Yugioh [885-887] (Patreon)

Chapter 885 – Seeds of Potential

Worm—this was the deck Doma had so enthusiastically ‘gifted’ to Kira back then. But since Kira personally wasn’t very fond of Reptiles, he’d basically never used the deck, aside from occasionally adding a few specific Worm cards into his acrobat combo decks.

Now, however, combined with Professor Viper’s Venom, this deck suddenly seemed to have some development value.

First of all, putting everything else aside, the Worm have one critically important boss monster in the deck: the Twenty-Sixth Worm, the ultimate lifeform that is both the origin and the endpoint of the Worm—Worm Zero.

Its Fusion condition is “2 or more Reptile monsters with ‘Worm’ in their names,” with no upper limit. So if you use “Future Fusion,” you can Fusion Summon by sending Worm from the Deck to the GY. With just that single card, you can very casually dump over twenty Worm from your Deck into the GY in one go.

And on Professor Viper’s side, whether it’s Vennominon the King of Poisonous Snakes or Vennominaga the Deity of Poisonous Snakes, their ATK is determined by the number of Reptile monsters in the GY. The more Reptiles in there, the higher their ATK.

So just imagine: activate Future Fusion, declare Worm Zero as the Fusion target, and dump twenty or thirty Reptiles straight into the GY. In that situation, if you then summon Vennominaga, you can effortlessly create an ultimate monster with ten or twenty thousand ATK, unaffected by other card effects, that cannot be banished, and which, if it lands a single hit on the opponent, starts a three-turn countdown to an automatic win.

And that’s not even counting the grave-dumping with Worm Zero. As a Reptile-themed deck, the Worm archetype’s internal engine is, no matter how you look at it, vastly stronger than Professor Viper’s rather feeble Venom deck lineup.

Worm themselves also have some big beaters, and a number of small Flip-effect monsters with some pretty nasty, from-hell style abilities. Even if you ignore the boss, their combat strength is still on a completely different level compared to the salted-fish Venom decks.

So if he built around the Worm engine, with Vennominaga as the deck’s core finisher, Kira felt this idea had real potential.

Of course, since he’d decided to put this deck together, Kira naturally also went out to dig up some other cards that could support Reptiles in general. But Reptiles as a Type were indeed pretty “salted-fish” across all of Yu-Gi-Oh!, and there weren’t many that were truly useful.

So that day he tinkered in the lab until very late before finally heading back to the dorm.

On the way back, he walked as he flipped through the list of cards he still hadn’t fully decided on. While he was moving along, he suddenly heard a strange “Awoo!” from the darkness.

Kira looked up in surprise and stopped walking. He glanced around to see a green-armored creature crawling out from between the trees—a crocodile, baring its sharp teeth at him with a vicious expression.

“Ah, sorry, sorry—”

Before Kira could do anything, a panting voice called out from behind.

An off-campus friend dressed like a Western cowboy—Jim—ran up and hurriedly grabbed the crocodile, giving Kira an embarrassed smile.

“Sorry about that, Shirley’s usually very docile. She just gets excited when she meets someone strong.”

Kira knew “Shirley” was the crocodile’s name.

He wasn’t actually afraid of the crocodile; in fact, there really weren’t many things left that could scare him now. He smiled casually and asked, “If I remember right, you’re Jim Crocodile Cook?”

“Yes.”

Jim held his hand out.

“Nice to finally meet the legendary Duel King. Actually, haha, it’s a bit embarrassing to admit, but I’ve been waiting here especially for you.”

“Oh?”

Jim hoisted the crocodile back onto his shoulders, glanced at her, and smiled.

“When I came to this Academy, the thing I looked forward to most was seeing you in person. And if I could have a Duel to learn from you, that’d be even better. Shirley thinks so too.”

As if responding to his words, the crocodile on his back let out another “Awoo,” full of fighting spirit.

“A Duel, with me, huh?”

Kira suddenly thought of the GX manga: when Jim first arrived at the Academy there too, he’d been in such a rush that he ambushed the Academy’s King in a grove, wanting to Duel him. But in the manga, the Academy’s King referred to Alexis’s brother, Atticus Rhodes.

Of course, the characters in the manga differ quite a bit from their anime counterparts.

“Yeah. Being able to face strong duelists from around the world—that’s my and Shirley’s dream,” Jim said with a grin. “Oh, of course, I know as the King you must be very busy. So if it’s inconvenient, we can just forget it…”

Kira said nothing at first, instead glancing at the bandages on Jim’s face.

Jim’s left eye was exposed, while his right was covered by bandages, for some reason making Kira think of an “Evil King’s True Eye” chuunibyou type of thing.

“Your right eye,” Kira said.

“Oh, this?” Jim touched the bandaged eye. “It’s called the ‘Eye of Orichalcum.’ I got it when I was a kid. The person who gave it to me said it has incredible powers. But I’ve hardly ever had the chance to use it.”

Kira nodded.

The name “Orichalcum” was a bit sensitive, but its spelling wasn’t the same as the Orichalcos from DM; the translations just sometimes matched because the pronunciations were similar. The story also never actually stated any connection between the two.

But the eye was clearly an artifact. In the anime, Jim used this eye to explode with power, pushing his duelist’s “momentum” to the point where he could stand against the Supreme King. The fact that Axel Brodie was able to trade blows evenly with the Supreme King in the end was, to a large extent, thanks to the eye Jim left behind.

Kira’s interest was piqued.

“Alright,” he smiled.

He was also very interested in Jim’s deck. Jim’s deck would get printed in real life years in the future, and in its printed form, its potential would be completely beyond anything this current era knew.

