It was about thirty minutes of driving (what a shock, they did have cars here!) later through the city, that they arrived at the Sakaki Household.
Instantly, Eddie could tell the Sakaki's were well off by the size of their yard alone, not to mention the sleek, futuristic-modernistic (whatever) look their house had with the sloping angles and the big window wall-and-ceiling of most of what looked to be the living room.
"Is this much space normal in this time period?" Eddie asked Yuya.
"Eh, I think it depends on where you live, but we are pretty well off, mom says she has a nice job and…" His voice went still.
"Oh, uh, sorry, didn't mean to…" Eddie trailed off awkwardly, clearly picking up on something having happened with his dad(?). Missing, dead, lots of options there.
"Come on inside," Yoko said.
Eddie followed in a bit awkwardly, sliding out of her slides soon after entering and setting them with the other shoes- just the two she was with, so another point in a theoretical Mr Sakaki being absent.
And then as soon as she turned around, she was assaulted by three dogs and a cat.
Specifically, a fluffy white cat, an english bulldog, a welsh corgi, and a little white… pomeranian-poodle mix by the looks of it, that or just a toy poodle with a lion cut.
"En, Core, Kilo, Watt, she is a guest, no harassing." Yuya said as he quickly went to pet the animals.
"It's fine, I'm used to it." They weren't even half as troublesome as her dogs back home.
Aaaand now she was feeling homesick again dangit.
"Though those names… Encore and… Kilowatt smile, I'd guess?" Eddie asked while Yuya wrangled them.
"Exactly," Yoko said. "So before anything else, are you hungry? It is almost dinner time."
Eddie's stomach chose that moment to growl, causing her to turn as red as Yuya's hair. "...Yes, please."
"Well, I guess I shall get to it then, can't have you go starving," Yoko said as she quickly went to the kitchen.
"So, Yuya." Eddie said after they'd sat down in the living room. "How long've you been running PePe?"
"PePe?" He asked in confusion.
"Oh, uh, Performapal-Performage?" Eddie asked. "Or do you go more for the Odd-Eyes synergies?"
"I just use Performapal, with a bit of Odd-eyes support," Yuya replied.
"Oh, so you don't use the Pendulum cards then?" Eddie asked in surprise.
Yuya blinked.
Eddie kept talking, not noticing as she began replaying their duel in her head. "Honestly, when you said about your Ace, I was expecting Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, which would have probably won you the duel right there, which I thought you summoned but didn't realize till after I destroyed it was the normal one."
"What's a Pendulum?" Yuya asked in confusion. "Some kind of Extra Deck-type?"
"Uh, kinda, I guess I might be from a different dimension and not just a different time if they don't exist yet." Eddie realized aloud, not yet putting two and two together on why. "So they're main deck monsters, that can be played in Pendulum Zones, which are these extra zones for just this, as spell cards, which if you Set the Scale with the Pendulum… I can't remember the term, but they have specific numbers on them, and you can once per turn special summon as many monsters as you have in your hand or face up extra deck with a level in between the ends of the scale."
Yuya's mind looked like it had just melted. "Wow… I've never heard about something like that, though if they are going to be a thing The Leo Corporation is probably making them, they introduced all the other Extra Deck monsters, like Fusion, Synchro and Xyz."
Eddie blinked in confusion. "Ex cuse me? Introduced fusion? Fusion was a thing from the very start of the game! And who are these upstarts to say they can do what Kaiba can't?"
"Maybe in your dimension, but here there has only been Advanced, Flip, and Ritual Summoning," Yuya replied. "Until ten years ago anyway, when Leo Corporation came out with all three, but you have to join their school to learn how to use them."
"...Huh? You fusion summon with Polymerization, you Tune with a Tuner and a non-tuner, or you build the overlay network, is it that big a thing that you have to learn it?" Eddie asked in confusion.
"I don't know," Yuya responded simply.
Eddie realized with a start as several things clicked together in her brain.
This world had been playing Duel Monsters for nearly 4 decades without the Extra Deck, and only had it introduced 10 years ago.
That would mean…
"Hey, does the card name 'Chaos MAX Dragon' mean anything to you?" Eddie asked.
"That was Mr. Kaiba's Super Strong Ritual Monster, he used that alongside Alternative, and his Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon."
"...Is he still alive?" Eddie asked, morbidly curious. She was pretty sure in the timeline she knew he died in the Zero Reverse incident.
"Ehh," Yuya looked like he tried to remember a school history.
"Right, sorry, ancient history for you." Eddie apologized.
"No I just remembered, I like dragons, so he was a big inspiration, he went and vanished back in 2009, with his younger brother taking over Kaiba Corp, with Kaiba Corp being eventually bought out by the Leo Corporation." Yuya explained. "It will probably just be easier for you to look it up online than me explaining."
