Next chapter is finally upon us.
Also, I saw some of the comments about Sawatari's Deck, and since I'm too lazy to fix the first chapter, I think I'll just have him use multiple decks.
—One deck is the custom one, and the others are some of the decks he used in the series plus some custom cards to make them better.
He might not play some decks as often as I'd like since I need to learn how the decks play and I don't want to put him in bad matchups where the only way for an interesting duel to occur is him pulling a card out of his ass or something.
For example (minor spoiler) his "Monarch" deck will include a Synchro and Xyz monster in addition to some other monsters and his Yosenju deck will feature a new Fusion Pendulum monster.
This chapter will be the Sawatari Vs Yosuke duel, and Sawatari will be making use of an upgraded "Monarch" deck.
Also for those who end up wondering, Sawatari's Father is not the Mayor of Maiami City "yet" in the fic. The reason it says so at the start of the first chapter and then says he isn't midway through is because I changed my mind halfway through writing the first chapter.
There will be minor spelling and grammatical mistakes in this, it's a large chapter so I definitely missed a few things, though hopefully the mistake that slip through my notice aren't too distracting.
Without any further ado, enjoy!
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A Magician's Trickery
A few days later…
Ever since his duel against Yuya a few days ago, Sawatari has been noticing a few weird things happening. Random cards have just been appearing in some of the decks he's built and used in the past.
"This is getting weird now." Sawatari frowned. "It would be less weird if it just ended up being only Pendulum Cards that appeared randomly."
Xyz, Synchro, Fusion, and Ritual Monsters have all been appearing as well.
"Well, I guess it gives me a reason to still make use of these decks I've already made." Sawatari then smiled. "An entertainer needs to have a diverse cast of tricks in order to entertain the crowd after all. Just in time for the Maiami Championships in a week."
The Maiami Championships is a giant tournament sponsored by the Leo Corporation, it's the first step for the youth who want to become pro duelists, and a place where the youth can really prove their worth in a duel.
While he had received a special invitation from the Leo Corporation thanks to his match against Sakaki Yuya, he wanted to join the tournaments through his own efforts instead of being handed a spot on a silver platter.
A first-rate duelist like himself wouldn't allow that.
The requirements one needs to participate in the tournament are fifty official duels and a win rate of 60% in the past year.
Looking at his win rate, Sawatari frowned.
[Total Number of Games — 62]
[37 Duels Won]
[25 Duels Lost]
[Win Rate — 59.68%]
He was one duel away from the 60% needed to participate. Normally this wouldn't be much of a problem since he could just beat a random duelist easily with his new and improved decks but…
…the problem was that nobody wanted to duel him.
He wasn't sure why, but he couldn't convince anybody to duel him. He assumed that they were scared of his Pendulum Monsters or something.
And while he could have his father get him a pro match going, he felt like that would be cheap since his father would just pull some strings to guarantee his victory. He was lucky enough to keep his father out of business for his debut match against Sakaki Yuya.
"What a pain…" Sawatari sighed as he stepped out of the door. "Why do some things have to be so difficult? All I want is one last engaging duel before the championship. I, the Neo Great Sawatari Shingo, shouldn't have to put such effort into mundane things like this."
In a rather grumpy mood, Sawatari steps out of his home, hoping to find someone to duel. It was the weekend, so he was sure that there would be someone who would want to duel him.
———————————————————
A while later, elsewhere…
Yosuke stood surrounded by a group of three LDS (Leo Duel School) students, who all activated their duel disk towards him.
"So I defeated your leader earlier and now you all want to come after me." Yosuke smirked. "You LDS guys really are just a bunch of sore losers."
"We won't allow you to walk all over us!" LDS 1 angrily shouted.
"We'll teach you what happens to those who mess with us LDS students." LDS 2 proclaimed.
"We'll make you grovel at our feet—" LDS 3 continued, but was quickly cut off by Yosuke.
"Gosh, can you guys seriously shut up. You're talking like a bunch of low-level NPC's unironically." Yosuke rolled his eyes as he activated his duel disk. "Let's just duel and get this over with."
"We'll make you regret—"
"Just shut up!" Yosuke interrupted again. "3, 2, 1, ready…"
[Duel!]
