Ever imagined what Yugioh monsters might be like if they were similar to Pokemon? Neither did I, till now.
No understanding of Yugioh is necessary. I would suggest looking up the artwork for the monsters though since every single one will have a photo of some kind to help visualize it.
Ay-On
The first warning I received that something was wrong was the ungodly throbbing pounding in my head. It was all I could do for a moment but to remain lying down with my eye's plastered shut in the vain hope that the side-effects of whatever unholy bender I must have gone on last night went away and I could convalesce in peace.
My wishes remained unanswered, however. As a side note, I wondered where I was and - well I would have questioned how I got to wherever 'here' was but I figured I wouldn't really remember that so I didn't bother trying. One of the few things I could note beyond the ache in my skull was the soft linen sheets I was currently surrounded by. Normally this wouldn't be of much note but I knew from years of personal experience that my own sheets were not anywhere near this pleasant.
Certainly not from a lack of spending money, I'm just a lazy bastard. They aren't bad enough to really cause me any discomfort so why bother? Personal sloth habit aside, these sheets are REALLY great. I might have to look into getting mine replaced after all...
The furious pounding seems to be slowing down now, at least. Its gone from the furious war drums of a conquest-bound army to the quick beats of a tribal rhythm. At least my body doesn't hurt, hopefully meaning I didn't do anything too crazy beyond getting horrendously plastered. Probably. I'm not the kind for recreational drugs, let alone hard drugs, so hopefully I won't find any blown out veins when I'm finally up and about.
Also, is that a... Rock? Digging into my side? Now that I'm finally taking note of more things than just the pain in my skull and the feel of the sheets on my skin I can safely say something hard and sharpish is pressing in to me just enough to cause small discomforts. Releasing a gusty sigh, I finally exert a tremendous amount of effort and sit up. It takes a few moments, but I finally reach a semi-vertical position.
I celebrate my small victory (in my head) and crack my eyes a fraction. Light immediately pierced through the tiny slit I made and I slammed them back shut. Maybe I'll leave off opening them for a later time. Blindy fumbling under the covers, I find the strange object that was apparently my bedmate. A quick once over with my hands doesn't reveal any profound truths about whatever it is that I'm holding.
It has a rough texture but feels quite hard - a quick tap and a squeeze provokes no movement and provides no give in the material. Blearily accepting my fate, I open up my eyes all the way and wince for several moments while they adjust and the throbbing slowly recedes. I blink several times before I can see good enough to actually process what I'm seeing.
The blue bedspread I've pushed away from me is definitely not mine. Blue is one of my favorite colors, but I would never personally go for this particular shade. A quick glance around the room reveals no new clues to me as to where I am. In this kind if situation my first guess would have been that I was waking up from a blackout drunk kind of night and a one night stand - Probably one I would come to regret shortly after.
That particular option doesn't seem to be right because the bed I'm on is at most a full. There are no indicators of a feminine presence in the room either - and I'm a straight shooter. I'm all about equal rights but I personally don't swing that way. The room actually seems quite lacking in personal indicators now that I can see it. No family photo's, posters, or items that would indicate someone actually lived in the room. It had all the normal amenities - a dresser, a closet, tasteful wall art, but not much more than that. No wear and tear from a well loved room, absolutely nothing on the floor (really that alone would have told me I wasn't in my own room) and not a personal touch of any kind to be seen.
My confusion at my situation is only increasing as my faculties return to me. The pain in my head has also reduced itself to low simmer, nothing I can't stand and definitely going away far faster than any hangover I've ever had. My as of yet non-existent spidey senses are tingling quite fiercely at this strange predicament. My brain slowly continues its observations of my situation until it finally returns to the object now held in my lap.
I pick it back up and hold it in front of my eyes. Its large and ovular in shape, fatter on the bottom half and narrowing near the top. The exterior is a strange milky white that seems to be softly glowing. The only reason I can even tell its emitting light at all is because its pulsing off and on again - very slowly. Enough to notice a difference every 20 or so seconds. I can't help but think it looks like something I know of but not in an obvious way.
My first guess would be its an egg of some sort. I'd rather not be on the wrong end of whatever comes out of this bad boy because this monster is already nearly two feet tall. Whatever grows out of this thing will be an absolute monster in size. Assuming that its an egg of course.
Heaving out a sigh and accepting I have absolutely no idea what's going on anymore, I shift a little to get more comfortable in the bed while I try and figure out what the hell I'm going to do next. Before I get very far in my train of thought I hear a crinkle of paper shift and move with the blankets. It takes a few moments of searching, but I finally find the offending note and immediately pull it up to be read.
Mr. Aion,
I must regretfully inform you of a small matter of happenstance of which you are a part of.
I snorted. Nothing ever good could possibly start with that sentence.
There is no point in mincing words or dancing around the subject so I shall endeavor to give you all the information you need in an upfront manner. Your soul was in a transitionary status between one world and the next when we experienced what you would know as a 'glitch' in the system. Your soul was beginning the process to materialize itself into a world where 'card games' as you know them are reality instead of a mere way to pass the time. You would have been reincarnated as a loyal foot soldier card with high base stats and no special effects. Before this was able to occur, a destabilization of the new world 'shook' your soul from its attachment.
Before I discuss anything else, you need to know some modifications were made to your soul before the event took place and you will find some... discrepancies with your capabilities versus all the other residents of this universe. All of your memories are intact, so you know what your baseline world was like. In comparison, the new world you are currently in does have magic, though the everyday human does not know of its existence.
