DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN YU-GI-OH!
|CHAPTER 1
The sun hung low on the horizon, casting a warm, golden glow across the bustling docks.
James Hawkins shielded his eyes from the setting sun, squinting at the luxury ship that would carry him and the other duelist to Duelist Kingdom island. The massive ocean liner loomed over the port, casting a shadow across the docks.
Around him, dozens of voices chattered excitedly, the hum of conversation creating excitement in the air. James sighed as he checked his bag for the hundredth time. With nothing to do but wait until duelists were allowed to board the ship, he was trying hard not to think too much about his upcoming interactions with the Yu-Gi-Oh characters.
He hoped to avoid it for as long as possible, unsure of how to interact with people he knew so much about but had never met. Showing up knowing things he shouldn't right after Solomon's soul had been stolen would make him seem very suspicious.
Yugi and his friends were extremely trusting...probably too trusting actually, but just the thought of accidentally revealing something he had seen in his dreams made him cringe.
I've got a few hours to figure out what I'm gonna say, James thought, knowing from his dreams that Weevil had thrown Exodia overboard at night and without any land in sight. That was when he would introduce himself to Yugi and the others.
As worried as he was about slipping up, he couldn't let Weevil throw the Exodia cards into the ocean.
The yacht's horn blasted, scattering the seagulls circling in the air and jolting James from his thoughts.
"Attention all duelists!" blared a voice over the loudspeakers attached to the deck.
James looked up as his attention was caught by the figure of a Pegasus Corporation employee standing at the top of the stairs leading up to the yacht. All the conversation around him began to hush, a wave of anticipation passing through the crowd as all eyes turned toward the employee.
"You received with your invitation, two star chips that will grant you entry into the contest."
James glanced down at his wrist where the gauntlet and star chips his sister Rebecca had been sent sat on his hand. His fingers twitched on the straps of his belt, tapping the case that held his Duel Monster's deck.
It was an instinctual thing.
Though the instinct was not his.
See, James wasn't like most people.
It was true his name was James, and that his grandfather's name was Arthur, and that he had a younger sister named Rebecca, who was traveling the United States right now, competing in regional tournaments to qualify for the next National Championship.
Something he personally knew from his own experience she would win, becoming the youngest U.S. Duel Monster champion in history.
How could he possibly know that?
Because he had memories from a different world.
It all started a few days ago...
THEN.
He gasped and spluttered, his lungs burning as he tried to breathe through the suffocating smoke. His eyes watered from the acrid fumes, blurring his vision. Not that he could see much through the swirling black smoke and burning flames anyway.
Fucking terrorists.
They'd bombed his school and now he was trapped under a collapsed beam, waiting to die.
It was sad, pathetic really.
He struggled feebly against the bricks pinning him down. No use. The weight was too much. With a groan, he let his head fall back. He was well and truly screwed. Not that anyone would miss him. He was just another orphan kid with no family or friends. His only joys in life were anime and boxing at the gym. Hardly an impressive life.
He'd never amounted to anything, but he thought maybe one day, with enough hard work, he could. Now he'd never get the chance.
Still, he wasn't ready to die. As pathetic as a reason it was, he didn't want to die before he finished watching his favorite anime series.
Not before he got to see if Luffy and his crew found the One Piece or if Naruto became Hokage. It wasn't fair!
Rage boiled in his chest. Then there was a sound like jingling bells and through the smoke, he saw something—a translucent box appeared floating in the air above him.
DO YOU WISH TO LIVE?
What is that? he tried to speak. And failed. He tried to reach out and touch the box, but his arms went right through it.
For a moment, he just stared, completely forgetting where he was and what was going on around him wondering if he was hallucinating.
But he had nothing to lose.
"Of course, I want to live!" he shouted, letting himself get lost in the delusion.
The words shimmered and changed.
PREPARE FOR TRANSMIGRATION!
"What—?" was all he managed before the rectangle ballooned, swallowing him in a blinding light. His stomach lurched as he seemed to fall through endless space.
He didn't even have time to be shocked at being swallowed by the light, because a moment later, a flood of foreign memories washed over him, integrating seamlessly deep into his—
"BEEP!"
"BEEP!"
"BEEP!"
James jerked awake, startled by the shrill beep of his alarm clock. He was in no mood to wake up or get out of bed. Not yet. Five more minutes, he grimaced, grabbing blindly for the snooze button.
