"You have been chosen!"
A voice boomed in her ears.
And suddenly her vision was filled with colors, and she felt her body hit the soft earth.
Once the world stopped spinning and after letting loose an incoherent string of curses, she sat up and looked around. "What in the…"
She was… in a water canal? A Japanese style water canal, with a city in front of her, city behind her, and… some kind of stadium? Out in the bay.
"Okay, obviously I've been isekai'd, spot check…" She said as she patted herself down. "Oh! …Later." On her person, she had… her clothes (a hoodie, shorts, slides), her phone (which wasn't turning on), and… a deck box?
She opened it in confusion, and only got more confused.
They were… Yugioh cards?
Yugioh cards, but without any of the identifiers she would associate with them- no copyrights, no serial numbers, no… logo… no sleeves… And they were surprisingly tough…
She took out and held up the front card of the deck, Darklord Ixchel, and looked at it under the sunlight.
And she must be tired as she swore that the card blinked at her.
"O…kay, Yugioh Isekai… but I don't have a duel disk…" She realized as she got to her feet and looked around again, looking up at the stadium in a new light. "...Is that the Kaibadome? I hope that's the Kaibadome." She said, looking for the nearest bridge… and seeing someone sitting on the railing. "Oh that don't look safe…" She said, power walking towards that bridge in particular.
Though sadly when she came to the spot, whoever had been sitting there was gone- though she didn't hear a splash, so that was probably a good thing.
She could admit, it was a nice view of the clear, sparkling water… and to her right, now that she didn't have her back to it, she could see a truly massive skyscraper in the distance. Though it was… kind of a funny shape, more like a chess piece than a proper obelisk-shape- more Space Needle than Empire State, but not that absurd.
"Huh… neat." She said, looking back down the other side of the bridge and then back towards that side, to see if there was anything else noteworthy.
Or any signs.
She hadn't seen any signs she could read yet (wait, she wasn't wearing her glasses, how was- awesome).
People were moving now in the ever-constant throng of a busy city. Going off the sun, must have been lunchtime or so, so that tracked.
"Well… shoot, where do I go now…" She considered it for a moment, before shrugging, pulling out her deck, and shuffling.
"Alright, cartomancy, don't fail me now, reverse is left and we are going…!" Ukoback, good this was a proper Darklord deck, and it's reversed (well, head pointing down, as reversed as she could get without a table). "Left it is." She said before stowing the deck and beginning to walk, hands in her hoodie pocket and keeping her meager possessions secured.
She got off the walking bridge and headed into the left side of the city, which was a mix of neighborhoods, stores and other shops.
As expected from a Japanese city.
And it was a Japanese City going by the kanji she was currently seeing on a worn out poster that was hanging on a wall.
One that she could perfectly read, with it advertising a place called the 'You Show Duel School'.
Wait, maybe this wasn't Yugioh.
The man on the poster had solid black hair!
She laughed to herself at the stupid joke. "Well, this seems like a sign… the metaphorical kind."
And it did have an address, which revealed that she was currently in Maiami City.
"...'Mai'-'ami'..." A sinking feeling fell in her gut. "Oh god, I'm in Japanifornia!"
That broke the daze she'd been in since waking up as she turned and slumped against the wall, the gravity of her situation hitting her.
"Okay, okay, so we're in another world, in a world that runs off Sports Anime Logic mixed with a heavy dose of Horror… I have no money, no id, no duel disk…" She pulled out the deck box and opened it once more, Ixchel at the bottom to face her despite having shuffled it. "And I have my favorite archetype… okay, not that bad, actually, I can probably duel some people for cash… once I have a disk…"
She stayed there for another moment before standing up and closing her deckbox with a snap, brushing herself off, and looking at the poster. "Okay, duel school's gotta be the best place to go. Let's see here…" She said, looking at the address and burning it into her mind. "Now, just gotta find it…"
And with that, she took off and thankfully she found what looked to be a plaza hub, going by all the people and buildings with advertisements playing on the big screen.
"If you wish to be as magnificent a duelist as me, Strong Ishijima, the Sledgehammer, join Leo Corporation's Duel School, the LDS and one day become champion!" A man who looked more like he belonged in a bodybuilder competition than a children's card game with magenta hair done up into a 'crown' of three drills aimed to pierce the heavens and some facepaint for good measure, said on a screen.
"Well, that means I'm not in Zechsal… I think…" She said as she noted the lack of augmented reality scouters on the advertisements and the people around her.
More importantly, there was a helpful map station-thing with a big 'you are here' on it that she could use to find the You Show Duel School.
She briefly considered the clear competition of LDS, but decided that Strong looked more like Viper than Crowler so she would take her chances with the scrappy underdogs by comparison.
That cheerful thought in mind, she traced her path to YSD, which was… reasonably close, an hour long walk maybe (once she mentally converted the kilometers to miles), as she realized this was not any city she was used to.
As Maiami City, the Paradise City, as the ads kept calling it, was clearly a walkable city with the people first in mind.
Meaning she probably wasn't in 5D's, either.
…Unless this was the doomed future timeline, but she didn't see any flying cars so she doubted it.
With a shrug, she began walking, taking in the sights as she went.
And surprisingly saw a critical lack of dueling.
