[Yumi, LP 4000]
[Kite, LP 4000]
[Nibiru, the Primal Being, 600 DEF]
[Primal Being Token, 6600 ATK]
Both Duelists stood across from each other, each with a massive piece of rock occupying their field for completely different reasons.
The forest remained quiet around them. The river continued flowing as if a giant meteor hadn't just dropped into the clearing.
Kite exhaled slowly, his earlier momentum completely interrupted. He glanced down at the cards in his hand, eyes narrowing slightly as he recalculated his options.
"I activate the Spell Card, Super Quant Drastic Draw!" he said, placing down a card. "I banish all 'Super Quant' Fusion monsters in my Graveyard with different names, and I draw one card for each banished."
The three Mecha Beast cards that had just been sent to the Graveyard appeared behind him in a translucent form. They hovered for a brief moment before dissolving into golden particles that scattered into the air.
Kite drew three more cards in one smooth motion. He studied his expanded hand for a few seconds. The frustration from earlier was still there, but it wasn't controlling him.
He selected three cards and slid them onto his Duel Disk.
"I set three cards face-down. Turn end."
Three face-down cards materialized behind the towering Primal Being Token on his field, lined up evenly.
"My turn," Yumi said calmly, resting his fingers on top of his deck. "Draw."
"I activate the Continuous Trap, Summon Limit!" Kite flipped one of his face-down cards without hesitation. The Trap card rose upright behind the massive Token, its effect activating immediately. "While this card is face-up on the field, neither player can Summon more than two monsters per turn!"
"Tch! Looks like someone is having PTSD." Yumi couldn't help but comment before his gaze shifted back down to his hand.
"Spell Card, Take Over 5, sent the top five cards from the top of my deck to my grave!"
Five cards shot off the top of his deck in quick succession, sliding directly into his Graveyard slot.
"Elemental HERO Flash's effect activates," Yumi continued. "When this card is sent to the Graveyard, I can add one Spell or Trap from my Graveyard to my hand."
His Graveyard slot glowed faintly. A phantom image of the blue-and-silver armored HERO appeared briefly, stepping forward as if from memory, handing a card toward Yumi before fading away.
Yumi took the card and slid it into his hand. Without pause, he placed down the card.
"Spell Card, Preparation of Rites. I can add a Level 7 or lower Ritual Monster from my Deck to my hand, then add a Ritual Spell from my Graveyard to my hand."
A card ejected cleanly from his Deck, and another slid out from the Graveyard slot.
"I'll add the Level 6 Ritual Monster, Ohime the Manifested Mikanko. And the Ritual Spell, Mikanko Kagura."
Upon hearing Ritual and seeing a never-heard-before Ritual Monster, Kite's expression darkened even further.
After their last Duel and suffering an overwhelming defeat under Slifer's Heroes and their combined Rider Kicks. Kite had added some countermeasures to his deck, seeing how his powerful boss monster couldn't always carry him.
Like the Summon Limit currently on his field, used properly, it could stop Yumi from repeating that overwhelming All-Out-Attack. Used poorly, it would restrict Kite himself just as much.
Basically, a double-edged knife, he could use to cut his opponent, but if he was not careful, then the one getting cut would be him.
Despite not being able to summon his boss monster, Kite still chose to use it to prevent Yumi from doing that combo where he summoned five monsters in one turn. And now that he has this massive piece of rock with 6600 ATK on his side, he is confident that Yumi won't be able to break through it easily.
"Now, by revealing Ohime the Manifested Mikanko in my hand," Yumi said calmly, holding the Ritual Monster up between two fingers, "I can add a 'Mikanko' card from my Deck to my hand, then discard one card."
He revealed Ohime briefly before lowering it again. As a card slid out from his Deck.
"I'll add Heavenly Gate of the Mikanko."
He added it to his hand, then selected one card and sent it to the Graveyard without hesitation.
"Since the card I discarded is the Equip Spell, Cursed Bamboo Sword, I can add a 'Bamboo Sword' card from my Deck to my hand." Another card ejected from his Deck. "I'll add Broken Bamboo Sword."
"Now I activate the Ritual Spell, Mikanko Kagura!"
Yumi placed the card down. A bright golden light descended from above, shining onto his side of the field.
"I Tribute the Level 6, Black Magician Girl from my hand to Ritual Summon! The Level 6, Ohime the Manifested Mikanko!"
A tan-skinned magician girl in red briefly appeared within the golden light. She tilted her head back slightly, giving Yumi a playful wink before dissolving into shimmering particles.
From the pillar of light descended a small, child-like girl with pale skin and silk-like black hair tied into twin-tails, long yellow ribbons flowing behind her. Golden earrings glinted softly. She wore a white-and-yellow outfit reminiscent of traditional miko robes, with a crop top and flowing sleeves.
