"Scale Scout and Monolith, response?" my opponent asked, placing the cards into the pendulum zones.
"No response," I said, checking my backrow.
"Scout effect, pay eight to search?"
I nodded as I recorded the loss of life points. "All good."
"Search Towers," my opponent said, presenting the card on his playmat before putting it into his hand. "Pend summon Helix, Carrier, and Scout. Response?"
I held up a finger and grinned. "On resolution," I began, pausing for dramatic effect. "I'll activate... There Can Be Only One!"
"What?!" my opponent sputtered. "TCBOO? In Zefra Swordsoul? Welp, you've got it. I don't have the out."
"Brought it out of the sideboard," I said, extending my hand. "Good game, Mark."
"Good game, Josh," Mark said. "Did you side out your entire Swordsoul package?"
"Yep," I chuckled, getting up from the table. "I put in a full transformative sideboard for this event. 2-1 my favor, by the way," I added, nodding to the store owner.
"That makes you four and zero for this event," he said. "And as that was the last game to finish, I believe we have a winner here! Joshua Cohen has won the Master Rule 3 Custom Banlist Tournament!"
There was a smattering of applause from the other participants. I gave an awkward smile. I usually didn't win these sorts of events, though I would usually place in the top three. For the more casual Yu-gi-oh events hosted by this store, I would often bring something a bit more janky. But seeing as the semester was starting and my new class schedule would conflict with these events, I'd decided to actually win one for once.
Prizes were distributed as they usually were, four packs to first place, three for second, two for third, and one for everyone else. I opened my packs with my friends, smiling at the copy of Aluber, the Jester of Despia contained within.
"Are you going to build Branded?" Mark asked me as we walked out of the store. "I think that's your second Aluber so far."
"Probably not," I responded. "The deck isn't really my style, and besides, it's been powercrept. I'll probably just sell the Alubers or something, it's still ten bucks a pop or so."
"So about half a Perlereino?" John teased.
"Perhaps he'll get one that's near mint," Mark suggested.
"In other words, half of a Perlereino.. and another half of a Perlereino. Separately."
"Ha ha," I said, pushing open the shop's door "I was actually going to upgrade my commander deck's mana base."
The chill wind buffeted my face as I strode out the door. The snow dancing in the cold winter night air and the fog from my glasses made it hard to see. I opted to keep my mask on, as to keep my face warm.
"I'm still kind of salty you were running floodgates," Mark said. "It made that last game a bit of an anticlimax."
"So sayeth the Qliphort player. Pot, meet kettle," I deadpanned.
"He has a point," John said. "You did win several games with Skill Drain, and Summon Limit, and Soul Drain..."
"I get it," Mark grumbled. "You're still on for Commander on Saturday, right?"
"Of course," I said, smiling. "I changed around a few things in my Esper control list."
"Not that deck..." John groaned. I simply laughed as I strode forward. "You'll figure out how to beat it eventually," I said. "But until then..."
"Watch out!" Mark called. I squinted, attempting to see what he was talking about through the fog and snow.
The last thing I heard was the screech of rubber on the road and my friends calling for me.
I blinked my eyes open as the sun shone on my face. My heavy winter coat lay beside me. I pulled myself slowly into a sitting position, trying to get my bearings. I was sitting on grass in what had been the shade of a tree before the sun changed position. My best guess was that it was early afternoon, probably a weekday, given the number of people walking around. This park was one I was not familiar with, and the general attire of the local populace, as well as the specific plants growing here, suggested I was far away from the familiar town I had been in (presumably) moments before.
I quickly rifled through the pockets of my coat, finding the Zefra Swordsoul deck I had used in the tournament earlier, my competitive Yu-gi-oh deck, some dice, as well as my wallet (which contained a fair amount of cash). The contents of the wallet were of debatable utility, considering that I had no idea where I was, while the deck was probably not that important. I slung the coat over my shoulder, picked a direction, and started walking.
Not long after I started walking, I came across a group of three kids, probably no older than fourteen or so. One of them, who looked considerably smaller, was shrinking back from the advances of the other two. Curious as to what had caused that situation, I walked closer.
"Ya heard me, weakling!" one of the larger two said. Let's call him Thug A. "Ya lost the duel, so give up your rarest card!"
What was this, something out of the Yu-gi-oh anime?
"Please, no," the smaller one protested. "It means so much to me. It was..."
"I don't care about your damn sob stories!" Thug B said. "Hand it over!"
