Yu-Gi-Oh New Heroes Integration
With the sunrise, Alex woke up to a rather obnoxious alarm. Every time it rang, it never failed to make him alert. Brushing his teeth, he stared at himself. His hair was a crimson colour, dyed by himself. Unfortunately, it was also very messy since he cut his own hair. He couldn't afford to go to a barber otherwise he'd have to skip out on dinner. After quickly wearing his blue school uniform, he was all set and ready. He left the door, not saying goodbye, simply because there was no one inside to say it too. As he stepped out to leave, an old grumpy man was waiting for him.
"Alex! You've pushed back your rent far too much! Pay up today or I'm kicking you out!" he yelled rather loud for it being so early in the morning.
"Come on, my pay comes in tomorrow, you know that, Gramps." Alex replied sheepishly, while locking his door, "Besides, I've always managed to pay! It's just that this month I-"
"No excuses! You've got until midnight kid, otherwise I'm packing up your stuff and throwin' it out." the old man snapped at Alex.
"Okay, but it's gotten real messy in there. You don't wanna hurt your back."
"You little- Whatever. Midnight, got it?"
"Yes, sir" Alex sighed, defeated. Another thing to worry about.
"Alex, you ready to head to school? Grandpa, what're you doing outside so early?" a girl's voice pierced the cold morning air.
"Ah, Emma, teach Alex some manners, would'ya? His rent's been pushed back far too long and-" the old man spoke softly to his granddaughter.
"Alex's? His pay comes tomorrow, doesn't it? Can't it wait until then?" Emma asked in a honey-coated voice.
"Well… I suppose… But you better not push it back any further, got it brat?" the old man glared at Alex while walking back to his room.
"Yes… sir" Alex replied, relieved.
"Let's go, you owe me." Emma whispered and went down the stairs of the apartment complex. Alex followed suit.
"I wish your grandpa would listen to me like he does to you, Emma." Alex said enviously, "What do I have to do to become his granddaughter?"
"Well, maybe he'll like you better if you joined the family?" she replied with a smile.
"Umm…" Alex was too stunned to speak.
"Oh. That was a joke, I didn't mean anything by it." Emma backpedaled.
"Ah… yeah, I figured." Alex turned his head away, embarrassed. Emma was beautiful, there was no denying that. Her hair was sleek, straight black and her eyes were a sparkling silver. She was pretty popular at school. Alex had a bit of a crush on her, but he didn't want to say anything that would ruin their friendship, or make things worse with her or the old man.
"So… you'll come by the club after school, right?" Alex asked her, trying to make conversation.
"Hm? Course. I'll beat you today as well!" Emma was already declaring her victory.
"No way, I've revised all my cards today, I'm practically a new man!"
"Ha! We'll see about that!"
After a grueling day at his high school, Alex wondered if he would make it to his shift at work. He couldn't afford to miss it. As he entered the club room, he heard sounds of both defeat and victory. The gaming club was a weird one. They had games from tabletops to consoles, but everyone had a deck of Yu-Gi-Oh cards. When Emma first joined, she was the only one who didn't have any. The club got together and gave her card packs as a gift for joining. From there, she grew to be the legend of the gaming club.
"Too easy!" Emma cheered, fist raised in the air. She noticed Alex had entered, "Ah, if it isn't the new man who said he would beat me today. Come on, I'm on a winning streak, 3 to 0!"
"Really guys?" Alex asked the rest of the gaming club members.
The members responded with murmurs of "sorry" and "unfair".
"Alright then, I'll beat you for the club's honor!" Alex exclaimed, ready to win.
Alex and Emma walked back home together, with a look of defeat on Alex's face and pure glee on Emma's.
"Man, you really should use a different deck, Alex. Elemental HEROes won't get you anywhere." Emma remarked.
"I can't believe you banished all of my Shadow Mists with Caius…" Alex murmured silently.
"Too easy! Seriously though, try a different archetype. You might have more fun than you think."
