Domino City, inside a hotel.
A silver-haired woman with a pair of horns sat on the bed, holding a small mirror. She looked at her reflection and sighed.
[Sphere Kuriboh] hovered beside her, patting her shoulder with its tiny paws as if to comfort her.
"Fine, I admit it's my fault, okay? I'll stop being pervy, just turn me back already."
Of course, this was Youmi, who had chosen [Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle].
Never in her wildest dreams did she expect Ten Thousand Dragon's method of sending her to another world would involve possessing the card itself—crossing dimensions as a card spirit. If she'd known, she would've picked something like [Salamangreat] or [Aluber the Jester of Despia] instead.
Now the body she had lusted after was her own.
An elegant, sultry voice came from within [Sphere Kuriboh]—though it was hard to tell how something without a mouth could talk. "That's what you get for choosing before I finished explaining the system. Still, I suppose that's just how humans are—rulebooks, user agreements, you all scroll to the bottom and click 'Accept' without reading.
"Well, too late now. You only get one choice every time you cross into a new world, and not again until you become Duel King~"
"AAAH… should've asked first. Whatever, fine."
Falling back onto the bed, Youmi raised her right hand and looked at the white glove on it. "At least change my outfit, will you? And maybe hide the non-human features? I'll draw too much attention like this."
Laughter came from [Sphere Kuriboh]. "Hahahahaha, serves you right for lusting after someone else's body.
"You're more like a card spirit now. If you concentrate, you can make small adjustments. Just do it like when you built your Deck during our Duel. If you can't, then get ready to die of embarrassment until you win that Duel King title~"
Getting up, Youmi walked into the bathroom and stared at her reflection.
Dressed in a silver-white gown, she thought for a moment, then snapped her fingers. A flash of light enveloped her, and her clothes transformed into a white off-shoulder blouse with a layered black skirt. The horns on her head couldn't be removed; nonetheless, aside from being... generously endowed, she looked reasonably human.
"You really do pick things up fast. Since your biggest problem's solved, I'll stop using [Sphere Kuriboh] as a vessel. I brought you here for training; that said, there are plenty of other interesting Duelists in this world—I want to watch more Duels."
Ten Thousand Dragon's voice gradually faded, replaced by [Sphere Kuriboh]'s usual "kurikuri" sounds.
Seemed she'd left without even saying goodbye.
"Yeah, yeah, thanks for the help, telephone operator." Youmi patted [Sphere Kuriboh]'s metallic-cool body, not exactly pleasant to the touch. "Now then, time to think about my Deck. I saw a bit of this world's setting when crossing over—since it's a parallel version of Duel City, I'd better study it. Hopefully, there's no nonsense like people activating [Monster Reborn] on the opponent's turn."
Carrying [Sphere Kuriboh] to the bedside, Youmi set it on the pillow and grabbed a long box from the nightstand. Opening it revealed a stack of cards.
This wasn't Ten Thousand Dragon's realm anymore. To keep Youmi's strength balanced within this world's average level, Ten Thousand Dragon hadn't granted her too many [Labrynth] cards. Nevertheless, she did give her enough money and resources to buy packs and gather generic staples locally.
Flipping through the cards, Youmi's face grew more pleased by the second.
"Let's see... oh ho! Isn't this [Pot of Greed]? Three copies, no less! And [Painful Choice] too… wow, the real deal. This'll make my opponent's 'painful choice' truly painful."
These legendary banned cards, long since forbidden in her own era, were like miracles to her. With these, even without a full [Labrynth] core, she could probably build a Deck that could punch [Dark Magician] and kick [Blue-Eyes White Dragon] into the dirt with an FTK setup.
Still, Ten Thousand Dragon probably wouldn't let her abuse that kind of power just yet—after all, she wanted to enjoy the Duels.
At the bottom of the pile, Youmi found early-release [Labrynth] cards—one copy each. A bit of a shame she couldn't have full playsets of the core pieces; even so, she accepted the restriction. Building a Deck under limitations would sharpen her Dueling skill and keep things fun.
Not to mention, the Duelists of this era's OCG might be competitive; however, anime characters were all still Tribute Summoning like good kids.
Of course, the show's logic—using Trap Cards as Spell Cards or activating [Monster Reborn] during the opponent's turn—was still rampant. Whether Youmi could get away with "This card doesn't say it, but it can Special Summon" or "The DARK-attribute [Mammoth Graveyard] reacts with the LIGHT-attribute [Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon] to corrode it" nonsense remained to be seen.
After carefully reviewing her collection, Youmi settled on a Deck that mixed partial [Labrynth] components with draw filters and monsters commonly seen in Duel City. Cards like [Vorse Raider], [Axe Raider], and [The Tricky] made up her lineup.
Once the Deck was sleeved and packed neatly into the box, Youmi equipped her Duel Disk on her right arm. She was left-handed, yet apparently Ten Thousand Dragon had modified the Disk for her convenience.
"Alright, [Sphere Kuriboh], let's claim the Duel King's crown in this Duel City. Sorry, Atem, sorry Yugi, but I'm not giving up until I'm rid of this woman's body!" Locking eyes with [Sphere Kuriboh], she nodded, pocketed her room key, slung a black bag over her shoulder, and walked out of the hotel.
Gurgle…
A few black lines formed on her face. Setting the Duel Disk aside, she sighed. "Guess I should eat first. I skipped meals before crossing over just to save up for new cards."
...
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