Hey everyone. I hope you all enjoy the first official chapter of the story, and feel free to give me any suggestions you think would improve the story and my writing. I do not own Yugioh Zexal or its related properties, but I do own this AU story and its ocs. Don't steal, and enjoy.
?: Troy.
Troy opened his eyes but saw nothing but darkness.
Troy: Who's there?
He received an answer when the monster on the card he found last night appeared before him.
Troy: Diablosis?
The monster simply nodded his head.
Troy: What do you want?
?: It's not what he wants, it's what I need.
Troy: Who are you?
?: Someone who knows you better than you know yourself.
Troy: And what do you want from me?
?: I want you to find me.
Troy: And how do I do that?
?: By dueling. Keep facing people who have number cards until you find me.
Troy: Wait, what do the number cards have to do with this?
?: All in due time. Diablosis will lead you to the numbers you need.
Troy: Wait, are you a number card as well?
?: Indeed. Keep dueling, and you shall find me in time.
Troy: Wait! Why do you need me? And why did I have that vision when I found Diablosis?
?: I wish I could answer your question, but you are about to awaken. Remember what I have told you. Defeat number holders and take their number cards. Only then will you find me.
Suddenly a bright light flashed in front of Troy, and he saw the number 96 glowing in front of him. Troy sat bolt upright in his bed and realized he was sweating. He grabbed the glass of water he kept on his nightstand and drained it. Lane sat up from her spot next to his bed and looked at him with concern.
Troy: Don't worry girl, just a dream.
Lane jumped up onto his bed and rubbed her head against his shoulder.
Troy: Thanks. I guess by now you and Emma know me better than anyone else.
He decided it would be a good idea to shower before going to school and grabbed a towel from his closet. Once he got out, he changed into his school uniform and grabbed his deck and school bag before beginning to head downstairs. He was stopped short however when he heard Lane bark behind him.
Troy: What is it?
He turned and saw what she she was barking over: his duel disk. He been repairing the auto-shuffle system last night after he tripped and dropped his duel disk and he had forgotten to put it in his bag after fixing it.
Troy: Thanks girl. I'm glad I have you and Emma to watch my back. I'll see you after school.
He didn't like leaving her alone, but he knew he couldn't bring her to school with him. He went into the dining room and saw that breakfast had been laid out and his sister was waiting on him.
Emma: Morning Troy, you sleep well?
Troy: Yeah, I slept fine.
He didn't really like lying to his sister, but he didn't want to worry her over a silly dream.
Emma: You ready for your first day?
Troy: Yep. And at least I know I already have one friend.
He finished eating and got ready to leave for school.
Troy: I'll see you later.
Emma: Have a great day little bro.
He slipped on his roller skates and made his way to the school. He arrived a little early and decided to walk the halls and get acquainted with his classmates. He couldn't get his dream from last night out of his head though, no matter how hard he tried. He was so distracted he bumped into a girl with green hair and a red ribbon in her hair, knocking them both to the floor.
Troy: Sorry, I was distracted.
Girl: It's okay. You're the new kid, right?
Troy: Yeah, my name is Troy Diablo.
Girl: I'm Tori Meadows.
Troy: So how did you know I was new here?
Tori: Yuma told me about you.
Troy: Oh, so you're a friend of his?
Tori: Yep. Oh, here comes another friend of his. Hey Bronk!
The boy she shouted at came walking up to them.
Bronk: Hey there Tori. Who's this?
Troy: I'm Troy. It's nice to meet you.
Bronk: Well, it's nice to meet you too. Haven't seen you around before.
Troy: I just moved here. So you're Yuma's friend?
Bronk: Yeah. But I wish he'd be on time.
Yuma: I'm here!
He came running up to them, only barely managing to avoid crashing into Bronk.
Bronk: It's about time you got here Yuma, class is about to start.
Yuma: It's your fault for knocking that litter bot in front of me.
Tori: You're still doing that?
Bronk: You should really be dodging those by now Yuma.
Troy: Well, let's get to class before we're late.
They all ran to class and made it before the bell rang.
