Dawn
Dawn just couldn't believe that she was looking at someone who looked so much like Hunter J, just with longer hair. And to top it all off, she seemed so much friendlier than J ever was.
Dawn remembered Hunter J, a ruthless Pokemon Hunter who stole other people's Pokemon for money without any remorse or shame for her actions. She remembered all the times she ruthlessly destroyed other people's lives and their bonds with their Pokemon by taking them away from them. She remembered how she didn't care about the collateral damage her work did to other people. How she quickly abandoned people to the authorities when it when either convenient for her to do so or when they no longer provided her any benefit at all. She was the type of person the world was, as much as Dawn hated to admit, better off without.
She never told anyone of this, but when she heard that Hunter J was confirmed dead by Sinnoh officials sometime after her the lake Valor incident, she was glad. It was a horrible thing to feel in general, but Dawn couldn't help it. Hunter J…she…she was a menace to the people of Sinnoh. Not in the same vein as Team Galactic, she knew that, but Hunter J was just…pure evil for the lack of a better term. The way she hurt people. Broke their bonds with their Pokemon and sold off said Pokemon to other, colder, people, potentially separating those Pokemon from their original owners forever. That was the kind of evil that Dawn was appalled with. She couldn't understand just how evil and unethical one had to be in order for them to do such things with a straight face. To keep doing it for what was likely years and not even feel a sliver of remorse for her actions at all. Hunter J was a monster. One that Dawn was glad the world was finally rid of for good. And now, as if Arceus himself had a strange sense of humor, Dawn was looking at a woman that bore a disturbing resemblance to the female Pokemon Hunter. Needless to say, she was both shocked and scared of the woman.
Did she know about the ruthless Pokemon Hunter? Was she anything like Hunter J? Was she…related to her by any chance? That last thought scared Dawn quite a bit, especially combined with the other two questions because they may end up fighting someone who may hold a grudge on Dawn for being there when Hunter J died and just stood there while she…
Dawn was forced out of her thoughts when Carlita spoke up.
"My name is Carlita." Said Carlita as she walked up and greeted the woman with a smile. "These are my fri…acquaintances." Carlita then started introducing the rest of the girls by name. "This is Serena, Dawn, and Miette. We're here because we…"
"You're here for Mr. Fixer, am I right?" Asked Serenity with a smile, though, if one looked carefully, one could see the disappointment in her eyes when she realized what they were here for. None of the girls noticed it, however, as the disappointment went away just as quickly as it came. When they nodded, she replied back. "Well, in that case, I'll lead you to him. If you all follow me, we'll find him in the Pokemon stage we have here. He's probably showing off his game to the other children, teens, and Pokemon here in the shelter." She then turned to the boy from before, a young little boy with black hair that couldn't have been no older than eight, and gave him a stern look, which again uneased Dawn because of how much this Serenity looked like Hunter J. "As for you, Tom, you apologize to this Serena now. You had no right at all to scare her with something that was supposed to cheer you up. Mr. Fixer may be tolerant of a lot of things, but he isn't tolerating of people using his card game as a way to scare and terrorize people. Is that understood?" The little boy, Tom, just looked to the ground in shame before speaking up.
"I'm sorry." Said the boy as he looked at the ground while Miette helped Serena up.
"Say it while facing her, Tom." Said Serenity sternly. The boy named Tom just pursed his lips a bit before looking at Serena and speaking up.
"I'm sorry for scaring you with my cards, Miss Serena." Said Tom. Seeing the boy apologizing, as well as how young he was, Serena just waved her hand.
"It's okay." Said Serena as she looked at the boy. Truth be told, she was a bit mad with how she got dirt on her new skirt, she just bought the thing, but she couldn't be too mad. He was just a boy, after all. "Just tell me why you did that and I'll forgive you completely."
"I wanted to try out the new cards that Mr. Fixer gave me." Said Tom, looking at said cards in Serenity's possession. "I also wanted to use this as well." He then looked at the weird device also in Serenity's possession. "Mr. Fixer said it would really blow my mind away. I just wanted to try it out. And then I saw you all and I just…"
"You decided to show them your new toy by scaring them." Said Serenity as she looked at Tom in disappointment. "That's not how you show someone something, Tom. We'll discuss this more later. For now, just go to your room and think about what you did, okay?" Tom just nodded at that before leaving the women alone, going straight for the shelter. Once he was gone, Serenity looked at the girls before her.
