Hello everyone! Welcome back to more Joker's Wild!

…And wow. What a response to this story.

Me: "It's only been a couple of days. How well liked can it be-" (sees multitude of comments and favourites) "...What the fu-"

I was proven wrong! I honestly didn't expect this level of support. Not even a week and you guys really are enjoying this story! So, thank you!

This time around, we're slowing our roll a bit but still expanding the world more as we come to learn about this story in general!

I'll go into more details in the author's note below as per usual!

But for now? Enjoy!

Yu-Gi-Oh GX – Joker's Wild

Chapter 2

New Friends and New Tricks

Walking away from the duel arena, Dimitri was riding a high as he grinned. "Talk about an opening act, huh guys?" As he says this, he is surrounded by the Ojama Trio, Ojama Red, Ojama Blue, while Spirit of the Breeze and Soul Tiger appear alongside him.

"Yeah boss! And I got to shine! HOO! HAA!" Ojama Green stated this while doing his posing again as the others laughed while Ojama Blue sighed.

"Oh brother… he's become more of a showboat." The blue Ojama shook their head before turning to Dimitri. "Still, it was rather impressive to see. Though, do make sure to use Red and I the next time."

Ojama Red would rush over as he pumped the air. "YEAH! I wanna show those suckers the true Ojama Special!"

Dimitri would chuckle and roll his eyes a bit. "I'll try to bring you guys out next time. Just depends on the luck of the draw." With that said, the five Ojamas would rush back into the deck as Dimitri would turn to the tiger and spirit. "…Guess you two are sticking around?"

The tiger gave a low growl as Spirit of the Breeze nodded. "Indeed. I am you're 'lovely assistant' am I not?" She said that with a coy smile as she giggled a bit. "But it is fun to be out and about. Plus, I think Soul Tiger enjoys being around you~ Like a guard cat."

The tiger would turn their head away as Dimitri smiled. "Awwww. Thanks buddy!" Soul Tiger would give another growl, though this one seemed more like it was saying 'You're welcome'.

Continuing onwards on his walk, Dimitri would then stop for a moment. "By the way… what was Inverse Dimension like? Was it purely cosmetic?"

Spirit of the Breeze would pause for a moment as she tapped her chin in thought. "Yes and no? It seemed to be mostly cosmetics but also made feel more… aggressive?"

"Huh. That… makes sense. Since every monster in the deck is normally defensive… they would be turned aggressive under that." Dimitri would put his hands in his pockets as he nodded. "Neat. Though, I will say you all looked cool out there." Looking at his deck, he grinned. "But for now? It's time for the part no one likes." Spirit of the Breeze would raise a brow as Dimitri sighed. "…Time to duel and grind some cash."

He would then raise some fingers and count down from three… as a random duel student popped up. "I challenge you to a duel!"

Dimitri would smirk at Spirit of the Breeze and turn to the duelist with a grin. "Well then… Let's get this show on the road shall we? …It's SHOW TIME!"

…

…

…

…Three days. After the duel with Taiyou, it took three days for Dimitri to finally take a break.

During these past three days, Dimitri worked hard in keeping some of his tricks up his sleeves. After all, if he's forced to stick with the same deck. Of course, that didn't stop him from having some pretty savage combos that left people frustrated.

…

Dimitri would be facing the wind as the battle continued. On his field in defence mode was Ojama King that had just been hit with a Smashing Ground spell. Meanwhile his opponent had a Millenium Shield face up on his side of the field in defence mode. Needless to say, the proud Obelisk Blue was laughing at Dimitri. "Ha! Even with your Defence swapping Shenanigans, you can't get past my shield!"

Smashing Ground
Normal Spell
Destroy the 1 face-up monster your opponent controls that has the highest DEF (your choice, if tied).

…

Millennium Shield
Normal Monster – Level 5 – EARTH – Warrior
0 Attack / 3000 Defence
A famous shield said to belong to an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh. Legends tell of its power to block any strong attack.

…

Obelisk Blue: 2500
Dimitri: 2200

"Anddddd that's where you're wrong." Dimitri would grin as he nodded. Drawing his card, he smirked as he dramatically tossed a card up into the air. "Honestly, you made this much more interesting for me. And with you using Card Destruction and Hand Destruction again and again? You just made one of my friends really powerful. Because I activate Monster Reborn to special summon Chaos Necromancer from my graveyard!"

Monster Reborn
Normal Spell
Target 1 monster in either GY; Special Summon it.

Catching the card and placing it down, a large strange blue sword thing with a red jewel appeared on Dimitri's backrow as it glowed brightly. Stepping out of the glow and appearing on Dimitri's side of the filed was a rather gothic looking man with a wide grin and massive gauntlet covered claws that had puppet strings at the end of them.

