Chapter 1: A New World
"I activate Borrelsword's effect." A boy said. "Changing my monster on the field to defense position, Borrelsword can attack a second time." Sighing, the young adult across from him saw the writing on the wall and extended his hand in defeat. A young teen with messy black hair regarded him for a moment before grabbing his cards off the mat, completely ignoring the man's gesture.
He had won the tournament at the card shop, it was smaller than some of the other ones he had won, but the young Duelist was most interested in the prize. As he left the shop, he looked over the card packs he won. Burst of Destiny, the cover card of the pack was a new Borrel Link monster. Rather fitting given he used a Dragon Link deck.
As he walked home, the boy debated on whether he should sell any non-dragon support he pulled. He knew his brother would tell him to keep them, despite them barely having enough money to get by, his brother never allowed him to sell any of his cards to help pay for food or rent. "I wish he wasn't so stubborn about that sort of stuff. It's just cardboard at the end of the day."
The sun was beginning to set as he walked in thought. As he crossed the nearby street, his thoughts were cut short by the flash of light in the corner of his eye. A large silver car was speeding towards him. Only having enough time to acknowledge his fate, the boy shut his eyes and prepared himself for what was to come.
CRASH!
A cold feeling embraced Ryoma. An eye-bleeding light enveloped his senses, he assumed that his consciousness would fade away and oblivion would set in. Despite that, Ryoma's thoughts lingered for a bit. Using this time to reflect, Ryoma thought of his sixteen years of life, from those he crossed paths with, to those that disliked him, he wondered how they all might react. A pang of sadness hit him as he knew that his brother, and only family member, would undoubtedly be devastated by the news. Despite these thoughts, he had one question: is death always so loud?
As Ryoma's vision returned, the young teen found he wasn't in some void. Instead, he was standing on a sidewalk in a large metropolitan city. Several billboards and buildings covered the nearby skyscrapers, the billboards showed various advertisements for something called Duel Schools and featured various monsters. The largest structure in this city was a tall hourglass-shaped tower with gold letters reading 'LDS'. Alongside the advertisements were live streams of people dueling, beside them were holographic monsters from the card game, and some were even riding them. This whole thing felt like a bizarre dream.
"They say the brain is active for several minutes after you die." This was the best explanation he could think of. To verify if he was truly hallucinating, Ryoma bit down on his tongue. The subsequent pain only confirmed he was very much alive. Wincing for a moment, reality soon set in. "I truly have ended up in a world like Yu-Gi-Oh..."
Looking at his reflection in a shop window, Ryoma only felt more confused. He looked nothing like how he remembered. Staring back at himself was a boy with fair skin and light-blue eyes. His previously black hair was now white and spiked up on the sides, accenting his spikes were purple-blue highlights. His clothing changed as well, he was now wearing a light gray hoodie over a pink shirt and dark pants. Strapped to his waist was a silver Duel Disk and a deck holstered to his other side.
"The universe must truly have a sense of humor," Ryoma said to himself in disbelief. He looked exactly like Ryoken Kogami, specifically, how he looked in the real world. Ryoma was silently grateful he had his in-person appearance, he'd feel even more strange if he had gotten any of his avatars in LINK VRAINS. His hand even had the same tattoo as the character. Ryoma hated to admit it but it was fitting given the deck he used in his previous life made use of Revolvers cards. While he didn't follow much of the anime, Ryoma did enjoy VRAINS to a degree.
As the shock settled in, Ryoma wondered why he didn't inherit Revolver's height along with his appearance. "If I have his appearance, there's a chance that I simply became him?"
To verify his suspicion, Ryoma inspected his deck. He had all of Revolver's Rokket monsters along with his other Dark Dragons. There were also cards that he could only assume existed in anime. His Extra Deck had his Borrel Link monsters alongside generic Dark Dragon Link cards. The only cards he was missing were Revolver's Topologic monsters, along with the other Extra Deck Borreload Dragons. Ryoma wished he had his deck from his previous life, using cards like the Guardragons and other powerful staples would make his future duels easy. Regardless, he was confident that he would get by with this simpler version.
Thinking for a moment, Ryoma wondered if the world he was in was the same as the VRAINS anime. To test his theory, Ryoma gripped his cards tightly before slamming them into his Duel Disk. "Deck set! Into the VRAINS!"
