Let's Believe in the Future More than the Past and Focus on the Present

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5DX

AN: The first chapter was finished in order for it to make its debut on StarShipping Week 2016 as I couldn't finish the other project I was working on in time.

Now. Just let me point out right now that this is a StarShipping fanfic, Yusei Fudo x Jaden/Judai Yuuki. Male x Male, yaoi, whatever. Don't like the pairing? Alright. That's fine. Kindly ignore this one. I'm not forcing anyone to read it and don't think that you have to. Another warning I must add is that there will be genderbending at some point if everything goes as I want it to, and also, no hints of SoulShipping whatsoever. In my opinion, Yubel is more like a guardian for Judai anyway.

Eesh. I really don't like typing these notes out because seriously, it's not like anyone EVER reads these when I take the time to do so, but eh. I hate having to say I'm forcing no one to read it as I feel that should already be obvious. But, I'm sick of being blasted because I like Judai being with Yusei more than anyone else. And, if they're out of character, I'm sorry. All that aside… Let's begin.

Also, whoever can guess what the fic's name is a reference to gets a mention in the author's note of the next chapter.

Chapter 1: Erased

The Shooting Star of Satellite had been out on one of his repair runs and was only now just nearing the place in which he currently lived with his two best friends whom were so close to him he could practically call them brothers, and, in a way they were, being as they had grown up together. He was slightly exhausted, sweat sticking his shirt and jacket to him and plastering his bangs to his forehead as he rode, but at least the wind in his face made it tolerable and at most bearable. His eyes were primarily on the road, but something on the sidewalk caught his attention. Bright red and two tones of brown… 'What?' he thought to himself as he pulled over somewhat of a ways off, though not too far. He quickly took off his helmet, placing it on the seat of his D-Wheel before looking back at what he'd seen and stood there a moment, a bit shocked.

'What was I... doing..? Where...am I…? I… can't remember...' the brunette thought to himself, his thoughts nearly broken, disjointed, and all together slow. He looked around with eyes that seemed unable to focus on anything at all, completely confused.

"Judai-san..?" spoke the blackette, having recovered as he walked over to the younger male, yet, his tone held slight disbelief.

The Duelist from the past took a moment to respond, though, when he finally was able to, his warm, honey brown eyes focused on the other for a second before his vision blurred. "Yu…..sei…?" he questioned, very slowly, his voice drawn out as if he were drugged.

"Are you alright?" he inquired immediately, his concern evident. In all honesty, that concern and kindness of his was his fatal flaw. He concerned himself too much with others and that sometimes lead him into very dangerous situations. Though, as much of a flaw as it was, it could also be considered his greatest strength which did even it out slightly.

". . . Yeah..." Again, his time of response was slow which only succeeded in making the futuristic Duelist even more concerned.

"Judai-san. Come with me," he stated imperatively, turning and walking back to his D-Wheel, and, once the Elemental HERO Duelist registered what he had said, he joined him. The blackette handed his spare helmet to him then before saying, "Hold on tight."

"...A-ah..." he uttered after a moment, getting onto the motorcycle behind him slowly and gripping the waist of the older teen, though his grip was slack. In order to compensate, Yusei placed a hand on Judai's, holding him firmly as he revved up his bike, adjusting the Fusionist's grip a bit. The Synchro Duelist wasn't sure what was going on, but he intended to find out…

It didn't take too long before they arrived at the PoPo Time Clock, the Synchron Duelist wheeling them into the garage. He turned his surveillance back to the younger boy who had clumsily gotten off, tripping over his own two feet. With a gasp, Yusei caught him. "Judai-san..."

"…E-eh…?" he uttered, his voice slightly weaker than it had been when the blackette found him.

'He's completely disoriented… Just what happened..?' he inquired mentally before asking, "Judai-san. Do you remember how you got here..?"

"...Here..? I...I was… What… was I doing…? I… I don't know..." he said, his words slurring into one another. He could hardly hold himself upright and his eyes were lidded. This prompted the older one to swing the brunette into his arms carefully, bridal style, carrying him over to the couch where he laid him down.

"You need rest," he stated simply, pulling a blanket over the brunette who had conked as soon as his head came in contact with the fabric of the sofa. Once he was sure Judai would be alright, at least for the time being, he went over to his motorcycle, pulling up the communications screen. After a moment or so, a blonde appeared on one side of the monitor and a red head on the other. "Jack. Crow."

