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You leaned against the tree and gasped for air. Your hand was over your eye-patch, you couldn't watch the duel anymore despite something inside telling you to stay there.

"(Y/n), if you show any strong negative emotions the Seal will feed off of it and show activity. You can't allow yourself to show them." Papa told you before you headed out to Domino City.

And he was right. Your eye throbbed in pain, your back stung. You fell to your knees and took deep breaths.

Breathe in....breathe out...that's it! You're doing great, think of happy things, happy things. You thought. You then proceeded to try to think happy things, like when Nymphi first interacted with snow or when Papa got stuck to the slide when he tried to show Nymphi how safe the slide is.

Hehe... moments like those went through your head and you leaned against the tree to laugh it off a little. Slowly and eventually, the excruciating pain wore off but it took a toll on you. You didn't feel so good, but where are you going to go? There is no First Aid Hospital, is there? Even if you go, what do you tell them? There could be a possibility that the doctors want to see your eye to check up on it or something.

And this is why you can't have nice things.

"God damnit.." You mumbled and hit your head gently against the bark.

"Uh...hey, you there!" You heard who sounds like a teenage boy calling out to you. Your eye averted to see a teenage boy approaching you, he had a bowl-cut brown hair with blue eyes. He wore a red plaid shirt with overalls.

"U..Uhm..." The boy fidgeted, "D-Do you want to duel?" He asked,

"Oh..." You blinked and slowly got up, "If you want."

"R-Really?" The boy's eyes lit up, "I-I never was able to duel anyone before - well, duel anyone outside my friend circle over at my school." He seemed excited about this, "S-So technically you're my first competitor!"

"Well, I am honored to be your first competitor." You gave a gentle smile and leaned against the tree,

"O-Oh boy I am so nervous and excited already." The boy mumbled and looked at the ground, "Y...You ready?"

"Sure." You shrugged,

"L-Let's duel then!" The boy shrieked and the ground began to rumble. It wasn't long before the platform rose and stood in place. The boy ran over to the red side and you walked to the blue side. The moment you were raised up, you took out your deck and took out both your star chips.

"S-So it's an all or nothing duel?" The boy asked,

"Mhm." You nodded, "If you'd like we can only sacrifice 1-"

"NO!" The boy shrieked, "W-We can do 2!" He took both his chips and placed it beside him. "I-It's time to duel!"

"M-My turn!" The boy mumbled and took out one card from his deck, "..I-I place Monster Slayer in attack mode and I end my turn!"

Monster Slayer, a tall, tough-looking blonde male who is wearing gold armor. His attack points are 1690 and his defense is 1700.

"Alright.." You took out one card from your deck, "...I place Mermaid Wonder in attack mode, and I end my turn."

Mermaid Wonder. A single mermaid with long pink hair, green eyes, a purple shell around her chest, and a long blue tail. Her attack points are 1950 and her defense is 1500.

The boy stared in awe at the mermaid, "W...whoa.." He mumbled,

"She's pretty, isn't she?" You asked with a small smile,

"Y-Yeah..."

"Mermaid Wonder, attack Monster Slayer with your Siren Screech!" You called your mermaid and watched it screech into the Slayer, instantly getting rid of the card. The boy whimpered and looked at you as his life points went down from 2000 to 1950.

"O-Oh yeah? I'll show you." He took out another card, "I place Plant Absorber in defense mode," A giant venus flytrap showed up with sharp teeth; Attack Points were 1500 and Defense Points were 1725, "And I place Death's King in attack mode!"

A big knight appeared. He wore black armor, with some shade feeding off of his aura. No skin was shown, only his white pale eyes were shown. He held a big black sword and was ready to attack; Attack Points were 1790 and Defense Points were 1500.

"My turn." You took out another card and gave a small smirk to see you took out a trap card, "I place Hysterical Skeleton in Defense mode," A laughing skeleton appeared in the field, it laughed non stop; Attack Points were 1500, Defense Points were 1695, "...and I place one card face-down. I end my turn." You placed the trap card face down and ended your turn then and there.

"D-Death's King, attack the Skeleton with your Fatal Swing and attack the face-down card!!" The boy shrieked and watched the King swing and eliminate the Hysterical Skeleton.

"Ah, you've just activated my trap card." You raised an eyebrow and watched the trap card face the boy, "The Millenium Helper."

"Wh-What is -"

"This card gives a boost to any monster I choose." You crossed your arms and gave the boy a small smirk, "So you probably know which monster I am going to choose, right?"

"O-Oh.." The boy looked at the mermaid,

"Millenium Helper, give aid to my Mermaid Wonder and have her eliminate the King!" You ordered and watched the event do so. Mermaid Wonder's attack points boosted up from 1950 to 2300 and she charged at the Death King. She annihilated both the King and most of the kid's life points. From 1950, it went down 1400.

"N-No way..." The boy stared in shock

"Woohoo! Go (y/n)!" You looked over to see Tea jumping for joy. You were shocked to see her, how did she manage to find you so quickly? Well, there is a duel going on so maybe she reached here through the duel's appearance. You also noticed people crowding over and watching in awe.

