Another Generation   von Jitsch
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                          Kapitel 10: Another Friend
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“Weren’t we waiting for someone to catch up?” Fubuki asked. 
Johann and Jūdai, who had been looking at the Rainbow Dragon card together,
turned to him in surprise. 
“No, I don’t think so,” Jūdai said.
Johann turned to his two spirit companions. “Did we forget someone again?”
he asked warily. 
“It is likely,” Crystal Keeper confirmed, “but even we cannot say who it
would have been. The events are all in disorder.” 
Yubel frowned. “What do you mean by that? If events are in disorder, does it
mean there is a right order for things to happen? And how would you know about
that?”
Johann started to look a bit worried, too. “I trust you, but Yubel has a
point,” he admitted. “When this started you acted like you know exactly what
will happen and what needs to be done, but you don’t seem so sure about it
anymore.”
“It’s because…,” Crystal Master started, but Crystal
Keeper interrupted him: “We cannot tell you all we know. All you need to know
is that if you beat Yūsuke Fujiwara, the messenger of Darkness, then we have
almost won this battle for the future.”
“But how should we beat him?” Jūdai asked desperately. “We have no idea
where he even is! You said that Fubuki is the key to beating him but he said he
doesn’t even remember him!” Jūdai turned to Fubuki: “Right?”
Fubuki looks a bit unsure. “I don’t know,” he said, and it looked like it
was causing him pain to speak. “It’s like I feel something when you mention
that name. Like I connect something to it. But whatever that is, it is just
barely out of reach...”
Nobody seemed to know what to reply when there was an aggressive growl. It came
from Caren, the crocodile on Jim’s back. 
“What’s wrong?” Jim asked her.
“It looks like we cannot concern ourselves with that mysterious Fujiwara
person anymore,” Amon said and pointed at what was likely the source for the
reptile’s reaction.
Someone had just emerged from the school’s main building. It was a man in a
black outfit with a long black coat and puffed sleeves. His entire face was
covered with a black mask that had slits for the eyes and a bright red stone on
the forehead. He was clearly not a student who had somehow escaped Darkness so
far, which meant that he must be with the enemy. He approached them wordlessly,
at a slow pace, showing that he knew there was nowhere for them left to hide.
It was then that they became aware of the state of the island. It had slowly
been getting darker, but it had felt like sunset. Looking out now it became
clear that it was not that the sun had set - a dark shadow had appeared before
it, blocking out all the light. The eerie darkness contributed to the atmosphere
of fear that the figure which was nearing them spread. 
Amon, Jim and Johann tensed and activated their Duel Disks, then noticed that
Jūdai and Fubuki were not reacting in the same way. Jūdai was looking more
surprised than scared. “That mask looks really similar to…,” he murmured,
and glanced at Fubuki who had taken out the mask that Jūdai was referring to.
“That is Fujiwara,” Crystal Keeper said.
“What?!,” exclaimed Johann and Jūdai at the same time.
“That’s Fujiwara?” Johann repeated to let the ones who could not see the
spirits know as well.
“Fuji… wara?” Fubuki held his forehead. 
The masked man stopped a few steps away from them. “Just as Master Darkness
said, there is an irregularity here. It should not be possible for anyone to
remember me, let alone spirits that I have never encountered.”
When he suddenly moved again to close in quickly, Johann felt pressured to
retreat a few steps. The spirits of the Crystal Beasts appeared in front of him
in a guarding stance, however little they might be able to do against a physical
human.
The man in the mask stopped. It was hard to tell because of the mask, but he
seemed to be looking not at any of the seven beasts, but the two humanoid
guardians on either side of Johann.
”Where are you coming from?” he asked sharply. 
Before either of the spirits or Johann could respond, Fubuki stepped in front of
him and faced the man with the mask.
“Who are you and why do you have the same mask as me?” he asked sternly. 
The man in the mask sighed. 
“Tenjōin… you would have done better to not ask. But alas, there is no
reason for me to conceal myself now since I was already named.” 
He took off the mask slowly. Below it lay an even, outright pretty face with
slanted eyes and blue irises. It was framed by a jaw protector. His slightly
wavy hair was a faint green.
Fubuki stared at him. Hearing the name Fujiwara had made him uneasy every time
someone said it, but now the uneasiness turned into pain. Memories poured into
his head. Memories that he had not remembered seconds ago.
 
A dark circle with inscriptions was on the ground of the cellar room of the
special dormitory building. Yūsuke Fujiwara, clad in the white uniform with
light blue stripes that only the highest achieving male students of Duel Academy
were allowed to wear, stood in the middle of the circle.  
