[Story] Distraction

[pendulum_soul]

Distraction

To Yuya, it was never a question on 'if' his father would be able to go back to doing Action Duels, it was more of a 'when'.
He always kept his hopes up for it, but it had been over a year now since his father's accident and to the other members of the family, even Yushou himself, it was becoming more and more obvious that the chances of him ever returning to Action Dueling were looking fairly slim.

Although Yushou could walk around without too much issue now most days, he still walked with a slight limp that didn't seem to be getting better and occasionally he'd still suffer some pain in the area. On those days he often needed his cane to help with support while walking. There hadn't been any change for the better in months.
Still, as Yushou's final checkup with his doctor approached, Yuya seemed hopeful that there would be some positive change. Everyone else tried their best to prepare him, letting him know it was possible there would be no change, but it seemed like Yuya wasn't really wanting to accept it.

As Yoko and Yushou entered the house, returning from the appointment, it was understandable that Yuya was the first to leap to his feet with excitement, almost like a small child, with his eyes full of hope.

"So what did they say?" Yuya asked, eargerly.

Yushou exchanged a concerned glance with Yoko, before looking back over at Yuya, who had already noted the hesitation in their response. Yushou then wandered over to the kitchen table, sitting down at it and motioning for Yuya to join him. With that, Yuya wandered over and also sat down.

"The doctor thinks that my leg isn't going to heal anymore than it has, Yuya." he informed him gently. "In fact, they think some of the pain I've been feeling in it now and then might be the onset of arthritis in the area."
He could gradually see Yuya's face turn from curious, to absolutely crestfallen.
"Regular dueling might be fine, but, they're advising I retire from Action Dueling. They really don't think my leg can take it."

There was an awkward silence in the room. Yuto, who was sat on the sofa in the living area, glanced over at the situation behind him. He'd already long since realized this was the most likely outcome.

After a while, Yuya attempted to sputter out a reply.
"Right. Yeah. I guess that makes sense, right? I mean, they know best and if they say you can't go back, then..."
He let out a sigh as he stood up from where he was sat.
"I think I just need to go get some air for a bit."
Quietly, Yuya left the table and headed to the door.

After Yuya had left, Yushou let out a heavy sigh. "He didn't really take it well."

"He's always looked up to you a lot." Yoko replied. "Which is probably why he's finding it the hardest to accept this. I'm sure he'll be fine if we give him time to process it all."

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Much later that day, Yuto found himself outside Yuya's bedroom. He'd decided to check on his brother since he hadn't seen him since he returned back home.
He knocked on the door. "It's Yuto. I'm coming in, alright?"
Yuto didn't hear a complaint from the other side, so slowly, he opened the door. Yuya was sat on his bed, looking at something on his D-Pad.
Looking up, Yuya greeted him with a typical smile which Yuto wasn't expecting.

"Hey, Yuto! Take a look at this."

Yuto had honestly expected Yuya to be still sulking, so it was a little strange to see him acting fairly normal. Still, Yuto wandered over to his brother to take a look at what he wanted to show him. Yuya held up his D-Pad and showed Yuto what was on the screen. He recognized it as the customization screen for Duel Links.

"You've still not decided on the customization for this yet?" Yuto questioned.

"Yeah, I know! I know! But I thought I'd take another look at it! There's just SO many options."

Yuto was relieved that Yuya seemed to have found something to distract himself with, so he sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Well, what kind of theme were you thinking for the avatar?"

"Hmmm..." Yuya thought for a moment. "It has to be fun looking! But... I kinda want mysterious too?"

That sounded so very like something Yuya would want.

"Well, how about looking at the cloaks first?" Yuto suggested, pointing to the option on the screen. "Some of them have hoods that can obscure the face."

"Good idea!" Yuya scrolled through the options until he saw a cloak he liked, a white one that had rainbow stars on it. "This one is perfect!"

Yuto felt it didn't really have a huge 'mysterious' air to it, but it was very Yuya-like.
The two brothers spent some time going through the other customisation options, until they got to the facial features of the avatar.

"Oh! It says here you can upload pictures of two different people and it will create a look based on both of them!" Yuya exclaimed. Without so much as a pause, Yuya quickly held up his D-Pad and took a photo of himself, then held it up to a rather bewildered Yuto to take a photo of him.

"Yuya. We both have the same face." Yuto reminded him. "I doubt it will look much different."

"It doesn't hurt to see right?"

The two of them waited as the programme processed to two photos and merged them.
Yuto was right, the face very much looked like the two of them, just with red hair, highlighted with purple and red eyes with grey irises. Though, there was something else about how it looked that nagged at the two of them. Like it reminded them of something. Something that made them feel uncomfortable, but neither could really put a finger on what it was.

"Ah, well, the hood will be up all the time, so I guess the face isn't important." Yuya quickly said as he saved it. "Now we just need to think of a name..."

The two brothers thought for a moment, when Yuto's thoughts wandered to his deck. The Phantom Knights.

"How about... Phantom?" he suggested.

"The Phantom... hmm..." Yuya pondered it for a moment. "It's simple, but it works and kinda goes with the ~mystery~ theme!"
With that, Yuya entered the Avatar's name as 'The Phantom' and saved it. "Done!"

"How exactly does Duel Links work anyway." Yuto questioned. "I've been meaning to look into it, but I haven't had much of a chance."

"I think there's a bunch of ways you can do duels online in it." Yuya replied. "But everyone says that if you want the 'full' experience, you need one of these!"
Yuya held up his D-Pad to Yuto again, showing an advertisement for Duel Disk specifically designed for use with Duel Links.

"What do you mean by a 'Full' experience?" Yuto asked.

"I think it does something like uploads your consciousness to the Duel Links servers or something." Yuya explained. "Either way it gives you an experience like you're actually there!"

Yuto frowned with a little concern. "That... doesn't really sound like a safe thing..."

"I mean, they wouldn't sell it if it wasn't safe." Yuya looked back at the advertisement and gave out a sigh. "But it's so expensiiiiive..."
Yuya lamented on that thought for a moment, before an idea quickly crossed his head. He glanced over at Yuto with a grin.
"But, what if we put our money together to get one?"

Yuto was a little thrown off with this remark. "Wait... what?"

"I mean, you said you'd been meaning to look into Duel Links right? What if we got one of these Duel Disks and shared this account?"

"I.. don't know..."

"Think about it! If we both used our decks it'd add to the mystery~! Will 'The Phantom' use Performapals or Phantom Knights? Who knows!"

"I think people who know us will realize it's us, Yuya..."

"C'mon! It'd be fun!"

Yuto gave out a sigh. Yuya really seemed to want to do this, and right now it seemed to be giving him a distraction from their dad potentially retiring from Action Duels. It was also true that he been meaning to look into Duel Links and this was a good opportunity to do so. What harm would this do?
"Okay. I'll pay half towards the duel disk and share the account."

"YES!" Yuya exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air before placing one around Yuto's shoulders in a half hug. "This is going to be so much fun!"