Disclaimer: I own nothing of the properties within this story. All rights go to the creators and companies of said properties.
Beta by Old man of the mountain/Darklord331 and Slothful
Chapter 3: Preparing for the Junior League Tournament
A year has passed since I came into this life, and a lot has changed.
First is Kenji's deck, going from what best can be described as Flame Swordsman Beatdown to Grass Chaos, running powerful cards such as Chaos Levianeer, That Grass Looks Greener, and the pre-errata version of Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End. Getting the pre-errata version of that card cost me an arm and a leg, and I give two to Kenji while I have one for myself. Sure, I could have given him the errata version, which was dirt cheap, and Kenji would have been happy, but what Konomi has done to that card is the equivalent of a war crime.
The real shocker was how cheap Grass was, considering how it's a banned card in my world. It cost less than 50 DP. How could I get a card like that through the system? Well, because it was one of the few cards I didn't buy through the system but instead at a card shop here. People here think Grass is a terrible card because all it does is send cards to the grave, and unlike Foolish Burial, those cards are random, so you risk sending necessary cards to the grave. They don't even think about the cards with graveyard effects! Breakthrough Skill, Electromagnetic Turtle, Necro Gardna, and the entire Paleozoic trap lineup!
But their loss is my gain. Otherwise, I would have to pay out of the ass for another card.
Another thing that happened to Kenji was the disbanding of his friend circle. Why did they break up? Two reasons. One was because Kenji wanted to include me in his circle of friends. You can't spend several hours of the day tutoring, learning duel monsters, and playing other games without forming some bond of friendship. And that's just what happened to Kenji and me. And naturally, Kenji wanted me to become friends with his friends. The issue was that Kenji's former friends didn't like that much.
Even before I took over Yukito's body, Yukito was a quiet kid who would read rather than play with others, causing other kids to think he was weird. And I certainly didn't make it any better. I was an adult trapped in the body of a child. I have no interest in games like tag or some mundane third-person shooter game brimmed with micro-transactions for skins when I could use that time to earn DP.
When Kenji's friends wanted me out of their group, Kenji tried to explain that I was weird, which I was; I was a good duelist who gave Kenji tips and cards, with most of them being incredibly rare and powerful. I'm positive that Kenji meant no harm, as he also talked about other games we played, but to his friends, Kenji's words and showing off his new deck at the time seemed like he was bragging to them. At that moment, Kenji's friends said that they would 'rather die' than be taught by me, and they no longer wanted to be Kenji's friends because he became annoying.
His former friends' words saddened Kenji, but he managed to bounce back in a few days. I'm not sure if he got over it by himself or because his parents talked to him, as children tend to bounce back on their feet faster than adults.
My and Kenji's friendship affected our families as well. Kenji's mom and my mom hang out whenever Kenji comes over to my house. The same happens if I go to his. How did our moms get along so well? It turns out they were childhood friends themselves, small world.
They wanted us to be friends sooner, but because of how the old Yukito kept himself in his shell and how Kenji and his former friends didn't want to play with me (though Kenji's mom insisted that Kenji's former friend group was a bad influence on her son, and considering how Kenji stopped doing that type of stuff, she might have a point).
Next was our dads, who quit their jobs and opened a card shop named Might of Mind. Why did they do this? Long story short, I used to sell the bulk of my cards online to get back some of the DP I spent, with Kenji helping me with packaging the orders (not for free, of course, but I needed the help and giving him a small cut was worth it), our parents obvious figured it out as the postal service called them because we kept sending dozens of boxes a week.
Of course, when our parents found out about our side hustle, they were pissed as they believed that Kenji and I were selling our belongings to buy more cards, and they weren't wrong. They only calmed down after learning we were only selling cards that we didn't need, and once our parents realized how much Kenji and I were making, our dads decided to make it into a business.
So, my and Kenji's side hustle turned into the family's business, with Kenji and I dealing with the online orders. Sure, the profit that Kenji and I get took a hit, but I would be lying if I said my folks owning a card shop wasn't cool, as I help make events like seal drafts and tournaments based on the newest release set.
Though I said it's a card shop, it's more of a hobby store as we sell board games and host D&D campaigns, something Kenji and I enjoy playing occasionally.
Now, back to today, I was sitting at my desk, completing more orders as, for some reason, there has been a sharp increase in orders lately, while Ray was watching TV (the show was some mystery romance show) when Kenji burst into my room, looking like he had the devil himself chase him here.
After Kenji took a few heavy breaths, he gave me a look between panic and excitement. "Yukito! The Junior League is about to begin!"