In fact, she couldn't see any duels happening at all, at least nearby, which… maybe made sense? This was a more residential area, after all, and with an arena as big as that Kaibadome it was clearly a big thing.
And this definitely was Yugioh, because Strong was talking about it, and she was seeing a lot of merch.
Themed cafes, plushies, and even a street vendor or two with archetype-branded shirts and… 'Singles on Sale'?
Curiously, she walked up to one of the carts. "Uh, suememasen, what are these?" She asked, deliberately playing up her accent to sound like a foreigner, pointing to the singles. "My kanji is not very jankey-desu."
"Tourists. Sing-les, one card you can buy for combo deal, with menu," He answered in stilted English, pointing to the food menu.
"Oh thank you very much, like I said I'm not very good at reading Kanji, but I'm pretty decent at speaking Japanese." She said in perfect Japanese with exemplary politeness.
The face of the cart owner took on an interesting shade of red.
"Thank you very much, have a great day~!" She said with a polite bow and a wide smile before walking off with a spring in her step.
So that confirmed a few things for her.
One, she was in fact speaking Japanese, but could mess with whatever auto-translation was going on by focusing on it.
Two, individual cards were valued, but not necessarily valued highly. Probably commons, then, if rarity mattered at all here.
She really hoped she had a Ghost Rare Darklord to flex on people. Maybe Lucy?
A bit of walking after that, she finally found it.
The 'You Show Duelschool', which looked like it was designed by a child in the best way possible.
Glass bridge then went nowhere, massive long slide from the second floor, 'hovering' spiral staircase leading to the second floor, rock climbing walls…
It was honestly like a grown-up sized playground.
"Well this is my kind of place!" She said excitedly as she walked up to the green door in the blue tube thing, which automatically opened up to a short elevator. With a shrug, she got on and rode it up.
And the door opened up to a front desk area where a man wearing a blazing tracksuit sat at a holographic computer screen, his eyes moving and landing on her as the door closed.
"Hallo!" She said with a little wave.
"...Hello, to you too young miss," He replied, sounding very confused by her presence. "Can I help you with something?"
"Yes, I was wondering if I could learn about your fine school?" She asked pleasantly. "I've heard some good things."
Well, one poster.
"Oh… oh really? Okay," The man said his focus was now entirely on her. "Well I am Syuzo Hiiragi, I am the Principal of You Show Duel School, here we focus on the area of Dueltainning, teaching our Students how to woo a crowd as Entertainment Duelists." He started a speech that had probably been spoken a hundred or so times.
"...'Dueltainning'... 'Entertainment Duelist'...?" She repeated, rather caught off guard. "Uh, forgive me, Japanese isn't my main language."
"...Ah, foreigner, want me to speak English then?" He asked in English, his voice of course accented but it sounded competently understandable.
"If you can, that would be wonderful, thank you." She said, easily switching to English as well.
"Dueltainning, aka Duel Entertainment is where Entertainment Duelists focus on wooing the crowd while dueling, using their own monsters as props for a performance during an Action Duel," He explained.
"Action Duel?" She repeated. "I've never heard of that kind of duel."
"I thought they had switched to Action Duels fully in the West?" He asked.
"Uhhhh, the last special kind of duel I heard about was Turbo Dueling." She admitted. That was 5D's gimmick, did Zexal have a gimmick? No, that was the AR.
"...What is Turbo Dueling?" Mr. Hiiragi asked.
She was about to answer seriously, before realizing she had the ultimate opportunity. "Card games on motorcycles." She said with utmost seriousness (and dramatics).
"...You Americans love your high speed sports, but that is not to say Action Duels can't be a little dangerous due to the Real Solid Vision tech involved, but honestly at this point a demonstration would probably show you what we are about better than just words?"
"Sure, I'd love to watch something like that!"
"Watch?"
"Iiiii…. Don't have a duel disk…" She admitted sheepishly, switching back to Japanese.
"Ah did it get lost during customs?" He asked, doing so as well.
"Something like that, yeah." She agreed. "Still have my deck tho." She said as she patted the box in her hoodie pocket.
"Well that is good, a duelist is their deck after all," Mr. Hiiragi said. "We've got a few duel disks in storage, you can have one of those."
"Alright, I'm down, let's do it!" She said, eager for the chance to duel with a real duel disk and real holograms.
"Great YUYA! YUZU! WE HAVE A PROSPECTIVE STUDENT. I NEED ONE OF YOU FOR A DUEL!"
"I'M UP FOR IT!" Two voices shouted back.
"...Well they are going to figure it out in a few minutes, let's go and get you a duel disk." Mr. Hiiragi said while he chuckled a little at the antics that were probably ensuing between the presumed twins, going off the names and synchronicity. She followed him for a minute before stopping at a door. "Do you have a particular color you want it to be in?"
"Ooh, pink cause it's cute or black to match my deck, but I'm good with whatever." She said eagerly. It was probably 'just' an academy disk, but she'd be fine with anything that wasn't made of cheap plastic.
"Should definitely have one of either," He replied as he went inside, and with a quick look she could see that it was definitely a storage room, as she could see cleaning supplies and boxes of cardboard, and after about two minutes of things being moved Mr. Hiiragi came back out holding a… block box?