"Yusei. I hope you have a reason for disturbing my coffee break," spoke the man now known as Jack. He seemed a little perturbed, but of course he normally was.

"And this is why we're always broke! You and your expensive coffee! Oi, oi. What is it, Yusei?" questioned the other, Crow.

"I'm not entirely sure, myself," he sighed. "But… Yuuki Judai is asleep on the couch..."

"WHAT?!" they both exclaimed in unison.

"I'm sorry Yusei, could you repeat that? I think we misheard ya."

Yusei shook his head. "I believe you heard correctly..."

"Kinda havin' a hard time believing it," responded the red head, swaying his head from side to side once as well. Meanwhile Jack folded his arms over his chest with a very audible 'hmph!'

"I'm having a hard time believing it, myself..."

"Well, I'll be home after the last stop on my delivery run. On my way there now. Jack, once you finish your coffee you should head back over," he said, putting his helmet back on his head.

"Don't rush me, Crow," warned the self proclaimed King as he set the coffee cup back down on the tiny saucer on the table before him.

"Ah," voiced the blackette as he cut off the call. He turned to the side, gazing at the boy from the past who was locked in slumber. 'I'll ask him again when he wakes… but for now...' He walked back over to the D-Wheels, working on modifications. He just had to perfect this program… While he was lost in his thoughts, tinkering here and there, the door opened, a blue haired male, a bit taller than Yusei walking in and closing the door behind him.

"Yusei," spoke the man, walking over to him as the aforementioned black haired Signer glanced up at him.

"Bruno," he acknowledged, placing down the tool he was using.

"I got the parts you asked for, but I went with a different model number on a few of them because the particular parts you wanted wouldn't work too well. And I picked up some food as well," said the gray eyed one, placing a couple bags on the lopsided table the purple eyed blonde had made which Yusei had reinforced due to some… safety reasons. Though, it was then his eyes darted to the brunette curled on the couch. "Who's this?" he inquired, his voice curious, though, unlike Crow and Jack, he wasn't surprised in the least that there was an unknown person crashed in what was basically the living room.

"Yuuki Judai… A friend of mine from the past. I did mention Paradox, I believe..."

"I remember you saying something about that. This is him? The one you said was really good at Fusion Summoning?"

"Ah..."

"What is he doing here?"

Yusei shook his head. "I don't know..."

They went on talking for a while about the Fusionist before going back to work, both of them determined to at least get the acceleration program operational within the week. After about an hour or so, the boy on the couch sat up, glancing around in confusion. 'Where… am I?' he questioned mentally, but then, his eyes landed on something familiar, a red D-Wheel, a Duel Disk from the future… and that would mean… "Yusei?!" he questioned, staring dumbfounded at the crab haired Duelist.

The lead Signer whose dragon shimmered with brilliant stardust looked up, having heard his name called. "Judai-san. Are you alright?" he asked immediately, standing and walking over to him.

"Yeah. I'm okay. … Where are we?"

"We're at the place I am currently staying. Judai-san, do you remember how you got here?"

"Wait. You're saying I'm in your era?"

"Ah."

". . . That's cool and all, but… wait. Did you even drop me off in my era?"

This confused the blackette as he raised an eyebrow. "Yes..."

"Eh?! But wait… we were getting on your D-Wheel and… after that, everything's a blank, Did I fall asleep or somethin'?"

"No, Judai-san. I dropped you off in Venice after we defeated Paradox..."

"What are you talkin' about…?"

His eyes widened for a fraction of a second, a tiny micro expression crossing his visage. He was genuinely worried now. Something was wrong… "Judai-san," he called calmly, waiting for the quirky Elemental HERO Duelist to look directly at him before speaking any further. "You really don't remember anything after we left Yugi-san's era..?"

The brunette shook his head. "No. Though, somethin' tells me I should..."

". . . Under these circumstances, I don't believe there is a way to get you back to your era right now, though… I'll find a way. In the meantime…. I'll ask Zora if she would mind accommodating you for a while."

"Zora?"

"The landlord."

"Oh-"

'Judai...' a female voice resounded in the one with the rare ability to utilize and control Duel Spirits' head.

'Yubel...' he responded, closing his eyes as he spoke to her. 'Do you have any idea what's going on?'

'. . . No. I am working on figuring this out, however...'

'Okay. Let me know when you find somethin'.'

'Understood...'

A couple hours later, Jack and Crow had returned, and Yusei had cleared things up with Zora. Of course, he offered up his room for Judai and insisted that he take it when the brunette protested. At the current point in time, the blonde and redhead were talking up a storm with the boy from the past as Bruno and Yusei had resumed their tinkering. "So, what were the Duels like in your time?" inquired the troll haired man.