I give the overly excited child a dry look. "The what League?" I ask, earning a stunned look from Kenji.
"The Junior League Tournament! The biggest dueling event all eleven-year-old duelists dream of being selected to enter! How can someone like you, who thinks nothing but Duel Monsters, not know about the Junior League?!" Kenji questions.
"Believe it or not, I have other interests." I stare blankly at Kenji. "Just tell me about this tournament."
Kenji's right eye twitches in annoyance before sighing. "The Junior League Tournament is one of three yearly tournaments for young duelists. The Junior League is for duelists aged eleven, Junior Youth for twelve, and Youth for thirteen." Kenji explains. "Just entering the League gives you a scholarship to any dueling school. If you place in the top three, you're guaranteed a full-ride scholarship, and I'm not including the other prizes, such as rare cards and huge DP prizes. Winning it makes your name well known, just like King Fubuki and Kaiser Ryo. If you want to become a pro duelist, there is no better way than winning one of those tournaments." Kenji explains.
I'm starting to get the picture here. These tournaments are similar to the Yu-Gi-OH world tournaments or the Yu-Gi-Oh champion tournaments but to a ridiculous degree.
Though I say that, it does have my interest. I never played in tournaments outside of local tournaments in my past life, so playing on a bigger stage does sound exciting. And the competition should be better than I'm used to playing against, as outside of Kenji, nobody is a challenge, not even the older duelists.
The competition would still be children, but they should have better decks and dueling skills. At least, I hope they do.
But there is a problem. If I enter the tournament, I'm most likely going to win, and the problem with this is I would gain Leo's attention, and I don't want that.
And as to mack me, the LDS screen appears in front of my face.
Mission 2: The Junior League Tournament
Objective: Enter and place in the top three of the tournament
Reward: 250,000 DP, Prize Depending on Placement
Third Place: Instant Fusion and Thunder Dragon Structure Deck
Second Place: Third Place Prize and Branded Structure Deck
First Place: Second Place Prize, Thunder Dragon Colossus, and Mirrorjade the Iceblade Dragon
Talk about laying it thick. A quarter of a million points and Instant Fusion is already quite a lot. Adding two powerful structure decks, Mirrorjade, and a banned card on top of that is overkill.
"How do I sign up for the Junior League?" I ask, cursing myself for my greed.
Kenji gives me a knowing smirk, making me roll my eyes. "You can't sign up. You have to be selected to enter. I'm not sure how they decide who should be allowed to enter, but if you were one of the chosen duelists, you would get an e-mail telling you what to do next."
E-mail? We live in a world that has holograms with mass, so a children's card game would be more fun. Leo is going to invent a way to travel through dimensions. Four girls can already travel through dimensions with their fucking bracelets. And four boys who can fuse into one person and said can become a giant dragon. Yet somehow, us still using e-mail sounds crazy.
"I don't have an e-mail account."
"Your dueling account is your e-mail account. Otherwise, we would have never been able to sell your cards online." Kenji explains, laughing at the end and smiling at me. "You're strange, Yuki. You can get your hands on cards I can only dream about and make incredible plays, but you're careless on something as this."
I roll my eyes at that. I'm sorry. I have only lived in this world for a year. Sue me for not knowing this place's ins and outs just yet.
"Let me see your duel disk. I will show you how it works." Kenji stretched out his arm, his hand open. After I handed Kenji my duel disk, the chubby boy showed me how to access my e-mails (which I have a lot of), open a specific e-mail message, and place my disk on the table as a hologram video (something fitting for this world) begin to play.
As the video began to play, I overheard Ray grasp and say one word.
"Father."
As Ray said, a tiny hologram version of Leo is standing on top of my duel disk. The hologram Leo smiles at us. "First, I want to congratulate you on being selected as one of the duelists chosen to enter the Junior League Tournament. My name is Akaba Leo, the headmaster of Academia. And I'm one of the hosts of the Junior League Tournament."
I'm not surprised Leo would be involved in the tournament to some degree, as he wants powerful duelists to aid his goal, but I wasn't expecting him to be one of the hosts. But then again, Leo is the headmaster of Academia, one of the best dueling schools in the world, and is well-loved and respected by the people of this world, so maybe it would be stranger if he wasn't one of the hosts.
"The tournament has two stages. The first stage is the qualifying round, where you and another duelist will form a team for a tag-duel tournament. The winners of those tournaments will advance to the next and final stage. You have a list of names of those selected in the tournament attached to this e-mail and a time limit of three days to find a teammate. Failure to do so will result in disqualification." The hologram continues its speech.
