai was not surprised to see Johan arrive on his apartment verandah, for over the weeks spent apart they had discussed Johan moving in with him until they were ready to enter the Pro Leagues together. There were other things to sort out, but soon enough they had signed contracts and aeroplane tickets to New York to meet their respective managers and sponsors.

It was all happening at a quick pace, Juudai admitted, and one he was not particularly thrilled with. He was not sure of Johan's feelings on the matter, but he would place a bet on the European not being too concerned about the speed at which the events in his life were progressing. Juudai was not really the type to complain about excitement--actually more the type that even sought such events. But all of this was becoming too much for him. Yet, when faced with the topic in conversation with Johan or anyone else (his parents were still not too thrilled to have their son set off so soon), he pretended vague disinterest. So as it was, he agreed to the storm whipping him halfway around the world and into an alien environment which would be the breeding ground for his career.

Juudai sighed and rested his elbow on the arm rest. His other hand played with his PSP, sliding it around the clean and smooth plastic. The stewardess cycled through (just as Johan had predicted) and took Juudai's request for two mineral waters, one sparkling and the other plain. While he waited on the stewardess Hane Kuriboh appeared and looked at Juudai playfully. It somersaulted through the air and came to rest on his head. "Yeah, yeah, you're cute, buddy" Juudai said lightly as he reached up toward his head to stroke his duel spirit, the gift from the King of Games himself. Juudai sighed as he petted his constant and docile companion. It was not much, but it was enough to relax him and coax a yawn from his lips.

The tiny duel spirit cried a jovial kuri kuri and descended from his head, settled itself on his lap. Juudai put away his PSP and leafed through the book Johan had left out for him. Two Sides of the Same Game; not a very subtle play on words with more than one meaning, but it got the job done. The book was authored by both Edo and Jun and contained commentaries and annotations on the "best" duels in the recent history of Duel Monsters. Many of the duels featured Juudai and a notable opponent—there had been many of those since his enrollment at Duel Academia, after all.

By and by, Juudai grew bored reading about his duels, falling asleep with his head hung and his back slumped. Hane Kuriboh, who had fallen asleep some time earlier, was jolted from its sleep as Juudai's body began to move as though he were dueling. The spirit regarded its master before disappearing.

The stewardess, a mousy girl with obsidian eyes and stiff hair, was more than a bit annoyed to find that the two of them had fallen asleep while waiting on their ordered water. It had only been ten minutes; or so she swore.

Juudai was the first one to wake again. They were close to landing now. Beneath the plane Los Angeles was spread out and doted with twinkling lights, a constellation in the night sky. As the descent began, Juudai poked Johan's shoulder and motioned towards the window with his other hand. Johan, still a drowsy, blinked away the water pooling in his eyes as he looked at the city below them, trying to comprehend what exactly was going on. Ruby and Hane Kuriboh joined the two boys in gazing at the miniature urban landscape.

"They look...like...little dolls," Johan stated, his words punctuated by great gaps of silence. Juudai nodded in agreement as though Johan had just said something very profound that could be agreed with.

"Mmm. A relfection of the night sky, only more close to home."

"Sure," Johan said. He rubbed his eyes and then yawned. The time change was really getting to him. "I need some coffee. Or a smack in the face."

Juudai grinned—a real grin that really was not mischievous—and raised his hand. Gently, he tapped the side of Johan's face and laughed. "There you are."

"I mean a real smack. Thump! A real stimulus," Johan said. He was a bit more alert now, laughing.

Ruby said something to Hane Kuriboh. Hane Kuriboh said something in a tone that may have suggested curtness.

Johan placed a hand on his cheek and then tilted his head. He considered Juudai for a moment. The he said "So this is it, eh? One more connecting flight and we'll be in New York. I've never liked apples too much, though."

"Apples?"

"Well, yeah, it's called the 'Big Apple'...Isn't it?"

"Huh. I wonder why. Maybe they grow apples on the roofes of the buildings? I bet the trees get great sunlight."

"Or maybe there is a worm wiggling inside the city, like in an apple."

