Pocket System
- Thread starter theaceoffire
- Start date
- Crossover Fantasy
Welcome to Anime Yugioh (hell).
But also his soul defences are cranked up too high, such that he reads as the mob character that gets eviscerated immediately. Except every attack against him is supposed to be the eviscerating attack, because his soul defences aren't giving the correct responses.
Otherwise the rule changes probably only happen once or twice per encounter and not even under their control, which could add spice and challenge to encounters. And also a reason to add that one card that likes to play a little more loose with the rules, to counter your opponents shenanigans.
He'll probably have to have his defenses go to simulate 'equal to opponent' soul strength. At least for when anyone with his Soul Defenses active is playing.
That is if SPYRAL doesn't set up their own defense network against blatant cheating like that. Probably some further restrictions on what the 'balancing' changes are. Maybe setting up treaties/agreements as to what can be done? Because cheating to curbstomp someone seems like it's a 'you're to weak to get your soul Strengthened!' Since I imagine that lasting more rounds helps. And that extreme smackdown?
It's not like they'd think he's going to be passing out midmatch. John would also in no way simulate that. I'm also a bit surprised that there isn't a 'vastly outmatched underdog pulling out a victory'. If not before, than with John's influence changing things, influence from where he's been before.
Honestly, it almost seems like John might be mistaken about what's really going on. And instead it's 'Archetypes are going against Frogs'. Or just against other archetypes in general. John's influence/intent on 'fair play' ending up weakening defenses there. SPYRAL would probably find that out either way.
That is if SPYRAL doesn't set up their own defense network against blatant cheating like that. Probably some further restrictions on what the 'balancing' changes are. Maybe setting up treaties/agreements as to what can be done? Because cheating to curbstomp someone seems like it's a 'you're to weak to get your soul Strengthened!' Since I imagine that lasting more rounds helps. And that extreme smackdown?
It's not like they'd think he's going to be passing out midmatch. John would also in no way simulate that. I'm also a bit surprised that there isn't a 'vastly outmatched underdog pulling out a victory'. If not before, than with John's influence changing things, influence from where he's been before.
Honestly, it almost seems like John might be mistaken about what's really going on. And instead it's 'Archetypes are going against Frogs'. Or just against other archetypes in general. John's influence/intent on 'fair play' ending up weakening defenses there. SPYRAL would probably find that out either way.
Evonix
Aspiring Lovecraft antagonist.
- Location
- Canada to 2 sigmas
Illusionary competition.
- Location
- Here
Joey handed over the froggy hat to his sister. "Nothing else. I mean it this time!"
She grinned as she put it on! "Nope! Nothing else, I promise!"
Thank goodness. "Now I just need to trade in my remaining points for one of the Tournament Participation Tickets, and we'll be good."
Serenity happily hummed as she squeezed her Kuriboh with a 'Pri!'. "I still don't see why you didn't just accept some of the extra points Yugi kept offering you…"
He snorted. "That would ruin the whole point of me trying to pay him back! He helped us both out a LOT and besides, I can do this on my own."
She blinked. "Well, yeah, I know… But he just has so MANY points now…"
Boy howdy did he! And not for no reason either. A bunch of odd things had started happening when Yugi tried participating in this festival thing.
It got to the point where Joey had started avoiding his friend entirely just to keep his sister out of the crazy shenanigans going on…
Like, the betting on small Duels? That he had expected.
The quiz contests with point rewards were reasonable options as well.
Even a few of the memory challenges that ensured you fully knew your own Deck made sense…
But then there was the STRANGE stuff, and it quickly SWAMPED his pal in madness!
People challenging Yugi to food eating contests, crazy costumed weirdos attempting to challenge him to win his Duel Monster companion's love and affection with wagered points on the line, almost every fairground game Yugi attempted somehow being both rigged AND yet barely overcome with his friend's impossible skills…
And don't get Joey started about that messed up kissing booth! What kind of kissing booth PAYED you to kiss the girls!? And those Duel Monster magical girls ONLY did that for Yugi!
Everyone else? Get back in line and pay up!
Seriously bro, why was the ENTIRE Magician Girl Archetype of sisters all over you!? Talented gamer or not, it doesn't make sense! A hefty CHUNK of that mountain of points Yugi gained were basically THROWN at the brat like beads from a Mardi Gras float!
Well whatever. He had enough points NOW to buy the right to participate in the actual tournament duels. Even had a few left over.
An amused chuckle that vibrated his spine shook his shadow.
NO, Joey was NOT jealous! And don't pretend he didn't see YOU egging his sister on to buy more stuff with HIS points either!
The Red-Eyes smirked as a massive dragon tail 'subtly' poked Serenity's ankle from his shadow.
Which caused her to pause. "Hmm? Did you see something, Red-Eyes?"
NO! "Hang on sis, you said nothing else, right? Right!?" Seriously, why did the two of you click so well!?
The tail tip of a massive creature pointed to one side, drawing Serenity's gaze over to… "Oooh! Cotton candy!"
DOUBLE NO! "We JUST had funnel cakes not five minutes ago, and…"
She turned towards him with innocence, as did her held companion. "Please? Pretty please?" "Priiiiii?"
…Damn it.
DAMN IT! "FINE! But NOTHING ELSE!"
And STOP LAUGHING you damned overgrown lizard! ARGH!
~~~Pocket System~~~
John happily watched the simulated opponent Duel 'himself'.
Only, now that the other 'him' was not forced to be 'perfectly average', the entire thing was MUCH more fun to watch! One side would gain advantage, then drop into the pits of despair, only to claw their way back up to the fight…
And now John could do the bits he REALLY wanted to do: The fun acting bits! "Alright, pause the scenario… For times like this, where 'I' was overly confident and somehow the other guy managed to beat me anyway? Let's record a few optional lines here."
Ahem. "HOW were you able to withstand my Toad-ally amazing Froggy Army!? That can not BE!"
Or maybe… "This may be a minor setback, but the heart of the frogs will bring my entire swamp to glorious victory!"
Mmm… No, not quite. Oh! "You may be trying to lilly-pad out this Duel, but we're going to hop straight to the finish line! Your attempts to recover are futile!"
…Did that fit this scenario exactly? "System, reserve that last line. I think I can use it later, but it doesn't quite fit here."
[[Confirmed, adjusting audio logs and visual cues for future use.]]
Great! "We'll come back to this one. Alright, continue the Duel!"
The 'John' in the Arena dramatically pulled forth a card! "I DRAW! And now I play: The [Pot of Greed]! This allows me to draw TWO more cards from my Deck... And I've managed to draw exactly what I needed!"
Wait, was [Pot of Greed] even in his deck? Where did THAT come from!?
Substitoad shrug his shoulders as he croaked out the reason…
Because apparently this holographic duplicate wasn't actually John.
Without John's active defenses getting in the way, Reality was able to easily warp itself to insert and alter the cards in their decks, even if his OTHER restrictions and careful limitations prevent the EFFECTS of the cards from changing!
John stared at the ongoing Duel. "But… I thought I assigned my hologram a copy of MY Deck? Right? And the card list for my deck was already posted online! We can't just CHANGE what is in the thing NOW, everyone would notice!"
The half demonic, half angelic frog passed him a tablet. "Ribbit."
What!? "Let me see that… Holy shit. It DID alter the past to 'fix' my list… Is it going to do that a LOT?" And how did John fail to NOTICE temporal alterations like this? Maybe it blended in with all the ambient 'noise' going on in the atmosphere of this Realm…
The toad waived away his concerns. "Ribbit."
Good grief. "Well, at least it will stop altering itself once the Deck gets used against another Duelist in the Tournament."
Because that would lock it in as a temporally significant event, one that could affect FUTURE Duels if the Deck arbitrarily modified its past components. Or something. "So why didn't this sort of thing happen to my simulated opponent's Deck when WE were both Dueling?"
Substitoad pointed at John. "Ribbit."
…Ah. "My defenses prevented it, as they were interacting with me. Got ya."
Sheesh. "Well, as long as it actually alters the past, I guess it will be fine…" After all, any memories or notes or screenshots or whatever would automatically change too if the event that causes them no longer matches what it once did.
John tapped the observation table as he thought… "Did our logs survive the temporal shift?"
[[Yes HOST. Both the original scanned data feeds and the newly adjusted past information from said feeds have been documented. As of the moment of the alteration, no further 'original' data can be collected as only the modified timeline has remained after the temporal merger.]]
So when his Deck changed itself in the past, the unaltered timeline was merged into a NEW timeline where it had always been changed… And John recorded them both? Neat! "Well, keep up the good work then."
[[Affirmative.]]