…
Nothing happened. Apart from the nearby people looking at Ryoma like he was insane. Walking over to a nearby bench, Ryoma sat down and clasped his hands together. There were three things he was now certain about.
"One: I am in a world that's either from one of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime or one that loosely resembles them. I can say with certainty that it's not VRAINS." While he knew a bit about the other series, if the former was true then he'd have very little knowledge about what happens in those series. Thankfully, he could recognize some of the characters thanks to games such as Duel Links. When it came to details regarding their respective plots, he was blind. Ryoma's only clue was the city he ended up in is called Maimi.
"Two: Assuming those billboards are up to date, this place does not have Link Monsters. Either it doesn't exist yet or is kept out of the public."
Ryoma smiled to himself. Link Summoning was his favorite form of Extra Deck summoning, if he only had access to it, that meant he'd have an edge over anyone he encounters. Advertisements for the Leo Duel School showed Fusion, Synchro, and XYZ monsters. Ryoma could safely assume he was in a world with Master Rule 2 or higher. Now that he had Link Monsters, it's likely that this world's rules would change along with them. If it was Master Rule 4, he'd be in an even more advantageous position given the Extra Deck restrictions.
"Three: Either I got transported here before the car hit me or I'm truly dead in my home world."
Dead. The words felt metallic in his mouth. He couldn't help but wonder if his brother had heard about what happened to him by now. He knew he'd be devastated once he learned his only remaining family was taken from him.
Shaking his head, Ryoma decided he shouldn't dwell on it right now. There was still daylight out and he needed to figure out what he was going to do next.
The sun was starting to set when Ryoma walked into a local park. He knew that any information he wanted would require him to join a Duel School, so he spent the majority of his time gathering money. Pickpocketing, while not noble, earned him enough to feed him for the night. He also learned that Maiami has decent hotdogs.
"I'll need to find a place to sleep, after that I'll figure out my next move." Ryoma's thoughts were cut short by multiple voices.
"Yuya look out!" A female voice shouted before something collided with Ryoma. Falling back, both of their decks scattered across the ground, along with Ryoma's dinner. Slowly opening his eyes, in front of him was a boy with green and dark-red hair. He wore a red T-shirt with a white school jacket draped around his shoulders like a cape, and covering his head was a pair of goggles with a blue star on a single side. Around his neck was a pendant with a light-blue crystal attached.
"Are you okay?" The shouting girl asked. She had dark-pink mid-length hair with lighter bangs across her face. Her attire was a sleeveless light-blue and white school uniform and maroon skirt. Around her wrist is a distinct metal bracelet with a red gem in the center. She looked at Ryoma with concern before scowling at the boy. "I told you to watch where you were going!"
"You were the one who was trying to attack me!" Yuya countered before looking at Ryoma. "Sorry about that." Yuya smiled sheepishly as he gathered his cards.
"I've been worse," Ryoma said dryly.
"I'm Yuya by the way. Yuya Sakaki." The boy grinned before picking up his portion of the spilled cards.
Regarding the boy for a moment, Ryoma decided to introduce himself. "I'm Ryoma… Ryoma Kogami." Given his appearance, he might as well adopt the last name.
Looking at one of the scattered cards, he noticed that only the top half of the card's border was that of an effect monster, the other half was the color of a spell card.
"They have Pendulum cards in this world?" Ryoma thought about it for a moment before remembering someone who resembled Yuya in one of the games.
"I suppose he's the hero of this world? " Ryoma mused. First, he gets transported to another world and now he encounters the main characters, what are the odds?
"I'm Yuzu Hiragi." The pink-haired girl introduced herself with a small bow.
I'm Ayu!" A young girl with red hair and a hairband beamed.
"I'm Tatsuya. Nice to meet you." A meek blue-haired boy introduced himself.
"And I'm Futoshi! I love things that give me the shivers!" The slightly overweight boy with lime-green hair said. Arching an eyebrow at the boy's mannerisms, Ryoma decided to be polite. "Pleasure to meet you all."
"Are you new to the city?" Yuzu asked, "I don't think I've seen you here before."
Thinking fast, he didn't quite have a backstory planned out. It's not like he could say he got hit by a car and woke up here.
