Infinite Stratos Plot Bunnies Collection
Chapter 8: Infinite Stratos x Yugioh – Duels Beyond Dimension Challenge
AN: I thought of this when I had first bought the Legendary Decks II box set and later on three structure decks - Kaiba, Yugi, and Rise of the True Dragons – and some booster packs in celebration of the upcoming Dark Side of Dimensions movie. I'm waiting for the subbed version to come out. I remembered how much I enjoyed Yugioh and started collecting again after so long. Thanks to the box set I finally got some of the old classic Duel Monsters I have always wanted but thought I would never had. Exodia and Egyptian God Cards are definitely cards I wanted and thought I would never possess until now. I had 3 Blue-Eyes White Dragons before I got the Legendary Decks II box; now I'm happy I got the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon. Since I also have Black Luster Solider, I also wen and bought myself the legendary Dragon Master Knight. Joey's deck is awesome as I already had Red-Eyes Black Chick, two Red-Eyes Black Dragons, and Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon prior to buying the Legendary Decks II box. Fueled by nostalgia, I remember how much I wanted create a deck with Dark Magician/Dark Magician Girl archetype cards and a Dragon theme deck loaded with the most powerful dragon cards of DM/GX-era (not a fan of and never seen 5D, Zexal, or Arc-V) with Blue-Eyes and Red-Eyes being my favorite signature dragon cards. I also dream of creating a Chaos themed deck for the Chaos archetype cards like Chaos Soccer, Chaos Dragon – Envoy of the End, and other variants of the Black Luster Soldier cards like Envoy of the Beginning, Super Soldier, Sacred Soldier, and Envoy of the Evening Twilight.
Since there isn't any crossover between Infinite Stratos and Yugioh, I thought I might propose this plot bunny and hopefully someone here on FFN will adapt the story or be inspired to write a crossover. There really is a lot of potential when creating a crossover between Infinite Stratos and the Yugioh series.
That said, here are some requests/conditions:
1) Ichika must be the main character or at least an equal protagonist.
Many of the IS fanfics and crossover fanfics I had a problem with is that most authors never bother to try fully develop Ichika as a proper protagonist character. Usually they use their "Author Self-Insert Mary Sue/Gary Stu OC character" or characters from other anime in a crossover fic to completely replace or sideline Ichika completely. I may be harsh with my attitude towards OCs but it's the honest truth; there's a reason why OC stereotypes and reputation still persists to this day - because people keep doing repeating it. I know there are reasons like the issue with the original IS author giving Ichika no real character development and his poor portrayal in the anime, but c'mon. This is fanfiction. You guys telling me and the rest of the IS fandom that we fans can't do better than replacing and sidelining Ichika with the all-encompassing "Author Self-Insert Mary Sue/Gary Stu OC character"? Not to be mean, but that just screams unimaginative and plain lazy. ANYBODY can create a Mary Sue/Gary Stu OC character, but a real author can flesh out character development for existing canon characters, even of it is a character that is uninteresting or hated.
With Ichika as a blank slate character, there is just so much potential and there are many ways one can go about in portraying and envisioning Ichika into the kind of amazingly well developed protagonist he has the potential to be. It's really not that hard as other IS fanfics have proven it before. Examples include vendetta543's Infinite Stratos: Reversal, Fangking2's The King Shackled By The Black Chain Of Heaven, Grey vs Ale's Infinite Seed, ZeroXSEED's The Mirror Verse and Sacred Twins, Rukotaro-kin's IS The Silent White Rabbit, i'mherepresent's Truth be Told, and lastly fujin of shadows's IS stories like Secrets: Ichika's Princess, White Knight, and the Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei: IS Style stories.
It' has been done before. It's not impossible to create a well-developed character for Ichika. It may take some time and effort, but it would be worth more than any Author Self-Insert Mary Sue/Gary Stu OC character you can cough up. Follow the path that is least walked, not one that seems easy and because everybody else is doing it. Break the cycle and loop of OCs that plague the IS fanon and show your portrayal your version of Ichika that can surpass the limitations and flaws of canon material.
2) Using Japanese names for characters is optional.