John walked over to his own hologram. "Hey, Holo-John!"
He turned to himself and tilted his head. "Yeah?"
He held up his deck to himself. "Just an FYI here, your deck is changing the past to put cards you need into the mix. It won't cause a huge issue, and your programing won't notice any alterations, but if something feels off just ask our [[Home]] and she'll help you straighten out any issues, alright?"
John nodded to John as he looked at his deck. "I did notice things played out much more smoothly than our recorded Duels earlier… Is it happening a lot?"
He shrugged at himself. "Not really? At least I don't think so… I didn't notice until you used that [Pot of Greed] earlier. System?"
[[HOST's holographic Deck has been altered 3,211 times since the start of the current Duel. The vast majority of alterations have occurred within the pile of undrawn cards without being observed, and involve the following four cards aggressively competing to include themselves in the final result…]]
Huh. "I take that back, it is almost a constant struggle so far… Turns out our Frogs stopped bothering US with all the politics and stuff, and are altering our Deck on their own like an odd version of 'king of the swamp' instead."
John snorted at him. "I knew the lack of ranting and shoving was too good to be true."
Yep, that should have been a red flag for him too. "Anyway, they should settle down now that we know they are causing temporal issues. Right Substitoad?"
Their friend gave a moist shrug. "Ribbit."
Both Johns sighed and gave each other commiserating looks… Good grief. "Anyway, the Deck should stabilize after your first Duel against someone in the Tournament. Let me or sis know if anything happens, alright? Or again, just tell our [[Home]] about it."
He gave a thumbs up to himself! "Will do! Anything else?"
Umm… "Nah, we're good."
John nodded and turned back to his simulated opponent! "Now PREPARE! For with my three [Des Frogs] now summoned to my side of the field, I can activate my Spell card: [Des Croaking]! Their deadly melody will now DESTROY all of your Cards on the field!"
The simulation fell back in horrified shock!
Holo-John laughed in dominance! "Now sing forth, my glorious froggy Choir! [DES CROAKING]!"
John happily hummed along with the cheerful tune of the swamp as he watched himself absolutely demolish that stupid simulation. Take THAT you jerk! Even if you are basically a copy of yourself fighting yourself with a different mode land a much harder difficulty setting and…
Whatever, it felt good to see anyway. "I liked the froggy choir bit. Let's make a note of that, alright? It should look awesome during a big moment like this one!"
[[Confirmed, adjusting audio logs and visual cues for future use.]]
Awesome! "Hey John, how many Duels has this been so far?"
He looked at himself and blinked. "Pretty sure around twelve or so." Turning back towards the dramatically fallen opponent, he stretched. "Ready to go again?"
The simulated Duelist flickered and was once again READY TO DUEL!
Sweet. "I'll let the girls know how great you're doing, but their Holo-variations won't be deployed until you've maximize your ability first."
John waved that off. "Yeah yeah, I know. Like we would have recreated them before we improved their potential as much as possible beforehand… What about sis though?"
Ah. John glanced at an unseen data feed… "Well, Holo-Jessica and our sister are sort of… Busy. And not interested in joining us at the moment… But they WILL be showing up for your first official Duel! Me too of course, but not anywhere visible for obvious reasons."
John grinned at the confirmation. "Really? Then I best be prepared to put on a grand show!" Turning to the simulation, his grin sharpened! "Prepare yourself, for the Emperor of Frogs has arrived! I DRAW!"
Ooh, that line was great too! System!
[[Confirmed, adjusting audio logs and visual cues for future use.]]
This was all going to be amazing!
~~~Pocket System~~~
Jessica passed herself the report. "This is one of the unofficial card stock suppliers. No official name or claim by any known organization, but our agents are pretty sure this place is associated with the SnakeHead Triad."
She read her comments on the issue. "Might be one of the primary suppliers, don't you think?"
They hummed as agents moved in the background before one of them sighed. "Maybe… But I still think a few official sources are dealing on the side."
The other snorted. "Of course they are! But for now we are going for low hanging fruit and biggest offenders here. We can't clean everything up in a few months, let alone a short week… All we can do is fix the most we can as efficiently as possible."
At least most of the mess directly targeting the Duelists attending THIS tournament had been handled so far. Oh, there were a few walking coma patients being puppeted by their Duel Monsters, but that was apparently a semi-common thing that could happen in this Realm.
Jessica sighed as Jessica leaned against her side. "I know, but every new detail our agents find just makes me want to squish a few assholes."
Hmm, she felt very soft... Nice. "Well, best we don't burn ourselves out. And when one of us leaves, at least the other will have plenty to keep her busy."
She sighed. "You know that I am the hologram."
She nuzzled herself. "A very NICE hologram indeed…"
Uh. Jessica glanced at the never ending work pile…
And burnout WAS a risk that should be avoided…
She leaned into the arm rubbing her spine. "Alright, maybe a short break is in order."
Jessica grinned at herself. "I already have our schedule cleared up for the next two hours."
Wait, really? "Damn we're good."
A melodious hum. "Mmm Hmm…"
Two hours huh?
She could work with that.
She grinned as she put it on! "Nope! Nothing else, I promise!"
Thank goodness. "Now I just need to trade in my remaining points for one of the Tournament Participation Tickets, and we'll be good."
Serenity happily hummed as she squeezed her Kuriboh with a 'Pri!'. "I still don't see why you didn't just accept some of the extra points Yugi kept offering you…"
He snorted. "That would ruin the whole point of me trying to pay him back! He helped us both out a LOT and besides, I can do this on my own."
She blinked. "Well, yeah, I know… But he just has so MANY points now…"
Boy howdy did he! And not for no reason either. A bunch of odd things had started happening when Yugi tried participating in this festival thing.
It got to the point where Joey had started avoiding his friend entirely just to keep his sister out of the crazy shenanigans going on…
Like, the betting on small Duels? That he had expected.
The quiz contests with point rewards were reasonable options as well.
Even a few of the memory challenges that ensured you fully knew your own Deck made sense…
But then there was the STRANGE stuff, and it quickly SWAMPED his pal in madness!
People challenging Yugi to food eating contests, crazy costumed weirdos attempting to challenge him to win his Duel Monster companion's love and affection with wagered points on the line, almost every fairground game Yugi attempted somehow being both rigged AND yet barely overcome with his friend's impossible skills…
And don't get Joey started about that messed up kissing booth! What kind of kissing booth PAYED you to kiss the girls!? And those Duel Monster magical girls ONLY did that for Yugi!
Everyone else? Get back in line and pay up!
Seriously bro, why was the ENTIRE Magician Girl Archetype of sisters all over you!? Talented gamer or not, it doesn't make sense! A hefty CHUNK of that mountain of points Yugi gained were basically THROWN at the brat like beads from a Mardi Gras float!
Well whatever. He had enough points NOW to buy the right to participate in the actual tournament duels. Even had a few left over.
An amused chuckle that vibrated his spine shook his shadow.
NO, Joey was NOT jealous! And don't pretend he didn't see YOU egging his sister on to buy more stuff with HIS points either!
The Red-Eyes smirked as a massive dragon tail 'subtly' poked Serenity's ankle from his shadow.
Which caused her to pause. "Hmm? Did you see something, Red-Eyes?"
NO! "Hang on sis, you said nothing else, right? Right!?" Seriously, why did the two of you click so well!?
The tail tip of a massive creature pointed to one side, drawing Serenity's gaze over to… "Oooh! Cotton candy!"
DOUBLE NO! "We JUST had funnel cakes not five minutes ago, and…"
She turned towards him with innocence, as did her held companion. "Please? Pretty please?" "Priiiiii?"
…Damn it.
DAMN IT! "FINE! But NOTHING ELSE!"
And STOP LAUGHING you damned overgrown lizard! ARGH!
~~~Pocket System~~~
John happily watched the simulated opponent Duel 'himself'.
Only, now that the other 'him' was not forced to be 'perfectly average', the entire thing was MUCH more fun to watch! One side would gain advantage, then drop into the pits of despair, only to claw their way back up to the fight…
And now John could do the bits he REALLY wanted to do: The fun acting bits! "Alright, pause the scenario… For times like this, where 'I' was overly confident and somehow the other guy managed to beat me anyway? Let's record a few optional lines here."
Ahem. "HOW were you able to withstand my Toad-ally amazing Froggy Army!? That can not BE!"
Or maybe… "This may be a minor setback, but the heart of the frogs will bring my entire swamp to glorious victory!"
Mmm… No, not quite. Oh! "You may be trying to lilly-pad out this Duel, but we're going to hop straight to the finish line! Your attempts to recover are futile!"