A tag-duel? That's unusual. Perhaps to see how well we can work with others? Or is Leo wanting to see how well we can adapt?
"Find your partner, form your strategies, and build your best decks. I'm looking forward to your matches." The hologram said before fading away.
I quickly opened the list, seeing dozens of names. As I see my name on the list, I also see that my partner has already been selected for me, causing me to turn to Kenji with a blank look slowly, seeing the boy in question giving me a shit-eating grin.
The brat made us partners while I was watching the video.
"You knew I was already selected and didn't tell me? And you made me your partner without asking me?" I give Kenji an annoyed look.
Kenji shrugs. "You know more about Duel Monsters than anyone I know, including our dueling teacher at school and students from Academia, so when you told me you know nothing about the Junior League, how can I let the chance of teaching you something pass?" Kenji weakly explains. "And don't act like being my partner is a bad thing! We know each other plays on the back of our hands, and our decks will together well!" Kenji yells. "If we partner up, we don't need to change our decks, which is one of the biggest challenges in this type of tournament next to finding someone skilled to partner up with."
I want to say something, but I can't. Kenji is right. Kenji being my partner isn't bad. If anything, he would make for a great partner in this tag-duel tournament because, as he said, our decks are similar, as we both rushed to summon our chaos boss monsters. Sure, Kenji's deck is beatdown focus, while mine is more control-ish, but the end goal is the same.
Then there is the fact we are not guaranteed a partner. I can spend a lot of time finding a different partner, but that would mean I would have to rebuild my deck and form strategies with them, with my time already wasted trying to find them.
And I do owe Kenji one for telling me about this tournament, as the system didn't mention it until I was on the fence about entering it. If that means being his tag-duel partner, I can live with that.
"You want to see if anyone in the park or shop is up for some tag duels? We need to practice a bit before the real thing starts." I said, causing Kenji to smile.
The chubby child throws his arm around my shoulder. "Then we better get started, partner! There is no better time than the present!"
I roll my eyes at my partner's antics, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't just as excited. I just hide it.
I have to admit I'm a little worried about convincing people to do a tag duel, as they are uncommon despite Yu-Gi-Oh being the most popular game in the world, but I doubt it would be too hard.
{Several hours later}
Sometimes, I hate my big mouth.
Kenji and I spent four hours trying to find two people willing to duel us, only for us to come up with nothing. Either they were not interested in doing a tag duel, or if they were, they would get scared off dueling against two people known for beating Academia students.
It was a disappointing experience.
After that, we decided to call it quits, return home to inform and get approval from our parents to enter the tournament (which they did), and adjust our decks.
And now, I'm back into the void to grind more points. I need to keep my stock filled, after all. I need some HERO cards anyway because Evil, Vision, and Destiny HERO cards are locked in the store for some reason, so I need more Elemental and Masked HEROs to finish my HERO deck. For now, at least.
"It was a shame you couldn't find anyone to tag-duel against," Ray said.
"It's okay. Stuff like this happens from time to time. It's not like you can control it." Wait. Control it. I turn towards the void. "System. Can you set up a tag duel for me?" I ask out to the distant void, being answered by empty silence.
I don't know what I was expecting-
Before I could finish my thought, two figures appeared, performing a series of acrobatic stunts before landing on their feet. Both of the figures are bald men wearing Chinese clothes. The first man's clothes were orange, while the second's were green. But their most noticeable feature was on their foreheads, as the man in orange had the kanji for Mei, and the man in green was Kyu. Putting the two words together would get you Meikyu.
Meikyu is the Japanese word for Labyrinth.
They are the Labyrinth Brothers, or as they were more well-known, the Paradox Brothers.
I was expecting two Red Hats, but I'm not complaining about facing a legacy character. The only issue is I need a partner to fight them.
As the thought crossed my mind, a screen appeared to my right, showing a picture of Kenji and, oddly enough, Ray. I can understand Kenji (not sure how he would get in the void, but I get it), but Ray? Does she even have a deck?
"Hey, Ray. Do you have a deck on you?" I ask.
Ray gives me a confused look. "No. I don't have a deck. Why are you asking?"
"Because I can select you as a partner from a tag duel, but if you don't have a deck, then I will just summon Kenji. I'm not sure how that wor-"
"LET ME DUEL!" Ray screams, causing me to jump in surprise. "Let me duel Yukito! I haven't dueled in so long!" Ray begs. "I have been nothing but watching TV and you dueling! Please let me duel!"
I want to comment about her behavior not fitting someone her age, but I understand why she is acting this way. As she said, all she does is watch TV, watch Kenji and I duel or play games, and talk with me late at night. I would be questioning if Ray was mentally sound if she wasn't bored out of her mind after a year of doing only those three things.
