ALL NOVEL Differnt Thoughts
'Thoughts'
"Speech"
-After Jack and his parents left the facility-
As the family drove, Jack looked through his deck. Kate smiled at the sight, happy to see her son taking an interest in Duel Monsters. "So how did you feel about your first duel?" Jack's head shot up to look at her as he was knocked out of his thoughts. He took a second to think about his experience, before smiling at Kate.
"It was fun."
"That's nice to hear honey. How about your deck, does it feel nice to use?"
"Hmm, I think I'll have to do more duels with it to figure out how I feel about it."
"Haha! That's great thinking son." Drake gave a pleased smile. "A good duelist should play a deck thjoy playing. If EVOs are not for you, there is no shame in changing." Jack nodded. For the rest he ride home, Jack would ask questions about Duel Monsters, and his parent's past experience of duelling. His parents would happily answer his questions, often time using Jack's own duel as an example. They also sometimes point out some of his mistakes when they talked about his first duel and what he can do to improve.
When they got home Drake offered to show Jack how to switch his Duel Watch to Duel Disk mode. After Jack agreed, Drake spent the next hour teaching him, while Kate made dinner. After eating dinner Jack was about to head to his room before Kate spoke up before he could leave.
"Don't sleep late, tomorrow morning we're going to a DM store to get you the packs Romach mentioned. Afterwards, we'll be dropping you off at Annie's house." Jack nodded, already used to going to Annie's house when both his parents have work in the morning. After making sure that was all she wanted to talk about, Jack headed to his room. When Kate was sure that Jack can't hear her, she sat down and faced her husband. "Don't you feel like Jack's been absent-minded lately?"
"Really? He doesn't seem that different to me."
"It just feels like something was on his mind."
"Jack always gets lost in his thoughts when he finds something that interests him. His first duel must have left a bigger impact than we first thought. He will be fine in the morning." Kate could only nod, figuring that Jack must have a lot to think of about his first duel. Unbeknownst to the duo, their theory isn't that far off from the truth.
Jack sat on his bed, his laptop in his lap. Jack wanted to know why his parent's made such a big deal about his first duel or the game in general. 'Yes, the game was fun. Heck, I even surprised myself with how into it I got near the end of the duel. But mom and dad make it sound like such a grand thing. Like if it was that important shouldn't I have seen more of it sooner?' However, he was quickly proven wrong as he continued digging.
'Why does everything connects back to Duel Monsters?!' As he continued his research he grew more and more confused. 'Shows that don't even mention duelling or Duel Monsters still relate to the game in some way. The HERO cartoon? The HEROES can be played in the game. Anime? Same thing, along with novels, comics, and even video games! Even self-made stuff like web novels relates back to the game in some way or another. Not even fanmade things like fanfics are safe from the game.' It didn't take long for Jack to realize this world might not be as ordinary as he first thought.
'Even with what little I remember from my last life, I know that a game shouldn't have this much influence on things. It's literally a part of every entertainment that there is. I even saw a video of people duelling as they raced in cars. How is it even possible for a game to become this popular? What about the people who dislike Duel Monsters? There has to be at least a couple right?' But no matter how much he searched he couldn't find anything that might indicate that someone might dislike the game. At most he can find comments about how a person dislikes a certain archetype or type of Duelist. After 2 hours of searching, he gave up his search for answers. Closing the laptop, he places it on top of his nightstand. He picked up his deck and looked through it as he lay in bed.
'Why do I even care if this game is popular? It's not like I hate the game or anything, and I doubt I will find any-' Jack's eye widen as he jumped into a sitting position on his bed. 'Wait a minute, strange emphasis on something. Special facility about said strange thing. And even if the audience finds it weird how much the people in the show care about the subject. The people in the world find nothing strange about it.' He placed his deck on the nightstand and grabbed his laptop, opening it up and doing a quick search. 'And a school all about said strange thing. Like a school all about fighting in an action comic, a magic school in a fantasy novel, or a Dueling School in a world with a strange focus on a game.' Jack grinned as he thought back to his early musings. 'The world I find myself in might not be as ordinary as I originally thought.' However, Jack's grin quickly morphed into a frown as he realized something.'
'If I'm right, then there must be some danger that I might face in the future. And with the major focus of Duel Monsters, the only way for me to survive said danger would be through duelling. That means I'll have to get better at Duel Monsters. And tomorrow I would be getting some new cards, I'll also see Annie again tomorrow. Someone who is close to my age that loves the game and that can help me get better at duelling.' After putting his laptop to the side, he lay in bed. Happy with his newfound goal in his new life. 'Get better, and find the hidden world.' He murmured as he drifted to sleep.