Yosuke — LP: 4000
LDS 1 — LP: 4000
LDS 2 — LP: 4000
LDS 3 — LP: 4000
"I'll start, take this as payback for talking too much," Yosuke said. "I set one card facedown and end my turn."
A facedown card appeared in front of Yosuke.
"That's it?" LDS 3 started laughing. "Not even a facedown monster, just one set card?"
"Is he even taking this seriously?" LDS 2 began laughing too. "Man this'll be easy."
"Your arrogance will be your downfall! Draw!" LDS 1 declared. "I summon—"
"I activate the Continuous Trap, Eternal Soul!" Yosuke cut in. "With its effect, once per turn I can either Special Summon one "Dark Magician" from my graveyard or hand, or add "Thousand Knives" and "Dark Magic Attack" to my hand. I choose to Special Summon the ultimate wizard in terms of attack and defense, Dark Magician (Dark/Spellcaster/Normal/ATK: 2500/DEF: 2100/LV: 7)!"
A magician clad in purple holding a blue staff appeared on the field.
"Dark Magician?" LDS 1 frowned. "Where have I heard of that card before?"
"It was one of those old cards, I think." LDS 2 answered. "I heard cards like it went completely extinct since they didn't even have any effects."
"Really, so it's pretty much useless, good to know." LDS 1 then smiled. "I summon—"
"I activate the Trap Card Dark Magician's Road from my hand!" Yosuke interrupted once again. "If I only control a "Dark Magician" monster on my field, I can send this card to the graveyard, target one Spell Card from my deck that mentions "Dark Magician", add it to my hand, and activate it!"
Yosuke sends a card to the graveyard and draws the card.
"Now I activate the Spell Card The Eye of Timaeus! With it, I can Fusion Summon a monster from my Extra Deck that mentions "Dark Magician" as a material, by using both it and this card as tributes!"
Dark Magician then rises into the sky along with the Spell Card, a vortex of fire forming around the two as Yosuke begins chanting.
"The intelligence of a mage, and the ferocity of a dragon. Combine in order to create a new calamity! Fusion Summon, Appear! Level 8, Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon (Dark/Spellcaster/Fusion/Effect/ATK: 3000/DEF: 2500/LV: 8)!"
Now appearing on the field was a monster with a similar aesthetic to Dark Magician, however this time black and gold armor, giving it a menacing presence.
"A Fusion Summon on his opponent's turn…" LDS 3 said in shock and awe.
"Don't get distracted!" LDS 1 angrily shouted, pissed off at how he was interrupted twice by the opposing duelist. "You may have summoned a strong monster, but I'll just send it away! I summon Ragnaraika Armored Lizard (Dark/Reptile/Effect/ATK: 0/DEF: 2300/LV: 4)! Then I'll activate Armored Lizard's effect, by discarding a card, I can send 1 card my opponent control's back to the hand! I choose your Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon!"
"I activate Dark Dragoon's effect!" Yosuke declared. "When a card or an effect from a monster is activated, I can discard a card from my hand to negate that effect, destroy that card, and this card gains 1000 attack points (Red Eyes Dark Dragoon, ATK: 3000 → 4000)! Hellish Charring!"
Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon conjures up a fireball, shooting it at the newly summoned monster before it could make a move; destroying it.
"That's not all, I activate the Spell Card, Vengeful Counter from my graveyard now! With it, if I negate an opponent's effect with a monster, I can banish this card and deal damage equal to my monster's attack points!"
LDS 1 — LP: 4000 → 0
"That's one down." Yosuke smiled. "Who will take the next turn?"
The remaining two LDS members looked at each other before bowing towards Yosuke.
[We forfeit. We're so very sorry for inconveniencing you sir!] The two said in unison. [Please forgive us!]
"I'll forgive you guys if you just get out of my sight." Yosuke said with a straight face.
[Yes sir!] The trio of LDS students quickly ran away.
Yosuke sighs and then smiles again, "That's one problem dealt with. Now to deal with the other."
He turned around, looking towards a nearby tree.
"You can get out now, I know you're there!" Yosuke calls out.
