" And Now I'll finish you off in one attack… Berserkion the Electromagna warrior Decimate!"
He called, pointing dramatically at the tall, brown haired duellist, crowds cheering for a moment before the stranger replied "heheh, this duel is mine!" he paused to laugh before flipping over a card, to reveal Magic Cylinders "With this the last of your life points are gone!" he chuckled, his smile soon fading as Delta grinned back at the stranger, flipping his last set card. 'Trap Stun'
The stranger recoiled with a horrified shriek before backing away from the table, his cards falling to the ground.
"And That's it!" the announcer began before throwing his hand into the air and stepping forward. "The new champion of underground duelling has been selected, Delta.. The Magna Champion!" he called to the crowed whose shouts only grew louder, Delta quickly collecting his cards before leaving the room.
It had been several months since he had arrived here… Playing in one card shop or another, a simple blink and then he was laying in the park somewhere... And now, with all of this happening… sometimes things seem to move far too fast around here. Apparently, it had taken the previous champ years to get to where it had taken Delta a few months to get to though he guessed the only reason he was here so quickly was that he'd never really wanted to process what happened to him, he'd just entirely put himself into the card game and reaching goal after goal, it didn't hurt that his cards were massively advanced in comparison to his opponent's although he still couldn't use the majority of them to their fullest. Syncho and XYZ monsters especially were out of the question… one from the distant future and the other from another universe, using them would raise more questions than he cared to answer. In fact, it was entirely because of this that he had wanted to make becoming the champion his goal. It was a rumour going around in the lower ranks of the tournament… that Maximillian Pegasus wanted to scout the tournament, nobody knew really why but people were talking about certain duellists being hired or about some kind of advanced tournament that he was planning, although Delta never confirmed this, it didn't change the fact that they were pretty close to the truth, within bragging rights at the very least but still he hadn't caught any glimpse of Pegasus, it was a disappointment, He had wanted to duel him at least once… for… personal reasons…
Delta sighed as he left through the back door of the card shop, holding his bag close to him as he exited the alley, although something caught his eye… a limousine with a strange suited man standing outside it. The man wore black shades and had grey hair, he bowed politely before handing a letter, the limousine window rolled down a few inches, with a golden glow from the inside.
"The Master would like to have this" he spoke slowly, his tone difficult to read, though he handed Delta a beige envelope. "He welcomes such an accomplished duellist to the Duellist Kingdom" he spoke with a smile before turning to walk around the vehicle.
As he approached the door Delta couldn't help it. this was the audience he had wanted for so long. he needed to say something, anything to get the attention of the man in the black Limousine.
"So, the man who can read the minds of his opponents is putting on a competition he can't lose… is this egotism or are you searching for more?" Delta spurted, gesturing to his eye. The man in the suit paused, turning back to look at Delta "How did yo-" he spoke, a smooth, winding chuckle cutting him off, the door opening "So… you're a duellist from another world?" he spoke, watching Delta intently, his red suit contrasting the vehicle's white leather interior and black exterior.
Delta Nodded, watching him "Are you sure about giving me this, you may regret it" he asked, tilting his head slightly as he raised the Envelope.
"Like you said… I can't lose" the man said with a smile, a golden glimmer shining from behind his silver hair. Only now did Delta truly focus on his face. Smooth, flawless skin, pearly white teeth and silvery hair which covered his left eye. This was a man who hadn't experienced a day of work in his life, a true billionaire, as had been expected. "Pegasus there is only one thing I want from you a-"
He began, though his words were quickly interrupted by a snap of Pegasus' fingers, his smile wide as he spoke "Come to the tournament… if you can defeat me then you'll have your title, although if you can't I want something from you" he spoke calmly, confidence oozing from every word as he looked up at Delta from his seated position. "And what would that be?" Delta inquired, disliking the very sound of that. "Well I don't know yet… but I'm sure a duellist as talented as you could… attain many treasures if I were to ask…" he spoke with a smile before continuing "Well I have things to do and places to be, see you there!" he let out, closing the door as the vehicle started up, the suited man closing the door behind him before the Limousine drove off, leaving Delta pondering what absurdities did Pegasus want from him… he'd find out one way or another but at least he had already gained a new goal.
Days passed without anything notable happening, the underground duels had stopped for the season and every day the air seemed quiet, people locally were talking about merely two things.