I was tempted to just walk away. It wasn't my problem; kids make stupid bets all the time. Just walk off and try to find where I am and how to get back. I couldn't exactly miss a ton of classes because a magic truck teleported me away, could I?
Damn my conscience.
"Oy vey," I said loudly, walking closer to the group. "What's going on here?"
"This wimp won't pay up!" Thug A explained. "He lost a duel, and now he's trying to run from the consequences."
"I see," I said thoughtfully, before turning to the smaller kid. "And did you decide to participate in this bet of your own free will, or did those two pressure you into it?"
"I didn't want to," the kid said. "But those two insulted my brother and took my friend's deck and..."
"Sounds like you two forced him into it," I said to the two thugs. This was sounding more and more like the anime every second. In that case, the logical course of action was... "How about this? I beat one of you in a duel, you give back everything. I lose the duel, you take my deck in place of his card. Sound good?"
"You can't do that!" The small kid protested. "They're super strong duelists! They go to LDS and everything."
"Relax, kid. I know what I'm doing."
"I, Itsuki Yoshido, accept your terms!" Thug A said. "I'll duel you and take your deck! Probably worthless trash, but maybe it'll make a good trophy."
I sighed, procuring my Zefra Swordsoul deck and shuffling it. "Sure, sure. High roll too see who goes first?"
"Where's your duel disk, Mister White Knight?" Thug B scoffed.
"Duel disk? Shit, I don't have one. Kid, can I borrow yours?"
The small kid (I really needed to figure out his name) handed me the stupid anime hologram machine wordlessly. Well, that sealed it. I was in the anime. I fumbled with the duel disk for a minute, eventually finding the on switch and inserting my deck, before nodding to Thug A-Itsuki. I should really start remembering names.
"Duel!" Itsuki called. "I'll give you the first move."
"Thanks," I said, drawing my opening five. Ash, Zefraath, Zefraxi, Blackout, and Imperm. It was far from a bad hand, but it didn't have any Swordsoul names.
"I'll set scales with Zefraath and Zefraxi," I said. "Zefraath effect, send Zefraniu. Pend summon Zefraniu in defense, Zefraniu effect. Search Nine Pillars, set three, pass."
Itsuki laughed. "For a moment I was worried because you could do the legendary Pendulum Summon... but all you managed to do was set up some defenses! Let me show you what a real duelist from LDS can do!"
"That kind of strategy can't beat him," the small kid said. "Itsuki's offense is relentless!"
"Indeed!" Itsuki said proudly. "Since you control more monsters than I do, I can special summon Steelswarm Cell from my hand! Now, I summon Evilswarm Castor! During the turn he is normal summoned, I can normal summon one more 'lswarm' monster!"
"On resolution of the summon of Castor, I activate Swordsoul Blackout, targeting my Zefraniu and your two monsters to destroy all three."
"Such simple traps won't work against a top LDS student! I activate Infestation Pandemic, which grants all my face-up 'lswarm' monsters immunity to your traps!"
"In response, chain the counter-trap Nine Pillars," I said, flipping up the other set card. "The activation is negated, the card shuffled into the deck, and then I must destroy a 'Yang Zing' card I control, so I'll get rid of my Zefraxi in the scale. Then Blackout resolves, destroying your monsters and my Zefraniu. When Zefraniu is destroyed, I get a search. Response?"
"Uh, no response," Itsuki said.
"In that case, I'll grab Oracle of Zefra. Proceed with your turn."
"You may have stopped my attacks, but you've left yourself wide open! I'll use my extra summon for Steelswarm Caller. Battle Phase! Steelswarm Caller attacks you directly!"
"I'll take seventeen," I said, wincing slightly at the pain from the duel disk. Seriously, who thought implementing a torture system on these things was a good idea?
Joshua's LP: 4000 - 1700
"I set one card and end my turn," Itsuki proclaimed.
"Draw for turn, standby, main," I droned absently, noting that the drawn card was a copy of Mo Ye. That made things interesting. "I'll activate Oracle here, Oracle effect to search?"
Around me, I saw the park disappear to be replaced with a hologram of the Tree of Life. Neat.
"Search Zefracore, scale Zefracore. Zefraath effect, send Zeframpilica to set scale to 1. Pend summon Zefraniu and Zefraxi."
"What? Those monsters were destroyed last turn!" Itsuki protested.