"Guess you caught me, you have pretty good senses." Sawatari complimented as he left his hiding spot. "That was quite the nice monster you had there."
"You're…Sawatari Shingo, right?" Yosuke's eyes widened upon seeing the pompous teen. "What brings a guy like you here?"
"My reputation precedes me." Sawatari smiled. "I was just looking for a worthy opponent to duel until I happened to find you. That Fusion Monster of yours would be the perfect opponent for the Neo Great Sawatari Shingo."
"You don't even know my name and you're asking me for a duel…" Yosuke frowned. "You LDS guys are all the same."
"It's not like I'll remember it anyway but go ahead, tell me your name." Sawatari arrogantly said.
"Sakaki Yosuke." Yosuke answered, prompting Sawatari to drop his jaw.
"Wait, you're related to Sakaki Yuya?!"
"Yeah, I'm his older brother."
Sawatari stayed in a state of shock for a few moments before smiling.
"Well that makes things better. Since you're his older brother, you must be at least on par with Sakaki Yuya. I'll beat you here and prove that I'm better than your whole bloodline."
"We'll see about that."
The two activate their duel disks. Sawatari takes the moment to switch out his deck, before they begin.
"Let's get this show rolling!" Sawatari declared. "Ready…"
[Duel!]
Sawatari — LP: 4000
Yosuke — LP: 4000
"I'll take the first turn!" Yosuke announced. "I'll start by summoning Magician's Rod (Dark/Spellcaster/Effect/ATK: 1600/DEF: 100/LV: 3)."
A transparent blue figure vaguely resembling Dark Magician appeared, holding a solid glowing spear.
"When this card is Normal Summoned, I can add 1 Spell/Trap card that mentions "Dark Magician" in its text."
Yosuke grabs a card from his deck.
"Next I'll activate the Continuous Spell Dark Magic Circle! When this card is activated, I can look at the top three cards in my deck. If there is a Dark Magician or a card that mentions Dark Magician within the three, I can add it to my hand, and place the other two cards back to the top of my deck in any order."
Yosuke draws three cards, adding one to his hand and placing the rest back into his deck. Looking at his hand, he smiles.
"I place two cards face down and end my turn." Yosuke finishes.
"My turn! Draw!" Sawatari draws a card, before Sawatari could start his turn, Yosuke speaks.
"I now activate my Trap Card, Eternal Soul! Since you probably already know its effect, I won't explain it to you again. I choose to summon Dark Magician (ATK: 2500/DEF: 2100/LV: 7) to my field!"
Dark Magician appears on the field.
"Next I'll activate Dark Magicians Road from my hand. With it, I'll add a Spell/Trap card from my deck to my hand and activate it. I choose to activate The Eye of Timaeus."
Here it comes. Sawatari thought. His fusion monster.
Dark Magician and the Spell Card rise into the air once again, creating a vortex of fire as Yosuke begins chanting.
"The intelligence of a mage, and the ferocity of a dragon. Combine in order to create a new calamity! Fusion Summon! Arise, The Ultimate Wizard of Calamity, Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon (ATK: 3000/DEF: 2500/LV: 8)!"
Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon waves its wand, blowing the fire that surrounded it away.
"I don't have any more effects to activate so you can continue your turn now." Yosuke states.
"Finally." Sawatari smirks. "That monster has some tricky effects to play around, but a first-rate duelist like myself should be able to play around it with relative ease. If my opponent controls two or more cards in their Spell/Trap zone, I can Special Summon this card from my hand! Welcome to the stage, Escher the Frost Vassal (Water/Aqua/Effect/ATK: 800/DEF: 1000/LV: 4) in defense mode!"
A humanoid being clad in blue armor appeared on the field in a meditative position.
He didn't activate his monster's effect. Sawatari frowns. Well, I shouldn't be surprised. If he wasn't smart enough to know when to negate an effect, he wouldn't be…wait I just messed up.
Sawatari remembered what Yosuke did in his last duel against the LDS members, and realized that he was playing way too carelessly, and almost lost in a single turn. Luckily, Yosuke didn't seem to have that card in his hand, or else he would've just activated it and ended the duel.