Chaos Necromancer
Effect Monster – Level 1 – DARK – Fiend
0 Attack / 0 Defence
The ATK of this card is the number of Monster Cards in your Graveyard x 300.

The necromancer would give a wicked giggle as it's puppet strings glowed with energy. "You see, for each monster card in my graveyard in my graveyard, Chaos Necromancer gains three hundred attack points! And all your hand destruction? Has left me with eight monsters in there!" The glow continued before the necromancer let out a cackle. Suddenly, attached to the strings of Chaos Necromancer's was small little puppets of different monsters. This included a little puppet of the five Ojamas, Ojama King, Soul Tiger, and Spirit of the Breeze.

Chaos Necromancer
2400 Attack / 0 Defence

"However! This is the grand finale!" Dimitri would point towards the shield with a grin as a familiar sarcophagus appeared. "I activate Tribute to the Doomed! And by discarding Lindbloom from my hand, I can destroy your shield!" Millennium Shield would be wrapped up by bandages and dragged into the sarcophagus. However, as that happened, Chaos Necromancer's strings glowed once more as a little puppet of Lindbloom appeared as well.

Chaos Necromancer
2700 Attack / 0 Defence

"W-Wait a minute." The blue looked nervous at the now powerful only monster on the field. "Weren't you going to u-use a defence swap strategy?"

Dimitri would tilt his head an innocent smile on his face. "Hmmm? What do you mean? This isn't a Defence attack deck." He would gain a grin as he pointed forward. "It's a Zero Attack Deck! Chaos Necromancer! Finish this with Marionette Burial!"

The necromancer would laugh loudly as he nodded and pointed forward. The puppets of all his other monsters would rush forward and dog pile the Obelisk Blue as he screamed. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Obelisk Blue: 2500 – 2700 = 0

DIMITRI WINS!

…

Yeah, Dimitri was still riding the high a bit but needless to say, he got a little carried away.

Hey! He was running on literally nothing for DP! And from what he gathered from his memories and how the island works, DP is pretty much the economy here. You have DP, you can buy whatever. You get DP from winning a duel, doing a job, getting good grades, etc.

And when you combine Dimitri's desire to shine with his new found 'uniqueness'?

…

DIMITRI KAGURAZAKA- RA YELLOW

CURRENT DP: 4376

…

JACKPOT!

Now the worry for food wasn't imminent! In addition, Dimitri now had spending cash for things that he didn't have before. Such as new clothes, some upgraded tech if he can. And of course, what he had been dreaming of for a while now.

Card packs!

Call him a kleptomaniac in a way, but dear Ra, the feeling of getting new cards and coming up with something fun? It was just the best! And thus, that was where Dimitri was heading to! To get his absolute serotonin burst at the one and only card shop!

Reaching the card shop, Dimitri would enter with a massive look of excitement on his face as he walked over to the shelves. However, after a bit, he would be silently looking around as his face grew into one of confusion.

Because from what he could see, the card packs were much different then what he was used to. Going off his spotty memory of his life where this was all an anime/game world, the packs were those like The Lost Millennium or Flaming Eternity. Booster packs different cards in it with one main monster as part of the Ultra Rares.

…Makes sense that the card packs here didn't match them at all. Perhaps they were like the ones in the games but truthfully, Dimitri had shotty experience with them. He had played a couple of the World Championships and somewhat knew the Tag Force games… which probably explains why there are so many students who seem like actual duelists, but he doesn't know all too well.

However, he wasn't an expert at them. He knew a couple of things here or there but overall struggled to know any of the characters unless they were memorable in some way. So, the Ra Yellow was stumped and unsure of what to get. "…Maybe there's a completely random booster pack?"

"Like the 'mystery packs'?" Dimitri would jump at the voice from right behind him as he turned his head to see a pretty girl wearing the same work outfit as Ms. Dorothy. She had on a blue duel academy visor cap, had brownish black hair that reached her shoulders, and brown eyes.

Dimitri would take a deep breath as he turned to the girl. "Holy Slifer… please don't sneak up on me like that." He would then look at the girl with a raised brow. "…I'm guessing from the outfit you work here?"

The girl would giggle at Dimitri's reaction. "Sorry! You were just so lost in thought it was kind of adorable." She would then nod with a smile. "That's right. I'm Sadie. Sadie Seiko. A second year. I usually work here on the weekends on my own and on the rush days with Grandma."

Hearing the name made something click in Dimitri's mind. This was the card shop girl he had seen a bit of in the games and in the show. However, he withheld his reaction as stopped his eye from twitching. "…Guess I'm going to have to accept people using their Japanese names as their last name if they don't have one." Nodding, Dimitri would clear his throat and hold out a hand for a handshake. "It's nice to meet you Sadie. I'm Dimitri Kagurazaka. First year."

