Anyway
I own what I own
Which apparently includes,
A Link that I have for some reason:
PandorasJailofCreativity/membership?view_as=patron
Discord Link that I have for some reason:
4bg8TRm2Gk
Twitter that I have for some reason:
mobile. / pandorajail
Shout out to Zeranion, Rairaku, pyro stick figure 76, WhataGreatNamelol and a special thanks to Sakuya and 13arabba who actually paid for , along with the people on the discord, absolute madlads.
A commission by 13arabba who requested that Yuuna should take a break and relax, and what better way to relax than playing a fun little game?
Hurt and Comfort
It was just the average evening, well, as average of an evening that it would get for her that is. She doubts that others would spend their evening grinding for DP in what was essentially a separate dimension where farmable duelists would pop up every few minutes.
She watched as the Red Hat that she had just defeated dissipated into motes of light, and let out a huff as she deactivated her duel disk.
"I think I'll call it there today." She muttered, talking to herself aloud as she stretched her arms, though she was sure that she'll still feel a bit sore later, she was still sleeping after all.
She turned around and started walking to the realm's 'Exit', when she was stopped by the appearance of a blue box right in front of her field of view.
Hidden Quest!
"Hey Kid, you wanna play a Shadow Game?"
Play a certain 'Shadow Game', and reach an ending.
Rewards: The current 'Meta' pack of your old world will be unlocked. ?
Failure: ?
Play Now?
YES/NO
"What the-" She said as she stumbled back, the quest box's sudden appearance making her jump in place. She took a breath to calm herself down as she properly inspected the sudden quest that appeared before her.
"A… Quest? To play a shadow game of all things?" She frowned as she read the quest's prompt aloud, managing to put on a crooked smile as she finished reading it.
"A shadow game of all things? Are you really making my life more of a Gamer's journey kind of thing now of all times?" She said, the tone of snark unhidden for none but herself to hear as she pondered on the quest's sudden appearance.
"Why now?" She muttered. "I mean, surely there would have been better times for the System to give me these kinds of Quests. Was there some kind of requirement that I needed to fulfil for it to appear like this?"
She didn't know, and quite frankly, she didn't have enough time to actually figure it out as well.
But…"If this works like how this dimension works, then I wouldn't actually be using that much time to play whatever Shadow Game it wants me to play. And it certainly isn't Yu-Gi-Oh! By the looks of it. An actual Shadow Game like this… this is some Season 0 kind of thing isn't it?"
She closed her eyes as she let out a sigh and massaged her temple. "But well… it's not like I'm not good at other games… I just haven't been playing anything else but this card game for years at this point."
She opened an eye and glanced at the reward's list, and couldn't help but groan as she placed her head in her hands. "But a reward like that… I mean, I'm still stuck with XYZ Monsters anyway, what are the chances that that's the kind of deck that the pack would even have? It could be Links, Synchros, Fusion or even main deck focused. At this point I wouldn't even be surprised if they made another summoning method."
She took the time to consider all of the possibilities, of what a pack of what her old world currently considered 'meta' could even hold.
And considering how this world, in relative to her old one, was extremely slow in releasing 'new' cards and developing their 'meta game', she could only dread what her old world currently considered a good deck in comparison, let alone a top tier one.
"I'm probably going to regret this aren't I?" She said with a groan, taking a deep breath as she opened her eyes again and faced the blue translucent box before her, a hand raised to click the appropriate response.
"I mean, it's just a game right? What's the worst that could happen?" She said, unknowingly jinxing herself as her finger tapped the option of her choice.
Play Now?
YES
And her vision went blank.
When she opened her eyes again, it was to see a whole different place than the usual Duel Dimension that she usually inhabited.
In its place was what she would describe as a regular living room, a counter filled an assortment of snacks and drinks (drinks she vaguely noticed, something that she hasn't seen in quite a bit since reincarnating, mostly due to her current age if anything), a large and comfortable sofa (which she finds later could be puller out and turned into a bed.). a door with a 'toilet' sign above it, and lying right in its center was a comfortable padded gaming chair, facing a computer.
She immediately noticed the lack of weight in her left arm, and saw, to her immediate panic, that her duel disk and its accompanying deck was gone.
Suffice to say, her first few minutes were spent panicking over their disappearance. Searching from top to bottom on where they could possibly be, and if it was hidden somewhere inside of this room.
After half an hour of searching and finding nothing, she sat on the room's one chair and leaned back on it. "You're not going to give it back until I reach an 'ending' in this game are you?" She grumbled aloud to her System, yet received nothing in response.
She sighed, massaging her tired eyes as she leaned forwards to grab the computer's mouse as her other hand hovered over the keyboard. "Fine then, I'll reach an ending on this Fear and Hunger game as fast as I can."
Thus began her several hours journey of finishing a game that she was, evidently, not very good at.
"A character select screen? Oh, four options huh. Hm, I don't really know what any of them can do, but man that looks like a berserker and seems to hit hard probably could clear the game quickly. Unga bunga it is."
"This is… ah, an explanation on their backstory then. And my choices affect their status and skills I presume? That's quite neat, I guess… What does Panophobia mean?"
"And now it actually starts, a classic RPG Maker look I see. I suppose I'm supposed to just explore and find stuff in the entrance? Oh, barrels seem to have some stuff in them."
"Why did I hear dogs barking?"