I'll need to tread more carefully, or my win rate is finished. Sawatari thought. A first-rate duelist like me shouldn't be making these simple mistakes.
Meanwhile, Yosuke frowned as he saw what Sawatari had summoned.
He didn't use that monster during his match against Yuya. Yosuke thought. He must've changed decks. Did he happen to have a deck that is against mine? I'll need to tread carefully.
"Next I'll tribute my monster in order to summon a new star, Mobius the Frost Monarch (Water/Aqua/Effect/ATK: 2400/DEF: 1000/LV: 6)!" Sawatari announced.
Appearing now was a much larger monster, clad in teal blue and lavender armor.
"When my powerful monster is Tribute Summoned, I can target up to Spell/Trap cards on the field, and destroy them! I choose your Eternal Soul and Dark Magic Circle" Sawatari declared.
Yosuke's eyes furrowed as he then spoke, "I activate Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon's effect! By discarding one card, I can negate that effect and destroy your monster! Hellish Charring!"
Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon conjures a ball of fire, firing it at Frost Monarch and destroying it.
"And thanks to its effect, I can increase the attack on this monster by 1000 (Dark Dragoon ATK: 3000 → 4000)!"
"Tch." Sawatari clicked his tongue. "I activate the Field Spell The Monarch's Indifference from my hand. With its effect, all Tribute Summons in my field are considered as Special Summons."
Their surroundings change into a frozen wasteland, a foggy stream of wind constantly blowing through. However, since there isn't any Real Solid Vision in the area, the duelists don't feel much of a change in temperature.
Sawatari waited for a moment to see if Yosuke would activate his Dark Dragoon's effect again. When he doesn't, Sawatari lets out a breath of relief.
"Thank goodness…" Sawatari mumbled before flicking his hair back and confidently smiling. "Continuing the show, I activate Spell Card Monarch's Insight, with it I'll—"
"I activate Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon's effect once again, negating your effect and increasing my monster's attack (Dark Dragoon ATK: 4000 → 5000)!" Yosuke interrupted. "Do you have any more moves or are you done now?"
He completely shut me down! Sawatari panicked in his mind, yet kept a confident expression on the outside. My hand doesn't give me any other options for counterplay right now, I'll have to play more defensively.
"I end my turn." Sawatari announced. "Your move Sakaki."
"Guess you have nothing." Yosuke casually scratched the back of his head. "Well, time to finish this. Draw!"
As he draws, Eternal Soul begins to glow.
"Eternal Soul's effect activates, allowing me to Special Summon a 'Dark Magician' monster from my field or graveyard. Arise once again, Dark Magician (ATK: 2500/DEF: 2100/LV: 7)!"
Arising from a portal was the wizard clad in purple, Dark Magician.
"Next I'll activate Dark Magic Circle's effect! When I Normal or Special Summon a 'Dark Magician' to my field, I can target a card on your field and banish it. Say goodbye to your field spell!"
Just as quickly as it came, the frozen landscape faded away, leaving the two back in the park.
"Now the finale!" Yosuke declares. "Battle! Dark Magician attacks Sawatari directly. Dark Magic Attack!"
Just as Dark Magician pointed its staff at the teen, Sawatari cuts in.
"I activate Chilled Sea Slug's effect from my hand!" Sawatari shouted. "With it, I can Special Summon a Level 4 or lower 'Water' monster from my hand to my field."
"I activate Dark Dragoon's effect once again! By discarding a card from my hand, I can negate the activation of your card effect and destroy it! (Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon ATK: 5000 → 6000)"
"Not this time, Chilled Sea Slug's effect cannot be stopped!" Sawatari declares. "Liven things up, Hoarding Rook (Water/Winged-Beast/Effect/ATK: 0/DEF: 0/LV: 1) in defense mode!"
Appearing on the field was a small, cute bird with a body made of jelly-like water.
"Whatever you're planning still won't work!" Yosuke stated. "Dark Magician's attack continues!"
"Before that I activate my Hoarding Rook's effect!" Sawatari cut in again. "Thanks to this star, I can add a 'Water' Monster from my deck to my hand! However, I must reveal the card I grab to my opponent. I choose to add Abyss Soldier to my hand!"