"Well uh-" he trailed off. What were they like..? He racked his brain and… nothing. "Try asking me a different question," he suggested nervously.

"Did you ever get to Duel the King of Games?" questioned the purple eyed man.

This one he remembered with ease. "Yeah! He was amazing! I didn't care who won or lost in the end because the Duel was really fun!"

"That's really cool!" exclaimed the Black Feather Duelist.

"Hmph. I would have loved to Duel against the original King, but that's impossible."

"Heheh. Maybe he'll come to the future soon," supplied the one whose hair looked like a Kuriboh.

"He's got a point, Jack, if he's here, maybe Yugi'll find a way."

"That would be a Duel certainly worthy of the King!"

This got Judai laughing as he said, "You must really be confident in your Dueling!" to which Jack nodded. "Heheh! Speaking of Dueling! Yusei! Duel me!" A challenge. The mentioned Duelist locked eyes with the Neo-Spacian/E-HERO user, a slight, almost smirk appearing on his visage as he replied with a simple, "Ah," in agreement.

The two boys proceeded outside, followed by the other three who wanted to see them Duel, wanted to see how this one the head Signer had spoken so highly of was in action.

"Yusei, you're up first!"

"Alright… My turn, draw!" He took a moment, glancing over his cards before saying, "I Summon Speed Warrior in Attack Mode. Next, I'll set two cards and end my turn."

"Sweet! My move! Draw! From my hand, I activate Convert Contact! With its effect, I send one Neo-Spacian from my Deck and one from my hand to the Graveyard to draw two cards." He did just this, sending Aqua Dolphin and Glow Moss to the Graveyard and drew, shuffling the Deck after. "Here goes. I activate the effect of Neo Space Pathfinder! By discarding this to the Graveyard, I can add the Neo Space Field Spell from my Deck to my hand! Now, I'm activating Neo Space!" The rainbow galaxy caused by the field spell was brought to life by the solid vision. "Now, I'm bringing out Elemental HERO Featherman! Battle! Featherman attacks Speed Warrior!" If this attack went through, due to Featherman's attack being 100 points above Speed Warrior's, the monster would be destroyed and Yusei would take the difference as Battle Damage.

"Trap Activate! Scrap Iron Scarecrow! This negates an attack and instead of being sent to the Graveyard, it resets after activation."

"Awesome, Yusei! In that case, I'll set two cards and end my turn!"

"Ore no taan. Draw! I'm activating the spell Reincarnation of Hope."

"Oh, oh! I remember this one! You discard two cards and then you can add a monster card to your hand two turns after its activation!"

"Ah. Next, I summon Junk Synchron and I'm tuning it to my level two Speed Warrior. Gathering stars will come together to call a new force. Synchro Summon! Show yourself, Junk Warrior!"

Unlike in the Duel with Paradox, this time, Judai was able to fully appreciate exactly what a Synchro Summon truly was and it reminded him too much of his own Contact Fusion. "Awesome, Yusei!"

He nodded a sort of silent thank you before saying, "Junk Warrior attacks Featherman!"

"Reverse card open! Attack Nullification! This negates your attack and ends the battle phase!"

Yusei's mouth twitched upward very slightly as he said, "I'll set a card and end my turn."

"Alright! Draw! I summon Chrysalis Larva and activate its effect! When Neo Space is on the field, I can tribute it to Special Summon Flare Scarab from my hand or Deck!" He pulled his Deck out of the slot and quickly pulled the card out, pushing the stack of cards back in after placing the Neo-Spacian on the Duel Disk in defense. "Flare Scarab's effect activates! It gains 400 Attack for each Spell or Trap card on your side of the field!" This bumped the monster up to 1700 Attack Points, not enough to even try and combat the 2300 Attack Junk Warrior, that was true. However… He planned to keep both of them out until his next turn… If he could make it last, he'd be able to get Neos out. Once that happened, he could answer Yusei's Synchro Summon with the closest thing he had to it. "I'm switching Featherman to Defense Mode, setting a card, and ending my turn."