The girl's eyes would widen as she smiled and took the handshake. "I heard of you! You're the duelist who went from a losing streak to one of the strangest decks around while acting like a circus performer!"

"Yeah… that's me." Dimitri would sweat drop a bit from the description. However, he would then blink and smile at Sadie. "Say… since you work here, think you can help me? I'm looking for some random card packs."

Sadie would nod but tilt her head a bit. "By random, do you mean a random card pack or a card pack that has random cards?"

"The second one." Dimitri would grin widely at the suggestion. If this is what he thinks it is… then he just solved one of his biggest issues.

Seeing the excitement in his eyes, Sadie would giggle and motion for him to follow her. As the two walked through the store, they would reach one row of card packs that completely filled the row. Seeing the amount made Dimitri's eyes widen as his jaw dropped a bit.

This brought another laugh from Sadie as she smiled. "This row is what we call the 'mystery packs'. Unlike the other ones where you know what you're getting, these are completely random. As such, they aren't the most popular and are only sold for one hundred duel points instead of the usual one hundred and fifty."

Dimitri would freeze and slowly turn to Sadie with a big grin and dollar signs in his eyes. He would then rush over to the card packs and start grabbing randomly. After a moment, he would be standing in front of Sadie with twenty different card packs and a big smile.

Sadie blinked for a moment before laughing and shaking her head. "You really don't falter huh? Most people don't like these packs because they can't guarantee the cards they get."

"But that's part of the fun!" Dimitri would start walking towards the front counter with a curious Sadie as he continued to smile. "Duel monsters is about enjoying the game and having fun. So what if I can't get specific cards? I'd rather enjoy making decks from whatever cards I can and seeing the crazy things I can do with it."

"Really?" Sadie would pause for a moment as she started to ring up cards. "Well, that's one way to look at it. I mean, I don't fully understand dueling myself."

This made Dimitri stop as he looked at Sadie with confusion. "Wait what? Then… if it's alright to ask, why did you come to Duel Academy?" He asked this as general curiosity which made the girl smile.

"At least you're polite about it." Smiling, the card shop girl packed away Dimitri's card packs into a bag as she continued. "Truthfully, not many people realize it since this is… well… "Duel" Academy. However, there are additional programs for people to take. Some come for medical degrees with Nurse Fontaine… some become card designers… and your dorm professor, Professor Satyr teaches culinary arts. Meanwhile, I'm taking business and management courses."

…Well that's honestly a cool fact Dimitri learned. Truthfully, he was going off the mentality of the show where everything was duel monsters related. However, it makes sense that an academy would have additional programs. The world may revolve around a card game, but it's still a legitimate world.

Dimitri would ponder for a moment. "…Is there a program for theater? Perhaps broadcasting or something?" With the new information at his disposal, he was curious of what to do for the future. Being a Dueltainer was a weird career path since… No one heard of it. If he wanted to make it a thing, he needed to work for it.

Giggling, Sadie shook her head as she smiled. "Tell you what. I'll help you out with finding classes to take. I'm curious about your deck building. It's honestly the talk of the academy and I wanna see. Show me that and maybe a bit about how dueling works?"

Dimitri raised a brow but shrugged with a large smile. "Sure thing! Should I wait for your shift to finish?"

"No. Just meet me at this café." She said as Sadie pulled up her PDA map and pointed to the building. Once she received a nod in response, she would give a smirk. "Still, what a charmer~ Taking the card shop mascot on a date?"

Dimitri blushed at those words while nearby guys turned with glares. The Ra Yellow was shocked by the response and turned back to Sadie… who was standing there with customer service smile. "Your total will be 2000 DP!"

The boy was stunned but nodded as he scanned his PDA and got his cards. As he headed to the door, he would turn back to see Sadie talking with a smile to other customers. But before he headed out, she turned to him and gained a small grin as she sent a wink.

…Dimitri walked out of the shop with a shocked look. "…Well she's certainly different from what I remember." Shaking his head, he would leave.

Some time would pass and around noon, Dimitri was sitting at a table at the on-campus café Saide suggested with a food tray of burgers and fries in front of. While sitting there and waiting for the other to come, the performing duelist started to get a better understanding of the academy as a whole.

Within the show and the games, one don't get to explore often which meant a lot of space was just never used. Not in this reality though. The school was pretty much like a university campus city. It had different locations like restaurants, cafés, and even a large shopping centre near the main building. In fact, the map for the academy itself was massive. There was a LOT of classrooms and lecture rooms that honestly Dimitri never realized.

Then again, the entire island was one owned and managed by Mr. "Screw the rules I have money" himself, Seto Kaiba. It makes sense that he would make such a goliath of an island.