…Oh that was a screen. Was it like the Zexal kind? Neat! It was about the size of a nintendo switch, though thick enough to hold a deck and then some.
"Oh cool!" She said as she took the proffered disk, moving to strap it to her right arm with some difficulty. "Uhh… how do you…?"
"Left arm."
"Left handed duel disks are custom here too, got it." She said as she moved towards her left arm, and was shocked when it automatically strapped to her arm, and then unfolded a thingy for her deck, as well as two other clear ports for cards, the screen set to a basic screensaver and a message saying 'Calibrating'. "Oh, this is…?"
She looked between the 'Duel Disk' and Hiiragi, an important question on her mind. "Where's the disk?"
"Did you have one of the older models?" He asked
"The only Duel Disk I've ever owned was a classic Kaibacorp model." She said honestly. "You know, with the blade."
"I know it, used it as a child, though they all got discontinued a decade ago, now I wanna send a complaint to customs over them losing that valuable an heirloom," Mr. Hiiragi despaired.
"And the rest of my stuff too…" She grumbled, not needing to fake the salt at all.
"Poor you… and I just realized I never got your name…" Mr. Hiiragi said embarrassedly.
"Oh! I'm sorry about that. I'm Eden! Eden Hawthorne, but you can just call me Eddie." Eddie said with a smile and a polite bow.
"Yoko is going to love you," He said in a low tone, but Eddie still heard him. "Well you're going to need a manual, as this also works as a personal computer, phone… Tablet when not used for dueling." Mr. Hiiragi said. "Let's just set it up quickly for duel use." With that he quickly helped her put in her profile, and have it scan her deck as he went over some of the basic functions, auto shuffle, could eject cards for searching, the front slot was for spell/traps, back slot for Graveyard, the slot on the left was for the (currently non-existent, damn) Extra Deck.
"And this is how you activate the blades," and with that a solid mass energy blade emerged from the front just below the graveyard.
"Woah." She said as she looked at the disk-shaped blade now bound to her arm, not even a second of lag as she moved it around. And it looked… she'd have to test how sharp that blade was later, the pink edge to the black blade looking like either a lightsaber or a safety buffer. "Science is amazing!"
"Yeah, it is pretty cool," Mr. Hiiragi said, the man obviously flashbacking.
"Alright, so who am I dueling and where?" Eddie asked eagerly.
"The kids should have sorted that out, and we have our own Duel Field." Mr. Hiiragi said as they went through a pair of double doors, entering into a room that was easily the length of a tennis court in both dimensions, high fence-like walls coming out of more solid ones that easily made it into a cube, a completely black floor save the center that had some sort of… shapes under it that was on second glance some kind of machine, looking like glass but clearly more stable.
And standing on the field was…
"Oh, you're the guy who was sitting on the bridge!" Eddie realized, instantly recognizing the combination of red and green hair, very tomato like, very memorable.
"Eh?" The boy asked in confusion.
"Yuya you know this girl?" The female voice she had heard before asked and she looked up and in what was clearly the observation room, Eddie spotted a girl with dark pink hair (with light pink highlights) and two blue… glass orbs? Orb-like decorations in her hair (it was too far to say for sure).
"What no, this is the first time I've seen her in my life," He responded.
"Yeah we haven't actually met yet I just saw you sitting on the bridge." Eddie said. "I'm Eddie by the way."
"Oh… yeah I like to sit there for a bit after school, Yuya Sakaki," He responded. "You can just call me Yuya."
"Nice to meet you Yuya!" Eddie said before flicking out her arm. "Now then, I believe it's time… to duel." She just barely avoided doing the theme song stutter as she said it.
"Yep, let me show you what Dueltainning is all about, Yuzu select the Field Spell," Yuya said.
"You've got it," Yuzu replied and suddenly the device beneath them lit up and the box was replaced with an underwater colosseum, and Eddie's face instantly lit up with childish joy as she recognized the locale. "A trip to the Legendary Ocean we shall go. Yuya, time to give the oath."
"Ladies and Gentlemen! Duelists locked in battle! Kicking the earth and dancing in the air alongside their monsters! They storm through this field! Behold! This is the newest and greatest evolution of Dueling! ACTION DUEL!" Yuya chanted as suddenly a burst above them went off and Eddie saw cards landing around the place.
Eddie LP: 8000/Yuya LP: 8000
Cards that had an 'A' on the back of them… and the front?
"...Huh?" Eddie asked in confusion.
"First time in an Action Duel Eddie? Then allow me to show you by going first," Yuya declared. "First I shall Normal Summon, Performapal Friendonkey!" Yuya placed a card on his blade and before Eddie she saw a gray donkey with disturbingly human teeth. "And when he is Normal Summoned I can Special Summon one Level 4 or lower Performapal from my Hand or Graveyard." Yuya declared. "And I choose Performapal Corn from my hand." And with that a Unicorn Girl dressed like a Ringleader appeared next to the donkey, giving a bow as she did. "Next let me show you the important part of Action Duels."
And with that Yuya got on the Donkey.
To reiterate: He got.
On the donkey.
Eddie realized with a start what 'Real Solid Vision' meant.
And rode away on the duel monster, and went towards the stands of the colosseum at high speeds.
