Yugioh [805-807] (Patreon)

Chapter 805: Visiting Grandpa

"We won!"

Jaden flashed a cheerful victory sign.

"That was a fun duel!"

Though he said that, his opponent was currently sprawled on the floor, eyes rolled back, foaming at the mouth, body twitching now and then—clearly not sharing the sentiment.

Jaden didn't mind.

It was a Shadow Game after all—losers always paid a price. But in this case, he was helping cultists trapped in darkness break free of their cult's control through dueling; the unpleasant side effects were just part of the withdrawal process.
Oh wait, not quite—he almost forgot. Strictly speaking, he was aligned with darkness right now, and the enemy with light. If anything, his job was to help those brainwashed by the light return to darkness.
Eh, not important.

Point is, he was doing good deeds. Through happy dueling, no less.

So Jaden left the foaming Society member where he was and smiled at the rest.

"Who's next?"

Everyone remaining flinched. As the boy's gaze swept over them, they all instinctively ducked their heads and avoided eye contact, like bad students terrified of being called on in class.

"You?" Jaden pointed at someone at random. "Come on, duel!"

The man jolted and shook his head rapidly. "N-no no, I'm already enlightened!"

"Huh?" Jaden blinked.

The man hastily tore off his blindingly white uniform, balled it up, and hurled it to the ground, then stomped on it with visible loathing.

"Why was I even wearing this garbage? What was I doing before?"

Everyone behind him stared, dumbstruck for a few seconds.

Then, snapping out of it, they all followed suit—stripping off their uniforms and slamming them to the floor. Some stomped hard, some cursed the Society of Light for wasting their youth, and some even spat on it.

Jaden was stunned, blinking twice, at a loss for words.

Uh?
Where's your faith? Where's the guidance of light? Weren't you ready to shed blood for the Cosmic Light?

While he stood confused, someone patted his shoulder from behind. Jaden turned and saw Kira.

"It's over," Kira said.

Jaden started, then quickly understood.

No wonder the Society's believers were flipping so fast, acting like they'd seen the light and turned over a new leaf. It looked like Kira had already eliminated the root cause, and the Light's hold on them was rapidly fading—that's why they were snapping out of it so quickly.

With that thought, Jaden finally relaxed.

Good. For a minute there he'd thought his dueling was so scary that the cultists woke up just to avoid playing him.

"That's it?" Joey came around the corner and strode over to them. "It's over already?"

He seemed a little unsatisfied, like he hadn't gotten his fill.

Joey hadn't fought much in recent years. He hadn't entered tournaments for ages, nor faced strong opponents. After a sudden burst of high-intensity matches recently, his itch for cards had flared up.

"Looks like it," Jaden said, glancing toward where Kira had come from.

There they saw Mello, who had previously been riding high with a conqueror's posture like he was about to rule the world. Now the filter had completely fallen off him; he sat slumped in a corner like a broken toy, muttering nonstop.

"No, you can't—"

"Give it back. My light, my other half. I'm the chosen one, I must—I can't…"

Joey, ever helpful, walked up to Mello.

"It's okay now. You've escaped the Light of Destruction—you're free."

Mello's eyes were vacant as he looked up at Joey.

"No, you don't understand," he said dejectedly. "Without it, I'm nothing. Now I've gone back to being a loser."

Joey frowned.

"If you think you need to rely on some mysterious cosmic fluctuation to not be a loser, then far as I'm concerned, you've already lost."

Mello had none of his former swagger, only gazing at him resentfully.

"You're a legendary duelist. Of course it's easy for you. People like you wouldn't understand."

"Me?" Joey chuckled.

"Maybe that's how it looks to you, but the thing I've heard most in my life is that I'm a third-rate hack, a talentless nobody."

"Maybe so. Maybe that really is me. I'm not the reincarnation of any priest, I've got no powerful spirit in me, I don't carry any miraculous artifact… hell, maybe I am just average."

"But—"

He pointed at himself and stood tall.

"I'm someone who doesn't know how to give up—ever. Every day I get up, I can look the guy in the mirror straight in the eye and tell him I'm better than I was yesterday."

Mello: "…"

Jaden was the first to step up, eyes shining. "Whoa—Joey-senpai, that was awesome!"

"Huh?"

Joey immediately got embarrassed.