"WHAT THE-THOSE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE DOGS?!"
"Coin flip? You-this game really decides things with a damned coin flip?! What is this Cup of Ace simulator!?"
"Oh. Oh dear. I'm just dead? Like that? It's an instant kill? Yep, I'm just dead… so it's that kind of game huh?"
"Alright, new plan, just get the stuff and go straight inside. Easy. Done. Did not waste any time."
"And that's a whole new monster roaming around here. Some kind of orc? Probably shoul-WHAT IN THE ACTUAL-"
"Oh. Oh dear. I'm-both legs gone, I see. Oh I have to crawl out of whatever this is huh. How quaint. Definitely not going to throw up anytime soon, don't worry."
"And that, is a floating head. A very graphic floating head."
"It's doing what now."
"OH DEAR LORD-"
"Yep, uhuh. Please. Thank you. Good, this one should be the censored version. God I'm not going to get that image out of my head for a while aren't I?"
"Okay. Okay, so fighting might not be the best option. Especially with how everything seems to have an instant kill based on a darned coin flip. I'm going to have to spend a lot of time actually figuring out how the game works aren't I? Isn't there a guide that I can look up somewhere? No?"
"..."
"Well, fuck you too I guess."
"Oh sure, so getting good items also needs to be determined by a coin flip huh? What is this, a game for LukeVonKarma subs!?"
"Wait there was a door there the entire time?! I could have just gone here instead of running away from that freaking Guard all the time?! Are you kidding me!?"
"Oh you mother-it missed again!? Is head shots not how you're supposed to beat the enemies?!"
"Aim for the legs huh, go for the legs. Can't really move much if you un-leg them. HOW IS THAT INTUITIVE GAME DESIGN?!"
"A piece of paper? You can write on it?"
"..."
"There's probably some hidden lore that shows what I was supposed to write that gives me an immediate win isn't there? God this game sucks."
"Why You-Insta killed AGAIN!? MOTHER FU-"
"You know what, I need a drink. A drink drink. I don't care if I'm technically underaged. I'm getting myself a drink."
"A girl? Is she like a party member that I could recruit? Oh I need to do a whole fetch quest first huh? How original. Ugh. She better be worth it."
"..."
"Oh she can't even attack can she? She's an item mule? Or what was it called, an item monkey? Is she plot relevant? Ugh, better than nothing I guess."
"What the-Book of Fears? What is this? Oh just lore stuff I guess. I'll just skim it, probably filled with flavor text and all that. Probably won't matter that much anyways."
"Oh, well, Panophobia huh. Wasn't that the thing that my character has? A fear of… everything?! Seriously!?"
"Does this even matter for the game? Wait, is facing the enemies supposed to be this hard or was it just because of panophobia?"
"..."
"Well I haven't even gotten far anyway right? I-I might as well just restart and play a new character too. Might as well, right?"
"I have no idea what teratophobia is but it's probably better than a fear of freaking everything."
"Ah, nope. Game's still just as hard. Just my luck."
It's already been several hours at this point, and she was most certainly not making any progress at all.
In her frustrations, she's already made a mess of the room. She'd already thrown the pillows that were in the sofa around, there's some plastic wraps from some snacks she found in the room just laying about, and several emptied cans of drinks that teens her age shouldn't be drinking.
She wouldn't have considered them at all if this place wasn't some kind of spiritual dimension kind of thing, but since it was, any sorts of inhibitions were out of the door.
"This is impossible. This is literally just me slamming my head onto a wall." She groaned, hands over her tired eyes. She's been staring at the computer screen for hours at this point, she already lost count on how many times she's restarted the game.
Quite frankly, she was tired. If she could just stop for a bit-
Take a break and return to the real world?
YES/NO
"Oh of course you show up now don't you?!" She screamed, throwing an empty can to the blue screen that appeared right before her, watching it pass through the nonexistent translucent screen as it pinged off of the wall and clattered onto the floor.
"..." She sat down, leaning as much as she could on the chair as she closed her eyes and calmed herself down. "Yea, I'm going to take that break now." And chose YES for her option.
Take a break and return?
YES
She whited out.
When she opened her eyes, it was to the usual white ceiling of her apartment.
But what was not usual, however, was the giant blue box that was right at her face.
Hidden Quest Paused
"Hey Kid, you wanna play a Shadow Game?"
Play a certain 'Shadow Game', and reach an ending.
Rewards: The current 'Meta' pack of your old world will be unlocked, ?
As you have not finished the Hidden Quest, you receive a demerit of facing a Phobia that could be met on the game.
Teratophobia
Fear of Monsters and Malformations
[23.55.36]
She silently stared at the System's announcement as it slowly disappeared, the timer that she had been shown slowly going down even as it was gone as her mind caught up to what exactly that meant.
"OH YOU MOTHER-"
Quest!
Go Out and Duel I
Go out into the world and have a duel! (0/1)
Rewards: 150.000DP, Hint to clear the Hidden Quest "Hey Kid, you wanna play a Shadow Game?"
Failure: DP Loss.
Teratophobia
Fear of Monsters and Malformations
[20.45.47]
She stared at the screen that had appeared as she went out of her apartment, her head turning left and right as she checked around her, before she started walking to her usual haunts.
She realized, that this fear demerit that she was currently under was extremely annoying. Mostly because whenever she sees any monster card she would cringe and her body physically recoils. Barring the specific exceptions of pure Beasts, Zombies, and for some reason Spellcasters.
