{[( Before anything, I will point out that this story is a Rin x OC story. I made this, not only because Rin is my Yu-Gi-Oh! waifu, but also due to seeing how much the series wasted Rin and wanted to really do something with her. So I wrote a completely original story involving her. There will be other characters in the story that you may be familiar with, but they will not take away from Rin. Anyway, that said, I hope I can make this work. Here goes something!)]}
Rin's eyes shot open, as if she had just awoken from a nightmare. Looking at her surroundings, she appeared to be in a dark room. "Wh-where am I?" She asked, reaching her hand out, noticing she seemed to be in a glass tube. "What is…"
"Welcome, Rin." A voice said from inside the room. "It took a lot of trouble to bring you here." The voice continued.
"Who are you?" She asked, putting her hands to the glass. "Why am I here?"
"Why, you're here because you're you. Isn't that special?" Said the voice. "I have brought you and others to this place to see how good you all truly are at dueling. I suppose you could say… it was because I was bored and wanted to do something fun. It was quite difficult to bring your spirit here though."
She glared. "You brought everyone here because you thought it would be fun?" She asked. "Where is this anyway?"
"Well it's a new world, of course. But enough questions. I've kept you for far too long already. Good luck Rin. I certainly hope you'll enjoy your new life here." The voice said.
At that moment a blinding light came from below her, causing her to shield her eyes. When she next opened her eyes she was in a large field with a lake. "Now where am I?" She asked, looking around.
She walked up a hill and saw that she wasn't far from a city, but she didn't really recognize it. "Are you alright, miss?" A man asked.
She looked at him. "Huh? Oh, yeah. I was just wondering where we are."
"Huh? Well, we're in Domino City." He said.
She looked, confused. "This doesn't look like… you did say Domino, right? Not Neo Domino?" She asked.
He looked confused. "Neo Domino City? I'm sorry, but I don't know what that is." He said.
She looked at him, unable to find words. "Well, I hope you have a nice day. I have to be going now." The man said, walking away.
She could only watch in confusion. This isn't what Domino looked like before. "Is this really another world?" She asked.
Suddenly, a girl with a white collared shirt, black tie, and a black skirt approached her. "Rin!" She shouted. "So this is where you've been this whole time. Were you nervous?" She asked.
Rin looked confused. She didn't know this person and yet she apparently knew who Rin was. "Nervous?"
"About the tournament." She said. Rin had no idea what she was talking about. "Well, regardless, your partner is waiting in the hotel for you. You'd better not keep him waiting."
She nodded. "Uh.. right. Could you show me the way?" She said, agreeing with her, thinking maybe this could lead to answers.
The woman nodded. "Sure." She said, turning and leading the way.
"So, who exactly is my partner?" Rin asked.
The woman smiled. "Kosuke Yuzuru. You don't remember? You two were getting along so well last night."
"Oh, right." She said, trying to sound convincing. "Last night? So did I switch places with another me, or is this world made to know who I am so I'm not a complete stranger in it?" She thought.
The woman looked at her. "Are you two alright? You've been acting strange today." She asked.
"Uh, yeah. We've just been kind of out of it, I guess. Must be nerves from the tournament." She said.
The woman nodded. "Well, if you two need anything, feel free to talk to me. I may be your manager, but I'd like to think we get along well enough."
Rin stopped. "Wait, our manager?"
She sighed. "Wow, you two are out of it. We're here. Head on inside."
"Wait, how do I know what room I'm in?" Rin asked.
"You have the card key with you, right? It should have your room number on it."
Rin checked her pockets and pulled out a card. "Oh." She looked at the doors. "Well, I guess I'll be heading up then."
Her manager nodded. "You get some rest, Rin. We wouldn't want you to be tired for your duel tomorrow." She began to walk away.
"Wait." She said, calling out to her one more time. "Uh, do you maybe know where Yugo might be?" She asked.
"Yugo?" She said, turning back to her. "I'm afraid I don't know anyone by that name." Rin looked shocked. "I'll keep a lookout for someone with that name for you. How does that sound?" She said, smiling.
Rin nodded. "Uh.. yeah. That would be great."
Her manager nodded. "Good night, Rin." She said, turning and walking away.