"Sorry about all that. Tom is a good child, but he doesn't think about the consequences of his actions." Said Serenity. "I'll reprimand him for this. For now, though, let's get you to Mr. Fixer. I'm sure you were sent here to retrieve him for the special event tomorrow."
"That's correct." Said Dawn, still unnerved by the woman before her, as the girls gathered around Serenity.
"Then follow me." Said Serenity before leading the girls to where they need to go. Walking towards the building, Serenity opened the double glass main doors, allowing them entry to the massive building. Upon entering, the girls could see the inside of the building and was honestly impressed with what they saw.
The building's first floor was what one would expect from a regular receptionist area. Clean and full of life. Walking over to the receptionist, Serenity asked the receptionist, a young teen, about where Fixer was.
"He's still in the basement, the Pokemon battlefield to be exact." Said the female receptionist as she looked at Serenity. "He's still teaching the children about his little card game."
"Good." Said Serenity as she looked at the receptionist. "We'll head down there now. Also, can you send someone to look after Tom? He scared one of our guests and I still need to scold him about it."
"I'll get someone to keep an eye on him." Said the receptionist. Nodding in thanks to the receptionist before leaving her alone, Serenity looked at the girls behind her and spoke to them.
"If you follow me, we'll head to the Pokemon battlefield and we'll meet with Mr. Fixer." Said Serenity before leading the girls to the stairs. As they walked, the girls couldn't help but either look around their surroundings or at the strange device in Serenity's arm. The ones that were looking at their surroundings were impressed with how organized and clean the shelter was.
They weren't ignorant to shelters and their purpose. They knew that they were for the less fortunate people in the world. That they were…not as supported as they probably should be. So they were surprised to see just how clean and well-organized it was. Amazed at this, the girls that observed their surroundings wanted to ask Serenity about all this once it was an appropriate to do so. As for the girls that were eying the device in Serenity's arms, they were curious about the device as they had never seen something like it before.
From what they can make out of the device, it seemed to be something that you can attach to your wrist with how Serenity had it resting on one of her wrists. And then there were the cards inserted and held by a slot on the device, specifically the center of it. They weren't like the cards they were used to seeing.
Seemingly built like Contest Passes, the cards seemed to be made of durable materials that allowed them to last for quite a while. They also seem to depict some kind of Pokémon that they have never seen before on them along with numbers and stars as well. Curious, Serena spoke up.
"Um, excuse me, Miss Serenity." Said Serena as she walked, catching Serenity's attention. "If you don't mind me asking, but what on earth are those cards? I've never seen Pokémon looking like those in those cards." Upon hearing that, Serenity explained the cards.
"Oh, these aren't cards depicting Pokémon." Said Serenity before explaining further. "These are playing cards for Mr. Fixer's card game. Same with this device." That caught all the girls' attention. A game made by a Gatekeeper? One that didn't involve Pokémon? Well this certainly got their attention.
"What game is it?" Asked Dawn, her fear regarding Serenity temporarily forgotten so she can understand this game.
"Its called Duel Monsters." Said Serenity as she took one of the cards and showed them all it. It depicted a giant Beedrill-like creature that, somehow, looked more furious and scarier than any Beedrill the girls met during their travels.
"Duel Monsters?" Said Miette in confusion. "Never heard of it."
"I'm not really surprised to hear that." Said Serenity as she places the card on top of the other cards she had inserted into that slot on the strange device in her hands. "It's a very niche game, same with its various offshoot games. It's also relatively expensive to get into compared to just getting a Pokémon and going out on a journey with them. That and the fact that the cards aren't really purchasable in a lot of places beyond the major cities in the various regions around the world makes them a relatively unknown thing to most trainers. I can't really give you a thorough explanation of the game and its rules, but I can tell you that it's quite an enjoyable game actually. The children like it, at least. Same with some of the staff here."
"Interesting." Said Carlita, curious on this game that Serenity was talking about. Though she was curious about everything in the world that wasn't found in Unova, this game sparked her interest quite a bit. Enough to make her want to know more about it. "If you don't mind, I would like to see a game of this Duel Monsters before we leave."
"I'm sure that won't be a problem." Said Serenity with a smile, looking at Carlita with a smile. "Mr. Fixer is probably doing a demonstration match of Duel Monsters in the Pokémon battlefield we have. No doubt he's still doing that. He just loves to talk and show off the games he made to other people. If we hurry, we'll be able to see him actually perform a duel so you can see what its like." With that they picked up their pace towards the Pokemon battlefield in hope they can see a Duel Monsters game. A few minutes of walking, they found the Pokemon arena, where they were met with something that shocked all the girls except Serenity.