But it wasn't that bad. If it was just cringing and flinching like this then she could most certainly handle it. She's muffled her reactions before, she had experience in HR and customer service, this'll be fine.
Now if she wanted to finish this darned quest and get a hint on this freaking hidden quest, she could just duel on the Duel Dimension, but nooooo, it just had to be a duel with an actual person.
Which was, simply put, extremely annoying.
So she did her best to quell whatever feelings she had and challenged a random person that was looking for a duel to, well, a duel. And with her 'restriction' being what it was, she decided to just play a deck that she already had.
And so that was how she ended up with several set cards and a special summoned Eldlich on her field, watching as her opponent summoned a number of mechanical monsters, all of which made her cringe as they were summoned, though in the back of her mind she figured out that they were playing a 3-axis deck. A Level 3 focused Geargia deck for some reason.
"You think you can just challenge me like that?! Well I'll XYZ Summon Number 34: Terror-Byte!"
And the gigantic yellow and blue mechanical monster appeared, its green horn shining as electricity emitted from it, the shining purple 34 on its right side shining as it was summoned.
"!" And in response to the gigantic XYZ Monster's presence, she was frozen in fear.
She had thought that this wouldn't be as bad. She basically practiced readying herself before the duel. She could look at the cards that weren't just Beasts, Zombies, and Spellcasters easily.
But then, having them be projected like this with solid vision? Seeing them be real and knowing that it was near her, could reach towards her and there's more than zero chance that she would have to face it if it were to attack directly?
Nope.
Nopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenope.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD NO!
"KUKUKU! YES! TREMBLE IN FEAR IN THE FACE OF MY NUMBER-" The maddened teen cackled and monologued before her, all while the gigantic monstrosity beside him seemed to loom over her, growing larger and larger and consuming her entire vision.
NONONONONONONOSHENEEDSTODEALWITHTHISTHINGRIGHTHEREANDNOW!
She scrambled to her duel disk and all but shouted. "I'll activate the Continuous Trap Conquistador of the Golden Land summoning itself as a Normal Monster and since I have 'Eldlich of the Golden Lord' I destroy your XYZ Monster!" She hastily explained, hoping to whatever god it was up there that he had no interaction of the sort to stop its activation.
"Wha-" The teen gasped with shock, not chaining anything to the activation of Conquistador.
Having explained the Trap Monster's effect hurriedly, she did the same as she quickly summoned the ghoulish conquistador, scrambling to move the card from her spell and trao zone to her duel blade, even forgetting to summon it in defence position, and with a swing of their weapon, empowered by the golden lord's presence, the newly summoned XYZ Monster was immediately destroyed.
She was still panicking even after that, the sheer sight of the Number monster still burning in her eyes and echoing in her mind even with it off the field and her opponent flailing as he wasted all his resources for nothing and ending his turn.
After all that, she did her damned best to end the game on that very turn, hurriedly getting enough bodies and attack points onto the field to deal lethal damage and end the game.
She never intended to find random Numbers, but she'll take what she could get. She took the Number card from the now unconscious opponent, almost dropping it as she got it in her hand, and immediately banishing it to her inventory to not deal with it.
"..." She took a deep breath, in, and out. A notification appeared right in front of her, one that she ignored in favor of greeting the girl that was homing in towards her.
"Ah, hey everyone." She said with a small wave and a shaky smile. Something that Anna immediately noticed as the smile on her face turned into a frown.
"Hey… Yuuna." She said slowly, glancing down at the unconscious teen in front of her. "Was that-"
"Another Number's possessed? Yes." She answered quickly.
"Huh. Guess that's that." The cherry haired girl said with a shrug, before she got her groove back and closed in to her. "Anyway, look at what I found! There's this cool card-" Anna said as she took out a card from her duel disk and showed it to her, making her flinch as she saw it.
Something that she clearly did not miss. "Yuuna?" She called out. "Are you alright?"
"N-no, it's fine. Just-just a bit surprised is all." She said, clearly unconvincing with how everyone was giving her looks. The gigantic monster still lingered on the corner of her visions. Ever creeping. Ever watching. "I'm just, not feeling well, that's all. I think that duel took a lot from me." She said as an excuse.
"Really? Was this guy strong or something?" Anna said with a raised eyebrow, glancing down to the unconscious duelists that she had defeated before.
Act normal. Act normal. She needs to act normal. "Well… not really. I'm just…yeah, I'm just not feeling well that's all." She answered with a shaky smile. Something that made the cherry haired girl frown deepen.
"... Really? You sure?" The cherry haired girl asked again, inching closer to her as she placed a hand on her shoulder, and she flinched away from the touch, surprising both of them.
"I-sorry." She said, apologizing as she closed her eyes again, taking a deep breath and calming herself, remembering some of Sister Claire's teachings, deep breaths, in and out, before she opened her eyes again. "I'm fine now. We should probably get this guy some help first though."
"Right…" Anna said, still eyeing her warily while nodding, and several minutes later they were sitting on a bench somewhere, with the cherry haired girl still clearly watching over her with warry.
"So what's wrong with you?" She asked bluntly, and she flinched at the question. And seeing her reaction she did the same. "Shi-fu-hey, hey, it's alright, it's alright. It's-I've never seen you this jumpy before. Especially not after a duel." She said slowly, waiting for her to answer.
