Pocket System

[Menthewarp]

Yeah, it much the same way as how Yugi is a reincarnation as well. I'm still not entirely sure if the millennium puzzle had the Soul of the Pharaoh in it, or if it just unlocked his memories of a previous incarnation...

It honestly makes the Bakura situation even more confusing.

Click to shrink...

It's pretty blatant in canon that, because of the spirit hiding in each Millenium Item, that Destiny customized a new host mortal to their specifications whose fate would each be forced to receive and activate those items to become possessed by their past selves.

The living mortal's souls would be fodder to complete the manifestation, and it's only the wackiness of navigating modern day techno-society that stayed the hand of the spirits from completing their respective Subsumption and Ressurection.

Think of it as contracting out your lich-phylactery-needs to a cheapskate devil who is fulfilling the letter of the resurrection agreement by subcontracting out the fulfillment of each clause to a different lowest bidder.

...I've always been surprised that the Millenium Eye somehow doesn't have a spirit inside of it.

 

[Kurohyo]

Realistically the only two that had spirits were the Ring and the Puzzle with The Thief King and the Pharoah respectively. Most of the other stuff was either corruption of intent or piss poor parenting skills for the most part. Only spirit that manifested by itself was the spirit of the key

Edit: also if it was a translation issue causing him not to be found, here. The original priest who had the Ring before ancient Bakura past life stole it became the Dark Magician

Bandit King Bakura

Bandit King Bakura, known as Bakura, King of Thieves (盗 (とう) 賊 (ぞく) 王 (おう) バクラ Tōzoku-ō Bakura) in the Japanese version and manga, and usually referred to as Bakura, is a character and one of the main antagonists of the Pharaoh's Memories arc of the anime and manga. He is the original identity...

yugioh.fandom.com

 

[theaceoffire]

Grace grumbled as she glossed over the functions again. "We can't just keep resampling and resetting this stupid 'Soul Resonance' field setting! WHY does it keep increasing in scale over time!?"

Thankfully her Lord was busy researching the electronics for his upcoming tournament, because this was getting so FRUSTRATING! "The sample itself is static, I've confirmed that a few times… The automatic sampling and adjustment functions aren't causing the spikes, even though I was SURE they were causing all this… Damn it."

No, calm down. "The base sample is constant, check. The ambient sensors are picking up expected ranges of deviation, confirmed. Based on what little data we have so far, it SHOULD be simulating the steady growth curve of local active Duelists with a constant amount of ongoing battles."

How many times has she reviewed this so far today? A dozen? In frustration, she started just picking random modules NEARBY the stupid thing and examining them.

One to simulate John as weaker, another to fake him being more powerful (A deadly thing to actually activate or test, clearly.) This module would examine others to calculate a rolling average power level to show up as 'Normal' to nearby Duelists… THAT one would attempt to reduce his presence to something like a beginner player.

Eventually though, THANKFULLY, she stumbled upon something very simple and basic that was used ALL OVER the place: The Soul Resonance 'Heartbeat' simulator.

And almost immediately wanted to smack her own face.

The POINT of this module was simple: Introduce a variable amount of ambient 'static' to John's Soul Resonance field emissions.

There was a good reason to do so too! Living creatures after all didn't emit constant unchanging effects on their surroundings. No, like a heartbeat or a dance chorus, the Soul has its own signature, its own rhythm!

And early tests proved you NEEDED that rhythm, or even people WITHOUT amazing abilities would just feel something OFF about you. They'd start subconsciously treating the protected person like an object, a tree or bush or something.

So the module itself was fine, and needed.

The VARIABLES said module was using on the other hand? THOSE were WRONG!

It wasn't calculating each 'Heartbeat' simulation based on the current settings of the active defensive decoy.

No, it was calculating all those adjustment values using the host's ACTUAL resonance instead.

And that was why using her and her sister as test subjects caused no issues.