…Did that fit this scenario exactly? "System, reserve that last line. I think I can use it later, but it doesn't quite fit here."
[[Confirmed, adjusting audio logs and visual cues for future use.]]
Great! "We'll come back to this one. Alright, continue the Duel!"
The 'John' in the Arena dramatically pulled forth a card! "I DRAW! And now I play: The [Pot of Greed]! This allows me to draw TWO more cards from my Deck... And I've managed to draw exactly what I needed!"
Wait, was [Pot of Greed] even in his deck? Where did THAT come from!?
Substitoad shrug his shoulders as he croaked out the reason…
Because apparently this holographic duplicate wasn't actually John.
Without John's active defenses getting in the way, Reality was able to easily warp itself to insert and alter the cards in their decks, even if his OTHER restrictions and careful limitations prevent the EFFECTS of the cards from changing!
John stared at the ongoing Duel. "But… I thought I assigned my hologram a copy of MY Deck? Right? And the card list for my deck was already posted online! We can't just CHANGE what is in the thing NOW, everyone would notice!"
The half demonic, half angelic frog passed him a tablet. "Ribbit."
What!? "Let me see that… Holy shit. It DID alter the past to 'fix' my list… Is it going to do that a LOT?" And how did John fail to NOTICE temporal alterations like this? Maybe it blended in with all the ambient 'noise' going on in the atmosphere of this Realm…
The toad waived away his concerns. "Ribbit."
Good grief. "Well, at least it will stop altering itself once the Deck gets used against another Duelist in the Tournament."
Because that would lock it in as a temporally significant event, one that could affect FUTURE Duels if the Deck arbitrarily modified its past components. Or something. "So why didn't this sort of thing happen to my simulated opponent's Deck when WE were both Dueling?"
Substitoad pointed at John. "Ribbit."
…Ah. "My defenses prevented it, as they were interacting with me. Got ya."
Sheesh. "Well, as long as it actually alters the past, I guess it will be fine…" After all, any memories or notes or screenshots or whatever would automatically change too if the event that causes them no longer matches what it once did.
John tapped the observation table as he thought… "Did our logs survive the temporal shift?"
[[Yes HOST. Both the original scanned data feeds and the newly adjusted past information from said feeds have been documented. As of the moment of the alteration, no further 'original' data can be collected as only the modified timeline has remained after the temporal merger.]]
So when his Deck changed itself in the past, the unaltered timeline was merged into a NEW timeline where it had always been changed… And John recorded them both? Neat! "Well, keep up the good work then."
[[Affirmative.]]
John walked over to his own hologram. "Hey, Holo-John!"
He turned to himself and tilted his head. "Yeah?"
He held up his deck to himself. "Just an FYI here, your deck is changing the past to put cards you need into the mix. It won't cause a huge issue, and your programing won't notice any alterations, but if something feels off just ask our [[Home]] and she'll help you straighten out any issues, alright?"
John nodded to John as he looked at his deck. "I did notice things played out much more smoothly than our recorded Duels earlier… Is it happening a lot?"
He shrugged at himself. "Not really? At least I don't think so… I didn't notice until you used that [Pot of Greed] earlier. System?"
[[HOST's holographic Deck has been altered 3,211 times since the start of the current Duel. The vast majority of alterations have occurred within the pile of undrawn cards without being observed, and involve the following four cards aggressively competing to include themselves in the final result…]]
Huh. "I take that back, it is almost a constant struggle so far… Turns out our Frogs stopped bothering US with all the politics and stuff, and are altering our Deck on their own like an odd version of 'king of the swamp' instead."
John snorted at him. "I knew the lack of ranting and shoving was too good to be true."
Yep, that should have been a red flag for him too. "Anyway, they should settle down now that we know they are causing temporal issues. Right Substitoad?"
Their friend gave a moist shrug. "Ribbit."
Both Johns sighed and gave each other commiserating looks… Good grief. "Anyway, the Deck should stabilize after your first Duel against someone in the Tournament. Let me or sis know if anything happens, alright? Or again, just tell our [[Home]] about it."
He gave a thumbs up to himself! "Will do! Anything else?"
Umm… "Nah, we're good."
John nodded and turned back to his simulated opponent! "Now PREPARE! For with my three [Des Frogs] now summoned to my side of the field, I can activate my Spell card: [Des Croaking]! Their deadly melody will now DESTROY all of your Cards on the field!"
The simulation fell back in horrified shock!
Holo-John laughed in dominance! "Now sing forth, my glorious froggy Choir! [DES CROAKING]!"
John happily hummed along with the cheerful tune of the swamp as he watched himself absolutely demolish that stupid simulation. Take THAT you jerk! Even if you are basically a copy of yourself fighting yourself with a different mode land a much harder difficulty setting and…
Whatever, it felt good to see anyway. "I liked the froggy choir bit. Let's make a note of that, alright? It should look awesome during a big moment like this one!"
[[Confirmed, adjusting audio logs and visual cues for future use.]]
Awesome! "Hey John, how many Duels has this been so far?"
He looked at himself and blinked. "Pretty sure around twelve or so." Turning back towards the dramatically fallen opponent, he stretched. "Ready to go again?"
The simulated Duelist flickered and was once again READY TO DUEL!
Sweet. "I'll let the girls know how great you're doing, but their Holo-variations won't be deployed until you've maximize your ability first."
John waved that off. "Yeah yeah, I know. Like we would have recreated them before we improved their potential as much as possible beforehand… What about sis though?"
Ah. John glanced at an unseen data feed… "Well, Holo-Jessica and our sister are sort of… Busy. And not interested in joining us at the moment… But they WILL be showing up for your first official Duel! Me too of course, but not anywhere visible for obvious reasons."
John grinned at the confirmation. "Really? Then I best be prepared to put on a grand show!" Turning to the simulation, his grin sharpened! "Prepare yourself, for the Emperor of Frogs has arrived! I DRAW!"
Ooh, that line was great too! System!
[[Confirmed, adjusting audio logs and visual cues for future use.]]
This was all going to be amazing!
~~~Pocket System~~~
Jessica passed herself the report. "This is one of the unofficial card stock suppliers. No official name or claim by any known organization, but our agents are pretty sure this place is associated with the SnakeHead Triad."
She read her comments on the issue. "Might be one of the primary suppliers, don't you think?"
They hummed as agents moved in the background before one of them sighed. "Maybe… But I still think a few official sources are dealing on the side."
The other snorted. "Of course they are! But for now we are going for low hanging fruit and biggest offenders here. We can't clean everything up in a few months, let alone a short week… All we can do is fix the most we can as efficiently as possible."
At least most of the mess directly targeting the Duelists attending THIS tournament had been handled so far. Oh, there were a few walking coma patients being puppeted by their Duel Monsters, but that was apparently a semi-common thing that could happen in this Realm.
Jessica sighed as Jessica leaned against her side. "I know, but every new detail our agents find just makes me want to squish a few assholes."
Hmm, she felt very soft... Nice. "Well, best we don't burn ourselves out. And when one of us leaves, at least the other will have plenty to keep her busy."
She sighed. "You know that I am the hologram."
She nuzzled herself. "A very NICE hologram indeed…"
Uh. Jessica glanced at the never ending work pile…
And burnout WAS a risk that should be avoided…
She leaned into the arm rubbing her spine. "Alright, maybe a short break is in order."
Jessica grinned at herself. "I already have our schedule cleared up for the next two hours."
Wait, really? "Damn we're good."
A melodious hum. "Mmm Hmm…"
Two hours huh?
She could work with that.
Last edited:
nmWarden
Webcomic Glutton
- Location
- Texas
Huh, I never thought I'd find a way to relate to John.
(I'm just bad at card games, this isn't a pity party post)
- Location
- Sol;Terra;EU;D;NRW
Simception is now happening, interupt at your own discretion.
Warning: May cause harmfull side effects like maiming, flaying and being send to bed without a snack after having to stand in the corner for 5 minutes.
Warning: May cause harmfull side effects like maiming, flaying and being send to bed without a snack after having to stand in the corner for 5 minutes.
KingOfWorlds
Exists.
- Location
- Universe #8758762952950231859269663
This should be:
Ahem. "HOW were you able to withstand my Toadally Awseome Froggy Army!? That can not BE!"
- Location
- Earth, Sol System, Virgo Supercluster, Earth-1218
Nope! John is aware she's having some "just me and myself" time and emphatically not looking at that data feed.
Delay this week! Update on Friday the 10th!
- Location
- Here
I'm not sick, just got a lot of stuff going on. I'll try to get all this wrangled by this Friday at the latest.
Also, I'm having to go over all the matches in the tournament, and MOST of them are just... Not interesting.