In this regard is where you are unique. To allow your soul to function properly in the 'card game' world, it had to be 'formatted' differently. Look, its a lot of complicated and long terms for what was done but the important thing that will impact you in THIS world is that you too can use magic. Just not any of the kinds that anyone else in the world uses.
What I mean is I'm sure you will wind up meeting some other folks who can utilize their powers and I must inform you whatever you see them do, you will not be capable of. You don't have the 'mana' or 'energy' or however you want to call it to cast or use anything like that. Call it a difference in Operating Systems. You're running Linux and they're on Windows. Whatever works for you.
Now, because the fault is technically with us, we are going to give you a hint. The truth is we have no clue how things are going to shake out for you down there, but we hope for nothing but the best. What you can do to work around your lack of magical energy is use the new format of your soul. You see, in the 'card game' universe, there are certain games that do use magicka or some resource for casting, but many games simply allowed you to cast the spell as long as you had the spell in your hand and focused more on using combo's to draw and chain cards together.
We're not sure what kind of card games are down there so we can't tell you what you'll find - but if there is one things humans have taught us is that their imagination is endless, and you can likely find a card came with spells that you can utilize. Now things are going to be different for you because the rules that govern the 'card game' universe don't exist for you. Meaning while normally a player would be limited by 'hand size' or 'draws per turn' or something like that, those rules simply... don't exist here.
I won't prattle on anymore, but I daresay your life will be quite interesting from here on out.
Best of Luck,
Soul Master - Tim Sladeshayer
P.S. I grabbed a random card from some shop near where you now live to give you a head start.
I suppose I did go on a bender of some sort. I mean, ones soul doesn't just leave the earth of its own volition. Normally death is involved. Probably my death. Lord only knows how because I certainly can't remember - although I have all of my other memories. I've never been one for long periods of reflection when I find myself in situations that are completely out of my control.
I mean really, assuming this note is really what the hell am I supposed to do about it? The truth is there is probably absolutely nothing to do but live my life now and while I can look into what happened I don't think it will necessarily get me anywhere.
Tabling those thoughts for a later time, I decided my next order of business was to get a better look at this egg thing I still was holding in my lap. The letter seemed to indicate there are multiple instances of 'humans' across the worlds or universes or whatever the hell it was saying and that we are all quite creative. I played (very casually) one or two Trading Card Games and Video games that were variations of card games. Maybe there is some similarities between our worlds/universes/humanities and I recognize the egg as something similar.
Well, Tim my dearest 'Soul Master' said he picked up a random card. Maybe its still here? Also maybe I should get dressed - or see if I even have any clothes. I can feel these lovely sheets under my butt because it is quite bare. Apparently soul transfers don't come with clothing choices.
I gently moved the egg aside, crawled out of bed and flung open the closet door, hoping for something to where. To my delight, I found all the important things one needs to dress themselves - Underwear, jackets, shorts and several black t-shirts in my size with a band logo on the front. I recognize the logo, but not the band name. The logo is not particularly complex, really its just two brackets surrounding three diagonal lines, so it could have been a simple coincidence. My head is telling me otherwise however. This particular shirt shows up in MY closet, in the very same color it was in from my original homeworld? Well, I guess time will tell.
I also find pants in the closet which fit perfectly. While that might not normally raise warning bells, I can never find pants that fit. At least not easily. I always wind up needing to custom order them because of how tall I am - which is just a couple inches shy of six and a half feet. If my suspicion is right, then the 'Soul Masters' also recreated my body and gave me a place to live. I haven't left my room or seen a mirror yet, but the coincidences are rapidly piling up.
After getting dressed with my Band Tee and pants that fit ludicrously well - seriously none of my pants back home fit nearly as comfortably - I went back to the bed and my strange new companion. A small table next to my bed reveals nothing so I push the into a bunch so I can see most of the bed. Right where I suspect the egg first was when I woke up I see the back of a small black and brown card - the art makes it look like a black whole is sucking the brown border into the center. This quickly sparks my brain as while I haven't physically held on of these in a very long time I am acutely aware of what a Yugioh card looks like. I mean, I had a grand old collection when I was a kid, and I bought a game before my soul transitioned that had each of the Yugioh show's as a campaign to play. Collecting cards in that game showed you the back of the card each time you got them - and with only getting eight cards per pack I spent a LOT of time starting at those damn backs.
Well that explains why the egg looks familiar, unless the band tee thing happened to Yugioh too, where it has the same markings but winds up being something totally different.
"Welp. No time like the present to find out." Turns out my voice is quite scratchy at the moment. I wonder if they made my body brand new?
Casting aside my new question, I grabbed the card. Turning it over, I read the title.
[The White Stone of Ancients]
Once per turn, during the End Phase, if this card is in the GY because it was sent there this turn: You can Special Summon 1 "Blue-Eyes" monster from your Deck. You can banish this card from your GY, then target 1 "Blue-Eyes" monster in your GY; add it to your hand. You can only use this effect of "The White Stone of Ancients" once per turn.
Well I'll be damned. The White Stone of Ancients is a lovely card in the Yugioh cardverse - but my mind is current racing along because I have an ACTUAL EGG in my bed that turns out to be the thing that summons a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Normally, the card is used in a couple of ways. Using some kind of effect, the card is sent to the graveyard or just summoned in the hopes the other player destroys it (its defence is quite low so it isn't hard) and then at the end of that turn, its effect initiates.
It brings out a Blue-Eyes monster straight from the deck. Slight issue being here I have no deck or graveyard - this is real life. But I have the card and in turn I guess I have the egg. What in the actual fuck does that mean? Tim mentioned my soul was formatted differently, or that I operate on a different Operating System than the rest of the world. So the effects of this card are going to act differently since I'm apparently bringing the card to life?
