YuGiOh Decade of the Duelist
Prologue: Yusuke's Boring Life
It was a dark, stormy night... wait, that sounded clique. But it was. It's always dark, and sometimes stormy. And I don't know if it was night or not, since every minute in every hour in every day looks the same in these parts, the only indicator of time being the watch on your wrist. No wonder this town is called Stormcrow City.
But enough of that. My name is Yusuke Okato, and I don't have a clue about my future. How can I? My 17-year-old body is raging with hormones and awkward tension between me and my classmates. Aside from my bangs, my hair is slicked up to the back, which is spiked, and in two colors, light blue stripes and black everywhere. I never quite figured out what my mother took when I was still a fetus, but it didn't effect me much beyond the hair.
Many people mock my limited fashion sense, but nothing really fit my image other then the black t-shirt, dark-red jacket, and dark-blue jeans I normally wear. Besides, my family's not that well grounded and I don't bother caring about their opinions. I don't really bother caring for anyone's opinions. Not worth the hassle.
And speaking of hassle, I see a trio of burly boys (men? Sasquatches? I dunno) approaching me. The local bullies of the block. They don't beat up kids simply because their childhood was hell. They're the kind of people you can see bullying their way to the top of any successful company. It's how Trump did it… I think.
"Yo, Useley!" The leader of the three, Taitan Bronks, calls me that utterly pathetic nickname that I think is supposed to be a pun of the words "Useless" and my name, but I digress, "Where ya goin'?"
Seeing as to how this happens nearly every time they see me, I give them my usual response; "Local card shop."
"You know dem nerds ain't got nothing on you," Taitan's left flunky, Aero Smith, that guy who's name you can never figure out if its just a nickname or his birthname, replies as always, "You're wastin' yer talents dere!"
"I don't intend to use them anyway," I speak my line exactly, "Now could you excuse me?"
"Sorry, pal," The other flunky, Bob Jones, snarls, "Time to show you pain."
I anticipate his attack, and dodge it with ease. Then I punch his face in, and the other two panic and run with their tail between their legs. Then, I walk to the phone booth, insert a quarter, and call the hospital.
"Hey, it's me. It happened again. This time it was Bob."
And with that, I left. They already know where he is right now. This happens on the same street corner at least twice a month. I only escape being arrested from this because it was always in self-defense.
I then entered the card shop and sat down at the usual spot. They always know I'm coming and have in fact reserved this seat for me. I used to believe that they were being courteous; than I realized that the Shopkeeper's niece, Shinori Takaki, had a crush on me. It's cute, but not well placed. I'm not attracted to girls like her. She's too kind, too self-sacrificing, and too… happy sometimes. I always figured she had a tragic past of some kind and she keeps the happy-face on in order to hide her pain. It always creeps me out, but who am I to comment?
"Good afternoon, Yusuke!" I heard her approaching. Turning, I saw her in another one of the outfits she insists to wear whenever working at the card shop. If I remember correctly, it's based on that card from the game most of the locals play. Dark Magician Girl or whatever. "How're you today?"
"Swell," I reply, following another script. Seriously, I've got to change it up a bit.
"So, any game you're interested in?"
"Nope. I'm just gonna sit here like I normally do," I reply, following the routine script to the letter.
Just at that moment, something happened that forced me to throw that script out the window.
KA-THOOOOOOM!
Running outside to investigate? Seemed clearly dangerous to me, but most of the time, danger is my calling card. Running!
I manage to get to the site of the explosion or whatever, and I find...
I don't know what it is. A massive blade on one arm (scratch that, DIRECTLY on one arm) indicates it may be some kind of bio-augmented soldier or something, but other then that, it just looks like a zombie covered in armor. And it looks PISSSSSSED.
I look at it, and...I can't tell if it's looking at me- waitaminute. It has pupils. Staring at me. And they look like they're functional. Shit.
Before I can escape, the beast manages to get in front of me faster then I can depart. Way faster. Like, light speed fast. I don't even think that's possible. But it happened. What IS this thing?
"DUEL..." It growls, "ME..."
It can talk, so it has a brain. Unfortunately, I don't have a gun. Or did it mean another type of duel?
Suddenly, the arm with the blade grows a large slot full of... children's playing cards? Is this what this thing had in mind? A card game?
"DUEL...ME..." It growls at me again.
"I don't play this game," I decided to explain.
The beast states blankly at me.
"BULLSHIT... EVERYONE PLAYS..."
"Not me. Hell, not even this entire town. There're only like five or six people I know who even know this particular game."
"...THIS PLANE OF EXISTENCE... IS BROKEN..." The zombie growls, "ALL... MUST... DIE!"
And just as that last word got hissed out, it got punched into a building by a blue blur. Sonic?
"YOU!" It roars.
And that's when I get a good look at the guy who may have just saved my ass. A long white coat of some kind. A large bladed implement on his arm, the same arm that the blade jutted from on the monster. His hair was spiked, but still brown, and his eyes... well, I couldn't see them from this angle.
"Alright," The man spoke, "I'd say that today, it's time to duel!"
And, well, that began one of the weirder chapters of my life, a time of my life in which I went through the passage of time and met up with freaks and weirdos, all obsessed with a children's card game. It was the beginning of my journey throughout the passage of time that defined us all in ways we did not realize.
It was my journey through time and space to become the Duelist of the Decade.
Pray for me.