"And I've found an Action Card," Yuya shouted as he held up those 'A' cards that had fallen about the place. "And to explain to you Eddie, Action Cards are special Spell Cards, you can only try and pick one up each turn, and you can only have one in your hand at a time."
Eddie nodded numbly in shock, still caught up with the riding a duel monster part.
"I activate the Continuous Spell - Bubble Barrier, and end my turn."
Eddie picked her jaw off the floor, so to speak, and looked at her hand. "I draw." She said as she looked over what she had. Not the best, but… "Uh, Yuya, weird question, is the field destroyable?"
Before he could get a chance to answer Yuzu from the control room answered. "No, but it can still be targeted and you can replace it with your Field Spell, but that does not stop it being an Action Duel."
"What she said," Yuya added.
"Alright, in that case, I'll discard one card from hand to play the spell Twin Twisters, targeting your Bubble Barrier and the… your field spell!" She said, changing her order upon seeing the screen change, showing that both fields had the field spell in them.
With that, she discarded her Darklord-Nergal and watched with giddy glee as two tornadoes burst from her hand and destroyed the spell, and… nothing happened to the field, which was bad because Legendary Ocean stacked with itself and here she was without her Umi deck.
"I'll then throw down two face downs, and- oooh mine!" She said she snatched up an Action Card, having started walking at a sedate pace as she started her turn. "I'll set a monster face down and end my turn. Your move."
"Nice move, Eddie, but I just drew another Bubble Barrier," Yuya said as the spell card generated a barrier of bubbles around his monsters. "Next I will Normal Summon, Performapal Thunderhino!" At that a Rhino with a top hat and Raijin Bongos coming out of the back appeared next to the other two as Yuya rode back onto the center area. "Battle Phase, I will attack your Face-Down with Performapal Corn."
"Unfortunately, my Capricious Darklord has a bit too much defense for ya, meaning you take 1000 battle damage." Eddie said smugly as the first of many lovely dark angels was revealed, this one with purple skin, a single wing and horn, and the standard jagged red halo, though was a bit confused when no life point change occurred.
"Well thankfully I won't thanks to Bubble Barrier," Yuya responded. "It protects each of my Performapals from battle damage and destruction."
"Is that all?" Eddie asked.
"Why don't you try and find out," Yuya responded cheekily. "But I think I need to remove that Darklord, and wow, first time I've seen that Archetype."
Eddie couldn't help but laugh evilly at that declaration.
"I will activate my Action Card - High Dive, increasing my Performapal Friendonkey's attack by a thousand(16002600)," Yuya declared as he went on the attack-
"And in response, I'll activate my own, Evasion!" Eddie said, realizing they must be like super-quick play cards going off the text and lack of indicator. "Targeting and negating your attack."
"Nice move Eddie, I am having a great time, you've picked up on Action Dueling quick."
"Thanks, and just cause I'm used to classic playstyle doesn't mean I can't adapt. I may be older than you youngins but I'm not that old."
"How old are you?" Yuya asked.
"YUYA!"
"What?"
"It's fine, I led him into that one." Eddie chuckled. "Just turned 25 a bit ago."
"Wait, you're twenty-five?"
"I thought you were sixteen?" Came the question from Mr. Hiiragi.
"I was born in 1999, does that answer your question?" Eddie said, rolling her eyes.
…
…
…
At the dead silent reaction, Eddie looked first at her opponent and then the observation box. "What? What, did I say something weird?"
"That is like…" Yuya began but Yuzu finished.
"...Fifty years ago."
"...Eh?" Eddie asked.
"...I think questions should be asked and answered after the duel," Mr. Hiiragi spoke up.
"Eh, okay I'll end my turn."
"Draw!" Enchantment… she needed a monster right now, not more traps! "…Agh, I'll throw down a face-down and end my turn." Eddie said upon not spotting any action cards nearby.
"My turn, I draw, and I Normal Summon, Performapal Whip Snake to the field," A cobra with a top hat appeared as more and more of Yuya's field was filled. "And I use his effect to switch the stats of your Darklord."
Capricious Darklord (0ATK/1600DEF, 1600ATK/0DEF)
"Then I will go into my Battle Phase-"
Eddie snatched up an action card that had been behind her while he was doing so. "And I'll immediately end it with Big Escape!"
"I will end my turn," Yuya answered.
"Draw!" Eddie said, before groaning internally. "I'll throw down another face down and then…" She spent a moment looking for an action card to no avail. "Ugh… end my turn. We're really in it now, Capricious." She said to her monster, who was looking at her with either pity or sympathy.
"Somebody is not drawing well, opposite of me I guess," Yuya taunted. Immediately, monster and duelist had matching angry looks. "Well, I am going to release two of my monsters, to Advance Summon, Odd-Eyes Dragon(2500/2000)!" And like that a large wingless dragon appeared on Yuya's field, the boy switching from riding the donkey, to riding the dragon.
"And here it is, my ace monster, can Eddie, find a way to survive the onslaught of this ferocious beast," Yuya narrated to an imaginary crowd.
"Heh… let's see how well that ferocious beast does against the fallen ones." Eddie said back, Capricious giggling malevolently next to her.
"Well, let's reduce that backrow then, I play the Spell Card - Spiral Flame Strike, if I control an "Odd-Eyes" I can destroy one of your cards." Yuya announced as he pointed at the card.