Wait a minute - Yugioh has spells to. The card specifically mentioned I have NO mana whatsoever so I am completely incompatible with the base energies most folks use. Maybe Tim was pointing me in this direction? He pointed out specifically how I was in line with the card game universe and that they frequently featured games where no mana was used - the spell was cast based on the card. Maybe I can just hold onto a spell card and I will be able to use it? Although it does bring into question how it will work because some spells have certain other costs such as damage to lifepoints, no special summoning, no draws for one or two turns, or things like that.
If I take damage to my 'lifepoints' would that just hurt me? Beyond that cards that restore lifepoints (the entire Aromage archetype is focused on that) could either bring that back or put me over my normal life total. Immortality? Possibly. Recovery from grievous wounds? Maybe. Too many unknowns to guess at this point in time.
Every monster has 'Attack points' and 'Defense Points'. In the game, Defense points only apply if they are in the defense position (or set) but that clearly doesn't exist in the normal world. Some creatures have specifically 0 defense. Also, I wonder what the attack points of a baseline human would apply to? An even better question - as a person who is interacting with the world, could I put an equip spell on myself? Something like Power of the Guardians, where every time I attack or am attacked I gain attack/defense?
Humph. Trying to figure out how a cardgames ruleset works in a real world is rather difficult. I suppose the best way for me to figure it all out is to go... find more cards and see for myself what the effects do.
Well, after I figure out what the hell to do with this egg. That supposedly summons a 'nearly invincible' dragon. Will it be under my control if it does? And if it does, where will I hide the damn thing? Some cards provide a little context to their size by having other things in the shot - I don't remember any Blue-Eyes White Dragons with anything like that. It could be five stories tall for all I know.
Heck, if I accidentally pick up a card do I just bring it to life? Do I get a say in the - My train of though is abruptly derailed at the sudden crack that resounds through the room. Hesitantly, I look over at the only possible suspect that the noise could have originated from.
Sure as can be, the pearly white surface of the egg now has a visible crack running along the center, reaching the top and presumably going down the other side.
Crack.
Well, it looks like I'm about to answer one or possibly more of my questions. Hopefully I don't die this soon after being reborn (or whatever happened to me). The echoing sounds of more cracks are accompanied by the distinct sounds of tapping. The taps are accompanied by a noticeable bulge in the egg where the noise originated from as more cracks spread across the entire egg.
In reality it took all of a minute before the dragon was done hatching. Several Eternities in my head and one small panic attack averted, I couldn't help but gaze in awe at the newly hatched... Dragon? Mewling in the remains of its old container.
I did what any self respecting man would do in this situation. I knelt by the side of the bed and began cooing at him with the best baby voice I had. "Oh my gosh, you are just the cutest thing I have ever laid eyes on! Look at you, all grown up and hatching all by yourself! Good job little guy."
The little pale blue dragonling just blinked at me with confused eyes before opening its jaws and unleashed the cutest chirp I have ever heard. I reached out my hand to stroke his head and prayed that I didn't lose a finger. While hey may not have been THAT large the egg did an excellent job at contorting him to fit into a tiny space. He was nearly 5 feet long from head to tail by my reckoning, and he was packing a set of razor sharp teeth already. Teeth that by their appearance were not meant to be used for much beyond the ripping and tearing of flesh.
Oh well. The thing really just looks like a tiny Blue-Eyes White dragon. The coloration is unchanged from a metallic-like sky blue with grey and black lines. His head almost looks like a helmet; the back end of it extends behind his neck a little ways in the form of several sharp looking ridges. Roughly where his ears would be is instead a rigid looking flap that extends behind his head along with the other ridges. That same flap forms into a sharp spike that protrudes out from the corner of his mouth, one on each side. My only guess as to its functionality is that if he opens his jaws wide and is trying to bit into something large than his mouth, the spikes will stab into it? It couldn't be for a better grip because the teeth and jaw would do a much better job of holding something than the two spikes could ever do.
Maybe its an intimidation thing. Spikes are scary, after all. His long neck reaches down to the rest of his body which, besides the wings, is similarly shaped to a T-Rex. I say this because his hind legs are decently larger than his front ones, and from the way the dragon arranged himself he primarily stands on those two legs as well. Unlike a T-Rex, his arms are long enough and large enough to do some serious damage. It looks like he can stand on all fours if he needed to, and while he doesn't have opposable thumbs he does have a fourth talon with a slight arch that would let him grab things.
Its hard to gauge his weight without actually picking him up, but I imagine he is quite heavy. My hand had stopped moving while I contemplated the likelihood of me keeping all my fingers when it chirped at me again and butted its head into my hands. At first my hand was resting on top of its plated head before I started rubbing. It quickly got tired of that and shoved its nostrils into the palm of my hand and started chuffing.
I let it do this and prayed to any and all God's that might have been watching that the little dragonling wasn't hungry right after hatching.
After sniffing my hand several more times, it released a contented snuffle before getting up and giving a mighty stretch to all of its legs.
It hopped off the bed and I quickly turned to face it, hoping against hope I didn't activate its predatory instincts and give it a reason to maim me. Thus far its acted more like a content house cat than a dragon but... The damn description on their card probably doesn't reassure me any, from what I remember it says very few live to tell the tale of meeting it. And something about it being a near invincible engine of destruction.