Besides, it isn't like Ray would be a terrible partner. She was the one who defeated Zarc in the Original dimension. It was through sheer cheese, but she beat him regardless. Ray was also a pro duelist in her dimension, so there is that. But the issue of her lacking a deck still stands. Perhaps she can make a deck with my bulk of cards?
After a few seconds, I decided on Ray being my partner. I tap 'yes' to confirm my decision as Ray cheers in the background.
Sure, Kenji would be the better option of the two, as I know his deck inside out, but I would have to figure out how to deal with him entering the void. I could trick him into thinking he is dreaming, but that wouldn't explain Ray's existence, and there isn't anything for Ray to hide behind. So, at best, Kenji would brush it off as a weird dream, and at worst, I would have to reveal my powers to him. I want to say I can trust Kenji with this knowledge, but he is a kid. And kids are not the best at hiding secrets.
After a couple of minutes of Ray and I combed through my boxes of cards, Ray's deck was complete. "Wait. I also need a duel disk." Ray points out. And as if the void heard her, a ball of light appears and floats to Ray's wrist as the ball's shape changes into a duel disk. Ray looks at the duel disk in amazement. "It's my duel disk." Ray activates the disk, causing a big pink duel blade to appear. I say blade, but the ends have circular ends with white spots in the center of those circles. "This place is incredible. It makes insanely rare cards and cards I have never seen real, creates opponents for you to duel, and even gives me my duel disk, something I thought was lost forever." Ray mutters. Ray turns to face the void. Her hands cupped around her mouth to act like a megaphone. "If you can hear me, I would like a chocolate parfait with extra whipped cream, please!" Ray yells into the void, and unsurprisingly, nothing appears. "Aw, man." Ray whines. "I wanted that parfait." the redhead mumbles sadly.
"I see that you two-" The orange brother, Mei, said.
"Are finally ready." The green brother, Kyu, finishes. Great. The twins finishing the other's sentences trope. "They certainly kept us waiting, didn't they, brother?"
"Indeed they did," Mei said. The brothers started doing kung-fu poses before activating their duel disks, their blades matching their outfits.
Seeing that everyone else was ready to duel, I took my place next to Ray, raising my duel disk and activating the duel mode, causing the dark green energy sword to spawn from my disk.
"DUEL!"
Meikyu Brothers LP: 8000
Yukito and Ray LP: 8000
"I will take the first turn!" Mei yells. "I'll start by playing the spell card, Summoner's Art, to add a level five or higher normal monster from my deck to my hand. I'll add Labyrinth Wall to my hand!"
LABYRINTH WALL?!
The card fits their theme, but Labyrinth Wall?
"Next, I will activate the spell card, Ancient Rules, to special summon a level 5 or higher normal monster from my hand. I summon Labyrinth Wall in defense mode!"
Labyrinth Wall: EARTH/ Level 5/ Rock - 0/3000
A miniature version of a maze appears on the field, looking much like it did in the Duelist Kingdom anime.
"I will set one card face down and end my turn," Mei said, ending his turn with one thick wall, a backrow, and two cards in hand.
"It's my turn. Draw!" Ray yells, a full-blown smile gracing her face. "I will set a monster and play the continuous spell, Supply Squad," Ray said as a shadowy monster appeared on top of Ray's set monster. "Then I play the spell card, Card Destruction, making us discard our hands!"
I glance at my opening hand, which consists of Sakuretsu Armor, Magician of Faith, Mystic Tomato, and two new additions to my deck. Them being Necro Gardna and Electromagnetic Turtle. While there are some cards I would like to keep, I'm not complaining about filling my grave for my boss monsters.
All of us discard and draw our new hands, with me drawing Mystical Space Typhoon, Witch of the Black Forest, Snipe Hunter (another new card I added to my deck), Effect Veiler (It and two other copies being the only hand trap I run in this deck), and BLS.
Great. I got my boss monster, and just in time for me to fill the grave for its summoning requirement. I check the grave to see Ray discarded a Gold Gadget and a Clear Kuriboh. Mei discarded a Kaiser Sea Horse and Tribute Doll, while Kyu discarded a Whirlwind Prodigy, Tribute Doll, Jirai Gumo, Defense Wall, and Dark Designator.
Are they locked to only cards they used in the DM and GX era? Red Hat had been able to use cards well past Arc-V's era, so why can't they? Is it because they're legacy characters? If so, that's a little disappointing.