As for the class switching, Dimitri looked into it a little bit as he wanted to understand it. And once he read the regulations, it made much more sense. To switch classes and programs, you need parental authorization as well as exact descriptions of which classes to drop and which to take. In addition, it seems the ability to switch programs is a lot more unknown compared to all the dueling classes. Plus, most of the common classes still need to be taken as you can only switch specialized classes. "That explains Chumley at least."

Chumley Huffington was a character that Dimitri remembered from the show as more of a side character. Not a plucky sidekick like Syrus but more a pessimistic character. And at times a realistic character who wanted to not deal with the struggles. He wasn't a bad guy but just didn't fit in with dueling as a whole. His passion was instead art and card design. But with the parental authorization as well as the unknown nature of this, it makes sense as to why Chumley was still struggling in the dueling program stream.

"Hmmm… maybe I can help him out?" Don't Dimitri wrong. In his mind, he wants to stay far away from Jaden and his group. Not because they're bad people but more because they're the real protagonists. The story follows them. And honestly, Dimitri is not really interested in dealing with that stuff unless it came after him.

Still, Dimitri from his memories prior to… what would he call it? Reincarnation? Merging? He was still Dimitri, but he had memories of a different life? Why does manga and anime never talk about this dilemma?

Anyways, despite whatever happened to him, Dimitri still remembered all the duels beforehand. Where he struggled to find a niche. How he became a copycat duelist and could never truly win. Made sense since anime bullshit made it so the protagonists and other characters he tried to copy had signature monsters that no one else seemed to have.

So, sitting there for a moment, Dimitri decided that if given the chance, he would bring this change up to Chumley Huffington. If he gets a chance.

As he continued to ponder about the future, Dimitri also had the twenty something card packs in front of him as he started to open them. The cards offered were cool and he could see potential in some. In fact, there was a good number that caught his eye.

However, this made the boy stop. Looking at the cards he's gotten, he noticed a fair bit cards were once that shouldn't be around yet. And the very card he was complaining about should only be a rare one-of-a-kind card owned by only one person. So, how the hell did he get one?

This was like with Lindbloom. As much as the monster's been becoming one of his main cards in the Zero Attack deck… the card shouldn't exist yet. But it did. And so did many other cards that he had now. This was a mystery he had to solve at some point.

While he was lost in his thoughts, he would continue to stare at the cards he got from the packs as the chair in front of him moved. Looking up, he would see Sadie sitting there with a grin. "Thanks for waiting for me Mr. Ringmaster."

"Ringmaster?" Dimitri raised a brow as he took a bite of his fries. "Where in the shadow realm did that come from?" He took a glance at the girl who was now wearing the usual Obelisk Blue girl's uniform with her own meal.

His words made the girl giggle as she smirked. "Well, I'm not the one dueling and shouting to the rooftops like I'm the master of ceremonies of a circus."

"…You know what? Fair enough." Dimitri would then notice a couple of glares towards their direction as Dimitri raised a brow. "What's with the looks that if they were knives I would have been stabbed a thousand times over?"

His words made Sadie groan a bit as she rested her chin on her hand. "Well… I'm known as the 'pretty girl from the card shop'. People see me as a mascot or a possible date. So to see me with a guy out in public?" She then give a wink which caused the glares to intensify. "Looks like you're even more centerstage huh?"

Dimitri's jaw dropped a bit at the utter sassiness sent his way before he started to laugh. "You really are different from what I've seen. Where did all this come from?"

Sadie laughed alongside him as she sighed. "Glad someone's got a sense of humour." She would then smirk a bit. "I'm supposed to be the 'mascot' of the card shop on campus. So the guys expect a cutesy friendly girl."

"Ah. I see." Dimitri nodded before smirking back. "Present sugar and everything nice, but hide the spice?"

This caused the girl to snort a bit as she giggled. "Ha! Pretty much! I'll have to remember that one." After she calmed down, Sadie pulled out a couple of papers. "Ready to go into a deep dive on the potential courses you have?"

"As ready as I'll ever be with school." Dimitri groaned. There was a part of him that wished it was carefree like the games or anime… but nope. There was actual education involved.

Sadie nodded with understanding. "The student's dilemma." She would pull out a couple of papers. "So, did you get your parents permission?"

"Yeah. I did." He called up his parents after he left the card shop. It was a very strange but nice video call to say the least. His parents were, honestly, very supportive of him and were willing to listen. He had a nice heart to heart with them about his desire to be more specific in his career path for theatrics. And they gave him permission and also told him how proud they were of him. Honestly, it made Dimitri smile as he was thankful his parents were kind folks. Also, for some reason his brain was still jumbled up, so he was practically hoping that they were normal people which they were thankfully.

…What? He didn't want to be some 'summoned chosen one' because his mother apparently was blessed by a dragon or some shit. Nor did he want the potential struggles of having to deal with all the drama. He wanted to be a guy having fun playing a card game with nice supporting parents and friends.