"This is my first time in Maiami," Ryoma answered. "I traveled around for a while and ended up in Maiami by chance. But seeing as there's that tournament coming up I figured I'd stay and enter it." The group seemed to believe Ryoma's half-truth.
"Well since you're going to be staying here for a while, why don't you join Yusho Duel School?" Yuya asked before the sound of a loud smack echoed in the park.
"Yuya, it's rude to ask that to someone you just met! Plus He might already be in a Duel School!" Yuzu scolded, holding a comically large paper fan.
"Weren't you the one who said we needed new members?!" Yuya countered, rubbing the back of his head. "
"Are they always like that?" Ryoma asked the three children, observing Yuya and Yuzu bickering.
"Yup." They answered in unison.
"I see." Ryoma thought for a moment before deciding on what to say. "I am not with any school, to answer your question. Truth be told I've only been in the city for less than a day so that wasn't my top priority."
"Then you should join our school!" Yuya said with an almost infectious grin. "It's really fun, we perfect our Entertainment Dueling."
Entertainment Dueling? Ryoma understood dueling as a form of competition but to use Duel Monsters as a performance sounded bizarre. Despite their hospitality, Ryoma was going to decline their invitation and go on his way. He was by no means a showman, nor did he think the theatrics of being an entertainer was his style. Plus involving himself with the main character would only invite trouble for himself.
"I'm going to have to-"
"I've found you, Yuya Sakaki!" Looking over, a boy with short blonde and light brown hair styled in layers. Joining him was a group of what Ryoma assumed were the blonde one's lackeys. One had short brownish hair undercut that was tied back into a ponytail. Another had combed green hair, and lastly, the shortest member of their group had purple-brown hair that spiked up slightly. All four of them wore the same white school uniforms.
"Him again," Yuzu said lowly, not hiding her disdain for their guests.
"Yuya Sakaki, I won't lose this time! Those cards of yours should go to the chosen one!" The blonde boy declared.
"I don't know how you won last time but Sawatari won't lose to you again!" The ponytail boy sneered.
"He got lucky is all, Neo New Sawatari can't possibly lose to him now." The purple-haired boy said.
"Who are these people?" Ryoma directed his question toward Yuya and Yuzu. Before they could answer, the blonde boys' entourage fell back in shock.
"You don't know who Shingo Sawatari is?!" The green-haired lackey exclaimed.
"He's the best duelist at LDS!" The ponytail lackey said.
"The son of the future mayor of Maiami!" The purple-haired one said.
"The duelist who will take the Maiami championship by storm." The green haired one said.
"Shingo Sawatari." The blonde boy gestured as his three lackeys kneeled behind him. "He must be a good duelist to receive such praise." Ryoma thought to himself. From the advertisements he'd seen, Leo Duel School was the most prestigious Duel School in this city. They were run by something called the Leo Corporation and from what he could learn, the school was world famous for teaching the different summoning mechanics.
"What do you want, Sawatari?" Yuya asked, clearly unhappy about their company. Ryoma looked towards Yuzu and the kids for an explanation. "Not a friend, I presume?"
"He pretended to be Yuya's friend to steal his Pendulum cards. He also put our lives at risk and forced Yuya to duel him." Yuzu answered.
Ryoma frowned at that. It's one thing to steal someone's cards, but to endanger people's lives over something like that was too far.
"A summoning method like Pendulum deserves to be at a dignified school!" Sawatari declared.
"It should belong to a skilled duelist, like Sawatari!" One of his goons added.
"Yuya has nothing to prove to you, he won with those 'garbage' cards you made him use." Yuzu snapped.
Sawatari clicked his tongue before flourishing his hair. "But you see that was the old me, I'm Neo New Sawatari! The best duelist in Maiami, I won't lose a second time. Now. Let's settle this Yuya Sakaki!"
Letting out a tired sigh, Yuya understood Sawatari wasn't going to stop bothering them unless he agreed to a rematch. "I'll duel you, but only if you leave my friends out of it this time." The green haired boy reached into his pocket to pull out his Duel Disk.
"I'd think a 'top' Duelist would have a little more confidence in their abilities, instead of having others brag for them," Ryoma said, causing everyone to put their attention on him.
"What?!" the lackeys exclaimed.
"What do you mean by that?" Sawatari scoffed.