After the third failed attempt, he knocked the stupid thing right off his nightstand.
Silence at last.
James exhaled deeply, raking a shaky hand through his tangled mess of hair. The dreams were back...
He hated the dreams. They felt too real, playing like memories rather than nightmares. Memories of a life not his own—bleak recollections of an orphaned boy, anonymous and insignificant with no family or friends. His only joys were anime and boxing at the gym.
A rather uneventful life that would ultimately be cut short.
The dreams always ended the same way: The boy trapped under smoldering rubble, his body broken and burned after an explosion at school. His lungs burning as he struggled to breathe through smoke and flames.
A victim of some terrorist attack. His school bombed to bits as he waited helplessly to die.
Until a glowing box offered him a second chance at life.
James shook his head, trying to clear the disturbing images from his mind. He could almost taste the ash lingering in the air.
They're not real...they're just dreams.
Except they felt like more than dreams. As crazy as it sounded, the dreams felt like he was watching himself live another life.
Shuddering, James pulled open his nightstand drawer and grabbed the orange prescription bottle inside. He shook it, listening to the lone pill rattle around. Damn overseas embargo.
With the medication shortage, he'd been forced to start rationing his pills. Cutting them in half instead of taking a whole pill a day, and clearly the reduced dosage wasn't strong enough to suppress the dreams.
James groaned, collapsing back onto his pillow. He had to get it together. The embargo didn't seem like it was ending anytime soon, so he was going to have to deal with the dreams.
He dragged himself out of bed, steadying his nerves. I just have to make it through the day.
One normal, dream-free day.
Easy enough, right?
As he shuffled to the bathroom, that goal was sidetracked when he glimpsed his reflection in the mirror.
Blonde hair...brown eyes...wait!
That face...those eyes...they didn't belong to him!
James blinked and the illusion was gone, replaced with his familiar brown hair and dark eyes. So much for normal, he shook his head and went downstairs to the kitchen.
His little sister Rebecca and their grandfather Arthur were already at the table. Rebecca was shoveling down breakfast as she flipped through her Duel Monsters deck.
"You're gonna choke if you keep inhaling your food like that," James said, ruffling her blonde hair as he passed by. She swatted his hand away with a scowl.
"Quiet, I'm strategizing," she mumbled through a mouthful of waffles. At just twelve years old, Rebecca was on track to be the youngest U.S. Duel Monsters champion ever. She took the game way more seriously than James ever had.
Arthur peered over his paper, his brow furrowing with concern. "Are you feeling quite alright, James? You look rather pale this morning."
"I'm fine," James lied. "Just didn't sleep great."
He was about to ask when they were going to leave for Rebecca's next tournament...but then he saw it.
Sitting on the counter was a sleek silver suitcase.
James froze, his eyes widening at the sight—inside the case, nestled in velvet, lay two glittering gold star chips, a dueling glove, and five Duel Monsters cards.
His heart stuttered and his mouth went dry. Those cards...he recognized them instantly. They were the same five cards Maximillion Pegasus sent to Yugi Muto and the 39 other duelists he invited to the Duelist Kingdom tournament.
The same cards he had seen in his dreams!
"Where did you get these?" James heard himself ask, though his own voice sounded distant. He stared at the star chips and cards, his stomach churning. The dreams were one thing, but this...this was impossible.
Rebecca gave him an exasperated look. "Ugh, I got invited to some private tournament. This just showed up for me this morning," she shrugged. "I guess since I was invited they assumed I would accept the invitation and sent the stuff already."
"You're not going to accept?" the grandfather asked, surprised.
Rebecca waved her hand dismissively. "I don't have time for it, grandpa. I'm trying to qualify for the National Championship remember? That's way more important."
"Now hold on Rebecca, I know the Nationals are important to you, but we shouldn't dismiss this Duelist Kingdom invitation so hastily," their grandfather Arthur said seriously.
Rebecca frowned. "But Grandpa, I don't have time for both tournaments!"
Arthur nodded. "I understand, Rebecca. But you must consider, this is no ordinary tournament. It's a private tournament being held by Maximillion Pegasus himself. A personal invitation from the host carries much weight. I'm afraid ignoring it would not be wise."
Rebecca bit her lip. "But the Nationals..."
James picked up the cards, holding them in his hands. A ship. An island. A pile of treasure. A dueling gauntlet. And a blank card.
