- Location
- Peterborough, NH, USA
A Children's Godcard Game
Yugi was shuffling his deck, a recent switchover to his Buster Blader Deck for a sparring Duel session with the others, when he stumbled across a black card in clear wrap apparently only meant to prevent actual physical contact, not uncommon among collector's, that was quite clearly not a Yugioh card. Being a Duelist who played regularly, and someone who went out of his way to take care of his cards, this struck him as deeply suspicious, seeing as the only chance someone would have had to put it in his Deck was while he was sleeping, since that was the closest thing to 'out of his sight' he'd been inclined towards since the incident with Weevil throwing Exodia into the ocean.
"What do you think Pharaoh? It could be one of Yami Bakura's tricks. Though it seems odd that he would limit himself to this if he had the opportunity, unless he was hoping I'd draw it mid-Duel and didn't want me to get paranoid." Trying to catch him with some kind of Shadow Game booby-trap by sticking it into his Deck seemed like something he would do, given there seemed to be a 'rite of conquest' component to ownership of a Millennium Item if you wanted to grab it off an existing bearer, and catching him as alone as he ever got might well give the deranged Duelist an advantage, and his plans for some Duels today weren't exactly secret but...
'If that were the case, it would likely have activated when we first touched it, seeing as I doubt he would have used any magic that plastic wrap would stop, nor placed it inside plastic wrap in the first place. I suspect there's more to it than some game Bakura's dark counterpart is playing.' the occupant of the Millennium Puzzle, the upside-down pyramid hanging around Yugi's neck, commented from the recesses of the mind of the current owner of said puzzle.
Just to be on the safe side, he headed downstairs where the rest of the group was supposed to gather for their sparring session. Even Kaiba was supposed to show up at some point, though it really wouldn't have been much of a surprise if he'd just showed up unannounced.
Tea was already there, and, to his shock, was holding a similar card, looking at it like she could... intimidate? Guilt? Stare it down until it coughed up it's secrets. "Ah, Yugi, do you have any idea what this is?" Wordlessly, he held up his own card, which only increased Tea's obvious bafflement. "Do you think Joey and the others got cards like these too?" she asked, which was a definite possibility.
'Huh. Tea has one as well? The Thief King can be clever, but this seems very unlike him, seeing as Tea doesn't have a Millennium Item and we've already got a card. So, perhaps this is benevolent, or at least neutral. A new card game Kaiba's developing?' the Pharaoh posited. Having a win in a different card game wouldn't completely soothe Kaiba's ego, but it would likely calm him down quite a bit. Not that he would throw the game on purpose, he respected Kaiba as a Duelist too much for that. Besides, he would almost certainly know.
"We'll have to wait and see. I don't think we should have any Duels until everyone gets here and we can compare notes though. No telling how they'd react." Yugi responded aloud.
Tea nodded, considering that only sensible. So, they settled in to wait. It wasn't a long one, as Joey and Tristan showed up within 15 minutes, almost at the same time. "You guys got weird black cards too?" Joey asked, waving his rather casually for a strange card in a world where using a card without it's permission could get you killed. Only if it was a card connected to a god had actually gone that far so far as they knew, but that wasn't the point.
"I'm guessing Kaiba's created some new game where he can come at you with a clean slate." Tristan commented, having not gotten a card, but being more than familiar with the weirdness one could cause, and thus, eyeing them with some wariness.
"What odds do ya give it that it doesn't have some weird magic crap attached whether he likes it or not?" Joey asked.
"Sucker's bet." Yugi commented.
"I mean, not every card game has to have spirits or whatever behind it, right? There aren't any Uno or Poker spirits." Tea commented.
"We think." Tristan added.
"I see you all got Ishizu's... gifts." Kaiba commented from the doorway into the shop, which had been closed for the day, making them start. He was usually so loud with his presence that it mad Joey seem quieter by comparison. Having him quiet down was always a huge disconnect.
"I take it you know what's going on then." Tristan more stated than asked.
"Just read what she sent me." he passed them a letter, with a smaller note attached.
'Dear Pharaoh and companions, I am certain this letter will find you well.' Kaiba scoffed, not impressed with her future vision after having blatantly defied it with help from his Blue-Eyes White Dragon. 'I will get to the point. Following my brother's... recovery from his descent into madness, I have decided to be more active in my duties than before. We refuse to follow in our father's footsteps. Thus, I have my foresight has revealed a potentially major problem I will share with you. Some kind of interdimensional company with little in the way of scruples beyond a refusal of allying with Nazi Demons has been sending mystical cards to various candidates to 'product test' them in hopes of mass production therein.' Joey choked on his own spit at how utterly bizarre it was to imagine Ishizu, or anyone really, saying something like that aloud, while Kaiba's frown remained unchanged, likely because he'd had quite some time to process this.
'I have taken the liberty of... divesting three of them from their old owners, as the company in question seems to be deliberately target more... eccentric and conflict-prone individuals, and passing them along to the three of you.' Ishizu's letter continued.