Yet no answer came, words still couldn't form from her mouth as she broke eye contact with Anna, her mouth forming shapes in an attempt to answer, but her voice stayed silent.
She can't, shouldn't-wouldn't want- there wasn't a need to burden everyone else with this. This was something that would only bother her and no one else, not to mention the whole debacle that they're trying to solve-there was no way that she could bother them with this mess that she put herself in.
"I-it's nothing really." She managed to utter out, then winced at how clearly unconvincing it was and the look that the cherry haired girl was giving her. "No I mean-it's not-it's nothing important." Nothing was more important than getting those horrid creatures out of her mind and vision.
"Well if it isn't that important then you'll gladly share it with me won't you?" Anna said with a frown as she crossed her arms, her eyes never leaving her out of their sights.
"I-really I'm just not feeling well Anna." She insisted again, not looking at the girl in question as her answers stayed the same. The monster was crawling at the edge of her vision. She felt a shiver run through her body at the thought of it.
With her friend clearly unconvinced she continued on prattling the excuse that comes off at the top of her head. "There was just-there's so much to do and I thought I had some time so I-then I couldn't get any sleep but I still needed to do and I-"
"Whoa whoa whoa, slow down there. I get it, I get it." Anna said, raising her hands in defence, sporting a grimace on her face. "But yeah, I guess I can see that. Yeah there's been a lot to do with all of these guys running around huh, you're also going out after them huh."
That brought on another problem that she has to solve, in addition to the whole problem that she had already put on herself too. But she doubled down. "Yeah. Yeah it's just, there's been a lot on my plate lately."
And wasn't that already a lot on her plate, and she put on more with this darned additional quest too?
"Ugh, I guess that's true huh. You should leave a bit more of the work for us!" The cherry haired girl said with a grin as she points towards herself, and then back at Mei and Allen who was carrying the unconscious teen while Sayaka hovered over them worriedly. "I mean, we're all on this together aren't we? And besides, we already promised to help with this too, yeah? You should probably get some rest."
"I-" She considered it, really considered it. If she went home she could get a rest, maybe spend some time actually getting things done with this darned sub quest.
But.
There were really too many things that she needed to do. And too little time to do them.
In the end she chose to stay. There were still things that she needed to do for the day before she could even head back to her apartment.
The answer was certainly not one that Anna wanted to hear, as the grin that she sprouted turned into a frown. She stared at her for a few moments before nodding her head. "... Sure. Just don't push yourself too far."
Anna kept her eyes at her for the entire day after that.
At the end of the day, she opted to spend as much time as possible not doing anything that involved duels. The monsters still wandered at the edge of her vision. She didn't even bother selling cards in the stores as she excused herself, saying that she wasn't feeling well and went back to her apartment.
She needed to clear this damned Hidden Quest. And fast.
With that thought, she opened back her System and saw the hint that she had gained from completing that single duel quest.
"..."
"Oh you-so THAT'S WHAT ALL THOSE COINS ARE FOR!?"
"Oh hey, another guy that I could recruit. Wait, wasn't he one of the playable characters? The rogue or something right? Oh he joined the party, neat.
"..."
"He just stole my stuff didn't he. God damn-"
"Oh we have cultist cultist in this game huh? Glad that I'm playing the censored version now. Bet the other one has more-"
"Wait, can I just… not fight the monsters?" was the thought that came to her at the heckling of the remnants of the phobia that she had acquired, though they don't affect her much in this place, the fear that those monsters had brought to her still lingered.
So she attempted a run where she just, ignored most encounters.
"..."
"Oh you mother fucker that's actually how you're supposed to play this damned game isn't it."
In the end, she couldn't quite take it as she paused the Quest again. Once more not managing to get even a single ending and finished the damned Quest. And once more, she woke up with a blue screen right in front of her.
Hidden Quest Paused
"Hey Kid, you wanna play a Shadow Game?"
Play a certain 'Shadow Game', and reach an ending.
Rewards: The current 'Meta' pack of your old world will be unlocked, ?
As you have not finished the Hidden Quest, you receive a demerit of facing a Phobia that could be met in the game.
Rhabdophobia
Fear of Magic and Spells
[23.54.26]
"I probably should care about what freaking phobia I end up with don't I." She said aloud with a scowl, dismissing the screen as another one took its place. Dread already pooling in her stomach at the thought of this new fear that now settled in on her mind.
Quest!
Go Out and Duel II
Go out into the world and have a duel! (0/2)
Rewards: 300.000DP, Hint to clear the Hidden Quest "Hey Kid, you wanna play a Shadow Game?"
Failure: DP Loss.
Rhabdophobia
Fear of Magic and Spells
[21.44.26]
"Oh not this again." She groaned.
She sighed, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. In and out. "Great. Rhabdophobia. Cool. cool cool cool. Magic and Spells? That just means Spellcasters and all that right? At least it's just 2 duels and nothing else." She said aloud to herself as she checked her inventory, hoping to see any kind of reactions and finding out that, yes, she visibly cringed when she saw Spellcasters.
But also Spell cards in general.
"Oh you-"
She later figured out that it also made her flinch away from pendulums. Half spells that they were.