“Fujiwara, stop!” Fubuki called out from outside the sinister circle. 
Fujiwara turned to look at him and there was a kind of sadness in his gaze. 
“Tenjōin… the ritual was successful.” 
“What ritual? What are you doing?” Fubuki asked desperately.  
Fujiwara smiled. It did not look particularly happy.  
“I have finally found the entrance to the world of Darkness. I will be able to
forget you all, before you forget me. Isn’t that great?” 
Fubuki frowned. “What are you even saying, Fujiwara? What is great about
forgetting your friends?”  
“Friends, family, lovers… it does not matter how close you are. Sooner or
later they will forget you. Everyone will forget you. I concluded that, since
this is inevitable, I would rather control myself when and who forgets me.” 
Fubuki disagreed: “That makes no sense! We spent so much time together as
friends! And now you want to cut us off because some time in the future we might
forget you? What about now! That’s what’s important, isn’t it?” 
Fujiwara shook his head. 
“It is all meaningless knowing that the memories we are creating, even in this
moment, will eventually be forgotten.” 
He held up something that looked like a Duel Monsters card. 
“Take this. I do not need it anymore, but if you ever need power, Darkness
will give it to you,” he said and threw the card in Fubuki’s direction. 
Fubuki caught it - the card looked like a spell card from Duel Monsters. The
card name was Darkness and the image showed a black mask with a red stone in the
place where the wearer’s forehead would be. 
Fubuki was distracted by looking at the card long enough for Fujiwara to start
what he had been about to be doing. He uttered some words, then slowly sank into
the whirl of darkness that had formed beneath his feet.  
“Fujiwara! No!”  
Fubuki jumped forward, but then hesitated to step into the magic circle.
Fujiwara slowly shook his head and gave Fubuki one last sad smile. 
“You will forget about me. So there is no need to be sad. It will just be as
if I have never existed.” 
“NO!” 
Fubuki’s call had no effect. Fujiwara was swallowed by the dark circle, which
vanished just after.  
 
“Fubuki, are you okay?” Jūdai asked. 
Fubuki realized that he was kneeling on the ground, holding his forehead. Jūdai
was next to him and had placed one hand on his back.
“Yes…” Fubuki said weakly. “I think I am okay. I just…” he looked up
to Fujiwara who was looming over him and not showing a hint of concern, “I
just remembered about Fujiwara.” 
“What do you remember?” Johann asked. 
Fubuki got to his feet again. “I remember that he was the one who gave me this
mask,” he said and held up the mask of Darkness that he had previously been
wearing.
“Seriously?” Jūdai asked. 
Fubuki nodded.
“I could never remember where I got it, just that I gave in and started to use
its power when I saw no other way to save my life in another dimension. As much
trouble as it caused all of us, I would not be here if it was not for this
mask.” Fubuki smiled. “Thank you, Fujiwara.” 
Fujiwara did not smile back. “It would have saved you a lot of pain if you had
vanished at that time,” he said coldly. 
Fubuki’s brows furrowed in anger. “You talked about ‘master Darkness’ a
moment ago. What has Darkness done to you?”
“Nothing. It was my own decision to become one with the Darkness. I am now
part of it. And as its emissary, I am here to eradicate the irregularity that
are those two spirits, and the last humans who refuse to give in to the embrace
of Darkness.” 
“Never!” Jūdai said loudly. “How do you dare take our precious memories
of the people around us!”
Fujiwara shook his head. “You do not understand yet, but do not worry. Before
long all of you will wish to become one with the Darkness.”
“Well, I will not let you do that!” Fubuki cut in. “I still consider you a
friend, and I will stop you from doing harm to all my other friends! Duel
me!” 
He activated his Duel Disk and inserted a deck.
Fujiwara smiled serenely: “The order in which I defeat you does not matter. I
might as well take your challenge.” He raised his left arm where he wore a
standard Academy Duel Disk, and activated it. He started to retreat a few steps
to make enough room for a playing field. 
“Stop this duel! He cannot win!” Crystal Keeper shouted. He sounded more
distressed than ever. 
Johann understood quickly. “Fubuki! The spirit says you cannot win.”
Fubuki only turned his head around. “So those spirits that couldn’t even
tell us which of our friends we forgot last are now so sure that I won’t
win?” he asked disapprovingly. 
“Indeed, I would doubt the accuracy of their prediction,” Amon agreed.
“He has to believe us!” Crystal Keeper said to Johann and Jūdai, who
could see him. “We have already seen it! Fujiwara will use Fubuki’s regret
of not having saved him before he joined Darkness, and turn that against him!
There is no reason why it should be different this time!”