"Was it? Ahaha, I was just mouthing off—but yeah, I know I'm cool…"

Kira kept quiet, though he couldn't help thinking: Joey, what you said isn't wrong, but coming from a guy who rolls a die with at least three sixes on it, it's… less convincing.

Probably only the President can get away with calling him a third-rate hack.
But on the topic of never giving up, Joey really does have the right to speak. He's blessed by fate, sure, but in DM he also lost his way up, got stronger the harder he was hit.

A mere human standing against the Egyptian Gods, tanking a God Blaze Cannon from The Winged Dragon of Ra in a top-tier Shadow Game and still climbing back up on bonds and grit—when it comes to will and toughness, even the series protagonists across generations might not match him.

"Anyway, the world's saved. Mission accomplished," Joey stretched.

"I'm hungry," Jaden said, rubbing his stomach with a grin.

"Oh, speaking of which, since we're out, why don't we go visit Grandpa?"

Joey's eyes lit up.

"And grab a bite on the way."

"Grandpa?" Jaden tilted his head. "Your grandpa, Mr. Joey?"

"Not mine," Joey said mysteriously. "You'll see when we get there."

…

A short while later—

In a modest old card shop in Domino, a white-haired grandpa swept the floor, pausing now and then to thump his lower back with a fist.

"Sigh, old bones don't hold up anymore…"

Just then, as if sensing something, his eyes brightened. He pushed open the door and stepped out.

"Yugi? You're back?"

But the moment he stepped outside, he saw an old acquaintance: Joey, accompanied by a red-jacketed boy with jellyfish hair and a sunny, handsome boy in yellow, all smiling and waving.

Jaden: "Ooh, so this is the legendary Mr. Yugi's house!"

Kira: "Hello. Sorry to intrude."

Joey: "Long time no see, Grandpa!"

"Oh, Joey and friends—come in, come in," Grandpa stepped aside, then muttered, puzzled, "Strange, I could've sworn I felt Yugi returning just now. My sixth sense used to be spot on…"

Chapter 806: Grandpa's Cards

When Kira was young, he'd already thought Grandpa Solomon Muto was quite something.

From his first appearance, the old man seemed harmless, barely capable—serving mainly as the "Millennium Hostage" to drive the plot forward.

From episode one, he got pummeled into the hospital by Kaiba. He'd barely warmed the couch at home before Pegasus snatched his soul. You could say he was an NPC spanning the entire series. If DM stretched to over 200 episodes, at least a third of that was thanks to Grandpa—without exaggeration.

But think a little deeper and you realize Grandpa wasn't simple at all.

Never mind that he shared his grandson's Duel King-tier hairstyle. For starters, he casually gifted his grandson a present that turned out to be a 3,000-year-old world-saving super artifact—with a boss-tier king sealed inside.

Then, out of the four Blue-Eyes White Dragons in the entire world, this small-time card shop owner happened to have one—enough to make Seto Kaiba offer a whole crate of cards in trade.

And when Yugi took Grandpa's deck to fight Kaiba, we found out Grandpa's deck also hid the legendary godlike card, Exodia the Forbidden One—
Confirmed further in the Egypt arc: that wasn't a coincidence. Grandpa was one of the reincarnated priests from 3,000 years ago, and back then Exodia's spirit was his. The old man was once a big name who could go toe-to-toe with Zorc the Dark Master.

Of course, as the saying goes, peace is bliss. Grandpa Solomon no longer meddled in the world's affairs. He just ran his card shop, made a little money, and enjoyed retirement.

"Haha, long time no see, Joey," Grandpa said warmly, serving tea. "How's Mai?"

"Ahaha, same as always—doing fine."

"Same as always won't do," Grandpa said earnestly. "When are you two getting married?"

Joey almost choked on his tea, coughing for a while without answering.

"So, this young man is the current Duel King," Solomon beamed, nodding repeatedly. "Truly a fine-looking lad."

"You mean he looks presentable," Joey muttered behind him.

Solomon blinked. "What was that?"

"Ahaha, nothing—I said the tea's great."

Joey laughed dryly twice, took a big gulp, then changed the subject. "By the way, that guy Yugi—any news lately?"

"No," Solomon smiled. "Well, he's training, in a manner of speaking."

"Eh? Mr. Yugi?" Jaden, curious about his idol, perked up. "Even Mr. Yugi needs training?"