With her now crippling fear of Spell cards in general, and Superheavy Samurai sadly not being an option for her to play with them being a Synchro heavy deck, and not many options for her to play with quite a lot of her decks relying on Spell cards, she decided to basically play what consists as Monster Mash. With a heavy trap line up. A deck made out of purely monsters and the occasional good stuff Trap cards.
The fact that she was basically playing an Edison deck did not escape her mind. It had brought a chuckle out of her, she could have played Sekka BA, or rather, Sekkaless Sekka BA, however that would work, and called it a day, if she actually had the cards.
And for some reason, for some ungodly reason as if it was just to spite her, monsters that equip themselves as Equip Spells also count as spells, so there went the whole idea of just playing Utopia. Not that she even could with how the deck uses Rank Up Spells.
So of course the random duelist that she randomly met on the street was one that was playing freaking Spellbook of all decks. Albeit he was playing it incredibly badly, what with his gameplan being apparently summoning Hierophant of Prophecy.
Because of course the day where she was hit with freaking Rhabdophobia was the same day that she found a random Spellbook player.
"Tch!" She clicked her tongue and grit her teeth, clamping down on the feeling of dread that came from inside her as she went and continued on with the game, a feeling that was slowly but surely creeping out more and more every time her opponent played their cards.
Thankfully she didn't have to deal with it for long, Hierophant of Prophecy wasn't a hard card to out, especially as she was all but playing a tool box deck with several outs already on hand. She simply just Compulsed it away before it could activate its effect, then just went to the Battle Phase and ended the game.
She took a deep breath as she excused herself from her opponent, a normal person who wasn't even Number Possessed, because of course those kinds of duelists exist too, and went to the bathroom to try and calm herself.
The second duel however? It was a deck that she could only explain as Norito turbo. What with the duelist doing everything in his power to summon Norito the Moral Leader of all things. Which, given that she wasn't playing any Spells in her deck, she could easily play around it and its effect, but an annoying one nonetheless.
Not that it stopped her hands from shaking just from its sheer presence. She couldn't stop herself from shaking, from the bile that rose close to her mouth.
"Ha! Look at you cowering in fear! Of course my great monster will easily-"
"I'll activate the trap, Torrential Tribute!" She shouted, flipping up one of the set cards that was behind her wall of monsters. "When a monster is summoned I can destroy all the monsters on the field!" She exclaimed hurriedly as she kept herself in check, refusing to look at the monster ahead of her and instead down at the cards that she had.
"Ha! You fool! I'll activate Norito's effect to negate the Trap-!"
"T-then I'll chain another one, Compulsory Evacuation Device and get rid of your monster!" She declared, chaining the two trap cards in quick succession to getitoffgetitoffgetitoffof the field.
And bless the fact that Norito's Spell Trap negation effect was once per turn, a soft once per turn, but a once per turn nonetheless. The chain soon resolved and the monster was removed from the field, leaving her opponent stuttering with nothing they could do against her field of monsters. A quick concession was the end of the game.
"..." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. In. And out. Doing her best to not panic, and admittedly failing. The form of the XYZ Monster and all of the Spellcasters still remained on her mind. The spells that he had played still lingered at the edge of her vision.
Something that the audience noticed, said audience being none other than a cherry haired hard headed girl who was eyeing her with concern, not that she would notice at her current state.
She ignored her. Took. A deep breath. In. And. Out. She needed to calm down first. In. Out. Come on just like Sister Claire had taught her. BE. CALM.
"Yuuna-" She jumped as she heard someone call her name, getting her out of her trance. And she turned to see a very concerned looking Anna, along with the others. Myu, Sayaka, and Allen who were sharing the same look as her.
A look that made her feel even worse as her frown deepened at seeing her reaction. With Myu and Sayaka shaking a look between themselves, even Allen looked concerned.
"Are you alri-"
"I'm fine!" She shouted, shocking everyone and even herself at her own voice. "I-I'm fine." She said again, refusing to meet their eyes. Ones that were no doubt filled with worry. She couldn't handle it, she couldn't. Doing two duels back to back against Spellcasters was too much.
She shifts her gaze away from her friends, thinking up a good excuse, when her sight beholds the duel some younger kids are in the middle of. In response to an attack, one of them goes-
"I'll flip Scapegoat, and get four scapegoats! You can't hit me now!"
Indeed, it was quite the wall, with Berry Magician Girl in attack mode and giggling as she pets the fluffy goat tokens. Her stomach turns. Her head feels light.
Yet the duel continued, and the singular spellcaster on the field incants, "Shablagoo!" and waves her staff, making it rattle. Berries pop into existence in front of the goats, and they gratefully indulge!
The sight of it is enough to almost make her scream. Almost. She cuts off the yelp with a hand to her mouth, then hugs her arms and shivers. Muttering under her breath, "by what fresh hell does a baby gain that power. what bargain was struck, was it all implanted by another magician as a lark or is it some fruity flavor of anti-christ incarnated in an innocent's body?"
Elsewhere, many elsewheres, three boys with Tomato, Banana, and Eggplant hair feel an itch on their respective yet identical noses.
"And how many goats were slaughtered for it?!" she hisses. ...then, she looks over at her friends, who regard her with similarly spooked looks on their faces.
An awkward silence befell them, with the four of them staring at her warily. Worriedly.
"Sorry. I got to go." She said.