I have no preference or favorites as to whether you use the characters given Japanese name or English name. It's all up to each author who chooses to adopt this story to decide how they will address the characters, whether it be by their English or Japanese name. If you want to be nice about it, just add an Author's Note listing each character's given Japanese name for those of us who only had seen the dubbed versions of Yugioh anime and never the subbed versions.
3) Consistency on Summoning Mechanics Regarding which Yugioh world/timeline/dimension you choose as yoru story's setting
If you're gonna do a story involving YGO:DM, GX, and 5D timeline, do know that Xyz and Pendulum Summoning would not exist in the main YGO universe. While Arc-V features all the summoning mechanisms of Fusions, Synchro, Xzy, and Pendulum Summoning, it does mean that you won't be able to make use of certain characters that appear in other YGO series because of the whole alternate and multiple timelines and dimensions stuff. Yeah Arc-V theory about alternate worlds and universes confuses me greatly and bums me out as it doesn't connect to the main timeline of DM, GX, and 5D eras. As with Zexal since I never got past the first episode of Zexal, I don't know if they also have Synchro monsters and summoning in it as well. I don't know what's up on their end as I'm assuming it's mostly just Xyz derived summoning and monsters.
Deck Ideas:
If you don't have a clear idea for a single or multiple decks Ichika could use here's some recommendations to set up unique deck archetypes. Again these are just my ideas and recommendations; you don't; have to follow them. If you want to create your own deck for Ichika that is perfectly fine by me as it is your own story and your own take on the IS x Yugioh crossover story.
For Dragon decks I recommend cards from Rise of the Dragon Lords, Rise of the True Dragons, and Dragons Collide structure decks. Advantage being that some cards are shared within these three structure decks, they're similar enough to be interchangeable and mix-match, and can be augmented with Red-Eyes and Blue-Eyes cards. Another recommended Dragon-based structure deck would be Saga of Blue-Eyes White Dragon which can be augmented with centered on Blue-Eyes cards to allow summoning of Blue-Eyes Twin-Burst Dragon and Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon/Neo Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. Then there is also the Dragon Ruler deck. Either way, these five Dragon-based decks can be augmented with the Effect monsters Lady of D and Lord of D with The Flute of Summoning Dragon and The Melody of Awakening Dragon spell cards to complement them and get your Dragons on the Field as quickly as possible and protect your Dragons from card effects or monster attacks. Also the Buster Blader archetype cards can also be added in to as support cards since Buster Blader does gain extra ATK points for every Dragon monsters on the Field and Graveyard. If any writers wants to, they can also have Ichika use Red-Eyes or Blue-Eyes centered deck. Using a Dragon themed deck or multiple Dragon decks would make Ichika be known as the King of Dragons. If using a Blue-Eyes theme deck, Ichika would go by the alias Kisara Yui.
For Spellcaster themed decks, I recommend Spellcaster's Judgement and Spellcaster's Command structure decks augmented with Dark Magician/Dark Magician Girl archetype cards and their support cards. Or a deck solely centered on the Dark Magician/Dark Magician Girl archetype cards and their support cards. If Ichika uses a DM/DMG theme deck, Ichika would go by the alias Mana Yui. Kuriboh archetype cards could be added in as support cards for a DM/DMG theme deck.
For something a bit more unique and original for Ichika's deck, I would recommend the Chaos archetype cards as they are not only rare in status, limited in circulation, and prestige but extremely powerful. The most recognized cards in the archetype include: Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End, Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning, and Chaos Sorcerer. The Chaos archetype deck can be further augmented with Black Luster Soldier archetype cards - such as Envoy of the Evening Twilight, Sacred Soldier, or even just vanilla Black Luster Soldier – with the "Gaia the Fierce Knight" archetype cards acting as support cards. Any "Gaia the Fierce Knight" monster can be used with any Dragon-Type monster to Fusion Summon "Sky Galloping Gaia the Dragon Champion", which in turn searches for the "Spiral Spear Strike" Spell Card upon being Summoned. Lightray Sorcerer would be useful addition to the Chaos deck if Ichika has "Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Evening Twilight".
