You Lose!
*Thump*
Darren hit the desk in anger after the duel was over.
"Damn it! When are they going to fix this crap archetype?" Darren complained to himself as he closed the Master Duel window.
He was playing a Red-Eyes deck that he had theorycrafted, but as always, he came across an annoying Branded deck that just wiped his whole board. It didn't even matter if he went first or second.
Just today alone he deranked from Master 3 to Master 5, and after this last game he was in danger of deranking to Diamond.
It was frustrating, to be honest. Red-Eyes Black Dragon was his favourite card ever in the Yu-Gi-Oh anime. It was just so handsome with its sleek design and vulture-like sharp beak... at least it was way cooler than that chunky dragon Blue-Eyes.
Still, the card's potential was snuffed because of its duellist, Joey Wheeler. Honestly, unlike Yugi and Kaiba, who had tonnes of support cards for their ace monsters, Dark Magician and Blue-Eyes White Dragon, respectively, Joey didn't even have a Red-Eyes support card in his deck. At least Darren didn't remember any. For Joey Red-Eyes was just a card, and that was it. If anything, his ace 'monster' was dice.
Yes, literal dice!!
In the manga, Joey's father was a gambler, and he had ruined their family, so Joey hated anything related to gambling, but his luck was immeasurable, so he always played dice cards like Skull Dice, etc., and they always saved him from the pinch.
The only time Joey used Red-Eyes properly was during the Orichalcos arc, in which he created the Lord of the Red and Red-Eyes Black Sword cards, but that was about it. We didn't see them after the said arcs either.
Red-Eyes was supposed to be the rival of the Blue-Eyes, but it wasn't until the second series, GX, that he got proper support cards thanks to Atticus. Still, that was about it, because Atticus himself was nothing more than a plot device in the series, and the only moment he shone was when he was a boss in the first season. After that he might as well not exist.
Thinking about it again, he was frustrated once more.
Originally Red-Eyes was supposed to be Yugi's ace monster. Of course, the idea was not confirmed but speculated by the readers of the manga because of Red-Eyes' lore. In the original OVA, Yugi had used Red-Eyes to summon Meteor B. Dragon to kill Kaiba handsomely. Fans speculated that Red-Eyes should have been Yugi's ace monster because of that. However, something in the production process must have changed later, leading the creators to choose Dark Magician as Yugi's ace monster, which they executed beautifully. Years later it still gets support and retrains.
Is Dark Magician a meta deck? Of course not! But he is still doing way better than the current Red-Eyes.
Heck, even Yugi's monster Summoned Skull is doing better than Red-Eyes.
Actually, on that front, Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon is an even more symbolic monster. Beyond just being a crystallisation of Yugi's and Joey's friendship, it is also the combination of Yugi's ace monsters (one being intended and the other being his actual ace). Then again, who cares? He probably won't be unbanned for the next 10,000 years...
Still, just a week ago on October 1st, 2024, it was unbanned and limited to 1 in the OCG, so who knows, maybe it might also get unbanned in Master Duel?
No way!
It would probably take another year on top of that for them to unban the card in the MD, which is weird considering Dragoon is already in the game, but they probably would like to make a selection pack for him and use it for an anniversary event.
But can that be considered a Red-Eyes card? If he was being honest, Red Daddy felt more like a Dark Magician card more than anything. So even though he is technically a Red-Eyes card, he can't be considered a true one. A true Red-Eyes card should be like Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. If Yugi had Red-Eyes instead of Joey, maybe they really would have had it...
Darren wished he could have been born in a world where Yugi had Red-Eyes instead so that he could at least make a semi-viable deck to play with like those Blue-Eyes and Dark Magician fanboys, but alas. You can't get everything you want in life.
***
*Roar*
Darren woke up with a splitting headache. He didn't remember drinking last night, so who knew where he got this hangover-like headache? Maybe he was getting sick?
*Roar*
"Shut up!"
Darren instinctively shouted at the dog that was roaring like a lion... what?
Wait a minute!