In front of them was a large Pokemon arena. It wasn't the largest arena out there, but it was still sizable enough to enable most Pokemon to battle without much issue. On the left and right sides of the arena were large bleachers that had several children's of various ages on them along with several young adults, watching a battle happening in the Pokemon arena. Except what was happening wasn't a Pokemon battle. At least one that the girls were familiar.
"No way! How did you manage to do that!" Yelled a young boy, probably almost ten years old, with blue hair as he watched helplessly as a giant man in blue and red armor riding a purple Rapidash in front of him was suddenly attacked by giant metal chains that come from absolutely nowhere. The chains wrapped around the knight and chained him and his Rapidash up, immobilizing them to the ground, which the chains embedded themselves to once they wrapped around the knight.
Gaia The Fierce Knight
Attribute: Earth
Types: Warrior/Normal
Lever: 7 Stars
ATK: 2300. Reduced to 1600. Cause: Shadow Spell Trap Card
DEF: 2100
Position: Attack Mode
"Simple. Shadow Spell is a trap card." Said a sizable robot with an almost human appearance. If it weren't for the multiple blue lights glowing in a black visor in place of normal human eyes. The blue lights kept going off and on as the robot spoke. "Trap cards are a type of card in Duel Monsters that allows one to counter their opponent's moves and strategies, derailing any strategy they had for their turn and potentially turning the tide of the duel to your favor as well as saving your own strategy. In fact, I'll show you how." The robot then pointed to the two giant robots in front of him. One was yellow in the shape of a tank with a strange eye in the middle and the other was humanoid but with a blue ball for legs as well as having a blue color scheme with yellow as a secondary color. It also had giant cannons one the sides of its head.
Z-Metal Tank
Attribute: Light
Types: Machine/Union/Effect
Level: 4 Stars
ATK: 1500
DEF: 1300
Position: Attack Mode
X-Head Cannon
Attribute: Light
Types: Machine/Normal
Level: 4 Stars
ATK: 1800
DEF: 1500
Position: Attack Mode
"These two monsters would have been destroyed by your Gaia The Fierce Knight if I hadn't used Shadow Spell. If either of these monsters were destroyed, my whole strategy to win this duel would have been rendered useless. And I'll show you why. That is, if you end your turn." Said the robot. The boy pursed his lips and looked at the cards in his hands, which were three in total. On his right wrist was the same device that Serenity had in her own hands. On it was a card on one of the five sections on the board attached to the side of the main body of the device.
"That's who you're looking for." Said Serenity as the duel continued. "That's Fixer. Looks like he's almost done with his demonstration duel. Just wait a few minutes and you should be able to talk to him." The girls did acknowledge what Serenity just said, but most of their focus was on this duel. Their curiosity making them want to watch the whole thing as much as possible. To gain as much information about this game as they can before this duel ended. Unfortunately, they won't get to see much as the boy shook his head and spoke.
"I end my turn." Said the boy reluctantly as he prepared for what was to come. Fixer, upon seeing the downcast look on the boy, spoke up.
"There's no need to be upset over your loss, Samuel." Said Fixer as he looked at the boy. "I'm not only the creator of Duel Monsters and its various spinoff games, but I also play them on a regular basis with my friends and coworkers, giving me quite a level of experience in the intricacies of the games I make. The fact that you managed to learn so much in your first time for this game is amazing. You have a bright future as a duelist and Pokemon trainer. I know it. And you'll learn more from the loss. Remember, we learn more from our losses than our victories for a variety of reasons. Even if defeat is a bitter pill to swallow. Do you understand?" The boy, Samuel, just nodded at that as he looked at Fixer, understanding his words. "Good, now its my turn to end this."
With that, Fixer drew a card from the deck of cards slotted into the device on his wrist. He looked at it before putting it with the other cards in his free hand, which were four in total. He then grabbed one of the cards before speaking.
"I summon Y-Dragon Head in attack mode." Said Fixer before placing the card he grabbed into one section of the board part of the device on his wrist. Then, before everyone's eyes, a giant, red-colored, dragon machine came out of nowhere in a flash of light between the other two machines. Roaring a metallic roar, the dragon machine looked forward at its opponent.
