POV 1 Curran

Now the two big dragon dudes are gone, *sigh*, what the heck am I going to do? Oh, I know! Even that tiny bit of their adventure was pretty exciting! So time to start my own! And since we have a tavern in town, that's clearly the best spot to gather allies, since great adventure stories start like this most of the time.
I go back there and begin asking around.

"Yo, Rosenix, what about us making a group of travellers slash adventurers?", I ask.

"I don't know you. I only saw you with those dragons for one day. Did we even have a duel?", he answers.

Okay, to be fair, it would have been *ucking hilarious had it worked that easily.

"Let's have a duel for it.", I suggest.

"You need to offer more than not pestering me if I win.", he answers.

Tough bargain to be sure. I only asked him once, why is he calling that pestering?

"It's a bet not a trade.", I say. And no, that does not upgrade it into effin' pestering

"Anyone here good dealing with annnoying brats?", Rosenix asks around.

He could have just said "go f*ck yourself" and I would have realized I was crossing a line, (which he draws way too tiny. it definetly is a general reality, so simple present is appropriate here )

"Let me do it.", A woman with a whip says. Also the whip looks dumb. Only the lower 60% is thorned. Like, go hard or go home!? At least do an even 50% if you can't decide.

"Kids these days, what did your mother do wrong for you to force random people to become your adventure buddies?", she asks. I only asked twice for Ra's sake!

"First: Everything. Second: What did your mom do wrong for whips being your go-to solution for unruly brats like me?", I ask back with ultimate wittiness.

"Oh, I wasn't going to use that.", she says, clearly brandishing/flexing (or whatever its called for whips) her Whip, "WE are going to be the ones dueling and if you loose you'll get out of here and not come back."

The owner will hate her for driving out a well paying customer like me in that case.

"Oh and if I don't uphold my end of the bargain then you're gonna whip a defenseless kid? And what if I win, what happens in that scenario?", I ask.

"No, if you don't uphold it, I'll leave Rosenix back to struggle with you himself."

So she likes disciplining unruly ne'er-do-wells, but has no patience. Gosh, who only plays on easy mode?

"Hey!", Rosenix complained.

"You didn't answer the second part about me winning .", I ask.

"The same happens as when you don't honor this bargain."

"If we just have people on easy mode like that in here, I doubt I'll visit this again anyway, but I'll graciously accept your challenge.", I says.

Ebon Magician Curran (4000lp) vs Dark Scorpion Meanae the Thorn (4000lp)

"I set one monster face-down, activate Supply Squad, set 2 cards and end my turn.", she says.

"My turn, draw. It's obvious as heck your monster is weak if you have supply squad on the field, so I summon my Monster Version (ATK: 1200) and attack you."

"It is my own Monster version, which has 1800 DEF, which means, you take 600 damage (Curran LP: 4000-3400) and I get to add another copy of my Monster version from my deck to my hand.", she explains like I'm some ret*rd.

"Uh, well, to be fair, you kind of hid that you had basic smarts the whole time, like a champ I might say.", I say in a totally-not nervous voice.

"Your Insults would work better if you weren't so nervous while saying them.", a random Gishki Diviner says, who apparently wasted his powers on divining my inner monologue. But they're scams compared to Crystal Seer anyway and everyone knows.

"Ahem! I set two cards and end my turn.", I say, "and in your Standby Phase after drawing you take 300 Points of damage for the one Monster you Control, due to my own effect!"

"Not If I activate Compulsory Evacuation Device on you during the End Phase. Now I draw."

"*uck that card.", I mutter.

"I draw, I discard myself to use Twin Twister on both of your cards."

"One of them was Rebound, so I can draw a card, since I didn't blow it up myself."

"Then I normal summon Traptrix Myrmeleo (ATK: 1600) and with her effect, I add Bottomless Trap Hole to my hand. I set it and attack you directly with my Monster Version (Curran LP: 3400-1800) and add another copy of myself from my deck to my hand. Then I attack with Myrmeleo. (Curran LP: 1800-200) I end my turn."

"do you think this insignificant amount of humiliation is enough to make me grovel at your feet?", I say and I will admit to making a pouty face, as that clearly symbolizes the current state of the duel being merely a minor inconvenience and not anything that would shatter my self-confidence.

"My turn draw! I summon myself-"

"I activate Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, discarding myself and putting you back to the top of your deck."

"*itch. I activate Double Summon, instead of myself for the second time, I summon Starve Venom Goat Without tributing. (ATK: 1000)"

"That Doesn't fit with the rest. And it switches Control at the end of the turn.", Rosenix notes.

"It's a gift from a friend.", I said, "Then I activate Mystic Plasma Zone, trading 400 DEF for 500 ATK. (ATK: 1000-1500 DEF: 1200-800)
I set a card and activate Mage Power, this makes 500 more ATK and DEF for the field Spell, itself and the card in my backrow. (ATK: 1500-3000 DEF: 800-2300) I enter the battle Phase and Goat gets 600 more ATK. (ATK: 3000-3600)
I attack Meanie the Horn!"