"There are three reasons why I can tell you are not a good duelist," Ryoma answered bluntly.
"One: You claim to be the best duelist in your Duel School, yet you resort to stealing and using other people's lives as a bargaining chip. Judging by how you act I'm willing to bet that you got into LDS through money and your family's connections rather than skill alone."
"Hey!"
"You can't say that about Sawatar-"
"Two." Ryoma continued, raising a second finger. "The fact that you'd give someone cards you deemed as garbage shows you have very little imagination. Every card has potential when used by a capable duelist."
"Who do you think you are?!"
Raising his third finger, Ryoma continued. "Three: The fact that you parrot your skills but refused to duel Yuya in a fair fight makes me believe your claims are made out of insecurity. I'd imagine a true top duelist would trust in their skills and not resort to such underhanded methods."
Sawatari and his gang stared at Ryoma, their mouths agape. You Show were equally surprised at Ryoma's words. Recomposing himself, Sawatari placed a hand on his hip as he regarded Ryoma. "On second thought Sakaki, I'll deal with your friend first. I can tell you're not from around here so it's time someone taught you some manners."
"Hey! Leave Ryoma out of it, he has nothing to do with this." Yuzu protested. Shrugging at his words, Ryoma stepped forward and took out his Duel Disk. "That's fine by me."
"Ryoma, this isn't your fight," Yuya said. He didn't want someone he just met to get roped into his problems. "I can handle Sawatari."
"Yuya already beat him before, there's no point in you being forced to." Yuzu agreed.
"If I didn't wish to involve myself, I would have said nothing." Ryoma looked over his deck once more before nodding to himself. It was similar enough to his old deck that he could make it work. Noting their concerned faces, Ryoma decided he should say something to put them at ease. "A third-rate duelist like him isn't going to beat me." He added with a confident smile. Truthfully, he only involved himself to see how good a duelist from LDS was. On the off chance that Sawatari was as skilled as he claimed to be, this would be a good test to see how strong LDS was. Although Ryoma had little faith that would be true.
Ryoma placed the silver tablet on his wrist. Its straps attached to his arm from the bottom as the Duel Disk activated, the touchpad lit up and a glowing red blade appeared on the side of the device.
"Last chance to back out and save yourself the embarrassment of being defeated by me, Neo New Sawatari," Sawatari said confidently, before activating his Duel Disk.
"This guy thinks highly of himself." Ryoma assumed it was out of insecurity rather than the confidence in his abilities, or maybe he was just that dillusional. "I know I'm going to win so running away would be a waste of energy."
"Ryoma seems confident in his dueling, I wonder if he is as good as he says he is." Yuzu thought to herself.
"Duel!" They shouted.
Ryoma Kogami: 4000 LP
vs
Shingo Sawatari: 4000 LP
"Since I know you'll lose, I'll let you have the first turn." Sawatari taunted.
Looking at his hand for a moment, Ryoma shrugged. "Your mistake." His hand was rather underwhelming all things considered but more than enough for him to win.
"I summon Magnarokket Dragon." A blue metal dragon with a bullet mounted to its head appeared on the field.
Magnarokket Dragon (ATK 1800 DEF 1200 LVL: 4)
"I Set one card and end my turn."
As Ryoma ended his turn, Sawatari and his group broke into laughter.
"Is one Set really enough?" Ayu asked.
"I think Ryoma has a plan. If I were to guess, his face-down card must be useful in some way." Tatsuya answered.
"He was just pretending to be confident." Sawatari taunted. "My turn! I draw!" Looking at his hand, Sawatari smirked. "First, I activate Pantheism Of The Monarchs. By sending a 'Monarch' Spell or Trap from my hand to the Graveyard, I can draw two cards." Sawatari sent The Monarchs Erupt to draw two cards. "Next, I summon Eidos the Underworld Squire!" A skeleton knight wearing blue spiked armor appeared on the field.
Eidos the Underworld Squire (ATK 800 DEF 1000 LVL: 2)
"If this card is Normal or Special Summoned, I can Tribute Summon on the same turn. Now, I Tribute Eidos to Tribute Summon Caius the Shadow Monarch!" The skeleton knight disappeared into a veil of smoke that was soon replaced by a larger armored figure.