The details matched the cards from his dreams perfectly. But the Duelist Kingdom tournament couldn't be real.
Could it?
"I'll be right back," James said, and he hurried back up the stairs to his room.
In his dreams, the boy who died had an obsession with some anime called Yu-Gi-Oh! A fictional animated TV show about Yugi Muto and his friends.
The first arc of that anime was the Duelist Kingdom Arc: where Yugi is forced to take part in Maximillion Pegasus' Duelist Kingdom tournament in order to free the soul of his grandfather.
A tournament that he just found out his sister had been invited to!
James booted up his computer and pulled up news articles about Seto Kaiba. It would be the easiest thing to confirm, and he quickly found what he was looking for—a headline that read "Kaiba Defeated by Mysterious New Duelist."
The article detailed how an unranked amateur named Yugi Muto had beaten the world champion using Exodia, a feat thought impossible.
This is exactly what I dreamed about.
Yugi defeating Kaiba, and doing it by summoning Exodia—everything he dreamed about, had all happened in reality.
James had never put much stock in dreams or visions of the future. But now, he couldn't deny the evidence right in front of his eyes.
Somehow, he had dreamed the exact duel between Yugi and Kaiba years before it happened. Was he psychic? Had he traveled to another dimension where Yu-Gi-Oh was real and gained knowledge of future events?
James shook his head. That seemed too outlandish, even for him. There had to be a logical explanation. Perhaps he had somehow learned details about the upcoming duel and incorporated them into his dreams subconsciously?
But he couldn't imagine where he would have gotten such specific information, especially with Yugi being a complete unknown in the Duel Monsters community until just a few weeks ago.
"What is going on?" James leaned back in his desk chair, staring blankly at the computer screen as his mind raced. If his dreams were really visions of the future, and from what he saw of the past, the events depicted in the "anime" aligned eerily with what he knew to be true.
From his grandpa giving Solomon Muto his rare "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" card after they met in Egypt to his sister being on track to be the youngest U.S. Duel Monsters champion ever.
Now Yugi defeating Kaiba and Pegasus holding a tournament he was calling Duelist Kingdom?
A chilling realization settled over him. If the anime had recorded those past events accurately, what did that mean for the future?
Pegasus stealing souls at Duelist Kingdom.
Egyptian God cards coming to life in Battle City.
Millennium Items with actual magical powers.
Freaking Shadow Games!
Zorc!
But how was any of this possible? None of it made sense.
James couldn't wrap his head around how some stranger from another dimension could know so much about his world. A world without real magic—which made the connection even more confusing. How could someone peer into and predict the future of a totally different reality?
In enough detail to turn it into a TV show?
A fictional show where apparently I didn't even exist, James realized with a start. His counterpart had watched the anime multiple times, yet there was no mention of a James Hawkins.
Not even when Rebecca and Grandpa showed up!
Except, that part actually made sense.
James had never cared much for Duel Monsters. As a kid, he used to play all the time with his grandpa, but when he began hallucinating Duel Monster cards talking to him, he spurned the game, preferring to play sports where his mind wasn't playing tricks on him.
Even after he got on his medication and the hallucinations stopped, he hadn't ever really gotten back into the game. But the boy in his dreams had been obsessed with it—had played the game for years, collected thousands of cards, made hundreds of decks!
Now James felt that same pull!
He wanted to enter the Duelist Kingdom tournament and become the King of Games. He wanted to really duel Kaiba and Yugi, not just play out their decks with friends or duel their video game characters.
James slid open his desk drawer, a thin layer of dust coating the contents inside. Shoved in the back was a deck of Duel Monsters cards he hadn't touched in years. Not since he started hallucinating the cards whispering to him.
But now...maybe he hadn't been crazy after all.
Next to the deck stood a small red and white Toy Soldier. James blinked hard, but the figure didn't vanish.
The soldier peered up at him and gave a salute. "Reporting for duty, sir!"
James swallowed hard. "You're...real?"
"Sir, yes sir!" The soldier nodded.
James couldn't believe it. For so long he'd spurned these cards out of fear, convinced they were just hallucinations. A symptom of his unstable mind.
But now the impossible was reality. The spirits he'd dismissed as delusions...they were real.
Magic was real.
He never imagined he'd be face-to-face with Duel Monsters like this. As a kid, he remembered feeling like his cards had personalities all their own. But that stopped after he started medication for his hallucinations and paranoia.