It was rough to watch. Behold! Mob contestant number A150 Vs Mob contestant number A151: FIGHT!
And after they both draw a handful of card tickets that they redeem for EXACTLY what they want from their library, the absolute best cards in their deck... Then they STILL play trashy shit!
Like, one dude played [Diamond Bear] in attack mode, with only 1,200 attack points! Not that shoving him into defense mode would do much, considering his lame 700 defensive ability, but I thought it was going to be part of some combo or used by some magic card or something.
After all, there are tons of undocumented cards in this place... So I was like 'Whatever'. It will probably work out.
But no. His entire deck was jewelry themed. And he apparently shoved the [Diamond Bear] into his deck because he liked the name.
What. The. Fuck!
Half the Duels with Joey and Yugi have been straight up curb stomps till near the end of this thing! And there are a LOT of chafe people who used up their earned Tournament Festival points to buy entry into this stupid thing, only to lose near instantly. The show apparently filters that crap out, so you don't get stuck watching the hundreds of other Duels that DON'T have some flashy protagonist involved.
And I was like, 'Crap the people here are going to complain about this' and 'John should have invited some named Duelists to prevent this sort of mess from happening', but nope!
This sort of shit is NORMAL! Even major televised tournaments tend to have, AT MOST, two or three good Duelists involved! One powerful gal or guy curb stomping the entire mess isn't uncommon too!
So having three GOOD Duelists (And a couple of decent others and a few husks being puppeted by Duel Monsters) was apparently enough to shove this whole mess above the average threshold. So that's great, I guess.
It's frustrating.
Also, I'm having to go over all the matches in the tournament, and MOST of them are just... Not interesting.
It was rough to watch. Behold! Mob contestant number A150 Vs Mob contestant number A151: FIGHT!
And after they both draw a handful of card tickets that they redeem for EXACTLY what they want from their library, the absolute best cards in their deck... Then they STILL play trashy shit!
Like, one dude played [Diamond Bear] in attack mode, with only 1,200 attack points! Not that shoving him into defense mode would do much, considering his lame 700 defensive ability, but I thought it was going to be part of some combo or used by some magic card or something.
After all, there are tons of undocumented cards in this place... So I was like 'Whatever'. It will probably work out.
But no. His entire deck was jewelry themed. And he apparently shoved the [Diamond Bear] into his deck because he liked the name.
What. The. Fuck!
Half the Duels with Joey and Yugi have been straight up curb stomps till near the end of this thing! And there are a LOT of chafe people who used up their earned Tournament Festival points to buy entry into this stupid thing, only to lose near instantly. The show apparently filters that crap out, so you don't get stuck watching the hundreds of other Duels that DON'T have some flashy protagonist involved.
And I was like, 'Crap the people here are going to complain about this' and 'John should have invited some named Duelists to prevent this sort of mess from happening', but nope!
This sort of shit is NORMAL! Even major televised tournaments tend to have, AT MOST, two or three good Duelists involved! One powerful gal or guy curb stomping the entire mess isn't uncommon too!
So having three GOOD Duelists (And a couple of decent others and a few husks being puppeted by Duel Monsters) was apparently enough to shove this whole mess above the average threshold. So that's great, I guess.
It's frustrating.
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Your muse is weird. Also at least one Dragon Archetype has a canonical human form for each of its members. The Dimension Dragons from the fifth series.(The one that added Pendulum) Also have you seen this?
- Location
- Sol;Terra;EU;D;NRW
I now asume someone is playing a Combo Fighter deck but forgot the equipment and the master.
Without trap cards since they can't figure out the effect.
Without trap cards since they can't figure out the effect.
ForwardRewind: Undercover SPYRAL-ing.
Undercover SPYRAL-ing
It was a rather different assignment than SPYRAL usually had. But 'Steve', as his cover identity claimed he was, was something that only recently became available. Namely, the Holographic setups, that allowed SPYRAL Agents to actually be Duelists. Almost. Act as them, instead of through others. A remarkable difference and opened up many more options than hiding around. Dealing with problematic Archetypes that way.
Oh, there was no doubt that they would continue to handle issues like that. It's not like their group was the only Archetype to do work like that as well. Just, new opportunities, allowed new tactics. It's not like any of their Swamp Dwelling allies could go out nearly as easily. Though the connections helped.
The only downside was that Steve wasn't quite 'clicking' with his Deck. Nor was he getting cards he needed to competently battle. He, and other SPYRAL agents, were out their dueling. And because they counted as 'weak' Souls, the cards were stacked against them. Having the Soul Protection tweaked for their Mission only helped a bit. At least Dueling other Agents helped a bit. And was less embarrassing, as at least they were evenly matched. And random effects cut both ways. Having their Souls not being constantly read as 'Average' at least stopped some of that, given the reports they had already obtained. And at least some theory was spun around that doing this could raise the average to a point where even the Average soul could defend against the random rule changes. Who knows when it would pay off, if it ever did.
Because honestly, it felt like children fighting on a playground. Which, to be fair, card games, but much more disturbing given the consequences that could be incurred. Director Jessica had already helped alleviate some of the issues there. Her brother John's own work giving leads into solving it. Perhaps having enough people understanding the rules would work. Duelists strong enough to solidify the game, without loopholes being forced in.
He'd have to look into the prior work in weakening overwhelming strength. The best picked cards being always drawn was an issue, even with John's workaround to give weaker Duelists at least the opportunity to pull off the same Heart of the Cards tricks that let them pull out wins out of nowhere. A modification to that same system might be needed. Perhaps a second resource, a 'mana' cost? Or maybe more a 'Heart' rating. Though balancing it so that it doesn't defeat the own purpose it had in leveling the playing field no matter the strength of Soul would be difficult. Some kind of way of allowing you to pull your best card, but not every turn? Introduce tactics, where you had to time the use properly.
Really, it would be so much easier if the Archetypes didn't try to show off, and agreed to set rules. Not very likely, given that the card game version is new, and they all want the benefit of Soul Strengthening. Would take the agreement of far too many sides. And SPYRAL itself did not yet have 'good enough' records of the previous utilization of pre-Card Game methods. Not at his clearance level, at least.
Just something very frustrating. Even if it appeared that he and the other SPYRAL Agents weren't doing too badly compared to regular Duelists. Not enough to set off warnings of sudden incompetence. Which was odd, with John's notes on average Tournament skill levels. There should be enough Duelists to make Tournaments have higher skill floors. Which… implied things. A Soul recovery time, that was only subconsciously felt? Avoiding tournaments with weaker Players, that was already 'claimed' by enough other Duelists, to help foster stronger potential Rivals? A reverse of Strong Souls scaring off weaker ones. Or maybe some Duelists almost being 'Fated' to participate in specific Tournaments? Possibly with no interest in Tournaments that didn't match that.
Frustratingly, he couldn't figure out if any of these guesses were anywhere near accurate. Steve decided that he needed to take a break from solely Dueling, before he snaps. And hitting a stationary target would do the trick. One that wouldn't randomly decide to up and cheat.
Wait. Now that was an idea. If having even a fake opponent didn't work, then why not something else entirely? The Card Game itself isn't strictly needed for Soul Strengthening. There were other games, other uses that could be made. Even using the same Cards. So a 'Solitaire' game, no opponent, just a board set up. Not even putting chance into it. Something that just follows the same path.
Yes, that might work. Set up a 'training dummy', maybe with different levels of Defense. Much like SPYRAL training could be. No 'sparring' equivalent at all, not yet. A shame that there wasn't a way to use a 'training Deck', one that wasn't a Duelist's own Deck. Something that helped solely for the Duelist, rather than specifically benefiting those of the Deck itself. Pseudo-shards, which rather leaves out having any kind of Monster at all. Maybe an Equipment-type card? With the holographic setup, that might well allow a more physical training. And an effort that would help out any SPYRAL Agent regardless of if it worked for Strengthening Souls.
He'd spend some time putting together a proposal. See if something workable came out of his thoughts.
It was a rather different assignment than SPYRAL usually had. But 'Steve', as his cover identity claimed he was, was something that only recently became available. Namely, the Holographic setups, that allowed SPYRAL Agents to actually be Duelists. Almost. Act as them, instead of through others. A remarkable difference and opened up many more options than hiding around. Dealing with problematic Archetypes that way.
Oh, there was no doubt that they would continue to handle issues like that. It's not like their group was the only Archetype to do work like that as well. Just, new opportunities, allowed new tactics. It's not like any of their Swamp Dwelling allies could go out nearly as easily. Though the connections helped.