Because unlike them, JOHN easily overloaded everything to the breaking point… Because, even as crazy as their backup Soul networks had become, John's Soul was even further beyond. Crazy beyond crazy, immense beyond immense.

Grace's theory for WHY was again, tied back to the Soul Heartbeat. The real one, that every person or creature or thing with a Soul had, that pulsed with life.

Because like a metaphorical muscle, the Soul would gain in power as it pumped over time… It was why older Souls were more 'real' and 'sturdy' than something newly born.

And when it came to age, John's Soul won hands down.

Grace grumbled as she adjusted the settings to fix this whole mess… NOW her Lord could actually use her modified defenses to play this stupid game WITHOUT melting people or altering his cards with every touch. Finally!

Like seriously, that took forever!

Grinning and ready to activate the unit, Grace… Paused.

And then slumped. "No, don't act rashly… Let's run the testing modules again, see if there are any problems first."

Darn it, this was going to take FOREVER!

~~~Pocket System~~~

Jessica was relaxing on her castle balcony, a world of paperwork being ignored for the moment behind her and in the Pocket.

She was having a tea break.

Like, actual tea time scenario here, with small sandwiches and actual saucers with actual tea cups filled with some lovely oolong tea.

Could she have an actual meal right now? Easily.

Was this a good time to be taking a break? What with her agents bustling everywhere, her brother building mad scientist gadgets being embedded throughout their [[Home]], and the twin girlfriends actively trolling the internet and fundamentally redesigning their defensive modules?

Probably not.

But who cared!? An hour or whatever for a nice long tea break wouldn't be the end of the world. Not right now, anyway.

In the back of her mind, she could feel the agent working as her secretary organizing and sorting all the chaos that was still ongoing to ensure John's most recent project could be safely enabled, if they were lucky… But for now?

She sipped her tea.

Mmm. Nice.

Still, work needed to be done. Eventually. "Any update on Temptation's online stores?"

Unexpectedly, the response WASN'T drilled straight into her brain. "Yes Director. Several thousand orders have already been Crafted and shipped, while the resources running the site have been tripled. Additionally, the feedback forums have voted on a number of changes to the rules, to be tentatively approved by the young sir when time permits."

Jessica held her tea steady, glancing to the right… And saw one of her agents holding a clipboard. "Agent A33?"

The woman nodded. "Yes Director."

That uniform DID look darn snappy. "How long have my agents been able to Manifest directly into reality?"

The agent didn't even pause. "Seven minutes twenty two seconds, Director. The young sir has altered our [[Home]] to include holographic emitters within the general layout plans for the entire facility."

She gestured up at gem like decorations high up on the walls. "When within range of two or more emitters, any Agent is capable of directly interacting locally for any future missions, as required."

Jessica mulled that over… And then brightened like the sun! "Does this mean I can finally get some agents to do my paperwork!?"

Agent A33 tilted her head. "Yes? But we already ARE doing a good portion of your paperwork."

The woman pulled up a data feed. "Agent from Division A are entirely focused on administration needs and activities, and handle the vast majority of documentation, approvals for various missions, oversight, etc."

She pointed at the documents Jessica had been ignoring on the table inside. "THAT is the abbreviated, partially completed documents that require final approval and oversight before being completed. The top 0.01% of paperwork, as it were."

…Damn it. "Maybe I should just burn the damn things."

A form was placed on her tea tray. "That requires document B332-1a. Although I feel I must inform you that damaging your paperwork will delay a number of ongoing activities and projects, many of which were put into action on your orders, until the administration staff can refile them for later perusal."

Jessica sighed… Of COURSE burning the paperwork would creat paperwork. "Thank you, Agent A33."

Another sip of tea… But duty calls and all that. "Do you have a summary of the suggested rule changes the internet is pushing for?"

A folder was placed nearby. A fairly full one… Sigh.

~~~Pocket System~~~

John blinked. "Oh… That just altered the entire [[Home]] network, didn't it?" Oops. "Can I uh… Can I undo that?"