That means the only threat they have is the original Gate Guardian, which is nothing more than a big beater that requires giving up on three monsters with solid battle effects. Didn't Gate Guardian get support before I arrived in this world?
After everyone had drawn their new hands, Ray ended her turn, causing it to be Kyu's turn. "My turn! Draw! I will start by summoning Labyrinth Heavy Tank in attack mode!"
A large, blue tank with several red drills on its body emerged from the Labyrinth.
Labyrinth Heavy Tank: DARK/ Level 7/ Machine/ Effect - 2400/2400
That is newer support cards!
"I can normal summon Labyrinth Heavy Tank without tributing a monster, but it can't attack the turn it was normal summoned," Kyu explains his monster's summoning effect. "Now, I will activate Labyrinth Heavy Tank's other effects! First, I can place Sanga the Thunder, Kazejin, or Suijin from my hand or deck in my spell/trap zone. I will pick Kazejin from my deck and play it as a continuous spell!" As Kyu places the monster in the spell and trap zone, a wooden box with the Chinese symbol for wind on it. "Labyrinth Heavy Tank's final effect! If I control a 'Labyrinth Wall' card, I can destroy one monster my opponent controls! I select your set monster!" Kyu thrust out his arm, pointing at the sole monster on our side of the field. The tank quickly charged at the set monster, destroying it.
"I active the effect of Marshmacaron! And I chain Supply Sqaud to Marshmacaron's effect!" Ray yells in response to her monster's destruction. "Thanks to Supply Squad's effect, I can draw a card," Ray explains, drawing her new card. "Now, Marshmacaron's effect lets me summon up to two more copies of this card from my hand, deck, or graveyard!"
Two more reddish-pink blobs appear on Ray and my field.
Marshmaracon: LIGHT/ Level 1/ Fairy/ Effect - 200/200
I notice Mei glance at his set card. He must be debating whether or not he should activate it before deciding against it.
"I activate the effect of Shadow Ghoul of the Labyrinth in my hand," Kyu said, revealing the monster card in his hand. "I can discard this to add a 'Labyrinth Wall' card from my deck to my hand. I pick the field spell, Labyrinth Wall Shadow, and immediately play it. I end my turn."
I quickly read the effect of Shadow Ghoul of the Labyrinth and Labyrinth Wall Shadow, causing me to question some things. Labyrinth Wall Shadow can do the same thing as Labyrinth Heavy Tank, where it can place one of the guardian's three parts on the field as a continuous spell. So why? Why didn't Kyu use Ghoul's effect sooner? If he had used the effect sooner, he would have ended with two of the three pieces on the field.
Then, it hit me. There is only one reason why Kyu didn't do it.
He is only running Kuzejin in his deck.
I'm also starting to understand how the system does Legacy duels.
I have seen some deck builds of the new Gate Guardian support, and all those builds run cards like Elemental HERO Prisma to help cheat the Fusion Boss monster.
And I don't see the Meikyu Brothers running Prisma, even if it does help them get to their boss monster faster. All of the legacy duelists follow a theme or some form of ideology.
That is why instead of running cards like Prisma, they are playing cards like Kaiser Sea Horse, which acts as two tributes for a tribute summon of a high-level LIGHT monster. The same for Whirlwind Prodigy, but it's for WIND monsters.
But back to the duel at hand, Labyrinth Wall Shadow has other effects, them being preventing me from attacking with monsters under level five the turn I summoned them, and at the start of my battle phase, they can destroy one of my monsters if it has less than sixteen-hundred attack. And Shadow Ghoul of the Labyrinth can banish itself from the grave to get rid of my monster at the start of the damage step as long the brothers control a 'Labyrinth Wall' card.
Where is D.D. Crow when you need him?
While the situation isn't the best, it could be much worse. "My turn. Draw." I said, drawing Dark Armed Dragon. It seems that luck is on my side today. With Snipe Hunter, I can fill my grave with exactly three DARK monsters, allowing me to summon DAD and pop a card at least, maybe two cards if I roll well with Snipe Hunter. But I have to do one thing first.
"I'll play MST to destroy your set card," I said as a massive, blue cyclone appeared and destroyed the unknown backrow. Mei seems annoyed that I blew up his set card but doesn't say anything. "I summon Snipe Hunter." An imp wearing a ski mask armed with a ray gun with a number dial attached to said gun appears on my field.