The only downside was that Steve wasn't quite 'clicking' with his Deck. Nor was he getting cards he needed to competently battle. He, and other SPYRAL agents, were out their dueling. And because they counted as 'weak' Souls, the cards were stacked against them. Having the Soul Protection tweaked for their Mission only helped a bit. At least Dueling other Agents helped a bit. And was less embarrassing, as at least they were evenly matched. And random effects cut both ways. Having their Souls not being constantly read as 'Average' at least stopped some of that, given the reports they had already obtained. And at least some theory was spun around that doing this could raise the average to a point where even the Average soul could defend against the random rule changes. Who knows when it would pay off, if it ever did.
Because honestly, it felt like children fighting on a playground. Which, to be fair, card games, but much more disturbing given the consequences that could be incurred. Director Jessica had already helped alleviate some of the issues there. Her brother John's own work giving leads into solving it. Perhaps having enough people understanding the rules would work. Duelists strong enough to solidify the game, without loopholes being forced in.
He'd have to look into the prior work in weakening overwhelming strength. The best picked cards being always drawn was an issue, even with John's workaround to give weaker Duelists at least the opportunity to pull off the same Heart of the Cards tricks that let them pull out wins out of nowhere. A modification to that same system might be needed. Perhaps a second resource, a 'mana' cost? Or maybe more a 'Heart' rating. Though balancing it so that it doesn't defeat the own purpose it had in leveling the playing field no matter the strength of Soul would be difficult. Some kind of way of allowing you to pull your best card, but not every turn? Introduce tactics, where you had to time the use properly.
Really, it would be so much easier if the Archetypes didn't try to show off, and agreed to set rules. Not very likely, given that the card game version is new, and they all want the benefit of Soul Strengthening. Would take the agreement of far too many sides. And SPYRAL itself did not yet have 'good enough' records of the previous utilization of pre-Card Game methods. Not at his clearance level, at least.
Just something very frustrating. Even if it appeared that he and the other SPYRAL Agents weren't doing too badly compared to regular Duelists. Not enough to set off warnings of sudden incompetence. Which was odd, with John's notes on average Tournament skill levels. There should be enough Duelists to make Tournaments have higher skill floors. Which… implied things. A Soul recovery time, that was only subconsciously felt? Avoiding tournaments with weaker Players, that was already 'claimed' by enough other Duelists, to help foster stronger potential Rivals? A reverse of Strong Souls scaring off weaker ones. Or maybe some Duelists almost being 'Fated' to participate in specific Tournaments? Possibly with no interest in Tournaments that didn't match that.
Frustratingly, he couldn't figure out if any of these guesses were anywhere near accurate. Steve decided that he needed to take a break from solely Dueling, before he snaps. And hitting a stationary target would do the trick. One that wouldn't randomly decide to up and cheat.
Wait. Now that was an idea. If having even a fake opponent didn't work, then why not something else entirely? The Card Game itself isn't strictly needed for Soul Strengthening. There were other games, other uses that could be made. Even using the same Cards. So a 'Solitaire' game, no opponent, just a board set up. Not even putting chance into it. Something that just follows the same path.
Yes, that might work. Set up a 'training dummy', maybe with different levels of Defense. Much like SPYRAL training could be. No 'sparring' equivalent at all, not yet. A shame that there wasn't a way to use a 'training Deck', one that wasn't a Duelist's own Deck. Something that helped solely for the Duelist, rather than specifically benefiting those of the Deck itself. Pseudo-shards, which rather leaves out having any kind of Monster at all. Maybe an Equipment-type card? With the holographic setup, that might well allow a more physical training. And an effort that would help out any SPYRAL Agent regardless of if it worked for Strengthening Souls.
He'd spend some time putting together a proposal. See if something workable came out of his thoughts.
The idea was bugging me, so I just wrote the words down.
Just some random low-level SPYRAL agent undercover as a Duelist. Also bemoaning the same kind of issues that John had. With a different outlook on how to fix things. Even if it went on for longer than I thought it would.
Mostly this was a way to 'explain' why there were so many Duelists that didn't have much of anything. But given that it isn't a new phenomenon, it didn't end up really explaining that.
Though I imagine at least some of the problem is the curb stomping going on, resulting in tactics, and card combos not being really something that 'clicks' for lower level Duelists. Especially as you can't really prepare against "Rules changed, deal with it", due to a weak Soul. What's the point in bothering with playing smart if it doesn't actually help at all?
And I kind of see SPYRAL/Jessica alleviating it, in a 'teaching tactics' manner. Didn't quite fit in the omake, even though it's an idea I had to put in, the teaching of other Duelists as a bigger thing. More than just the 'pre-built' balanced Decks that were shown earlier, that John bought (and is presumably also helping sell via the whole 'local business to global market' thing.
But also in a 'setting rules down beforehand that don't change during the Duel itself'. Sidestep the 'Might Makes Right'. And yeah, I imagine that if the Average Soul Strength increases, those shenanigans start decreasing. Especially with other methods of Soul Strengthening come out. Or better methods thereof. Smack that 'Narrative force' in the nose, and butt out of the 'unimportant' matches. Let people learn, rather than have everything brute forced to 'victory'. Something that might end up happening if it results in quicker Soul Growth.
Just some random low-level SPYRAL agent undercover as a Duelist. Also bemoaning the same kind of issues that John had. With a different outlook on how to fix things. Even if it went on for longer than I thought it would.
Mostly this was a way to 'explain' why there were so many Duelists that didn't have much of anything. But given that it isn't a new phenomenon, it didn't end up really explaining that.
Though I imagine at least some of the problem is the curb stomping going on, resulting in tactics, and card combos not being really something that 'clicks' for lower level Duelists. Especially as you can't really prepare against "Rules changed, deal with it", due to a weak Soul. What's the point in bothering with playing smart if it doesn't actually help at all?
And I kind of see SPYRAL/Jessica alleviating it, in a 'teaching tactics' manner. Didn't quite fit in the omake, even though it's an idea I had to put in, the teaching of other Duelists as a bigger thing. More than just the 'pre-built' balanced Decks that were shown earlier, that John bought (and is presumably also helping sell via the whole 'local business to global market' thing.
But also in a 'setting rules down beforehand that don't change during the Duel itself'. Sidestep the 'Might Makes Right'. And yeah, I imagine that if the Average Soul Strength increases, those shenanigans start decreasing. Especially with other methods of Soul Strengthening come out. Or better methods thereof. Smack that 'Narrative force' in the nose, and butt out of the 'unimportant' matches. Let people learn, rather than have everything brute forced to 'victory'. Something that might end up happening if it results in quicker Soul Growth.
I'm honestly surprised John isn't hating this world?
It's got exactly the same malleability and "runniness" of the Flintstones, things actively infesting his and his sisters' souls, and concepts intruding on his attempts to invent and do cool things. Now it's even reached the point it's killed his enthusiasm to duel at all.
I'm a bit confused why he's so laidback in comparison to Flintstones at reality warping around him constantly in ways that spoil his fun and have permanent consequences on Home?
It's got exactly the same malleability and "runniness" of the Flintstones, things actively infesting his and his sisters' souls, and concepts intruding on his attempts to invent and do cool things. Now it's even reached the point it's killed his enthusiasm to duel at all.
I'm a bit confused why he's so laidback in comparison to Flintstones at reality warping around him constantly in ways that spoil his fun and have permanent consequences on Home?
Is the Yugioh Realm more stable than the Flintstone Realm?
- Location
- Here
Because, while there is a LOT of wiggle room, it's all localized.
If you don't participate directly in Duels or Shadow Games (Of whatever types), the REST of reality is stable as a rock. People can go their whole life without playing themselves, and many can even avoid being AFFECTED by ongoing games!
Plus, a lot of the issues take care of themselves because TRYING to use that amount of power tends to pull BOTH Duelists into the Shadow Realm between dimensions for the duration of their conflict. You see it a lot in the shows, where during a Duel the backgrounds start to fade away or go full abyss or whatever.
But in the Flintstone Realm, fundamental forces of energy changed moment to moment. Laws of gravity could alter from one side of the room to the other, physics would shift, and memories or time itself would warp to make everything 'logical'.
It was SOFT and GOOEY in horrific ways. Just looking at that mess made ME feel nauseous, and that's a third party perspective!
At least HERE, it is MUCH less 'reality is warping' and more 'EVERYONE KEEPS CHEATING', which is a completely different issue. Oh, there's a few magic artifacts and abilities, and some random insanity like the experimental robot cyborg monkey duelist powered by the reincarnated essence of Joey Wheeler, but only an itty bitty tiny FRACTION of the entire planet is like that.
King of games.
