I woke up in an unfamiliar room. That confused me for a second before I stood up and almost fell over. I start looking around. Just then I was struck with memories of my death. I died due to dehidration, that sucks. But I only remember suffering on the floor unable to move, so how am I here? This doesn't look like a hospital.

Looking around I see an older look computer. Looking like it's two decades old. Walking over to it I try turning it on, it slowly starts and as I'm waiting I look around the room to try and figure out where I am. I feel my person but don't find anything although I do feel shorter, that would explain why it feels like my balance is off. Seeing a box next to the computer I open it to find cards inside, they looked like Yugioh cards, I used to play this game when I was younger.

Picking them up I don't really recognize any of them besides three. Monster Reborn, Pot of Greed, and Ojama Yellow. I knew the Ojama card because I watched the first two series when I was a kid, I can't really remember too much about them though, besides how I didn't like many of the characters, I think my favorate was Zane because we are similar. We both view winning as most important and we're both masochists.

But beyond basic knowledge and the ending I can't remember that much. The computer makes a sound alerting me that it turned on. Turning to it I start trying to find my location, it says I am in a place called Domino city. Attempting to find what country I'm in, I get mixed results, some are saying I am in the United States, another is saying I am in Japan.

Going to the news tab I can't find too much out of place until I come across an article about a duel monsters championship. Clicking into it in confusion, I find the participants. Most of the people looked like anime characters. Looking to find who is holding the tournament, the article says Industrial Illusions is hosting it.

I remember that was the name of a company in Yugioh, along with Kaiba corp. I feel something in my chest, I think it was worry or panic. So I start looking for news of Kaiba corp. Low and behold I find news about it shifting from military weapons to become a gaming company.

'Did I somehow get transported to the Yugioh world? Or maybe I'm dreaming.' So in order to find out, I slap myself in the face. Looking around, nothing changed, now my face is hot, I can't tell if it's from the slap or the blush I might be getting.

Shaking it off I start thinking of what to do, can I get back? This anime had magic right? But I think it was mostly about the card game, so what now? Walking to a door, I open it and walk in, it seems to be a bathroom. Turning to the mirror I see how my body has changed. I am slim, maybe because of how I died, that would also explain the pale skin.

Looking back at me were gray eyes, surprisingly they and my shoulder length black hair are the same. Looking down I see a white long sleeve shirt, dark blue pants and white shoes, I guess my name is the same then, Zenen Nekoyak. These clothes were also the last thing I was wearing. Going back into the other room I though about my family, would I ever see them again? Feeling a pain in my chest, I wondered what emotion that was, I knew what caused it, was it sadness, or something else? Why are emotions so complicated?

Going over to the cards I start flipping through them. As I do that I start thinking about what I should do. I could just do nothing and live a nice life. But I think I remember some type of duel monster invasion or something in season four.

It's a new life right? Why not have fun with it, besides everything should turn out fine in the end because isn't fate and destiny a real thing in this anime? That reminds me of when I used to play this game. It was fun, I stopped playing though, maybe I could try again here.

Turning my attention back to the bed, where I was asleep I see a bag. Opening it up there seems to be a modern looking phone in the phone on says some things.

Contacts

Messages

Dial

Music

Money: 500,000

Duels won: 0

Multiplier : x1

Search engine

This makes me assume the amount of duels won will give me money. Thinking about it I may as well have fun in this world, thinking about it too much would not do me any good. Putting my deck and phone into the bag I start looking around trying to find anything I may have missed. Finding nothing I walk out of the building, but once I get out I feel something off about the air around me, turning back I see the building that I walked out of was no longer there, odd.

Walking off I start thinking of things to do. I could get myself into the plot and I most likely will be in it by the time battle city happens but I am not sure I can or want to get into it by now, I don't care about helping the main cast, and I don't want to worry about if things I do will effect the plot in some way, when the time comes I will deal with it.

Suddenly something catches my attention. I local card game tournament. This could get me money. And that's another reason to not duel in duelist kingdom, not enough duels. I take a look at the poster and notice it isn't being held by any major corporation. This could mean a few things. So I take out my phone and pull up a map of the city and start following the directions to the tournament.

Once I get there the first thing I notice is the large sign saying "Den's Shop" seeing that and the mass amount of people here got me wondering, this place does seem to be pretty big. There are some signs telling us where to go. Totally not suspicious. Going in that direction I find a difficulty difference, pretty much you need to pay to get in, people will also bet on you. But that is only for the maximum difficulty, it also has the biggest cash pool. So walking over to the door with the same difficulty rating I walk in revealing a hallway.