[[The following sections of dimensional collective 'Home' would become inaccessible for the following durations…]]

Sheesh! "I would have accepted a 'no', darn it." Because THAT was a TON of downtime to undo the Conceptual infection of holographic/Soul reverberance/In-Realm Multi-Dimensional shenanigans he accidentally just pulled off.

[[The duration for removing said abilities from dimensional collective 'Home' could be reduced by…]]

Sigh. "Nah, it's fine. We can at least replace and upgrade the stuff in the future. Right?"

[[Confirmed.]]

It was just REMOVING the feature that was going to be damned near impossible. Whatever. "Change my work interface. I want an actual confirmation box for applying stuff like this in the future."

He didn't really have something like 'save slots' in his work setup, as any and all changes were stored in logs with major 'checkpoints' being marked in the timeline. And that was NORMALLY not an issue, either because he would finish his work up really quickly or be fiddling with something in his Pocket over the course of weeks.

Each Checkpoint was considered a 'completed version' of whatever he was working on, and all the iterative changes in between were treated as both the change log AND an easy way to reverse anything along the way that caused issues.

But that lack of 'Save now and quit' mentality meant that John didn't have a nice little point to say 'OKAY I am good, deploy this'...

And so when he absent mindedly slapped the 'Activate and Deploy' option instead of the 'Mark New Checkpoint' choice?

Bam. It went live.

And uh… This was a HUGE change, so a LOT of stuff got modified all at once. Before schedule, ahead of plans.

Because this wasn't just adding the new holographic emitters… John had been working on formalizing a systematic method to add new features to their [[Home]], both now and in the future.

Could he remove the emitters now installed throughout multiple Realms?

Yes. It was a trivial issue to roll that back.

Could he remove the 'Add New Feature to [[Home]]' ability that was just enabled?

No. Not within any sort of reasonable time frame.

Because this new feature fundamentally altered the way his [[Home]], Pocket, and existence operated. Interconnected in odd fashions, interacted in unusual patterns.

And some of the stuff automatically adjusted itself, and other bits hadn't been written yet, and those portions over there were written in multiple different ways depending on which altered past timeline the sections over THERE were checking for, and…

Yeah. "The emitter project is good enough for now…" Hit the actual checkpoint feature this time, idiot! There we go. "Pull up the metric unit now. I need dynamic error detection and conflict resolution options NOW, because I just KNOW this thing is causing problems we can't see right now."

If it will? Or it did and it would be adjusted so it wouldn't?

Damn it, this is why he had delayed publishing this stupid mess earlier! And he could actually FEEL some of his memories censoring themselves when data that could harm his Soul and Mind bled through some of the cracks in this spaghetti code!

[[The Pocket System is composed of metaphorical units and modules. The percentage of food based components, specifically the Italian dish known to HOST as 'Spaghetti', is less than 0.0013% when adjusted for minor divergence in ongoing operations.]]

John blinked. "What?"

[[The Pocket System is statistically NOT composed of the Italian dish known to HOST as 'Spaghetti'.]]

Hoo boy. "Yep, we need that metric unit designed A.S.A.P. I think." Then again, his System had been pretty sassy in the past too… Might as well ease up on the poor thing. "You know, so you can have a rolling calculated baseline. That could be pretty useful for lots of stuff, yes?"

[[...Confirmed.]]

There we go! Best not to have his Pocket in a huff. "First thing first: Let's have this thing just record a bunch of statistics. We can also set up some code for future modules, ones designed to verify ongoing activities and provide data for when things go off from expected output… That way we work with the output of that sort of data to begin with and save some time and effort."

Complicated heuristic stuff like 'Does this feel suspicious' could be worked on at some later point, for now it would be GREAT to detect massive resource wastage, misallocated cache management, and matrices undergoing cascading error propagation BEFORE everything starts exploding.

[[Explosions are required for ongoing Harvesting of Essence Blocks generated via the Lava and Water Source Blocks collected from Realm containing 'Steve'. Explosions are expected and required features for the Pocket System and should be considered as such.]]

