Though the snow whipped around him, Red didn't feel the cold as he looked into the chasm below. It had been years since his victory over the Elite Four, after his battle with the Johto Champion, and after everything he stood alone on Silver Mountain.
The wind blew around the Pokémon Champion, almost blowing his hat off, but Red stood staring into the abyss of the cliff's edge. There was nothing more to accomplish. He had fulfilled his promise to Professor Oak to complete the PokeDex and proved time and time again that he was the indisputable champion across every known region. There had to be one more thing to prove…
"Red?" a voice called out from behind the trainer. Red turned to see a suited man wearing sunglasses, a truly odd sight for this mountaintop. The man braced himself against the wind and snow with his briefcase and in his other hand he held a manila envelope, flapping mercilessly in the gale.
"Champion Red?" the man called out again, staring at the trainer. Red nodded wordlessly, his fingertips brushing one of the Pokeballs on his belt, ready for a battle. The man, however, only trudged forward through the snow, his hand with the envelope outstretched.
"You are a very difficult man to find, Red," the man said, keeping his hand outstretched, insisting on the champion take the envelope.
"…" Red slowly reached for the delivery, hand still cautiously hovering over his belt, and grabbed the envelope from the man. The man quickly shoved his hand back into his pocket, shivering from the cold.
"The S.S. Anne is leaving for New Duel Kingdom in the morning. The Duel King Champion would be very disappointed if you didn't make it." And with that, the man turned to sink back into the cave, leaving Red alone on his mountain once more.
Duel King Champion? Red thought to himself, eyeing the envelope. He ripped open the manila envelope, and out slid a single piece of paper, and advertisement for the New Duel Kingdom. Red quickly scanned the pamphlet, but the repetition of the phrase "Duel Monsters" perplexed him. In bold black writing at the bottom, however, written over the applicant information, read "FOR CHAMPION RED ONLY. BRING YOUR POCKET MONSTERS."
The last championship Red had been a part of was the founding of the Alolan Battle Tree, but he had heard nothing of this Duel Kingdom. What sort of champion would he be if he was not there to prove his worth though?
Red folded the paper and slid it into his inner vest pocket. The phrase kept echoing in his head, Duel King Champion. One more championship. Then maybe he'd be happy enough with himself to retire from it all. Red lowered his hat and entered the cave to the bottom of the mountain to gather his best Pokémon to become champion of one more tournament.
The long trip aboard S.S. Anne had fully taken away Red's land legs, as well as many of the other passengers, but after a full week they had finally made port. The passengers filed out onto a beautiful island. They had made port on a sandy coast that melted into a grassy plain, cut in half by a cobblestone walkway. Over the top of the walkway there hung a flapping blue banner, reading "Welcome to Duelist Kingdom!" in bright yellow text. In the distance, Red could see a large volcano jutting out of the center of the island, and at the base of it stood an impressive medieval-inspired castle.
Red stumbled along the sidewalk, looking around at the fellow challengers. He didn't recognize any of them from his own travels, nor did any of these other challengers seem to have Pokemon at their side. Instead, many of them carried briefcases and what he had heard some of the others call "duel discs," which looked like a combination of arm guards and a surface to lay playing cards on.
And cards seemed exactly what they were meant for. Many of the fellow competitors, young and old, used these duel discs to lay cards upon and fight each other with their cards. A few challengers had asked red to battle and scoffed when they realized he had no card deck. Red couldn't figure out why he was invited to a tournament of card games.
Nonetheless, Red made his way to the large castle at the base of the mountain, leading the slowly advancing crowd of newcomers. Before he made it too far, however, a voice called out from the crowd behind him.
"Aren't you a little old to be a duelist?" a nasally voice pointed at Red, giving him cause to turn. Before Red was a kid stepping out from the crowd. He was a bit on the short side, clad in a dull green coat, with a turqoise mop of a haircut shading his yellow glasses, staring menacingly up at Red.
Red looked down at the child, his mouth not even opening to argue against this kid. He turned around to resume his march towards the castle but the kid snatched Red by the wrist and spun him back around.
"I'm talking to you little mite! Don't you know who I am? I'm Weevil Underwood, the Regional Duel Monsters champion!" the kid shouted, spraying Red with spittle. Red winced, wiped his face with his sleeve and glared at Weevil.
"Now that I have your attention, I believe you owe me a duel! Unless you're too much of a coward!" Weevil reached underneath his coat and whipped out a deck of cards and bore a toothy grin. Red gritted his teeth, staring at the child, before giving him a solemn nod.
"And so the fly lands in the spider's web!" Weevil shouted, the crowd behind him beginning to surround the two combatants to form around them. The ground began to part between Red and Weevil, causing Red to stumble backwards to avoid falling into the forming abyss. From the rectangular hole rose a metallic field with two raised pedestals on each end for duelists. "It's time to duel!"