Sawatari grabs a card from his deck as Dark Magician continues its attack, zapping the water bird and causing it to explode into a bunch of little droplets. A few moments later however, the water droplets that scattered from the attack slowly flew back together, forming the body of Hoarding Rook again.
"What? Why is it still here?" Yosuke asked, genuinely confused by what had just happened.
"My loveable bird's other effect activates. This card cannot be destroyed by battle." Sawatari explains as he puffs his chest out in pride. "Meaning that as long as it remains on the field, I'm safe from harm!"
"That's quite the handy effect you have there." Yosuke smiles. "I'll move on to my Main Phase 2 then. I'll activate the Magician's Soul effect from my hand by sending a Level 6 or higher 'Spellcaster' monster from my deck to my graveyard. I'll send this card to my graveyard and Special Summon another Dark Magician (ATK: 2500/DEF: 2100/LV: 7) to my field!"
Once again, a Dark Magician appeared from a portal.
"With that I'll end my turn." Yosuke stated. "Your move."
"Right! Draw!" Sawatari draws a card, and Yosuke starts speaking again.
"Eternal Soul's effect activates once again, allowing me to summon the final Dark Magician (ATK: 2500/DEF: 2100/LV: 7) that was in my graveyard!"
"When did you add that card to your graveyard?" Sawatari inquired.
"It was one of the cards I sent to the graveyard through Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon's effect." Yosuke explains before continuing. "Since I summoned another Dark Magician to my field, I can activate Dark Magic Circle's effect in order to banish your Hoarding Rook from your field."
"Before that, I activated Hoarding Rook's effect again, allowing me to add another 'Water' monster to my hand. I choose to add Mobius the Frost Monarch to my hand!"
As Sawatari adds a card to his hand, a white portal appears over Hoarding Rook, sucking the water bird inside. After this happened, Sawatari smirks and asks Yosuke a question.
"Are you really Sakaki Yuya's brother?"
"Yeah, I am." Yosuke frowned. "What are you trying to say?"
"You guys don't just differ in looks, but in personality and dueling habits too." Sawatari explains. "Sakaki Yuya likes to duel in a creative way, coming up with new, creative strategies to counter whatever his opponent throws at him which helps make his duels entertaining. He duels in a very similar way to your father."
"I don't like what you're implying." Yosuke glared at the pompous teen, but Sawatari continued.
"You duel in a very simplistic way. Making use of a sure-win strategy which relies on stopping your opponent from doing anything before wiping out their life points in one fell swoop. That isn't a very entertaining way to duel."
"Just 'cause my father and little brother are entertainers doesn't mean I have to be the same way." Yosuke counters. "I'm my own person and I can duel however I want. And what gives you the right to say any of this when you're on the losing end of this duel. Once my turn comes around again, you won't be able to do anything to stop me from wiping out your life points."
"It may seem that way now, but there's a golden rule my older sister used to say to me all the time when I was younger. As long as we have life points left, we always have a chance to win." Sawatari then smirked. "And as an entertainer and a first-rate duelist, I'm pretty good at making comebacks from horrible situations."
"Good for you, I guess…" Yosuke rolls his eyes.
"I'll prove it to you too. You aren't in as favorable of a position as you think you are." Sawatari declared. "You no longer have any more cards in your hand, so you can't use Dark Dragoon's effects to negate anything I do anymore. And thanks to your systematic way of playing, you wasted your Dark Magic Circle's effect too early. I'm free to do whatever I want."
"How does that matter, you can't…wait." Yosuke's eyes widened as he suddenly understood the implications.
"Looks like you realized something, Sakaki." Sawatari flicked his hair back. "The stage has been set for my miraculous comeback! I start by summoning Abyss Soldier (Water/Aqua/Effect/ATK: 1800/DEF: 1300/LV: 4) from my hand!"
A shark-like creature with humanoid limbs appeared on the field.
"Next…" Sawatari did a dramatic pause. "I think I'll activate my new monster's effect. With it, I can discard a card from my hand, and return a card from your field to your hand. I choose to return your Continuous Trap Eternal Soul in order to destroy all of your monsters!"