Rin looked at her card key and then up at the hotel. "I guess I'm going in." She went inside and up the stairs. "301, 302, 303, 304… 305." She said, checking the key. "Well, this is it." She inserted the card and the door unlocked. She hesitated for a moment, but pushed the door open. "Hello?" She said, seeing that the room was vacant. "Huh. Well, I'm guessing this stuff is his. So, maybe he just went out."
She then heard the door unlock and open a bit. "Alright, now all I have to do is, no door. Door, stay open. Thank you." He said, having trouble getting inside.
Rin moved to look down the short hallway, seeing a boy with messy black hair that fell slightly in front of his heterochromatic blue and green eyes. "Do you want some help?" She asked.
"Huh? Oh, you must be my partner. What was your name? Rem? Sure, can you take some of this stuff please?" He said.
She came over to him, taking a few of the bags. "It's Rin, actually." She walked back into the room and sat the bags down. "So, what's in these?" She asked.
"Huh? Oh, just some food and stuff. A few card packs. Figured maybe we could open them together." He said, smiling. "After all, a new set got released recently, apparently. So maybe we can use them to power up our decks."
She smiled back. "Oh, well that sounds like it could be fun. But how many did you get?" She asked.
"Well, you're holding all of them." He said.
She looked at one of the bags and looked inside. "Wait, did you buy everything they had or something?" She asked, shocked.
"No.. not everything.." He said, awkwardly.
She sighed. "You can't just go and spend money like that without thinking." She said. "You should know better than that, Yugo..." She said, reflexively, trailing off as she said the name Yugo. Realizing she wasn't talking to him, she looked down, a bit embarrassed to have done that.
"You okay?" He asked.
She nodded. "Uh, yeah. Sorry. I just mean, you know, you shouldn't just go and spend everything you have on cards."
He nodded. "Yeah, but I figured we could use them to bond and get to know each other. Besides, I still have plenty of money left over." He said, taking off his grey jacket, which had blue panels on the chest. He now wore a purple button-up shirt with short sleeves over a red t-shirt, though he'd already had it on under the jacket. He reached into the pocket of his black jeans and placed the key card for the room on the table.
"Wait, but I thought we were getting along last night." She said, remembering what her, apparent, manager had said.
He groaned. "Why does everyone keep saying that. I wasn't here last night." He said, sitting on one of the beds.
"You weren't?" She asked.
He shook his head. "No. The last thing I remember, I was just doing stuff around the dorm and then I was suddenly in this dark room." He said, sighing. "And the next thing I knew, I was in the middle of the city."
Her eyes widened as she remembered what the voice had said. "I have brought you and others to this place to see how good you all truly are at dueling."
"You too?" She said, surprised.
He looked over at her and nodded. "Yeah. Wait, the same thing happened to you?" Rin nodded. He thought for a moment and then smiled. "Well, that makes things less awkward then. I was worried I'd meet you and you would be upset that I didn't know you."
She smiled. "So was I. I mean, this is all kind of confusing, so I was hoping that you might be someone that I could trust until I figured things out."
He nodded. "At least we're not alone though. Anyway, since we really are meeting for the first time now." He stood up and came over to her, extending his hand. "I'm Kosuke Yuzuru. It's a pleasure to meet you."
She smiled and shook his hand. "I'm Rin… I don't have a last name." She said, smiling a bit awkwardly. "It's nice to meet you too."
"So, what do you say we open some of these packs?" Kosuke suggested.
"Sure, why not?" She said, putting the bag on the bed and pulling one of them out.
The two began opening packs, getting excited or even disappointed with the cards they would pull out.
"Hey, I got Jinzo! Awesome, I've been wanting to make a deck with this guy in it." Kosuke said, excitedly.
She smiled. "Really? What kind of deck do you have now?" She asked.
"I have a couple different ones. I'm always thinking of new ones, so I keep making more." He said.
She nodded. "I can understand that. I have a Windwitch deck." She said, opening one of the packs. "Hey, speaking of…" She turned one of the cards around.
"Ah, Call of the Windwitch. I've never tried that kind of deck before. Right now I am working on a Red-Eyes deck with support for Black Rose Dragon." He said, smiling.
"You have a Black Rose Dragon?" She asked, shocked.
He nodded. "Yeah, it wasn't easy to get."