- Location
- Here
The massive monster towered over his partner on the field, and he couldn't stop it from attacking!
Joey flinched as his heart began pounding even harder! "We can still do this, Red-Eyes! Just hold strong for a bit longer!"
Her pained growl was full of determination, even if it hurt to hear it.
The asshole Duelist snorted. "Just die already, I've got better people to defeat today. Go [Master of Oz], and SMASH that giant lizard!" "[[RAWR!]]"
Damned giant koala and your stupid 4,200 attack power! "Don't worry girl, I got this! I activate my trap spell, [Skull Dice]!"
His Australian opponent, Dunkin Donathan, growled! "What NOW!? Can't ya die with dignity!?"
And fuck you very much too, you asshole. A portal slashed into the arena, and a small demon with an oversized die blocked the attacking monster, protecting his partner. "[Skull Dice] activates his cursed die, rolling for a chance for VICTORY!"
The massive cube bounced, tossed, and… HELL YEAH! "As [Skull Dice] has managed to roll a 4, your attacking monster's ability to attack or defend is divided by that!"
The monster actively shrank down, a tiny furry attacker now with only 1,050 attack and 925 defense. Thankfully for Joe's math skills, if nothing else, the rules of the Tournament rounded both of those up to 1,100 and 1,000…
Compared to his girl's 2,400 attack, that was nothing! "He can't cancel his attempt to attack! END that pain in the neck, Red-Eyes!"
They could DO this!
…And Donathan smirked. "I reveal MY trap card, [Assault Cyclone]. This NEGATES the effect of ANY other Spell or Trap cards activated during my monster's attack and DESTROYS them!"
The dice rolling demon was half fading away when a vicious backhand from the tiny koala smashed him to pieces, destroying the last minute curse and restoring his gargantuan size… And looming over his Red-Eyes for the final blow!
SHIT! "NO!" He had SOMETHING, right!? ANYTHING!?
Donathan cackled over his horror! "More than that? The excess damage is FINALLY enough to END this travesty of a Duel! Ha ha ha ha!"
[[Diddly-diddly-diddly-dee! De-DINK!]]
Joey Wheeler's life points cratered down to zero as he fell to one knee.
The explosion was MASSIVE, black smoke filling the arena… As he felt her return to his shadow, wounded and frustrated and cursing herself. But not gone.
That… That's good. "You alright, girl?"
Her grumbling rumbled.
Yeah. "...Sorry. I thought… I thought I had that." Those horrific sounds of her screaming as the monster's claws sliced deep… "I'll do better."
Both Duelists ignored the screaming and applauding crowds as Dunkin Donathan snorted. "About time! Aye got betta things to do than spend any more attention on a failure. Get off the damned stage, and take all ya bloody lizards with ya!"
The world went silent.
The audience froze.
The ambient bustle of life stopped.
And then… A rumbling began.
Slow, but growing.
From the darkness.
Not from him. Not from his partner.
From the shadows.
ALL the shadows.
Joey felt his mind go blank as T̪͚̯̮͞h̝͈̩͓͈̹i̦̼̰͓̲͜n͇͙̮̘̯̗̞g̳̝̖̥̻̀s̱̪̮͠ began moving in the dark.
Dunkin Donathan began to shiver even as his massive monster, the [Master of Oz], began to frantically backpedal! "What… What is… What's happening!?"
A bony clawed hand tore into the ground, one quickly followed by others as Joey saw malicious demonic faces begin to crawl from the shadows. The Shadowy Realm.
His mind began identifying them somehow. Through his partner's rage, they were called.
The flickering of red electricity covering the [Red-Eyes Archfiend of Lightning].
The solid black [Meteor Black Comet Dragon], so bright with flames that it seemed to claw back the darkness itself.
An angry [Red-Eyes Slash Dragon] with sharpened claws, a raging [Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon] with deadly heat, one after another continued to force themselves INTO the arena from nowhere.
All staring at Dunkin Donathan, who was unable to speak a word. At the now shivering and cowering koala, outnumbered and fully aware of it.
And with an eager growl, he could feel his own Red-Eyes pull herself up from her domain… But not as usual. From someplace that Death claimed.
The soil on the battlefield began to crack… As Joey felt a growing pit of rage begin to escape from the afterlife itself. As the [Red-Eyes Black Zombified Dragon] began to rebel against LIFE ITSELF to DEVOUR this upstart morsel who DARED to insult HER Duelist!
A sudden light cough brought everything still once more.
ALL the Duel Monsters, both Duelists, and the entire audience turned to stare blankly at the overseeing balcony and the tiny boy in a frog outfit wearing a crown who smiled at everyone! "Now wasn't that a LOVELY Duel! Very impressive, yes? All sorts of ups and downs, twists and turns…"
The Frog Emperor gestured to one side. "Let's all give a round of applause for Joey Wheeler's excellent playing abilities and the last moment victory of Young Dunkin Donathan!"
The boy cheerfully clapped alone even as a few of the monsters began to hungrily turn back towards the now shaking Australian, starting to bleed from his eyes.
Emperor John Doe frowned at the lack of participation, apparently unaware of the fear clinching so many people over the massive creatures seemingly about to consume someone. "Well? Anyone? Sigh, this won't do. If you could please, assistant?"
The 'frog' standing next to the boy nodded… And held up two webbed hands.
And he [[C̼̥̝̱̦l̰͚͇̹͎͎a͉̜̝͇̗̗p̻͙͖͓̙pe͉̖̖̕d͖̪̖̣̥ͅ]].
The monsters vanished.
Joey felt his Red-Eyes now FIRMLY back in his Shadow, and softly grumbling.
The opposing koala Duel Monster was… Well, not fine, but at least not shivering in terror now. Maybe passed out… Or in a coma.
And Dunkin Donathan seemed to be REALLY CLOSE to passing out at any moment. Probably needed medical attention too, based on how unhinged he was starting to look.
The Emperor smiled! "Let's try this one more time, shall we? Everyone, a round of applause for Joey's attempt!"
The applause was… Well, it was there at least.
The ruler waved to one side. "Joey Wheeler, please follow the agent on your left to receive your various rewards, and thank you for coming to compete! We also really appreciate your Red-Eyes for being such an accommodating guest so far."
Joey absently followed the secret agent away from the Duelist arena as he could FEEL the Red-Eyes trying to flick off the organizer of this tournament despite her issues with only having claws to work with.
As he headed off to get rewards for all the previous victories he had accomplished, he could faintly hear the loud crowd recovering from behind… And the next announcement. "After a short recess, we will then move on to the finals! Young Dunkin Donathan versus another talented lad who's done VERY well so far, Yugi Muto! It should be QUITE impressive, I do think!"
Joey blinked as even his female partner paused.
Donathan was going from THAT mess straight into a duel with Yugi!?
…Despite himself, Joey couldn't help but feel sorry for the asshole.
~~~Pocket System~~~
Man, this tournament has been AMAZING so far! And WAY more chaotic than John's practice rounds against the simulation, where he basically spent the entire time being dunked on and harassed.
Oh, and all of it was being scanned and recorded for reasons and stuff, so it totally WASN'T just so he could have fun doing all this. It was mission related. Really.
John was currently holographically disguised as an assistant frog. And feeling more than a little smug. He was pretty sure no one noticed ANYTHING off about him this time! Perfect disguise, beyond amazing acting talent: Completely unnoticed!
Hell yeah!
After all, now he could get an awesome seat during the final rounds of the tournament AND not have to participate himself only to get hosed by the Realm as it tried to keep the Duels 'interesting' and sort of-but-not-really fair!
Win win, baby!
The 'Frog Emperor' next to him waved to the crowd as they screamed in excitement over the ongoing Duel within the fighting ring below.
It had taken a bit for the audience participation to recover for some reason, they had all gone a bit quiet when Toadally-Not-John had sent off the rambunctious Duel Monsters earlier, but by now they were all fully ready to enjoy the climax of the competition! Woo!
His sister was next to him and seemed exasperated for some reason… Uh, Technically next to BOTH of him, right? Since John and Holo-John were both…
Anyway, moving on.
The girls were NOT here, having to both watch from the background since they turned out to be a bit too distracting to be here in person. And by 'a bit' John meant 'a WHOLE lot', basically.
After all, his hologram was himself after all… And both Johns had issues concentrating on doing something complicated with two attractive women being that overly affectionate, much less this poor sap without all the extra mental defenses.
Slight side note: Without the buffer of John's ambient aura, both of the girls were FAR too attractive for public appearances.
In a very literal way.
Not that Temptation cared, but Grace was a bit flustered when she showed up without him or his sister nearby and a sudden group of visitors spontaneously broke out into songs describing her beauty. More than once. Not to mention the sudden riots as conflicting performance groups began competing.