"Perfect." Moving the papers around, Sadie would smile. "So, I asked Grandma if she could help me get a list of all the programs. And from them, I could see a few catching your eye."

Passing them over to Dimitri, the boy would nod for a moment. "Hmm… Physical Education with Nurse Fontaine… that makes sense since I want to be moving and active. Examiner… Duel Master… K?" The boy looked up at Sadie who shrugged before he looked back at the paper. "Teaches acting and theatre arts. So that's a must."

He then stopped as he raised a brow. "…Hmmm... These are names I don't know." There was a couple of professors, some with names he didn't recognize. However, there was a couple of names that seemed to ring a bell. As he looked at the girl, he saw Sadie nodding as he shrugged. "I'll trust you on these."

However, he then stopped at the last one. The two classes seemed to catch his eye but also made him stop. Looking at the confused boy, Sadie would lean over and smile. "Ah! That. Yeah, I think they would the best option moving forward. Especially Professional Dueling with Professor Midori Hibiki."

Hearing the name made Dimitri blink and think to himself. "Midori Hibiki? It says here she's one of the Slifer Red headmasters... ...Where have I heard that name before? I don't remember her being in the anime"

"Apparently, she has an assistant in her class…" Sadie continued with a sheepish smile. "I know it seems like a more serious class? Even though you want to be more carefree, you should look into this as publicity would be much easier to achieve with professional fame."

"…Then I'm taking that as well. Now what about this other class?" Dimitri pointed to the other class that caught his eye.

Sadie stopped and pondered a bit as she shrugged. "Apparently it's a new class. Something to do with duel disks and tech. I doubt many will take it."

Dimitri paused at that before smiling. "I'll take it. Could be fun." After a bit more of back and forth, Dimitri would have a list to deliver to the Chancellor. "That was more painless then I thought."

"It usually is." Sadie giggled a bit at Dimitri. "Honestly, the real challenge is actually learning about the ability to change classes. Probably Kaiba's way of 'finding the best from the best'." She then smiled as she pulled out a small case of cards. "Well… time to fulfill your side of the deal and teach me the ways of making a deck… shall we?"

Dimitri chuckled a bit at the joke. "The true enemy… actually reading everything given to you." He would then nod and give a thumbs up as he took the small case. Opening it up, Dimitri would see it filled with a multitude of cards. Taking a closer look, his eyes would widen a bit as the options she had. From Solar Flare Dragon to even Lava Golem, it seemed like her box was filled to the brim of multiple burn type cards as well as different monsters, a majority of which being FIRE attribute. "Honestly, you have a ton of potential in here." Pulling out the different cards, he grinned. "Is there a reason you got these cards?"

Sadie shrugged. "Well… I just like FIRE monsters I guess? My first card was one so, I just got used to it. Then I got a bunch of cards that can deal damage because that's the point of the game?"

"Heh. That's true. What you have literally burns the opponent." Taking Lava Golem, he would grin. "While this monster appears on the opponent's side of the field, it removes your opponent's monsters on the field and deals a thousand points of damage to them each Standby Phase."

"But that gives them a big monster?" Sadie spoke with uncertainty as she wasn't a duelist herself.

"You'd think… but take for example… Alexis Rhodes." Sadie raised an eyebrow but nodded. "From what I've heard, her ace monster is Cyber Blader. A strong card that has the potential to be battle destruction immune, have 4200 attack points, or make all your card effects negated. If left unchecked, it can overwhelm you. And because of the effect canceling, it's hard to remove at times. …But it can't stop Lava Golem."

This shocked Sadie as she took Lava Golem's card and read the text once more.

Lava Golem
Effect Monster – Level 8 – FIRE – Fiend
3000 Attack / 2500 Defence
Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must first be Special Summoned (from your hand) to your opponent's field by Tributing 2 monsters they control. You cannot Normal Summon/Set the turn you Special Summon this card. Once per turn, during your Standby Phase: Take 1000 damage.

"…Wait. You can the effect negate affect Lava Golem?" Her eyes widened as she saw Dimitri slowly smile more. "That means it can't stop Golem's summon."

"Which means that Cyber Blader is sent to the graveyard." Dimitri finished the thought as Sadie looked with slight shock. "Cards are tricky and complicated. Just because one card seems unbeatable doesn't mean it is."

However, glancing at Sadie, he would see that she was starting to get confused. She seemed interested in how he made decks, but for someone who never really dueled, it's a bit of a challenge. So, Dimitri decided an example would be better.

Handing the case back to Sadie, the Ra Yellow boy smiled. "How about my more hands-on approach to 'deck building'… if you don't mind me making a deck with my own cards right now."

Raising a brow, the card shop girl listened but motioned for him to continue as Dimitri pulled out a notebook. Looking into it, Sadie was face to face with a strange kind of flow chart between different card names. "Wait… what's all this?"