"I'll activate my Sanctified Darklord trap card in response, discarding a Darklord card from my hand to target and negate one of your monster's effects for this turn, and more relevantly I gain life points equal to its original attack!" Eddie said immediately as the shining light visibly weakened the dragon and empowered her, basking in the divine light.
Eddie LP: 10500/Yuya LP: 8000
"Well I am going to attack your Capricious Darklord with Whip Snake!" Yuya declared.
"Not if I sacrifice it first to trigger Darklord-Rebellion, destroying your Odd-Eyes Dragon in the process!" She declared as the Darklord's cackling grew further maddened as she shot forward and destroyed the dragon in a self-destructive maneuver.
"Odd-Eyes!" Yuya shouted as his dragon was destroyed, resulting in him landing on his butt. "Ouch."
"Oh shoot, I forgot you were actually riding it for a second there, are you okay?" Eddie asked, that was at least a 1-story drop. She was about ready to drop the duel and get him help, if need be.
"I am fine, the hardness can be adjusted, so hitting the ground is not as bad," Yuya explained. "But I would be more worried about you, as my attack continues."
"That's fine." Eddie said, before the snake actually hit her with its whip-like tail and it stung like getting hit with a tennis ball. "Ow, okay, maybe not fine, but by all means. Go ahead."
"Perfomapal Friendonkey is next, kick her in the heiny," Yuya ordered.
"I am NOT getting donkey-kicked!" Eddie declared as she tackled the donkey, landing on top of it and riding it backwards and trying desperately not to get bucked off.
"Hahaha, well you are not going to win that donkey ride as I activate the second High Dive I picked up." Yuya said.
"You've triggered my trap card!" Eddie declared as she tucked and rolled off to the side of the donkey, springing to her feet. "Magic Cylinder!"
"Oh, oh."
"Oh wow that is a classic." She heard from the command center as the donkey's kick was absorbed by the first cylinder.
"Well thankfully you activated before High Dive's effect applied to Friendonkey," Yuya said as the kinetic force of Friendonkey was fired at him knocking him back on his ass.
Eddie LP: 8800/Yuya LP: 6400
"I end my turn." Yuya said as he got back up and picked up the Action Card that was next to him.
"I draw- YES! There he is!" Eddie crowed happily. "I Normal Summon my special little guy, Darklord-Ukoback, who allows me to send any one Darklord card to my graveyard." The chained angel appeared, a faint blush on its face. "Any Darklord card. And while it doesn't mean anything quite yet, I'll send Darklord-Superbia to the graveyard."
"Cool, I wanna see what your deck does, it's very different from Yuzu's Fairy Deck."
"Oh she's a fairy user too?" Eddie said happily, before shaking her head. "That's for later, for now, I'll end my turn."
"I draw… Well, I can't do much but do this sadly, Performapal Whip Snake, whip that monster into a shape," Yuya declared.
"Mhm, no, in fact, that's a nice monster, I think I'll take it!" She activated her face down. "Darklord Enchantment lets me sacrifice my Ukoback to take control of your monster, but don't worry! This offer's limited time only and lasts just till the end of your turn, so hello Whip Snake!"
"I think I am starting to see how your deck functions," Yuya said. "Well, I don't want to destroy my own Monster, so I will end my turn."
"Before you do, just for fun, I'll activate Whipsnakes effects to swap your Donkey's stats." Eddie said, giggling even as it quickly reverted.
"That was funny," Yuya said with a smile.
"Draw!" Eddie said, smiling at seeing Ixchel. "Whelp, that's my goose cooked, your move."
"I hate when that happens," Yuya said. "I Normal Summon, Performapal Skeeter Skimmer."
At that a giant bug with gloved hands on the ends of its legs ewwwww-
That appeared.
"And thanks to the two instances of Legendary Ocean aka Umi, my little bug gets a buff of 400ATK," Yuya said. "Well time to turn this duel around in my favor fully."
"I'll activate Miracle, targeting your Whip Snake, meaning battle damage is halved. I hope that means inflicted as well." Eddie said, activating her action card, and then picking up the one she'd stepped on earlier to hide it.
"It does, but I counter your Action card with my own, No Action." Yuya said. "Negating your card."
"Then I'll activate the Encore I just picked up to copy Big Escape from my graveyard, ending the Battle Phase anyway!" Eddie said after a very quick read of the card. She hadn't even realized the Action Cards had been going to the graveyard. "Wooh, what a rush."
"This is what makes Action Duels great, the continuous exchange as you search for and pick up cards," Yuya said as he used Whip Snake to snatch one that had been floating in the water. And with that his turn came to an end.
"I think I get it now, yeah… draw." Eddie let out a giddy whoop. "Here we go! I'll activate Darklord-Ixchel's effect from my hand, allowing me to discard it and another Darklord card to draw two more from my deck! And we're in it now because I'm activating Banishment of the Darklords, allowing me to add any one Darklord card to my hand!"
"I will chain the effect of my Performapal Corn in my Graveyard, banishing it and another Performapal to gain 500LP."