Caius the Shadow Monarch (ATK 2400 DEF 1000 LVL: 6)
"Caius' effect activates! Since he was Tribute Summoned, I can banish a card on the field. Say goodbye to your Magnarokket Dragon!"
"I activate the Quick-Play Spell Card: Squib Draw," Ryoma revealed his Set card. "When this card is activated I can destroy a 'Rokket' monster I control and draw two cards. I destroy Magnarokket Dragon." Ryoma's metal dragon disintegrated as Ryoma drew.
"Why would Ryoma leave himself open just to draw cards?" Yuya wondered out loud.
"Idiot, now you'll take even more damage! Caius, attack him directly!"
An orb of dark purple energy materialized in Caius' hands as he began to charge it. Once the mass was doubled in size, the shadow monarch launched it toward Ryoma.
"Did you really think it would be that easy?" Ryoma smirked. "I Special Summon Chobham Armor Dragon!" A bulky metal dragon with green armor appeared on Ryoma's field in Attack position.
Chobham Armor Dragon (ATK 0 DEF 0 LVL: 2)
"What?"
"When your monster attacks me directly I can Special Summon this card from my hand in Attack Position," Ryoma explained.
Sawatari scoffed. "Not like that matters, it has 0 attack! I'll still destroy your monster!"
Cauis charged its orb once more and launched it at Chobham Armor Dragon. Once it collided with the dragon a small explosion filled the area with dust. The shockwave knocked Ryoma back slightly.
Ryoma LP: 4000 - 2800
"So this is what a real Duel feels like." Ryoma thought to himself as he dusted his hoodie off. It was only a small shockwave but the impact was enough to surprise him. As the dust cleared, Chobham Armor Dragon was still standing much to everyone else's surprise. Its armor was gone revealing pink metallic skin.
"Your monster isn't destroyed?!" Sawatari said in disbelief.
"When Chobham Armor Dragon Special Summons itself in Attack position, it cannot be destroyed by battle. Not only that, but any damage I take with it is halved." Ryoma explained. "You do know that you could've used your Duel Disk to see its effect? I suppose LDS must not teach reading in their courses."
"I Set one card and end my turn," Sawatari growled. His annoyance grew more visible.
"During the End Phase, as Magnarokket was destroyed by an effect, I can summon a Rokket monster from my Deck. Come Metalrokket Dragon!" A blue metal dragon with a sniper rifle bullet on its head appeared in the center column.
Metalrokket Dragon (ATK 1700 DEF 1400 LVL 4)
"My turn! I draw!" Looking at his hand, Ryoma smiled to himself. "This should do it."
"I activate the Quick-Play Spell Card: Quick Launch! Allowing me to Special Summon a 'Rokket' monster from my Deck, come, Anesthrokket Dragon!" A green metal dragon with holographic wings and a syringe for a head appeared on the opposite side of Metalrokket.
Anesthrokket Dragon (ATK 0 DEF 2200 LVL 1)
"So what if you have a bunch of monsters, none of them are strong enough to beat Caius!" Sawatari boasted.
"Is that so? I have all the preparations needed to win." Ryoma smirked before raising his hand to the sky, his palm glowed blue.
"Appear! The future circuit that lights up my path!" A bolt of lightning left his fingertips, colliding with the sky, a blue Link portal appeared, shocking everyone.
"What the hell?!"
Yuya watched with curiosity. He couldn't explain it, but he had a feeling Ryoma was going to do something incredible.
"What is this?!" Sawatari shouted.
"Arrowheads confirmed! The summoning condition is two Dragons, including a Rokket monster! I set Chobham Armor Dragon and Anesthrokket Dragon in the Link Markers!" Both dragons turned into pillars of orange energy as they flew into the bottom and middle-left arrowheads, turning them red.
"Circuit combine! Link Summon! Appear, Link 2 Quadborrel Dragon!"
"Sir!" A lady at a computer shouted. "We've detected a strange summoning energy, it's coming from the park." The LDS control room showed surveillance feeds across all of Maiami City. Putting her visual on the main monitor, the man paled at what he was seeing.
"President. I've never seen anything like this, it's not Ritual, Fusion, Synchro, or XYZ." Nakajima said, visibly shaken. "It's different from Pendulum as well!"