Snipe Hunter: DARK/ Level 4/ Fiend/ Effect - 1500/600
"Now I activate Snipe Hunter's effect! By discarding a card, I can target a card my opponent controls and roll a dice, and if the result isn't a one or a six, I destroy that card." I explain, pitching Witch as cost. It's a shame I'm not using the original OCG version of the card when it came out, as I can get a search off of it being sent to the grave, regardless of where it was earlier. If I had three of them and three of the original Sangans, I could blow up six cards for free with Snipe. But sadly, those versions were far too rich for my blood. "I target Labyrinth Wall!" I yell out, causing the dial on Snipe Hunter's gun to spin before landing on a three. Snipe Hunter's gun fires a plasma ball, destroying the miniature maze.
The brothers glared at me, but it did nothing to stop my next play. "Because there are three DARK monsters in my graveyard, I can special summon this card. I summon Dark Armed Dragon!" I yell, summoning the corrupted version of Armed Dragon LV7.
Dark Armed Dragon: DARK/ Level 7/ Dragon/ Effect - 2800/1000
"Now I activate its effect! By banishing a DARK monster in my grave, I can target one card on the field and destroy that card! I banish Witch of the Black Forest from my grave to target and destroy Labyrinth Wall Shadow!" My dragon let out a mighty roar, blowing up the brothers's field spell, making it so they can't use Shadow Ghoul of Labyrinth.
I did some quick math in my head, realizing if I summon BLS and attack with him first and switch one of Ray's Marashmacarons into attack position, I will have lethal.
"I banish Mystic Tomato and Magician of Faith from my grave to special summon Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning!" I yell, summoning my deck's ace monster.
Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning: LIGHT/ Level 8/ Warrior/ Effect - 3000/2500
"I switch one of the Marshmacaron to attack mode. Battle! Black Luster Soldier! Attack Labyrinth Heavy Tank!" I command. My black knight charges at the tank, slicing it in half and causing it to explode.
Meikyu Brothers LP: 7400
"I active BLS's effect! Since BLS destroyed a monster, it can make a second attack!"
"I special summon Battle Fader!" Kyu slams the monster on his duel blade. The monster rings a bell, creating a head-splitting ring, signaling the end of my Battle Phase.
On some level, I shouldn't be surprised to see the battle handtrap. It's a popular option for decks using tribute summons.
"I end my turn." Finishing the cycle of turns.
"It's my turn. Draw!" Mei dramatically draws from his deck. "I'll start by activating the graveyard of Prey of the Jirai Gumo!" That must have been the card I sent to grave with MST. "By banishing it from my graveyard, I can add Kuzejin, Suijin, or Sanga of the Thunder from my deck or banished zone to my hand. I'll add Sanga of the Thunder to my hand!" Mei revealed the chosen card before adding it to his hand. Mei looks at his brother, giving him a sly smile, one that Kyu returned. I don't like where this is going. "By banishing Kazejin on our field and Suijin and Sanga of the Thunder in my hand, we can special summon a specific monster."
"Masters of Wind, Water, and Thunder." Kyu starts the summoning chant.
"Combine your power into one and reveal the master of the Labyrinth!" Mei yells.
The brothers do a series of backflips, ending with a kung-fu pose. "FUSION SUMMON! LEVEL 12! GATE GUARDIAN COMBINED!"
Gate Guardian Combined: DARK/ Level 12/ Warrior/ Fusion/ Effect - 3750/3400
The retrained version of Gate Guardian stands proudly, as one would expect from the protector of the labyrinth.
"I activate the spell card, Riryoku Guardian, from my hand! I can only play this card when our life points are lower than our opponents. I target one monster with 'Gate Guardian' in its original name, half my opponent's life points, and add it to my monster's attack points!" Mei explains the effect of his spell, causing Ray to gasp in shock. That's one hell of an OTK card. But I don't have time to admire the spell. I need to speed-read.
Yukito and Ray LP: 4000
Gate Guardian Combined: 7750/3400
"Gate Guardian Combined! Attack Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning!" Mei command. The beast of a monster rears its arm back, ready to beat my knight.
"I active the effect of Electromagnetic Turtle in my grave, ending your Battle Phase!" I said, banishing my machine turtle to keep Ray and me in the game.
Mei's grunts in annoyance. "I play the spell, Double Attack! Wind and Thunder! If I control a 'Gate Guardian' monster, I can target and destroy a card on the field. I chose your Black Luster Soldier!"
The wind and thunder sections of Gate Guardian fire a sphere of condensed wind and a bolt of lightning, respectively, and the two attacks combine into one. BLS tried to defend itself from the joint attack by raising its shield, but it was useless. BLS exploded as soon his shield made contact with the attack, creating a powerful gust of wind, forcing me to shield our faces from the wind.
"Due to Supply Squad's effect, I draw a card!" I draw, mitigating the card loss of losing BLS. I look at the drawn card, seeing it was Breaker the Magical Warrior, which does nothing to help our situation.