They both laughed, waking up a few around them and earning them a strange look or two.

By the time they touched down in the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) the sky had begun to show signs of a breaking dawn. Though against the clouds stained orange by the city lights, the lightening sky seemed almost artificial, the curvature of the sky starkly accented; there really was a dome over the world, Johan thought.

After making it through customs, both boys agreed on a coffee shop for a quick breakfast. Johan got an espresso (decaffeinate) and a chocolate muffin while Juudai grabbed a mocha and the most appetizing bagel he could find. Their connecting flight was twenty minutes behind schedule so they waited by their gate, eating their food and chatting about pointless things as good friends are known to do. A challenge was offered, but Johan declined, pointing out to Juudai that their plane could arrive at any moment. So they continued to chat until their flight arrived—an hour and thirty-six minutes late.

The flight to New York was a direct connect, so Johan fell asleep but Juudai lingered, annoyed, on that fine edge of waking and sleeping. The noises around him were distant, but he could not fall asleep; even now Yubel was protecting him. He was grateful, even if it kept him from snoozing.

Johan was woken up by Juudai when they were ten minutes outside of the airport. He found it much easier to wake up this time, delighted that they were finally this close to New York. He scanned the city's skyline looking for buildings he recognized from movies and postcards. This grew old, however, and he decided that Domino had a much more memorable and interesting skyline—especially with the Kaiba Corporation building. He noticed Juudai staring sullenly at the foreign city.

Juudai, as an adventurer, was thrilled at the prospect of such a new place. How many new opponents and faces there were for him he did not know, but he was sure there were hundreds. Yet looking at the place, the tall buildings absently reflecting the gray sky and the steely ocean, he could not connect with such a place and that scared him. He didn't know even the difference between Wall Street and Fifth Avenue.

For a moment Juudai became overwhelmed by the fact that he really did have no idea what he was doing. Throwing everything to the wind, travelling to a foreign place, pressing through life while Yubel "slept"—it was all becoming too much for him, and then Johan placed a hand on his shoulder and applied but the slightest pressure.

"It'll be all right, Juudai." His smile was sterling.

"It will, won't it?" Juudai looked at Johan, the boy he had almost condemned to a fate of dwelling in quiet solitude. He had once heard that heaven was a very quiet place where a soul was euphoric because it simply rested—this was not the place Johan had been. No, he knew, that place had been much darker even if he had just been resting.

"Of course. Easy as apple pie."

And Juudai believed him. As long as Johan was with him—his best friend by his side—everything just had to be all right. Because he would not—could not—let it be any other way.

When they exited the plane and arrived in the terminal via the boarding they were immediately greeted by a smartly dressed chauffer who handled the gathering of their bags and their transport ahead to the hotel. Juudai and Johan were then led to a freezing parking garage where an unmarked limo awaited. The two boys slid into the warmed interior of the car and were greeted by three better dressed men—their sponsor and respective managers. All three were Caucasians who could stand to lose a few pounds but, as they were in their glorious golden years, could not find the inspiration to make it their personal gym--or just hire a personal trainer. The managers both had graying hair while the sponsor's looked recently dyed, a frosty blonde that was at odds with his orange tan, which itself was at odds with the season. All three exuded an air of affluence.

"It's a pleasure," Johan offered. The three men introduced themselves.

He forgot their names almost immediately and only picked them up again when the three of them talked and referred to one another as they spoke to Juudai.

Some time during the process of going over the outlines of plans for their futures Johan fell asleep. He was awakened by a grinning Juudai when they arrived twenty-two minutes later at their hotel.

They thanked the three men, exited the limo, and allowed the chauffeur from earlier to bring in their bags. After checking in they settled into the hotel's restaurant for a three-course dinner at four in the afternoon. When they finally reached their respective rooms Johan, who was affected far worse than Juudai by both jet lag and the time change, made it as far as the leather couch before crashing into a desperate slumber. Juudai was gone soon, too, but he managed to shower, change, and make it to a proper bed.

Both of them dreamed peculiar things that evening in New York. Strange things that really meant something only between them.