Mr. Kay: Okay students, I want to start the day by introducing our newest student Troy Diablo. Why don't you tell us something about yourself Troy?
Troy: My sister and I recently moved here. My parents passed away, so we moved here and my sister works as a nurse at the hospital.
Class continued until duel period. Troy decided to get Yuma alone to ask him about the number cards. He found him in the hallway and pulled him to the side.
Troy: Yuma, when you found Utopia, did you feel anything strange?
Yuma: Like what?
Troy: Well, when I picked up Diablosis yesterday, I saw a weird vision where I was wearing a suit of armor, and last night I had a strange dream.
Yuma: What kind of dream?
Troy told about the voice in his dreams and how it said for him to collect number cards.
Yuma: No, nothing like that happened to me when I got Utopia.
Troy: Well, thanks for trying to help.
Astral: How strange.
Troy fell over in shock from seeing Astral.
Yuma: What's wrong?
Troy: You mean you don't see him?
Yuma: Wait, you can see Astral?
Troy: He's kind of hard to miss.
Yuma: But you're the only person other than me who has seen Astral.
Astral: You are strange indeed Troy. Yuma can see me for he wears the Emperor's Key, so I am unsure why you can see me.
Troy: Your guess is as good as mine. How did you two meet anyway?
Yuma: I met him the day I got Utopia. The numbers are fragments of Astral's memories. I'm trying to help him get his memories back by collecting the number cards.
Troy: I see. Well maybe I can help you.
Yuma: You would really do that?
Troy: Sure. Friends help each other, don't they?
Yuma: Right. So from now on we're friends.
Troy: Great. Now I'm gonna go find someone to duel.
He ran into the courtyard and began looking around for someone to duel against.
Troy: Okay, so who should I duel?
Suddenly, the number 89 appeared on the back of his hand and one of his eyes glowed red.
?: Duel the number holder.
Troy looked around to see who the voice was talking about when he saw a boy with a dark aura around him. He looked closer and saw the number 48 glowing on his hand. Troy walked up to the boy and tapped on his shouldeer.
Troy: Wanna duel?
Boy: Why would I duel you?
Troy: Because if you win you get my number card.
Boy: That's some card. Sure I'll duel.
Troy: But if I win, I get your number card.
Boy: Deal. I'm Chris, now get ready to hand over your number.
Troy: We'll see about that.
Chris: Oh it's so on.
Augmented Reality Vision Link Established
Both: Let's duel!
Chris: 4000 LP
Troy: 4000 LP
Chris: I'll go first, and I normal summon Marauding Captain in attack mode.
Level 3/Earth/Warrior
ATK 1200/DEF 400
Chris: And due to his special ability, I can special summon a level 4 or lower monster from my hand, like my Djinn Cycle.
Level 3/Dark/Machine
ATK&DEF 400
Chris: And now I overlay my Djinn Cycle and Marauding Captain to xyz summon Number 48: Shadow Lich!
Rank 3/Dark/Zombie
ATK 1800/DEF 0
Chris: And now due to the effect of my Djinn Cycle, when it's used in an xyz summon, you take 400 points of damage.
Troy: 3600 LP
Troy: I activate the effect of Gorz the Emissary of Darkness in my hand. When I take damage while I control no cards, I can summon him from my hand and then since you inflicted effect damage to me, you take the same damage I did.
Level 7/Dark/Fiend
ATK 2700/DEF 2500
Chris: 3600 LP
Chris: I end my turn.
Troy: My move, I draw. And I summon Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast in attack mode.
Level 7/Dark/Machine
ATK 2800/DEF 2000
Chris: What?! How did you summon a level 7 monster without a sacrifice?
Troy: Due to my monster's special ability, I can summon him without a sacrifice by cutting his attack and defense points in half.
Astral: An impressive move.
Yuma: What do you mean Astral?
Astral: He now has 2 level 7 monsters on his field, which means he can summon his number card.
Troy: I overlay level 7 Gorz and Fusilier. With these two monsters, I build the overlay network and xyz summon Number 89: Diablosis the Mind Hacker!
Rank 7/Dark/Psychic
ATK 2800/DEF 1200
Troy: Now attack his monster!
