"Ahhhh—!"
The unnamed officer tumbled off the stage, his eyes filled with confusion—a sharp contrast to the confidence he'd shown before.
"I won," Kira said cheerfully. "Thank you for the guidance. That was a fun duel."
Officer: "..."
Fun?
He thought back carefully to what had just happened.
First, Kira opened with "Delinquent Duo," discarding two of his cards. Then "Confiscation" discarded another. Kira normal summoned "Gearfried the Iron Knight," equipped "Smoke Grenade of the Thief," which was destroyed by Gearfried's effect, causing the officer to discard another card.
On the officer's turn, during the draw phase, Kira activated a set card, making him discard his drawn card. Then, in the standby phase, he activated the trap "Armory Call," equipping another Smoke Grenade to Gearfried, which was destroyed, making the officer discard yet another card.
The duel had just begun, and the officer looked at his empty hands, question marks over his head.
Huh?
What the hell? Where are my cards? Where did all six of them go?
So ended the first match, barely two minutes total.
Ignoring the now-dreamless officer, Kira jumped off the stage and quickly headed to the next match.
Sure enough, even in a new world, dueling was just as much fun.
...
Kira quickly won a batch of cards, including a few valuable rares, which he sold for cash. Then he went to the card shop and bought a few booster packs.
And drew a rather famous Synchro Monster—
Junk Warrior.
The ace monster for the third-generation protagonist, Yusei Fudo, in the early series—a real soul card.
He even drew a few "Synchron" cards, also from Yusei's deck.
Kira was a bit surprised, but soon realized why.
In GX, Jaden's HERO deck was called a commoner's mishmash by Professor Crowler, already considered a budget deck. But by the 5DS era, Yusei's deck was even more so.
If Jaden's deck was "commoner," then Yusei's was "pauper"—he grew up in the Satellite slums, building his deck from trash he scavenged.
Except for the rare "Stardust Dragon," which found him as his destined ace, most of his deck was the most common stuff—drawing a few Synchrons from any pack wasn't odd.
After a round of packs, Kira went back to the duel arena to keep wagering for cards, winning three or five more matches.
Back at the start of his transmigration, it hadn't taken long for his reputation to spread as a terror in the arena. Now, with experience, he knew his fame would soon spread and other duelists would avoid him, making it harder to earn cards as efficiently.
Better cash in while he could.
After several more matches, when he took the stage again, he saw a familiar face.
"Big bro, it's him!"
The first officer he'd beaten had actually called for backup. A large, burly man followed him to the arena, looking at Kira with doubt. "This kid? Doesn't look like much."
"Trust me, big bro, this kid is weird! He won my rare cards!"
"Oh yeah? Interesting."
The big man grinned as he took the stage.
"Kid, you're in luck. I was just looking for someone to spar with today."
With backup, the first officer was emboldened.
"Big Bro Tetsu is the strongest duelist in our pursuit squad. You're finished!"
Kira looked intrigued.
Big Bro Tetsu was here—now that was something.
This man was a legendary figure in Yu-Gi-Oh history, appearing in the very first chapter of the earliest manga, the first villain punished by the Pharaoh's Shadow Game. Strictly speaking, he's the first villain in Yu-Gi-Oh history.
He survived from DM all the way to 5DS, becoming a Public Security Pursuit Duelist and harassing Yusei endlessly.
Finally, a slightly interesting opponent.
"Then I look forward to your guidance, Big Bro Tetsu," Kira replied politely.
"Duel!" x2
[Kira, LP 4000]
[Tetsu, LP 4000]
The most popular format in this era was Turbo Duel, where both sides used Duel Runners (dueling motorcycles). But Kira, new to this world, didn't have a Duel Runner. While he had used Paradox's Duel Runner to travel here, it was too flashy, so he left it behind to avoid drawing attention.
He was still dueling the traditional way.
"I set a monster in face-down defense position," said Kira, "and set a card. Turn end."
"My turn, draw!"
Tetsu slapped down a monster.
"I summon 'Assault Dog' in attack mode!"
A vicious dog leaped from the summoning vortex, clad in battle armor, its eyes a fierce dark red.
[Assault Dog, ATK 1200]
"Battle!"
Tetsu commanded.
"Assault Dog, attack the face-down monster!"
The hound pounced, flipping up the set monster, revealing a black-clad soldier who fired his gun, but the hound dodged nimbly and bit the soldier's arm, who then exploded into fragments.
[Doppelwarrior, DEF 800]
"I set a card. Turn end."
Tetsu scoffed.
"Heh, doesn't look so tough."
Kira was unbothered and smiled, "Then it's my turn. Draw."
He glanced at the card he drew, a slight smile appearing.
When in Rome, as they say—since he was in this era, he might as well experience its unique style.
"Here I go, Mr. Tetsu," he said with a smile.
Tetsu was confident, "Oh yeah? Bring it on! Let's see what you've got!"
"I normal summon 'Junk Synchron!'"
An orange-clad little warrior jumped onto the field. Tetsu's eyebrows immediately twitched, as if remembering some bad memories.
"When Junk Synchron is summoned, I special summon a Level 2 or lower monster from my graveyard in defense position. I special summon 'Doppelwarrior!'"
"Then, Level 3 Tuner monster 'Junk Synchron!'
Level 2 'Doppelwarrior!'
Tuning!"
[3 + 2 = 5]
"The gathered starlight forms a shining path to new power! Synchro Summon—
Level 5, Junk Warrior!"
Tetsu: "!"
…
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