"No way… HEROs are so much fun. Those cards are the ones… mom bought me."
"Ah…"
Realizing her mistake, Emma panicked silently, unsure of what to say. They walked silently for a little while.
"Well, I gotta go from here. Make sure to get home safe. Em." Alex said quickly, wanting to get out of the awkward situation he made. He walked across the street towards his workplace, keeping his head down.
"Alex!" Emma called from behind him.
Alex turned around to face her.
"When you get home tonight, let's revise our decks together!" she yelled from across the street. A few other students turned to look at her.
Alex smiled and yelled back, "Sure thing!"
Alex didn't really like walking through the shady part of the town. Weird noises and random yelling were frequently heard, and it was fairly dangerous too. The only job he managed to get was through here, so he didn't really have a choice. Normally, the path was straightforward but unfortunately, there was construction that blocked the entire road.
"Sorry kid, we're demolishing a small building. You'll have to go around" one of the workers explained.
"Shoot! I'll have to go around." Alex said to himself, dashing through alleyways. He immediately got lost.
"Umm… I think if I take a left here?" Alex wondered if he was even going to get to work in time. As he wandered around, he could hear faint yelling. Despite trying to steer away from it, he only seemed to get closer. Eventually, he could hear two men yelling at each other across the wall. Alex turned the corner, to find an empty plot of land with two men facing across each other. Quickly hiding behind the corner of the wall, Alex peeked at what they were arguing about but his eyes widened to what he saw. Huge holograms surrounded the field. Two giant monsters stood facing each other. He recognized one, it was Ojama King! The other one… he couldn't recognize.
Alex wasn't able to see the owner of the Ojama King since he was far away, but he looked almost homeless. The other player had short blond hair, and wore a fancy white coat.
"I attack with my Tick-Tock Exploder Dragon!" the blonde man yelled out, "With Ojama Kingdom, the attack and defense are switched, but my monster has the same point for each of them!"
The giant hologram roared, and moved forward, opening its jaw to bite at Ojama King. Alex could hardly believe his eyes. The holograms looked almost real.
"I activate Half Shut! Your monster loses half its attack!" the other player exclaimed.
"I activate my trap, Super Trap! When an effect targeting a monster or a spell or trap is activated, I can redirect it to one on the other side of the field. Ojama King goes down to 1500!" the blonde player yelled out. The giant dragon attacked and gusts of wind spewed about, but they had no force to them. The dust kicked around wasn't real either.
"Half shut causes your monster to not be destroyed. Lucky you. However, I activate my other trap! Tick-Tock Bomb! I can destroy one monster on my field and you take damage to half its attack. But if it's a TIck-Tock monster, you take all of it instead. I destroy my Tick-Tock Exploder Dragon for game!" the blonde man yelled out, proclaiming his victory.
With a loud explosion and the yelling of Ojama King, the holograms disappeared.
"Damn it!" the loser cried out as he ran away.
"Wow…" Alex said out loud. Instantly, the blonde man turned around and made eye contact with Alex.
"You there! Come out!" he yelled at Alex.
Alex slowly came out from the other side of the wall, "H-hey there."
"You don't have a disk? Did you record anything?"
"Me? No, I… everything happened so fast and…"
The man's green eyes seemed to pierce through Alex, "You're not lying."
"Of course not. I just-" Alex tried to explain himself but was cut off.
"That wasn't a question."
He stared at Alex.
"Umm…" Alex broke the silence, "That was a pretty cool duel, though I didn't really recognize your cards…"
"So you know the game." the blonde man analyzed Alex, "Normally the duel would've been postponed or even canceled… perhaps you're meant to be a new player then. Follow me."
The man started walking away.
"I-I have a job I need to get to…" Alex excused himself.
The man turned around to look at him, "If you don't want to follow me, that's fine. If you do though, you'll enter the same world as me. Hologram, dueling and cards. You'll even make a fair bit of money. Do you want to give up this opportunity for the sake of your job? You're already late, aren't you?"