Yeah well, that was the important bit, yes? They were EXPECTED. On the other hand, UNEXPECTED explosions would be very much of the bad, yes?

[[Confirmed.]]

Good grief. "Man, I've been working on this for hours… I could really use a snack or something."

"Ribbit?"

John blinked at the frog in a waiter's outfit, holding forth a platter with a cheese sandwich. "Oh." Right, the holographic modules were now fully deployed. "Thank you?" The guy (Gal?) really did look dapper in that little uniform.

Wait! "There's just cheese in this, yes? No extra stuff?" Like, John could eat flies if he had to but…

"Ribbit."

Oh thank goodness. "Thanks, I appreciate this." As for the tall glass of bug juice on the tray next to it, he'd have to give it a pass for now.

Mmm! Grilled cheese was always a fun snack! "Tell them it is awesome!" Never had mustard on one of these before, but it was a nice touch!

 

[Artemis_Fowl_2nd]

My personal thought on how the yami spirits work, is that the Egyptian souls actually did fully die, and whats left on the Millennium items is just an inactive soul imprint. The actual souls go on to reincarnation, largely unaffected by their past life until they find their artifact (this is helped by fate). Then, their soul pours into it, and sort of reactivates it, the imprint becoming a part of their now reincarnated soul. This is evidenced by Shadi finding 2 different people in the same soul, there isn't 2 souls in Yugi, its just one really weird soul.
Naturally, the reincarnated souls are powerful enough for this to happen, and I dont think reincarnation is something that happens in Egypt? so there must be something going on a bit there, who knows.
Its kind of like some species of slime mold, or plant that when it dries up it can stop being alive, and just sit and wait for moisture to become active again. Except instead of moisture its the matching soul.
The ring, being evil, probably attacked the souls of any fools who wore it to be able to stay active and cursed, but it didn't really pick up until Bakura, and his matching soul appeared.

 

[Hidden One]

No, John, no, do not ignore the bug juice while fiddling with Pocket Components!
It could be accidently imported or worse, spilled over the editor screen!
That would leave sooooo many annoying stains!

 

[Jordisk]

My personal thought on how the yami spirits work, is that the Egyptian souls actually did fully die, and whats left on the Millennium items is just an inactive soul imprint. The actual souls go on to reincarnation, largely unaffected by their past life until they find their artifact (this is helped by fate). Then, their soul pours into it, and sort of reactivates it, the imprint becoming a part of their now reincarnated soul. This is evidenced by Shadi finding 2 different people in the same soul, there isn't 2 souls in Yugi, its just one really weird soul.
Naturally, the reincarnated souls are powerful enough for this to happen, and I dont think reincarnation is something that happens in Egypt? so there must be something going on a bit there, who knows.
Its kind of like some species of slime mold, or plant that when it dries up it can stop being alive, and just sit and wait for moisture to become active again. Except instead of moisture its the matching soul.
The ring, being evil, probably attacked the souls of any fools who wore it to be able to stay active and cursed, but it didn't really pick up until Bakura, and his matching soul appeared.

Click to shrink...

Being born again wasn't a thing, but regenrating everything from your shadow was. The shadow, or Shut, was considered one of several parts of the soul, serving as a reflection or backup of the other parts of the soul. It could be stored sepelarately and be used to come back, or could be used to control someone, in basically the same way as a lich's phylactery in modern fantasy, just with less rotting undead yuckiness.

 

[TerraBull]

Did John start his "Rib-bite" food franchise?

To challenge what he thinks is Domino Pizza dominance?

 

[WCSII]

. . . . I'm not going to lie. Even though I read, and understood the word used as "Rib-Bite." I was still thinking the the term "Rabite" And trying to figure out just what you meant by a "Rabite" food chain.

... I don't exactly know what caused me to realize I was thinking "Rabite" instead of "Rib-bite" and that you were referring to the card frogs instead of "Secrets of" game series rabbits. ... And I only just now realized it was an awful pun on the ribbit noise of a frog.