That got me thinking about something else - would this dragon grow up to become more like its card description, or its actual card in the game? Its not to be mistaken, Blue-Eyes White Dragon is a strong card, BUT it has no effects and has a 3000 attack statline - which while high, is not that difficult to get over. for example, ANY card that says it can 'Destroy on card on the field' can destroy the Blue-Eyes with great ease.
In this scenario, however, because its, ya know, real life, there isn't any equivalent of that. Which also brings me back to one of my earlier questions; what is the base statline of a human? And would would the difference in attack power be exponentially different or more linear? For example, a Blue-Eyes White Dragon at 3000 attack is by the linear point of view, two times as strong as a monster with 1500 attack. But since we're discarding all card game rules, it would make more sense to be an exponential scale, like the Richter scale. The Richter scale is actually Logarithmic, but the example still stands. Per the scale, a 6 is actually 30 times more powerful than a 5. Which is why the use decimal points on the scale - each point is drastically more or less powerful than the last.
Based off the statlines of many cards I cannot imagine their numerical values could be on a linear scale in real life. Especially with the description of the Blue Eyes. Seriously. Nearly Invincible. I let out another explosive sigh. Another thing to add to the list of things for me to find out later.
While I was distracted, the little dragonling had gotten bored and roamed around the room. His exploration finished, he came back to me since I was now resting my back against the bedrest and started pawing the ground and circling in place, much like a cat, before settling down in a tight ball. His long neck unwound a little bit and to my surprise, came to rest in my lap.
Maybe it was the shock of many recent... Discoveries regarding my new life, but I couldn't bring myself to be scared of the little dragon. He would likely have killed me by now if he was just a wild animal, and the fact he was born out of the egg I brought to life... Well I liked to stay optimistic.
I would really appreciate having a friend in this strange new world, even if it was a dragon quoted as being an engine of destruction. Nothing to be done about it now, I suppose. "Hey little guy. Well, I guess you're not so little..."
He looked up directly into my eyes when I started speaking, and I got the distinct impression this little dragonling was going to be very intelligent. Hell, he probably already was and he wasn't even one hour old yet.
I ran my hand over his headplate and forged on. "Listen, I know you were just born but I have some idea of what kind of absolute beast you will eventually grow up to be, and I'd really like to be your friend. Well, I'll be your friend no matter what if you'll have me, I'm not just asking because you'll be strong. You see, much like you, I've only been in this world for a few hours." I don't know how long I was asleep for but I'm not going to count unconscious hours.
"It would be my honor if you would be my first friend in this strange new place. Although I would understand if you didn't want to be - if there is one thing I've learned from games and shows is that oddities are almost always singled out and identified as quickly as possible. Then either recruited or eliminated. If the things I suspect are possible are even halfway true... Buddy we're gonna be in a lot of trouble. I'm not going to count on luck to keep me under the radar, but with how unusual this power seems to be I doubt I'll have the chance to learn its full capabilities before I'm found out." I continued stroking his headplate and eventually reached behind him slowly to make sure he wasn't going to snap at me before stroking the hard frills behind his head.
If the croons and kneading my knee was now receiving were any indication, he was quite happy with the treatment. "Depending on how fast you grow up I'm also very unsure as to how long I can hide your existence from others. Matter of fact you'll probably be a bigger target than I am right off the bat, unless they learn how I... created you in the first place. I don't know what we'll face little buddy but I promise I'll try my best to protect you and us. If you do the same, great, if not... I'll understand. It wasn't really your choice to be born into this place... Heck maybe there are more of you in this world. Maybe you're a native species!" I very much doubted this, but I still haven't left my room so much like Schrodinger's cat, anythings possible.
With his impossibly blue and intelligent eyes, he turned back to me again and placed a clawed paw on my chest. He let out a low croon before bumping his headplate gently into my chin. "Are you... trying to comfort me little dragonling?" I could have sworn he nodded at me, but the movement was quick and jerky and could as just of easily been a muscle spasm. "You're the best little dragonling a displaced soul could have ever asked for. "Now, before it becomes more of an issue than it already is, are you hungry little guy? I know I sure am. Also I guess I'm gonna have to sneak you food unless I verify people know dragon's exist... Although I definitely got the idea magical things we included in the 'things normal humans don't know about'. And there is now way you're not magical - no way you can fly with that much scaled plate you've got going on."
The dragon let out a loud snort in response. He was definitely a smart little cookie. Uncurling from my side, he stretched again and jumped onto the bed with a single lithe movement. I was lost in my thoughts until I felt what must have been his tail smack the back of my head.
Holding the stinging flesh I turned around to admonish him but the words died in my throat as I saw what he was looking at. Right next to the card where the [The White Stone of Ancients] was sitting now sat a new card that definitely wasn't there before. Features looking much like the very dragon that sat above it was a glossy card that read [Blue-Eyes White Dragon].
"What in the world..." Was all I could get out. I reached over to pick up the card but before my fingers made contact, the little dragonling used his snout to push my hand away. He huffed and puffed at me and seemed to indicate something with his head.
"Well, I'm watching little one. Show me what you want." I wasn't sure what he was trying to do, but he got my attention for a reason so I figured he was up to something. The blue dragon gave me a quick look to make sure I was watching, then gently tapped his nose to the newly minted [Blue-Eyes White Dragon] card. With a sudden flash of light and a sound like an quick inhalation, the dragon disappeared.
For a few moments I could only sit there mutely and stare in shock. With a barely noticeable tremble my hand scooped the card off the bed. Nothing happened right away, which at least confirmed I could touch cards without immediately triggering whatever it was. Remembering back to the few episodes I had watched of the first anime show Yugioh ever had, I stood up and walked into the center of the room.