"Huh? Oh. This is my brainstorming book." Flipping the pages back a bit, Sadie would see a page titled ZERO HESITATION which had a bunch of the cards she had been hearing about. "I like to write down my ideas and figure out how they connect."

As an example, Dimitri reached into his deck and pulled out three cards. Inverse Universe, Spirit of the Breeze, and finally a card called D2 Shield.

D2 Shield
Normal Trap
Select 1 face-up Defense Position monster you control. Its DEF becomes double its original DEF.

Pointing on the page, there were lines connecting the three cards as Dimitri smiled. "See… with three cards, you get a strong combination. You take Spirit of the Breeze with 1800 defence. You then activate D2 Shield to make that 3600 defence. And then with Inverse Universe…"

Sadie's eyes widened as her jaw dropped a bit. "You get a monster with 3600 attack. A monster stronger then Blue-Eyes White Dragon."

"Yep!" Dimitri smiled with confidence. "The point of a deck isn't to have one strong card. It's to have a way to make all the cards work together in the best way possible."

Sadie nodded with an impressed look as she returned to looking at the book. However, she would raise a brow and turn to Dimitri confused. "What about these lines?" The lines she pointed to were there were circles slashed through with crosses.

Dimitri glanced at what she was pointing at and nodded. "Ahhh… those. Those are what I call "Anti-synergy" pairs." Seeing the confused look, he continues. "When I'm making a deck, I want my cards to blend well together. And while that's the case with most… some are… different. Case in point, the main card of this anti-synergy… Chaos Necromancer."

On the page was Chaos Necromancer surrounded by a bunch of circles with slashes as Dimitri sighed. "See, out of all the cards in my Zero Attack deck, Chaos Necromancer one of the most disconnected. My deck revolves mostly around turning defence into offense. But what happens when I can't use that strategy?"

"You'll need something to work around it?" Sadie spoke with an uncertain look. "If that's the case, why have the card in there?"

"Close. I need to have an opposite strategy." Dimitri pointed at Chaos Necromancer and then at Relinquished. "I need monsters that, if faced with a scenario where my main strategy flops, I have a backup. But as a result…" He chuckled weakly as he pointed to Lindbloom. "…they tend to clash. Chaos Necromancer's ability raise it's attack. So if I attacked a monster with it while Lindbloom is on the field, he's going in with 0 attack because he has 0 defence."

Shaking his head, Dimitri smiled. "The point is… the deck can't be a one trick pony. It's like being a magician." He would sigh and groan a bit. "I want a variety of tricks, not be stuck as a magician with just a cup and ball trick."

Sadie stopped and pondered his words for a moment. "…So, being adaptive and more a jack of all trades?"

Dimitri would shrug in response. "Kinda? I prefer the term wildcard." He grinned at the card shop girl. "I see myself like the joker of a deck of playing cards. The weird card that you don't see often but when you do changes things up."

"That's… one way of describing it." Sadie giggled a bit at his description. "You're proud to be the weird one, huh?"

"It is a title of honour to me!" Looking back down at the cards he had, Dimitri would stop as he picked up a singular card and grinned widely. "…Jackpot!" Placing it down, Dimitri started grabbed a variety of other cards and placed them down next to the card.

Taking the notebook back, he started to write down card ideas as well as the main cards in the center… slowly connecting them to different points and such as Sadie took the card Dimitri was excited about. "… … That's a pretty powerful effect. But it seems to be a double-edged sword?"

"That is where the challenge comes in. And the fun part of it as it's coming up with ways to make it work!" Dimitri then passed her a monster card that held a simple monster as well as another card.

But once she read the effect of the monster, she looked back and forth. "…Oh. This… would be fun?" Seeing his grin and nod, her eyes widened. However, she then looked confused. "But how do you pull it off?"

"And that, my dear Watson, is the challenge." Dimitri put on an over-the-top Sherlock Holmes voice. "For the simple elementary way is never clear and I must scour all my available clues!"

Sadie smiled as rolled her eyes at the accent. "Which will help create another perfect unbeatable deck like your Zero Attack deck?"

This made the Ra Yellow stop for a moment before he laughed. He would continue to laugh for a bit as he tried to catch his breath. "Oh boy, I needed that." Shaking his head, Dimitri grinned. No deck is perfect, and every deck can fall victim to defeat. I know this all too well… but I don't care."

He would lean back in his chair as he smirked. "Plus, I need more decks because sooner or later, people will realize the fatal flaw of this deck. One proper counter and I'm screwed." Reaching into his deck box, he would pull out Inverse Universe and place it on the table for Sadie to read as he chuckled. "If Taiyou stopped the attack after this card was played? I would have a field of monsters screwed all because of my own card."

Sadie paused as she heard that before her eyes widened, remembering a little detail they had discussed earlier with the anti-synergy. "Lindbloom. It makes attacks use defence points."