{edit} *Long, deep, weary sigh* Why... just... why. What is this awful fascination with living down to that terrible pun of a Screen Nick you use?

 

[TerraBull]

I admit I could do better, but some days you either have to Laugh, Cry or Rage.

I prefer to Laugh when I can, and make others as well.

 

[Pen-Paper Toad]

Rib-bite, where the food almost seems to leap down your throat.
Have a frog in your throat and can't order in English? Don't worry, we have fully trained in-toad-preters to translate your croaks.
Unable to escape the river of peer pressure and end up bogged down with making an order you didn't want? Our Am-Fib-bians already know, so your correct order will be waiting for you at the counter.
Prefer open air seating outside or a place to take a break from work? Our new A-quad-ic Zone helps you get you feet on solid ground after being swamped with work.
Need complete privacy? All bugs are immediately caught upon entering.

There, plenty of terrible puns

 

[WCSII]

Thanks.

I actually had someone knock on my apartment door asking if I was alright with the physical pain I felt while groaning at those.

 

[WCSII]

I wasn't joking about that Ace.

Someone really did knock on my door to ask if I was alright, because I groaned so loud.

Partly because of how bad those puns were, and partly at the physical pain I felt in reading them.

 

[TerraBull]

I have to ask?

Will some agents-in-training dress up in toad or frog costumes?

It is going 'Loud,' in practice in a safe environment.

Can contestants tell a disguise from a real one?

The Cafe makes employees train to serve, is it doing the same for amphibians?

... is this going to lead to Frog leg on the menu?

Will it lead to a dance act of Michigan J. Frog doing a dance act?

 

[theaceoffire]

Grace wore a white frog hat.

Temptation wore a black frog hat.

John wore a frog hat that was heavily reminiscent of Substitoad. One with a crown.

His sister was being a party pooper. "Look, as the sister to an active king, I.E. myself, you fully qualify."

Jessica glared at him, pointing at the pink outfit. "No."

Temptation kept giggling, fully satisfied with her sinfully tempting black dress with her exposed legs, while Grace was humming happily in her white outfit that was an odd cross between a wedding gown and a nun's habit.

John certainly wasn't seeing any support from THOSE two with this. "I thought every girl wants to be a princess?" Several movies, books, and tv shows heavily implied it, at least.

She huffed as the pink gown suddenly got Collected into the Pocket and recycled. "Princess or not, royalty or not: I will not be wearing something like THAT, thank you."

Hmm. "Was it the style? The color?" Oh! "Or do you not like dresses in general?"

His sister glared. "Dresses I can wear. All M.I.B. agents were trained to blend into odd crowds wearing both feminine and masculine outfits, along with omnigender ones and others… But THAT atrocity is not acceptable in a non critical situation like this."

Darn it, he was going for a theme here. "What about the other outfits the girls suggested?"

Jessica huffed. "Everything Grace offered was just poofier than the last, and most of what Temptation suggested was basically role play sexual costumes. Not particularly appropriate for formal events."

His angel winced and his demoness smirked… Hmm. "Maybe my frogs have something?" Plus, all their stuff would probably be water resistant or waterproof! Free bonus!

One of her secret agents near the door lightly coughed. "Director, we do have formal wear available for one of your station if such is desired?"

John blinked. They did? Sweet!

Jessica on the other hand was still suspicious. "It's not battle camo or something, is it?"

Her agent… Uh, which one was this one? Agent A81? The administration division started with 'A', right? Oops, he was still talking. "...Has been adapted based on historical documentation of the Director's prior formal wear. Agent F33 is prepared to display our end product."

And a woman in a sexy tuxedo dress sauntered into the room before doing a spin, posing for the stunned group.

Temptation grinned as she raised her hand! "Can we get that skirt shortened a bit?"

Jessica recovered first. "NO. In fact, a touch more conservative and that will be more than acceptable, thank you agent A83, agent F33." Darn it, 83!? John had been close!