"Probably." Eddie said, not even considering explaining Link Summoning if this was the rabbit hole from Pendulums. "Moving on to more comfortable topics then- you and Yuzu?"
"No!" He denied as she shot to his feet. "She is a friend, just a friend, we are not at all…"
"...I meant your win-loss ratio against her." Eddie said slowly. "That was an oddly specific denial."
"That is mean, Eddie," Yuya grumbled as he sat down on the sofa and got promptly buried in dog.
"Okay, lemme be a bit more serious then." She said, still grinning like a loon. "Is she a good friend? Clearly you know each other well."
"Childhood friends, known each other since we were babies basically, she is one of the most important people to me," Yuya said fondly.
"That's sweet… and also explains why your guyses parents keep teasing you about that, adults are weird about that."
"Aren't you an adult?" Yuya asked.
"I thought I was, but according to Hiiragi I look 16, and I definitely feel more energetic, so I might not be any more." Eddie said with a shrug. She'd have to take the time alone to figure that out for sure.
"That is weird," Yuya responded. "Your entire situation is weird."
"Agreed… at least my prophetic abilities still work though." Eddie said with a sigh.
"You can see the future?"
"Only when it's too late to change anything, I have to use the cards to do anything actually useful." Eddie said, since with all the weird stuff going on in her life, the Gift of Useless Prophecy might as well be real! Plus, Duel Monster Cartomancy was probably a thing.
"I've seen some fortune tellers on tv use Duel Monster cards to try and tell the future, I think there is even a Duel School that specializes in it." Yuya said as the boy was clearly working his vegetable head in overtime thanks to her.
"That makes sense, even Pegasus used them for that. Heck, humans have been doing it for as long as there've been cards, if I had a tarot deck- or an Arcana Force deck for that matter- I could give you a proper reading."
"That is true," Yoko commented from the kitchen.
"Well if mom says it's true…" And like they trailed off to small talk.
—
"...so the only real conclusion is I'm actually from a different dimension, or perhaps time line, and not time period since the history doesn't match up."
"I see," Yoko said. "Well I didn't think such a thing was possible, but the information does not match up at all, and you are far too coherent to be… not all there."
"Yeah, so, in other words, I really don't have anywhere else to go, so thank you very much for this, I will make myself useful and more than earn my keep, I fully intend on repaying the kindness you've already shown me tenfold."
"No need for that, I make good money, and even if I didn't we still have plenty of money in the bank from Yusho's Pro Dueling days."
"Yusho… ohhh, oh that was him on the poster wasn't it?" Eddie realized. 'You Show' and 'Yusho'. Kind of obvious.
"Ahh you've seen one of those posters? Yes Yusho created the School alongside Syuzo almost a decade ago, he used it to promote the Entertainment Dueling and the Action Duels he invented." Yoko explained.
"Oh he invented them?" Eddie asked in surprise. "... That's why you're not worried about money, you get royalties on those don't you?"
"We do," Yoko said with a smug smile. "He and his friend Leo, who went on to create the Leo Corporation and upgraded Kaiba Corps' Solid Vision into Real Solid Vision."
"Dang. Sounds like a really smart guy… who, apologies I know this is rude, doesn't seem… present?"
"Both he and Leo vanished three years ago," She answered. "Yusho before his Championship Match with Strong, and Leo… no clue."
"I'm… very sorry for you, and for bringing it up." Eddie said, already certain they'd be finding out what happened to them at some point. Yuya had 'protagonist' written all over him, and that sounded like a 'main plot' kind of mystery.
"It's okay, I have learnt to deal with his absence, but Yuya has still not recovered as afterward he got bullied for being 'the son of a coward'," Yoko answered with a sigh. "And to make up for it he made his personality into a bit of clown."
Eddie flinched. "...Oof. That's…" She did not say how she had done similar in response to bullying when she was younger, because this was not the place, but she was already feeling protective over Yuya just from that.
She would be finding those bullies and grinding them into the dirt.
"Sorry, did not mean to unburden on you like that Eddie-chan."
Eddie visibly blue screened.
"Hmm… Eddie?" Yoko asked as she slowly waved her hand in front of Eddie's face.
Eddie blinked. "Sorry, several weaboo fantasies just got fulfilled and the whiplash caused me to shut down. I'm done rebooting, I'm fine now."
"Hmm, you really are a foreigner, Japanese is surprisingly good though," Yoko complimented her.
"I actually don't know how I'm so good, something must have changed in transit I guess." Eddie said with a shrug. "Um, anyway… do you duel?" She couldn't help but ask.
"I did when I was younger, even ran my own Duel Gang."