His monster unleashed a blast of red energy at Shadow Lich, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
Chris: 2600 LP
Yuma: Alright, he destroyed his opponent's number card!
The dust settled and revealed that Shadow Lich hadn't been destroyed, and that there now 4 other monsters that looked just like it on Chris' field.
Troy: What?
Chris: When Shadow Lich would be destroyed, I can use one of his overlay units to save him and then fill my field with Phantom Tokens and hide him among them.
Phantom tokens X 5
Rank 3/Dark/Zombie
ATK&DEF 500
Troy: In that case, I activate the effects of Extra Veiler and Chaos Hunter from my hand, allowing me to special summon them both.
Extra Veiler
Level 2/Light/Spellcaster
ATK 600/DEF 200
Chaos Hunter
Level 7/Dark/Fiend
ATK 2500/DEF 1600
Troy: Now Extra Veiler, attack the token on the far right!
His monster fired a blast at it, but Chris wasn't damaged.
Troy: Why didn't you take damage?
Chris: I take no damage from battles involving Phantom Tokens, but when you destroy them, you take 500 damage.
His monster launched a black blast at Troy but Extra Veiler stepped in its way and used its cape to redirect the blast at Chris.
Chris: 2100 LP
Chris: What happened?
Troy: Due to Extra Veiler's special ability, during the turn he's summoned by his own effect, any damage I would take from your effects is directed at you instead.
Astral: A perfect counter strategy. Now he can clear his opponent's tokens away while reflecting the damage to Chris.
Troy: Now Chaos Hunter, attack the Phantom Token on the far left!
His monster struck but hit just another token. History repeated itself and a blast was shot at Troy before being redirected at Chris.
Chris: 1600 LP
Troy: I end my turn.
Chris: It's my move. And I activate Shadow Lich's other ability. With it, he gains the attack of my Phantom tokens until the end of this turn.
Shadow Lich: 1800-2800 ATK
Chris: Now attack his Extra Veiler!
Shadow Lich brought his scythe down towards Troy's monster, but an armored monster appeared in front of him and blocked the attack.
Chris: What happened?
Troy: I used the effect of Necro Gardna in my graveyard. By banishing him, I can negate one of your attacks.
Chris: When did he even get in your graveyard?
Troy: Chaos Hunter's effect requires me to discard a card in order to summon her. That's when I sent Necro Gardna to my graveyard.
Chris: I end my turn.
Troy: My move, and I play the Stand-Off spell card. With it, one face-up attack mode monster on each of our fields have their effects negated, they can't be destroyed in battle, and they can't attack, change battle modes, or be affected by other cards. So I choose my Extra Veiler and your Shadow Lich.
Chris: No way!
Troy: And next I play the Rush Recklessly spell card on my Diablosis, giving him 700 more attack points until the end of this turn.
Diablosis: 2800-3500 ATK
Chris: It has 3500 attack points?!
Troy: Now attack his Shadow Lich!
Chris: 0 LP
Winner: Troy
Chris fell onto his back and passed out. Suddenly, his number card floated above him before flying to Troy, landing in his hand. When he touched it, he saw another vision. He could see himself, and he seemed to be defending two other people from some kind of monster. He couldn't get a good look at the people behind him before the vision ended.
Troy: What is the meaning of these visions?
Yuma: Hey Troy! Sweet duel!
Troy: Thanks Yuma. Oh, there's something I forgot to tell you about my dream last night. If you ever hear of a Number 96, please let me know. I don't know why, but I think it's important.
Yuma: Sure.
Troy: Thanks Yuma.
Well, I hope you all enjoyed Troy's first duel. As always, feel free to comment on the chapter, and give me any ideas you think would improve the story or my writing. My schedule for uploads is going to be this series on Tuesdays and my GX story on Fridays. And for everyone wondering the story is rated T when it's been pretty mellow so far, I plan on going more in detail onto the events leading up to Troy and Emma moving, and with what I have in mind, I'd rather not risk getting in trouble for an inappropriate maturity rating. I hope you all have a great day and stay safe.