Last idea for a unique deck for Ichika is a deck centered on Ritual monsters. A Ritual-centered deck fills in a unique niche for Ichika as a capable duelists on par with the Yugioh protagonists for unique summoning gimmicks as the 5D had Synchro Summoning, Zexal had XYZ Summoning, and Arc-V had Pendulum Summoning. This would probably be the most difficult and challenging deck to construct for Ichika, but it would make Ichika stand out as a unique niche-filling duelist we haven't seen before in any Yugioh anime and I strongly doubt that Yusaku Fujiki the new protagonist of the upcoming 6th Yuigoh anime is gonna fill that role.
Lastly on the subject matter of decks, there is no restrictions as to how many decks or different variations of the same deck Ichika can have. By "variations of the same deck", I meaning a "basic deck" that changes and introduces new cards into the same "deck" with each new story arc as was the case with many characters in YGO:DM anime and like in GX once Judai augmented his Elemental HERO deck with Elemental HERO Neos and his supporting Neo-Spacian monster cards and Neos support cards. If any writer wants to, they can have Ichika pull a Bastion Misawa and possess as many different decks as he wants. In turn that means Ichika would have many decks he can use for any given situation he feels the deck is most suited for.
My Plot Idea:
AN: This is only one story idea I was able to come up with for a IS x Yugioh crossover. Feel free to come up with your own or put your own spin on this story idea.
Setting: Story takes place after YGO:DM, Dark Side of Dimensions movie, and GX storylines and IS World Purge-hen OVA.
Growing up Ichika's hobby has always been Duel Monsters. It was the one thing Ichika could confidently say he was very good at; plus the fact that he lost interest in kendo after his childhood friend Houki moved away. He always made one of the top contenders in nationals while being one of the top duelists of his regional tournaments sent to compete in Nationals and other tournaments held in Japan. He even participated in The Grand Championship, known in Japan as the KC Grand Prix (which took place after Waking the Dragons arc and before Dawn of the Duel arc in YGO:DM anime) as the Japanese National Champion at the time. Like the Red-Eyes Black Dragon, Ichika has potential to become a great duelist to stand alongside the names of great duelists like Yugi Moto, Seto Kaiba, Katsuya Jonouchi (Joey Wheeler in dub), and Judai Yuki. However Ichika had done it under the a pseudonym name and crossdressing identity known as "Yui" as his real name would always led to him being unfairly being seen as nothing more than the little sibling of the "Brunhilde" and not as the person who he really is. The crossdressing part is to help further conceal his identity and prevent him from being found out. (AN: I chose "Yui" as ichika's pseudonym as all the YGO protagonists have "Yu" in their names)
Ichika had wanted to attend Duel Academy and he would have if the guiding hand of destiny hadn't intervene to instead divert him to IS Academy. However, the summer break has arrive and Ichika is off from ISA break for a while. Coinciding with Ichika's break from ISA is the introduction of Turner subtype monsters, Synchro monsters and the mechanics of Synchro Summoning; however Duel Runners haven't been developed yet at this point. On his break from school, Ichika decided to get out his deck(s) and enter his local tournament and make his way to the Japanese National Championship this time under his old crossdressing alias and persona "Yui", as his real name and face is just too famous and would attract a lot of unnecessary attention. Seriously, he needed a break from everything IS related and the last thing he needed was all attention focused on the IS stuff when Ichika wanted to highlight his dueling skills and show his love for the game of Duel Monsters.
Ichika along with a few of his friends - the Gotanda siblings Dan who runs a Six Samurai deck and his sister Ran running a Madoche deck, and lastly Kazuma Mitarashi (appears in IS LN Vol. 5) who uses a Monarch deck – enters their local tournament and made into the regional tournaments, which each tournament lasting a week. They beat duelists like Rex Raptor, Weevil Underwood, and Mako Tsunami. Then finally Ichika made it to the Japanese National Championship; the Championship winner would have a chance to face off against Yugi Moto and should they win become the next King of Games. Also participating in the Japanese National Championship tournament is Seto Kaiba, Katsuya Jonouchi, Mai Kujaku (Mai Valentime in dub), Judai Yuki, Jun Manjome (Chazz Princeton in dub), Sho Marufuji (Syrus Truesdale in dub). If Ichika is using a Dragon deck, then Ichika would be very eager to duel Jonouchi and Kaiba, seeing as he is the King of Dragons and those two top duelist possess some of the most iconic Dragon cards in all of Duel Monsters. However things take an unexpected dark turn when as some interdimensional crisis involving Duel Monsters happens and forces Ichika and much of the Yugioh characters to band together and unite.