"I end my turn," Mei said with an annoyed tone. He probably wasn't expecting us to survive his attack.
"Wait. Shouldn't Gate Guardian's attack return to normal?" Ray ask. Do those people never read their opponent's cards? Then again, they are Yu-Gi-Oh players.
"The attack boost of Riryoku Guardian is permanent," I explain. "Also, Gate Guardian Combine can protect their cards from negate targeting effects to three times a turn, and if we manage to get rid of it, it can summon a 'Gate Guardian' monster from their deck or extra deck."
Ray gives me a strained smile. "Things don't look for us." I nod in agreement. An almost eight-thousand attack point monster, armed with three negates, can replace itself on destruction.
"My turn! Draw!" Ray yells, looking at her drawn card before immediately playing it. "I play Monster Reborn and bring back Black Luster Soldier in defense mode!"
The previously slain knight returned to the field, his shield raised as he gained a blue aura, signaling that he was in defense mode.
"I switch the rest of my monsters to defense mode." Ray shifts her Marshmacaron to defense while tapping a button on her duel disk to switch the battle positions of my monsters on my side of the board. "I end my turn," Ray said. Ray's turn was lackluster, but I can't blame her for it. She could use BLS, DAD, and Snipe Hunter's effects, but all that would accomplish is our defense to thin out.
"Now, it's my now. Draw!" The green brother's lips twist into a smirk. "I play the spell, Fairy Meteor Crush!" Kyu equips the old-school equip spell card to their boss monster, giving it piercing. "Battle! Gate Guardian Combine! Attack Black Luster Soldier!"
"I active the effect of Necro Gardna! By banishing this card, I negate your attack!" Ray yells as a ghostly figure of Necro Gardna appears in front of BLS, tanking the blow meant for the knight.
"I end my turn," Kyu said.
And now, it is back to my turn. "My turn. Draw." I look at the card I just drew. I had a plan of how to get rid of Gate Guardian. It would cost me heavily, but it was possible, but now I have a different plan thanks to this card.
"I active Snipe Hunter's effect!" I sent Breaker as cost.
"Foolish child! I chain Gate Guardian Combine's effect to Snipe Hunter, negating its effect and destroying it!" Kyu yells.
"Chain three! I chain the Effect Veiler in my hand to Gate Guardian Combine! By discarding this card during my Main Phase, I can target one monster my opponent controls and negate its effects for the rest of the turn!"
"Chain four! I use Gate Guardian Combine's effect again to negate Effect Veiler!" Kyu yells. "You can not stop Gate Guardian Combine!" the green brother roars.
"Chain five!" I yell, causing the brothers's eyes to widen in shock. "I chain with the spell card, Forbidden Chalice, in my hand!" I roar, using my last card in hand.
I added this old card from that structure deck I bought last year to my deck because, outside of Effect Veiler, I have no cards to deal with effects. And sure, I would replace this card with something like Dark Ruler No More in a heartbeat, but right now? I'm glad that I added it to my deck.
"Forbidden Chalice gives the targeted monster a four-hundred attack point boost at the cost of negating its effect for the turn," I explain the effect. Now, it doesn't matter if the brothers negate this card or not. Sure, they can stop my Chalice, but then they run out of negates. If they don't, they could leave themselves wide open for a counterattack if I roll well.
Kyu grits his teeth. "Chain six! I negate the effect of Forbidden Chalice!" Kyu yells out, ending the chain. The three sections of Gate Guardian Combine fire out balls of water, wind, and lightning, negating and destroying my three cards. But that's fine.
"I active the effect of Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning! In exchange for attacking with it this turn, I can target and banish one of your monsters!" And I know what I'm targeting. "I choose Gate Guardian Combine!"
BLs draw their swords, charging some weird energy before swiping at the combined monster, firing an energy beam similar to what you would see in Zelda, causing the fusion monster to fade.
"Because Gate Guardian Combine left the field because of my opponent's card, I can special summon a 'Gate Guardian' monster from my deck or extra deck, ignoring its summoning conditions! I pick Gate Guardian!"
The original Gate Guardian appears, readying itself to fight off its masters's foes.
Gate Guardian: DARK/ Level 11/ Warrior/ Effect - 3750/3400
"I banish the Snipe Hunter from my grave to active Dark Armed Dragon's effect to pop Gate Guardian!" My dragon lets out a stream of black fire, destroying the monster. "I switch Black Luster and Dark Armed to attack mode! Battle! Dark Armed Dragon! Attack my opponent directly!"