Eddie doubletook at that. " You used to be a sukeban?" She asked incredulously.
Yoko blushed and laughed a little.
"How would that even…? What, did you jump people int or something? Or a gauntlet?"
"Something like that, we had tools that kept people in place, it was actually how I met Yusho, one of my girls got captured by a rival gang and he came in like a hero and solved the issue without dueling or even throwing a fist, and in that moment I stopped being Loco Yoko and became Yoko Sakaki."
"Ah, love at first fight dissolution." Eddie said sagely. "Classic meetcute… wait, you called Hiiragi-san 'Skips' earlier, was he…?"
"No, he just skipped class to hang out with his girlfriend, who was my right hand," Yoko answered. "Sadly she is no longer with us."
"I am very sorry that I keep stumbling into these landmine topics." Eddie apologized again.
"It's fine." Yoko responded. "It was information you would eventually learn."
Eddie sighed. "So… what now?"
"Guestroom is upstairs next to the bathroom, I have some of my old clothes you can borrow until you get fully situated."
"Okay thank you, that's my immediate-immediate concerns dealt with." Eddie said. "Which brings me to my next- wait, what day of the week is it?"
"It is Friday," She answered.
"Okay, so, the next thing- what should I be doing during the day? Like, are there chores I can help with? Taking care of the pets?"
"If you could, that would be nice," Yoko said.
—
Eddie woke up feeling more tired than when she went to bed.
There wasn't even a moment of noncomprehension, of confusion, that this hadn't happened, because this was not her bed.
Considering it was barely 6 in the morning, she tried very very hard to not freak out and wake up the very nice people she was staying with, one of which she was 99% certain was the local Yugi-equivalent.
Name started with Yu, weird necklace, the flashiest hair, sad backstory, the statline on his ace and boss monsters…
Wait.
Odd-Eyes, and more importantly PePe, were all about their Pendulum monsters.
Yuya didn't know what a pendulum was.
Was this…?
Eddie realized with a start she had to be in the fifth Yugioh series, Arc V? Arc V sounded right. That was where Pendulum's came from.
And she could now distinctly remember Yuya on the starter deck she bought.
"Ohhhh crapbaskets…" Eddie muttered to herself as that settled in.
That meant…
What did that mean for her?
Not much, really.
No Link monsters, probably, which on the one hand meant no Condemned Darklord… but on the other hand, that meant no stupid Knightmares to deal with either, or Linkuriboh shenanigans.
Or the way they messed up every other summoning type.
…But also no Some Summer Summoner, so no Thunder Dragon deck…
Wait, could she even have multiple decks?
No, of course she could, Bastion had like 8 different decks, that would be stupid if she couldn't.
How was she gonna get those decks though?
Also stupid question, she could probably duel for money.
So, the question was- what now?
She had her base essentials taken care of, so what did she want?
Eddie wanted to find whoever was responsible for this and punch them square in the face, that's what she wanted.
'You have been chosen'.
Wait, she was chosen.
That phrasing was important.
Eddie had a mystery goal that she didn't know about here.
Great.
If that was the case… first priority would be keeping an eye out for any and all wacky plot shenanigans and or leads on the clear and obvious mystery plot(s) going on around her.
Second priority, figure out what the heck Yuya meant about learning summoning methods.
Third priority, investigate the incredibly sketchy Leo Corporation.
This was in no way fueled by the salt over them buying out the Kaiba Corporation. Nope.
It had to do with the fact it was founded by one of the two missing persons she'd heard about, who had together made physical holograms.
That had to be related to freaky spirit shenanigans, guaranteed, Duel Monsters literally had a spirit world.
At that thought, she took out her deck and pulled out a specific card.
Darklord Morningstar, current Boss Monster of her deck, strongest main deck Darklord, and lorewise, the one most likely to be important.
Eddie liked to call him Lucy.
Lucy was currently just an inert card though, no matter how much she tried to will him otherwise.
She sighed and was about to put away her deckbox and (try to) go back to sleep, when she felt an odd feeling and instead pulled out a copy of Ixchel.
Eddie had seen… something, hadn't she?
But even as she stared at the card with the burning intensity of the morning sun, the card did not move in any way.
Eddie sighed. "Well, if they are alive, they'll speak up eventually. And if not… if anyone knows how to rebel, it's the Darklords, right?" She asked.
The card did not react.
"Yeah, expected as much." She said, placing the card down on top of the box and turning over, away from the sunlight, trying to go back to sleep.
Unseen to Eddie, Ixchel's art moved and blew a goodnight kiss at her Duelist.
—
So, after some… self reflection, in the bathroom, Eddie had confirmed a few things.