I go in, there are a few other people going the same way, once we get to the end I find a man blocking the way.

"Watch or participation?" He asks.

"Participation." I say and he holds out a device with a screen on it, allowing a scan or swipe function, I take out my phone and open the money amount I have and turn on a Qr code. Once it shows up I scan in on the device. Once the reader beeps he looks at it and steps aside to open the door.

I go in and look at the amount I have left, noticing I am only missing one hundred bucks I put it away. In there is an elevator, there are about five more people in there so I join them. We wait for a bit because this thing doesn't have any buttons, a few more people walk in and soon the doors close bringing us lower, after a minute we all enter a room that looks like a stadium.

"Woah this place is big." One of the people next to me says, I look over to them to see that they're around my age, maybe a bit older, with brown hair and green eyes.

"First time? This place is great for winning cards and money, these places aren't really known that well, and it's disguised as a normal tournament, really it's a whole international, system of duelists, not really underground dueling but half way there, this place gives money, fame and anything you could want." A man with a long beard and long blond hair says.

"How do they get the money?" I ask in curiosity, as far as I know underground dueling was in gx and they got money from rich people watching others suffer.

"Apparently, big shots from Kaiba corp and an english company fund this, they say they need top duelists for something called duel energy, they said it was magical or something, all I know is dueling here takes a toll on your body, but it's worth it because of the prizes." What? This is new.

"I'm Richard by the way, we may team up some time, this place likes tag duels." Richard says holding out his hand, I give him a hand shake and we start walking to a room up ahead. I guess this was more about showing who would be dueling. Once we get to the new room we find a nice relaxation setting, some people run over to a fridge in the corner, I move to sit down and Richard sits next to me a few feet away.

"So why are you here if you don't mind me asking?" He asks in wonder, to be honest I had no reason to be here, I really only want the money to live a good life, and living in a world that pretty much runs on duel monsters sounds fun.

"Money, what about you?" I say finding no reason to lie. He looks a bit surprised by my honesty. I guess some people like to justify their selfish reasoning.

"Haha, yeah, I am here for the money too, I have always wanted to travel around the world you know." I can understand that, I was never a fan of adventure but I do see the appeal. As we continued talking I found more out about this world, apparently duel monsters is not as wide spread yet so this country has the biggest event.

Most european and african countries don't have this game yet, I had an idea while talking with Richard, egyptian magic is a thing so will other magics work too? I am pretty sure that should be the case, so after this tournament I know what type of magic I should research, well why not start now?

As Richard left to get some food I started researching about evocation magic, and researching about the place I will visit, because do I really need a reason to try and learn magic? Illusion magic may help me most honestly.

A man walks into the room and call for all of us. We walk out and as we do I hear some guy talking on a speaker.

"Ladys and gentleman! For the second tournament today we will start by cutting their numbers in half with one-way duels, then we will hold tag duels between the rest, and finally once we are down to only four people we will hold a four way duel!" The crowd cheers for that.

"Is it normally like this?" I ask in what I think is confusion. Richard thinks for a second and then turns to me.

"It's not uncommon, this is a crowd favorate way of dueling, plus it saves time." People like watching two people work together who have no idea how the other plays? Interesting.

"Will everyone please walk over to a dueling platform and get your decks ready?" The announcer says, I walk over to the closest one and stand on the platform wondering who I will be dueling, this isn't random but we get to choose who we face to an extent.

As my platform reaches it's peak I see Richard getting on another platform a few arenas away, looking around I find that only one duel has started so far. I hear a click from infront of me, turning to face it I see the other guy has shown up, he looks like a child honestly, looks around eight, has short brown hair and brown eyes.

Another click sounds and this time it came from a compartment to the side of me, sticking out was a bracelet with an orb on it. Seeing other people had them on I put it on too. The kid looked confused but seeing me putting it on he does the same.

"I'm Tim, let's have a fun game!" The kid says, I nod and I shuffle and set my deck down, he does the same but what I am looking at hardly looks like shuffling, he is picking up the same stack of cards eachtime and alternating moving them from top to bottom only for it to be left on top, I start thinking that he stacked his deck, but I won't say anything.

Zenen-2000 Tim-2000

"I draw!" He says and draws a card. "I summon Launcher spider!" 2200/2500. The monster shows up, huh 2200 attack points. "I then set a card and end my turn." The kid finishes, and smirks. So he is cheating and wants to smirk? If you are cheating you don't deserve the honor of looking down on your opponent.