"Destroyed Pendulum monsters go to the Extra Deck unless otherwise specified. Now, Zefraniu chain link one, Zefraxi target Zefraniu chain link two." It was probably overly cautious to play around Ash when I was playing against literal anime characters, but old habits die hard. "Zefraniu grab Providence, Zefraxi makes Zefraniu a tuner. Synchro for nine into Crocodragon!"
"Synchro summon?" the small kid beside me asked. "I didn't know you knew an Extra Deck summoning method! Where did you learn it?"
"Online," I answered glibly. "Crocodragon chain link one, Oracle chain link two." This was one of the fun parts of playing Synchro Zefra - being able to search literally any monster. I'd used it in various janky decks in the past, but in this one I usually used it to grab handtraps or extenders.
"Oracle places Longyuan on top of deck and Crocodragon draws a card. Normal summon Mo Ye, Mo Ye reveal Lonyuan, make token, synchro for eight into Chixiao, Chixiao chain link one, Mo Ye chain link two". I was just going through the motions at this point, but the peanut gallery was freaking out as though I was doing a thirty-step Spyral combo.
"Longyuan pitch Emergence, make token, synchro for ten, make Baronne. Longyuan effect, burn for 1200. Baronne effect, destroy your backrow."
Itsuki's facedown was revealed to be a copy of Mirror Force, which prompted another round of freaking out from the peanut gallery. "Battle phase," I said. "Baronne attacks Steelswarm Whatever-it-is, Chixiao attacks directly. Good game."
The holograms faded away after the attacks connected. I took my deck out of the duel disk and tossed it back to the kid standing next to me. "Now you two putzes aren't going to bother us, right?"
Itsuki and Thug B nodded, before taking off. I smiled.
"That was awesome!" the kid, who was still standing next to me, exclaimed. "I've never seen anyone perform three Synchro Summons in one turn... and certainly not with Pendulum summon as well."
"It's not that uncommon where I come from," I said, shrugging.
"Do you go to You Show Duel School?" the kid asked me. "I've never heard of them doing Extra Deck summoning, but with Yuya inventing Pendulum..."
"Never heard of it. Can you give me directions?" I asked. I needed to find out who and where the main character and then stay the hell away from them.
"I can lead you there. It's the least I can do to help you," he said.
"Thanks, kid."
"Don't call me 'kid'! I'm Kenji, and besides, you're barely older than I am," the kid-Kenji--said.
"Ah..." I said, glancing at my reflection in a nearby pond. Indeed, I did look a lot younger than I had been a few minutes? hours? ago, similar to how I'd looked when I was fifteen or so, except with much smoother skin and far spikier hair. "Oy vey," I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Never mind. Just lead the way."
Around ten minutes later, I convinced Kenji that I would be able to find the rest of the way to You Show on my own, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Kenji was nice, but he was far too chatty for me to bear at this time, given all the crap I was currently processing and the fact that I had to make up a believable backstory. Between the fact that I'd been isekai'd, de-aged, and that I was living in the Yu-gi-oh anime with the highest body count (as far as I knew, anyway), there was a lot to handle. I'd eventually divided everything into "stuff I need to think about now" and "stuff that can wait a few days". High on the list of "stuff I need to do now" was finding lodgings and establishing myself in this world. Thus my current position outside You Show Duel School.
A large crowd of people had exited a few minutes before. I wasn't exactly sure of the meaning behind this, given that it had been a few months since I'd watched Arc-V. Regardless, I steeled my nerves (social interaction was not my forte), walked across the street, and knocked on the door.
A rather energetic man with two-toned red and brown hair answered the door almost immediately. "Are you here to register for You Show Duel School? It makes me fired up to be receiving a new student! Come in, come in!"
Said energetic man was then hit by a fan wielded by a pink-haired girl, who looked to be about fourteen. She was wearing what I presumed the female school uniform was. "Dad, don't do that!" she protested. "You're going to scare him off!"
"It's fine," I said. "I came here to inquire about Yuya Sakaki and Pendulum Summoning, as well as potentially discuss enrollment."
The man's face fell. "Ah, well... about that..."
"If you want to pendulum summon, I can't teach you," a third voice said. This one belonged to a kid whose hair reminded me of a tomato-presumably Yuya.
"I already know how pendulum works," I said. "I'm curious about the dueling styles taught here. I'm from quite far away, and we don't really use duel disks where I come from."
"You already know pendulum?!" the entire group said, shocked.