"Give me a visual." Reiji Akaba said calmly. He was a young man with red glasses, purple eyes, and gray hair that was spiked up in the back. He was dressed in a simple blue sweater, white pants, and a long red scarf around his neck. The main monitor showed Ryoma Kogami's duel with Sawatari in the park. Reigi Akaba narrowed his eyes as he saw Yuya Sakaki and his friends there as well.
"We'll observe for now." He clasped his hands together. "I'm curious what new miracle Yuya Sakaki's friend will bring us."
Emerging from the Link portal was a black gold-plated dragon with dual shotguns for arms and green holographic wings. It landed in the right Extra Monster Zone, much to the shock of everyone watching the dual.
Quadborrel Dragon (ATK 1000 Link: 2 ⬇ ➡)
"W-What the hell was that?" One of Sawatari's lackeys said, in a state of disbelief.
"That gave me the shivers!" Futoshi said, doing that strange gesture once more.
"Link Summon." Yuya and Yuzu watched in awe.
"I guess Link Summoning doesn't exist here after all." Ryoma thought to himself.
"No way." Sawatari fell to his knees in disbelief. Where the hell did this monster come from?! Frantically, he tapped his Duel Disk's screen for an answer. "This is nothing like the other summoning methods I've seen. You didn't Tribute any of your monsters either!" Sawatari's screen was also different. Instead of the usual five monster zones, there were two zones in the center of the field. There was only one explanation for this.
"You're a cheater!" He declared.
"I suppose your 'great' school doesn't know everything about dueling," Ryoma replied.
"When Chobham Armor Dragon is used as Link Material we each can return a monster in our Graveyard to our hands." Ryoma re-added Magnarokket to his hand again, Sawatari returned Eidos to his hand, as well.
"Next, I activate Quadborrel Dragon's effect! I can discard a card from my hand and destroy a monster on the field. I destroy Metalrokket Dragon!"
"Destroying his own monster again?" The purple-haired lackey asked.
"Metalrokket Dragons now effect activates! When a Link Monster's effect targets Metalrokket Dragon, it can destroy itself and all cards in its column."
"What?!" Both Caius and Sawatari's Set card were in the same column as Metalrokket.
Metalrokket transformed into a bullet made of yellow energy and entered the barrel of Quadborrel's shotgun arm. The metal dragon aimed its arm at Caius and fired an energy shot, piercing the monarch through the chest, traveling through the card behind it, and destroying both of them. The Set card was Sakuretsu Armor.
"Battle! Quadborrel Dragon attack Sawatari directly!" Charging up its twin shotguns, Quadborrel Dragon aimed directly at the blonde boy, the twin streams of yellow energy fired at the boy knocking him back. Falling to the ground, Sawatari groaned as he got back up.
Sawatari LP: 4000 - 3000
"Next I summon Sniffer Dragon." A red-skinned dragon with black armor appeared under Quadborrel Dragon.
Sniffer Dragon (ATK 800 DEF 400 LVL: 2)
"When this card is Normal or Special Summoned, I can add a copy of Sniffer Dragon from my deck to my hand." A card popped out of Ryoma's deck, which he swiftly added to his hand. Ryoma raised his hand to the sky once again. "Appear for a second time, the future circuit that lights up my path!" Ryoma's hand glowed blue as the Link portal reappeared. "The summoning conditions are two Dark Dragon monsters. I set Quadborrel Dragon and Sniffer Dragon in the Link Markers!" Ryoma's two dragons entered the top and bottom arrows.
"Link Summon! Appear! Link 2 Dillingerous Dragon!" A mechanical dragon with dark blue armor and twin rifle barrels for hands replaced Quadborrel in the right Extra Monster Zone.
Dillingerous Dragon (ATK 1600 Link: 2 ⬆⬇)
"Why does Ryoma summon his monsters to the middle of the field?" Yuya thought out loud. Yuzu and everyone else realized neither Dillingerous Dragon nor Quadborrel had been in any of the five Main Monster Zones.
"Maybe his Link Monsters can only be summoned to the middle?" Yuzu guessed. Truthfully she'd never heard of a middle monster zone until now.
"Link monsters can only be summoned from the Extra Deck to an Extra-Monster Zone," Ryoma explained. "Additionally, if I control a Link Monster, I can Link Summon to a zone that card points to, as well."
