[DREAMWORLD PARADOX CHAPTER 16: PREPARATIONS AND DISCOVERIES]
In Azeasany's Yu-Gi-Oh portion of the school, Chris was perusing the school's in-house card shop looking for decks that he and his friends could use in the upcoming Duel Monsters Tournament.
"Hmm," Chris hummed as he held up a Sangan card, looking at the three-eyed furball in thought.
"Anything catch your eye?" asked the clerk behind the counter.
Chris put the Sangan card down as he looked around.
"Honestly, not a single thing. Guess everybody else must have gotten all the good ones."
As he exited the store, Chris was approached by the person who, unbeknownst to him, had been watching him ever since he first arrived at Azeasany, Declan Akaba.
"You, me, one of the Dueling Arenas in a couple of hours. Oh, and be sure to bring your friends."
And without elaborating any further, Declan took his leave, leaving Chris to stand there in confusion.
"Okay."
Hours later, Chris did as he was told and went to the Dueling Arena that Declan was at, his friends in tow.
"So, what exactly does this Declan guy want with Chris again?" Ben asked as they stood by.
"Honestly, I have no idea," Enrico said as he shrugged his shoulders. Yugioh Dueling was something he was not an expert in.
As Chris got into position across from Declan, the bespectacled man gave his explanation.
"I'm sure you already know this, but my name is Declan Akaba. I challenged you to a duel because I wanted to see for myself whether or not you are truly worthy of partaking in these courses, for saying you know the ins and outs of Yu-Gi-Oh is vastly different to practicing what you preach."
As he said that, he turned the Arena on as he and Chris shuffled their respective decks.
"So, let's see if your body is capable of cashing the checks that your ego writes. In fact, let's make this a little more interesting. If you win, you are allowed one free request of your choosing, anything you want, no questions asked. However, if you lose, you have to quit this course forever, never setting foot in this part of the school ever again. And, you also have to quit Yu-Gi-Oh forever on top of that."
Chris's eyes widened at Declan's deal. While the prospect of getting whatever he wanted was rather enticing, there was also the risk of never getting to learn how to duel ever again, as well as stopping doing one of the things he's loved since he was a kid. Chris may tend to charge into something headfirst like Leeroy Jenkins at times, but this was probably going to have to be the first thing he'll have to say no towards.
However, one look at his friend's worried faces, especially May's, and Chris knew what he had to do.
"Alright, I accept. Prepare to get your butt whooped, Declan!"
Declan simply pushed up his glasses as he slightly smirked.
"Very well then. Now that we're both in agreement…"
He and Chris then drew five cards each from their decks.
"Let's duel!" they both cried out.
"Allow me to make the first move. First, I set a card face down and end my turn. Your move, Chris."
Wait, that's it? That's all Declan does for his first move? Chris could only tilt his head in confusion at what transpired before him, while Kojin put a finger up to his chin in thought.
"Wait, usually Declan does much more than set a card and pass. I mean the guy is a pro, so he wouldn't even think of doing something like this. So why is he acting like a complete noob? There has to be more to this duel."
Chris shook his head to regain his focus.
"Weird, but whatever. Anyways, I draw! And to start, I activate the Field Spell, Numeron Network!"
Within the arena, a series of crystalline tendrils began to spread, glowing with energy as Chris picked up his deck.
"And now, I activate Numeron Network's effect. By sending a Numeron Spell Card from my deck to the Graveyard, if it meets its activation conditions, Network's effect becomes the sent card's effect. And the card I send is Numeron Calling, which lets me special summon up to four Numeron Gate Xyz monsters from my Extra Deck since I have Numeron Network on my field, and I control no monsters."
Chris then took the card from his deck and placed it in his Graveyard.
"So come on out, Numbers One through Four: Numeron Gate Ekam, Numeron Gate Dve, Numeron Gate Trini, and Numeron Gate Catvari!"
From above, the four monsters descended as symbols based on their numbers appeared before fading away. Once they got closer to the ground, Ekam attached itself to Catvari, while Dve and Trini attached to the top of Ekam.
"Now normally, these four Gates could do a one-turn kill due to their shared ability to double their Attack, but since you don't have any monsters on your field, I'll just settle for cutting your Life Points in half. Ekam, get ready to attack Declan directly!"
Upon being given the order, Ekam opened itself up to reveal a crocodilian creature which then proceeded to fire a blue beam of energy from its mouth at Declan.
