Last edited: July 2019.

-V-

-V- The Future's Florida? -V-

-V-

Monday had passed ordinarily enough.

Now Tuesday on the other hand, that had certainly been an experience – a fairly unexpected experience of dimensional and temporal displacement, to be exact.

Most people would probably not have taken this too well; some would likely even have suffered a nervous breakdown, to be exact.

However, Yuki Judai was different, because to him, this almost counted as a normal Tuesday. Almost. Because, getting transported to alternate dimensions was hardly anything unusual for this fun-loving and talented duellist and Duel Academia graduate; he had been through a bunch of such experience while still in school, and they had certainly left their mark.

Experiencing a temporal displacement on top of the spatial one was likely to be considered the next stage of Yuki Judai's general displacement. He had already experienced time travel after all, back when he had accompanied fellow duellist Fudo Yusei into the past, picked up the Muto Yugi – the King of Games – and then engaged in a duel with Paradox, some card-stealing, time-travelling megalomaniac.

But that ‒ defeating Paradox and watching the restoration of a previously crumbling reality ‒ was all in the past, and Judai had returned to his own time and to his own drifting lifestyle and thought little more of it.

But then, on this one regular Tuesday, Judai had once again ended up displaced ‒ nothing unusual, per se, disregarding the fact that this time around, he had apparently been thrown forwards in time rather than backwards.

It proved a quite novel experience, to say the very least.

Thankfully, Judai wasn't alone. Yubel was always with him, their souls fused together as they were. There was also Pharaoh, as well as the cat's former owner, the incorporeal Daitokuji; Judai's former teacher and dorm leader back at the academy.

Had Judai been completely on his own, then he might have worried. Now however‒ "Alright, let's have a snack and then go see what's up."

There was no reason to panic after all. It was only Tuesday.

-V-

The distinct lack of D-Wheelers, or Duel Runners, pretty much ruled out Fudo Yusei's world; his era at any rate, but not necessarily his dimension. Then again, since Judai had apparently landed in some place that looked and sounded very familiar to Miami, perhaps it was indeed too early to be passing judgements.

The lack of card games on modified motorcycles came as something of a disappointment though; the lack of Fudo Yusei as well. Frankly, Judai would have loved to just drop in and said hi to the guy; to freak him out if nothing else. But, Judai supposed that he could probably look into the matter once he had figured out more about his current situation.

On the other hand, while Duel Running didn't seem to exist in this Maiami place, Synchro Summoning apparently did. Naturally, so did a bunch of other summoning methods; Judai's favoured Fusion included. There was also something called XYZ Summoning; Judai would have to look into it later. But first, he obviously had to figure out a few things for himself.

Duelling seemed to be a pretty big thing over here, even bigger than back home. Judai had become undeniably intrigued when he had first caught wind of these Action Duels, and when he had first seen one, he had been blown away ‒ figuratively speaking, of course.

Converting solid mass into Solid Vision? Now, that was the kind of science fiction technology that Judai would like to experience first-hand, unlike those energy-stealing Dis-Belt things that Professor Cobra had brought along during Judai's second year at the academy.

Ugh, just thinking about them left a bad aftertaste in his mouth; the incident had after all left a quite negative impact on his personal life for the months, even years, to come, and that was putting it mildly.

On the plus side of things, Judai had been able to reunite and reconcile with Yubel as a result of Professor Cobra's interference.

And on the minus side of things, said reunion had very nearly resulted in the destruction of the universe as he knew it as well as in the permanent death of his then thought-to-be-dead comrades.

Of course, this was not to say that Judai was putting the blame solely on Yubel. If anything, then Judai himself was just as much to blame, if not more. Besides, it was all in the past now ‒ even farther off into the past than usual, actually.

Besides, it was only Wednesday. There was no need to panic if it was only Wednesday.

-V-

By Thursday morning, his provisions had run out, meaning there was a need to worry but not to panic.

With Pharaoh and his other unseen companions by his side, Judai spent a few hours on a park bench contemplating his next move.