I held up the card in one hand, pinched between two fingers, drew in a breath and slowly released it. "Here goes nothing... Blue-Eyes White Dragon, I summon you!" I felt something stir within me, releasing a tingling sensation from my core that coalesced from sparking jolts into a heavier feeling; as though something physical was traveling through my veins, condensing even further until I swore some kind of sludge was about to emerge from my fingers. Instead, that hyper-condensed sensation of power traveled into the card.
With another flash of light and a sudden noise of exhalation, the little blue dragonling appeared again. He appeared in front of me pointed towards me on his back two legs. Turns out the little dragonling is taller than I am when he is properly standing. I suppose he was never really 'little' to begin with but damn. And is it just me or is he even taller than he was before I summoned him? I could have sworn from tip to tail he wasn't nearly as long as I was tall but not he definitely looks at minimum as long as I am. At the minimum.
Barring the sudden growth, my little dragonling as least showed me I don't have to worry about accidentally activating a card just by touching it and I can keep him with me all the time. If this means that the dragon is essentially a manifestation of my powers - making the card reality - then maybe he won't have to eat. Yugioh also had a limited amount of board space - I think the maximum was five summons with two extra deck summons. Monsters from the extra deck included fusion, synchro and XYZ monsters from what I remember. All were creatures with unique summoning conditions. Some with spells, some with certain combinations of monsters and various other way to bring them to the field.
Assuming all of those remain true in this world, I can't help but wonder if they will still have their requirements or if I will have a summon limit. Do they have costs to maintain them in the real world? I don't feel anything right now that my little dragon is material again, but if I were to summon more would that change? Once again, I suppose I will find out.
I knelt down in front of the Blue-Eyes. "Alright little... big guy, it seems like I might wind up with more of you but... you were the first. Born out of the egg I 'made'. I would like to name you, if you would accept a name from me. If not, or if you already have a name, I understand. Somehow let me know if you can please..." I continued to watch him for comprehension. His gleaming blue eyes continued to stare back at me before he sat back further on his haunches and let out another chirp, or as much of a chirp as a dragon can make. It was like a extra deep chirp with bass added, is perhaps the best way to describe it. I could practically see his long scaled throat thrumming with energy as he make the noise.
Speaking of energy - I remembered one of the spells tied with Blue-Eyes Dragons, Burst Stream of Destruction. In the cardverse, so long as you controlled a Blue-Eyes White Dragon it would destroy all enemy monsters. In 'Real life' I imagine it would just be a very destructive energy blast. I'll keep an eye out for that spell, it could be very useful.
Shaking my head, I refocused on the dragon and his actions. He seemed to be waiting on me and was currently staring at me expectantly. "Do you want me to name you little dragonling?" I decided not to give up on my moniker for him before he grew larger than me, as I still find the mini Blue-Eyes to be quite cute and cuddly. Even with all the sharp edges...
With another chirp and a tiny hop on his feet kept his gaze locked with mine. "I'm going to have to take that as a yes... Well lets see what we can come up with. I didn't exactly think of one beforehand so..."
We spent a few moments in ponderance, before I recalled that the Blue-Eyes dragons can fuse into a two headed and three headed variant. "What do you think of Typhon, my little dragonling?"
He tilted his head at me, not unlike a dog curious about something it sees. I could practically see the question in its eyes. "Typhon is part of Greek mythology, the son of Gaea or the Earth, and Tartarus, god of the Netherworld (or pit of Tartarus which is named after him). He is the name behind Typhoons, or great winds of destruction. And if I remember right, in some lore he has 100 heads."
The newly dubbed Typhon accepted his name with glee following the explanation, further confirming his intelligence. The dragon began prancing for lack of a better term, spinning in place as though he was chasing his tail combined with small hops. It was quite the cute scene, if I dare say so. "Although you are already larger than me, if it doesn't bother you I may still refer to you as my little dragonling. My first friend in this new world, hopefully to share many grand adventures together."
There was no chirp this time. Typhon let out a full bodied roar, making me wince in the enclosed space as the sound reverberated throughout the room. I'd judge his roar at the level of a lion right now. Quite scary when uncaged, but not quite at the 'Godzilla roar' level of terror-inducing yet. I'm quite confident he will get there in time. Based off his rate of growth, that time might be much sooner than I first expected...
"Well Typhon, my little dragonling, let us go explore this new world." I paused for a moment. "Actually, lets explore the house first. I still haven't left this room..."
Marching towards the door, I heard the scrape of talons as Typhon followed me. We departed the bedroom and walked into the hall. It turned out we were in a two story house complete with two bedrooms and one and a half bathrooms. The kitchen was on the small side but I didn't mind. I was hardly planning on hosting... well anybody really. Both bedrooms were upstairs, with the second bedroom matching mine in terms of furnishing. It had everything needed for someone to live in, minus the clothes that were hanging in my closet but had no personal touches.
The one full bathroom was located upstairs as well in between the bedrooms and right next to the stairs leading to the 1st floor. Besides the small kitchen the downstairs was dominated by a large living room, tastefully decorated with matching curtains, carpet and paintings of similar colors.
Overall it was a lovely house, but it didn't feel like a home. The reason was obvious, as there wasn't a single picture hung from the walls. I have no memories of this house beyond laughing at Typhon as he tried to smell something under the couch in the living room by sticking his head under the side table and jerking back in surprise when his neck touched one of the legs. He didn't seem to appreciate my laughter and gave me a small tail flick to the shin to voice his displeasure, which got me to shut up rather quickly.