"And all but Soul Tiger had zero defence points after Inverse Universe, making it full damage." The boy laughed. "That's just it. This deck, while fun, needs the set up to make it work. And the set up could be used against me as well if done wrong. If I faced someone like Zane? Or one of the professors being serious? I'd get wrecked soooooo easily."

"…What about when you do lose? You were on a losing streak before. Wouldn't you get upset if you lose again?" Sadie had seen it multiple times. The confidence and cockiness of Obelisk Blues before breaking down in frustration.

Dimitri would pause before he chuckled sheepishly. "No. Because I'm finally being myself." He sighed with a smile. "I was copying person after person to duel beforehand. Not a bad idea if I want to put on a show. Only… I did it to try to win. If anything, I'm more thankful I lost because I may have gone down a path where I would never be myself."

"Now? I just want to have fun." Dimitri then smirked as he looked with a confident smile. "Even if I face the biggest defeat, at least I gave it my all and put on the best show I could."

Sadie blinked for a moment before she sighed with a smile. "Alright. I've put thought into it and it's official." She would hold a hand out to the boy as she gave a smirk of her own. "So, I have to confess. I didn't ask you out here just because of 'dueling tips'. Rather, more a proposition."

This made Dimitri stop in confusion as he waited for her to finish. Given, the sign, Sadie continued her thought. "As I said, I've been taking business and management courses… but I haven't figured out a good investment or idea to work with for my program… until now. I want to become your manager."

"…My manager?" Dimitri paused as he placed the cards down and looked at Sadie with confusion, making the girl giggle.

"Yes. Your manager. While you may not be going serious, you are going to be going professionally at some point to expand your audience, right?" Sadie's words made Dimitri stop for a moment as he slowly nodded, making her smile grow tenfold. "Which means that to help get your performances known and out there, you'll need a manager."

"Ohhhhh. Like a sporting manager like in wrestling or an idol's manager." Slowly, the boy started to get the picture. However, he would gain a confused expression. "…Why do you want to be my manager?"

Sadie smiled as she closed her eyes. "I have no desire to be the best… I simply want to enjoy each moment and use whatever cards I want. Because duel monsters? Is for everyone and every card. …Sound familiar?"

"Yeah. Those were the words I said against Taiyou." Dimitri raised a brow as he tilted his head. "Either you heard that from someone else or… you were there at the duel."

That made the card shop girl smile even more. "Bingo~ I was there in the crowd and that duel? Was one to remember. Never before had I seen someone dueling with so much enthusiasm and theatrics. There was no power dynamic like I've seen before. And you dueled with such confidence in such an unpredictable deck."

"But it was those words that truly got to me." Sadie would gain a more sombre smile as she sighed. "So many times I had seen people mock those who can't duel. I've been mocked for not knowing how to really duel. And then those people would come in and complain to the card shop how they were given 'crappy useless cards'. However, you aren't like that."

"…Because I believe there is no useless card." Dimitri was starting to see the picture. Compared to the serious stream within the academy, Dimitri was this… oddball.

"Yep. You have this energy that is different. Inviting. And to be more business major for a moment, revolutionary." Sadie sighed and picked herself back up. "So, what do you say? Want to take the world by storm and knock those stuck-up jackasses off their high horses?"

There was a moment of silence before Dimitri snorted. He then started to laugh as he grinned and took Sadie's hand. "Man, you know, people really need to get to know the real you. Because you sure are sassy for the 'card shop mascot'." He shook the girl's hand with a grin. "I'm in."

…

…

…

After some amount of time, the two friends and now business partners left the café. Dimitri watched in a bit of awe as Sadie went from teasing him to what he deemed the 'mascot smile' whenever some random guy went up to her. Of course he also had struggled to keep in his laughs from all the cringy pickup lines and could see Sadie trying not to laugh as well. And once the guys would leave, Sadie would smack Dimitri's arm before finally laughing.

Needless to say, he honestly enjoyed seeing the real side of Sadie. In a way, it made this world Dimitri found himself in more realistic and made the people, who he had memories of as characters… actually be people.

Professor Satyr was a kind and caring mentor, Sadie is pretty much the definition of a teenager stuck working customer service… even Taiyou seemed more of a spoiled kid rather than a faceless mook.

In a way, the uncertainty appeared to be similar to whenever he would make a new deck. The unknowing and having to take the risk. All while not doing anything super dangerous. It was… honestly soothing in a way.

Once they reached the end of the academy road, the two would split up and head to their dorms. As they went their separate ways, neither would notice the small spirit glancing from around the corner before flying off.

All the while, Dimitri was thinking about all that he learned and what was to come. Would he ever remember everything? Obelisk no. He was struggling to remember facts about the series in general.