Maybe suppressing all that had blocked his ability to connect to the duel spirits and now that he stopped taking the full dose, it was coming back.
James looked down at the Toy Soldier spirit again. This was like something straight out of the anime.
Which reminded him...
Can I bond with duel spirits as well? James wondered. In the GX anime, Jaden and Yubel had proven it was possible for a human and Duel Spirit to bond together. Yubel's power combined with his abilities as the Supreme King had made Jadem more powerful than even Yugi and Atem. He didn't have any power besides being able to see duel spirits, but a plan was forming in his mind.
"I've heard myths about Duel Spirits," he began, and he hoped like hell the anime was right again. "That they can bond with a duelist and make them more powerful. Is that true?"
"Yes, sir!" Toy Soldier's voice rang out crisp and clear.
"Is it possible for me to bond with you?"
Toy Soldier snapped to attention, heels clicking together. "With me, yes sir!"
"So no chance with stronger monsters?" James sighed in disappointment.
"Not yet, sir," Toy Soldier shook his head. "Your soul is not strong enough to sustain a bond with a spirit any stronger than me. It needs more power first. Bonding with me will allow your soul to grow stronger, then once you find a slightly stronger spirit, try to bond with it. You can grow your spirit from the ground up until you are strong enough to support a bond with any spirit."
Useful info for the future, James nodded. For now though...
"You up for it, soldier?" he asked, meeting Toy Soldier's painted eyes squarely.
Toy Soldier seemed to think for a moment before closing his eyes and nodding in agreement, "I shall stand with you," the soldier said.
Floating up into the air, before James could react, the tiny soldier touched their heads together. Emerald light flared, forcing James' eyes shut. Energy rushed through him in a torrent, his nerves tingling.
When he opened his eyes after he reflexively closed them to shield them from the flash, he saw that Toy Soldier was gone.
"Toy Soldier, where'd you go?" he asked, looking around himself and finding no sign of the little dragon.
"At ease, sir," the familiar voice of Toy Soldier echoed in his mind.
James spun in his chair, searching for the duel spirit. "Why can't I see you?"
"I have taken up residence in your soul, but until you adapt to the bond and grow more powerful you won't have the power to manifest me outside your body." the duel monster spirit explained.
James frowned looking down at his hand. "I don't really feel any different," he said, not knowing exactly what he expected to happen, but nothing had changed. "I'm still the same."
"I'm not a very strong spirit, remember?" Toy Soldier responded, "There won't be many benefits to a bond with me besides your soul growing slightly stronger. And maybe slight instincts of a soldier, I do not think it will be much though."
Oh, well that was cool at least.
Anything is better than nothing. Things are going to get dangerous soon. Real magic, stronger duel monster spirits. I'll take whatever help I can, James thought, grabbing his deck before heading back downstairs.
He still needed to ask Rebecca if he could take her spot in the Duelist Kingdom tournament.
NOW.
"You are all elite, invited by us after close observation of your past Duel Monsters contests! You each have a fair and equal chance to win!" Pegasus employee was finishing the welcome speech.
James scoffed at the blatant lie. He knew the tournament's true purpose—to beat Yugi and seize control of KaibaCorp.
"It all comes down to how well you've chosen your cards and how well you play."
With that, the yacht's gangplank was lowered and crew members in sleek black suits took up positions around the ramp, checking invitations and waving duelists aboard.
James shuffled forward in line, he reached into his backpack and pulled out the invitation enclosed in a pristine envelope with a wax seal—his sister's invitation.
"Hawkins?" A cruise attendant checked his invitation against a clipboard. "Star chips?"
"Right, here," James said, lifting his hand to display the dueling gauntlet on his right hand. Two golden star chips shined on his wrist.
"Welcome aboard, Mr. Hawkins!" the attendant said, handing James a shiny gold keycard before looking behind him and shouting, "As a regional champion, you've been assigned one of our premium staterooms."
"Thanks," James muttered, pocketing the keycard as he walked up the gangplank.
Just as he was about to step aboard the ship, a commotion back on the docks made him turn.
"Hey, you! Get out of here!"
James stopped at the end of the gangplank and looked back down at the sudden commotion on the docks. Two Industrial Illusions employees were wrestling with a blond teen in a green jacket, trying to pull him out of line.
"Only official contestants are allowed on board!" one shouted. "No stowaways allowed!"