Alex already knew his answer but he felt a bit scared that the blonde man could see through him so easily.. He wanted to go with the man, but he was a stranger and a working job was his only hope at keeping his apartment. Despite the logic going through his mind, Alex's heart took over.
"I guess… I'll come. Explain everything to me though." Alex gave his answer.
The blonde man introduced himself, "I'm Micheal Dresden. I'll explain everything when you sign up since it's all confidential. You'll see."
Alex followed Micheal into a building filled with all sorts of people. Elderly, homeless, rich-looking, students and more. He figured Micheal looked young enough to be a student himself.
"Maybe a college student?" Alex wondered, "I am kind of regretting following him here, but there's high schoolers here, so I'm not really alone."
As they entered what seemed to be the basement of the building, it was instead a giant open space filled with all sorts of people. Large signs were everywhere, and holograms of monsters were flying around as advertisements. Alex gulped, a little astonished.
Alex and Micheal approached the front desk.
"Ayy, Micheal, a big shot like you, here to see me?" the clerk joked around.
"I brought a new player. No warning signs at all. He saw everything." Micheal explained.
"Dang, scouted by one of the top, huh? What's your name, kid?" the clerk asked Alex.
"A-Alex." Alex replied.
"Alex what?"
"Just Alex."
The clerk typed in four letters on his computer.
"Alex… no last name. Yeah, you're on the potential list. Hmm, you've been on this for a while." the clerk stated, "Well, here's the contract, sign here. It's just a paper that says you won't tell anyone or give anything about anything around here. Of course, you can use the cards for regular play, but you can't trade them."
"I'm not signing anything I have to pay for… right?" Alex asked, being careful.
"Nope, break anything in this, and we'll fix it and take money from you. However, you do get a disk and a free starter deck!"
"A disk?"
"Yeah. Duel disk."
Micheal raised his arm to reveal a large gadget on his arm, resembling a wrist gauntlet. He pressed a button, and two surfaces popped out, revealing 5 total monster zones, and card spaces beneath them, for the spell/trap zones.
"Field spells go on top, your deck goes into this giant slot." Micheal pointed to a giant space at the front of the forearm. A space for field spells was at the top as well.
"As for money, you'll make it here. If you sign, that is." the clerk responded to Alex's face, which was admiring the duel disk, "So, ready to sign?"
Alex hesitated, "What if I told the police about this place?"
The clerk sighed, "First, they wouldn't believe you. Second, if anyone we didn't want to see down here entered, the place would be locked down and deserted. You'd also never be allowed back in. You've got nothing to lose, kid."
Alex looked down at the pen and paper, decided not to think about it and signed it.
"Congrats, kid. Here's your disk. One size fits all. I'd get someone to give you a tour but this hotshot is here anyway, so he'll take you." the clerk smiled happily as he gave Alex his own duel disk. Unlike Micheal's silver one, his was the same colour as his hair, crimson.
"Now, I'll explain more." Micheal started moving ahead, "Let's move, people are starting to stare."
Alex noticed a crowd surrounding them. He remembered the clerk calling Micheal "big shot" and "hotshot".
"You're famous?" Alex asked Micheal.
"Just a bit" he responded.
Micheal led Alex through the area. Alex recognized a lot of monsters. Tour Guide From The Underworld seemed to be everywhere. Holographic Kuribo were hopping everywhere. Two large Red-Eyes Black Dragons flew overhead.
"Dueling is about the same as you can remember from any of the shows. 4000 life points, drawing 5 cards and the rest. Just a few slight differences." Micheal explained while walking.
Alex walked past a bunch of signs advertising sales on card packs, and different monsters pointing to duel arenas and tournament rooms.
"The purpose of every duel you have here is to entertain. You have to shout your moves and reactions, like I did when you saw me." Micheal stated.