"Yes," I said irritably. Crap, how do I get out of this? What does anime logic dictate? "How's this sound: I'll duel one of you guys, see what you have to offer. I'll demonstrate pendulum while I do it. Then we can talk about enrollment from there."
"That sounds great! A hot-blooded duel is just what this school needs!" the man said. "I am Shuzo Hiiragi, and my daughter, Yuzu Hiiragi, will be your opponent! Yuzu! Show our guest here a truly entertaining and hot-blooded duel!"
"I, uh, don't have a duel disk on me," I said. "Sorry, I should have thought ahead."
"We can get one out of storage," the girl-Yuzu-responded.
Five minutes later, I was set up with another one of those damn anime hologram machines on an 'action field', which was apparently a solid light hologram room. I didn't exactly remember this part of Arc-V. Then again, I'd watched most of the episodes in the background while playing Magic online.
"Duelists locked in battle!" Yuzu began.
"Huh?" I asked. I didn't remember this part either.
"It's the traditional chant to start an Action Duel," Yuzu explained. "Do you not know it?"
"Where I come from we don't have duel disks, let alone Action Duels," I reminded her. "Can we just skip the chant and start the duel?"
"That's not very hot-blooded," Shuzo complained. "But fine. Action field on! Plain Plain!"
"I'll take the first move, all right?" Yuzu asked as we drew our opening five. My hand consisted of Ash, Mo Ye, Longyuan, Terraforming, and Zefrathuban. "Sure," I said.
"I activate 1st Movement Solo! This allows me to special summon one level four or lower 'Melodious' monster from my hand or deck!" Yuzu declared as a hologram version of the card materialized before her.
"I'll Ash that," I said, discarding the handtrap. I didn't exactly know the choke points of Melodious, but this seemed to be a good a place to ash as any.
"You'll what it?" Yuzu asked.
"Ash Blossom and Joyous Spring is a monster that can be discarded to negate an effect that would special summon or search from the deck," I explained. "It's very common where I come from."
"Huh," my opponent said, processing the information. I suppose that the first time one gets handtrapped is a bit shocking. "In that case, I summon Aria the Melodious Diva, set two cards, and end my turn!"
"Draw for turn, standby, main" I said. The card I drew was a copy of Infinite Impermanence. "Normal summon Mo Ye, Mo Ye effect reveal Longyuan. Response?"
"What?"
"I'm using the effect of Swordsoul of Mo Ye, which requires me to reveal a Wyrm or 'Swordsoul' card in hand as cost, to special summon a level four tuner token. Do you have a card you would like to activate in response to this effect?"
"I... no. Look, I'll just tell you if I want to stop one of your cards, ok?"
"Sounds good," I said. "In that case, I'll make the token. Synchro for eight to make Chixiao, Chixiao chain link one, Mo Ye chain link two. Mo Ye draws a card, Chixiao searches Emergence." The card I'd drawn was Zefra Providence, which would make for some nice extension.
"Activate Terraforming, search Oracle of Zefra. Activate Oracle, search Zefraath. Activate Zefra Providence, search Zefraxi. Scale Zefraath and Zefrathuban."
"How long does this go on for?" Yuya asked from the sidelines. "It's a bit boring to watch, especially since you're not really putting on a show with it."
"To answer your question, I'm about halfway through. As for the second part of your statement, that's what I'm here to learn about. Now, Zefraath effect, send Zefraniu to the extra deck face-up to copy its scale. Pend summon Zefraxi and Zefraniu. Zefraniu chain link one, Zefraxi chain link two. Zefraxi makes Zefraniu a tuner, Zefraniu searches Divine Strike. Synchro for nine, make Crocodragon, Crocodragon chain link one, Oracle chain link two. Oracle stacks Taia to the top, Crocodragon draws a card. Longyuan effect, pitch Emergence, special Longyuan and a tuner token. Synchro for ten, make Baronne, Longyuan effect, burn for 1200, Baronne effect, pop the left backrow."
Yuzu's LP: 4000 - 2800
Said left backrow was revealed to be Half Unbreak, which I assumed was probably some sort of battle trap. "Battle phase," I said. "Baronne attacks Aria."
The next bit was freaking awesome. The female knight charged forward, sword raised. Yuzu activated Mirror Force, causing a protective barrier to form around Aria. I chained Baronne's effect to negate, causing the barrier to shatter as the sword pierced through it and impaled Aria, which proceeded to explode into shards of light.