“What do you mean with ‘this time’?” Yubel asked very suspiciously.
“You make it sound like this has happened before.”
“Please just believe us,” Crystal Master chimed in. “There is not much
we are absolutely certain about, but if Fubuki duels Fujiwara the outcome is
already decided.” 
Jūdai and Johann exchanged a helpless glance. 
“Alright, so if it’s not Fubuki we could have a chance?” 
Everyone turned to the speaker in surprise - Jim Cook, the tall champion from
South Academy who had been listening silently so far. To everyone’s surprise,
he had taken off his hat and started to remove the bandages around his head that
had been covering his right eye. Below them, there was artificial eye with a
thick outline of a metallic material and a red orb in place of the iris. The orb
was glowing in an eerie light.
“You can see us?” Crystal Master asked warily. He seemed just as, if not
more surprised than everyone else. 
“Aye, but only since a minute ago. I think this Orichalcon eye just activated,
which means that now is the time to use it as I was foretold.”
“As you were foretold?” Fubuki repeated. 
“It seems like we are forgetting a lot of people we met, but I still remember
the time that I got this eye, and who gave it to me,” Jim explained and
stepped up to stand next to Fubuki. “The old man said I will need this eye to
save a friend, and that I will know when the time is right. Obviously that’s
now.”
Fubuki looked at him in surprise. “You consider me a friend? We have barely
talked.” 
Jim shrugged. „I’m not sweating the details. You counted me in when you said
you will stop Fujiwara from hurting all your other friends, and if you count me
a friend, I‘ll do the same. The spirits are saying that Fujiwara will exploit
your guilt of not saving him before it came to this, so I will take this fight
and help him in your place.“
Fujiwara smiled. “You two are an irregularity. I did not yet know what
Fubuki‘s darkness is, but apparently you already do…“ he said in the
direction of Crystal Keeper and Master. „Not that it matters if he knows or
not. A weakness is still a weakness.“ 
„I said I am going to be your opponent!“ Jim opposed and stepped in front of
Fubuki. 
Fubuki, however, shook his head and pulled Jim back by his arm. „I appreciate
you wanting to help, but this is all happening because I could not stop Fujiwara
back then. Even if I really cannot win, I have to at least try. That’s what
being a duelist is about!“ 
„And I am saying that my Orichalcon eye is reacting this way because it tells
me to take this fight! This is what I have been ready to do since ten years
ago!“ Jim protested. 
Fujiwara chuckled. „If you are both so eager to fight me, why not come at me
both at the same time,“ he suggested.
„But that‘s…!“ Crystal Keeper exclaimed, but his partner, Crystal
Master, put a hand to his arm to stop him. He just silently shook his head,
but Keeper seemed to understand. He nodded, but his mouth was pressed shut
grimly.
Oblivious to the communication of the spirits, Fubuki nodded. „That‘s fine
for me. Let‘s beat him together,“ he said to Jim. 
Jim smiled. “Alrighty! Caren, let’s go!” 
He strapped the crocodile off his back and set it on the ground. Everyone
including Fubuki took a cautious step away, but the reptile did not move. It
seemed to be looking in Fujiwara’s direction.
Fujiwara nodded. „We will fight this as a battle royale. We start with 4000
Life Points each and take turns one by one. Only the first player skips the
Battle Phase, so that will be me. We can only use our own cards because all
others are considered opponents. Are you okay with that?“
“He’s going to try to turn you on each other,” Crystal Master warned in
his usual sad voice.
“The spirit says he’ll turn us against each other,” Jim told Fubuki.
“What do ya think?” 
“Let him try,” Fubuki said.
Fujiwara and Jim nodded. Caren gave a low growl.
The three duelists took their stances. “DUEL!” 
 
“I will go first - try attacking me right away when it is your turn,”
Fujiwara announced and drew. He checked his cards only briefly, then pulled one
card and put it onto his Disk: “I summon Clear Phantom.”
The monster that appeared on the field was a ghastly creature resembling a black
skeleton but with big claws instead of arms. It also had no hips or legs, only a
long tail. Around it was a large, translucent crystal. The monster displayed
only 1200 attack points.
“I set two cards and end my turn,” Fujiwara announced. “Let’s see what
you have to beat me.”
Fubuki and Jim exchanged glances, then Fubuki announced: “I am next. I
draw.”
He looked at his cards and quickly decided what to do: “First, I
summon Red-Eyes Wyvern,” he announced. 
The monster, a black, bony dragon-like creature with red eyes, appeared on the
field with a screech.
“Without further ado, I attack your Clear Phantom,” he said and pointed at
the opponent’s monster. His Wyvern took off and threw a blast of dark fire
at the opponent’s monster.