"Hmph, predictable. I activate the Counter Trap, Negate Attack," Declan said as he activated said trap, making a vortex appear that absorbed the blast.
Chris frowned in annoyance as Ekam's doors closed. "Whatever. I don't care, because now I'm gonna use Number 1: Numeron Gate Ekam to build the Overlay Network!"
Dve and Trini detached themselves from Ekam as it transformed into an orb of yellow energy, before diving into a galaxy-style portal that appeared on the ground below. The portal then exploded as Chris slammed a card on top of Ekam's.
"Appear, Number C1: Numeron Chaos Gate Sunya!"
From the portal emerged a demonic-looking gate with purple orbs on its body as the one symbol appeared in the sky behind it.
"And now, since it was Xyz summoned, Sunya banishes all monsters on the field!" Chris said as Sunya began to glow.
Sunya then opened a portal in the middle of the field which absorbed Sunya, Dve, Trini, and Catvari.
"But he won't be gone for long, since Sunya can come back during my next Standby Phase, and once he does, it'll deal you damage equal to the combined ATK of every banished Xyz monster. And with that, I end my turn."
Declan smirked as he adjusted his glasses again, this time causing the lenses to shine.
"Very well then. I draw. And for my first move, I activate the effect of D/D Swirl Slime from my hand. This allows me to Fusion summon a D/D/D Fusion monster from my Extra Deck, using monsters from my hand or field as material, including Swirl Slime. Now, I fuse D/D Swirl Slime with D/D Lamia."
As he said that, the two monsters appeared in front of a swirling blue vortex, absorbing the two monsters and merging them into one.
"I fusion summon! Appear, D/D/D Oracle King d'Arc!" Declan called as a female demon appeared wearing white armor with gold accents, sword in hand.
"You know, it's pretty ironic that that monster is called a king when it's clearly a chick," Eddy whispered to Double-D.
"Fun fact, there have been several women throughout human history who actually were kings, so it's not all that surprising really."
"Now, d'Arc! Attack him directly! Imperial Charge!" Declan called out.
d'Arc readied her sword as she spread her wings and took flight towards Chris, slashing him across the chest and reducing his Life Points by twenty-eight hundred.
"Ooooowwwwww, well that sucked," Chris complained as d'Arc went back to her spot.
"Hmph, and you're supposed to have the skills of a duelist. My turn is over." Declan sneered.
Chris glared at Declan as he rubbed the scar on his chest.
"Hmph, lucky shot. But that shot is going to be your last. I draw! And to start, I activate Numeron Chaos Gate Sunya's effect to special summon it back on my field, and deal you damage!"
Sunya reappeared and started crackling with red electricity, which was then launched towards Declan. All Declan could do was glare in disappointment.
"Looks like my suspicions were true, you're all talk and no substance. Had you been a true duelist, you would have known that so long as Oracle King d'Arc is on my field, any effect damage instead heals me by that amount."
The lightning struck Declan, who did not cry out in pain as his Life Points went up by three thousand.
"What a joke. What will your parents think once they find out just how much of a disappointment you are?"
Chris was taken aback by the insult and sweat dropped.
"Well, that's not very nice."
"Hey, you shut your fucking mouth, Declan! That's my boyfriend you're talking to!" May cried as she glared daggers at Declan.
"Oh, is he? Well then, I suggest you find someone else since he's an imperfect match for you. You also may want to reconsider your standards."
This got Chris pissed, making it his turn to shout at Declan.
"Hey, don't you go disrespecting my girl! I don't care how much of a celebrity you are, I'll beat your goddamn ass, you son of a bitch!"
As Declan continued to insult Chris and May, Ben's eyes widened as he realized what was going on.
"Wait a second. This is a near one-to-one recreation of what happened with me and Cinder. If that's the case, then I can already tell what's about to happen next. Assuming Chris is even capable, of course."
Chris's eyes soon turned bloodshot once Declan declared that he doesn't belong in this school.
"Shut. Up. Shut up shut upshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUUUUUUUUUPPPPPP!"
This caused Declan's eyebrow to rise in interest as Chris's friends looked on in worry.
"What's happening to Chris?" Rina asked in worry.
"Not sure, me and Ben have never really seen him get this pissed off before," Enrico said as he could practically feel the anger emanating from Chris.