But one thing was for certain. Things were very much different, and he was honestly unsure what was going to happen. However, he did have a motto when it finally comes to some crazy main plot shenanigans comes around.

…Leave it to Jaden. Dimitri rather likes having his soul NOT be put on the line for a children's card game.

-TO BE CONTINUED-

Hello everyone! Void here!

And my god! It's only been a couple of days and the response to this story has been very positive! All the suggestions, all the comments of how they are excited and love this story (There's only be a single chapter guys!)

I even have a TVTropes page!? Like, holy shit! I was not expecting this amount of love and excitement for this story but thank you all for the support! It's been motivating me to continue writing this story more and more!

Now onto the chapter itself! And sorry there's no duels this time around. Well… full duels. But this chapter was more to set the stage of what's to come as well as setting up the first of many characters going to be a part of this story!

The first of these is none other than Sadie from the card shop! Or Sadie Seiko in this story.

Now, personally, I've played a lot of the games, but I never was able to play Tag Force much. However, I do know Sadie has a burn deck and honestly seems like a fun character to work with! Of course, her deck is going to get a bit of a revamp but will be fun!

Plus, since she's not really used often, I wanted to have her with a personality that matched her deck. More of a teasing and fiery individual. Sassy and confident which goes in toe with her business background.

Additionally, she's a great character to have to explain the whole changes to the school I made. Because… there is no way in hell a school would only be about a card game. We still need engineers, doctors, lawyers, etc. So why wouldn't Seto Kaiba have that at his school?

Additionally as a side rant: It's a pain when some characters are so obscure that one can't use them in the character select list. I wanted to add Sadie and the other characters in as main characters but they're so obscure that they aren't even on the roster of characters!

I'm at least thankful that Dimitri was a character. From what I've read, I have to send an email to FF for them to add them as characters? I did do that but no idea how long it'll be before I can add them as characters.

But in all seriousness with characters, I'm thinking of having five characters to basically be the squad like how Jaden has his squad. I'm still going back and forth on it to be fair but at the very least, I have three planned out (Dimitri, Sadie, and another). As for why them, I have my reasons but there's more to come.

Also, there is one thing I won't talk about in detail now but… Plot! Is there a plot to this story? Surprisingly yes! As for how and when, you'll have to wait and see!

…

As for this chapter, I really hope I portrayed Dimitri's mindset more during the deck construction with Sadie. He views all his decks as his own, but he wants to not have the same strategy. Get used to the same strategy and boom… it loses it's flair when everyone knows it.

"I want a variety of tricks, not be stuck as a magician with just a cup and ball trick."

And Sadie's description is another fair one. A jack of all trades versus a master of one. In Dimitri's case, a jack of all trades is much more appealing and makes sense! Throw in his nature to mix things up and use multiple decks, he's never going to be an expert.

Plus, I will admit this… Dimitri is not going to be going from fail-streak to win-streak. He just needs the right opponent and the right moment and bam. He loses. I just have to write it out right and also… we're in chapter 2. We're not speedrunning this story.

Speaking of new decks… I actually got a second deck made and designed, a potential third deck and more ideas! I have looked at your suggestions and some have lead to what I was making. And from what was shown in this chapter, Dimitri is assembling the second deck. (It's why I was so vague about it)

As for if the second deck will be used next chapter? Well, you'll have to wait and see.

I need to decide if I want to, but I may because… my god it's so stupid. The deck is absolutely stupid and would get destroyed in a serious competitive setting but also amazing and I love it. I love these decks that are just "How the fuck does this work?" but they CAN! Maybe not professionally, but definitely in this space.

…

Finally, I guess one thing I will need to figure out is… alternative cards and such.

What I mean is, there are a few things to consider. Main if I'm going to use Rush Duel stuff.

Okay… considering them… andddddddd nope. Too much work and I won't use them.

To give context, I use Duelingbook as a site to go through cards and physically create the decks in real time as I enjoy doing that kind of thing. And as such, I tend to focus on cards there.

Rush Duel though? Not on there.

However... I may be more leniant on unreleased cards... as long as they are TCG cards.

And I'll admit. I'm VERY old-schooled. I'm just catching up somewhat to whatever Link Monsters are. So this Rush Duel stuff? I have no clue what it even is and I'm not going to question it.

Actually, speaking of Link Monsters, that brings up another fact. The alternative card types. Specifically Synchro Monsters (in addition to tuners), XYZ, Pendulum, and Link. Am I going to be adding them to story? Are people going to be pulling out their Zoodiacs or whatever?

…At the moment? No. I want this to be GX era with some more modern cards but not entirely brand-new summoning types. If I ever plan to use them, I need to figure out HOW this is going to go as well as why it happened.

But for now? No. I'm not going to. Because there's no point to the story.

…

But… that's all for now! Until next time! See you all later!

VoidRebirth signing out!