Shinonono Tabane had been messing around with multi-dimensional technology while experimenting with new type of duel disk she created that runs on a motorcycle known as the "Duelcycle". The Duelcycle is essentially the earliest prototype of duel disk tech that would lead to the development of the eventual Duel Runners seen in 5D. Tabane's Duelcycle is essentially the very first Duel Runner. Although Tabane usually ran an ABC+VW+XYZ deck with Magnet/Electromagnetic Warrior cards as support, Tabane had been testing the Duelcycle to test the new Synchro Monsters and Summoning mechanic with a special prototype Synchro deck she had Industrial Illusions made for her to test the experiment out with, the Duel Dragon deck. Tabane's Duel Dragon deck is centered on a series of Dragon-type monsters known as Duel Dragons which are alternate versions of 5D's Singer Dragons (AN: look it up on Yugioh Wiki and see for yourselves). During the Synchro Monsters and Summoning experiment, Tabane ended up tearing holes in her world's dimension with her Duelcycle. Whereas once the main Yugioh universe had been hidden most of the multiverse out of sight from the eyes of the Arc-V Duel Academy from the Fusion Dimension, Tabane's Synchro experiments had revealed her world's existence to them and they responded with sending Duel Soldiers to invade and subjugate the that world. Duel Soldiers from the Fusion Dimension have arrive to ambush and "card" all the purported "best duelists" of this world's dimension.
While the Duel Soldiers did had the advantage and element of surprise to "card" most of the Championship participants, some of the more strong-willed and resolved duelists held their ground – Ichika in his crossdressing persona as Yui being among them alongside Yugi, Kaiba, and Judai. Ichika urged most of the frighten and cowered duelists to fight back and with encouragement and help from the other top duelists like Jonouchi, Mai, and Manjome, the remaining participant duelists were able to push back with their own counterattack and force the Duel Soldiers back to their home that is the Fusion Dimension. Few of them have even been captured by Duel Monster Spirits of a few participant duelists which indicates to the few in-the-know that magic must be involved somehow. Ichika as "Yui" was shocked to see his own monsters physically appear before him and he could actually touch them with his hand. Ichika then faints from exhaustion and a triggered memory from his past; he collapses in the arms of his own Duel Monsters. The National Championship tournament was put on hold until further notice as another crisis has occurred. Reports of Duel Monster Spirits showing up all over the world, apparently coming from the torn dimensional holes between the real world and the Duel Monsters Spirit World, and wreaking havoc and causing chaos and anarchy upon the world. Unsurprisingly, modern weapons of war including the Infinite Stratos had little effect against Duel Monster Spirits; as result the militaries of the world were unable to contain the situation and their immediate armed response invited even more disaster upon the world when some of those Duel Monster Spirits did strike back against them.
Duelists worldwide quickly organize under the leadership of Pegasus J. Crawford (Maximillion Pegasus in dub), Seto Kaiba, the heads of other duel schools like GX Duel Academy, North Academy, and American Duel Academy. Meanwhile ISA is under attack…by Duel Monster Spirits of all things. Chifuyu along with the IS pilots are deeply concerned about where Ichika could be as he hadn't responded to their calls ever since Duel Monsters showed up at ISA's doorstep. ISA had only manage to push back the first wave of Duel Monsters with help from Kanzashi Sarashiki, the resident otaku who had still retained her Lightsworn deck and latest Battle City 2 duel disk she got on from an online auction website. However Kanzashi was the only duelist present on ISA and it had been a longtime since she last dueled, meaning her skills are rusty. Not only that, there was a second wave of Duel Monster Spirits forming up for another charge at ISA. Exhausted with her life energy seemingly weaken, Kanzashi was overwhelmed and ISA would have been dangerously overrun and destroyed with all of its defenders wiped out if Tabane hadn't shown up in her Duelcycle in a nick of time and ride in to save the day, uttering three memorable lines forever etched in memory of those there as she summons three powerful Dragons to save Houki and her friends.