Yuzu's LP: 2800 - 1400
"I really thought that Mirror Force would save me there," Yuzu said. "I've never heard of a monster that can just negate traps like that before."
"They're commonplace where I'm from," I said. "Anyway, Chixiao attacks for game."
Yuzu attempted to scramble away, but the Swordsoul grandmaster was quicker, swinging its sword in an arc that sent a blast of fire at the pink-haired girl. When the fire connected, the holograms faded away.
"Good game," I said, walking forward and extending my hand.
"Good game," Yuzu agreed, shaking my hand. "I've never seen someone duel like that before."
"It was really boring," Shuzo said. "You did use Pendulum and Synchro but it wasn't exciting to watch at all. You didn't show it off, you were efficient and businesslike."
"Dad!" Yuzu said, somehow emerging behind the man, fan raised. "Show some tact!"
"It's fine," I said. "That's what I'm here to learn, I suppose. Shall we discuss the terms of my enrollment now?"
Half an hour later, we had come to an agreement. I would attend the dueling classes and learn 'entertainment dueling', and could either attend or test out of regular school classes. Shuzo would be generously providing me with housing. In exchange, I would be teaching Extra Deck summoning methods. Thus I began with working on Pendulum Summoning with Yuya.
Thus my current position standing across from Yuya on the Action Field.
"Remember, Yuya, make sure that you have both a low scale and a high scale in hand before setting them," I reminded him.
"Yep, got it," he said. "I set the pendulums scales with Scale 1 Stargazer Magician and Scale 8 Timegazer Magician! Now I can Pendulum Summon monsters with levels two through seven! Swing, pendulum of my soul! Form the arc of light that splits the sky! I pendulum summon Performapal Whip Snake and Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon! How's that!"
"Well, you Pendulum Summoned correctly," I said, nodding my head. "We can work on your choice of scales and monsters later."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Yuya asked, clearly offended by the implication that his monsters were subpar.
"In general, you want your Pendulum Scales to generate some form of card advantage," I explained. "For example, take Zefraath. Its ability to send a Zefra monster to my Extra Deck means I'm going to have more monsters to summon every turn, and it can also search key parts of an opening combo. Say, do you have Performapal Monkeyboard in your deck?"
Yuya took his deck out of the duel disk, which deactivated the hologram system, and rifled through it. "I do."
"Read its scale effect," I said.
"'Once per turn, you may add a level four or lower 'Performapal' monster from your deck to your hand.' I see, it searches."
I nearly choked. Once per turn? Not a hard once per turn? That was going to enable some true degeneracy. "Exactly," I said. "If a card can search or draw cards like that, with no restrictions, it's usually a good card to play as a Pendulum Scale. Therefore, my exercise for you for next time is to look for cards with good scale effects."
"Got it, Joshua-sensei," Yuya said.
"Just 'Josh' is fine," I responded, chuckling.
Several hours later, in the guest room of Shuzo's house, I processed what exactly had happened today. Getting sent to another world, de-aged, involved in the main plot of an anime... it was quite a bit to happen in one day. I took out both decks that had made it here with me. Zefra Swordsoul was quite strong, way higher than the power level of most decks in this world, and my budget Tearlament list was far beyond that. I'd need a new deck so I could maintain a low profile, probably something like Burning Abyss or Shaddoll. I'd have to see what was available.
My thoughts drifted to the impression I'd made on the various characters. Yuya seemed to have started to grudgingly accept me as a mentor, though he was rather suspicious of me, given my knowledge of pends. Yuzu viewed me as a fellow student, as far as I could tell, though she did seem to be in a bit of a mood after our duel. Given my typical ineptitude with social interaction, I could put those down as 'mission accomplished'.
This whole 'being in another world' business might not be that bad.
Author's Note: This work was inspired by several other self-insert fics on this site. While I do appreciate these pieces of writing, there were a few things about the fics that bothered me, namely, that the SIs seemed to lack major knowledge of the Yu-gi-oh metagame (seriously, battle traps are not good, despite what the anime may have you believe), and that the characters didn't seem to have major flaws or struggles. I hope to not fall into the same pitfalls here.
As for pairings: I am entirely undecided. I'm not good at writing romance, but if you guys have any preferred pairings, you can leave a review with the pairing you wish me to write. I am averse to writing SI x multi, as that seems to be leaning too heavily into the power-fantasy, but if a good portion of you really want it I could try to make it work.
Other than that, just leaving a review of any sort would be great!
Until next time,
HyperGravityWave