Whatever, that was good enough for now. "And you'll wear the frog hat?" He wiggled it in front of her. "See? She has sunglasses just like you!"

His sister looked at him with both exasperation and fondness… And sighed. "Yes. I will wear the frog hat."

Sweet! "Then we can get this party started!"

Jessica was already walking out. "The tournament doesn't even have its opening ceremony for another two hours. And that's just to welcome the Duelists to the first batch of elimination trials, not even to start the actual Duels, those aren't till later in the week."

Wait, really!? Damn it! "Then we can at least get ready to get this party started? Yes?"

Then his girls pulled him into a hug, and everything was right again! "Yeah, let's do this!"

The crowds were gathering, the massive castle was bustling with shops and restaurants and stalls and froggy staff members, defenses were all being tested by shadowy secret agents!

This was going to be amazing! WOO!

~~~Pocket System~~~

Joey scratched his head as he followed Yugi towards the massive 'log' bridge towards the huge castle. "Kinda crazy something like this could be put together without us knowing." Like, this was REALLY near the city itself but he had no memories at all of construction crews, or areas being roped off or whatever…

Yugi hummed as he checked his phone. "I'm just glad we got here before the actual crowds got out of control."

Joey blinked, looking at the teeming masses… And Yugi somehow noticed the issue too. "I mean, MORE out of control. They've been advertising this event online, on T.V., on the radio…"

His friend waved his free hand around at the bustling scene. "THIS is just the tip of the iceberg, most likely. And we are here EARLY, and today is ONLY for potential Duelists to register."

Huh. "Wait, ALL these people!?" There were little brats here not even 10 years old!

Yugi hummed. "Yep! When the website allowed people to vote for changes to this tournament, one of the biggest complaints from the public was the restrictions to entry."

Right, hadn't he said something like that yesterday? But Joey had been pretty distracted working with his grandfather at the time, and might have zoned out a bit of the background stuff… "I thought they just needed your deck to have a seven star Duel Monster in it?"

Maybe some sort of trial Duel or something? That felt like something said yesterday…

Yugi chuckled. "Most people don't HAVE that kind of power in their decks… So it got voted off the list. And once people found out even BASIC rules could be altered by enough votes coming in, it got really crazy!"

Oh dear. "So what, everyone just gets to join up and aim for the prize money?"

His friend was trying to not get pushed around by the crowds while still reading his phone. "For a while, yes… But then people wanted to require a certain number of recorded duel victories, or having played for a specific number of years, or… Anyway, it got a bit crazy before this 'Frog Emperor' stepped in himself."

Oh, thank goodness! Joey might have the Red-Eyes to back him up, but his 'history' when it came to this game was NOT impressive. "So what do we do NOW to get into this thing?"

Yugi pointed towards the masses and the hold up at front. "We walk through the 'Corridor of Judgement'."

Alright.

…And? "Then what, we duel some frog or something?" He WAS the 'Frog Emperor' after all.

His friend grinned! "And then nothing! We walk through the 'Corridor of Judgement', and if we are judged to 'Care for our Deck', we pass the first stage! There's other stuff after that, but I admit I'm REALLY looking forward to seeing what exactly is planned for this bit."

Hmm. "Maybe they'll quiz us about what cards we have… I know, back before I really connected with my Deck, that I barely understood most of what I played at the time." Not like NOW, after all his creatures had sort of burned into his mind on a basic level.

Even the cards no longer fighting alongside him were seared into his brain now… But back when he first started? Half the damn time he had to read his OWN cards to know what he drew!

Yugi blinked at that, putting his phone away. "Huh… Yeah, or maybe some sort of questionnaire about how our deck operates, or about our win conditions and stuff? That should easily filter out new players or people just trying to luck into a quick cash payout…"

The mass moved forward again. "At least the line is moving pretty quickly, so whatever they test us with can't be THAT complicated." Right? It should be fine. Yeah.

His friend on the other hand was watching those exiting the area… And looked contemplative. "Strange how even those people who probably were rejected seem so peppy though… I expected more anger and maybe dejection and stuff, but mostly everyone just feels… Confused and overwhelmed? Huh."

Joey glanced at the crowd and shrugged. "Look at all the vendors and stuff, Yugi. This is basically like a fair or carnival or something! Plus, most of the people who would get kicked out for not even knowing their own cards or play style won't be THAT invested in the game anyway. I doubt it would break their hearts if they lose the chance to Duel in an event they don't even understand."

Yugi nodded. "True… Oh, it's nearly our turn! You want me to go first?"

Taking a deep breath, Joey firmed his shoulders. "Nah, I best get this over with before I lose my nerve." Right, he could do this… He could DO THIS! "Wish me luck?"

His face lit up! "You can do it, Joey! You GOT this!"

Hell yeah he did!

Joey marched up to the bemused man in a stylish black suit and sunglasses, who was working a touch pad. "Name, age, and hometown? Only those 16 or above are allowed to participate in this Tournament without parental approval."

He glanced at the open doors to one side, that somehow allowed SO MANY to enter at one time without issue. "Joey Wheeler, 16, Domino City."

Something beeped and the massive man waved onwards. "Duelist information… And confirmed. Right, you are good to go! Please enter Judgement Corridor number 7, thank you."

With confidence in his step (some of which was real), Joey strode to the marked corridor and entered the strange mist that obscured most of his view. Thankfully the floor was lit up by soft white lighting, so it wasn't difficult to walk straight and…

That was a BIG shadow. "...Hello?"

Jaws larger than a truck slowly sank into view, and he was now staring at the massive set of glowing red eyes.

FAMILIAR red eyes. "...Red-Eyes?"

The creature's chuckle VIBRATED the world!