Fubuki had half expected Fujiwara to be able to counter with his set cards, but
he did not. The Phantom was hit by the attack. Fujiwara’s Life Points fell
to 3400.
Fubuki was about to breathe out with relief when Fujiwara said: “Since you
destroyed Clear Phantom, its effect activates. When it is destroyed by battle,
I destroy one monster that my opponent controls and send the top 3 cards of
their deck to the graveyard.”
The crystal that had been around Clear Phantom burst under the attack and
sharp, glass-like fragments shot from it. One of them pierced
Fubuki’s Red-Eyes Wyvern and it dissolved with a painful screech. Another
one hit Fubuki’s Duel Disk. He had to pull three cards from it and pushed them
into the graveyard slot.
“I still have…” Fubuki started to make clear that he was not losing just
because he had a bad start, but Fujiwara interrupted: “Next I activate my
continuous trap, Memory Snatcher.”
The card flipped up. The image showed a tapir-like creature which seemed to be
shattering a piece of glass, inside which a person with a hollow gaze was
shown. 
“Memory Snatcher does not allow my opponent to look at the cards which are in
their graveyard. In order to activate an effect which targets a card in your
graveyard, you need to name it. Only I am allowed to check if it is actually
there,” Fujiwara explained with a mean smile.
“That’s not good, is it?”, Johann asked Jūdai in a low voice. “How
dependent is Fubuki’s deck on having access to the Graveyard?” 
“His deck features quite a few effects that get his Red-Eyes Black Dragon back
from the Graveyard,” Jūdai replied in an equally low voice. It sounded
worried. 
“Please,” Amon said, standing a few steps behind Jūdai. “As a proper
duelist he should remember any card that he put in the Graveyard, except the
three that he just discarded without checking them.”
“You’re right,” Jūdai said and his face lit up a bit. 
Crystal Keeper and Crystal Master made more worried faces, but kept silent,
so Jūdai did not notice, unlike Yubel, who had crossed their arms and eyed the
two humanoid monsters with suspicion.
Fubuki looked grim about the meager results of his first turn. He might have
reduced Fujiwara’s Life Points, but his field was left wide open. “I set one
card and end my turn,” he said. “Jim, it’s up to you to show him up.”
Jim pushed up his cowboy hat and gave him an optimistic smile. “Leave it to
me. Draw!”
He immediately played one of the cards that he had already had in hand: “I
activate Ancient Telescope. It lets me see the top five cards on my
opponent’s deck.” 
A big telescope whose hull seemed to be made from stone appeared on the field.
Holograms that represented all of Fujiwara’s hand cards appeared in a
half-circle that surrounded Jim.
Johann looked surprised. “That’s a standard card, but in most duels it is
not much use to know what the opponent will draw next. I wonder what he is
getting at,” he murmured.
Jim nodded after checking the cards and continued his turn: “Next I
activate Specimen Inspection.” 
The card that appeared as a hologram was a spell card which showed animal
skeletons. “I can send a monster from my hand to the Graveyard, then declare a
type and a level. My opponent must send a monster with that Type and level from
the hand or deck to the Graveyard.”
“Ah,” Jūdai realized. “Because of Ancient Telescope he already knows
some of the monsters that Fujiwara has in his deck!”
Jim had heard, and nodded: “I discard my monster Flint Cragger, then I
declare Type Machine and Level 1!”
Fujiwara nodded and pulled a card from his deck that was rather at the top.
Obviously it was one of the five that Jim had just looked at. “I
discard Clear Cube, which is a Level 1 Machine monster,” he said and showed
the card before he inserted it into his graveyard slot.
“The preparations are complete. I activate my spell card Fossil Fusion. For
this special kind of fusion, I remove from play the fusion materials either from
my or from my opponent’s graveyard. And I choose…”
There was a weird pause.
Fujiwara’s lips split into a smile, then he started to laugh. “What, can you
not remember what is in your graveyard? That is too bad, because Memory
Snatcher applies to you as well so you cannot simply check your cards.”
Jim stared at Fujiwara and did not move. Caren let out a low growl.
“Jim’s deck is entirely based on Fossil Fusion which uses cards from the
Graveyard. That’s the worst possible matchup against Fujiwara,” Crystal
Master realized. “Why did I not think of that…” 
Amon had not heard those words and impatiently said: “What do you mean he
cannot remember? He just discarded the card. He even called it. It was…” he
broke off, confusing appearing on his face.
Fujiwara’s grin became wider. “Do you understand now? I am Darkness, and I
can manipulate your memories. Without memories you are nothing. You cannot even
duel!” 

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