Branching Paths. Chapter 1. Heliamphora. Rewrite.
[Start.]
As he floats along in the void, Yuri has nothing but time to reminisce on his actions. He took sadistic pleasure in hurting the people he duelled, their fear being like a fine wine. He absorbed one of his other "Brother" pieces, and laughed when their version of Yuzu broke down.
He pushed Yuya into manifesting Z-arc's power, nearly destroying the dimensions because of it.
What a mess he made. And yet, aside from wishing to not hurt Yuya, and by extension Yuzu, he doesn't truly feel bad for it. All the atrocities he commited, he did because it was expected of him. Because he was raised to think that it was normal.
He does wish he could make it up to Yuzu's counterpart though. He never did associate with her.
Maybe he should apologise to Yuto if he ever sees him again.
His anger at his situation peaks, Starving Venom trying, but ultimately failing to calm him down. He can feel the rush of vines all around him, but he can't see anything.
"WILL SOMETHING JUST HAPPEN ALREADY!"
As if hearing his wishes, he feels a sharp pain in his head, his hands flying up to rest on it. "GAAAH!"
Memories, disjointed and off. A spirit is trying to latch on to him. His grin grows, as he fights against it, the both of their spirits coming to blows.
YES, THIS IS WHAT HE WANTED. "MAKE ME FEEL ALIVE!"
[Break.]
His impromptu "fight" with the spirit has changed him. He can feel this in his very body. The spirit doesn't have a name anymore, having lost it when it was split from its original body.
They are both Yuri now. Yuri Sakaki.
And the both of them ARE STILL TRAPPED HERE.
"Uuugh. Why couldn't you have been our ticket out of here, instead of a bunch of memories."
He can feel the spirit is indignant. He can't help but laugh at the absurdity.
"Let me see this 'new meta' you were talking about. I want to know everything."
And so he sees all of it. Turbo decks, four turn duels. One turn 'kills'. Monsters, unable to be touched by anything except battle, and sometimes not even then.
His own predaplants are incredible now, but even they don't always stack up to it. He loves the idea, but hates that his cards aren't the best. Though, with cards like this "Triphyovertum" or "Dragostapelia", he's honestly surprised that anything can beat him. Just how powerful do card effects become?
Looking through the deck that his other self constructed, he is incredulous that a deck with 59 cards can work at all, but from the memories they work well enough to bring him victory. It's honestly quite the shock.
What kind of idiot runs a deck with more than, at most, 43 cards?
"Well. I suppose that since we have nothing better to do, let's establish some ground rules. I will be the one in charge of this body. You are not Yuya, and have not earned my permission to be in charge. Though it is an unfortunate truth that you will likely begin influencing me, You will only gain control if I say so. Do you understand?"
He can feel the spirit roll its eyes at him. The agreement is likely just to keep him quiet. He takes it as serious anyway.
"Good. We are both Yuri now, and I refuse to get dragged down by my other self. Now, how does the synergy between these 'Manga cards' work with my deck?"
As his other self feeds him information, he also gains the feelings it felt whenever it used these particular combinations.
He can feel it beginning to slip away as it's memories merge with his.
"I will miss you. But I will keep your spirit safe. Farewell."
A tired feeling. "Goodbye Yuri. Don't… Fuck… Up…"
As it finally fades, he is melancholy for a second. Then the pain hits.
[Break.]
A flood of memories. A flood of memories is what nearly kills him, in this place full of what his mind calls "Ka." Dark energy, specifically Shadow energy, that the ancient kings used.
According to his new found memories, he and the other "Z-arc boys" had been manifesting Ka using a bastardized version of the manifestation process that the ancient priests would originally use, Yuri and Yuto "sacrificing" people so they could manifest their abilities.
He finds it quite funny that his sadism granted him the very ability to feel Starving Venom. How odd that the worst part of him granted him the best.
He can feel the spirit of Starving Venom coil around him.
"I've missed you too friend."
Enjoying the presence of his version of the Dimensional dragon, he is content.
Until something metal hits his forehead.
"GAH. WHAT THE… What the hell? A briefcase?"
Floating right in front of him, a metal briefcase, emblazoned with two large I's on the front.
"Industrial Illusions card creation Kit. Model, Percy? Who is Percy?"
His question goes unanswered. Until the spirit shows up again.
"Percy was the person that made the YGOPro programme? That game you played with your 59 card deck? I see."
Wait. He's surrounded by Shadow magic.
"If this card can print any card, then does that mean we'd be able to leave with the right one?"
The "probably" that he gets back isn't reassuring.
Finally, the spirit manages to try to manifest. Unfortunately, it comes out as a toonish, deformed Starving Venom.
"This is… Odd. Anyway, What cards let you bring back banished cards? Maybe we could try one of them? Feed it one of my Starving Venom cards yeah?"
"But I…" He sighs, looking away from the Toon starving venom. "Fine."
Looking up the card he wants, [Return from the Dark Dimension], he feeds the card into the slot, the new one popping out with a ding noise.
"Now how do I use this?"