In our explorations I found a wallet with my photo - which I looked nearly identical to how I did before my soul got bumped over here. It also had a debit card with many bills I didn't recognize. They looked Asian was about as far as I knew - my best guess was the Japanese or Chinese yen but I hadn't really seen one before to confirm it. I was an American myself before the soul movement, but I suppose it would be random where I wound up. After all, if we want to get a little metaphysical my soul wasn't American, the body my soul inhabited was American. I mean I kept my looks but that is more likely due to the soul transfer mess up than any other reason.
I will be quite irritated if 'Tim' dropped me into a country with no way to read or speak the local language. Deciding to sate the small amount of hunger I was experiencing, I roamed back into the kitchen with Typhon hot on my heels. Before I opened the fridge to see if it came pre-stocked, I noted a slip of paper attached to the door with a magnet.
At a glance reading the title, it appeared to be a school schedule.
Welcome to Kuoh Academy!
Kuoh academy has recently been moved to Co-ed and you've been approved to attend!
We've carefully reviewed your grades, extra-curricular activities, and school reports and determined you would are going to make
a great addition to our academy! Please note below the list of school supplies needed at the minimum to succeed.
Thank you for your interest in our academy and we look forward to seeing you!
Most of the generic school supplies one expected were included. Pencils, pens, lined paper, graph paper, and a ruler were the essential minimums with binders to store them in and a backpack to carry everything else in from school and back. It mentioned a locker would be supplied so I didn't have to worry about lugging it around the school all day.
Wait wait wait, am I seriously considering going back to school? I was approaching 30 years old before I died! Well I assume I died. Regardless, I've been out of college for nigh on 6 years now! But 'Tim' left this hear for me... Maybe there is a reason. Maybe he just wanted me to have something to do. Regardless, school will be a good place to learn about society and hammer out any differences in customs between my old world and this one so I don't make a fool of myself. Ya, I guess I really should go back to school.
History will be important to know as well, which is taught at school. Might be good to know if the Nazi regime was successful in this world or not. Minor details.
Typhon nudged me, awakening me from my stupor. "Thanks for that bud, I seem to be thinking extra hard today. Not that its unwarranted, but still." He glanced at the fridge, then back at me. "And even if you don't need to eat I have no doubt you will enjoy it anyway, lets see what we got."
Opening the fridge with Typhon's head peering over my shoulder we found it to be quite empty. "Tim saw fit to enroll me in school and pin it to the fridge, but he couldn't leave me with a snack? That bastard. Well Typhon, looks like you get to go back to your card and I get to go shopping." He head was already right next to mine so he chuffed into my ear in agreement. At least I assumed it was agreement. I'd only known my little dragonling for a couple hours at this point, after all. We'll get there, I'm sure.
I walked a short ways away to make some space then pulled out his card from my jean's pocket. Typhon remained resting on his haunches where he was and just looked at me. "Lets give something a quick try buddy. We already know this power is... well its bullshit to be honest. I'm not sure the power level out there but it from my basic understanding of my power - Its quite broken. 'Tim' didn't even seem quite sure how everything would pan out so I think its up to us to expand on our power and see what its limits or exact capabilities are. Starting with recalling something I've summoned from a card."
I palmed the card and held it out in front of me again. Instead of intoning something this time I focused on the dense sludgelike energy born of the electric tingles from my core. I focused on the feeling of pulling that feeling out of the card itself - where it exited in the form of Typhon last time we did this. I spent a few seconds focusing before something happened.
There was a quick sound of an inhalation and then a flash of light - then I looked up and Typhon was gone. Immediately after I felt the densely compacted energy that I guess was Typhon returning to me enter through each of my fingers holding the card, slowly dispersing into the tingles I felt as it got closer and closer to my core (I estimated this was right under my heart). It took a few more moments for the tingling to fully dissipate, but when it did I felt no different. I shook out my fingers before repocketing the card and leaving the kitchen for the front entryway and door to depart.
I found a pair of sneakers in my size, which was quite convenient. I grabbed my wallet and a cellphone I had found on the table tucked right at the edge of the kitchen leading into the living room. It had no contacts but several apps, including the bank app for my debit card. At least I assume it is - I haven't opened it yet. I'm more curious to learn if I'm going to have to face a language barrier.
In my world most countries had English as a required language and many folks could speak it in passing - albeit with an accent. Most people couldn't drop the accent unless they lived in America or had easy access to an unaccented English speaker. Learning how to spell and write English is more difficult task by far thanks to the mishmash of conflicting rules and the fact French was one of the languages English evolved out of.
Hopefully wherever I am most people can at least attempt to speak English. Well, I'm about to find out, so might as well stop worrying about it.
Departing the house, I realize I have yet another problem. I have no clue where I am or in which direction a store might be. I decide to check the easy route first and pull out my new phone - turns out it has a maps application. Convenient. Before I look for a store I zoom of the map far enough to find out what country I'm in and confirm I am indeed in an Asian country. Japan, land of the rising sun.
Zooming back in I see the cities name is 'Kuoh'. Explains the Kuoh Academy I suppose. Zooming in farther I see I'm not at all that far from a road dotted with businesses, including a grocery store. I figure if I'm going to be staying at the house I was deposited in for any length of time, I might as well stock up. Before that though I should probably check my bank account to see how much I can actually spend.
Opening up the app it auto-signs in for me, thanks for that Tim. Flicking through some screens I realize that the whole thing is in whatever form the Japanese use for writing - and worse I'm understanding what it means. I look at a symbol and instinctually understand it means Accounts. Tim must have downloaded a translator into my brain for me... Well that's convenient.