"I-I place The Penguin Mastermind in Attack Mode along with the Spell Card Blasting Hell!" The boy placed 2 cards, one of them was a literal penguin wearing a tuxedo and glasses. His skin was purple and blue, his eyes pure green; His Attack Points were 1900 and his Defense was 1600.

"With this spell card, I can give any opponent a hard time by boosting my monster from 200 - 600 points!" He said with a small smirk, "And I boost my Penguin by 500 points!"

500 points?! You watched the Penguin boost up in energy from 1900 to 2400.

"Now Penguin! Get rid of the Mermaid and some of this girl's life points!" He ordered and the Penguin launched an attack which caused the elimination of Mermaid Wonder and 100 life points from yourself; from 2000 to 1900.

"H-How was that?" The boy asked,

"It wasn't bad, I'll admit." You sighed and pulled out another card from your deck to see another trap card; your personal favorite and a good trap card for use in this duel.

"I place a card facedown and Beauty's Prince in Attack Mode."

A blonde prince appeared with purple eyes, along with a pink royal top and blue tights. He wore a purple cape and gave the boy a charming smile. Attack Points were 1800 and his Defense was 1500.

"Hah. You think you can defeat my Penguin with that....good-looking prince....uh....Penguin! Attack the Prince!"

"Again, you stepped into my trap card." You shook your head and watched the card pull up, "Grim Reaper's Hand."

"Wh-What-"

"This card takes most points from any opponent." You explained and watched the hand get out of the card and attach itself to the Penguin. The boy turned pale and watched the Penguin's Attack Points drain from 2400 to 1750.

"That's a lot of points..." an observer mumbled,

"Now, Prince attack the Penguin and most of his life points." You watched the Penguin get destroyed and the boy's life points drop to 1350.

"I-I'll show you-" The boy took out a card, "I place Frankenstein in attack mode and The Titan Eater in Defense!"

Frankenstein, a horrid monster, appeared. He looked exactly like of how he appears in the book itself. Attack Points; 1750, Defense Points; 1500.

The Titan Eater looked like a hunched skinless creature. The entire body was nude but it was plain; nothing inappropriate was showing. It was hunched back with razor sharp teeth and black, soulless eyes. Attack Points were 1500, Defense Points were 1800.

"oooh, I like this one." The Seal mumbled. "Look at its appearance."

You glanced at the Beauty's Prince and narrowed your eye, his defense points is 1500 and this Frankenstein has attack points of 1750, meanwhile, there is the Titan Eater at 1800 in Defense. How are you going to pull it off? You pulled another card from your deck to see a Spell Card.

"I place the Enchanted Balloon Spell Card." You place the card on your deck, "This spell boosts up my Prince's attack mode by 500 points." You explained as the Prince's attack points went up to 2300.

"Wh-Where do you get these cards?!" The boy shrieked

"My grandpa holds a very wealthy Duel Monster's Corps over where I live." You answered with a small smile, "Harper's Trading Card's Era, sound familiar?"

"N-No...I'll be sure to check it out after the duel though," The boy responded,

"Huh, well okay then. Prince! Attack Frankenstein!" You watched the Prince charge at Frankenstein and destroy the monster. You watched the boy mumble something to himself, then clenched his fists,

"I...I...I can't take this!" The boy shrieked, "I-I want to lose!"

"You want to lose?" you raised an eyebrow, "How come?"

"I-I don't feel prepared to fight someone as strong as you...I-I want to lose-"

"...You can't quit in the middle of a duel." You spoke,

"T-Then annihilate me please!"

"....Okay?" You blinked and looked at the Prince. Time to finish the duel?

~A couple of minutes later~

The platform went back underground as the boy went to his knees. Tea greeted you with a big hug and congratulated you for your....win? You didn't really call it a win but Tea thought otherwise. After the hug, you approached the boy,

"You okay..?"

"I-I promise after this I will improve." The boy looked at you with admiration, "And I will defeat you!"

"...I wish you good luck then?" You tilted your head and watched him give you his 2 chips and ran off. What a weird boy....

"Oh, Tea, why did you follow me?" You turned to Tea,

"Ah, well....I originally didn't follow you but Yugi insisted I had to." Tea responded,

"Yugi?" You blinked,

"Yeah, he didn't feel comfortable seeing you leave all by yourself, so he had me come to you." Tea nodded.

"...Is that so..." you mumbled.

"They are ova here! Yo Tea, (y/n)!" You heard Joey call. You turned around to see Yugi, Tristan, and Joey running to you and Tea,

"Hi you guys! You just missed it!" Tea said with glee,

"What did we miss?" Tristan asked,

"(y/n) just did her first duel, and wow she has good cards." Tea praised you, "Heck, she made that boy quit in the middle of the game!"

"Did she now," Yugi - who still had that presence you sensed earlier - gave you a smile, "Then maybe someday we should duel."

"Why not now?" You asked

"I don't want to exterminate you from the tournament." Yugi replied with a chuckle, "I'd prefer we play for fun."

"Alright then....you're on." You nodded your head and watched him reach out his hand,

"Then it's a deal. Once we finish this tournament, prepare for a little visit from me."

"Deal." You shook his hand -

wait a minute.

Why does his hand feel familiar to you?

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