"How do you know I'm not official!" Joey yelled, face reddening as he struggled in their grasp.
He was shaken from his stupor by an impatient shove at his back. "Hey, move it! You're holding up the line!"
"Right...sorry," James apologized as he took the last step off the gangplank and stepped aboard the ship that would take him to Duelist Kingdom Island.
Revised as of 9/27/2023!
Thanks for reading!
P.S.: This story is inspired by Stacking the Deck and Chaos Effect! Two of the best Yugioh fics on this site! Definitely check them out if you haven't already!
James Deck 1
Monsters
Toy Emperor: ATK/2300 and DEF/800—Card Effect: If this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle, you can add 1 Trap Card from your Deck to your hand.
Toy Soldier: ATK/800 and DEF/300—Card Effect: During your Standby Phase, you can Special Summon up to 2 "Toy Soldiers" from your Deck.
Toy Magician: ATK/1600 and DEF 1500—Card Effect: You can Set this card from your hand to your Spell & Trap Zone as a Spell. During the End Phase, if this Set card in your Spell & Trap Zone was destroyed by an opponent's card effect and sent to the GY this turn: Special Summon this card. If this card is Flip Summoned: Destroy Spells and Traps on the field, equal to the number of "Toy Magicians" on the field.
Toy Knight: ATK/200 and DEF/1200—Card Effect: Cannot be Special Summoned from the Deck. If your opponent controls more monsters than you do, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand). When this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 "Toy Knight" from your hand.
Rocket Warrior: 1500/ATK and DEF/1300—Card Effect: This effect is only active during the Battle Phase of your turn. Battle Damage to this card and this card's controller that they take from a battle involving this card becomes 0. After damage calculation, decrease the ATK of the monster that was attacked by this card by 500 points until the end of this turn.
Exiled Force: ATK/1000 and DEF/1000—Card Effect: Tributing this face-up card, destroy 1 monster on the field.
SPELLS
Monster Reborn: Target 1 monster in either GY; Special Summon it.
United We Stand: Increase the ATK and DEF of the equipped monster by 800 points for each face-up monster you control.
Pot of Greed: Draw 2 cards from your Deck.
Heavy Storm: Destroy all Spell and Trap Cards on the field.
Limiter Removal: Double the ATK of all Machine monsters you currently control, until the end of this turn. During the End Phase of this turn, destroy those monsters.
Crowning of the Emperor: Tribute 1 "Toy Soldier". Special Summon 1 "Toy Emperor" from your hand or Deck.
Fife and Drum Corps: Double the ATK of all monsters you control with 1000 or less ATK until the End Phase.
Forced March: Halve the ATK of all monsters you currently control. All monsters affected by this card can attack your opponent directly this turn.
Negate Attack: When your opponent attacks with a monster, negate the attack and make your opponent's Battle Phase end.
Foolish Burial: Select 1 Monster card from your Deck and send it to the Graveyard.
TRAP CARDS
Premature Burial: Pay 800 Life Points. Select 1 Monster Card from your Graveyard, Special Summon it in face-up Attack Position and equip it with this card. When this card is destroyed, the monster is also destroyed.
Call of the Haunted: Activate this card by targeting 1 monster in your GY; Special Summon that target in Attack Position. When this card leaves the field, destroy that monster. When that monster is destroyed, destroy this card.
Trap Hole: Activate only when your opponent Normal Summons or Flip Summons a monster with 1000 or more ATK. Destroy that monster.
Malfunction: Pay 500 Life Points. Negate the activation of a Trap Card and return it to its original position.
Gulliver Chain: Activate only by selecting 1 monster your opponent controls when you change its battle position by a card effect. Change that monster to a face-up Defense Position. Then, when that monster is in Attack Position, destroy it and this card.
Toy Cannon: Select 1 face-up Attack Position monster your opponent controls. Change it to Defense Position, and inflict 400 damage to your opponent.
Unequal Treaty: Activate only when a monster you control inflicts Battle Damage to your opponent by a direct attack. Each time your opponent draws a card(s), gain 100 Life Points and inflict 100 damage to your opponent.
Rainbow Life: Discard 1 card. All damage you took this turn prior to this card's activation is negated. Increase your Life Points by the amount of damage negated by this card's effect.
Ultimate Offering: During your Main Phase or your opponent's Battle Phase: You can pay 500 Life Points; immediately after this effect resolves, Normal Summon/Set 1 monster.