She nodded. "I bet it wasn't. I'd like to hear about how you got it." She said, opening a pack. "Red-Eyes Flare…" She said, reading off the card. "XYZ?" She said, confused.
Kosuke opened another pack. "Hey, what's this? It looks cool."
"Let me see." She said, leaning over to see the card. "Is that…" She took the card from him to get a better look. "Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon… this is it…" She couldn't believe her eyes.
"You like this card?" He asked, curiously.
She shook her head. "It's not that. I knew someone who had this card, back where I come from." She said, remembering her time in the previous world. "Yugo…"
"Yugo?" He remembered how she'd accidentally called him that earlier. "He must have been important to her…" He thought. He gave her a smile. "You can have it." He said.
"Huh? Are you sure? I mean you pulled it. I'd feel bad just taking it." She said, reluctantly.
He nodded. "Maybe I'll keep the next one. This one is yours, Rin. Consider it a gift."
She smiled, tears forming in her eyes a bit. "Thank you, Kosuke." She turned around and picked up one of the cards from the pile she'd opened and pulled out a card, handing it to him. "Here, take this."
He took the card. "Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon, huh?"
She nodded. "Yeah. You said you were making a Red-Eyes deck, right? This should be pretty useful for it. Besides, it seems like a good card too." She said with a smile. "I don't really get how XYZ monsters are summoned anyway, so here. "
"Thank you." he said, taking it. The two looked at each other, smiling for a moment. "So, anyway, we should probably get back to these."
She nodded. "Right, let's finish these up." She said, reaching into the bag and pulling a few packs out and handing one to him.
Once they finished opening packs, they sorted the cards into piles and then started going through their decks. "Hey, we're a team right? So that means it's a tag duel tournament?" Rin asked, she said, trying to decide between two cards and going over strategies in her head.
Kosuke nodded. "Yeah." He said, reading one of the cards, debating on putting it into the deck.
"Well, why don't we go through our decks and make sure our decks work well off of each other?" She suggested. She then having an approving nod to one of the cards and placed it aside.
"Not a bad idea." He said, smiling. "Let's see. Oh, what if we did this." He said, picking up one of the new cards and explaining the strategy he'd come up with.
After discussing several strategies together the two felt satisfied with their decks. "Well, I suppose I should put this in the deck." He said, picking up Flare Metal Dragon. "Oh, you should use your Synchro Dragon." He suggested.
"Huh?" She said, confused.
"I mean, if you don't want to, you don't have to."
She thought for a moment and nodded. "Alright. I'll do it. It'll be like he's still with me."
Kosuke nodded. "You two were close, huh?"
"Yeah, we've known each other since we were just kids." She said, a bittersweet smile forming on her face. "I wonder if he's somewhere out there too." She said, looking out at the night sky.
He followed her gaze. "I'll help you look for him." He said, smiling.
"Huh?" Rin said, turning her attention to him.
"Well, it'll be a lot easier to do if we look for him together, right?" He looked at the clock and stood up. "It's getting late."
Rin nodded. "Uh.. yeah, we should probably get to sleep." She said, standing up too and moving to her things and grabbing a pair of yellow shorts before walking to the bathroom. A second later she came out, changed into the shorts, and began to unzip her jacket.
"I'll look away!" Kosuke said.
She looked a bit confused, but then giggled a bit. "Relax, I've got a shirt on under it." She said, removing the jacket.
"It's still pretty low-cut.." He noted, but shook off the thought.
"Are you going to get changed?" She asked, walking over to one of the beds.
He shrugged. "Maybe. I'm not really all that tired."
She nodded. "Alright, well, I'm going to get some sleep then. Try not to be up all night. Good night, Kosuke." She said, climbing into bed.
"Night." Kosuke said, looking out the window.
When the morning came, the sunlight shined through the window, a gentle breeze coming through it. Rin opened her eyes and looked at her surroundings. "Guess that wasn't a dream after all." She said, sitting up. Her eyes fell on Kosuke, who was asleep at the desk in the room, cards all over the desk. "It looks like he fell asleep building a new deck." She smiled and stood up, stretching.