"This cheater…" Sawatari's cronies mumbled in anger. "Sawatari won't lose to you!"
Looking at the monster, Sawatari scoffed. "Do your Link thingy a thousand times, you only summon small fry's anyway!" He laughed.
Ryoma sighed, he figured he'd wrap this up since this duel was getting nowhere. He came into the duel with a suspicion that Sawatari wasn't as good as he claimed, but he now confirmed that he was indeed third-rate.
"Only a fool would value cards on their Attack points alone. I Set one card and end my turn. During the End Phase, since Metalrokket was destroyed and sent to the Graveyard this turn, I can Special Summon a different 'Rokket' from my deck to the field. Come Autorokket!" A brown armored dragon with a bullet for a head appeared on Ryoma's field in defense position.
Autorokket Dragon (ATK 1600 DEF 1000 LVL: 3)
"My turn! Draw!" Sawatari looked at his hand and smiled confidently. "Let me show you a real turn. I activate the Equip Spell Card: Restoration of the Monarch. This card lets me Special Summon a monster in my Graveyard with 2400 attack and 1000 defense points with its effects negated. Return Caius!" Sawatari's dark armored monster returned to the field in defense position.
Caius the Shadow Monarch (ATK 2400 DEF 1000 LVL: 6)
"I'm just getting started! Due to Restoration's effect, Caius is treated as two materials for a tribute summon. So I'll sacrifice Caius to bring out Caius the Mega Monarch!" Sawatari's monster disappeared in a veil of black smog, emerging from it was a monster much taller than Caius with spiked dark gray armor and a horned mask. Covering the back of its armor was a dark purple-black cloak.
Caius the Mega Monarch (ATK 2800 DEF 1000 LVL: 8)
"Caius' effect activates! When he is Tribute Summoned I can target a card you control and banish. Since it was summoned with a Dark monster I can target two cards you control. Say goodbye to Autorokket Dragon and your Set card!"
"I'm almost impressed you managed to think that far ahead," Ryoma said, Sawatari smirked before realizing that he was being mocked. "Hey!"
"I activate my Trap card! Magical Cylinders. This card allows me to set a Magic Cylinder from my Deck, it can also be activated the turn it is Set." Ryoma's face-down was replaced with his new card.
"However, Autorokket is banished along with all copies you have in your Deck, Hand, and Graveyard." Autorokket disappeared from the field along with the two other copies in Ryoma's deck. "Since your monster is a Dark attribute you also take 1000 damage. Shadow Burst!" Caius shot a spear of dark energy at an unphased Ryoma, pushing him back slightly.
Ryoma LP: 2800 - 1800
Sawatari hesitated as he thought of his next move. "What's wrong?" Ryoma ask. "Only a fool would attack into such an obvious trap. However, not attacking won't change the outcome of this duel."
"Huh?"
"During the end of your turn, Dillingerous Dragon can destroy a monster you control that didn't declare an attack!" He explained.
Everyone's eyes widened. "Ryoma predicted Sawatari would try to get rid of his Set card and summoned Dillingerous Dragon. He's trapped." Yuzu was surprised by Ryomas efficiency.
"Neo new Sawatari would never surrender to a cheater like you!" Looking at his hand, the duelist from LDS knew he could still win. "I activate the Spell card: Monster Reborn! This lets me Special Summon a monster from either of our Graveyards to my side of the field. Return to me, Caius!" Sawatari's young Monarch returned alongside his older counterpart in Attack position.
Caius the Shadow Monarch (ATK 2400 DEF 1000 LVL: 6)
"But that's not all, had I been the duelist I was a few days ago, I would stand no chance of defeating you. But I'm a changed man, this is the dueling of someone who will take the dueling world by storm!" As he continued his speech, Ryoma almost felt sorry for him. Almost.
"Now I summon Eidos the Shadow Vassal!" Sawatari's skeleton knight appeared on the other side of the mega monarch.
Eidos the Underworld Squire (ATK 800 DEF 1000 LVL: 2)
"Unfortunately, your returning this card to me will be your downfall. Now I have enough monsters to end this duel! Go! Little Caius, destroy Dillingerous Dragon!" The smaller monarch charged up his ball of dark magic energy before launching it toward Ryoma's dragon.