"This is just so you can get some damage in, but I activate Dimensional Prison and banish the Goat.", she says.

"Screw this, I give up, before you decide to cherry tap me with Gagaga Cowboy or somethin'. (Curran LP: 200x0=0)"

WINNER: Meanae the Thorn

"Also, it shows humility to admit defeat.", I say.

"Which you're not fooling anyone with.", Rosenix says.

"Not with that grumpy voice.", the ugly Crystal Bird immediately adds/lies.

"You could've gotten me faster to not bug you just by being a jerk than you did by having someone else duel me for it.", I wisely answer and leave the room while totally turning this situation from a huge humiliation into a cool exit. And my final line was AWESOME and definetly made more than zero sense, ya hear? Then I wait until None of the earlier people are in hearing distance and mutter to myself.

"Should have known it was just silly and stupid and it was just a one-time thing...", and I so wish there was a pebble around here I could kick.

And now I suddenly feel a sharp sting in my foot. The logical way to react to this obviously was to fall on my back, clutch my damaged shoe with one hand and frantically whip around with the riding crop in my other hand.

"Die, die, whoever oh so dares to-", but maybe it's not gonna work to chase the unknown attacker from below away by talking weirdly.

"I'm sorry, but you stepped on me, so I had to react.", I look around and see a red starfish with weird blue sprouts coming out of it.

How ironic, someone stepped on me, then I find out that I'm no better than those Dragons.

"Urgh, who the h*ck are you?", I demand, trying to make an angry glare through the pain.

"Hitodenchak, a rabid starfish that spits a lethal acid that can melt almost anything.", he explains and that was his flavor text for certain, which means he is a normal Monster, "though I don't consider myself 'rabid'."

"Since when does acid feel like someone drove a nail through my boot? And now I see that the sole is only a little damaged!", I rightfully complain. Physics should work properly

"I'm sorry, but even if it had been more damaging, I just wanted to alert you.", and now Hit's (yes, that will henceforth be his nickname) flexing on me with his forgiveness and mercy, okay that one was cringy even for me, I'll never say it again, I'll flagellate myself later for this , "and I doubt the workings of this damage and pain are important details."

"Inconsistent abilities which do not matter aside, how about I let you join my soon-to-be-awesome adventure squad?", I ask.

"You sound a little bit desperate.", Hit says and I did not , "but becoming one of those leisurely adventurers does sound appealing. I'm in."

Very fishily easy and not in the star way. And did he really use the word leisurely correctly?

"...you're not kidding?", and here I put on my best baby face to ensure he doesn't.

"No. I am kind of a nomad anyway.", he says. weird image in my head. Shouldn't be as weird as it is, but it is.

"Okay, I simply need to mentally process that this is working somehow... What are we even gonna do first?"

"Oh, yeah, that also matters. Maybe we'll come up with one while dueling.", Hit suggests.

"We can solve many problems that way, but our own lack of creativity? Maybe we should expand our team a little bit with hopefully someone with more ideas."

"Or we could look for other people's troubles and try to solve them. That's what a lot of these adventurers do."

"I can barely solve my own personal problems, so someone who's better at that too is something we also need."

"THAT'S IT! We have a different opinion of how to solve it, so we'll bet the proceedings on the outcome! If we have something to bet on we definetly can solve this with dueling!"

"I guess, let's begin!", I also need some proper Tuners and a Polymerization for the cards Venom and Clear Wing gave me, so I'll add it to the list when I finally win this time.

Curran (4000lp) vs Hit(odenchak) (4000lp)

"I summon myself and equip her with Trial of the Princesses (ATK: 1200-2000) I set 2 cards and end my turn."

"I summon Rescue Rabbit, I banish him to summon two Jerry Beans Men. (ATK: 1750) I overlay them to summon Leviair the Sea Dragon (ATK: 1800)"

"Ts, no Level 5, But I will draw Trial Troll soon enough anyway.", I declare.

"Not summoning Princess Curran is the least of your worries, I activate Leviair's effect, I detach an overlay unit to revive the banished Rabbit, I banish him and summon two Mad Lobsters. Another Leviair, I detach again and this time Rabbit summons two Sonic Ducks, I summon the last Leviair, I revive Rabbit a final time, this time I summon myself twice, with them I summon Rank 2 Armored Kappa. I detach one of his overlay Units to give him 1000 extra ATK and DEF. (ATK: 400-1400 DEF: 1000-2000)"

"Well, that's kinda troubling.", I most humbly admit.