"Yuuna-"
"I'm sorry but I-I have to go. Please don't worry about me!" She hastily said to Anna and the others and ran away, her heart still pumping extremely quickly from the duel and multitude of Spells and Spellcasters that she had had to face throughout the two duels. Their images are still clear in her mind. Still clear.
She runs off, and as she does, she hears. "Dang, that girl really doesn't like misplays!" Then her friends helpfully explain how Berry Magician Girl and Scapegoat don't mesh to the younger kids.
She doesn't need to worry them more than they already are. She needs to get this clear and finished as soon as possible. As fast as she could.
She couldn't help but still see them everywhere. At every corner. At every turn. The monsters that she had fought and vanquished still remained. Even with the duel being done. Even with all the holograms having disappeared.
They. Were. Still. There.
And though she really hasn't done much, she was calling it a day. There was no way that she could do anything at this state.
Her mind wandered, as she arrived at the place that she called home. The apartment that was her safe haven.
What even was the point of rhabdophobia even. Who was insane enough to actually be fearful of things like wizards and spellcasters and their spells, things that much to her understanding doesn't even exist in the first place in her original world.
But the thought then spiraled, because in this kind of infinite universe, where a world of card games exists, then surely spells and magic exists, along with their casters.
Then what exactly does that mean? Because magic and spells are more often than not the harbingers of disasters, it's why the term witch and warlocks are usually used in negative connotations more often than not. How their arts are a rejection of the natural order of the world. How they so easily pierces the barrier of reality.
Such were the kind of magic that would come to the front of her mind. Not just the kind that shoots a bal of fire or controls the elements, because none of those could harm her in the rules of this world. But magic has always been able to bend the laws and rules of nature haven't they?
What's stopping a magician from just sniping her for no reason at all from another universe? Just for the fun of it?
The thought sent shivers down her spine, and she further dug herself under the covers of her bed. Yet unwilling to close her eyes and sleep.
She wants to think of something, anything else, yet unlike her previous phobia that she had to deal with yesterday, the spellcasters and their implications persist at the forefront of her mind.
What does the Spellbooks mean then? Aliester himself lorewise is all but a war criminal if nothing else, the worst of the worst who would sacrifice himself for eldritch knowledge and power, yet the Spellbooks too were bending the laws of the cosmos for their pursuit of 'knowledge'.
What would they do to gain it? What had they done to gain it? What were even their goals beyond gaining knowledge and hoarding it for themselves? The pursuit of knowledge might have been paved with good intentions at the start, but she saw nothing but unquenching greed with her current eyes.
They were just the same as the Academia weren't they? Destroying everything for a vague goal. Untrustworthy power hungry maniacs who does anything for their goal.
And their spells-she had tried to ignore them, to not put them in her peripheral thoughts, but they caught up with her, and the first ever playable combo starter came to the forefront of her mind.
Monster Reborn.
It was just a simple Spell really, an incredibly generic combo extender that was one of the first playable spell cards of the game. One that her opponent had had and used to go into the XYZ Monster in her previous duel.
Yet, the implications remained on her mind.
Death. Rebirth. A re-summon. Summoning back the dead without even their consent. Perhaps it was because she had gone through something similar, but it had stuck with her. A gross violation of the natural order of life and death.
It made her feel dirty. Gross. The mere thought that she could be the same-
She mumbled silent prayers, ones that Sister Claire had taught to her as a child, crumbling into a ball under the heavy blankets and thoughts of Solemns burning condemned witches.
When she opened her eyes, she was in the plain room of the Duel World, the computer shining from the table where it sat.
Her thoughts were clear, the effect of rhabdophobia no longer lingering in her mind.
She promptly collapsed into herself once more.
Yet. She still read the prize that she got for completing the quest as she was sprawled on her apartment. Not daring to close her eyes to find darkness where they laid watching.
"So that's what you were supposed to write on those darned papers, damn it, this is actually useful."
But that mere tidbit wasn't merely the end of it, if anything it was just the beginning.
For her reward also entertained her, with hints of reaching an ending.
"I-I know that I could probably save the key for another door but… ugh, I'll save the girl again. An item's person is always good to have too, I guess."
"That's just-well as if I wasn't having nightmares about this game already. Here's a biblically accurate Harpy Lady."
"Finally. Let's get this darned Legard and kill his a-aaaand he's dead. Dude's already dead."
"..."
"I spent… How many hours, going through this damned dungeon filled with horrific creatures to find this one man and kill him… and he doesn't even give me the satisfaction of killing him?!"
"..."
"I have to go back all the way to the start don't I. Mother fu-"
"OH COME ON! I WAS SO CLOSE-!"
"Okay, this'll be it. The run. I'll do it here. I don't care what kind of fear or phobia I have, I'll finish this damned game on this freaking run."
"I just freaking hope that that damned demerit isn't gonna be left after all of this is done. God if I end up with something like Panaphobia I would just lock myself in my apartment for the entire day."
"This… is this… this is the kind of-what even."
No words could truly describe the feeling that she harbored, as she watched her character drag himself in a plain of darkness, while a newly born eldritch entity hovered over them.
After everything that she's been through-after all of the things that she had done to get here-this was how the story ends? An unsatisfying death? After all that?
Yet it seemed to be the case, as the final battle against someone that was once her party member turned eldritch deity. A fight that was destined to fail.
Such betrayal, even after she had gone out of her way to free her companion from that cage. Even gave her a doll. Even refrained from selling her off to the nightmarish NPCS for a boon. See if she'll be that nice again- okay too far.