Froggy John watched with fascination as 'Young Dunkin Donathan' got smacked around some more… Huh. Did this Yugi kid have some sort of chip on his shoulder? This was getting a LITTLE bit excessive…
Ah well, Donathan might call himself 'young' but he was old enough to handle a bit of roughhousing. Plus he stopped bleeding externally earlier, so he should be fine.
Wait, what had John been thinking about? Oh, right: The near mind warping beauty aspects of his girls.
Well, at least they KNEW about the problem before it became too big of an issue, right? And Grace was now fully dedicated to fixing the entire mess while Temptation was off causing chaos somewhere in the castle.
From what John could tell, this effect was only PARTIALLY due to their attractiveness this time… If anything, it really showed off how complicated attempting to control how the Pocket defenses interact with the world could become without care being taken.
Not to mention all these side effects that cropped up when something was miscalibrated.
It's not like they hadn't noticed issues before on a much lower scale, but here? In their [[Home]], their power base?
Well, it shifted the problem from 'annoying but ignorable' to 'STEP ON ME!' and it needed to be brought back under control before someone sprained something. The real issue was figuring out what was causing this whole mess in the first place!
His mental pondering on 'too attractive' vs 'Soul too powerful' was interrupted by his hologram declaring the winner. "Another marvelous Duel indeed! Thank you both for your hard work and brilliant strategies. Young Dunkin Donathan, please follow the agent on your left to receive your various rewards, and thank you for coming to compete! Everyone, a round of applause for Donathan's attempt!"
Um. John nudged his hologram, who blinked and nodded. "If someone could please assist… Oh, thank you Agent G3321, very good!"
Meanwhile the actual victor of the Duel, some kid called 'Yugi Muto', was kind enough to not taunt the loser of the most recent battle as he watched the dizzy yet still cursing foe make his way out to half hearted applause with only minor amounts of assistance.
Thank goodness this Yugi kid didn't take things too far, it could have really messed up the mood going on.
After all, Donathan might be a talented Duelist but his personality had left much to be desired…
Nearly got the kid eaten when he won and tried taunting that Joey Wheeler kid for losing. Joey's dragon had a NASTY temper… But a bit of medical attention and the jerk was able to continue his matches up till this point.
Missing the last Duel in the competition would have been a pretty big bummer after all!
Not that Donathan would have likely been THAT missed if some substitute had been forced to be called in. Not with how much of an antisocial blowhard he had been…
Everything felt MUCH better when all of the people Dueling weren't assholes, even if it was fun to hate jerks as much as it was to love heroes.
Speaking of which… "Hey sis, we got the medical teams ready for him right? Donathan is still looking a little rough…"
Jessica glanced at Frog-John and talked without obvious movement. "He'll be fully recovered in less than two hours, depending on how much stress this most recent Duel was on his Soul."
Meh, good enough. "Got it."
Holo-John threw out his arm, cape blowing in the wind! "Now everyone! Please applaud the Tournament Champion, the daring Challenger Yugi Muto!"
The crowd went WILD, even as the boy himself somehow slumped and suddenly looked VERY flustered instead of the tall, calm, and collected form he presented before.
Odd, but nothing too big. "Your victory and rewards are locked in and guaranteed, but I present unto you a final challenge! Dare you agree to battle against ME, the Emperor of ALL frogs!? Here, in the swampy heart of MY kingdom!?"
With a flash, the boy once more dominated the stage! Tall, defiant, and confident, Yugi declared raw focus! "I accept ANY challenge, as would any true Duelist!"
Ha! Awesome! "Then so shall it be! Arise, my amphibian army! Today we have a TRUE CHALLENGER!"
AND THE CROWD WENT NUTS!
Oh wait! Say the thing! SAY THE THING!
Holo-John grinned at his opponent. "Prepare yourself, Yugi!"
They both drew their cards!
""IT'S TIME: TO DUEL!""
RAW SOUND EVERYWHERE!
Hell yeah! Record ALL of this, we need to make this into a video for the website!
[[Confirmed. Gathering data…]]
Woo!
Joey flinched as his heart began pounding even harder! "We can still do this, Red-Eyes! Just hold strong for a bit longer!"
Her pained growl was full of determination, even if it hurt to hear it.
The asshole Duelist snorted. "Just die already, I've got better people to defeat today. Go [Master of Oz], and SMASH that giant lizard!" "[[RAWR!]]"
Damned giant koala and your stupid 4,200 attack power! "Don't worry girl, I got this! I activate my trap spell, [Skull Dice]!"
His Australian opponent, Dunkin Donathan, growled! "What NOW!? Can't ya die with dignity!?"
And fuck you very much too, you asshole. A portal slashed into the arena, and a small demon with an oversized die blocked the attacking monster, protecting his partner. "[Skull Dice] activates his cursed die, rolling for a chance for VICTORY!"
The massive cube bounced, tossed, and… HELL YEAH! "As [Skull Dice] has managed to roll a 4, your attacking monster's ability to attack or defend is divided by that!"
The monster actively shrank down, a tiny furry attacker now with only 1,050 attack and 925 defense. Thankfully for Joe's math skills, if nothing else, the rules of the Tournament rounded both of those up to 1,100 and 1,000…
Compared to his girl's 2,400 attack, that was nothing! "He can't cancel his attempt to attack! END that pain in the neck, Red-Eyes!"
They could DO this!
…And Donathan smirked. "I reveal MY trap card, [Assault Cyclone]. This NEGATES the effect of ANY other Spell or Trap cards activated during my monster's attack and DESTROYS them!"
The dice rolling demon was half fading away when a vicious backhand from the tiny koala smashed him to pieces, destroying the last minute curse and restoring his gargantuan size… And looming over his Red-Eyes for the final blow!
SHIT! "NO!" He had SOMETHING, right!? ANYTHING!?
Donathan cackled over his horror! "More than that? The excess damage is FINALLY enough to END this travesty of a Duel! Ha ha ha ha!"
[[Diddly-diddly-diddly-dee! De-DINK!]]
Joey Wheeler's life points cratered down to zero as he fell to one knee.
The explosion was MASSIVE, black smoke filling the arena… As he felt her return to his shadow, wounded and frustrated and cursing herself. But not gone.
That… That's good. "You alright, girl?"
Her grumbling rumbled.
Yeah. "...Sorry. I thought… I thought I had that." Those horrific sounds of her screaming as the monster's claws sliced deep… "I'll do better."
Both Duelists ignored the screaming and applauding crowds as Dunkin Donathan snorted. "About time! Aye got betta things to do than spend any more attention on a failure. Get off the damned stage, and take all ya bloody lizards with ya!"
The world went silent.
The audience froze.
The ambient bustle of life stopped.
And then… A rumbling began.
Slow, but growing.
From the darkness.
Not from him. Not from his partner.
From the shadows.
ALL the shadows.
Joey felt his mind go blank as T̪͚̯̮͞h̝͈̩͓͈̹i̦̼̰͓̲͜n͇͙̮̘̯̗̞g̳̝̖̥̻̀s̱̪̮͠ began moving in the dark.
Dunkin Donathan began to shiver even as his massive monster, the [Master of Oz], began to frantically backpedal! "What… What is… What's happening!?"
A bony clawed hand tore into the ground, one quickly followed by others as Joey saw malicious demonic faces begin to crawl from the shadows. The Shadowy Realm.
His mind began identifying them somehow. Through his partner's rage, they were called.
The flickering of red electricity covering the [Red-Eyes Archfiend of Lightning].
The solid black [Meteor Black Comet Dragon], so bright with flames that it seemed to claw back the darkness itself.
An angry [Red-Eyes Slash Dragon] with sharpened claws, a raging [Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon] with deadly heat, one after another continued to force themselves INTO the arena from nowhere.
All staring at Dunkin Donathan, who was unable to speak a word. At the now shivering and cowering koala, outnumbered and fully aware of it.
And with an eager growl, he could feel his own Red-Eyes pull herself up from her domain… But not as usual. From someplace that Death claimed.
The soil on the battlefield began to crack… As Joey felt a growing pit of rage begin to escape from the afterlife itself. As the [Red-Eyes Black Zombified Dragon] began to rebel against LIFE ITSELF to DEVOUR this upstart morsel who DARED to insult HER Duelist!
A sudden light cough brought everything still once more.
ALL the Duel Monsters, both Duelists, and the entire audience turned to stare blankly at the overseeing balcony and the tiny boy in a frog outfit wearing a crown who smiled at everyone! "Now wasn't that a LOVELY Duel! Very impressive, yes? All sorts of ups and downs, twists and turns…"
The Frog Emperor gestured to one side. "Let's all give a round of applause for Joey Wheeler's excellent playing abilities and the last moment victory of Young Dunkin Donathan!"