One, she was, as Hiragii had placed her, 16, or at least not an adult.
Two, she knew that because she was going through puberty again.
She almost screamed at that discovery.
But anyway, number three: her hair was blue. Naturally so. And went almost down to her knees. How she hadn't noticed it before, she could only attribute to the panic she'd been feeling followed by the ecstasy of that duel (seriously, she'd only had the one and she was already hooked).
It was also straight instead of curly, so that was a blessing at least, since she really didn't want to cut it but knew maintaining it would be… troublesome at best.
Four, this was her body, changed, because she had all her little scars- except the ones on her face, thank god- and marks and moles, just younger, skinnier, and more… animefied.
On that note: Five, her eyes were golden.
Not like a normal amber-brown.
Like the color of actual honey or amber gemstones.
Which was cool obviously, but disconcerting.
But other than that, she… felt great.
Very energized, even if she was tired from lack of sleep.
It was an odd feeling.
But with that feeling, she'd gotten dressed in some of Yoko's offered old clothes, a simple white blouse and a long skirt (that was probably directly from her sukeban days…) for now, and went to YDS with Yuya.
Because what else was she supposed to do?
"Hello Eddie," Yuzu greeted her. "You feeling better?"
"Mostly, yeah!" Eddie said cheerfully. "We figured out I'm not from the past, I'm from a different version of Earth entirely."
"Cool," Was all Yuzu really could say to that.
"Who is from a different Earth?"
"Who is this Big Sis Yuzu?" Two voices asked and coming up from behind Yuzu, came two much younger children that looked to be in elementary school. They were absolutely adorable.
"Oh this is Eddie, she decided to join You Show yesterday," Yuzu stated.
"Really?"
"That's great."
"Yeah we had an amazing duel," Yuya stated. "Sad you missed it."
"Now you two, you need to introduce yourselves."
"Hey Big Sis Eddie, I am Ayu," The red-head said.
"And I am Futoshi," The rounder boy added.
"Hallo! It's nice to meet both of you." Eddie said, crouching down to about their level. "Are you two duelists -sorry, Dueltainners- like Yuzu and Yuya?"
"Yeah," Ayu answered.
"We wanna make people smile and happy when we grow up," Futoshi responded.
"They are part of the Youth Course, and with you joining us that means we currently have five students in total." Yuzu answered.
"Sorry, 5 total?" Eddie asked in shock. "Just us? We're it?"
"Yeah…" Yuzu responded.
"We used to be a lot more popular back in the day, but when dad vanished…" Yuya admitted as he trailed off.
"Oh, that's…" The gears (Ancient Gears, specifically, she had class) started turning at that. "Well, Yuya, Yuzu, looks like we're gonna need you two dueling a lot of people outside the school, we need to get your KD- sorry, WL ratio's up."
Ayu raised her hand.
"Yes, Ayu?"
"Why?"
"Well, you need a 60% Win-Loss Ratio to get into the Arc League Championship, and we're all gonna participate, right guys?" Eddie asked her newly minted duelists-in-arms. She'd decided as such a few seconds ago.
"We are going to try," Yuya responded.
"Though with you Eddie you need to win either six official matches in a row or have dueled fifty times across a year with that 60% win ratio," Yuzu fully explained.
"How hard is it to get an official match?" Eddie asked curiously. "Is that tournament stuff or just public Action Duels?"
"Either or," Yuya said. "An Official Match or the official term, a Feature Match needs to be approved by the Duel Circuit, and you need to put in a request challenge with them."
"And since Action Duels need a dedicated area, I can't just go out and duel every random schmuck I find until I get my requisite 50, right?"
"You can not," Yuzu confirmed.
"What is schmuck?" Futoshi asked.
"Uh, foreign word, the closest I can think of is… mob?" She looked to Yuzu and Yuya. "Is that a bad word?"
"It can be kinda insulting depending on how you say it," Yuzu responded.
"Probably best not to repeat it then, my fellow Dueltainners." Eddie said to Ayu and Futoshi. "You guys are all about making people smile right?"
"That we are!" They responded together.
Eddie smiled back at them as she got up from her crouch. As she did, she realized just how… short, everyone was. "Hey, twins-that-aren't-twins, how old are you two?"
"Fourteen," Yuya answered.
"Also we aren't twins," Yuzu responded.
"Right, right, sorry." That made sense. "So, what do you guys actually do here? Are there real classes?"
"Not really," Ayu answered.
"It's a bit more free form, we help improve dueling capabilities, learning how cards interact, alongside helping with homework from normal school," Yuzu answered.
"Big Sis is very smart," Futoshi answered, making the pinky blush.