"I equip Kappa with Steel Shell, trading 200 DEF for twice that ATK. (ATK: 1400-1800 DEF: 2000-1800) Then with Meditation Technique I boost both by 300. (ATK/DEF: 1800-2100)"

"B-but I did the oppossite of jinxing it! Well now, I'll never hesitate to mock low ATK.", I pout for very valid reasons.

"I attack you with Kappa!", Hit orders.

"Hah, I still have my face-down Vain Betrayer, this combines Fiendish Chain, negating your monsters attack and effects (Kappa ATK/DEF: 2100-1100) and uh… Gragonith the Lightsworn Dragon, milling three at the end of yer turn."

"Huh, guess I overlay all of my monsters into double Number F0: Utopic Future. (ATK: 0) Vain Betrayer is gone now. "

"Okay, where the fuc* did you get something like this.", I demand.

"I wasted a lot of money once.", he says., which I'll accept. Happens a lot more than ye think that someone pays more money than a card is worth.

"I activate Eternal Rest, Curran is gone. And to defend myself in advance, I couldn't have known that you would only negate one attack, so-", he stammers.

"You falsely assumed it was all-or nothing. But if you did not intentionally misplay I'll still be the better duelist when I win, since I made fewer misplays.", I smirk. Man I wish I had Reptillianne Vaskii right now. But I tapped myself out of this cheat power energy as soon as the Dragons told me 'bout it.

"I set two cards face-down and end my turn."

"I acivate my face-down Back to the Front, reviving my self, then another one of me. Then Dark Room of Nightmare, giving you 1800 damage next turn if you don't swat away f0's materials. Turn's over."

"I will detach one from each in my Standby Phase, to negate that damage, then f0 number one attacks your ATK mode, taking control of her, you and the other one, attacks he DEF mode one, stealing her too, you then hit yourself. (Curran LP: 4000-2800)"

"But I'll get them back after the Phase.", I daresay and will not confirm that I slapped myself when he ordered card me to attack me.

"That's what my face-down Quick Xyz is for, I turn you into another Armored Kappa and attack you directly. (Curran LP: 2800-2400) Then I detach one to increase his ATK to 1400. I end my turn."

"Ya gotta be *hitting me. Mine again. Hehehehehe oh great chance for a turnabout from a doomed state, and I set the best card I could draw in this game. back to Hit.", I say with the best of smug faces.

"What a mood change. I draw, maybe I should destroy it with Mystical Space Typhoon. And is Hit my nickname now?", he would furrow his brows now if he had any, I bet.

"It's a much cooler name, ain't it? And my face-down is Sixth Sense, I declare you will roll either a 4 or a 3.", and a 4 occurs.

"I activate my Xyz Gift, detaching one material from each f0 to draw 2 more cards. I detach another material from Kappa and also equip him with United we Stand (ATK: 1400-2400-4800) I attack you directly. We're gonna do it my way!"

"Looks like you gave up on not jinxing it too, cuz I got the dude to turn this around, I play Battle Fader in defense mode and end the Battle Phase."

"Well next time maybe.", he's kinda miffed about it, I can hear it from his tone.

"Draw! I release Battle Fader to summon Clear Wing Flying Fish, Then I activate the effect of Servan Bunny Igor, if I don't have my Princess in the normal form on the field, he can be discarded to revive the Ebon Magician. Then I perform a Synchro Summon! Ferocious Monster I once gently served, dive into hell to eradicate all those who dare oppose me. SYNCHRO SUMMON! Come forth, Level 7, Clear Wing Synchro Dragon!"

"Since, like a few seconds ago, I am questioning the need of a dramatic announcement and the usefulness of this card in this particular situation you're going to prove me wrong somehow."

"Of course, I play Megamorph and Charm of Lamentation, Megamorph is equipped to Clear Wind and doubles his ATK. (ATK: 2500-5000) Time for a mindgame, I attack Armored Kappa, now do you discard one card to defend yourself giving me a draw, or do you not, take 200 damage and next turn steal a Clear Wing who'll have a measly 1250 ATK? That would prevent you from finishing me next turn in case you don't draw a 1150 ATK and above monster or a booster card, so what's it gonna be, will you make the right choice or the dreadfully wrong one?"

I'm so having the smuggest s*it-eating grin/smirk right now.

"I discard a third Hitodenchak to give my monsters a Waboku effect. Also, I had a face-down there. Simply couldn't play it right now."

"And I draw, I set a card and end my turn. I say, you shouldn't attack if you want to live another turn.", I say like a really bad liar except I did draw Radiant Mirror Force, which is gonna kill all of his monsters since he was to greedy to not Play Xyz Gift last turn, that is unless he reduces his monster count.

"I draw, I summon Jar Turtle and then activate Jar of Greed, which now Acts like Pot of Greed.", Hit walks to his inevitable demise, he has no idea what I have in store. Hehehe.

"What was that about not being able to play it?", I tap my foot angrily and brandish my whip.