"Oh fuck, this is beyond anything I've seen..." Ben gulped. "Even worse than with me and Cinder!"
"I don't belong? Buddy, I'LL SHOW YOU WHO DOESN'T BELONG! I ACTIVATE THE EFFECT OF UNCHAINED TWINS – ARUHA FROM MY HAND! BY DESTROYING A CARD I CONTROL, I GET TO SPECIAL SUMMON IT, AND I CHOOSE NUMERON CHAOS GATE SUNYA!"
A beam of energy struck down on Sunya, causing it to explode as a person in dark clothes with giant metal devices on their wrists and a steel mask on their face appeared.
"NEXT UP, I'M ACTIVATING THE SPELL CARD, DARK HOLE! SO, SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR SO-CALLED KING!"
In the arena, a black hole appeared which began to suck up both d'Arc and Aruha, the former struggling to escape the singularity, while the latter tried to grab something to hold onto. Eventually, the two monsters were destroyed as the black hole closed up.
"NEXT I ACTIVATE ANOTHER NUMERON NETWORK FROM MY HAND, THEN I ACTIVATE THE SPELL, NUMERON CHAOS RITUAL! SINCE MY SUNYA WAS DESTROYED BY A MONSTER EFFECT THIS TURN, I GET TO TARGET A NUMERON NETWORK AND FOUR OF MY NYMBER XYZ MONSTERS THAT ARE CURRENTLY EITHER BANISHED OR IN MY GRAVEYARD AND ATTACH THEM ALL TO AN XYZ MONSTER SPECIAL SUMMONED FROM MY EXTRA DECK AS MATERIAL! WHAT MONSTER, YOU MAY ASK?! ONLY THE ONE THAT WILL TEAR YOU A NEW ONE, NUMBER C1000: NUMERONIUS!"
An Overlay Network portal appeared once again, and from it came a giant white and red entity with black feathered wings for arms, the number one thousand on its right thigh, its face looking almost like that of a knight helmet with orange eyes glaring through the slit.
"HOLY SHIT THAT'S HUGE!" Ben cried out in surprise.
"That's what she said, but I agree!" Eddy said as Rina's jaw dropped.
"Evil chicken!" Ed cried as May noticed Chris's right hand was glowing.
"Wait, something's happening to Chris. Look," May said as she pointed at the screen showing Chris, glaring down at Declan.
"It's. Over. Numeronius, attack that four-eyed asshole AND END! THIS! DUEL!" Chris called out as he started to glow yellow while energy began to gather into an orb in front of Numeronius.
Then, something unexpected happened. Chris leaped from his podium, high above Numeronius as he spread his arms out and transformed into a facsimile of the monster. Declan's eyes widened as he looked at Chris above him, only turning his attention back to Numeronius once he noticed the energy blast heading his way.
As Declan crossed his arms in front of himself to try and block the attack, Chris reeled himself back.
"You're… FINISHED!" Chris cried out as he dived into the beam and towards Declan, leg extended to kick him.
Declan's eyes widened further as Chris's foot made contact with his chest, sending the two of them down to the floor as Declan's Life Points dropped to zero. Chris panted as his friends stared in awe and shock at what they said, as Declan smirked, surprising Chris.
"Knew you had it in you."
"What?" Chris asked as he looked down at himself. "Hey whoa whoa, what the hell happened to me?! Why do I have bird hands?!"
As Chris removed his foot from Declan's chest, Ben snapped a picture of him with his phone and showed it to him.
"Whoa. I look just like… like…" Chris said as he turned towards Numeronius. "Daddy?"
Taken aback, Numeronius nervously glanced to the side before staring Chris dead in the eyes as it flashed a peace sign with its feathers and faded away.
"Bruh. Wait a sec, if I changed to look like Numeronius, then maybe…" Chris said as he closed his eyes and concentrated.
Much like before, Chris glowed, only the difference was the light was purple. Once it faded, Chris was now wearing Dark Magician's robes and hat, the monster's signature staff in hand. Chris slowly opened his eye, quickly opening both of them as they widened in excitement.
"Holy shit, it worked!"
As Chris began to ramble about his newfound power, Declan simply watched on.
"So, it's true. I'll have to let my associates know about this," Declan thought to himself as Chris started doing poses based on Dark Magician's various card artworks. Declan then gets out a smartphone, sliding through the contacts until he finds "Petersen, John", before pressing on the contact.