"Oh, right, that reminds me!" Eddie said. "Unless there's something else going on now, are you up for a Duel, Yuzu? Fairies are my forte so I'm curious what you're running. And don't just tell me, I want it to be a surprise."
"Are you okay with that already?" Yuzu asked. "Don't you need more time to get your things sorted."
"Are you kidding me? That Action Duel with Yuya yesterday was the coolest thing I've ever experienced and I want to do it a lot more." Eddie said eagerly. "Like, I already loved dueling, but I get it now."
"Somebody is hooked," Yuya commented.
"Ohh-hh-oh, you bet I'm hooked!" Eddie said, genuine enthusiasm infusing her whole body. "I am planning on doing at least one of those a day, every day, if possible. I don't care who I duel, but until I duel her I can't tell who's better between you two." She paused. "Or if one of the guppies back there is better."
"Oh it is on," Yuzu stated. "I am going to take you to school."
"We're already there." Eddie pointed out with a catlike grin.
Yuzu rolled her eyes, and in a matter of minutes they were on the duel floor… arena?
"Hey what's the actual official term for this place, Arena? Field?" Eddie asked.
"Duel Arena," Mr. Hiiragi answered from the control room, and this time she could see to the side, Ayu, Futoshi and Yuya spectating. "And let's see, for this one… let's go with something simple."
"You get to go first this time," Yuzu said confidently.
"Oho? That confidence will be your downfall." Eddie said as a… relatively plain… well, plain formed around them, a raised grassy circle at the center for them, a river cutting through the grass between them. "And trust me, I know all about downfalls."
And the duel actually started.
Eddie LP: 8000/Yuzu LP: 8000
"I'll start by discarding two Darklord cards to special summon Darklord - Nasten by his own effect!" Eddie declared as she brought forth the white-winged, lion faced angel, starting a slow walk through the grass as she did. "I'll then use Banishment of the Darklords to add Ukoback to my hand, before normal summoning him and using his effect to send Darklord - Superbia to the graveyard! I'll then spend 1000 life points to activate Darklord Nasten's effect to use Banishment once more, allowing me to add one Darklord to my hand, though I'll hold off on using it for now." She smiled as she picked up an Action Card. "Mhm, I'll end my turn. Your move. Show me what you got."
"Well time to shore up on my defense for the moment," Yuzu said as she stared down the 2600ATK monster. "I Normal Summon, Serenade the Melodious Diva. Next I will Special Summon, Canon the Melodious Diva in defense position. And then her effect puts Serenade in defense as well."
Two familiar dancing angels appeared on the field, one masked and jester-like and the other in a very fluffy, flamenco-esque dress, both crouching and turned blue by the position.
"Sorry dad but we are already going to already have a change of scenery, as I activate Terraforming, adding a Field Spell to my hand, it is the friend of all fairies, it is the Sanctuary in The Sky!" Yuzu declared and at that her half of the Plain Plain became well the mighty sanctuary in the sky, the crumbly and familiar marble structure rising out of the ground conjuring clouds as it did. "And I will finish off my turn, by setting a card."
"I draw, and you did catch what I said earlier, didn't you Yuzu? My Darklords are also fairies." Eddie said.
"I know, this was to protect me against your piercing."
"Smart… if that weren't the effect of one specific monster." Eddie said. "Anyway, I'll play Twin Twisters, discarding a card from my hand to destroy your facedown."
"Urgh…" Yuzu grumbled.
"Hahaha! Oh, the irony of destroying MST with a bigger MST, hi larious!" Eddie cackled. "You're doing a pretty good job of making me smile so far, Yuzu!"
"I'll show you smiles soon enough," Yuzu replied.
"Maybe!" Eddie said with a grin. "Because I'm activating Darklord - Contact, targeting my Darklord - Superbia, not missing the timing this time, and so I can use his effect to bring the Nasten I just discarded onto the field in Attack position!"
The pot came from the grave before a second lion-faced angel identical to the first burst forth from it.
"Oh wow so you actually managed to use your monster correctly this time," Yuzu taunted back.
"I activate Nasten's effect, paying 1000 Life Points to use Darklord - Enchantment from the graveyard, then shuffling it into my deck. So I'll steal your Canon, and move her into attack position." Eddie said with a massive grin. "Any words before I move into the Battle Phase?"
"Eat fairy dust."
"No, but you'll be! Battle Phase, Nasten the first! Show them a Heavenly Haymaker!"
"Wait- argh!" Yuzu shouted before the monster was destroyed before she could react.
"And everyone else gets to join in on the fun! Ukoback, Nasten the second, and we'll finish with your own Canon!" Eddie cackled, arms spread wide.
"Use Evasion to negate your second Nasty Nasten." Yuzu quickly shouted.