Hand 4

"I draw." I say. "I set one card face-down. Then I play the spell enchanting fitting room." I set the card and activate the spell card, good thing I read what my cards could do otherwise this would be annoying. " With the cost of 800 life points I show the top four cards of my deck then I can summon any level three or lower monsters, but the rest go back into my deck." I show the top four cards. Ojama Green, Terraforming, Ojama Delta Huricane, Ojama Black. "I summon Ojama black and green." Zenen-1200

My monsters show up on the field in defence mode. Ojama Green/Black 0/1000 "Then the rest go back to my deck." I say as I shuffle the other two cards back in my deck. "Now, I normal summon Ojama Yellow from my hand." My monster appears. Ojama Yellow 0/1000

Tim looks at my monsters and laughs "What will those weaklings do?" He asks.

I ignore him. "Now I play the spell card Ojama Delta Thunder, this card deals 500 points of damage to you for every card in your hand and field as long as I have Yellow, Black, and Green, on my field.

As I said how my card works the kid looked scared, my monsters jumped into the air and made a pose sparking thunder and sending it at the kid. Because he had four cards in hand and two on the field, he took 3000 points of damage. Tim-0

I put my deck away and as I did his life points fell to zero and the bracelet glowed a blueish color, then the kid fell to the ground unconscious. Wondering what that was about my eyes widened as I felt my exhaustion, it was not normal for a card game. So that's what these things are for, duel energy was mentioned somewhere in the anime, think but I can't remember from where.

The platform lowered and I walked off to the waiting room, I was the only one there so deciding I had nothing better to do I sat down and started thinking about what to do. I should have guessed this is what would have happened considering I was told they take duel energy well for only 800 life points I feel pretty fine, I guess I was more surprised at the start. I hear the door opening and the man coming through seems to be Richard.

"Oh hey there, you doing fine? I know the energy drain can be rough on people new to it." Honestly I was feeling pretty fine, I lost almost half my life points and I feel fine, wait how did the kid fall unconscious, well he is a child, I guess this duel energy stuff varies, but wait, duel energy, what is that stuff?

"I am doing fine, but what connection does duel energy have to normal energy?" I ask in confusion.

"I have no idea, I think it's just a fancy way of saying energy." He said after thinking for a second. "Hey the next round has tag duels right? You wanna team up?" He asks. He has a good point, it would be better to get a partner now before I get stuck with the last guy who wasn't chosen.

"Sure." I say, as I do I take out my phone to look at.

Contacts

Messages

Dial

Music

Money: 500,150

Duels won: 0

Multiplier : x1.1

Search engine

I got $250 for winning a duel. The multiplier, I think it works like a win streak. Me and Richard talk for the next five minutes, something interesting I found out from him was there was a company in India that makes counterfeit cards, the thing about them though is they are hyper realistic. After a few more minutes we walk out with a few other people who came in while we were talking to take part in a tag duel, there were two that were going to happen.

Once me and Richard got to our platforms and shuffled our decks the announcer started explaining the rules.

"Alright, in case it is anyones first tag duel, this is how it will go: each player has their own life points of 2000, no one can attack on their first turn, you do not share fields and you and your teammate can not have consecutive turns. Those are all, now you can begin."

On the other side I see a tall man with a blue cap and blue jacket, a few meters away from him is a woman with long brown hair and green eyes. The man speaks up. "I am Joel, this is Sam, I will go first if you don't mind."

"No problem, I am Richard and this is, what's your name? I forgot to ask." I tell him and he continues "And Zenen, go ahead with your turn."

Joel-2000 Zenen-2000 Sam-2000 Richard-2000

"I draw." Joel announces. "First I summon Mystic Tomato in attack mode." 1400/1100 I will then set two cards face-down and end my turn.

Hand 3

"My go, I draw." I say, as I draw a card I start thinking of what to do. "I summon Ojamachine Yellow." I say as I play the card on the field. 0/1000 "His effect lets me summon as many copies of him as I can onto the field." I don't bother mentioning his other effect. Token copies of my machine apear. "I set one card face-down and end my turn."

Hand 4

"I draw." Sam says, she looks at her hand and thinks for a second. "I summon Neo the Magic Swordsman. 1700/1000 "Then I set a card and end my turn."

Hand 4

"My go, I draw." Richard says."I summon Skull Mariner in attack mode. 1600/900 "Then I set a card." His skull ship apears and so does his face-down. "With that I end my turn."

Hand 4

"I draw." Joel says. "Mystic tomato, attack his Ojamachine!" His tomato attacks my monster and destroys it but I am not delt any damage even though it was in attack mode. "What?" He asks.