The crowd dispersed as Red's Charizard burned away at the last of Weevil's bugs, the Great Moth, and consequently the last of his life points. Weevil shook in rage, his eyes bugging out behind his beetle glasses.
"How is this possible?! I was the regional champion!" Weevil crumpled to his knees, flipping through his cards to find any combination that would have won him the duel.
Red turned from the battlefield, returning his Charizard to his Pokeball. He strode confidently toward the castle once more, but internally he could barely believe he squeezed a victory in this game. As his opponent sent out monster after monster, he assumed the crowd didn't know that this bug master whittled him down to his last Pokémon. Luckily his Charizard pulled through, but there was so much to this new game that flew over Red's head. Between the spells, traps, and incredibly tough monsters Red was unsure of what he got himself into on this island, and he had only faced an opponent skilled in bugs!
Red headed to the castle for answers, careful not to approach any other duelists with his one weakened Pokémon.
Two suited men guarded the heavy wooden doors of the castle entrance, similar to the man who approached Red on the mountain.
"You may not enter the castle unless…" one of the suited men declared before raising his sunglasses to look at Red. "Oh, Champion Red! My apologies! Right inside, sir."
The two men stood aside, opening the double doors for Red to enter. Red nodded to the guards and stepped inside.
The entry hall was expansive and gaudy, a hundred feet tall adorned with stained glass and murals. A luxurious glass chandelier hung from the ceiling, casting dancing lights across the tiled floor. Two hallways extended before Red, one in front and one to the left, as far as his eyes could scan. To his right, however, was the typical Pokémon Center interior that he had grown to love. The semicircle counter enclosed a medical machine with pockets for his Pokeballs, as well as a woman in a lab coat with pink bobbed hair tucked under her medical cap.
"Red! My, how have you grown!" the lady, whom Red had learned to call Nurse Joy, called out in her high-pitched voice.
Red smiled politely and nodded, unhooking the Pokeballs from his belt and laying them on the tray set out for him.
"What have you been up to? Staying out of trouble seems out of the question with the work you've brought me today," Joy began moving each of Red's Pokémon from the tray to the healing machine. Red nodded knowingly, shamefully looking at his feet as the machine began to flash and beep, restoring his Pokémon.
"Oh and let me get ahold of your PokeDex as well," Nurse Joy said as the healing machine began to finish. Red complied, reaching into his back pocket and fishing out his PokeDex, handing it to Nurse Joy with a smile.
"I was told to upgrade your PokeDex for tomorrow's big tournament!" Joy plugged Red's dex into her computer and the screen began to scroll with green text overlaid onto a bright blue screen before ding-ing, almost in sync with the healing machine, and she popped the dex's connector cable from the computer and handed it back to Red along with his Pokeballs.
"Your PokeDex now has information on the entirety of the game Duel Monsters!" Nurse Joy smiled. Red's eyes widened, realizing this may just be the edge he needed on this crazy island.
"Champion Red," a stern voice called from behind him. Red turned to see another suited man with a pointed pompadour haircut. "If you'd follow me to your quarters, we have prepared quite the arrangement for you."
Red gave one more nod in thanks to Nurse Joy and followed the suit down one of the infinitely long hallways.
"And there you are," the man said, opening a door to reveal a moderately spacious furnished bedroom. An empty dresser on the right wall, flanked by a closet and a terminal, commonly used for Pokémon transferal. On the opposite wall laid a queen size bed with fluffed laundered sheets. The entire room was bathed in blue and purple light, cast by the stained-glass window on the wall opposite the door.
"Even though you have immunity on this first day," the man said as Red settled into his room, "I'd get some rest, and plan for the greatest duel of your life." The suited man chuckled sinisterly before closing the door behind Red.
Red scoffed at the suited man as the door closed and whipped out his PokeDex, scrolling through the headers to find a new section entitled "Duel Monsters". He flicked into the new menu, seeing subsections of spells, traps, and monsters. A seemingly overwhelming amount of information to take in overnight, but he didn't get to be the Pokémon Champion by winging it. Red selected one of the Pokeballs on his belt and flung it toward the bed.
The red and white sphere split open, exposing a bright white light, forming into a more corporeal form. The light morphed into a small yellow rodent, with a tail spiking out into a lightning bolt. The rodent squeezed its eyes briefly before they popped brightly open with a smile brimming from cheek to red spotted cheek.
"Pika!" Pikachu squeaked in joy at seeing its trainer. Red smiled back, nuzzling Pikachu's head. He knew he would need as much motivation as he could get if he was going to win this new tournament. Red sat on his bed next to Pikachu, holding his PokeDex out for Pikachu to also peek in. New strategies, different move sets, and the perfect team would all need preparation. It was going to be a long night.