"Wait. I have to shout that out?" Alex exclaimed, a little embarrassed.
"Yes. Your duels are recorded and posted online. Sometimes they are shown on one of the big screens up there, or in waiting rooms."
"That's… a bit much. I don't know if I can…"
"It's common here, nothing to be embarrassed about. The more popular your recorded duels get, the more duel points you receive."
"Duel points?" Alex felt his face flush from how the names sounded.
"You can use those to buy cards, card packs, sleeves, all of that stuff. More importantly, you can convert them into real cash. That's why this got really popular. Most people are here to earn money. For some, it's life or death. It's between buying your daughter a birthday present and paying rent down here. You'll find plenty of players who'll fight hard."
Alex followed Micheal down a flight of stairs into a hallway.
"So… this duel disk. No extra monster zones?" Alex asked.
"Link monsters haven't been introduced yet. I doubt they will, unless they call back all the disks to change them. Pendulum monsters aren't in the game yet either. Synchros have only just gotten out. Doubt anyone's purchased any yet either." Micheal answered his question.
They both entered a room. The sign in the middle read "Bot duels".
"Here." Micheal pointed to a fairly large screen, "Just point your disk towards the bottom of the machine."
Alex did as he instructed and the screen turned on.
"Welcome, new player! Select a starting deck to play with!" the screen flashed.
Alex could tell it was a touchscreen, given away by the large "Touch me!" message and swiped away. He saw a few decks he recognized. Some of them had vague names but were easily guessable as to what type of monsters they contained. Then Alex found one he knew he had to pick. Selecting the Elemental HERO starter deck, he could tell he made the right choice.
"HEROes? Popular first pick, though they're not used very much." Micheal said with a bit of a disappointed face,"Alright then, we'll get you through some bots to see if you have what it takes. Beat all 10 and you get a lot of points. You won't lose any if you lose unlike a usual duel. The last bot is known to be a bit on the harder side."
Alex looked at Micheal.
"What?" Micheal asked him.
"How hard? Could you beat it?" Alex asked.
"As I am right now… First Turn Kill." Micheal smirked," When I first started, I beat it on the 6th turn."
"Oh yeah, that's right, your cards. I didn't recognize them. Did they just release or…?"
"Another feature of this place. If you've got enough points, you can craft your own cards. They're ridiculously expensive and are balanced through the admins. I created the trap card, Super Trap. It's limited to 1. No one but me can make that card now, but I can trade it if I want."
Alex wondered what kind of duelist Micheal was, seeing as he had three custom cards. The screen plopped out Alex's starter deck. They felt a bit heavier than Alex expected.
Feeling a rush of excitement, Alex slipped his deck into the holder on the duel disk,"Alright, I'll beat all 10 bots! I'm getting really excited now!"
For Alex, the first 5 bots felt too easy, as if they were made to teach him how to activate specific cards with buttons on his disk, or when to counter his opponent's play. Alex also realized that the disk wasn't a simulator, it was a program. If he tried to activate an effect at the wrong time, it simply wouldn't activate. The next 4 duels were fairly tough, but he beat those too. He felt like he kept drawing into everything he needed. Above all, Alex felt the rush of duel. The excitement and adrenaline coursing through him and his victories only brought him higher. The last bot remained. Alex figured he'd take a water break before this one. As he stepped outside, he noticed a crowd had formed.
Micheal was leaning against the wall, waiting for him.
"You're doing pretty well. I didn't think I'd see a HERO starter deck get this far." Micheal chuckled,"Listen, I'll lend you this card, but you have to play the next match like a real match."
"What do you mean?" Alex asked, a bit nervous at the request.
"A crowd gathered, and it seems your next duel will be recorded because of it."
"What? No way, I'm not ready for that! I can't shout out stuff… it's way too embarrassing." Alex panicked.
"Calm down. You'll get used to it. In fact, they'll judge you more for being silent if anything." Micheal reassured him, "Tell you what. If you beat the next bot before the 6th turn, you can keep this card."