Yosuke's eyes widened as he watched his trap card return to his hand. Shortly after, all of his monsters suddenly explode, leaving his field completely bare.
"How…how did you know about Eternal Soul's effect?!" Yosuke began panicking for the first time in this duel.
"I read the card effect." Sawatari simply stated, causing Yosuke's jaw to drop. "It's a pretty neat feature that our duel disks have that a lot of people don't use for some reason. Probably because we explain card effects throughout the duel. Or maybe it's just because they're not as intelligent as the Neo Great Sawatari Shingo."
I don't want to agree with such an arrogant guy, but he's right. Yosuke sweatdropped. Who would want to read a mountain of text when the opponent has to tell you about the card effect when it activates anyway.
"Enough of that tangent." Sawatari continues. "When I control a 'Water' Monster, I can Special Summon Silent Sea Nettle (Water/Aqua/Effect/ATK: 800/DEF: 1300/LV: 4) from my hand!"
A weird jellyfish creature with a yellow top and purple tentacles appeared next.
"Now, I'll use my two Level 4 monsters in order to construct the overlay network!" Sawatari declares as his two monsters are sucked into a wormhole. "Brilliant light that shines bright even in the face of darkness, becomes a force that illuminates a path to victory! Xyz Summon! Rank 4, the dazzling star, Abyssal Starfish (Water/Aqua/Xyz/Effect/ATK: 1300/DEF: 2300/R: 4/OU: 2)!"
Appearing from the vortex of black was a brilliant starfish, with an ethereal body the glowed bright yellow. Its surrounding overlay units emitted a glowing blue color.
"That's quite a beautiful monster you have there." Yosuke comments. "But it doesn't look strong enough to be able to take me out this turn."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk." Sawatari shook his head. "Why don't you read the card effect before you jump to conclusion, Sakaki?"
"The card effect…" Yosuke pulled up the card, reading its rather short line of text—his face slightly pale at what he read.
"By detaching all of Abyssal Seastar's overlay units, I can Tribute Summon a monster from my hand by using those units as materials!" Sawatari announced as both of the units dispersed. "Welcome to the field, one of my mightiest warriors, Mobius the Mega Monarch (Water/Aqua/Effect/ATK: 2800/DEF: 1000/LV: 8)!"
A large, mighty warrior clad in light blue armor appeared on the field. His armor was covered in large spikes that poked out in certain areas like his shoulders, elbows, and knuckles. Wrapped around his neck was a blue cape—the underside of the cape being a nice red color.
"When my warrior is Tribute Summoned, I can target up to three Spell/Trap cards on your field, and destroy them! Brilliant Whirlwind!"
Mobius hurls a punch forward, creating a gust of cool wind that blows away Dark Magic Circle.
It's over. Yosuke frowned. I have no way to counter his attack. I can't win this.
"Now for the climax of this show!" Sawatari declared as dramatically pumped his fist into the air. "Abyssal Sea Star and Mobius the Mega Monarch, attack his life points directly! Starbreaker Knuckle!"
Abyssal Sea Star bursts into a stream of light, wrapping around Mobius' fists as the monster hurls a punch at Yosuke, sending him sliding back only a few feet, and depleting his life points to zero.
Yosuke — LP: 4000 → 0
Winner: Sawatari
Sawatari pats his monster on the side as it disappears. He then gleefully looked at his duel disk in order to check his win rate.
[Total Number of Games — 63]
[38 Duels Won]
[25 Duels Lost]
[Win Rate — 60.32%]
"And with that, I qualify for the Maiami Championships." Sawatari almost wanted to jump with joy, but composed himself as Yosuke approached him.
"That was a great duel." Yosuke said as he extended his hand. "I originally thought you were just some arrogant rich kid who happened to get lucky and get his hands on Pendulum Cards, but it seems like you're more skilled than that."
Sawatari flicks his hair in a pompous way, but accepts the hand anyway, "Well naturally. I wouldn't call myself a first-rate duelist if I didn't have the skills to back it up." Sawatari then mumbled under his breath. "Though, if you had played your traps and effects even a little better, or if you had that spell card, I probably would've lost…"
"What was that last part?" Yosuke asked with a sly smirk. "Couldn't quite hear you there."