Red woke to the smell of fresh coffee, his head face down on a notebook on the desk. His blurry vision focused with the coffee aroma, his morning daze slowly fading. He saw his Pikachu working clumsily to pour the coffee carafe into a clean mug, stumbling back and forth and spilling drips onto the counter.
Red brought himself to his feet, gave an approving pat to his small yellow friend and grabbed the coffee pot from him, placing it back onto the burner. He grabbed the mug, sipping it gently, and grabbed his notebook and began pacing around his room, taking intermittent sips. The studying was interrupted, however, by a loud transmission through the intercom system.
"All contestants to the dueling arena," and the transmission ran on repeat, echoing throughout the halls. Red looked towards his Pikachu, who gave him a toothy grin, knowing that Red was as prepared for his next matchup as he was ever going to be. The trainer smiled back and pulled Pikachu's Pokeball from his belt and pointed it at his rodent friend, returning him to his ball. He placed the ball onto the PC terminal and it vanished in a flash of light, transferred back to Professor Oak for safety back at his lab. As much as he appreciated his Pikachu, Red knew he would need a much different powerset for this next challenge.
Red made his way to the great dueling hall, pointed out by a map downloaded onto his PokeDex. Many other tournament-comers were there, many of whom he had seen getting off the boat, although many that he had seen were not present here, presumably knocked out during the preliminary rounds of the tournament. Many of the others chatted with each other, jovially challenging each other and showing off their decks of cards.
Red saw flashes of many cards he had accustomed himself to during his night of study, but still many seemed so foreign to him. He ran over his hypothetical plays and counter-plays as he silently walked through the crowd. Keeping his head down as to not attract any unwanted attention, before he made it to the front of the crowd and the hall opened up to a large arena like Red had seen during his battle against Weevil. On the platform below he saw two duelists finishing their battle, one kid in red and one in blue. The simplicity of it all reminded Red of easier days, battling Blue and filling out the PokeDex, before the weight of the Pokémon Championship was on his shoulders.
Soon the duelist in blue was victorious and both contestants walked backwards off the stage, out of sight. Everyone watching the duel applauded before going back to their revelry. Red searched for a way to the arena below, finding a staircase into darkness and followed the path down. At the bottom of the staircase he found himself in a hallway, one way shrouded in darkness and one way leading to the duel arena. In the hallway toward the arena, however, sat the duelist in red, slouched against the wall and trying to hide a muffled cry. Red walked over to the boy and knelt to meet him face to face, bringing his hand up to wipe away one of the boy's tears.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," the boy looked up, in shock that anyone was there to see him cry. "I don't mean to be in your way sir," he said as he rose to his feet and shuffled off. Red brought his hand up to the boy's shoulder, gently turning him around without a word. He held his finger up as Red turned his backpack to his front and rifled through it, producing a faded red hat with a white front and a badge pinned to its corner. Red affixed his old hat on the wild hair of the young boy. The boy smiled in awe, as if he could feel the history imbued into this hat.
"Th-thanks mister!" the boy cheered up, extending his arms and giving Red a warm embrace. A smile cracked across Red's face before the two parted ways and the boy ran up the stairs.
"Next duel incoming should be a real nail-biter folks," the intercom system blared to life, echoing loudly in the dark hallway. Red turned to leave up the stairs to prepare for the next battle until the intercom continued.
"We have the most skilled duelist in the world, Yugi Muto! And his competition, the famed Pokémon Kanto Champion, Red!"
Red's eyes widened. He didn't know he would be called into battle so soon, much less against apparently the world's most skilled duelist. Nonetheless, Red turned toward the arena behind him, his mind racing as he mulled over all the rules constraining his Pokémon and his opponents' monsters.
Red emerged from the darkened hallway to the roar of applause as spotlights all focused on him. He pulled the lip of his hat down to shade his eyes as he walked up the staircase to his podium overlooking the grid-patterned arena.
Across the way stood another child, wearing blue pants and a blue jacket overlaying a black undershirt. From the boy's neck dangled an upside-down pyramid bearing an Egyptian eye mark suspended by a thick metal chain. The boy's hair was a mixture of dark purple outward spikes with blond strands jutting out from the front. Red could only assume this was the Yugi Muto the PA system had announced.
"Hello there! I've heard a lot of good things about you," Yugi said from across the battlefield. "I hope you're a good duelist! I'll warn you, I won't hold back, and this won't be a walk in the park!"
"…" Red stood stoically, trying to read his opponent. As he stared into Yugi's eyes, however, he simply looked like a naïve child, not unlike he once was. He began to flick at the Pokeballs on his belt, considering his first move.
"Well, let's not keep the crowd waiting! Yugioh!" the child shouted to the heavens and Red could tell the boy's eyes now showed true determination, as if the naïve child was gone and replaced with this new combatant.
"Let's duel!" Yugi called out confidently and the crowd erupted in applause.