"Still get hit by your own monster, though~!" Eddie said with a grin as Canon did a very sorrowful dance towards her mistress, before staying on that side of the field. "And I'll end my turn there."
"Traitor!"
Eddie LP: 6000/Yuzu LP: 5900
"Now, is that any way to talk to your own monster?" Eddie asked rhetorically as she pet Nasten the first's mane- it was surprisingly soft for a hologram. "Maybe it's different for a Dueltainner with the drama and such, but shouldn't a duelist treat their cards with respect?"
"You really know how to get into character Eddie," Yuzu said.
" Thank you, I've had a lot of practice." Eddie said with a grin. No way she would admit she was just messing around now.
"Well, I am going to go to my Battle Phase and have Canon blast your-"
"Nope! Evasion, right back atcha!" Eddie said, having had the card ready to go just to mess with her.
"I am going to use Canon's effect to put herself in defense position," Yuzu said.
"Oh right, while I'm at it, I'll activate Nasten's effect to use Rebellion and destroy your Canon." Eddie said as an afterthought.
"I am going to set a Monster in Face-Down Defense Position, and set two cards," Yuzu said, including the action card and immediately she started sprinting for a new one.
Which Ukoback picked up for Eddie instead, since she'd sent him over to do that while Yuzu was busy fuming. "Yoink!" Eddie said on behalf of her angel, who deposited it in her hand.
In the observation room, Eddie could hear the kids freaking out about being able to set action cards.
"I end my turn."
"I draw… mhm, alright, nothing crazy, but Superbia's in attack position now." Eddie said as she did just that. "I'll then attack your face down with… Nasten the first."
She waited a moment, and winced sympathetically at the lack of response. "Ooh, no response? Dang. Ukoback." Just a grunt of pain. "Nasten the Second." Another grunt. "Aaand Superbia for game."
"And I activate my set Action Card, it's another Evasion, I survive another turn." Yuzu declared.
"We'll see~." Eddie said. "I'll set my own action card… mhm, and end my turn."
Eddie LP: 5000/Yuzu LP: 2600
"I draw…" Yuzu stared at her card. "I normally don't draw this badly, I actually think this my first duel in a while I didn't open with First Movement."
Eddie shrugged. "Well, heart of the cards and all that."
"Heart of the cards…" Yuzu replied as she set two cards and ended her turn.
"I'll activate Banishment of the Darklords, and give you the honor of being the first to see my Boss Monster in action, Yuzu." Eddie said as she added said boss to her hand.
"Well, count me honored."
"I will sacrifice Darklords Ukoback and Superbia, to call forth the bright morning star! Descend from the heavens like lightning! Darklord Morningstar!"
"...If you hadn't done that, you would have won this turn, but I now get another one, as your fallen angel shall now feels god's wrath, I activate the Counter Trap. Solemn Warning!"
The beckoning, still opening pillar of dark light, the monster within barely revealed, was smacked out of the air by the hand of who Eddie dubbed 'The Solemn One'.
Or, more accurately, 'That Solemn Bastard'.
"Hehaha, you did not just Solemn a Darklord!"
"I don't know what that means, but I did."
"Hahahaahahahahahaahahahaha!" Eddie cackled madly. "You fool! I'll activate Nasten's effect to use Banishment, adding Capricious Darklord to the hand, but she's not the main event here! I'll then play the ultimate 'nuh-uh' in all of Duel Monsters- Monster REBORN!"
"Oh no," Yuzu replied.
"To summon the mighty Darklord-! Superbia."
Yuzu fell over face first.
"Superbia's effect allows me to get Ukoback back as well, who then lets me send Sanctified Darklord to the graveyard." Eddie said, continuing onwards while her opponent was distracted. "Nasten, Heavenly Haymaker!"
And at that the giant bull-man lion angel, gently tapped the already-downed girl on the head as the last six hundred life points vanished.
"Urgh, I had two evasions to go, I thought you were done summoning," Yuzu complained.
"I mean, I was, but then you did the one thing you should never do to a Darklord deck." Eddie explained as she leisurely walked over. "Lore-wise, The Solemn One, the guy on Solemn Judgment and Warning and all those, is whose rule they fell from before striking him down for his hubris."
"Card lore can be so weird," Yuzu muttered as she got back up. "Well that was still a fun duel, you're a strong duelist Eddie."
"Hahaha, nah, I just got lucky." Eddie said. "And you need the fusion cards for your deck! Girl, where are your fusions?"
"...There are Melodious Fusion monsters?" Yuzu asked in surprise.
"Uh, yeah, that's the point of the deck! Melodious Diva's fuse into Melodious Maestro's and Choirs. I only ever saw like… two of the Maestros directly, but I'd say there's at least… five different fusion monsters for your Archetype? At least five." Eddie explained, eyes closed as she thought hard on her own experience with the deck. "I only ran it digitally for like, two duels, so I'm not sure."