And the only thanks she gets for her efforts is a merciless death, in spite of her struggle... or was it the other way around? That the only mercy to be found in this was the end of struggle? of fear? of hunger?
Yet the screen says it all, echoing this sentiment. Written in all black. Ending A - "The god of fear & hunger", the game's own title drop appearing at the end.
Then the screen faded to black. And the computer died on its own, showing her own reflection.
She didn't know how many hours she'd spent trying to reach even a singular ending in this damned game. She's already taken several breaks already, taken a nap or two, and even a full bath as she tried to cope with her disability of clearing the damn game.
Oh but by no means did it mean that she was prim and proper, if anything she was more disheveled than ever. Sitting and staring at a glowing computer screen for hours on end would do that to a person. She'd know. She'd just done something like that after all.
Her hair was frazzled, red jacket was thrown out somewhere in the room, leaving her only in her white dress shirt that was wrinkled from her constant movement of her leaping from the chair everytime something unfair happens, like every time a COIN FLIP-
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, relishing in managing to complete a single ending and finally going to be released from this hellish torment.
And just as she had thought, a blue screen appeared right before her.
Hidden Quest Completed!
"Hey Kid, you wanna play a Shadow Game?"
Play a certain 'Shadow Game', and reach an ending.
Rewards: The current 'Meta' pack of your old world will be unlocked, ?
Continue and reach another Ending?
YES/NO
She didn't even need to think twice to press her choice. Not even bothering to care to see anything else that she should care about from this damned quest.
Continue and reach another Ending?
NO
And she whited out.
When she woke up, she immediately leapt out of her bed as the lights assaulted her. She awoke in her bed, yet she still feels tired.
A glowing blue screen appeared before her, yet she ignored it, instead deciding to go back to sleep properly this time.
It was too bright, too sunny, too cold, every corner of her apartment was different, dangerous, scary.
She bit down the scream that almost escaped her (and oh God did she want to scream), and hurriedly closed the blinds of the window, but that made it worse because now it's dark, with no light, and anything could hide in the darkness.
She ran to the bathroom, slamming the door on her way in, the sound ringing on her ears as she could hear her pounding heart. She needed something-anything to calm her down-her mind immediately drifted to the sound of running water, so she turned on the tap.
But that didn't calm her down. The sound of running water seemed to almost drown her ears, she immediately turned it off. The faucet let out small drips as it was closed, droplets of water slowly falling off from it.
She raised her hands over her eyes, were they even her's to begin with? She closed her eyes-toodarktoodarktoodark- and opened them again. Sighing as she simply laid on the bathroom door. "W-what is-" Before she could even finish her sentence, a giant blue screen appeared before her.
This, is what a heart attack might feel like, she thinks.
Hidden Quest Completed!
"Hey Kid, you wanna play a Shadow Game?"
Play a certain 'Shadow Game', and reach an ending.
Rewards: The current 'Meta' pack of your old world will be unlocked.
It was done.
She was done.
And yet why doesn't it feel that way?
The ringing of her duel disk made her jump, just as everything else has today. Her hand came out from the covers, hurriedly reaching out towards the item in question and grasping it, pulling it close to her ear-butnottoocloseneverclosenevernevernever-and accepted the call
"Hey Yuuna!" Anna's voice resounded throughout her duel disk, and a feeling of dread pooled on her stomach as she heard her.
"Y-yeah?" She meekly responded, hands
"You okay there? You sound pretty bad?"
She let out a weak chuckle, burrowing deeper into the small futon that she was hiding under. "Haha… yea, its oh, uh, I was playing a game last night, got in my head. Nothing important really. Haha…"
This was, most certainly, not worth the packs that she got.
No, no, it'll be fine, she'll just hole up for the whole day until this darn Panaphobia gets dispelled, easy. She'll lose a whole day's worth of work, but it's not something that she couldn't come back from. In fact, if the new pack that she got is actually really good, she could maybe even farm faster.
"..." The line was silent for a good few seconds, a dreaded silence, before she could hear shuffling from the other side, making her jump. "I'm coming over."
And that made her heart fall.
"Wha-"
"Nope. Shush. I'm coming over and you can't stop me. You better open the door when I come or I'll bust through it. I'll see you in a few minutes." And with that threat looming over her, Anna hung up the call, and she could only feel a feeling of dread.
She let out a meep, as she hid under the covers again. Hoping that the day would just end.
But it didn't, of course. Her existence continues.
Much to her dismay, Anna wasn't the only one who came to check on her. Allen, Myu, and Sayaka were also with her in tow.
And she did her best to give them a smile, strained though it was, and gave some excuse to go out and get some food. And that's how they ended up in a fast food place named Duel Fuel.
"Alright, be honest." Anna said as she slammed her tray on the table. Shaking the food and almost toppling the drinks that it carried as she eyed her critically. "What's wrong with you lately? You haven't been "
"Nothing?" She said, and everyone stared at her with doubt. Clearly noticing her lies.
"Well I… I guess I-I've just been playing too many games… there was just something that I had to do for the last couple of days and I got tired I guess. Haha…" She trailed off with a laugh, refusing to meet eye contact with them.
But she still eyed them, from the corner of her eyes.
Were they even friends? Were they even her friends? Considering how the world was based on an interpretation of an animated media, was this all even real?