Back to the money situation. Looks like I have a savings account with no money in it, but a checking account with exactly ¥200,000. I had to pull up a converter to actually understand roughly how much money I have, which is just over $1800 by the looks of things. Well its enough to get started.
I make my way to the grocery store I spotted, nodding a greeting to the few people I pass on the way. My fears about the translation magic only working for me to understand was banished when I spoke to one of the employees halfway through my shopping trip and he understood me perfectly. I assume this has something to do with translation and its not the case that everyone suddenly speaks English, since the written portion of Japan remained the same. Once done I check out, taking a roughly $200 hit to the bank account before heading home with all my groceries.
Releasing Typhon shortly after shutting the door behind me, I also practiced summoning him without taking his card out of my pocket and it worked like a charm. I also didn't have to use the focus phrase to summon him since I now knew what the energy felt like and roughly how to trigger the event. I was in no way molding or manipulating the energy myself, so the ease at which I learned definitely wasn't because I was some kind of genius, I assume the 'card game' logic is at work here.
After all, the only thing I would normally have to do to summon him (besides having enough monsters to tribute to summon him) is lay him on the field. My reality bending soul takes care of the rest I guess.
He quickly sniffed all the bags I got from the grocery store and located the one with meat inside of it within moments. "Ah ah, none of that for you yet. Unless you NEED to eat you can have some of the cooked food with me later." Typhon looked quite put out, and gave me the best puppy dog eyes a... Now nearly 12 foot dragon can? When the hell did that happen? Jesus Christ he is a big boy. "You're not gonna be a little dragonling for much longer at this rate Typhon. Holy cow."
Typhon's response was to croon and rumble before walking over to me and headbutting my hand. I scratched under his chin and earned a loud rumbling purr. "You'll always be my little dragonling, don't you worry big guy." He preened under my attention, eventually licking my hand before departing to go flop onto the couch. "You really are like a giant cat, you know that Typhon?"
He ignored my observation. Definitely a cat.
My stomach rumbled, reminding me why I originally left the house to begin with. I made a quick lunch of sandwich's and fed one to Typhon. He didn't complain that he didn't get more to eat and knowing how smart he is I assume he would communicate with me if he needed to. "Alright big guy, since my power is based around card games and because of you I know Yugioh exists, I'm gonna go see if we can get more of you. Well, more of you and some others to help out. I'm pretty sure Yugioh has dragonmaids? I guess we're gonna have to spend some money and find out."
Typhon didn't move himself from the couch, which he was by far larger than so it was more like he was resting his neck on the couch and the rest of his body was sprawled out in the middle of the floor. "Hey, do you mind staying here and I try to recall you to your card from a farther distance away? I'm gonna go look for a card shop or something and while I'm out I'll test to see if there's a maximum distance to recall you from."
Once again, the not so little dragonling just rumbled at me. "I'm assuming that's an agreement, I'll see you soon!" With that I departed and pulled open the map app again. On the same street where the grocery store was located was a game shop, featuring both tabletop games and trading card games.
Upon my arrival I approached the counter and asked the young man working it where their Yugioh section was. He directed me to it and left me to browse while he played on his phone.
There were many starter packs, booster packs, and a few combo packs with a gameboard and a guaranteed card shown in the front. While I had decent spending cash for now, I also have no income. So if I spend anything now I need to come up with a way to make it back to continue feeding myself and my... Blue-Eyes White Dragon currently napping on my couch.
That still sound so strange to say to myself...
My invincible engine of destruction. It is quite the novel feeling if I do say so myself.
Looking at the packs again, I pulled out my phone and looked up which cards were in which packs. One thing I knew was that magic users existed in this world - and having a big ass dragon is great and all, but magic is still cool too. Luckily for me, I can have the best of both worlds. I figured I could start with the other most iconic character form Yugioh's history - Dark Magician.
I have to hope against hope that the beings I create from these cards stay loyal to me or else I could be in a fat load of trouble bringing him back. Tim said in the letter I can use the magic from the cards which would include traps and spells. Maybe I could set up some of those beforehand to ensure I'm protected? The bigger question then becomes which ones? Which ones will I even have access to?
In my perusing of the card pack options I came across one of my favorite archetypes. I didn't play with all that many, but this one in particular was fun. One of their main mechanics was flipping cards upside down to help avoid targeted card effects and to activate their own effects. I have absolutely no clue how flipping cards upside down would apply itself as an effect in real life - but ignoring that, if Typhon and his kin helped me to rule the skies in aerial combat then these would help me rule the earth.
I grabbed 20 packs off the shelf and one of the combo packs with a guaranteed card that caught my eye. I had almost forgotten that Blue-Eyes White Dragon had 2 ritual summons... and they were absolute monsters. They took the 'nearly invincible' part of the Blue-Eyes and carried it the last few steps into 'basically invincible'. With a little research I actually found some folks selling for a decent sum of cash a basic compilation of Blue-eyes cards and Dark Magician cards.
They contained most of the support I was looking for and could be delivered in just a couple days - I dumped nearly $400 on just those two online purchases by themselves, but it was totally worth it. I mean, I was getting 3 more copies of both Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Dark Magician plus a significant amount of the cards I can abuse since their activation costs are... well I think they will be much more viable in this world than in the actual card game.
An example of this is would be [Rage with Eyes of Blue]. Normally, it would cost banishing the spell and your entire hand just to summon 3 of Typhons siblings straight from the deck. In this case though, there is no deck and no hand to banish. If I'm lucky, this spell will be able to activate and I will just get to summon three nigh-invincible engines of destruction in an instant. If not, there are other spells and traps for me to abuse.
