Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh

Standard Leader

Akaba Reiji liked to be prepared.

An impending war with your runaway dad will force you to be like that. 13 years old was when he found out about his father's ambitions and it doesn't matter how well justified a war is—people will die.

And he'll be damned to let his people, his home from being invaded.

Oh, he considered informing others about it. The government should naturally be told of such important matters but who would listen to a 13 year old boy about such topics? No, the world was too peaceful, there hasn't been a war for centuries. People don't consider using solid vision as a means of instigating warfare, it's simply not in their mindset to do so. Using printed cards to summon fantastic beats and wipe out a city? Don't be ridiculous they thought, this is a game not some fictional war show.

Akaba pushed up his glasses. His 13 year old self may have been well known but he didn't have any pull, he couldn't influence what the rulers up top did. At least not yet.

So he studied.

Business, science, weapons, anything that would give him an edge.

Eventually he took over his father's company. There were worried concerns due to his age but numbers never did mean anything to him. Of course he polished his skills as a duellist, when life and death literally depended on his abilities then he would practice until he was at a level even pro's hardly achieved.

There were naturally problems he had to overcome. The most obvious of which is that the vast majority of people didn't exercise properly. It might not matter much here on his home world but when cards effects become tangible, dodging projectiles suddenly becomes an important skill. Thankfully the foundations were already set up for him. Yusho Sakaki, the pioneer of action duels, had already created the excuse for people to train. Running, acrobatics and duelling were all the rage when he was in his prime. His legacy lasted and now there were people who could perform physical feats like climbing up walls as if that was the natural human state.

Next were the cards themselves. There were apparently other dimensions out there, each representing a summoning technique but standard had no defining summoning archetype. Like it or not, Akaba understood well how minor differences can separate people. Should the worst case scenario occur and all three dimensions battle it out in standard then factions would form. His people would split off, joining their factions. There won't be a standard left.

So he monopolised them.

Resources were limited. His company can't spare giving every naive child a powerful card. He needs them for the best of the best. That's why LDS school exists, he needs warriors with a sharp sense. It was why he tolerated the Ryozanpaku school, barbaric they may be, they produced the finest fighters there is, and not just in the duelling sense. He set it up so only noteworthy duellist have access to extra deck cards. Simply request the card and if you're worthy enough you will receive an appropriate card. He made sure certain people would always be allowed including Yuzu Hiragi and the Gongenzaka heir.

Technology for action duels were still limited. They needed large projectors that were impractical to carry to even produce solid vision. He hoped his researches made headway in creating smaller, more efficient versions but it seems to be a far off dream. At least until he acquired Yuto's duel disk that is. If he could procure the machinery that produced solid vision then he would finally be able to rely on just his duel disk instead of specific areas to fight back.

And now this.

On the giant screen on front of him was the boy who pioneered pendulum summoning, much like his father did, he was well known for his entertainment duels. Yuya Sakaki doesn't have the soldier instinct necessary for his recruitment into the lancers—he gathered that much from their duel together. He has potential but for now he's only being considered. At the first the public weren't receptive to the idea of pendulum summoning. Why did this boy pull out a victory based on an entire new mechanic? On perhaps cards that shouldn't even exist? It was unfair and Akaba saw many dissent on public forum about the matter.

He squashed it as quickly as he could.

There was absolutely no way he was letting this slip though his fingers, he censored as much negativity as he could on the topic and released to the public that he would be mass producing these new cards. Every advantage no matter how small was crucial and this was no small matter. An entire new summoning method that the other dimensions never heard of? Gold, that was what the opportunity was and required his personal touch. His warriors will be equipped with this new weapon, that was why he even made the pendulum cards as an ante rule in the Maiami Championship. Let the ones who can wield it use it and fend off the fusion invaders if need to.

And now the boy himself, Yuya. What sort of secrets did he hold? How did he know pendulum summoning in the first place? Why does he have counterparts? His investigation didn't turn up anything particular noteworthy. He was as normal as you can expect from a boy like him.

But the screen in front of him told otherwise. He wore a furious face, something that would look more natural on a tiger than a boy. The three fusion soldiers stumbled over themselves at the sheer dissonance Yuya was exerting. He wasn't acting human, he was missing basic functions like pain. Fire swept over him and he merely dusted himself off afterwards. It was surreal like he belonged to an alien world.

"Just who are you?" Akaba whispered.

"Sir?" said his faithful guard.

Akaba shook my head. He didn't like these unanswered questions.

After all, he liked to be prepared.

I always wanted to write something about yugioh ever since Arc V came out. Figured I should start somewhere and this is what I ended up with. Leave a review if you enjoyed it.