"Are we sure she's not related to Bakura?" Tristan asked.
"I checked. She's not." Kaiba responded to the sarcastic question with full seriousness. As Tristan opened his mouth to follow up, he added. "My life's been a Spanish telenovella ever since Gozaburo came into it, and if anything it got worse when Yugioh came into the picture. Would it really surprise any of you?" he asked pointedly.
They continued, privately admitting that not much would at this point.
'The system seems very simple. You touch the card, and a deity or Tarot Arcana of high relevance to your personality and motivations will be selected, and use of the powers it grants, combat-based or otherwise, will cause them to strengthen over time. Defeating a Godcard holder can allow you to take their Godcard, once it's set for a person, it can't be changed for that person, but it can be changed upon finding a different owner. It is unclear to me if switching back would restore the card to it's previous state in full or not.'
'I believe we will see a rash of abuse of these powers, alongside potential extradimensional incursions. I believe you are best-suited to counter these, as the mundane government is ill-equipped to handle the supernatural, and, if nothing else, Seto Kaiba is well-positioned to begin remedying the issue from that end. I will do my best to tip the scales in your favor. Regards, Ishizu Ishtar, Gravekeeper.'
"Hm, if it's Ishizu, we might as well give it a shot." Yugi tore the plastic wrap off, and the moment he made actual physical contact. The card resolved it's face to show an ibis-headed deity, Thoth.
Trusting Ishizu, Tea and Joey followed suit, revealing The Lovers and Wheel of Fortune, respectively. While Kaiba smirked slightly as he simply pulled the card out of his pocket, and displayed Obelisk on it.
"Hm, probably should've expected that." Joey admitted. "To be honest though, I was half-expectin' Blue-Eyes on there." he said, seemingly without a hint of mockery.
"Well I was expecting Ra from Yugi, but at least it's not completely luck-based." Kaiba countered.
"Can you two not fight for 10 minutes straight?" Tristan wondered aloud.
"Hm, it says we have compatibility rates." Tea commented, having turned her card over in curiosity.
"Nevermind that, now that we know they're not gonna drag us into a Shadow Game, what say we do that Dueling we were planning on before this whole mess? I don't know about Kaiba, but I can train my luck by drawing cards just fine if these things actually work." Joey suggested.
"I'm game." Tristan shrugged.
"Why not? We don't have any real leads on any of the things Ishizu was talking about anyway." Tea noted.
"I can wait the hour it takes to see Joey lose and secure a victory for myself. I have people looking into any reports of strange cards with bizarre abilities anyway." Kaiba mentioned.
"Fine by me." A smile crossed Yugi's lips. "As long as you remember Thoth gambled 5 days out of the moon in order to let Nut have children."
Kaiba smirked at the blatant challenge, and pulled out his deck in preparation.
AN: *Looks at Quest title.* *Looks at Yugioh's Godcards.* *Looks at the in-game rewards for Omakes.* I'm honestly surprised this hasn't been made already.
Now, we obviously don't know all the inner workings of the Godcards, nevermind Olympus, but despite rogue Godcard holders being a thing, I suspect this wouldn't happen for several reasons. First, they probably try to avoid people who can put an entire hand on the scales of destiny, because of exactly this kind of ridiculous nonsense. Second, because a world with the Monsters possessing the cards seems ripe for... issues with the Godcards, particularly the Norse, Egyptian, and Incan pantheons, off the top of my head. It's a likely reason they'd be cautious about, say, issuing Godcards to the Rick Riordan universe with all the Gods still running around. Third, they may well have concerns about the apparent memetic hazard Yugioh is in this 'verse, seeing as it's apparently supplanted all other sports. With Kaiba's help, sure, but still. Fourth, I am unsure how compatible YGO metaphysics are with Godcard metaphysics, but I doubt it's high.
Ishizu got the High Priestess Godcard, as I felt Anubis a poor fit and decided to use Mephistopheles as evidence that Tarot Cards were valid Godcards, then used her enhanced fate tomfoolery from that to take Godcards from nuttier holders who would abuse them, hence the Godcards Yugi/Atem, Tea, Joey, and Kaiba have. Sorry Tristan, but there's only so many Godcards to go around, and this many having fallen into Ishizu's clutches, futuresight or no futuresight, already rather stretches credulity.
Yugi has Thoth, partially because Magic and the Magician Girls he switched over too after Atem passed on, and partially because, as god of gambling, Thoth is the closest thing Egypt had to a God of Games, though Atem would have Ra whenever they switch control, because of course he does. Tea as the Lovers because it's the Main Girl Tarot, but also because she's actually a fairly strong character for a show from the 90s. Joey as Wheel of Fortune, because no duh. Kaiba, as the rival character, is another Egyptian Godcard holder, Obelisk, as Kisara isn't an option. Kaiba might find a way to hack the system and make her an option at some point, because it's Kaiba and of course he would, but not immediately.
1986 words above this line.
Not my best work, but I'm sleepy, and there aren't nearly enough Omakes in this thread.