"Digitally?" Yuzu asked. "Oh wow your place is very different if you can do that."
"Oh trust me, it's nowhere near as impressive as this." She motioned to the Field. "It's like if you were playing on a table with someone, but you can do it over the internet. It also means you didn't need real physical cards, so you could use literally unique stuff or even Forbidden Cards if both duelists agreed to it."
"That is pretty cool, I would like to use a Blue-Eyes but they are so rare," Yuya commented as he came in. "Or some other legendary cards."
"Heh, fat load of good so-called 'Legendary' cards would do against my Ancient Gears, let alone my Darklords at their full power."
"Your deck is not at its strongest?" Ayu asked in surprise and shock. "But the big meanies looked so strong already."
"The real boss of my deck is a fusion monster with 4000/4000." Eddie explained. "Plus some generic extra deck monsters for support like some Xyz monsters or something for versatility- that is, having extra options."
"Oh wow," They said in amazement.
"Sadly that is for LDS to keep and send out at their discretion," Mr. Hiiragi said.
"Something weird about that actually- are they really keeping a monopoly on three whole card types?" She paused. "Well, four if you count tuners."
("What's a tuner?" Ayu asked Futoshi, who shrugged).
"Yeah, but they are the ones that own Duel Monsters, so it is their right," Mr. Hiiragi said.
"Okay… follow up question, what do you guys mean when you say 'learn how to use a summoning method'?" Eddie asked. "Yuya said about it, Sensei said about it. What does that actually mean?"
"Well to explain properly from what I remember of what Yusho told me, it's not enough to have the appropriate cards and doing it correctly, you also need to learn how to harness the energy of the act to fuel the summoning." Mr. Hiiragi explained.
"Ohh, I see, so there's a mystical aspect to it since the duelists of this world aren't used to it." Eddie realized aloud. "That makes more sense."
"Mystical?" Yuya asked.
"That is just Duel Energy." Yuzu said. "You can also use it for Destiny Draw and Shining Draw."
"...Like Heart of the Cards?" Eddie asked. She vaguely recalled Yuma having a thing called one of those.
"It makes it easier," Mr. Hiiragi said. "They are very advanced dueling techniques, even pro duelists have trouble with it, and only occasionally personally do it. Destiny Draw allows you to draw any card you need, and Shining Draw is making a card you need."
"Yeah, I read about that, that is how most Ghost Rare cards come about," Yuya said.
"Wait, is that legal? To just make a card mid-duel and use it?" Eddie asked, now certain this was that thing Yuma did when he would go Super Saiyan.
"If the Arc System Recognizes it, then yes," Mr. Hiiragi answered.
"Huh…wait." Eddie said as her brain ground to a halt. "Wait wait wait. This world didn't have extra deck summons until LDS introduced all three at once, right?"
"There were two years between each, with Xyz being the latest, but yeah." Mr. Hiiragi answered.
"My world has all fo- three extra deck types and we don't have the Leo Corporation." Eddie said as she thought through her thought process out loud. "And the people here straight up aren't used to any of them so it's a mysterious force to you, because it's not from your dimension! LDS is-" She paused as she realized what she was saying.
"...You think LDS got them from your world?" Yuzu asked.
"Worse- I think they got more than just summoning types." She said, motioning to herself.
"So you think they were teleporting cards in and accidentally got you?" Yuya asked.
"Or something like that."
"I don't understand what they are saying at all."
"Same."
"Huh, well that sounds like not a crazy theory, but there is nothing we can really do about it for now," Mr. Hiiragi said.
"Hey, raise your hand if you're in this room and you can speak English." Eddie said casually and apropos of nothing.
And only Mr. Hiiragi raised it. Yuzu half raised hers.
Eddie said in English. "If they were messing with dimensions, that's probably where at least one out of two of your missing people went, and potentially both of them." Eddie said to Hiiragi. "Because this smells like a conspiracy."
The man's face went still at that. "I see… we talk later."
Eddie nodded before snapping back to a more apologetic look as she switched back to Japanese. "Sorry about that everyone, please forget what I was talking about, it's not all that important."
"Okay." The kids replied.
While Yuzu and Yuya had faces that screamed 'bullshit'.
"I think that's enough of my distractions, Sensei, was there actual learning to be done today?" Eddie asked, trying to change the subject with all the subtlety of a Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
"Yeah we have more Ritual Monsters to go over today," Mr. Hiiragi said.
While that worked to distract the kids, Yuya and Yuzu continued to glare at Eddie.