"My gathered hopes shall spark a new shining star! Become the path its sparkling light shines shall upon! Synchro Summon! Oh beautiful sparkling dust of the stars, Stardust Spark Dragon!"
"This archfiend dragon ruler's heartbeats will now descend through here! Take witness to its trembling power of the Burning Abyss! Synchro Summon! Soul Burning Darkness, Hot Red Dragon Archfiend!"
"The Lunar's Light shines upon the entire world. This dragon a pitch-dark flower blossoming in the moonlight! Synchro Summon! Appear now in this lunar night sky,, Black Rose Moonlight Dragon!"
The second wave of Duel Monster Spirits had been defeated as none of them had the power to withstand the might of three powerful Synchro Dragons. While the rest of ISA's defense forces rested, Tabane filled the IS pilots and Chifuyu in on what was happening because of her Synchro experiment. Chifuyu requested Tabane's help in trying to locate Ichika as no one could still get a hold of him. Tabane traces the signal of Byakushiki back to a KaibaCorp duel arena that was coincidentally hosting the Japanese National Championship. Once more Chifuyu tried to contact Ichika again only this time through the Byakushiki's communications unit. There was an answer at long last, but the person answering wasn't Ichika.
The unconscious Ichika dreams of a time when he had been kidnapped by those conspiring to have Chifuyu forfeit the 2nd Mondo Grosso. In that dream he had cried and begged in tears for someone to come save him. In the flashback dream sequence, Duel Monsters from Ichika's deck from inside the duel disk he had on his arm from when he participated in and won a local tournament earlier in the day answered his pleas for help; the end result being that the building the kidnappers held Ichika in and the surrounding area was razed in a blazing burst of exploding flames and hellfire. His kidnappers died gruesome deaths and the resulting explosion and destruction of the surrounding area and inhuman roars and terrifying screams had frighten Chifuyu greatly when she arrived to the kidnappers' location to save Ichika, fearing the worse had happened and prayed that he would be alright. Chifuyu arrives on location to find a great many number of people, the kidnappers and many innocent people in the surrounding areas dead or dying from being burned or killed on horrible ways. Some of them looked like a monster had bit off chunks of their body. Chifuyu found Ichika unharmed in a circle of flames that surround him as if to protect him, with nine blank Duel Monster cards scattered around him radiating some sort of maleficent energy. As Chifuyu carried Ichika away to be treated medically and Tabane gathered Ichika's blank cards, Chifuyu looked back at the large scene of destruction from the air flying inside her IS, and saw the flames starting to die down but leaving a huge scarring burnt mark on the ground. Unknown at the time, the burnt crisp mark on the ground seemed to resemble an inverted Mark of the Dragon.
Ichika then woke up in the KC dueling area's infirmary where Judai and Yugi were waiting for "Yui" to wake up. Ichika was asked by Judai about his ability to see and communicate with Duel Monster Spirits, but Ichika was still disoriented from what had happened with the Duel Soldiers and still confused from the dream he had. Ichika was unable to give Judai any clear coherent answers as he himself didn't know what was going on. Yugi helped Ichika out of his bed and gather his belongings when he had been approached by Mokuba Kaiba that Seto wanted to see "her". Ichika entered a command and control room Kaiba, Jonouchi and some major prominent duelists were. Ichika saw his Byakushiki gauntlet connected to a KaibaCorp supercomputer and on screen was Chifuyu. Ichika got nervous and was pale as Chifuyu stared at him with a stern look as Ichika tries to maintain his alternate persona. When asked by Kaiba if "Yui" was actually Ichika Orimura, "Yui" quickly denied the allegations but that denial was shot down when Kaiba explained that he had looked at the gauntlet on "her" right armed and after hooking it up to his KaibaCorp supercomputers and ran a scan on it, thinking it was a component of a duel disk. Instead he found out that the gauntlet was actually the closed form of the IS unit Byakushiki, the final proof being when he answered a call through the gauntlet from ISA and the person on the other end calling was Chifuyu Orimura. As "Yui", Ichika continued to deny the allegations but his denials and insistent pleas were weak and he was forced to admit it when Chifuyu got really tired of him giving her the roundabout about "Yui" not being Ichika and plainly tells him he's been found out so he might as well just admit it. Chifuyu along with the rest of the IS pilots were worried and mad that Ichika had not answered any of their calls when ISA came under attack by Duel Monster Spirits.