She went over to wake him up, but instead she just looked at him. "He looks kind of distressed." She thought, looking at his hands and his phone. She saw a picture of a girl on it with red hair with blue highlights and wearing a similar jacket to his, only with yellow on the panels. She seemed to be happy. "She must have been important to him…" She thought, looking at the time. "I'll let him sleep a little longer." She said, moving toward the bathroom. "Guess I'll take a shower."
She started to run the water and once it got to the right temperature, she stepped into it. She closed her eyes enjoying the feeling of the warm water on her skin. She then let out a groan, opening her eyes. "I forgot my clothes…" She said, finishing up her shower.
After her shower, she dried herself off and wrapped one of the towels around herself. She wiped the steam off of the mirror and checked her hair before stepping out into the room. "Okay, he's still sleeping." She said, grabbing her clothes and going back into the bathroom to get dressed.
"Shiro.." He mumbled. She looked back out at him before closing the door to get dressed. "Huh?" He said, opening his eyes and looking around. "Oh yeah, I forgot I was in this place." He said, sighing.
Rin stepped out of the bathroom, in her pink shorts and her jacket on again, drying her hair. "Hey, you're awake."
He nodded. "Uh, yeah, I guess I am." He said, yawning.
"If you'd have gone to sleep with me, maybe you wouldn't be so tired." She said, coming over to him.
"Now that, Rin, is my secret. I'm always tired." He replied, stretching. "Wait.. with you?"
"I meant at the same time as me." She said, blushing. Rin looked at his phone again. "So, who's that?"
"Huh? Oh her. That's Shiro Michizuki." He said. "She and I went to duel school together."
"Oh." She wasn't really sure of what to say. "Where did you go to school?" She asked.
"Duel Academy, actually." He said.
Her eyes widened. "Duel Academy? In the Fusion Dimension?"
He looked at her. "The what?" He said, completely confused.
She shook her head. "No, it's nothing. You came here from another world too. Of course that stuff didn't happen there." She said, calming herself down.
"I'm not going to say it was easy through my time there. In fact, I had to stop a couple world-ending events while I was there. But it was supposed to be just a normal duel school." He said.
She looked surprised. "What happened at yours?" She asked.
"I'd rather not talk about it. I'm sure you understand, based on your reaction." He replied.
"Yeah." She sighed. "So, you think she could be here?" She asked.
He shrugged. "Maybe." He began to pick up the cards on the desk.
She looked at the desk. "Here, let me help you put those away."
He smiled. "Thanks."
She picked up a few of the cards. "And this one… what?" She said in complete shock.
"Huh?" He asked.
She slowly turned to look at him. "How do you have one of these? Weren't there only four of these ever made?" She asked.
He nodded. "Well, no. Where I came from, Kaiba Corp hosted a competition. Whoever won would be given those cards."
"Those cards? You have more?" She asked.
He nodded. "I have three of them?"
"Three?!"
"Yeah. I won a tournament and I was given new versions of the card. Two of them were new artwork." He said, smiling and pulling out the other two. "I suppose you could say, where I come from, I had a reputation for obtaining a lot of rare cards that way."
She nodded, noting how he'd said it wasn't easy getting Black Rose Dragon either. She took the three cards and held them together. "This is amazing." She said, smiling. "The legendary Blue-Eyes White Dragon…" She said, turning to him. "You should make a deck with these." She said.
He nodded. "I was planning to. I just need a few more cards."
She nodded and placed them on the desk. "Is that what all of this was for?"
He nodded. "I got about halfway through planning this deck with Shiro when I ended up here." He said, looking through the half built deck.
She looked outside, wondering what she should say. "Hey, when is our match?" She asked.
"I'm not sure, we should check." He said, standing up and stretching. He looked through his phone and went to the schedule. "I guess we're first." He said before looking at the clock. "We've got about an hour." He said, putting the phone.
"I guess we should head there then." She said, walking to her bags. "Let's see if my duel disk is here." She said, digging around.
He nodded and walked over to his bags, pulling out his duel disk. It looked like an old Battle City one, but rather than blue with red, it was black with purple. "Mine's here. It's even customized the same."
"You're using that old thing?" She asked.
"I'll have you know this 'old thing' has been tuned up to use hard light technology." He said, smiling.
She smiled. "Really? So they have that where you're from." She said.
He nodded. "Let's get going. We have a tournament to win."