The corrupted dragon swipes its claws at the brother duelists, landing our first good attack in the game.
Meikyu Brothers LP: 4600
"I end my turn." And with that, I completed the second round of turns.
"My turn. Draw." Mei draws for the turn, bringing his hand up to two. "I active the graveyard effect of Prey of the Jirai Gumo. I can banish this card from my graveyard to add a banished Kazejin, Suijin, or Sanga of the Thunder to my hand. I pick Sanga of the Thunder!" Mei shows us the Thunder monster before adding it to his hand, making it three cards in hand. "Next, I normal summon Kaiser Sea Horse." The blue sea serpent knight stands on the battlefield, his spear pose, ready to attack. "Now, I play the spell card, Tribute Doll!" As soon as the card appears, a scary amount of hair spawns from it, wrapping itself around Kaiser Sea Horse. "By tributing one monster, I can special summon a level 7 monster, but it can not attack this turn. I summon Sanga of the Thunder!" Mei yelled as the knight disintegrated, replaced by the top part of Gate Guardian.
Sanga of the Thunder: LIGHT/ Level 7/ Thunder/ Effect - 2600/2200
"I end my turn," Mei said, causing me to let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.
I was worried about them summoning another Gate Guardian Combine by using Riryoku Guardian and Double Attack's grave effects to gather the pieces, much like how Prey of the Jirai Gumo just did. But true to Yu-Gi-Oh anime fashion, they don't have multiple copies of their boss monster.
Meaning this duel is ours. And while the victory is a little hollow, a win is a win.
"My turn! Draw!" Ray doesn't bother looking at the card she drew. "I banish Breaker the Magical Warrior from my grave to use Dark Armed Dragon's effect." The black dragon lets out a massive stream of black fire, destroying Sanga and bypassing its battle effect. "I attack you directly with Black Luster Soldier and Dark Armed Dragon!" Both the dragon and knight fire their attacks. Black fire from the dragon and a white sword beam from the knight hit the brothers.
"UWAH!" The Meikyu brothers scream, flying backward before fading.
Meikyu Brother LP: 0
Yukito and Ray: Winners
"We won!" Ray cheers, jumping up and down in excitement. While Ray was jumping, my eyes focused on Ray's bouncing chest, much to shame. I don't know if it was because my older mind acknowledged Ray's beauty as a member of the opposite sex or because Yukito's young boy was finally reaching the embarrassing storm of hormones known as puberty. Either way, the next couple of years will be annoying and awkward with my ghostly roommate.
As I was about to ask Ray if she was up for another tag duel, something strange happened with the void.
The white void, the empty void I became familiar with over a year, gains color.
Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, and Green swirl around us, making the image of us standing in the middle of a rainbow vortex.
"Pretty," Ray mutters softly, so quiet that I almost didn't hear it. I have to agree with the statement.
But what caused the change? I have been using this void to grind for DP for a year, and it never once did this.
However, those questions quickly left my mind as fast as they came. Why? Because something else gained my attention. The sound of footsteps approaching us.
I turn to face the source of the footsteps, only for my eyes to widen in shock and amazement. What was causing this sound was a young man who looked like he was in his late teens, his hair two shades of brown, wearing blue jeans, red boots, and a red jacket that was open to reveal the black shirt underneath it.
"Jaden," I whisper out without thinking.
Jaden Yuki. The poster boy for HERO duelists, The protagonist of Yu-Gi-Oh Gx, and the original Supreme King.
And he is standing in front of me.
A screen appears in front of my face, but I ignore it. It was probably telling me to duel Jaden.
No. Even if, by some chance, the system was telling me not to duel Jaden, I would ignore it and duel him anyway.
Telling me not to have a duel against Jaden is like telling a gamer who got an early copy of a highly anticipated game and was told not to play until the release date. It's impossible.
But if I duel Jaden, I'm using my best deck, which is unironically HEROs.
HERO vs HERO. I wouldn't have it any other way.
I also decided to whale a little, buying all the cards I needed to bring my HERO deck to a suitable level.
I approach Jaden, who smiles and raises his duel disk. And it wasn't the duel disk people in Arc-V use, but his official duel disk.
I raise my disk, forming the energy sword once again.
As my heart pounds against my ears, I feel my nerves on end. I probably haven't been this excited to duel since coming here.
But despite how loudly my heart pounds, I can hear the phrase as clear as day.
"DUEL!"
I'm also part of the SGO server, so if you want to join and chat, here is a link
/wd3tUYWVCd
I also started my server for anyone who wants to ask me about my fics or just to hang out.
/DYqC3uNfbt