"I said that I'd obviously beat a second-rate duelist like yourself. I just played better." Sawatari turned his head, his face a little red in embarrassment. "I, the Neo Great Sawatari Shingo, have a meeting I need to make my way too, so I'll be leaving now, Sakaki. Goodbye!"
Sawatari quickly fled the scene, causing the older teen to chuckle.
"He's a little odd but not a bad guy." Yosuke smiled as he walked in the opposite direction. "I can accept my loss."
He pulled out his deck, holding Dark Magician in his hand.
"Next time, I won't make those same mistakes." Yosuke declared to himself. "To fulfill that promise I made three years ago."
———————————————————
At the Leo Corporation…
"The situation has just been getting worse and worse." A man with styled black and white hair, wearing blue sunglasses on his face grimaced.
This was Nakajima, a member of the Leo Corporation and the man that worked directly under Akaba Reiji. He was currently stressing about the growing conspiracies revolving around the disappearance of LDS students and teachers alike. Incidents like these have been happening a good amount in the last few days, which made it difficult for their plans of creating and testing Pendulum Cards.
He pulled a card out of his pocket, frowning, what was depicted on the card deeply frightened him. The card captured the last moments of an LDS student, an expression of terror riddled on their face. Normally, something like this wouldn't be all that bad, one would assume it was just some distasteful picture of someone that was printed onto a card.
However that wasn't the case at all. The subject in question had been trapped in a card, an idea that sounded absolutely ludicrous.
Yet he saw it with his own eyes, there was no way he could disprove what had happened.
"What has the boss been thinking, he's been taking this all so casually." Nakajima frowned as he arrived at his destination, the doorway that led into his boss, Akaba Reiji's room.
As Nakajima slowly opened the door, he found Reiji sitting in his chair, staring at his assortment of screens with an impassive expression on his face.
"What do you need from me, boss?" Nakajima politely asked. "Does it have something to do with the recent incidents?"
"Partly, but not entirely the reason." Reiji states as he turns to Nakajima. "It's about the manner from Pendulum and the recent field test against Sakaki Yuya. We've managed to gather some fantastic data, but I'm confident that we're missing a few details that might be the key to perfect it."
"What do you suggest we do then, boss?" Nakajima inquired. "Do you plan on having another field test against Sakaki Yuya?"
"Not necessarily. There's another Pendulum user, remember?" Reiji said. "Sawatari Shingo, has also been shown to possess this summoning method."
"Right." Nakajima nods, vividly remembering the shocking match that occurred a few days ago that shocked the general populace greatly, himself included.
"I say we add him to our plan involving the Lancers." Reiji suggests. "He and Sakaki Yuya would be invaluable assets in our fight involving this impending war."
"I don't think involving him would be much of a good idea." Nakajima frowned. "While he is a fantastic duelist, his personality leaves a lot to be desired. And also, he is 'her' little brother after all. I don't know how well he'll take the news once he learns the truth about what occurred three years ago. You still haven't told me the full details about it, you've only mentioned that she had joined our enemy."
"There's a time and place for everything." Reiji states. "As for determining his eligibility for becoming a Lancer, leave that to me. I'll personally test him myself to see whether or not he's fit for the role."
Reiji then stands up, looking up the number of screens on the wall. What was being displayed was the footage they managed to capture of the incident where Professor Marco was attacked and carded by an Xyz Duelist.
A small smile appeared on Reiji's face.
I wonder what kind of duel you'll show me, Sawatari Shingo? I'm looking forward to seeing just how far you'll go.
———————————————————
Custom Cards:
Chilled Sea Slug
ATK: 0, DEF: 0, LV: 1
Water/Aqua/Effect
Monster Effect: You can discard this card from my hand when an opponent declares an attack, Special Summon and Level 4 or lower WATER monster from your hand. This effect cannot be negated.
Hoarding Rook
ATK: 0, DEF: 0, LV: 1
Water/Winged-Beast/Effect
Monster Effect: This card cannot be destroyed by battle. (Quick Effect) Once per turn, add 1 "Water" monster from your deck to your hand. You must show this card you choose to your opponent.