"Hahaha, of course. People can always improve—even Yugi."

Solomon stroked his beard, smiling. "Yugi's life still has a long road ahead. He's traveling the world now, hoping to go even further."

"Hah, that guy never stops," Joey sighed.

"Indeed," Solomon looked out the window, momentarily distant, murmuring to himself, "After all, that child once said there's a promise he must keep no matter what. Perhaps he still hasn't walked out from under it…"

Joey fell silent.

Jaden, a first-time visitor and a fan of Yugi's, didn't know much about their past, so he didn't fully understand. But as Yugi's close friend, Joey immediately did.

The promise Grandpa referred to was the undefeated legend that Yugi and Atem had built together.

When they said goodbye in the Ceremonial Duel, Yugi proved he could stand on his own. From then on, even if he was alone, he would guard that legend.

"That guy's got it rough," Joey muttered, draining his tea.

"Wooow! Amazing—everything's a rare card!" Jaden leaned over the counter, awestruck.

"Hahaha, of course. I might not have much else, but I've got good cards aplenty—that much I can guarantee," Grandpa puffed out his chest, like a kid proud of his toy collection.

"Since you're Joey's friends, for Joey's sake…"

Joey immediately straightened, smug.

Grandpa finished, "Flat price—with a 20% markup."

Joey nearly fell off his chair. "Eh? Why? My face costs extra?"

"Ahaha, just kidding," Grandpa grinned. "Wait here, I've got more treasured cards in the back. Pick whatever you like…"

Hearing "rare cards," Kira perked up too and joined Jaden to browse.

By rights, a small neighborhood shop's resources couldn't compare to giants like Industrial Illusions or KaibaCorp—but then he remembered, Grandpa was a hidden master.

After all, from this unassuming shop had come the Blue-Eyes and Exodia. Not to mention Yugi's Black Magician family, Chaos Soldier line, Gaia, Buster Blader, etc.—countless rares and a bunch of limited cards, all sourced from Grandpa's.

With a chance of real out-of-print gems.

But after a circuit, Kira found that while there were some nice cards, few made his eyes light up. He'd been visiting big-company warehouses lately—his standards had risen.

He did see plenty of the limited rarities Yugi used. Lots of Black Magician support, like Thousand Knives and Dark Magic Attack.

However, there was no Dark Magician himself. So while the support cards were rare, without the core they were just for collecting.

What did catch Kira's eye was a plant-themed setup.

Well, "setup" was generous—more like a handful of quality plant-type singles.

For example, Lonefire Blossom: once per turn, tribute a face-up Plant you control to special summon any Plant from your deck.

No need to explain—the power's obvious. If this effect belonged to a popular type like Dragons, the banlist would lock it away for life.

He also found a classic that surprised him, a Field Spell that used to enable all kinds of antics:

Field Spell—Black Garden.

Chapter 807: Golden Duo

Black Garden, Field Spell.

In short, under this field, all monsters summoned by either player have their ATK halved. And every time someone summons a monster, a Rose Token with 800 ATK is created on the opponent's field.

Its second effect: destroy all Plant monsters you control; then special summon Plant monsters from your GY whose total ATK equals the combined ATK of the destroyed monsters.

Because the card was used by 5D's heroine Akiza Izinski, Kira figured it belonged to the next generation.

But then again, 5D's shares the same world as GX, and many older cards stick around into the future.

And while 5D's is said to take place decades after GX, the series features Tetsu Trudge, a character spanning the franchise. Tetsu Trudge was an early DM-era hall monitor at Yugi's school—he once beat up Joey and extorted Yugi—then suffered a Penalty Game from the Pharaoh.

In 5D's, that former upperclassman had become a security officer, arresting criminals via Turbo Duels.

From DM to GX is already a 10-year jump; if 5D's were truly decades more, Tetsu Trudge would be a frail old man—hardly active in the plot. Using him as an anchor, the gap between Gen 2 and Gen 3 can't be that long.

Besides that, Kira unexpectedly found a few "Ice Barrier" cards.

Ice Barrier used to be a popular archetype—full Water, focused on locking the opponent's actions. Their Synchro aces like Brionac and Trishula were infamous on banlists for ruining fun.

Of course, Synchro doesn't exist yet. And calling it an "archetype" here is generous—just a handful of cards, nowhere near playable.

Still, it made Kira think: when the Synchro era arrives, Ice Barrier would suit him.