The boy cheerfully clapped alone even as a few of the monsters began to hungrily turn back towards the now shaking Australian, starting to bleed from his eyes.
Emperor John Doe frowned at the lack of participation, apparently unaware of the fear clinching so many people over the massive creatures seemingly about to consume someone. "Well? Anyone? Sigh, this won't do. If you could please, assistant?"
The 'frog' standing next to the boy nodded… And held up two webbed hands.
And he [[C̼̥̝̱̦l̰͚͇̹͎͎a͉̜̝͇̗̗p̻͙͖͓̙pe͉̖̖̕d͖̪̖̣̥ͅ]].
The monsters vanished.
Joey felt his Red-Eyes now FIRMLY back in his Shadow, and softly grumbling.
The opposing koala Duel Monster was… Well, not fine, but at least not shivering in terror now. Maybe passed out… Or in a coma.
And Dunkin Donathan seemed to be REALLY CLOSE to passing out at any moment. Probably needed medical attention too, based on how unhinged he was starting to look.
The Emperor smiled! "Let's try this one more time, shall we? Everyone, a round of applause for Joey's attempt!"
The applause was… Well, it was there at least.
The ruler waved to one side. "Joey Wheeler, please follow the agent on your left to receive your various rewards, and thank you for coming to compete! We also really appreciate your Red-Eyes for being such an accommodating guest so far."
Joey absently followed the secret agent away from the Duelist arena as he could FEEL the Red-Eyes trying to flick off the organizer of this tournament despite her issues with only having claws to work with.
As he headed off to get rewards for all the previous victories he had accomplished, he could faintly hear the loud crowd recovering from behind… And the next announcement. "After a short recess, we will then move on to the finals! Young Dunkin Donathan versus another talented lad who's done VERY well so far, Yugi Muto! It should be QUITE impressive, I do think!"
Joey blinked as even his female partner paused.
Donathan was going from THAT mess straight into a duel with Yugi!?
…Despite himself, Joey couldn't help but feel sorry for the asshole.
~~~Pocket System~~~
Man, this tournament has been AMAZING so far! And WAY more chaotic than John's practice rounds against the simulation, where he basically spent the entire time being dunked on and harassed.
Oh, and all of it was being scanned and recorded for reasons and stuff, so it totally WASN'T just so he could have fun doing all this. It was mission related. Really.
John was currently holographically disguised as an assistant frog. And feeling more than a little smug. He was pretty sure no one noticed ANYTHING off about him this time! Perfect disguise, beyond amazing acting talent: Completely unnoticed!
Hell yeah!
After all, now he could get an awesome seat during the final rounds of the tournament AND not have to participate himself only to get hosed by the Realm as it tried to keep the Duels 'interesting' and sort of-but-not-really fair!
Win win, baby!
The 'Frog Emperor' next to him waved to the crowd as they screamed in excitement over the ongoing Duel within the fighting ring below.
It had taken a bit for the audience participation to recover for some reason, they had all gone a bit quiet when Toadally-Not-John had sent off the rambunctious Duel Monsters earlier, but by now they were all fully ready to enjoy the climax of the competition! Woo!
His sister was next to him and seemed exasperated for some reason… Uh, Technically next to BOTH of him, right? Since John and Holo-John were both…
Anyway, moving on.
The girls were NOT here, having to both watch from the background since they turned out to be a bit too distracting to be here in person. And by 'a bit' John meant 'a WHOLE lot', basically.
After all, his hologram was himself after all… And both Johns had issues concentrating on doing something complicated with two attractive women being that overly affectionate, much less this poor sap without all the extra mental defenses.
Slight side note: Without the buffer of John's ambient aura, both of the girls were FAR too attractive for public appearances.
In a very literal way.
Not that Temptation cared, but Grace was a bit flustered when she showed up without him or his sister nearby and a sudden group of visitors spontaneously broke out into songs describing her beauty. More than once. Not to mention the sudden riots as conflicting performance groups began competing.
Froggy John watched with fascination as 'Young Dunkin Donathan' got smacked around some more… Huh. Did this Yugi kid have some sort of chip on his shoulder? This was getting a LITTLE bit excessive…
Ah well, Donathan might call himself 'young' but he was old enough to handle a bit of roughhousing. Plus he stopped bleeding externally earlier, so he should be fine.
Wait, what had John been thinking about? Oh, right: The near mind warping beauty aspects of his girls.
Well, at least they KNEW about the problem before it became too big of an issue, right? And Grace was now fully dedicated to fixing the entire mess while Temptation was off causing chaos somewhere in the castle.
From what John could tell, this effect was only PARTIALLY due to their attractiveness this time… If anything, it really showed off how complicated attempting to control how the Pocket defenses interact with the world could become without care being taken.
Not to mention all these side effects that cropped up when something was miscalibrated.
It's not like they hadn't noticed issues before on a much lower scale, but here? In their [[Home]], their power base?
Well, it shifted the problem from 'annoying but ignorable' to 'STEP ON ME!' and it needed to be brought back under control before someone sprained something. The real issue was figuring out what was causing this whole mess in the first place!
His mental pondering on 'too attractive' vs 'Soul too powerful' was interrupted by his hologram declaring the winner. "Another marvelous Duel indeed! Thank you both for your hard work and brilliant strategies. Young Dunkin Donathan, please follow the agent on your left to receive your various rewards, and thank you for coming to compete! Everyone, a round of applause for Donathan's attempt!"
Um. John nudged his hologram, who blinked and nodded. "If someone could please assist… Oh, thank you Agent G3321, very good!"
Meanwhile the actual victor of the Duel, some kid called 'Yugi Muto', was kind enough to not taunt the loser of the most recent battle as he watched the dizzy yet still cursing foe make his way out to half hearted applause with only minor amounts of assistance.
Thank goodness this Yugi kid didn't take things too far, it could have really messed up the mood going on.
After all, Donathan might be a talented Duelist but his personality had left much to be desired…
Nearly got the kid eaten when he won and tried taunting that Joey Wheeler kid for losing. Joey's dragon had a NASTY temper… But a bit of medical attention and the jerk was able to continue his matches up till this point.
Missing the last Duel in the competition would have been a pretty big bummer after all!
Not that Donathan would have likely been THAT missed if some substitute had been forced to be called in. Not with how much of an antisocial blowhard he had been…
Everything felt MUCH better when all of the people Dueling weren't assholes, even if it was fun to hate jerks as much as it was to love heroes.
Speaking of which… "Hey sis, we got the medical teams ready for him right? Donathan is still looking a little rough…"
Jessica glanced at Frog-John and talked without obvious movement. "He'll be fully recovered in less than two hours, depending on how much stress this most recent Duel was on his Soul."
Meh, good enough. "Got it."
Holo-John threw out his arm, cape blowing in the wind! "Now everyone! Please applaud the Tournament Champion, the daring Challenger Yugi Muto!"
The crowd went WILD, even as the boy himself somehow slumped and suddenly looked VERY flustered instead of the tall, calm, and collected form he presented before.
Odd, but nothing too big. "Your victory and rewards are locked in and guaranteed, but I present unto you a final challenge! Dare you agree to battle against ME, the Emperor of ALL frogs!? Here, in the swampy heart of MY kingdom!?"
With a flash, the boy once more dominated the stage! Tall, defiant, and confident, Yugi declared raw focus! "I accept ANY challenge, as would any true Duelist!"
Ha! Awesome! "Then so shall it be! Arise, my amphibian army! Today we have a TRUE CHALLENGER!"
AND THE CROWD WENT NUTS!
Oh wait! Say the thing! SAY THE THING!
Holo-John grinned at his opponent. "Prepare yourself, Yugi!"
They both drew their cards!
""IT'S TIME: TO DUEL!""
RAW SOUND EVERYWHERE!
Hell yeah! Record ALL of this, we need to make this into a video for the website!
[[Confirmed. Gathering data…]]
Woo!
I'm surprised HOME didn't step in once the Red Eyes started appearing uninvited to menace a guest. When Donovan insulted Joey it was just a verbal disagreement between two guests, so I could see that not causing a reaction, but the Red Eyes were obviously appearing to try to cause actual harm to a guest.
Considering that Holo-John stepped in, I think that was the case?
(With actual John being the 'frog' assistant in Joey's perspective section.)
Stepping in before it got 'bad'. No 'permanent' damage. John still doesn't think in 'human' terms, after all. He's close-ish, but not quite there.
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