Micheal handed him a trap card. Alex turned it over and realized it was one of Micheal's custom cards, Super Trap!
"W-wait, you said these were r-ridiculously expensive. I can't…" Alex stammered through his sentence.
"I did. I beat this bot on the 6th turn. If you can beat it on the 5th, you'll keep it. Otherwise, you'll return it. Though, you won't." Micheal said coldly.
"Won't? Won't what?"
"Won't win. HEROes aren't that good. In fact, I'd call them trash for how bad they are."
"Wha… Hey, I've been winning with these!" Alex said a bit angrily.
"Beginner's luck. But it's a good bet, isn't it? Prove me wrong and you get a free card."
Alex put the card in his deck and stormed right back into the duel room.
"This deck… Mom bought me my first cards and even if this isn't the same deck, the archetype is still my favorite! I won't lose!" Alex steeled his resolve. Everyone in the club tried to pressure him out of his HEROes. Alex loved the archetype to much to get rid of them. He would win, no matter what.
"I'm ready," Alex told the bot.
DUEL START
ALEX: 4000
BOT-10: 4000
TURN 1
First turn always goes to the player when facing a bot. Alex drew five cards and so did the bot.
"Need to be loud, no time for embarrassment here. I can make rent if I beat this thing!" Alex thought to himself. Alex drew a card and looked at his option.
"I set a monster and a card and end my turn." Alex declared his actions, his voice leaking uncertainty.
TURN 2
After drawing a card, the bot summoned Crystal Beast Amethyst Cat (ATK: 1200). A fairly large pink feline with a pink-ish jewel embedded in its chest appeared in front of Alex. With its effect, Amethyst Cat attacked Alex directly, dealing him 600 points of damage. Then, the bot set a card and ended its turn.
TURN 3
ALEX: 3400
BOT-10: 4000
Alex drew a card. Surprisingly, it was the card Micheal gave him.
"A Crystal Beast deck… this is supposed to be the last bot? Crystal Beast's aren't too hard to beat." Alex thought, "Alright… I can do this. Just forget the crowd and do your own thing!"
"I activate Polymerization! I fuse my King of the Swamp and Elemental HERO Sparkman to make Elemental HERO Shining Flare Wingman!" Alex called out the card. A shining light enveloped the room as a monster with silver wings and armor levitated on Alex's side of the field (ATK: 2800). A series of shouting and cheer could be heard from outside the arena.
"S-shining Flare Wingman gains 300 attack for every Elemental HERO in my graveyard. Sparkman is in there, so it gets stronger! I'll attack Amethyst Cat with Shining Flare Wingman!" Alex roared, feeling his face get warm.
The bot took 1600 points of damage. Amethyst Cat was destroyed and its effect allowed it to be placed in the Spell/Trap zone as a Continuous Spell card. The bot then activated it's trap, Crystal Pair! This allowed it to place another Crystal Beast Card from it's deck to the Spell/Trap zone. The bot added Crystal Beast Cobalt Eagle to one of the Spell/Trap zones.
"It's got its other effect! You take damage equal to your monster's attack!" Alex exclaimed to the bot.
Shining Flare Wingman shot out flames from one of its arms, dealing 1200 more points of damage.
"Alright!" Alex yelled in joy,"I'll set two cards down and end my turn."
TURN 4
ALEX: 3400
BOT-10: 1200
After drawing, the bot played Swords of Revealing Light.
"Swords of- wow, you could've used that earlier" Alex said out loud. His facedown monster was flipped up. Elemental HERO Clayman (DEF: 2000) came to the field, kneeling in defense mode. A giant monster of unbreakable clay was right in front of Alex.
Suddenly, the 3 continuous spell cards on the bots field were sent to the graveyard.