A dog can't roar like a lion, right? A dog was at best supposed to howl like a wolf, right? Then where was this sound coming from?
As his headache subsided, Darren looked around and noticed he was actually in a mountain and there were dragons flying above him...
Oh boy.
Darren hastily got up from the ground and looked around for cover. Somewhere that he could hide.
He tried to calm his breathing and his heart, which was beating so hard it felt like it could jump out of his chest at any moment.
As a person who likes anime content, he always wanted to be isekaied deep down.
His life was not exactly awful. He had a decent-paying job and enough friends, but that's about it. Whether it be his family or friends, he wasn't too attached to them. Does that make him a psychopath? Maybe.
Of course, he felt bad that he left his parents without a word, but there was still his little brother who could take care of them in their old age, so it was not like he was leaving them high and dry. And it's not like he chose to be isekaied, so why should he guilt trip over this?
And who knows, he might actually find a way to go back in the future, so it might not be an eternal parting either.
How was he so sure he could find a way back? Magic, obviously. Since there were dragons here, how could there be no magic?
*Roar*
Darren heard the particular sound that awakened him once again. He couldn't tell where it was coming from, but it sounded close.
As he looked up, he saw a green dragon with a flaming mane swoop towards him.
"CRAP!"
Darren took a dive towards the ground, barely dodging the sharp claws that were about to claim his life.
"Isekai novels lied to me! Where is my transmigrator's privilege, like a system or an actually cute girl animal companion!"
He screamed towards the sky, but the dragon had no intention of actually listening to him as it changed its direction towards Darren in the sky.
Darren looked around, but there was nothing he could use as a cover to hide from the dragon. It looked like he was in some sort of mountainous area from the looks of it, but that was no help at all!
Wait!
Mountain + Isekai = Caves full of treasure
As Darren did the absurd maths in his head, he looked around for shadowy places around him, as those places would be where a cave is usually hidden.
And his prayers were answered as he found one before the dragon could swoop in.
As Darren threw himself into the crevice, he felt a sharp pain in his foot, but he disregarded it and went inside as far as he could.
The green dragon with the flaming mane was at the entrance trying to grab Darren with its claws as he tried to back away. That was when he noticed that a chunk of his left calf was missing, probably clawed away by the green dragon as he tried to make his way into the crevice.
Thankfully adrenaline was one hell of a drug, so he couldn't feel much pain right now.
He looked around, but there was nothing around him. This crevice was a dead end.
The flaming-mane dragon was still outside, still trying to drag him out. It was obvious that it had already decided that Darren was going to be its dinner tonight.
So this was it?
No way out?
Then why was he brought to this world in the first place?
Wasn't he supposed to be some sort of chosen hero that was going to slay a demon king?
Of course, there was no indication of that, as he didn't meet any gods prior to his awakening, but Darren had already decided that it was the reason why he was summoned to this world.
Was he willing to die like this, without even having the opportunity to create a harem of catgirls in this magical world?
Again, there was no indication of any catgirls living in this world, but Darren had already decided that they existed and wanted to have a harem of them.
*Roar*
Darren heard that particular roar once more, but it was not coming from the flaming-mane dragon. Before he could question the source of the sound, he noticed that the outstretched claw had disappeared.
He frowned and looked outside, and suddenly a gigantic shadow covered the entrance in darkness.
There was a giant crimson eye that was like a ruby looking at him from the outside. He wasn't sure why, but he felt like the owner of the eye was pitying him?
Afterwards, it disappeared. Did it leave?
It must have, right?
So Darren sat down in silence, trying to recollect himself; he saw that a pinkish-red light was shining towards the crevice.
Could it be his golden finger?
After all, in the books, treasures always appear after adversity, right?
Before he could even sit up, Darren already understood that he was wrong. Because he could see the outline of a crimson fireball heading in his direction.
***
"No!"
Darren got up from the bed covered in cold sweat.
That was one realistic dream. Thankfully, it was nothing more than that.
Wait a minute...
Darren looked at his hands.
"No way!"
Darren got up and found a mirror in his cabin. This face, it didn't belong to him.