Foreword
Please skip to the next chapter for the start of the story. I suspect this foreword is against community guidelines but I felt uneasy in slapping it at the beginning of the first chapter like an unsightly growth. Unless I get significant complaint I'll keep it here for now but would be happy to move it should that be required. This small piece is about my experience with the game of Yu-Gi-Oh itself and how that spurred me to write this. If you're unfamiliar with the game and focus more on the anime, then I'd suggest moving onto the first chapter. If not, I hope this gives some insight.
The original formats were a far cry from what the game is today. Anyone around for Legend of Blue-Eyes, Metal Raiders etc. will tell you it was a simpler time, a slower time. Call it the Yu-Gi-Oh embodiment of hazy summers down on the farm. Other players, some Youtubers I recall, call it caveman Yu-Gi-Oh – brute strength oftentimes beating over more nuanced approaches (not that there were an awful lot of options available back then). Despite its simplicity, some old-school players out there, maybe myself included, would argue the game was a lot more balanced, more skill-based and ultimately more enjoyable back then. A controversial point, perhaps, but as they say – you had to be there.
I personally lost interest in the game just before the GX-era dawned, mainly because it ceased being a fad in school. I would have continued. But there was no one to play with. Cry, cry. For the longest period it remained a forgotten pastime with no reason or incentive to spare even a momentary consideration towards. That being said, I kept the majority of my cards in a crude huddle within a plastic bag in the closet. Seemed no use in throwing them away, and I'll always be grateful that I didn't.
There was no significant reason for me taking them out after nearing a decade down time. A brief spurt of boredom can yield a lot if you're lucky. The nostalgia was pleasant. The inky scent of the cards in particular sparked a lot of memories, from receiving my first booster pack from a friend to playing endlessly in the schoolyard. With no one to play with in the current day, however, I consulted the Apple iStore for any Yu-Gi-Oh themed apps and found one with decent enough gameplay (at the time I was unaware of Devpro, Duelling Network and the like). The presence of these new crazy black and white cards were both intriguing and intimidating. I had seen images knocking around the internet at that time and honestly thought they were fake. But I had to own one, this new aesthetic was too good not to have. So, I ventured into purchasing my first (ever) structure deck online, that being Realm of Light, of which this story is based around.
I remember testing it with a friend and being utterly speechless to how quick and powerful the deck ran compared to my thrown-together excuse for what I thought was competitive. This story in part exemplifies that feeling I had, that feeling of shock and awe like being transported decades into the future and facing its ruthless efficiency. In reality, any Duel-Monster-era decks wouldn't stand a chance, barring feats of improbability, so I thought bringing the old trio of Yugi Mutou, Seto Kaiba, and Joey Wheeler into this mix would make for a tense storyline.
I've seen how some other writers portray the duels themselves, and I think I'm likely taking a risk in how I'm presenting. Full disclosure – the duels will be full play-by-plays, written in more traditional writing frames without anything like life point counts or hand contents being quoted outside of every paragraph. As of writing this foreword, the first duel is complete, but I'll likely hold off on submitting it until I've really worked through perfecting and condensing the associated chapters. As the first duel stands, I've written a lot more than I was planning, and with two whole duels yet to be written I'm dubious that this will all work in its current format.
This is all for leisure. I have my doubts anyone will pick up on this as it might not be the kind of thing fan-fic readers look for. But in the event that anyone does, I wouldn't want to disappoint by not finishing what I started. In any event, I plan on releasing the first two chapters along with this intro, and currently possess another two or three chapters which just need some tweaking. So, if you've happened upon this and plan on reading further, I hope you enjoy. Any comments or criticism are very welcome (I need practise in taking both). And certainly expect some additions in the coming weeks.
Let's Duel.