There seems to be a whole lot of duelling going on, so maybe he could investigate it further than he already had. If so, then he would most definitely have to update his duel disk; it was highly unlikely that it would be compatible with recent systems after all.

But, in order to attain a duel disk, Judai obviously required more funds and as far as money was concerned, securing provisions definitely outranked securing a new duel disk. This kind of sucked actually, being hungry and broke and all.

"Hungry…"

Yubel and Professor Daitokuji were spirits, so they were less hungry and more exasperated at how long it had taken Judai to properly consider the situation at hand. Pharaoh however, like Judai himself, was a living being and one with quite an appetite at that.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," he readily agreed as the cat mewled discontentedly. "But we haven't tried fishing yet…"

In the end, they didn't need to fish.

In the end, the combination of a pitifully mewling Pharaoh and Judai's own rumbling stomach had a pretty blonde lady pause in her steps.

The pretty lady turned out to be Sakaki Yoko, known to strangers for her recently missing husband and to others for her habit of picking up strays, strays that would now start to include human beings.

Judai didn't mind though. Temporally and spatially displaced or not, he was getting pancakes.

There was really no need to panic after all. It was only Thursday.

-V-

It had taken three days for him to start settling, three months for him to gain acceptance and just five minutes for him to screw it all up.

In a way, he supposed it was probably for the best though, to get up and leave the Sakaki family and Maiami city behind and focus on looking for a way to get back home.

And he did look. He had visited locations all over the world looking for clues, but he was not really any closer to making a breakthrough than he was when he had started, just about two and a half years prior.

And so, Judai finally made up his mind. Or rather, he gave into Yubel, Professor Daitokuji and Pharaoh's nagging, and finally headed back to face the music. Naturally, he got a bit side-tracked along the way though, and this unwittingly timed his return with Sakaki Yuya's real-time invention of Pendulum Summoning.

Thanks to the monitors all around the city, Judai had caught the end of the duel. Strong Ishijima hadn't stood a chance.

If anything though, what struck Judai the most was not the power surge he sensed but rather the confusion displayed by Yuya in the post-duel interview. It was subtle and swiftly covered up by a façade, but Judai knew it far too well; he had done similar things himself after all.

In any case, Judai decided against having any direct confrontation with Yuya, knowing how things had gone last time around. And so, he went to the park to think and discuss his next course of action with his travelling companions.

And, coincidentally enough, Sakaki Yoko was out walking her dogs and happened to pass by that very same park at the very same time Judai arrived.

Pharaoh recognised her.

Yoko recognised him.

And Judai, Judai wondered whether he ought to laugh or cry, his ears still ringing from the slap as Yoko grabbed him and manhandled him back into the Sakaki household.

Allegedly, he deserved it. Yubel and Professor Daitokuji were in rare agreement.

Sakaki Yoko was a strong woman, her physical and mental strength by no means diminished compared to earlier. Her pancakes were also as good as they had been years prior, something that Judai brought up, albeit carefully. To his relief, she responded only with a smile and a second serving.

-V-

Sakaki Yuya was both surprised and unhappy at first glance, but like his mother, he held onto few grudges for long. "You're back."

Judai resumed the task of repairing his jacket. "Apparently."

"Why?" Yuya asked, obviously suspicious.

Judai shrugged mildly at that. "I missed the pancakes."

"My pancakes."

"Cheapskate."

-V-

The next morning, at the breakfast table, Yuya finally asked if Judai was there to stay.

Judai shrugged mildly, because he would be in town at the very least.

Yuya looked to his mother. "I thought we had agreed to draw the line at picking up humans."

Yoko smiled right back at him. "Yuya, rules have exceptions. Besides, Judai's your older brother."

Judai looked to Yuya. "Brother?"

"You're like an older brother to me," Yuya clarified, poking at his pancakes. "Like Gongenzaka, only less reliable."

Within Judai's mind, Yubel snickerd.

Outside it, the incorporeal Daitokuji congratulated him on gaining yet another makeshift little brother.

Judai himself quietly pondered how words could be so wonderfully nostalgic yet simultaneously chill-inducing.

-V-