"In that case… Draw." The Synchro user had a very thoughtful look on his face as he glanced at the cards in his hand, thinking over his options. If he set any more cards face down, Judai's Flare Scarab would just increase its attack power, yet, everything was in place for yet another Synchro. Should he wait? There was no telling what the brunette would do in response, but he knew one thing. Judai was a reckless Duelist who was willing to go the distance in an attempt to flip the tide of battle on its head as he did with Neos Knight in the Duel with Paradox. Junk Warrior was a good defense at the moment, but he could get out a stronger monster. He smiled very minutely as he decided. "I activate the Spell Card, Tuning to add Quickdraw Synchron to my hand and send the top card of my Deck to the Graveyard." The card that went to the Graveyard was Stardust Xiaolong. This put the pieces he needed in place. "Next, I'm activating the Spell Card Double Summon! This allows me to perform two normal summons this turn. I'll summon Debris Dragon in Attack Mode and its effect activates. When this card is normal summoned, I can special summon a monster with 500 or less attack points from the Graveyard. Revive, Stardust Xiaolong! The effect of Bolt Hedgehog in the Cemetery activates! When there's a tuner on my field, it can be Special Summoned from the Graveyard. Now, I normal summon Sonic Chick. Here we go. I'm tuning the level four Debris Dragon to the level 1 Stardust Xiaolong and Sonic Chick and the level two Bolt Hedgehog. Clustering wishes will form a new, shining star! Become the path its light shines upon! Synchro Summon! Soar, Stardust Dragon!"

The dragon appeared in a flash of glittering dust, twinkling like the lights that lit the sky at night, its scales shining like a million perfect diamonds as it let forth a loud, mighty roar.

"Ready, Judai-san? Battle! Stardust Dragon attacks Flare Scarab!"

"Reverse card open! Hero Barrier! When there's an Elemental HERO on my field, I can negate one attack from my opponent's monster!"

"The second attack. Junk Warrior attacks Featherman!" The attack landed, the monster being destroyed.

"Trap activate! Neo Signal! When a monster on my field is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, I can Special Summon a level four or lower Neo-Spacian from my hand or Deck! Come on out, Neo-Spacian Gran Mole!"

"With that, my turn ends."

"Alright, I'm up! Draw!" He thought long and hard. He just had to answer Yusei's Synchros. He had to match it. But, he didn't really see a way he could Contact Fusion. Unless… "Here goes! I activate Space Gift! This allows me to draw a card for each Neo-Spacian I control with a different name!" The amount was two. "I activate Fusion to fuse the Neos and Sparkman in my hand! Fusion Summon! Come forth, Neos Knight! Neos Knight gains half the attack of the monster that fused with Neos!" This put the attack at 3300. "Neo Space's effect activates! Any monster with Neos as Fusion Material gains 500 attack!" Adding an additional 500 made Neos Knight's attack a grand total of 3800. "Next up, I activate Oversoul to bring back Elemental HERO Neos from the Grave! Yusei! This is the closest thing I can do to Synchro Summoning! Here we go! Triple Contact Fusion! From three comes one and from one, an even greater force! Be born, Elemental HERO Magma Neos!"

In order to summon this particular monster, the materials were shuffled back into the Deck and of course, there was a catch. During the end phase, this Fusion would shuffle back into the Extra Deck, yet the measures to bypass it had already been set as Judai had activated Neo Space on his first turn in preparation for this moment.

The older, futuristic Duelist gave a smile then, pleasantly surprised and impressed. The similarities between Judai's Contact Fusion and Synchro Summoning were remarkable, yet there were of course, noticeable differences. This was what the brunette had answered him with… A remarkable display, showing off one thing the Signer hadn't seen before, but it was quite the sight. From the sidelines, Crow, Jack, and Bruno all voiced what Yusei was thinking, though, of course, in different ways, however, it was clear that they too were impressed. So from that point, it was a toss up as to who was actually in the lead, both boys answering each other brilliantly, and the Duel ended in a draw.

"Gotcha! That was a fun Duel! We should do it again sometime!" voiced the quirky Duelist from the past.

"Ah," agreed the older male, nodding his head in agreement. It certainly was a very enthralling and interesting game, that was for sure, and he rather enjoyed himself. He'd learned a lot about Judai through their exchanges in each of their turns and the same could be said the other way around.

Later that evening, they were all talking over a few recent events that had been happening in the city, and as the others did, Judai couldn't help but be shocked. It had been two months according to Yusei, right? How did all of this start up within just that small time frame? He shook his head, feeling a bit tired, so with a small, "Excuse me," he went up the ladder into the loft area leading to the room Yusei had given up for him, much to the brunette's dismay. He opened the door and shut it right behind himself, kicking off his shoes as he plopped onto the bed. He just felt so out of place… So much had happened that day and, though he'd learned a lot about the Junk Deck user, he hadn't learned too much about this era in time. However… what they had been talking about downstairs gave him some clues. With a yawn, he decided he'd think more on it later.