Behind her spread large glowing golden-white wings, and a circular halo-like ornament hovered at her back, emphasizing her divine presence.
She landed lightly on the field.
[Ohime the Manifested Mikanko, 0 ATK]
Kite: "?"
Kite stared at the display, clearly puzzled. A Ritual Monster with 0 ATK standing in front of a 6600 ATK piece of rock Token did not look threatening at all.
"Now, Mikanko Kagura's follow-up effect activates," Yumi continued as the golden light above intensified. "I can destroy cards you control up to the number of Equip Spells in my Graveyard with different names, and you take 1000 damage for each card destroyed."
Kite: "!!"
"Since I only have the Equip Spell, Cursed Bamboo Sword, in my Graveyard, I will destroy your face-down on the right," Yumi said as he pointed directly at it.
A concentrated beam of golden light struck the chosen card, shattering it and revealing Mirror Force before it disappeared.
[Kite, LP 4000 -> 3000]
"Tch. Just how shameless do you need to be to add a card like Mirror Force into a Super Quant deck?" Yumi asked with a faint smile.
"I don't want to hear that from someone like you," Kite shot back immediately.
After his loss to Yumi, Kite had done some research. He found out that Yumi had a 100% win rate and was known for running multiple cards capable of clearing an opponent's entire field with a single activation.
He also found out that Yumi is infamous for OTK-ing his opponents, basically just needing one turn to reduce them from a full 4000 Life Points to zero in a single turn.
After finding out about this, Kite realized that his opponents had been a wolf in sheep's clothing, purposefully staying in Slifer Red and pretending to be weak to make other duelists look down on him. Then, he flipped the script and OTK'd them.
If Yumi and Slifer the Sky Dragon were to hear Kite's thoughts about his reason for staying in Slifer Red, the two might laugh themselves to meet that Nameless Pharaoh.
Still smiling and completely unaware of how close to death he was just now, Yumi continued.
"I equip the Broken Bamboo Sword to my Ohime." An old, cracked bamboo sword appeared in Ohime's hand. Despite its worn condition, she held it with calm composure. "The equipped monster gains 0 ATK."
Kite: "??"
"Spell Card, Golden Bamboo Sword. If I control a Bamboo Sword Equip Spell, I draw two cards." Yumi drew two cards smoothly. "I activate the Field Spell, Heavenly Gate of the Mikanko."
As soon as the card was placed down, the air around them shifted subtly. A pillar of golden light descended from the sky behind Yumi and Ohime. Surrounding it were luminous golden platforms made entirely of light, forming a spiraling staircase that extended upward toward the heavens.
"Battle. Ohime, attack the Primal Being Token," Yumi ordered calmly.
Ohime stepped forward lightly, her movements graceful, almost as if she were gliding rather than running. The broken bamboo sword in her hand looked fragile, completely out of place against the towering 6600 ATK Token in front of her.
Kite's eyes widened slightly. "You're attacking that?"
"When Ohime battles," Yumi said evenly, "she is not destroyed by battle, and you take any battle damage I would have taken instead."
Kite's expression shifted instantly as he understood what that meant.
He immediately raised his hand. "I activate the Trap Card, Negate Attack!"
However, his final face-down and lifeline to save him didn't rise.
"It's useless," Yumi said, not raising his voice. "With Heavenly Gate of the Mikanko on the field, when my Mikanko monsters battle, you can't activate cards or effects until the end of the Damage Step."
Kite: "!!!?"
His final line of defense had just been turned off without him realizing it.
Ohime continued forward, hovering upward until she was directly above the massive stone Token. The golden pillar behind her intensified, radiant light gathering around her small form. The halo-like ornament at her back glowed brighter as divine energy focused at the tip of the broken bamboo sword.
"Go, Ohime. Heavenly's Refraction."
She swung the bamboo sword downward.
Instead of the rock shattering, golden light refracted off its surface like a mirror, the overwhelming force redirecting instantly toward Kite himself. The beam of radiant energy shot straight past the Token and struck him directly.
Kite screams, raising his arms, shielding his face from the blinding light like a vampire taking in the bright, warm sunlight for the first time.
[Kite, LP 3000 -> 0]
The golden light faded gradually. The hologram dissolved as the Duel system registered the result.
The impact of the reflected damage sent Kite stumbling backward before he lost his balance completely and fell onto his back. The Duel Disk on his arm powered down as the system registered his defeat.
Yumi stepped forward and looked down at him calmly.
Kite opened his light blue-grey eyes and found himself staring straight into Yumi's golden ones.
"Call that big lobster over," Yumi said casually. "I'm gonna cook him up myself."
Kite's jaw tightened. Humiliation burned far more than the damage had. He pushed himself up from the ground, glaring across at Yumi.