Not just for power—because it tilts people.
Recently, Kira's haul had been great—his stock saw a bumper crop, which was rare for him at this stage. Over the past half-year his inventory had expanded a lot; even through Duel Academy's channels, truly valuable cards had grown scarce.

Lately, he completed Volcanic—well, mainly grabbed the last pieces from KaibaCorp; the build had been in progress for a while.

Then the big prize: Gladiator Beasts from Mello—a world champion-tier archetype dominating the Fusion era.

Beating the Supreme King, although the Supreme King's Evil HERO suite along with the King himself had been absorbed by Jaden, Kira still made gains. He confiscated many decks from the King's subordinates.

The most valuable among them was a fan-favorite archetype that served as a major arm of the Supreme King's army in the anime:

Dark World.

Dark World once had a huge player base. Dark-Attribute Fiends with effects that trigger when discarded by card effects, and even stronger effects if discarded by the opponent's effects.

They were strong back then—but still a pain to assemble for Kira.

As shown in the anime, each Dark World monster appeared separately, scattered across the Supreme King's domains and different squads.

So Kira had spent a long time—months trekking through the King's dimensions, picking them up one by one—only completing a rough build after clearing the Supreme King's castle.

The upside: almost every Dark World card he collected corresponded to a spirit. They didn't directly inhabit the cards, staying in Dark World, but they had all been subdued by Kira in duels. With their previous master toppled, they were now loyal to their new one.
Well, if you lose at cards, loyalty's not exactly optional.

"Thank you for your patronage~"

Kira was spending big these days. Grandpa Solomon took the money, then smilingly handed over a boxed stack of cards.

"Good stuff, young man," Grandpa said. "I've seen some of your duels—lots of potential. When Yugi gets back, you two should talk. I've got a feeling you'll hit it off."

"Thank you, Grandpa," Kira said, putting the box away.

He did want to talk to Mr. Yugi sometime—for more than one reason. He was curious.

By the GX era, that once small, harmless Yugi had shot up, his build approaching the Pharaoh's. By now he should be max level, a myth in the dueling world—but the anime never showed how strong he'd become.

In GX's ending, Yugi only sent Jaden back ten years to duel his past self. Even in later movies, when protagonists time-traveled, the Yugi they found was always DM-era Yugi. Adult Yugi never appeared on-screen in any spinoff.

Kira was very curious how strong Yugi was now.

…

Elsewhere.

In a dark alley, a man ran at full tilt, glancing back in terror as if afraid of something behind him.

He focused too much on his rear, not enough on what lay ahead. He stumbled over something in the alley and lurched forward, crashing hard to the ground.

He scrambled, trying to get up, but the last of his strength had been squeezed out during his sprint.

Every cell screamed in despair—he couldn't force himself upright. He could only sit with his back to the wall, his ragged breathing echoing through the alley.

Just as a flicker of hope rose that he might have gotten away—

"Time to give up, don't you think?"

He shuddered and turned, terrified. At the far end of the alley stood a young man in a red cap and green jacket, smirking down at him.

The man who had crossed paths with two generations of Duel Kings—Rex Raptor the Dinosaur Duelist!

The man scrambled up, trying to run the other way—but someone was already blocking that exit.

"My my, you've been quite the hassle—such a runner. For the former owner of the old-school Dark Duelists' Club, is fleeing like this really your style?"

The newcomer wore huge thick glasses, his face cold and clearly villainous, with a weaselly grin.

Another legendary duelist—Rex Raptor's inseparable partner—Weevil Underwood the Insect Duelist!

"My club's already been wiped out by you—what more do you want?"

The man roared.

"What do we want? Nothing much. Just tell us where 'it' is."

"I don't know. It escaped. It's not with us anymore."

He slumped. "But it probably went to Domino," he said. "We all know whose turf that is now. The place has fallen completely under the Knights of Hanoi. Ordinary folks don't dare mess with them…"

Weevil Underwood and Rex Raptor burst out laughing in unison.

"Do we look like ordinary folks to you?"

The man fell silent, head lowered.

"All right then. Domino… what a nostalgic place," Rex Raptor said.

"Knights of Hanoi, huh."

Weevil Underwood pushed up his frames. "Perfect. I'd love to see what exactly we're not supposed to mess with."

PS: Another beating in coming.