"What? Why?" Alex didn't understand. The room dimmed a bit as a gigantic monster erupted in the middle. Huge yellow wings erupted into the air, a tail whipped across the field and a skeletal frame with spiky arms stared down at Alex and his monsters. Thunder roared, as the bot had summoned Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder (ATK: 4000)!
"No way…" Alex whispered into the cold air. Hamon attacked Alex's Shining Flare Wingman aiming to deal damage. Then the bot activated the quick-play spell, Concentrating Current. It allowed Hamon to gain attack equal to its defense. Since it had the same points for both, it would gain an immense attack of 8000! It seemed the end of the duel was already here.
"Not a chance I'm losing this!" Alex yelled out, "I activate my trap, Super Trap!"
Micheal's trap flipped up on the field.
"When an effect targeting a monster or a spell or trap is activated, I can redirect it to one on the other side of the field! Your Concentrating Current now affects my Shining Flare Wingman! It's defense is 2100, so its new attack is now 4900!" Shining Flare Wingman started glowing brighter, electricity flowing around it's body, and smashed right through Hamon to deal 900 points of battle damage to the bot.
"You take Hamon's attack as effect damage due to Shining Flare Wingman's effect. That's a full 4000!" Alex yelled passionately, "It's over!
ALEX: 3400
BOT-10: 0000
DUEL END
As the holograms faded away, Alex cheered for himself before realizing he was being recorded and promptly stopped. The duel was over and he won, and on turn 4 too. Alex stepped outside to see Micheal with a grin on his face.
"Well, I'm surprised. On turn 4 too." Micheal chuckled.
"That's right! I bet I could take on whatever is in your deck now too!" Alex claimed, feeling pretty full of himself.
"Let's not get too hasty. A deal's a deal too, so you can go ahead and keep that card."
"Ah, well, are you sure? I mean, it did help me out there."
"And it'll help you out later too. Keep it. You don't have to use it if you don't want to either. Although, I wondered what would have happened if I didn't give you anything. Let's say the next card you would've drawn would've been the one instead of mine. What is it?"
"Ah yeah, I still need to put all the cards back into the deck… but the card I would've drawn would be…" Alex drew and placed the card face up on his palm.
"Battle Fusion. You would've gained attack equal to Hamon's 8000. Better than with my trap." Micheal's face went back to being serious, "Beginner's luck. Well then, let's head outside, it's gotten late."
Alex and Micheal got out of the giant dueling area and were greeted with the night sky looming over them.
"Ah man, there's no way I'll manage to get paid now… I messed up my job, how'll I pay rent?" Alex muttered to himself.
"Here, catch." Micheal threw a bag at Alex.
"Woah! I almost dropped this. This is…" Alex opened the bag to find a sizable amount of money inside, "I can't accept this!"
"You missed out on your job because of me. It's for that."
"Even then… I couldn't!"
"Then repay me later. Either by cash or by duel points. I'm looking forward to having a match with you in the future, Alex.." Micheal waved his goodbye as he walked away.
Alex could only watch as the person who turned his life upside down walked away.
"Man… what a day. I just want to sleep. I'll eat a good meal tomorrow." Alex said to himself as he walked home.
"So, I hear you've taken on an apprentice?" a lady's voice asked playfully.
"Is that what the rumors are saying?" Micheal asked her, face unchanging.
"More or less. Who was the kid?"
"He seemed sharp, nothing more, nothing less. I figured I could bring him in for some extra points but…"
"But?"
"His luck. It's incredible. Every single one of those 10 rounds, he got everything he needed. A newcomer can't have a skill to make that happen so early, so it has to be his natural luck."
"It's just beginner's luck. There's no way he has enough points to purchase a skill, much less create one. You'll see, they all go down the same rabbit hole anyway."
Micheal stayed quiet, silently waiting to see the fate of what could be his next real challenge.
Hey there, thanks for reading this far. It's my first time doing something like this and I've always wanted to try, so I'm hoping to keep this series up in my free time. I am pretty new here so please let me know if I'm doing something wrong!