Eddie LP: 8800/Yuya LP: 6900
"You'll need them, because I'm adding Darklord-Contact to my hand, and immediately playing it! This allows me to special summon any Darklord Monster from my graveyard in defense position! I'll start by summoning Ixchel, and then activate her effect to spend 1000 life points to activate a Darklord spell or trap from my Graveyard at no additional cost! That'll be Contact again, this time to grab Superbia, who-! Eh?"
Eddie LP: 7800/Yuya LP: 6900
Eddie stared in confusion as the message on her screen that said 'Chain Error-Missed Timing'. "...Ehhhh? I thought 'when' effects happened automatically?"
"That is If," Yuya answered.
"Yeah that is a problem with some older cards, they can miss timing, because you had to shuffle in the card, your Superbia, missed its activation window, since it being brought back was not the last thing that happened, as it could not start a chain." The voice of Mr. Hiiragi explained.
"Oh… well…" There went her momentum, but Superbia and Ixchel were still on the field and way bulkier than anything on Yuya's, though Superbia was somehow looking at her in disappointment despite not having an articulated face. "In that case… I'll Normal Summon my Indulged Darklord, activating her effect to put one of my Darklords on your field and add another to my hand."
The counterpart to Capricious, with the opposite wing and statline, appeared on the field, bringing friends with her.
"You'll get an Ukoback, and I'll add… a monster I can't pronounce to my hand!" She said as she added Tezcatlipoca to her hand. "And then I'll move into the battle phase and make my first attack of the duel!"
"Before you do that, at the end of the Main Phase, I will have Performapal Whip Snake, switch the attack and defense of your Indulged Darklord." Yuya said.
"Weeeelll I'll just end my turn then." Eddie said with a grin, the tides now turned in her favor significantly. "Good luck, I actually have monsters now."
"That you do, I will then activate Whip Snake again," Yuya said as he also switched Donkey to defense.
"In response, I'll activate Ixchel's effect again, since it's a Quick Effect, this time activating Sanctified Darklord to negate Whipsnake's effect and give me some life points back before my card gets shuffled back into the deck." Eddie said confidently as she spotted another action card and picked it up.
"Nice move." Yuya said. "But I know better than to let monsters stay on the field, and even if it won't be as much damage as I hoped." Yuya declared the attack.
"It'll do even less, because I activate Miracle, targeting Indulged, halving the damage and preventing her destruction." Eddie said with a grin. "These Action Cards are really something."
Eddie LP: 8450/Yuya LP: 6900
"They are," Yuya replied as he ended his turn, a smile on his face.
"My turn, and I'll start by activating Ixchel's effect to activate Banishment from my graveyard, adding another Contact to my hand! I'll immediately play it to summon Darklord-Nergal to the field in defense position!" A series of effects triggered leading to a black armored angel to appear with his fellows. "I'll move Superbia into attack position, and then summon a second Indulged Darklord to summon another Ukoback to your field and add Nasten to mine!"
Eddie now had a full field of dark angels to match Yuya's full field of performers flanked by two more angels.
"I'll then move Ixchel into Attack Position as well, and then move into the battle phase!"
"Once again Whip Snake will activate his effect, targeting your first Indulged."
"I'll activate Nergal's effect, which is identical to Ixchel's, to use Rebellion from my graveyard, targeting and destroying your Whipsnake!" Eddie responded.
"And you seem to have forgotten, Bubble Barrier protects!" Yuya responded.
"Oh, you're right, it does… meaning you really shouldn't have put that Donkey in defense position." Eddie said with a malevolent grin echoed across all her monsters. "Superbia, start us off, and attack Donkey, please."
The winged pot crashed into the donkey at high speed, and Eddie immediately facepalmed. "Oh, right, you don't take battle damage from them either."
"...Why would you… Piercing!?" Yuya asked in shock.
"Hehehe, yup, I guess you'd be realizing why I've been putting monsters on your field now, right?" She asked rhetorically. "Ixchel, Indulged, return the Ukobacks to us, please."
"On Ixchel's attack I activate, Action Card - Damage Banish."
"Lemme guess- makes the damage 0?"
"Make battle damage 0."
Eddie LP: 6450/Yuya LP: 6300
"Alright, then I'll just move the Indulged that didn't attack into defense position and end my turn." Eddie said, grinning wide even as she was making mistakes and being countered, because this was exhilarating- she was a few steps from hopping in Superbia and riding it around at this point, only holding off for the lack of need.
"...I will put Performapal Friendonkey to attack." Yuya said as he clearly realized that it being in defense position was now more dangerous than attack position. "Battle Phase, I will attack."
And seeming to forget to activate Whip Snake.
"Whip Snake, attack Indulged 2 the Boogaloo," Yuya said.
"Yeah okay." Eddie said, deliberately and clearly not activating anything in response.
"And then Donkey gets the first."
"Except I'll discard my… let's just call him 'Tez' to prevent destruction." She said, showing the card clearly before discarding it.
"Tezcababably?"
"Exactly."
"Well, I will attack indulged again with Skeeter Skimmer."
"And activate Ixchel's effect to use Contact and summon Capricious Darklord all the way back from the start of the duel." Eddie said with a grin, trading one half-fallen for another.
Eddie LP: 5350/Yuya LP: 6300
"I will end my turn."
