365 Days of Starshipping (Part 1)

Tour of the City

1/15/19

"Yusei... come on, you never gave me a tour of the city and now that your duel spirits are here you have double the reason to, please?~"

Faced with the almighty power of five sets of adorable puppy eyes, Yusei accepted his defeat quickly and tossed Judai a helmet to wear. A multitude of cheers accompanied the toss and he sighed in resignation.

At least they were happy - he'd have to work on his projects later.

Soon enough they were speeding through the city, Judai laughing in joy behind him. His motorcycle was still ever so slightly too small for two people, so Judai had to wrap his arms around Yusei to get comfortable. At this point Yusei couldn't decide what was more distracting - Judai hugging him tightly from behind or Judai's laugh sounding throughout the communication line.

Eventually he just settled on Judai being distracting, period.

Judai wasn't the only one laughing, though, and he smiled fondly at the duel spirits flying besides them. Winged Kuriboh stuck around most of the day now to play with Junk Synchron, and though Sonic Chick and Quillbolt Hedgehog were significantly more calm than those two, they still came around everyday at some point to hang out. All four were giddy at the moment however, drinking in the sight of the city and excited by how fast they were going.

"It amazes me how much a city can change in only twenty years," Judai admitted, still grinning in excitement, "There's so much new stuff here! So much technology! It's so awesome!"

Yusei hummed in agreement, thinking of what he'd been able to see of the city in Yugi's time; it really had changed a lot from then and that was even further back, a thirty-five year difference. Technology truly was amazing.

"You guys really duel on motorcycles? You think we could find someone to duel? How does that even work anyways, are there separate lanes or something?" Judai asked, looking curiously down at a lower lane where two people had monsters and cards floating next to their bikes.

"The lanes being used for duels get closed off temporarily - it's why there's so many streets and layers throughout the city, because half of them end up closed at any one time," Yusei replied, "There's also separate courses but you have to reserve those, they're generally used for practice by teams. And if you want, I can ask Jack or Crow if they'd be up for a duel. Jack at least would probably be ecstatic to have something to do today."

"Sweet! I can't wait - dueling on motorcycles, who would've thought?!" Judai exclaimed, and Yusei coughed as the arms around his waist tightened as a result.

"Judai- air, please-" he said, struggling with the words. It was a reminder, if anything, that Judai was far stronger than he looked.

"-whoops, sorry! I'm just so excited!"

"Don't worry about it, I understand. I still remember the first time I saw a riding duel, I thought it was pretty amazing too."

"Man, now you're making me remember the first time I dueled with holograms! It's obviously not as cool as the solid vision you've got here but-"

And so they went, laughing as they shared stories. At some point Judai laid his head down on Yusei's shoulder, both of their helmets off as they looked out at the city from where they'd stopped to wait for Jack; he'd finally messaged them back with a very long text that went along the lines of 'Who do you think I am, of course I'm dueling you, I have to prove I'm still the best! I'm the King!'

Judai had snorted at that, mumbling something about kings that Yusei couldn't quite make out, but he was still amused regardless.

"Huh, so you have to get separate spells for riding duels because of the speed counters?" Judai asked.

"Yeah, luckily they're not very hard to come by. There's sets of cards dedicated to riding duels so it's accessible," Yusei replied, looking down at his cards to go through them one more time. The system wouldn't let a non-speed spell card be in the deck anyway, popping it right back out if one's there, but it was easier to just double-check beforehand.

"Judai, Yusei, can Winged Kuriboh duel with us? Please?" Junk Synchron asked, floating back over from the little field of flowers that the spirits had been playing in. Winged Kuriboh came with him, evidently wanting to as well from the cries he made.

"It's cool with me. Yusei, you fine with that?"

"Sure, sounds fun," he said, smiling at the two duel spirits and taking the card when Judai held it out for him to take.

Yusei felt his heart pound in happiness that Judai trusted him enough to give him his partner's card to use temporarily, vowing not to let him down.