Y-Dragon Head
Attribute: Light
Types: Machine/Union/Effect
Level: 4 Stars
ATK: 1500
DEF: 1600
Position: Attack Mode
"What was that?!" Yelled Dawn as she saw what just happened before her, unbelieving what she just saw. "How did that giant dragon thing come here and what was the giant flash of light!?" The other girls were of similar mind to Dawn's outburst, not understanding what was going on in the slightest.
"Mr. Fixer would explain it all to you when he's finished with this duel." Said Serenity. "But, from what I can recall, the monsters you're seeing aren't actually real creatures. They're some sort of holograms emitted from devices launched from those devices on their wrists. He'll explain it better, trust me, and it seems you'll get your answers soon. Mr. Fixer is about to end the duel."
"Now with all three machine monsters in the field, I can summon one of my aces in the hole." Said Fixer before speaking up. "I fuse all three monsters to form XYZ Dragon Cannon!" With that declaration, the three monsters moved towards each other and began to merge with one another. The yellow tank stood in place on the ground while the dragon machine had its wings detached before it docked on the tank. Finally, the blue humanoid machine attached itself to the top of the dragon machine. Once it did, electricity sparked everywhere as the completed machine glared at the knight before it.
XYZ-Dragon Cannon
Attribute: Light
Types: Machine/Fusion/Effect
Level: 8 Stars
ATK: 2800
DEF: 2600
Position: Attack Mode
"Now, while it can destroy your Gaia The Fierce Knight with ease, I wouldn't be able to end the duel as you have more than enough life points to survive the difference between their attack modes." Explained Fixer. "However, XYZ Dragon Cannon has a powerful effect. By discarding one of my cards to the graveyard, I can destroy one of your cards on the field. And by that, I mean your Gaia." To demonstrate, Fixer discard one of his remaining cards from his hand to an empty slot opposite from the board section of the device on his wrist. With that done, the XYZ Dragon Cannon's eyes glowed bright blue before aiming its shoulder cannons at the knight. Then, with no mercy, it fired two powerful energy blasts at the knight, utterly obliterating him and his horse. "And now, with nothing to protect you, XYZ Dragon Cannon will you directly."
Upon hearing that, the girls all yelled out their disbelief.
"What!?" Yelled Miette, Serena, Carlita, and Dawn at what was just said, catching everyone's attention. Looking over to the source, Fixer saw who came into the room. Having heard their shock, Fixer realized the reason why and tried to explain himself. Unfortunately, it was then that XYZ Dragon Cannon decided to fire its cannons at Samuel. As the two bright energy streams came at Samuel, there was some screaming from the girls as they made contact with the boy. Thinking he just killed that boy, the girls shock was about to turn to anger when suddenly they saw the boy alive and unharmed. Then their shock turned to relief, confusion, and disbelief.
Samuel's Life Points: 1800 reduce to 0
Result: Samuel loses. Victory goes to Fixer.
"Oh this is going to take awhile to explain." Said Fixer as he saw the four girls trying to comprehend everything that just happened.
Notes:
For those that don't know yet, yes, Duel Monsters and its various spinoff games are in this fanfic. However, its just the games. None of the characters and the lore of Yugioh. Well, most of the lore as I don't know much of the story of Yugioh after the Syncro Monster era. 5DS is when I stopped getting into Yugioh. Anyway, just so anyone who knows about current Yugioh and knows how inaccurate the shows were, I'll point some things out.
First off, there will be cards of my own design in this fic. I'll try my best to avoid making my own OC cards as overpowered as possible, but there may be some ridiculousness with the cards that synergize with others that I have no idea about or had no intentions of letting that happen.
Second, there'll be some cards that'll get reworks, additional effects, reworked effects that work like the animes, or all of the above. Honestly, I always wondered why Konami never reworked some of their cards. You think they would do something like that to make them relevant, right?
Third, for the benefit of everyone, I'll post what cards are different, my own designs, and how the cards actually work in real life in the chapter notes. For now, the cards shown in this chapter work as they do in real life. So, there's no need for that. But it'll likely come soon.
Finally, Duel Monsters won't be as prevalent as Pokemon Battles. I'll make that clear. They'll be a side thing that I wanted to try and nothing more. They'll likely be several mini-arcs surrounding Duel Monsters and its spinoffs like Duegon Dice Monsters and Capsule Monsters, but this is a Pokemon-centric fic first. I assure you of that.