Abyssal Starfish
ATK: 1300, DEF: 2300, R: 4
Water/Aqua/Xyz/Effect
2 Level 4 "Aqua" Monsters
Monster Effect: Once per turn, you can detach all materials from this monster, Tribute Summon a monster from your hand.
The Monarch's Indifference
Field Spell
Tribute Summons are considered Special Summons as long as this card is on the field.
Monarch's Insight
Spell Card
Add one "Monarch" Spell/Trap Card from your deck to your hand.
Dark Magician's Road
Trap Card
If you only control a "Dark Magician" monster on my field, you can discard this card from your hand, target one Spell Card from your deck that mentions "Dark Magician", add it to my hand. Cards added to the hand by this effect are immediately activated.
Vengeful Counter
Spell Card
Can only be activated in the graveyard. If a monster you control negates an opponent's card effect, you can banish this card from your graveyard, inflict effect damage to your opponent equal to that monster's attack points.
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Sawatari Corner:
LarsonWrites: And that makes two, I'm on a roll right now.
Neo Great Sawatari Shingo: There wasn't enough of me in this chapter. It's like this chapter wasn't really about me at all.
LarsonWrites: That's because it wasn't.
Neo Great Sawatari Shingo: That's the problem with you as a writer, you don't make use of me to the fullest. I should've won that duel against Sakaki Yosuke just as easily as I did in the match against Sakaki Yuya.
LarsonWrites: You literally didn't even take a single point of damage in that duel. I don't know what else you want me to do.
Neo Great Sawatari Shingo: You literally made me say that I would've lost if it wasn't for my opponent not dueling at his best.
LarsonWrites: You also only won that duel against Sakaki Yuya because you pulled Pendulum out of your ass. Be grateful that this duel wasn't as big of an asspull as that.
Neo Great Sawatari Shingo: You're the one who wrote the damn thing, don't blame me for your shitty writing. You can't even write a duel between more than two people for the life of you. You had to end that duel against those LDS students short because you had no ideas.
LarsonWrites: First of all, you can't blame me for struggling to find a deck for literal fodder that won't have any impact on the story. And secondly, be grateful that I'm writing about you at all. I could totally just drop this and write a fanfic about Yosuke instead and make sure you fail as a character even worse than you did in the original show, or continue writing that original novel of mine that I've been putting off for too long.
Neo Great Sawatari Shingo: Hmph. No comment.
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And with that, Chapter 2 is officially done. I'm not going to lie, writing the Yosuke duel was extremely boring for me, though I'm glad I persevered through it since it came out better than I expected. It's a pretty calm chapter, since it's meant to set up future events.
P.S. I'm grateful for the reviews I received on the first chapter about his deck. It gave me a wakeup call and allowed me to write an actual decent chapter that I'd be proud to upload. The original version of this chapter was super bad. I'm not going to lie.
As for Yosuke, I decided to not make him want to follow in his father and brother's footsteps in becoming an entertainer, at least at the start of the story. I chose to give him a Dark Magician deck mainly because I found it to be a rather simple deck for me to understand (since I encountered a few decks that are similar when I played Master Duel). I thought it would be cool if someone made use of Dark Magician. Definitely expect an expansion on his deck as he improves throughout the fic.
As for Sawatari's deck, I chose to show off his Monarch Deck since it was pretty easy for me to understand (yes I'm lazy as hell). I didn't get to show off the Synchro Boss Monster I added to the deck sadly since I couldn't find a justifiable reason for Sawatari to be able to summon it in this duel, thanks to all of Yosuke's negating effects. I'll be sure to show off that monster in all of its glory in a later duel for sure.
Next chapter I plan on showing off the new and improved Yosenju deck against a very special duelist. I'll give you a cookie if you can guess who it is (I won't).
Last thing, new chapters will be released weekly or bi-weekly (depending on the chapter and outside factors like school and stuff). If it's a weekly schedule, I'll release new chapters every Thursday or Friday like I did with this one.
Don't forget to drop a follow and write me some more criticisms and suggestions (as long as the criticism is actual informational and not just straight hating…not saying that you can't hate this story or anything. If you happen to hate this fanfic, just don't read it. Don't leave a random hate comment for no reason.)