365 Days of Starshipping (Part 2)

Great Snow War 2.0

11/22/19

A fresh layer of snow was spread out completely over the ground, little protrusions and hints of color the only sign, but just enough of, objects on the outside of the ring closer to the park - otherwise though, the clearing looked like a winter land of white and trees whose snow hung precariously off of them. What was once a flat, pristine area of snow, however, was now the sight of the Great Snow War two-point-zero, and filled with giggling duel spirits and war cries.

"Incoming!"

"Oh shit-!" Jack cursed, doing his best to dive out of the way in time but failing to before the snow that'd gotten dropped from above landed on him, "Damn it Crow, I'm gonna fucking get you next!"

"Not if you can't reach me!" Crow challenged with a smirk, perfectly comfortable in the air with his duel monsters as they were flying him around. Luckily they had some ways of making it so their talons wouldn't pierce throw his skin, so there wasn't any worry about it doing anything other than possibly leaving him with some extremely sore arms afterwards. In order for him to still be able to throw snowballs, he had to dangle off of them with one arm and throw with the other; granted, Crow was pretty damn strong as was proven by his ability to bend his arm enough while dangling in the air in order to have some semblance of an ability to dodge, but doing that for so long was still going to leave him hurting later (something Yusei'd learned about and had to deal with after that first time Judai brought him flying).

Crow was pretty much everyone's target in some way, not just because there was only four of them but also because he'd only gotten hit a couple times, and all of those times had been by Yusei himself. Otherwise, Crow was nearly untouched and continuously gloating that fact around above them like an overhead speaker. It didn't help that Ghibli was Crow's second partner that was out, who used his numerous wings to block a lot of snow that was coming while Blizzard flew Crow around.

"That bastard, just wait 'til I-oof-"

Yusei grinned to himself at the successful throw, taking advantage of the fact that Jack wasn't paying attention to the ground much at all to throw another snowball at him - Jack was actually pretty good at dodging when he wanted to, but usually the Resonators, Dark and Red in this case, would find some way of either blocking the hits with their mostly metal bodies, or accidentally let them go through thanks to the snow ball not hitting the metal part of their bodies but instead their ghostly bodies... where really, it doesn't hit at all and instead just goes straight through them into Jack.

They'd all heard more than a few expletives from Jack whenever that happened, and the resulting, frustrated sigh was always hilarious because Jack simply couldn't blame his duel monsters for trying. Instead, they cooperated with trying to hit everyone else, the Resonators actually being a huge boost to Jack's side thanks to their weapons which let them essentially levitate the snow up and into nearly-perfect snowballs that they then piled up for Jack's convenience.

"Ooh, nice shot!" Judai called out from next to him, sounding far closer than he had been a few seconds ago before Yusei'd thrown the snowball at Jack. This was, decidedly, a very bad thing to happen and Yusei was soon scrambling through the little trenches they'd created in the snow from running through it in order to get away from the incoming snow barrage.

Yes, Judai's shtick was that he didn't just throw one snowball - oh no, he threw a veritable army of snowballs, all at once, and they were nearly impossible to dodge from. Winged Kuriboh was having tons of fun flying around into people's faces to distract them from their impending doom, then flying off just before he threw them in order to start making more snowballs. They weren't very round snowballs, to be honest, but they worked well enough and served their purpose so everything was okay. Judai's second partner was Dandylion, who more than anything else was just staying on the ground and burying around underneath the snow in order to surprise people. It was less about hitting people with snow and more about scaring the living daylights out of them, which they succeeded at with flying colors.

Luckily, Judai was easy to hit so long as Yusei planned a little - he had to wait to make sure he didn't have his ever-growing supply of snow got lower, then he'd strike right after Judai had thrown his stash at someone as well. It'd been a lot of fun, and so far Yusei was ahead of him in their own little competition to see who could land the most hits on the other.

But man, when Yusei got hit, he got hit hard, mainly because Judai's barrage of snowballs was usually seen and then matched with Crow doing his best to hit him from above. The combo was difficult to work around, but he somehow managed to sometimes while others he just got completely doused in snow. Luckily it wasn't more of a problem than it could've been thanks to Judai insisting that everyone wear proper winter gear, so it was just a matter of making sure they took off the layers and took a shower as soon as possible once they got back home rather than waiting in cold, wet clothes.

Yusei's team consisted of Junk Synchron and Junkuriboh, mainly because both of them could float in the air - most of his other low-level duel spirits couldn't do that while materialized, like Quillbolt and Sonic Chick, so those two got to be his partners for this. Junkuriboh was pretty much just lookout for them since he couldn't exactly make a snowball, though he could also double as sabotage at times considering, as Yusei was quick to realize, Junkuriboh loved the snow. So much so, in fact, that they had zero hesitation when it came to tackling and playing in all the other's stashes of snowballs and leaving them to have to restock their supplies before they could do anything else. Thus, while they were off doing that, Junk Synchron helped Yusei make snowballs, opting to throw them alongside him rather than try and make a stash.

There was no point in making a stash, after all, if they were moving around so much trying to run from Judai. Having a supply would be nice, but it would also restrict them to one area, making Judai's job a lot easier.

Unfortunately for Yusei, though, his attempts to run had all been futile as he got pelted in the back and shot straightforward into the fluffy snow, where the only reason it felt like it hurt was because of all the snow now clinging to his face and freezing it.

"Damn it," he groaned, flopping himself over so he was on his back instead of his stomach and doing his best to wipe the snow off his face. Judai laughed as he walked over, leaning over him with a grin that Yusei pouted at before having a sudden idea and having to keep himself from grinning back. He made a little hand signal out of Judai's sight for Synchron, and though he didn't look to confirm just in case it gave his plan away he knew Synchron would be watching for it.

"Nice try, dear. Can't outrun me, though!" Judai stated, foxy grin only growing wider at the deadpan stare Yusei gave him, "Aw, don't give me that look."

"Can you help me up...? Otherwise I think I'm just gonna lay here for a bit," Yusei replied, doing his best to look a little put-out but content - it wasn't very hard to do, to be honest, because laying down on top of the snow was actually a pretty nice break, short as it would be.

"You'd be a prime target for Crow if you did that," Judai mused, glancing over to the side where Crow was currently dodging all the snowballs Jack was throwing at him, "Well, I suppose I could help you up. For a kiss, of course."

"Just help me up, please," Yusei sighed, grabbing the hand that was offered and getting up off the snow before patting himself off a bit, "Thank you."

"No problem! Now my reward?" Judai winked, which was far too cute on him so of course Yusei would have to give him what he wanted - he couldn't resist the urge to, anyway.

He leaned down slowly and gave him a light kiss, dragging it out just long enough for him to be sure that Judai's guard was down as much as it could be in this situation before signalling, catching the snowball Synchron tossed towards him, and quickly shoving it down Judai's neck and back, gripping his other arm around him tightly to make sure he couldn't move away until he was totally finished. The muffled squeaks and the way Judai's eyes shot open wide in shock at the cold were perfect, and when he finally let him move away the frantic tugging at his clothes to try and get the snow to fall out was hilarious.

"It's cold, it's cold, holy fuck it's fucking cold- damn it Yusei, I swear to the gods I'm going to shove twice this amount down your shirt, see how you like it!"

Yusei was already running off though, laughing loudly as he high-fived Synchron for a job well-done. He just had to hope now that he could dodge the consequences of his actions long enough that he wouldn't have snow in his clothes the rest of the time they were outside.