Was everything even real? What if it was all just a simulation, hiding something. Something darker. Something sinister. If something like duel spirits exists, and wasn't that something already, and God was a thing too, then what's stopping more eldritch things from existing?
Was what she was doing even matters? Was something else controlling her decisions? Her movements? A higher power above her?
"-una! Hey Yuuna! You listening?" Anna's call snapped her off of her thoughts. Her mind that had drifted and wandered once more centered itself to the world, and saw the worried looks that the cherry haired girl was giving her. "Are you alright? You were zoning out there?"
"I-" She opened her mouth, about to give reassuring words to comfort their worries, but the words died in her mouth as she saw the look of genuine concern that they were all giving her.
If… if she lied here then… Well, this wasn't that big of a deal anyway wasn't it? Sure she was currently wary of anything and everything currently, always eyeing the dark corners of the room with undulated horror, but it wasn't bothering anyone else was it?
But it was. The clear worry that everyone was showing her clearly showed that it was bothering them all too.
"I'm just tired." She said truthfully. Tired of everything. Tired of this life that she led. Of this universe created by an unworldly being and those who watch for amusement. Of the caricatures that live beside her.
Hands limping on the table, the food that was in front of her untouched by the fear of what would happen if she were to put something like it into her mouth. "I-I've just been awake for too long I guess. I should probably go to back to b-" RRRRRRRRRGGHH!
She nearly faints at the rumbling of what she can only imagine is a starving beast, but with what little strength she has in store she wills herself into fight or flight. Her eyes dart around for any exits, any danger looming near her or her friends, and where in the shadows this threat could be-
"Yuuna."
She doesn't look at whoever is speaking, it was Anna who was speaking, she pieces together, it's a distraction whatever it is because she is the only one aware of the threat to their lives, but maybe Anna is aware and is offering her take, best to get on the same page then! So while looking an injured animal, she opens her mouth to say, "Wha-"
A ball of rice gets shoved into her mouth.
She coughs, and brought up her arms to repel the invading hand, but no purchase is made. Her arms simply do not have the strength.
Anna brings her other hand up to Yuuna's jaw, and presses. "Chew."
And she does, biting down onto the flavorless grain- okay it's a bit more flavorful than she first thought. But what if she catches some disease from the unknown filling, she didn't see it get made-
Anna places a hand on Yuuna's head, and sits her ass down. She then rubs her throat. "Swallow it down."
Once again she complies, not seeing much choice otherwise.
Then, it hits her.
She blinks, and her eyes move with a liveliness not fueled by adrenaline. Her breaths come easier, and the world appears more colorful.
It occurs to her that for the past few days, not only was she fearful, she was also hungry. She closes her eyes and thinks about why this is, after all she made sure to get plenty of snacks while playing the game-
Ah.
"The dream food doesn't carry over to the waking world, you gotta be kidding me," she grouses under her breath.
Her friends all share looks with one another, but once more Anna takes charge. "You really have just been working too much haven't you? You really have to take better care of yourself. What if we didn't notice before something happened," She said softly, her hand moving and holding her hand. At first she almost flinched away from the touch, but held herself just enough not to.
Her senses now making a comeback, Yuuna faintly recognizes how warm Anna's hand is. As her eyelids grew heavy, she whispered aloud. "Yeah… from now on I'll be sure to rest on a full stomach."
Heh, reminds her of the game, where she met her end in the gut of a dead god, and the girl began anew as a godly being.
She wondered when this simulacra of the world, when this play of which she danced upon, would end as she began to close her eyes.
She wondered, if the 'characters' who danced on the palm of gods in this stage even realize the strings attached to them.
"Achoo!" "Achoo!" "Achoo!"
The purple haired girl stopped as she turned and raised an eyebrow to her three companions, sighing as she took a handkerchief and gave it to her ponytailed friend. "Seriously, this is what you all get from staying awake too long. You'll all catch a cold."
To Mei's chastisement Ruri gave an embarrassed nod, Yuto gave a sheepish grin, while Serena merely shrugged her shoulders and accepted the given handkerchief, all responses that made her let out a sigh and shake her head.
"Seriously, all of you… you're all really no better than my sister you know?"
"Achoo!"
And in a land, far, far away, someone sneezed. "Ugh, the air in here is just terrible." Said the purple haired teen as she briskly walked through a beaten path. Houses that were once beautiful and lived in are laid in ruins.
He truly wishes that he could be somewhere else. His garden would have been a perfect place to spend the day without worrying about all this dust and the stench of the air around here.
And yet, here he was, walking as Reiji's very own test dummy for the new and improved solid vision in what was essentially a warzone. Even the opponents that he was told to fight against weren't much.
A one man army, against a group of dueling terrorists who stood no chance after their leader was defeated, and chose to run.
Footsteps told him of his target's locations, and he pursued.
He searches for targets, like a predator searching for prey, going off the sensors in his former academia duel disk, a choice as it had the technology for carding that Reiji still wants to find a way around, yet had to agree was the most effective way of subduing their current enemies, and saw them running off.
Yet, curiosity came to him. This was one of the houses with still standing doors, and he wondered what could still be inside.
So he opened it. and ends up finding a starving hooded girl hiding in a ruined building.
"Well now." He began as the girl shrinked into herself. "This certainly wasn't what I had thought would happen."