"Focus on the feeling you had whenever you'd have Starving Venom actually attack people. Simple right?"
"Well I… I suppose so."
Clearing his throat, he begins channelling the feeling he used to have, his [Awakening] state.
Darkness overtakes him, and it's agonising, but he keeps his head, channelling all of the energy into his card.
"I ACTIVATE, [RETURN FROM THE DARK DIMENSION] TO FREE ME, AND MY PREDAPLANTS, FROM THIS DARK FILLED WORLD OF NOTHING!"
As the card activates, light floods the entire area. It's hard to see, and he can hear all of the predaplants in the surrounding area, before they converge on him. Rather than ripping him apart, as he'd expect, they all flow into his cards.
Before he has time to think about that, he's falling through a rip in the darkness. He doesn't even have time to let out more than a surprised noise.
[Break.]
Manning his grandfather's shop, Yugi Moto can't help but smile. When, instead of joining the pro circuit, he decided to settle down with Tea, and help his grandfather run the shop, Kaiba was incredulous. He still finds it funny, to this day.
Something Kaiba doesn't seem to understand is that he preferred the quiet. As well as the ability to just play a game, with no stakes involved.
The shadow games nearly sapped his love for Duel Monsters. But only nearly.
Looking around the card shop he basically grew up in, seeing all the dust marks where posters used to be. He is content here.
Looking across the street, his smile breaks as his eyes widen, completely alert. A shadow portal? Here?
"Grandfather! I need you to watch the shop for me, I will be back in a moment."
He doesn't hear his grandfather's reply, already practically rushing out of the shop. As he looks around, he's thankful there's no one actually around, otherwise there'd be no way to cover up the giant hole in space. They'd all flock to him because he's a "Celebrity."
Walking across the road, he sees a shape flying out of the portal. A monster? His hand flies to his deck, ready to draw a card at the first sign of hostility in case the creature wants to play a shadow game.
Thankfully, he doesn't have to worry, as the only thing that comes flying out of the portal is a young man, with hair almost as crazy as his, colour wise.
[Break.]
He lands hard, a pained grunt escaping his body.
Sitting up, he's about to look around to find out where he is, when he hears a voice next to him.
"Who are you?"
Looking to his left, he can match a face with the voice and… And… Is that Yugi Moto?
Shaking his head as he stands up, finding himself in front of what was basically duelling royalty he tries his best to keep his starstruck expression off his face. Judging by the minor discomfort he can see in Yugi's posture, he didn't do too well.
"My name is Yuri Sakaki. It's nice to meet you sir."
Yugi chuckles slightly. "I'm guessing you already know my name. How about you come into the Game store, and you can explain how you got here?"
"Alright."
[Break.]
Walking into Kame Game story, a place practically spoken of in legend, as the place that Yugi Moto, the first king of games, got his start, is… Surprisingly underwhelming. It isn't fancy, and it's surprisingly… homely.
He feels comfortable here.
"Now then, Yuri. I'm just going to be straight with you." Yugi clears his throat. "What the hell was that?"
He blinks, a bit surprised by the language. But, looking at Yugi in the eyes, he begins his tale.
After he's finished explaining the entire Z-arc plotline, as his wandering spirit calls it, he hunkers down on the details.
"Once we'd managed to make Riley smile, Yuya went on to become a dueltainer. He was happy, and it was fun, but then one day, I just woke up in a void. There was nothing there, except for what felt like my predaplants, trying to call out to me, but they were stuck there, just as I was. It was horrible, but eventually, another spirit showed up. I think you're able to see him, he's the deformed dragon."
"Hello~." Said deformed dragon waves at Yugi.
"Hello there." He takes it well, not even put off by its appearance. Though, he's likely seen worse.
"Mm. Anyway, once he showed up, things sped up quite a lot. Once I had his memories, I thought he was going to die. Instead he just manifested as a deformed version of my favorite card."
"How horrible." He can see the grin on Yugi's face, and gives him a bit of a stink eye.
"Quite. Anyway, once the memories had transferred over, My own dragon, Starving Venom, managed to manifest for the first time in quite a while. It was good to see him again."
Yugi nods, a small smile on his face. "I know how you feel. The first time I summoned Dark Magician by myself was quite a wonderful experience. The spirit merging with you probably gave you a jump start of Ka, allowing it to manifest itself without help."
"I… Didn't think about that. Anyway, as I was enjoying his presence again, a metal briefcase with the Industrial Illusions logo hit my head. At first I was annoyed, but it turned out to be the key to my escape you see."
"Just what is this briefcase? It looks like the one Kaiba tried to sell my grandfather years ago."
"It's a card printer, effectively. You feed it a card, and it can make another one pop out, e-even cards that don't exist yet. Cards from the wandering spirits' time. They are… Scarily powerful, but incredible. The possibilities are… I can't say endless, but they are still amazing."
Yugi brings a hand up to his chin, an uncomfortable expression on his face. "We will probably need to contact Pegasus about this. He does not like the idea of competitors."