Yumi didn't bother holding the stare for long. He simply turned his back and began walking away as if the duel had been nothing more than a short conversation.
He had no interest in the other Planet Cards. Aside from Neptune and Earth, which were already in his possession, the rest did not offer effects that impressed him or fit into any of his decks. Jupiter had some utility, but its effect was essentially a weaker version of Destiny HERO Plasma. If Yumi really wanted Plasma, he still had more than enough Spirit Energy to print his own copy. He just didn't see the point.
As one of the three HERO users on the island, alongside Jaden and Aster, Yumi had long since settled into his own branch. All three of them started with Elemental HERO before diverging naturally. Jaden had expanded into Neo-Spacians, Aster specialized in Destiny HERO, and Yumi had the Masked HERO. It was a clean split, each of them walking their own path without stepping on the others'.
Behind him, Kite remained standing by the river, glaring at him in silence.
Yumi did not look back.
After leaving Kite to gather himself and think about everything he had just been told, Yumi headed back toward the Slifer Red dorm. The walk through the forest was quiet and somewhat peaceful, mostly because there weren't any idiots stupid enough to challenge him.
By the time he returned to the dorm building, the usual warmth of Slifer Red had replaced the stillness of the forest.
Since Celina's sisters were currently staying in the same room as her, Yumi didn't head back into his room. Instead, he returned to Jaden's room. It had gotten noticeably livelier lately, especially after Tyranno moved in.
Tyranno had even switched his clothes back to his Ra Yellow uniform, though he was still living in Slifer Red. The dino duelist was simply happy to spend time with Jaden again. Whether it was dueling, chatting, or just hanging out, that was enough for him.
And Jaden, as usual, was more than happy to have someone to play cards with late into the night. Tyranno was just as enthusiastic, especially when it came to playing cards with his 'big brother', which lasted until the two got tired.
...
The next day, Yumi was lying under a tree near the Slifer Red dorm, one arm resting behind his head as he stared up at the sky.
He let out a slow yawn, clearly bored out of his mind. Ever since his duel with Kite yesterday, there have been no idiots willing to walk up to him and challenge him.
"I'm bored again, Chaos," he muttered lazily.
Contrast HERO Chaos appeared beside him in a faint ripple of dark and light energy, folding his arms as if already tired of hearing that complaint. After a short sigh, Chaos raised a hand and tore open a rift in space itself, the air splitting apart like fabric.
Without hesitation, Yumi rolled onto his feet and jumped straight through.
"Huh?"
The moment he passed through, he felt weightless. He was hovering in a place where gravity didn't seem to exist. The sky around him was an endless void filled with faint streams of light. Looking down, he saw an enormous airship floating in the distance. It was surrounded by light green glows and golden circular rails, all constructed from hundreds of interlocking gears that rotated slowly around its structure.
"Okay, now where am I?" Yumi murmured, glancing around as he drifted closer to the ship, curiosity replacing his earlier boredom.
As he searched inside a card managed to catch his attention.
Number 96: Dark Mist.
"You're not Astral."
The voice came from behind him, familiar but carrying a different tone.
Yumi ignored the black card and turned to see a face he recognized immediately.
"Kite? Didn't I just beat you up yesterday?" Yumi asked casually.
The blonde duelist frowned slightly. "Who is Kite?"
His expression was more confused than hostile.
"How can a human get into this world?" he asked again.
After stealing the Emperor's Key, he was able to get to the pocket dimension from within the Emperor's Key by using a Baria Crystal.
Yumi then realized the familiar face before him was Kaito, not Kite. The Japanese name.
And the mention of 'this world'. Yumi has already figured out that this must be a dimensional pocket from the Yu-Gi-Oh ZEXAL timeline.
Which specific pocket dimension this was did not matter much to Yumi. With Chaos around, leaving would not be an issue.
Instead of explaining anything, Yumi smiled slightly and raised his Duel Disk. It unfolded with its usual mechanical hum.
"If you want to know," Yumi said evenly, "you'll have to prove your worth first."
Kaito's confusion shifted into a faint sneer.
"Very well. Duel mode! Photon change!"
His black outfit transformed instantly into a white one, sleek and fitted. A spinning Duel Disk flew toward him from somewhere unseen, attaching itself to his left arm. The disk was blue with a single curved blade extending outward. Dark blue markings appeared beneath his left eye, glowing faintly.
Yumi simply smiles while clapping his hands. "Love the dramatic change of clothes, must be pretty hard on the body though, seeing how it's killing you. I'm gonna say, love the effort."
Kaito: "..."
Kaito wanted to refuse or question how Yumi knew that, but currently he doesn't know whether he was just complimented or insulted.
Although Yumi had just beat up Kite yesterday, beating an alternative reality of him would be fun too.
"DUEL!"
[Kaito, LP 4000]
[Yumi, LP 4000]