A day had passed since Yami Marik's assassination attempt on Youmi.
Having disbanded the Rare Hunters and destroyed all the counterfeit rare cards, Marik decided to start over as an ordinary duelist in Duel City, intending to face Atem in the quarterfinals. Although he now knew his father's death had been his own doing, he had no intention of stopping there.
After all, his sins were far too grave. Before he could atone for them in this lifetime, he wanted at least to duel the Nameless Pharaoh once… to settle the final burden on his heart.
More importantly, he held [The Winged Dragon of Ra] in his hands. He believed it was his destiny to deliver the card to the Pharaoh himself. The Gravekeeper tribe needed a new future, and Marik would personally put an end to its cursed past.
He thanked Youmi for her guidance, though it had only lasted two days, and set off to begin his Duel City journey.
"Finally, the regular matches of Duel City can begin. That said, now that I think about it, none of the Locator Cards I've got were from proper duels... guess I really have been busy. No wonder I've got dark circles under my eyes… well, maybe it's just from sleeping badly."
On a whim, Youmi changed into a more androgynous outfit, yet because of her good figure, it only had a subtle effect. Clearly, just changing clothes wouldn't be enough to bring back her former masculine air.
"I want to duel someone, but it wouldn't feel right bullying the weak..."
It was already the second day of Duel City. Since duelists had to collect six Locator Cards within 48 hours, there was no time to waste. Counting her own card, plus two she'd taken from Rare Hunter grunts and one from Pandora, she already had four. Two more would let her advance directly to the quarterfinals. "Hm? That person over there... hey—!"
In the crowd, Youmi spotted a boy wearing a green jacket and a red cap.
"Huh? Me?" The boy turned around when called, his brown hair streaked with a different-colored strand. "Ah, such a pretty lady... don't tell me you're like that woman, Mai Valentine…"
Rex Raptor—the officially designated cannon fodder of Yu-Gi-Oh!.
In Youmi's impression, he had never actually won a proper duel. After all, the televised match introducing Weevil Underwood was the one where Weevil beat him.
"You're... Rex the Cannon Fodder, right? Fate has brought us together. How about a duel?" Youmi raised her right hand, showing off her Duel Disk.
"That's me—wait, what?" Rex was at first delighted that someone recognized him, but quickly realized the title sounded wrong. "Hey! Who are you calling cannon fodder? I'm Rex Raptor, runner-up of the Japan National Duel Championship!"
He'd been teased about it more than once lately, and though the person before him was stunningly beautiful—enough to calm his temper—he couldn't help feeling a little miffed.
After some thought, Rex pulled out his Locator Cards. "Heh, I've already got three Locator Cards. What about you? How many can you bet in this duel?"
Knowing he would never refuse, Youmi flashed four Locator Cards. "Looks like I've had better luck than the national runner-up. I've got four. To make sure you're not eliminated outright, how about we bet two? If I win, I'll move straight to the quarterfinals—but you'll still have a chance to survive."
"Oh? Four cards, huh? You must have some strong cards then. Alright, let's forget about betting rare cards for now. But I'll say this up front—my deck's rare card is [Serpent Night Dragon]."
Though he played a Dinosaur Deck and was literally named Rex Raptor, he had an odd fondness for dragon-type monsters. Sliding his Deck into his Duel Disk, he struck a pose.
Youmi did the same, slotting her Deck into place.
"DUEL!"
"DUEL! Kira~"
Turn 1
"My turn! Draw!" Finally, an opponent whose Deck she didn't already know. Youmi had taken the first turn—apparently Rex had enough confidence in his offensive strength not to race for priority. "Let's see... hmm, in that case~"
With a dramatic sweep of her hand, Youmi set five cards in her back row.
"I Set five cards and end my turn Now then, if you can break through this iron wall, do your best"
She gave a little bow, inviting her opponent into the endless abyss of traps.
"Five Set cards?" Rex eyed the field, then suddenly burst out laughing. "Hahaha! So your four Locator Cards might've been flukes after all, huh? Five face-downs? How many of those are actually usable? What, did you even Set a [Polymerization] in there or something? My turn!"
Turn 2
Rex drew a card, then summoned a monster that made Youmi raise an eyebrow. "I Normal Summon [Kaitoptera]! Once per turn, I can add one [Polymerization] from my Deck to my hand! I activate the effect!"
'Wait a sec, that card wasn't even released yet when I... oh, right, this is the original universe.'
Youmi almost complained about not having pulled it in AC03 yet, before remembering that this was a near-canon world where prototype cards existed.
"I fuse [Kaitoptera] on the field with [Gilasaurus] from my hand to Fusion Summon—[Horned Saurus]!" Rex began with the first Fusion Summon Youmi had witnessed in this world, and it was for a soon-to-be-OCG card from the original series.
She couldn't quite remember its exact effect, though.
"[Horned Saurus], effect activate! When this card is Fusion Summoned, I can place one Field Spell from my Deck or Graveyard face-up in my Field Zone! I place [Wasteland]! All Dinosaur, Zombie, and Rock monsters on the field gain 200 Attack and Defense!"
Indeed, this was a truly ancient format. Even the Field Spell wasn't [Jurassic World]. Youmi briefly wondered if she should replace her own [Labrynth Labyrinth] with a DARK-type field instead if these kept popping up.
"Heh~ Attack 2200 and 1600, not bad." Rex's limited screen time in the original made Youmi expect him to be a total pushover—though perhaps, as a former national runner-up, he did have some skills... at least a little.
...
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