"We will join you in a bit," Yuzu said as she pulled Eddie out of the Duel Arena and into one of the side rooms alongside Yuya.
Well, Eddie let her pull her out, but same difference.
"So before we start," Eddie said as the door closed and locked behind the tomatohead. "I'd like to say I have confirmed I was aged down by coming here and I am, as your father," she motioned towards Yuzu with her head, "Assumed, presumably about 16 or so now."
"Doesn't that still make you 25 mentally?" Yuya asked.
"Yes, but I'm undoubtedly going to be having some wild mood swings once my body's hormone production catches up since I'm going through puberty again." Eddie said, one eye twitching. "Trust me kids, getting done with puberty is the best part of growing up."
They both sympathized with her statement as it was something they were both suffering from.
"Anyway I'm not gonna beat around the bush or lie to you guys, you can ask what's on your mind." Eddie said now the tension had been diffused somewhat.
"You think you know what happened to my dad?" Yuya asked with clear hope in his voice, which actually sent Eddie reeling a little.
"I might, I might know." Eddie said. "Because clearly people can move between dimensions, he was lab partners with the guy who made Leo Corporation, and they both went missing in the same general time frame, and clearly something is sketchy about Leo Corp. Putting the pieces together, if we can confirm that's how Leo Corp is getting their cards, we may be able to use that technology -or magic- ourselves."
"...Okay how do we get a hold of that?" Yuzu asked. "If you even are correct."
"I see three main avenues here." Eddie said, holding up her pointer finger. "Number One, I enroll in LDS as a mole to infiltrate, duel my way to the top, and do some investigating from the inside. I want you to know I hated school so this is actually the worst option for me personally."
"I don't think that is possible."
"Yeah, LDS is a school for the elite, and invite only, even if you do their 'entrance' exam." Yuzu said. "Tried that."
Eddie nodded. "Option 2: Straight up break into the facilities using my leet ninja haxxor skills. This is the most dangerous option by far, and the one likeliest to backfire."
"Do you want me to smack you?" Yuzu asked as she raised her paper fan.
"Option 3: Did Leo have kids?"
"Yeah Reiji Akaba, he is the current CEO of Leo Corporation and won the world championship at age 13, already has numerous degrees, people call him the next Seto Kaiba." Yuzu said.
"Okay then there's option 3." Eddie said with a confident nod. "I think it's the one most likely to work."
"Win the Arc League Championship? The Leo Corporation is the one that sponsors it and last year I saw Akaba give the winner a wish of his choice." Yuya spoke.
"Oh I was just gonna suggest Yuya specifically becomes friends with him but that can work too." Eddie said with a nod.
"Eh?" Both asked in shock.
"How would I become friends with him?" Yuya asked.
"If we can get you two in a room together for about… what, like an hour? Two tops? You'll have befriended him and probably beat him in a duel or two." Eddie said. "Or commiserate about what you have in common, if I was to be a bit pragmatic."
"What missing dads?" Yuya asked in slight mockery.
"Famous fathers you're trying to get out of the shadow of." Eddie said.
Yuya froze at that.
"Figured I had a bead on you. And no kid as successful as Reiji would do it just because. He's clearly doing it, at least in part, to surpass his father." Eddie continued. "Plus, your dads know each other, so that could help too."
"We've barely known each other for a day." Yuya simply said.
"I only know about things when I can't change them." Eddie said simply.
"What a useless power," Yuzu commented.
"I literally call it 'The Gift of Useless Prophecy'." Eddie shrugged.
"That is an appropriate name," Yuzu responded.
"Even so, think it would be best for us to actually qualify for the Championship, before we make demands," Yuya suggested.
"That is the plan, yes." Eddie said. "I doubt we could get him for anything unless your mom has any connections, and getting to a fancy social event wouldn't be good for more than establishing a basic 'oh hey I know that one's name' for someone like that. Assuming fancy social events are a thing for the rich and powerful of this world and you don't just do fancy exhibition duels."
"Yeah you really don't," Yuzu said.
"And mom isn't that kind of person," Yuya added.
"I'm literally just throwing out ideas at this point." Eddie shrugged again. "But I think we have a plan. I don't duel either of you until it won't majorly impact your Win-Loss and instead go out and do some tourneys and official matches and random action duels to get my numbers up, while you guys do… however you get your numbers up, then we make sure it's at least two of us in the finals and then we go from there. Sound good with you guys?"
Yuzu and Yuya shared a look.
"That sounds like a plan." Yuzu said.
"Yeah, I am with you Eddie, I want to find out what happened to my dad." Yuya added.
"Alright, then we have a plan, team… Team You Show?" Eddie asked.
"Team You Show."
"Team You Show!" Yuya repeated.