"If Sinister Serpent and Graceful Charity were playable without having to do the complicated process of learning a forbidden art, you might not want to play the latter, unless you have the former, because it would basically lower the discard cost.", he explains.

"You gave me one card so you could protect one of your own and finish me this turn, heavily assuming it could not possibly be anything of value, don't
lecture me on card economy from like 16 years ago. You could have just said it was a bluff.", I pouted.

"Anyway, I activate Double Summon and Tribute Jar Turtle for Ancient Gear Beast. (ATK: 2000)"

"Anway 2, I play Starve Venom Goat and Clear Wing Flying Fish, I have no right to complain, but still...", Ha, that thing has less power than Clear Wing, He can't attack first with it!,

"Yeah, everyone has to fill out deckspace every once in a while.", is this guy bad with money in general and not just the one time he bought Number F0? Ah, who cares, I'm just gonna be the one to handle finances (also, more irony on the card advantage lecture ), "I attack Clear Wing with Number F0."

"Hah, ya think she was bluffin', but she ain't! Radiant Mirror Force, your monsters are in fact more than three and all in attack mode, so they all go deadsies."

"Ah, I knew I should've gotten Total Defense Shogun as deck filler, I give up.", Hit admitted. (Hitodenchak LP: 4000x0=0)

WINNER: Curran

And here I go out superior, like it should be and for poetry points, it was via surrender before the final blow, like the last time.

"Since I won we go looking for new friends. However, will choose a different way than I did before meeting you.", I say.

"How did you do that, if it failed so badly?", Hit wonders.

"Let's not dwell on past here, some people are redeemed faster than others.", I dodge the issue with nary a sweatdrop on my delicate face, "I will be a bit sweeter on the edges and it's gonna be fine. Also, those people were overreacting anway."

"Now I really am curious as to how you messed it up.", he says.

"sh-sh-shaddup and look away from Crystron Rosenix at all cost or your nickname's gonna be Todd or Jax, which are objectively less cool than Hit!"

"Hey, what's an adventurers group, without some teasing between everyone?"

"Anyways the 3rd, we should also get me a tuner and fusioning card first, so I can summon my strongest cards better.", I suggest.

"Then maybe there's someone we can meet at a card shop or merchant, let's go."

Yeah, just avoid the one with Landoise's Luminous Moss.

"Anyway No. 4, how did you learn the Forbidden Art of Sixth Sense", he said, even though that's not an appropriate context for that word, he should've picked also.

"Ah, Sixth Sense is suprisingly easy. My sister Pikeru that gifted *lut, can play Pot of Greed, Delinquent Duo and even more, though still only one at a time."

"Okay, now your cussing worries me.", Hit says.

"Don't be such a worrywart. I'm sure this will be the beginning of a Wonderful friendship as People usually say at this Point."


And here we have chapter one of the first of hopefully many spin-offs of Arc-VRAINS. This is going to tie-in to Arc-VRAINS itself at some point, but when and how important it will be remains to be seen. And I won't spoil it obviously.
Arc-VRAINS will remain my priority, so this story won't be updated as often, however I do know that this story will end at chapter 14 or 15 depending on if make an epilogue, it's not gonna be that Long until the end. Hypothetical seqels will happen after the Arc-VRAINS tie-in.
As for Curran, I hope she isn't too annoying or cringy and at leat works as Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist for now, though I don't plan for her to be that forever, however I shamefully admit, writing her dialogue like this is pretty fun, so this might be a writing form of "Ham and Cheese" (go to tv tropes if you don't know what that is)
It's also fun writing decks that at some points arguably make less sense than the anime. Also, you should definetly read Arc-VRAINS(') (til the) longest chapter. Don't know how confusing this will be without , but I won't force in recaps.

PS: In this universe, Sinister Serpent is still banned.

OC cards

Carryover from Arc-VRAINS: (only listed as names)

Clear Wing Flying Fishes, Starve Venom Goat, Trial Troll

New:

Meditation Technique

Equip Spell

Effect: Increase the ATK and DEF of a Psychic-type Monster Equipped with this card by 300.

Servant Bunny Igor

Level 3, Beast-Warrior, Dark, Effect

ATK: 1400

DEF: 1000

Effect: This card gains the following effects, depending on whether or not your Control "Ebon Magician Curran" and/or "Princess Curran"

-neither: Discard this card to Special Summon 1 "Ebon Magician Curran" from your GY.

-"Ebon Magician Curran": If "Ebon Magician Curran" would leave your side of the field, your Special Summon this card from your Hand or GY instead. You can only use this effect once per turn.

-"Princess Curran": Your opponent cannot negate any battle or effect damage inflicted by "Princess Curran".

Changed Effects

Xyz Gift

Detaches two materials in total instead

Charm of Lamentation

Draws cards when no battle damage is dealt as well