"So you've chosen your own destruction," Ryoma said. "Magic Cylinder activates. When your monster declares an attack it's negated, and you take damage equal to its Attack points." The sphere of energy entered one of the cylinders before firing out the other end at Sawatari.
"Big deal, I can still win using my mega monarch and Eidos," Sawatari said confidently. If he used his Caius The Mega Monarch to destroy Dillingerous Dragon, Ryoma would be left with 600 LP, more than enough for Eidos to secure the victory.
"This is why I said you have little imagination," Ryoma smirked.
"What?" Sawatari said.
"Magical Cylinders effect activates! When I activate a Magic Cylinder, I can banish Magical Cylinders from my Graveyard, and double the damage inflicted by Magic Cylinder!"
"A trap that activates in the graveyard?!"
"That means…" One of his cronies trailed off.
Ryoma is going to win!" The You show group said excitedly. Sawatari collapsed to his knees as he realized what was to come. The beam of energy collided into Sawatari and his three friends, sending them back screaming.
Sawatari LP: 3000 - 0
Deactivating his Duel Disk, Ryoma watched his cards disintegrate. He was satisfied that his first day in this strange world began with him winning a duel. Looking over, he saw Yuya, Yuzu, and the kids running toward him.
"Ryoma, you were incredible!" Yuya said with a wide grin.
"I've never seen dueling like that. That Link summon of yours was amazing." Yuzu said excitedly
"It gave me the shivers~" Futoshi said, shaking strangely.
"How could I lose?" Sawatari scoffed as he dusted himself off. "You got lucky. That's it! If I had known you'd have that cheat summoning of yours, I wouldn't have bought this terrible deck."
"It's called Link Summoning." Ryoma corrected him. "Monarchs aren't a bad deck either. In the hands of a competent duelist, they can be incredibly powerful, perhaps you lack the skill to pilot them?"
Sawatari's face turned red in embarrassment before he snapped his fingers. His goons all got up as he flourished his hair. "Just wait, I'll master not just Pendulum Summoning, but I'll learn your Link Summoning too! Neo New Sawatari will be back even stronger! Just you wait, Ryoma Kogami, I won't lose to you again!"
He and his friends quickly left. Ryoma was surprised that he wanted to duel him again, usually, people with that kind of ego would quit dueling if they lost like that. If Sawatari put more thought into the cards he used and wasn't so narrow-minded he might have a future as a duelist.
"You said you weren't a part of any Duel Schools right?" Yuzu asked. Cocking an eyebrow, Ryoma nodded. "That is correct."
"Ryoma should join our school! That way we can have both Yuya's Pendulum and Ryoma's Link summoning." Ayu said excitedly. Everyone seemed to agree, everyone except Ryoma. As he took a look at the kids, the young Duelist debated on the decision. He felt like involving himself with the main characters would only be dangerous, plus he wasn't the performing type. Taking another look at the kids' faces. He begrudgingly accepted that he couldn't turn down their offer yet.
"It wouldn't hurt to check it out at the very least." Ryoma relented.
"Really?!" They asked.
"I planned on joining a Duel School at some point, so seeing how your Entertainment Dueling works wouldn't hurt," Ryoma said with a fake smile.
"I know you're going to love it!" Yuzu excitedly grabbed both his and Yuya's wrists. "There's no time to lose!"
"I only agreed to see the school. I never said if I was joining or not!" His words were lost on her. The pink-haired girl dragged the two boys off, forcing Yuya and himself to run at her pace.
"Yuzu slow down!" Yuya pleaded, the pink-haired girl either didn't hear or care as she ran with both of them in tow. As he was being accosted, Ryoma couldn't help but wonder what he just agreed to.
Author's Note
I've debated on whether I wanted to write this story for a little over a year now. Ultimately, I decided to bite the bullet (heh) and start my first fanfiction. I'm fairly satisfied with how my first duel went, all first duels of a Yu-Gi-Oh! story tend to be similar to one another. VRAINS usually has a fight with a Knight of Hanoi, GX is usually the entrance exam with Crowler, etc. I hope I made mine a little more interesting with Sawatari using a slightly different Monarch strategy than his Mobius deck in the anime.
Hope you enjoyed. Review, Comment, etc. I very much welcome feedback and constructive criticism to help me improve.