"Mister Petersen? I found the perfect participants for your Battle Mansion tournament. Especially that boy. Yes. Of course. I shall keep an eye on their growth. Goodbye," Delcan said, before hanging up, and walking away.
Back in their dorm, Chris was standing in front of a mirror testing his new shapeshifting power, with May sitting on his bed.
"Hmm, oh ho yeah. Ooh, yeah, work it, baby," Chris said as he shifted between various Yu-Gi-Oh monsters, before going back to his normal form and looking at the back of his right hand.
"Man, had a feeling this was gonna show up again after it was first teased a few chapters ago."
On the back of Chris's hand, there was now a tattoo of a swirling vortex, similar to the back of a Yu-Gi-Oh card. Is it on the nose? Probably, but you can't deny it looks cool as hell. Just as Chris was about to continue seeing what he could change into, a knock came at the door.
"I got it," Chris said as he walked to the door. Once he opened it and saw a box on the floor, he took in a sharp breath of excitement as he picked it up and started dancing around.
"It's here, it's here, it's here, it's here! Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo it's here!"
"What's got you so excited, Chris?" Ben asked as he walked up to the wiggling boi.
"It's my request that Declan did for me. I've been having a tough time finding decks for everybody, but thanks to four-eyes pulling some strings, I managed to get everything I needed."
Chris put the box down on the table and opened it, pulling out a card case with gem patterns on it.
"First up, Ben. This case contains cards relating to the Gem-Knight archetype, a Fusion focused deck of noble warriors named after various gemstones. I thought you'd might like it considering how often you've had your eyes on that Pearl chick in fencing class," Chris said as he handed the case to Ben, whose face turned red upon being called out.
"You don't gotta shout it out, man..."
Chris then reached back into the box and pulled out a case with a circuit board motif and handed it to Double-D.
"Double-D, this is a Cyberse deck, a collection of monsters based on digital technology and cyberspace, such as backlinks, load balancing, clock rates, et cetera. Considering how much of a tech wiz you are, I found this rather fitting."
"Well, Chris, this is very nice, a thank you."
Chris then took out a case with a Halloween motif to it
"Ed, you're a big fan of horror, but you also like cute stuff. So, may I present to you the Ghostricks, a collection of monsters based on various icons of horror such as ghosts, zombies, and Dracula, with an appearance that combines both friendliness and spookiness."
"Happy Day!" Ed said excitedly like a kid getting their favorite thing for Christmas.
Next was a case picturing a yellow creature standing in front of a bipedal dragon and a giant mecha, which then rattles, as the yellow creature, and its green.
"Rolf, you're… eccentric, to put it lightly, and so are the Ojamas. But when you need to get serious, boy howdy do you get serious, which is where the A-to-Z machines and Armed Dragons come into play."
"Ah, this shall do very nice for Rolf!" Rolf said, pleased at the deck.
Eddy ended up receiving a dark purple case with a capital D on the front and the sides.
"What's this, four eyes?"
"Eddy, I'd like you to meet the D/D, a collection of demonic entities based on mythological figures and scientists with a business theme that works to support the D/D/D archetype, monsters based on historical figures and various ends of the world, alongside the Dark Contract Spells and Traps. Think of it as one big scam, and the shmuck that fell for it is your opponent."
"I'm liking this." Eddy chuckled.
Chris then handed Michael a purple case with a capital H on the front.
"Now Michael, since you're a hero from… wherever it is you're from, I decided to grant you a deck befitting your occupation, and that deck is a HERO deck, a vast group of monsters based on comic book supers, vigilantes and British culture, and demonic antiheroes, to name a few."
"Sweet." The Big Buff Bunny smirked.
Finally, Chris handed a blue case with a stylized heart shaped like a skull to May.
"And last but most certainly not least, to May, the idol of my life, I present a Trickstar deck. I'm sure you can guess the reason why."
May blushed as Chris looked back in the box.
"Are there any more?" Ben asked.
"Well, not really. I asked Gamma what she'd want but she told me she's already covered with a Machine deck, Maya and Kokoe are already good with the former having a Splight deck and the latter having an Eldlich deck, Kirbi's running Melffies, and Adeline has The Weather. Plus, we already know what Sunset and Sagacious have, so there's that. Ah, here it is."
As Chris explained, he found a small cube and pulled it out from the box and brought it over to an empty room nearby.