"Draw." Eddie barely looked at the card. "I'll then activate Ixchel to copy Enchantment and steal your Whip Snake!" She put heavy emphasis on the word. "Who I will then use, alongside Capricious, to tribute summon Darklord-Nasten, triggering Capricious's effect and reducing the attack and defense of all of your monsters to zero."
As the large cat-faced and bull-horned fallen appeared, Yuya's board started looking a little sparse.
"Now if it weren't for that Bubble Barrier, that would be game… but I don't, so it's not. I'll just destroy your monsters. Starting with the bug."
"I can change Skeet Skimmer to defense, negating your attack."
"Ixchel and Nasten will take out the Donkey then." Eddie said, undeterred. "And Nergal will attack Skeeter just for fun."
"I activate the Action Card - Evasion negating your attack."
"I'm hardly one to call out misplays, but okay." Eddie said with a grin. "With that, I'll end my turn. Draw your last card."
"Hmm, I switch Performapal Skeeter Skimmer back to attack, and end my turn."
"Hmph, alright so maybe you can stall. But for how long?" She said as she looked at her card and laughed evilly. "Not very! I'll activate Banishment of the Darklords, adding Rebellion to my hand, and then use Ixchel's effect to activate it again! This time, I'll add Amdusc! I'll use its effect, discarding one darklord card in my hand and itself to add one Darklord in my graveyard back to my hand! It doesn't matter who, but I'll choose Ukoback! Can you see where this is going, Yuya?!"
"A place I don't like!"
"I'll activate Nasten to destroy Bubble Barrier, leaving you wide open!" Eddie declared even as her life points plummeted. "I'll then summon Ukoback, putting Sanctified in my graveyard and using Nergal to activate it, negating Skeeter Skimmer's effect! I'll move into my battle phase for the win! Superbia!"
"I activate the Action Card, Miracle," Yuya said.
"Ixchel's turn, then!"
"I activate Evasion," Yuya shouted as he ran around the stand looking for Action Cards, quickly throwing that one up in time.
"Nasten, squash that bug."
The minotaur-esque fallen succeeded where the others hadn't, finally removing it from the field.
"Nergal, Ukoback, attack."
"Yow!" Yuya shouted as smacked around by the fallen angels.
But…
Eddie LP: 2250/Yuya LP: 200
"Dang, those Action Cards really saved your bacon." Eddie said, impressed.
"That is what they do…" Yuya groaned as he laid on his back.
"Well I think I can confidently say… wait, no, Big Escape is a thing, draw what's probably your last card!"
"This duel has been long but it is not over yet," Yuya said as he got back up and drew.
"I summon, Performapal Turn Trooper to the field," Yuya said. "Battle Phase. And that means Turn Trooper gets a counter. And then I will immediately end the battle phase and my turn."
"Iiiinteresting." Eddie said as she drew. "I'll move into the Battle Phase."
"Heh," Yuya laughed. "I Activate Action, Big Escape!"
"I knew it!" Eddie laughed.
"Woo, goo Yuya."
"Well in that case… hmm… I'm curious, I'll set my action card? Okay, that works, am I able to… yes!" She said as she picked up the one she'd been standing next to for a while. "That's cool."
"...Wait, you can do that?" Yuya asked.
"You can do that?" The two in the control room asked as well.
Eddie cackled. "I love breaking games! If that's not allowed, I'm very sorry."
"No the system would have said so, I guess nobody really thought of setting them before, much easier to just activate from hand," Mr. Hiiragi commented.
"Welp, with that meta-breaking revelation done with, your move Yuya!" Eddie said estatically. "What new trick will you use to get out this time?"
"I will set my Action Card," Yuya said as he did the same trick Eddie had. "Then Battle Phase."
"Mhm, I don't like the sound of that, so I'll activate my facedown, Darklord-Enchantment, sacrificing Ukoback to steal your monster."
Ukoback flew over, grabbed the trooper, and deposited him on Eddie's side before evaporating.
"...Well you can read the card and guess what my plan was." Yuya said with a sigh.
"Oooh, that's nasty, that would have been the perfect out! Too bad, so sad."
"I don't wanna say sad, I say we should always duel with a Smile, I play Smile World and end my turn," Yuya said as all her monsters now all smiled happily at the cheerful vibe of the card.
"Aww, you're a good kid Yuya. I'll do you the honor of making this quick. Superbia? Finish this."
With that the chariot-angel took out the little trooper that could (have turned things around) and finished the duel.
And like that the Legendary Ocean faded and they were back in the box, the action card still in her hand fading away with it.
"Hahahahaha," Yuya laughed as he sat down the floor. "That was an amazing duel Eddie, I haven't had a duel last that long in ages."
"I haven't had a duel like that ever! That was incredible, you had me on the ropes even without any powerful effects or monsters- not to say Performapals are weak but you know what I mean, that was nuts!" Eddie said as she walked over to him.
"Yeah sadly didn't get my Boss Monster, could have, but I used Spiral to destroy instead of Search." He responded.
"Oh, so Odd-Eyes wasn't your boss monster?" She asked as she offered him a hand up.
"He is the ace of my deck, but not the strongest monster, that is his Super Form," he answered as he took out a card. Odd-Eyes Advance Dragon.