A random kid who somehow beat the champion and the tournament Pegasus had announced, taking bets on who would appear.
Left to his own devices Delta had been doing the only thing he really had to do… creating a new deck… something strong, adaptable, and capable of putting Pegasus in his place. He knew exactly what he needed… but it wasn't a deck he had made for at least ten years, it was difficult to figure out what went where and in what order he should play the cards, even the win condition was difficult to decipher after so long but all too soon the day was upon him, he had taken everything he owned; his decks, deck boxes, clothes and bag to the boat and was shortly let onboard, sitting at a window as he watched other duellists flow into the boat. Usually he would have been excited for what was about to happen but there was something on the line and even if he didn't know what it couldn't be good. His eyes flowed, moving slowly as they scanned over the crowd, soon falling on a strange, yet familiar site… a kid wearing a school uniform, bickering with two suits as they tried to drag away a taller individual in a green shirt. The kid's hair was spiky, blond with black and purple highlights… "Could it really be?" he thought to himself, getting up before walking to the reception area, the kid soon walking in with his friend thanking him heavily for helping him out.
It really was him… it was the kid who defeated the champion… Yugi Muto!
There was a moment of silence as the porcupine of a child and his much taller friend looked at each other, the tall one muttering something which must have been an insult from the look of the younger one before the walked slowly over, the smaller of the two watching Delta with a look of confusion "H-hey, do I know you?" he asked politely, though in response Delta froze… they had never met before and it would be a little weird if he were to know everything about this Protagonist without having met them before… then… it did happen a lot in the series…
"No" he began with a cough, raising his fist to his lips as he closed his eyes, opening them in a much more serious expression "No, I've only heard of you… a legendary duelist in the makings who struck down the champion for the safety of his family" Delta exclaimed, silently freaking out in his mind, worrying what Yugi would think of him partially, but also partially understanding that he shouldn't really care what Yugi thought of him… so long as he doesn't do something overly evil he should be fine.
Yugi smiled a little and sat in silence before letting out a soft chuckle "Oh… eh… thanks…" he said before blinking in an expression of surprise "Wait, how did you know about my grandpa?"
Delta had slipped up and he knew it, he needed to recover this quickly, although he at first didn't know how "Well That's a good question, I wasn't going to tell anyone this but…" he said, desperately stalling for time as his brain searched for an answer, any answer that would get him out of this situation. "Kaiba has competition other than you, rivalling companies who want his secrets… at the time I worked for one of these companies and had set up surveillance inside the building… Had I known how beat up your grandpa would have gotten or even Kaiba's intent I would have stepped in but I didn't" Delta let out a sigh before bowing… mostly because he had seen this happen a lot before… in animations and Films mostly "I am sorry, I should have acted" he fell into silence as Yugi raised his hands quickly, making a waving motion "No, no… it's not all that bad I mean I won didn't I and that got me here…" he spoke quickly though he seemed distracted slightly, perhaps remembering the loss of his grandpa's rarest card. "Yeah, how about we go somewhere private Yug, This guy's attracting too much attention" the taller one spoke, watching delta as he returned to his usual standing position. "Joey Wheeler I presume" Delta said, opening his mouth to talk before pausing, biting his tongue. He had been about to mention the rarity of the tall duelist's black dragon but he realised Joey had not yet won it. "I agree" he corrected himself to, gesturing toward a side hall. "I know you'll both do very well this tournament but let's hope we don't have to duel" he paused before smiling "My deck would destroy you utterly" he spoke softly, bowing ever so slightly.
"Say What!?" Joey shouted, raising his fist to before his face, growling audibly as he looked posed to attack. "Oh no, don't get me wrong" Delta spoke with a laugh, watching Joey's reaction. In Ernest he had said that just to get Joey's reaction… a way of verifying further who they were.
"I understand you're both competent duellists but there's a reason I consider myself an equal to kaiba on the field, although I use less blunt strategies…" he paused, smiling softly as he turned away from them "If you want to prove to me that you're capable of as much as Kaiba then duel me on the island… for no star chips but I'm going to lay down until we arrive" he spoke, walking away from the two. His heart beating rapidly. Delta knew what was about to happening… a defining moment in duel monster history which would force yugi to think for tactically in the future.
Yugi and joey simply looked at each other before heading toward the crowds once more.