"My monsters effect means I don't take battle damage involving him, also if he is destroyed you take 300 points of damage." As I say that a spark of electricity flys at him. Joel-1700

Hand 4

He finishes his turn and I draw for my turn. "I set a monster and enter my battle phase, my machines will attack your monster." As I said that all my monster attack his tomato only to get destroyed but he takes the damage. Joel-500 "I end my turn there."

Hand 4

"My turn." Sam says as she draws a card. "Neo, attack Zenen's face-down!" She says. The Swordsman attacks my monster, the card flips over to show Ojama Yellow. My monster gets destroyed. "I end my turn there."

Hand 5

"I draw." Richard says. "I play the spell card Axe of Dispair, and equip it to my Skull Mariner." 2600/900 "Now, attack his mystic tomato!" Richard seems to know what to do.

"I play two quick-play spells!" Joel says. He flips his cards to show two rush recklessly. Mystic tomato 2800/1100 it's enough to clear his monster. His ship tries to crash into his mystic tomato but then Joel's monster launches itself at the ship with the speed of a bullet destroying Richards monster. Richard-1800

"Damn." He says. "I summon Nin-ken dog!" 1800/1000 A ninja dog appears on the field. "With that I will end my turn."

Hand 3

"My turn." Joel starts his turn. "I play Alexandrite Dragon!" 2000/100 "Now Alexandrite attack Zenen directly!" Right it was only in duelist kingdom where you couldn't attack directly. His dragon opens it's mouth and fires a blue fire wave at me.

"I play the trap Sakuretsu armor!" I say flipping my trap card over which destroys his Alexandrite dragon. Wait why does he look so shocked? Joel-0

Oh right if your monster is destroyed by card effect it deals the owner half their monsters attack points. Geez good thing this was changed later on. "I guess that means it's my turn." I say as I draw a card.

"I set a monster and set a card."

Hand 3

Sam draws a card and plays Raigeki. Lightning falls from the sky and strikes out field destroying every monster Richard and I have. Zenen-2000 Richard-900

"Neo! Attack Richard!" Her swordsman attacks my partner. Only for him to smirk.

"I play my trap card!" He flips it over to reveal Spellbinding circle which stops her attack and lowers Neo's attack points by 700. Neo the Magic Swordsman 1000/1000

Sam looks upset so she plays the spell card remove trap. Which destroys his spellbinding circle, then she sets a card and ends her turn.

Hand 4

"I draw, I summon the Summoned Skull!" Richard summons his monster. "Attack her swordsman!" He anounces.

"I play the trap mirror force!" Once she flips it Richard looks on as a mirror barrier is formed. But before his monster touched the barrier, the mirror shattered. "What?!" Sam shouts.

"I played the trap card Domain of the Dark Ruler, this negates your trap." I say showing the reason behind her trap getting destroyed.

Summoned skull fires lightning at her swordsman destroying it. Sam-1200 "Your turn." Richard says.

"I draw!" Sam says. "I summon Breaker the Magical Warrior!" 1600/1000 "His effect makes him gain a spell counter, and I can get rid of it to destroy your trap card!" Breakers sword glows a bright blue, he slashes an energy wave at my continuous trap card destroying it.

"I play Negitive energy generator which triples my Breakers attack points!" 4800/1000 "Attack Richards summoned skull!" Breaker launches an energy slash at summoned skull destroying it sending Richards life points to zero. Richard-0

"I end my turn." She says.

Hand 3

What the hell am I supposed to do now? She has a monster with almost 5000 attack points, I don't have any cards on my field. The only cards in my hand are Ojama Green, Black, and Polymerization. I have an idea of what I could do but I need a good draw. Hey, when I was younger my top decking game was on point, so in a world where destiny exists, can I somehow use my duel energy to draw the cards I need?

Focusing on my deck, I visualiszed the card, something in my felt like it shifted, I drew a card but once I did I felt like some of my energy was zapped out of me leaving me barely standing. Looking at it I smiled. "I draw." I play the spell card Polymerization, this lets me fuse Ojama green and black from my hand to summon Ojama Knight." 0/2500

"What is that going to do?" Sam asks in confusion. I just take the last card in my hand and put it on the field.

"I play the field spell Ojama Country." Once I put the card down the field changes to show a village with Ojama monsters around us. "With this, if there is an Ojama card on the field all monsters on the field have their attack and defence points swapped." Ojama knight 2500/0 Breaker the Magical Warrior 1000/4800

"Now, Ojama knight attack her Breaker!" My knight attacks and destroys her monster. Sam-0 As the game finished I realized how fatigued I was, I could barely stand, but does this mean I have destiny draw power? I would rather not do that again soon though, I feel like I have not eaten in a week.

As I get to the ground I walk back into the waiting room hoping to get something to eat before the next round.