"Oh…oh wow okay I can see how that's your boss monster." Eddie said as she read the Blue-Eyes statlined card. "Oh, here, you wanna see a cool boss, check out Lucy here." She said as she pulled out Darklord Morningstar and showed it to him.
"Wow, that is a pretty cool monster," Yuya said.
"Excellent duel the both of you," Mr. Hiiragi said as he and Yuzu came down to them, letting Eddie see that Yuzu was just as short as Yuya, and that she had two kinds of pink in her hair.
"Well, with that you are back to having a 50% Win-Loss ratio."
"Ah, man."
"Hey, 50/50's pretty respectable, especially if you're dueling a lot. Not everyone's gonna be a Yugi Moto or a Seto Kaiba."
"You need a win ratio of 60% to participate in the Arc League Championship." Yuzu stated.
"Correction: whoops, sorry."
"Or win six official matches in a row," Mr. Hiiragi added. "But that is still a few months away. But to get talking, eh Eddie, you said you were born in 1999 and that you are only twenty five."
"Yeah, that's how time works." Eddie said, not sarcastically just genuinely not following. "It's 2024."
"Eh, Eddie, it's 2049." Yuzu stated.
"...Eh?"
"Eh?" Yuya also said. "Wait, that should make you an old hag?"
"I will make you have a 30/70 ratio if you call me that again."
"Sorry."
"Okay so there is a clear discrepancy here, and something tells me your things were actually not lost in customs," Mr. Hiiragi said.
"To be completely honest, I kind of… fell from the sky near the canal, I've been on the verge of a panic attack all day." Eddie with a smile that they could all tell now was forced. "Please help me."
"Well this is certainly outside my realm of expertise, but people have always said supernatural stuff exists, like the King of Games held the spirit of an ancient Pharaoh." Mr. Hiiragi commented.
"I mean yeah, that's just facts." Eddie said. "Kaiba is… was? The reincarnation of that same Pharaoh's chief priest, though he did say 'Screw Destiny, I have Money' and did his own thing…"
"My high school education has been lacking…" Mr. Hiiragi muttered.
"So you traveled through time?" Yuzu asked.
"That or I hopped dimensions, either one's possible, Duel Monsters can just… do that, sometimes." Eddie said with a shrug. "Like, did you know there's a spirit world full of them?"
"What?" Yuya asked. "Are you saying our cards are alive?"
"I'm not sure of the exact mechanics, but there is a quantifiably real world that runs parallel to this one that all Duel Monster Cards are pulled from, Maximillian Pegasus explicitly accessed it and ancient attempts at accessing it when designing the game, and there's quite a few duelists who have traveled to and from it. Though I don't think every card is alive, only specific instances, like Yugi's Kuriboh or Dark Magicians."
"Man those are legendary cards," Yuya said with wonder in his voice.
"His specific copies or in general? Cause I used to play a little Dark Magician when I was younger." Eddie said, once more successfully distracted from her woes by the power of nerding out about children's card games.
"A little bit of both, but that is a history lesson for later," Mr. Hiiragi said. "You… pretty much lack everything."
Aaaand there was the existential terror again. "Y-y-y-yeah." She half laughed, not feeling very mirthful. "Uh… what am I suppose to do-o-o-o-o?"
"Did I suddenly hear a woman in despair?" A new voice spoke up from behind.
Eddie turned around in confusion to see a very pretty blonde lady. "Uh, hi?"
"Hey Mom," Yuya spoke up.
"Hello Yuya, Yuzu, Skip," She addressed.
"Please stop calling me that Yoko, I have not skipped a class in almost twenty years." Mr. Hiiragi spoke.
"I don't think so, so who are you young lady?" She asked. "You have troubles."
"Less than 24 hours ago I was in the United States and the year was 2024."
"...Well didn't expect that, I guess you are coming home with me and Yuya."
"Mom she is not a stray animal you can just pick up," Yuya said.
"Yes I am." Eddie quickly denied, the genuine panic in her voice obvious. "Please, I have nowhere to go and clearly you raised a good kid so you must be good too."
"Why thank you for the compliment, and Yuya she is clearly in distress, you need to be able to pick up on what makes girls feel better or Yuzu will never be your girlfriend."
That sent both teens in stutters and denial.
Eddie, meanwhile, was blinking in surprise. "Wait, they're not twins?"
"As if I could ever be related to this dumbass/numbskull!"
"Language!" Eddie said in shock at the curse word from the very polite seeming girl.
"I speak however I want, this fan can't do all the disciplining," She said as she suddenly smacked a large paper fan across her palm.
"...We are dueling at the next nearest opportunity, you are feisty and I wanna see what kind of fairy deck you would make." Eddie said, genuinely eager to throw down.
"We can do that after you get situated," Yuzu replied.
"And I was the one who had to raise the girl," Mr. Hiiragi said.
"That explains so much."
"Yoko helped, but it seemed her delinquent years have rubbed off on my girl," Mr. Hiiragi fake cried.
"I… I've gotten better." Yoko said with a blush, while Yuya laughed.
Well, at least she wouldn't be bored here, that was for sure.
Xxx
A/N: New friend-insert from us, and this one has the new rules that has been adopted, Passive_Soul will not be reading the thread until the story is over, so you are free discuss spoilers.
If you have have direct questions for Passive_Soul I will bring them to them.