~~~Pocket System~~~

Yugi watched his friend leave with a bit of hesitation… Would he be alright?

Yami on the other hand was as calm as always. [["We've marked those who entered and left already, and I feel nothing of the Shadow Lands on those who 'failed' their walks down this 'Corridor of Judgement'. Your friend will be fine."]]

Well yeah, but…

"...Kid? You alright?"

Huh!? Oh. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

The massive man chuckled and tapped his digital pad. "It's fine. Name, age and hometown please." He gave the boy a once over. "You ARE over 16, yes? Or is your guardian here to give consent?"

Sheesh, what a heightist. "Yugi Muto, 18, Domino city."

The held electronic device beeped. "Confirmed then! Sorry about that. Right, please enter Judgement Corridor number 3 if you would!" He then glanced behind Yugi. "Next!"

Yugi moved towards the right entry way and the lit up mist within. [["Keep your eyes open, it's best we both stay observant."]]

Got it.

As he walked through the fog, it didn't really FEEL like regular mist. Not wet at all, which was odd… Oh, there was someone else ahead? "Hello?"

"OH MY GOSH, HE'S SO CUTE!"

WHAT!? "ACK!"

And he was glomped by a VERY well endowed woman who spun him around in dizzy circles! "Oh Dark Magician, LOOK at his little legs and arms! And he's just so HUGGABLE and…"

AIR! NEED AIR!

[["What the!?"]]

A weary sigh came from somewhere. "Please put down our Duelist, Dark Magician Girl. You are strangling him." A grumble followed. "Why must you be such an energetic student?"

AIR! Oh sweet Graceful Charity, glorious wondrous AIR!

[["...I feel entities like this should have been detectable at some earlier point."]]

The 'girl', who was VERY clearly a woman, was now frantically checking Yugi to ensure his well being. "Sorry! Sorry, I was just… Can you breathe alright? Are you hearing any odd sounds or… Can you see us? How many fingers am I holding up? Maybe I can cast something…"

The other shadow walked forward from the mist, his staff tapping rhythmically. "No casting any spells while within the [[Home]], child. She would not approve."

[["I can't believe that it's actually him after all these years… And without using the proper rituals or materials… Impossible!"]]