With the items I wanted to buy in hand, I wandered past the other sections containing other Trading Card Games. On a whim I purchased a random extra large booster pack from a new Pokemon series - but barring me using Arceus or one of the other core concept legendaries I doubt the average Pokemon could upset the Yugioh monsters I'm planning on summoning. After playing nearly every single Pokemon game and collecting the cards as a kid I am definitely a fan of the series - but Yugioh monsters provide a lot more utility and power without going after the gods of their universe.
Deciding I had already put a large enough dent in my finances as it was, I checked out with what I had and departed the store. Remembering I was also going to try and test the range of recalling Typhon, I palmed the card in my pocket and focused once again on the feeling of pulling him back into his card. For a brief moment, nothing happened; then the hyper condensed rush of energy feeling like some strange gel crawling through my arms came and settled near my heart, returning to its tingling feeling throughout my chest moments later.
"Well I guess that confirms it. Without further testing I won't know exactly how far I can go but this proves I don't have to be in the immediate presence of the monster to recall them... Maybe I could summon them farther away from me too? More things to test, I suppose." Ending my monologue, I continued back home.
The moment I entered the threshold and shut the door I unleashed Typhon back onto the couch, where he lay sprawled out with none of the dignity one would expect from a mighty dragon. Also, less to my surprise at this point, he had grown another couple of feet. Seriously, I hope this only continues until he is full size... Infinite growth is cool and all, but only as a concept of strength not the actual physical growth of an already large dragon. If my suspicions are correct (and my hopes) he is just rapidly growing until he reaches his full size - I don't think there was ever a baby Blue-Eye's card so he is just rapidly growing to be at his normal size. Since he was born from an egg.
That reminds me, I still have [The White Stone of Ancients] as well. I don't think I'll do much with it anymore but I suppose it could be used to breed an infinite amount of dragons? Not that I want to do that but... its a thought.
I plopped myself down on the loveseat opposite where Typhon was laying and took a few moments to just breath and take it all in. "You know buddy, before all this, I was just a programmer. I would sit in front of a computer all day and fiddle away at the software or whatever else my boss told me to do until my shift was over, then I would come home and sit in front of my computer and play games or just mess around. I never really took the time to really appreciate the life I had and apparently, I lost it without even knowing how. Its just a blank spot in my memories."
Typhon had raised his head and was looking at me with his piercing blue eyes, just observing for now and I couldn't help but feel he was patiently waiting for me to finish. "All I remember was finishing for the day at work and then... nothing. I don't even remember getting into my car to drive home. Did I die before I even left the building? At least I'm assuming I died, maybe Tim came and snatched my soul away which is why it feels like it happened so quick and why I have no memory of it."
My little dragonling gave me a small croon of encouragement. "Thanks Typhon, you really are the best big little guy a friend could ever ask for. We might not be able to talk but... I know you have my back. And as soon as I get some more spells, I'll have yours!" I gave him my best smile I could. Ignoring the fact that I was plucked straight from my world with no warning was easy till now - I'd had other things to crowd my mind; or maybe I just didn't want to rationalize it yet. Either way, now that I had a moment to rest, the realization was coming at me like a ton of bricks.
The truth was, I was an orphan and never really had a family. Matter of fact, I never had a proper last name. That's not to say I wasn't give a last name, but I chose to disregard that because it wasn't mine. I would never know mine - no living relatives, no DNA matches when I tried to search for any possible family using genetics, and absolutely no luck when it came to finding a foster family as a kid.
I got the boot from the system at 18, so I joined the military. I served my time and came home a change man; but that's not something I like to talk about. The more important thing is I got a free ride to attend college, so I did just that; earning my Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. It took a while before I was able to actually land a job doing something I wanted or found vaguely interesting, but I think that's just life for you. The good things take time to find but when you find'em its worth it.
Never having had a proper family outside of the military I wasn't the most well-adjusted man you could meet when I first got into college either - I lucked out and got some great friends who saw through my veneer of cynicism and light hostility; who didn't let me push them away but instead held on all the tighter. We all got a good laugh out of it years down the road; they had to teach me more than a few basic things people probably learn before age 15... but they never judged me. Maybe they did in their heads when they first met me and I would never fault them for that. All humans are quick to judge, but its those that are willing to let go of the pre-conceived notions they build in their head and realized I never had a role model to teach me proper manners. Or much of anything, really.
Everything I had learned was from surviving the various orphanages and school, which left me decided lacking in some areas. Once they set me straight though I would have done anything for them. Dying for them would have been an easy choice; they breathed life back into the broken automaton that I was after leaving the military and gave me something to fight for. Some might have called me over-protective, but I think they all knew the reason why I acted the way I did; I would have been nothing without them, so they never reprimanded me too harshly when I was too zealous in their defense.
So really it wasn't any family I was born into that I was going to miss but rather the family found me and welcomed me into their group with open arms that set my heart to aching. What would they think? I certainly hadn't set anything up in terms of my will or things of that nature. I wasn't planning on dying for a good long while!
I suppose that was poor planning on my part then. I suppose I will also have to plan better this time around. No more mistakes - if I can get back to my original world or universe or wherever the hell I came from then great. If not, I won't be sad. The lesson's imparted to me by my loved ones will not go to waste - I won't go back to being that empty husk. I will live; I will love; I will be loved in return by those that choose to be my family; and I will not let those I care about get hurt.
The family I made might not be here anymore but with no obvious solution if one even existed to return to them I would just have to do my best here and find a new one.