Later on, Tabane and Chifuyu arrive at the Japanese National Championship arena on Tabane's Duelcycle, which had teleportation capability, to meet up with Ichika. Tabane discuses with Pegasus and everyone else what has happened as the result of her Synchro experiment. While duelists can help deal with the Duel Monster Spirits already loose in their world, the torn dimensional holes had the be sealed if they were ever gonna permanently resolve the problem and prevent more Duel Monsters from coning into the real world. And then there was the other problem with the Duel Soldiers from an alternate Duel Academy who had carded most of the Championship participants. Most of the duelists in the room decided that it would be best to seal the torn dimensional holes and deal with the roaming Duel Monster Spirits first and then deal with the Duel Soldiers later when they inevitably return for a second confrontation. Ichika volunteers to be part of the Dimensional Defense Forces organized to deal with those "crazy Fusionites" but Chifuyu strong disagrees with his decision stating that he needs to be at ISA ready to mobilize in the Byakushiki. Ichika made it clear the IS had been largely useless against Duel Monster Spirits, using Kanzashi as proof of his point as she was the only reason ISA forces were able to hold out until Tabane arrived to help them.
Meanwhile Ichika had felt unbalanced with a slight insistent headache ever since Tabane arrived but he couldn't figure out why. Ichika was honestly surprised when Tabane had Duel Monster cards of her own and that she had been experimenting with Synchro Monster and Summoning on her Duelcycle. It was only when Tabane shows Ichika her Duel Dragon deck and the Duel Dragon Cards themselves did Ichika had a violent reaction. He got a splitting headache and excruciating pain all over his body, the pain beyond anything he could imagine or comprehend, causing him to scream as images of the Duel Dragons and Crimson Dragon flooded his mind. He collapsed to the ground, screaming from the unimaginable pain and shock all over his body as Chifuyu and the IS pilots rushed over to Ichika's side to see what was wrong with him. With Ichika unable to comprehend and understand why he was having this kind of violent reaction to Tabane's deck, his mind finally shuts down and Ichika loses consciousness again. While people rushed over to help Ichika and try to revive him, Judai had noticed an unknown malefic power radiating from Ichika's body. Through his spirit vision Judai could see mysterious marks starting to appear and etched themselves onto Ichika's body. It would later be revealed that the nine marks that appeared on Ichika's body represents each of the nine Duel Dragons from Tabane's Duel Dragon deck. Judai and Yugi then recall the events from Bonds Beyond Time as one of those Duel Dragons looked awfully familiar to a certain Synchro dragon card used by a certain turbo duelist from the future. They wonder of this event was because the timeline was never truly repaired properly from the extensive damage done to the timeline by Paradox, some lingering wound that never healed correctly and festered into a cancer as result.
Back in 5D time period, the five Signers felt a disturbance in their connection with the Crimson Dragon. Some sort of darkness, corrosive corruption eating away at the life energy of their Signer Dragons; the Crimson Dragon weakening by the day. The cause of all this is unknown. Only clues given by the weaken Crimson Dragon was a form of malefic corruption in the timeline and multiple tears in their world's dimension. Marks of the False Dragon and the existence of false versions of the Signer Dragons, maybe even more appearing in the past. Their energies concentrated into one single duelist. They must go back in time, to that very moment that event in history when Synchro Monsters made their real debut in the game of Duel Monsters and the earliest Duel Runner prototype created. They must go back to that time period, locate the false "Signer Dragons" and their chosen duelist, and purge the false "Signer Dragons" from the time stream and purify their chosen human vessel, least their world and everything and everyone they know will ceases to exist. Once more the five Signers reunite and mount their Duel Runners, riding onwards to the ever distant past in order to save their precious present and the future that is at stake.
All the key pieces and players were gathered now right where the being wanted. And when those key pieces and players are fully assembled in the presence of its chosen human vessel, that is when the being known as the Ultimate God (AN: see 5D manga) knew that it had the means to finally be resurrected in its full form and that there was nothing, no one, not even the Crimson Dragon could do to stop it from being free.