"Finally, a use for this room," Chris said as he placed the cube on the floor and pushed a button on the top, stepping back so that he was in the doorway.
The cube glowed for a few seconds before it started shifting and expanding, eventually transforming into a miniature Dueling Arena like the one Pegasus used for the finals of his tournament.
"Gentlemen and lady, say hello to where we'll be able to practice our dueling skills any time we want."
"Wow, nice. But uh, what about you Chris? What are you going to use in the tournament?" Ben asked.
Chris's eyes widened in realization upon hearing that.
"Oh fuck! You guys have fun with the arena, I need to go find a deck for me!"
And with that, Chris ran straight out of the dorm room.
While all of that was happening, the Hanoi thief was in a dark room working on his computer. The man had a small device hooked up to it, which contained six cards of great importance to the man.
"Alright, up to ninety percent, and, done. Phew, it took a couple hours to perfect the transfer, but I did it."
Suddenly, as he was about to shut down the computer, a notification came up and the man's eyes widened upon seeing what it entailed.
"Shit, they found me. Good thing I don't have anything that they could use to track me, but I'm still gonna have to trash this thing just to be safe."
Once he fully turned off the computer, the man took the cards and put them in a light blue card case with the same irregularly shaped symbol that was on the USB drive, only purple. Once that was done, he started slamming into the computer with a hammer.
"There. Better to be safe than sorry. Alright, now then, I think it's time I had a little, fun."
As he said that, he pulled out a poster showing Dark Magician doing battle with Blue-Eyes White Dragon. It detailed a tournament taking place at Azeasany, where duelists of all walks of life would gather to see which of them had what it takes to be the King of Games. The man smirked as he pocketed the poster and pulled out a picture of May.
"Don't you worry, my lovely...You'll be with me soon enough."
And with that, he put away the photo and pulled out a matchbox, lit one, and tossed it behind him as he left the room, setting it ablaze to try and cover his tracks.
Unbeknownst to this individual, a certain cloaked individual was walking and grinned, showing a full row of eerie sharp teeth that dripped venomous drool as his red eyes glowed in the darkness, reflecting off the flames.
"This boy...could prove useful~."
Meanwhile, in a massive mansion, outside of Azeasany, the sounds of a roaring fire crackling can be heard, as a hand taps a chair, while on the phone with Delcan, before a draconic girl with glasses and a brown maid's outfit walks in.
"Very well. Bring them here whenever they're ready, Delcan. Bye," Said the enigmatic figure, before hanging up before looking at the maid. "House, prepare the invitations. It's time to test their might alongside many others."
"Of course, master," Said the Dragonmaid named House, who curtsies and walks over to prepare the invitations in her finest handwriting, while Laundry slowly pops her head out.
"S-Sir? I-I got the guest rooms ready," Said the skittish dragon maid, who then feels the intimidating presence, and whimpers in fright… before she feels him lift her up and sit her on his lap.
"Shh… You did amazing at that, Laundry…" Said the mysterious man, who pets her head, calming her down. The Battle Mansion tournament was about to begin, as the figure leans forward, wearing a wolf mask on top of his head, and a filter for his voice on the bottom half that covers his mouth.
"It has begun…" Said the mysterious figure.
Caw-zrs6's A/N:
And here it finally is, folks, the beginning of the Yu-Gi-Oh Tournament arc. You guys have no idea how excited I am to finally have the chance to be doing this, way back in the early development stages of DWP when I first brought the idea up. So, on top of the discovery of Chris's new powers, we also have the SOL thief planning on partaking in the tournament. But what exactly did he do to those cards? Well, that's going to be revealed in the next chapter. Anyways, that's enough out of me, I now pass the mic over to Ben and Enrico, take it away you two.
Enriks-Da-Writer's A/N:
Not much for me to add here since this is the prologue. This is a tad bit strange, considering that I'm going overboard with my own personal Arc, but I have my own ideas for that. Still, as I'm not too familiar with Yugioh, most of the effort will be on Chris on this. That's not to say I won't chime in every now and then. I just won't be doing it as often as I have been doing with previously established chapters.
Until then, see you later.
Devil Dragon Stand Knight's A/N:
I don't have anything of my own except to throw in my OCs to say some stuff. I'm not familiar with Yu-Gi-Oh either so I'm leaving the complicated stuff to Chris. Still, there's gonna be some cool stuff coming in so be prepared.