Then that man's focus was all on Yugi, and his serious face softened. "Well met, my former and present Pharaoh." He paused. "You seem to be shorter than you once were."

Yami sighed. [["...No that's him. God, he was always an ass."]]

What!? "Dark Magician!? But HOW!?"

The sorcerer chuckled. "If THAT caught you off guard, I'm afraid you best prepare yourself…" The shadows in the mist grew closer. "After all, we are simply the first to arrive."

WHAT!?

[["Oh dear."]]

"Master!" "Grrrl." "Move over you beast, you're too large for that sort of thing…" "Should we wake up the Sleeping Worm?" "Nah, the Iron Beetle will fill him in later, they're related." "Yeah, just leave him under the Big Tree, it'll take care of him." "I said MOVE OVER! You are TOO BIG!" "Grwl!" "Seriously, you are a dragon, act like one!" "Grmble." "Oh don't you pout at me."

Yugi gulped. "What sort of 'judgment' IS this!?"

The Dark Magician Girl blinked as she absently began fixing his hair. "Oh, you passed that long ago! This corridor just lets us Duel Monsters interact with our Duelists directly."

The Dark Magician himself began to chuckle demonically… "And you would KNOW if you had failed your judgment, my Pharaoh… I wish I could observe those fools attempting to enter this entertaining tournament while trying to use stolen cards now!"

Yugi's eyes grew wider considering that particular point… "Oh."

[["...I shall attempt to attune my mystical senses to better detect things of this nature from now on. Perhaps the Millenium Puzzle itself can assist me as well…"]]

The magical woman messing with his unruly hairstyle waved off the Dark Magician's comments. "Don't worry, my Duelist! This [[Home]] prevents anyone from being TOO injured during this sort of jugement thing! Mostly… Unless they did some REALLY bad stuff.. Or if they really abused their Duel Monsters or… Anyway! Come meet my friend Mystical Elf! She's awfully shy, but a GREAT friend!"

[["Good, keep them distracted if you could while I work on this."]]

And now ANOTHER 'gifted' woman was pulling him into a massive hug! It was too much! TOO MUCH!

YAMI! HELP!

[["...Your sacrifice is appreciated."]]

TRAITOR!

 

[Wyvern]

Oh, that is just marvelous. A very fitting test.

 

[Kalibrius]

Zorc
Meet outside context entity induced situation
I can only imagine zorc trying to investigate only to be turned around like a numbskull in the lost woods

 

[Hidden One]

Yay for squishy hugs!
Also, if anyone scrolls down on the Mystical Elf link above you'll find that she is part of one of the least powerfull fusion monsters.
She got a real nice gift for Yugi tho. Maybe it will make him grow a couple centimeters? 🤔

 

[Norr]

No wonder the rejected duelists weren't dejected, if this is what they treated to before being ejected.

 

[stads]

nice chapter thx for writing it
fun seeing the duelers meet there cards
hope yugi does not get dog piled by a load of agents cause they see the puzzle and the soul connected to yugi

 

[TerraBull]

I want to see the Pegasus and Kaiba 'Judgement'..

Why do I want to see a Battle between Toon World Bunny and Michigan J. Frog? A pie to the face with a Toon cane hooking the bunny off stage and MJFrog dancing off stage?

Both can do Rebirth?

How will such work? A zipper reveal or a big pencil draws a new body?

 

[WCSII]

. . . . Dang You Hidden One! You primed me to think of TerraBull's terrible phrasing in a inappropriate manner!

I did not need the mental image of either a toon Rabbit, or frog, leaping out of an unzipped Fly!

 

[TerraBull]

I did not say such, I ment a Toon Zipper to reveal a disguise or body change.

 

[WCSII]

I did say it was terrible phrasing.

 

[Pen-Paper Toad]

Luckily the toons can't influence reality enough to turn people's zippers into actual flies due to wordplay.

 

[Supersonic_Draco]

I could have promised yugi and joey were the same age... Also HA!