'Judai...'

'Did you find anything yet, Yubel?'

'No… However… something feels slightly off with you specifically...'

'Eh? Wha'd'ya mean?'

'I am unsure at the moment…'

'. . . Alright. Keep looking into it. I need sleep.'

'Very well… Good night, Judai...'

'Mn...' His last word to her was more a mumble than anything else. His eyes felt heavy and, within moments, he was asleep, dreams forming behind his closed eyelids. He saw flashes of things he remembered and then nothing more. It felt like only seconds to him, and he experienced a rather strange falling sensation. He yelped, his eyes opening as he hit the floor, having rolled out of the bed as he slept. Sunlight filtered in through the window and his eyes widened. How long did he sleep?! He grabbed his shoes and ran down the hall to the ladder which he ignored and just jumped on down into the lower level. He could head the sound of an engine being revved from the garage and went there, seeing Yusei and Bruno working on the red D-Wheel that belonged to the lead Signer. Judai said nothing, sitting on the couch and watching quietly, his thoughts running. He felt something in his Deck pouch then, like a vibration, and with a curious expression, he pulled out a card. "Rainbow Dragon..." he read. To him, it sounded familiar, but… Whose card was this? It belonged to someone that wasn't him, he knew that much, but he honestly only could remember knowing that it wasn't Paradox's either… He'd gotten it and… He pulled out another card, a Fusion Monster. "Cyber End Dragon..?" Neither of these were his. Why did he have them again..? He couldn't remember. All he saw were a couple of darkened silhouettes in the corners of his mind, and they were getting more distant to the point that he could no longer make sense of the shapes.

An explosion resounded as Yusei coughed, waving a hand in front of himself so as to clear away the smoke in his face. Well, that didn't work, obviously. They'd have to rework a string of data in the program. He knew there was only one string that was off, one formula that needed to be revised. "Bruno," he addressed as he pointed to one data set on the monitor.

"Yeah. That's it, I think. We'll just rework that a bit and it should be operational," spoke the blue haired man, agreeing with what the blackette had meant though Yusei hadn't spoken. He knew what he was getting at regardless, though.

The Riding Duelist nodded, placing a hand on his side as his eyes came to rest on the brunette who looked entirely troubled as he stared at two cards in his hands with extreme confusion. "Ah, Judai-san. You're awake. Are you alright..?"

"Eh..? Oh. Yusei. Um… When Paradox played Rainbow Dragon, did I say who the card really belonged to..?"

He was a bit taken aback at the question, confused as to why Judai would ask something like that, but he answered anyway. "I believe you said it was someone named Johan who previously owned it."

"Johan..? … Funny. That name doesn't sound familiar to me. I don't even remember seeing this dragon before Paradox, but I know I have. Somehow."

Yusei raised an eyebrow in concern. This was certainly odd to say the least. According to Judai then, Johan was his best friend. How would he forget something like that?

"Cyber End belonged to someone else, too… But who?"

"I don't believe you said anything on that one."

"I didn't… Or… I don't think I did." He was completely baffled. This gave him the idea to try and see what he did remember, and… he was shocked that he could hardly remember a thing. All he seemed to remember was the Duel with Paradox, Yugi, Yusei, and… anything that had to do with Yubel. Massive parts of his memory were blank. His eyes widened once he had the revelation and he shook his head.

"Judai-san, are you okay?"

"… Please drop the 'san.'" For some reason, it was starting to make him feel uncomfortable. "Just… Judai's fine..."

"Then, Judai… Are you alright?"

"… I… can't remember anything… I… Huge parts of my memory are gone..."

"What?!" He was really concerned now. Amnesia, perhaps? But why all of a sudden..?

"... Think we can look up a few things..? Maybe we can find something that can explain what happened..."

"Ah." So, they went about, Bruno typing furiously on the keys of the keyboard to pull up any sort of information on the brunette they could and… nothing. Not even a birth record or even an attendance record for Duel Academia could be located. Certain articles about certain events had, according to Judai, been altered as well. It was as if…

"I don't exist…?"

AN: Phew, I'm actually really glad I managed to finish this before the 14th of July had passed. Well, to all of you who liked it, I'm glad and to those of you who didn't, I'm sorry. I'll try to update this again as soon as I can.