The spirit decides to speak up, it's voice a lot more high pitched now. "Considerin' that in one universe he made a guy fuse a gun to his hand, and then put a bullet in his own head? Yeah I ain't surprised. Guy's pretty ruthless for an eccentric."
"He… Actually, I think I can see Pegasus doing something like that, especially back when he had the millenium eye."
Yuri shivers despite himself. Wander talked about it as if it was something Pegasus casually did.
"Don't worry too much though Yuri. Pegasus has a habit of helping people, young and old. Your story is a bit far fetched for a normal person, but thankfully… Pegasus, and I, are not normal people. Just explain the situation, and he shouldn't be too angry."
"Thank you, Mr Moto. Thank you for helping me." Yuri's voice is subdued. It sounds alien to his usual self, high strung and full of pride even at his worst. Is he genuinely afraid?
Shaking his head, he stands up, walking with Yugi further into the shop.
They come out into a stairwell, and at the top of it is a lounge area. A TV with a VCR is there. He's surprised that despite the fast advancement, Yugi still uses one.
Seeing his unspoken question, Yugi smiles. "We don't want to get a new one, because then Grandpa will have to learn how to use it again."
"Ah."
"Now, this next part is a bit weird, alright? When Pegasus first invited me to the Duelist Kingdom, he did it with a shadow game. Now, while the danger is gone, something he did that we didn't know at the time was that he created what amounts to a live interface, so we can talk to him at any moment. We both just have to channel a bit of Ka into the tape."
Yugi holds out the tape, one hand on it. This feels like the start of a horror movie, but even with Wander giggling at him for thinking that, he isn't going to back down. Putting his hand on the tape, he channels some of the shadow magic he has, feeling Starving Venom and two others helping him… He can name them as well, the Predaplants' Chlamydosundew and Sarraceniant.
All three of them, and Wander, are assisting him to channel the shadow magic without hurting himself. He is… Honestly touched.
"Perfect. Now we just put it in the VCR, and…"
The room goes dark, with everything around them looking like it's stopped in time.
"What is-" "Just hold on, he'll be here in a minute."
After a small bit of waiting, a groggy looking Pegasus appears on the screen, having answered their "phone call."
"Yugi boy. Why are you contacting me this early? And who is this with you? I'd just put myself down for bed you know."
"Yes, I apologise Pegasus, but this is important. This is Yuri, and he has something to show you."
Pegasus looks at him, and while he's nervous, he decides to breathe out, before schooling his expression.
Bringing the briefcase up, he puts it down in front of the tv.
"Mister Pegasus, my name is Yuri. As of two hours ago, I think anyway, I am now the owner of this briefcase. You may be wondering, why am I bothering you about a briefcase? That would be because this briefcase can print Duel Monster cards. Even cards that don't exist yet."
Pegasus' expression doesn't change as he explains, and he finds himself quite nervous by the end of it.
"And what, Mister Yuri, do you intend to do, with this briefcase?"
"I was going to turn it over to you, so you could make sure it was genuine?"
A dry chuckle bubbles from Pegasus. Before he knows it, Yugi, He, and the briefcase are all sucked into the TV screen, and standing in front of Pegasus.
"Smart boy. Let me see it yes?"
Handing over the briefcase, he watches as Pegasus studies it, first the casing, even running his hand over the logo. Then he opens it.
"Now what's this, Yuri boy?"
Clearing his throat, Yuri moves so he can see the screen.
"From what I've learned, you feed it a card and it'll have another one that you've typed up come out. It was how I escaped from a place full of darkness. Allow me to demonstrate?"
Pegasus nods his head, so Yuri reaches his hand out, typing in [Starving Venom Dragon.] into the briefcase/computer. A picture of his signature monster shows up on screen.
"Interesting. Now how do you get the card?"
Taking out [Return from Dark Dimension], Yuri slots it into place in the reader. After a second of waiting, a fresh copy of Starving Venom Dragon slides out of the reader.
"Hmm. Very Interesting, Yuri boy. I'll have to check for anything like this in my company. I don't tolerate people trying to undercut me, or making counterfeits."
Yuri breathes a small sigh of relief.
"But."
He tenses up again, Oh no.
"I do have a job offer for you my boy. How would you like to be an Industrial Illusions card beta tester? I'll even let you keep the briefcase, once all of the cards are logged into my private database."
Yuri stares dumbly for a minute, before Wander clicks a finger in front of his face. Shaking his head, he grins. "Of course I would enjoy a job like that sir!"
"Good. But keep in mind that any of those 'new cards' you want to use, I would prefer if you didn't use them all the time. Make a deck that fits with the now times, and we'll add in a few cards that could fit in the meta of now, okay?"
"Yes sir, Mr Pegasus."
[Break.]
"Well… that went better than expected."
"Yeah, it did."
"Anyway, I'll be back in a moment."
The both of them get up, Yuri stretching his arms and legs. While his spirit was in the Tv, his body didn't move too much and he's feeling a bit stiff.
When Yugi comes back, he's carrying three packets of a King Dragun structure pack.
"We've got to make you a deck Yuri."
Yuri smiles. It's a much nicer smile then his usual ones.
[End.]