In fact, Kira had previously considered trying to poach Jim during this semester’s exchange program and bring him in for research.

Getting to test the waters early was great too.

Jim brightened. “Then please forgive my rudeness. Let’s do this, Shirley!”

The crocodile on his back roared again, as if fired up.

“Duel!” ×2

【Kira, LP 4000】
【Jim, LP 4000】

“I’ll go first. Draw!”

Jim glanced at the card he drew and immediately played it.

“I Normal Summon ‘Shell Knight’ in Defense Position!”

As its name implied, this was a knight whose entire body was formed from shells. White shells fitted together into a sturdy suit of armor; both hands were like giant lobster claws made from hinged shells.

【Shell Knight, DEF 2000】

“Shell Knight’s monster effect!” Jim said. “When this card is Summoned, it inflicts 500 damage to the opponent!”

Shell Knight raised its great claws, and a string of bubble-like spheres shot out, exploding with a boom where Kira stood.

【Kira, LP 4000 → 3500】

This was a card Jim had used in the original work, though it only got printed as a real card over a decade later.

In the original, it only had this “burn 500 on Summon” effect, but the printed Shell Knight gained an additional one: when it’s sent to the GY, you can add a Level 8 Rock monster from your Deck to your hand. And if there’s a “Fossil Fusion” Spell in your GY, you can even Special Summon that monster directly instead of adding it.

Because of when it was printed, Jim’s whole deck received an absolutely massive, epoch-making power-up in the real card game.

But right now, after taking the damage, Kira instead couldn’t help but smile.

He was already looking forward to seeing the fully printed Fossil series.

“Set 1 card face-down. Turn end!” Jim declared.

…

Chapter 886 – Jim Crocodile Cook

“Then it’s my turn. Draw.”

It was now Kira’s turn.

“I Set 1 monster face-down in Defense Position,” Kira said. “Then I Set 1 card in my back row. Turn end.”

Jim thought for a moment.

So he’s going second and still doesn’t go on the offensive. Is he just giving me a chance to show my stuff?
Or is he digging a pit and waiting for me to jump in…?

Jim shook his head.

No point overthinking it. Focus on my own Duel first.

“My turn, draw!” Jim said. “I Tribute ‘Shell Knight’ to Tribute Summon! Appear—

—Twinheaded Beast!”

A flaming centaur, but with two lion heads as its upper body, each wreathed in blazing fire.

【Twinheaded Beast, ATK 1700】

“Battle. First, Twinheaded Beast attacks your face-down monster!”

The beast’s right lion head roared; its right hand formed a fireball and hurled it through the air. The flames smashed straight into Kira’s set card, which flipped up to reveal a small but somewhat ominous-looking bird.

【An Owl of Luck, DEF 500】

It looked like a white-feathered owl.

“An Owl of Luck, Flip Effect,” Kira said. “I choose 1 Field Spell from my Deck and place it on top of my Deck.”

Jim frowned.

A monster that searches a Field Spell…
He knew very well that a lot of decks couldn’t function without their Field Spells, and some Fields were outright the absolute core of a strategy. He still didn’t know what kind of deck his opponent was using, but he definitely couldn’t just let him grab his Field for free if he could stop it.

“Then I activate my set card!” Jim said. “Counter Trap ‘Face-Off’.”

“In the Damage Step when a monster effect, Spell, or Trap is activated during battle, I can activate this. That activation is negated, and that card is destroyed!’”

Kira nodded. “An Owl of Luck’s effect is a Flip Effect that triggers when it’s attacked, which is still within the Damage Step. So ‘Face-Off’ can indeed be activated.”

“So An Owl of Luck’s effect is negated,” Jim said with a small, triumphant smile. “Looks like you won’t be getting that Field Spell you wanted. Too bad.”

“Yeah,” Kira nodded, putting on a regretful look.

As they spoke, the An Owl of Luck was destroyed by the Face-Off’s might, dissolving into nothing but drifting feathers.

“And I’m not done yet.” Jim tipped his hat and continued with a grin. “Twinheaded Beast’s monster effect:

Once per Battle Phase, it can attack twice!”

Jim swept his arm out.

“Twinheaded Beast’s second swing! Go—this time, attack Kira directly!”

The beast’s second head also let out a roar, spewing flames. Kira slowly raised an arm to shield himself; the fire washed over him, and the holograms made it look like he was being engulfed in a sea of fire.

【Kira, LP 3500 → 1800】

“Nice!” Jim was excited.

He’d dealt a huge chunk of damage in one go; this Duel was going much more smoothly than he’d imagined…
But then he heard Kira say, “I activate my face-down card. Trap Card ‘Damage Condenser’.”

“When I take battle damage, I can discard 1 card from my hand to activate it.”

Kira sent a card from his hand to the GY.

“Then I can Special Summon 1 monster from my Deck with ATK equal to or less than the battle damage I took—in this case, 1700 or less—in Attack Position.”

A beam of light shot from his Deck into his Duel Disk, landing on his field and forming a somewhat disturbing shape—like a giant tongue with a grotesque eye growing on it.

【Tongue-Twister, ATK 400】

Jim frowned. “You only summoned a monster with 400 ATK…”

He knew there had to be a trick to it, but after mulling it over for a couple of seconds, he chose not to dwell on it and continued his plays after ending the Battle Phase.

“Next, I activate the Spell Card ‘Card of Heaven and Earth’,” Jim said. “I can only activate this in a turn where I performed a Tribute Summon.

I draw 2 cards from my Deck. The cards I draw can’t be used this turn, and if any of them can be set, I must set at least 1 this turn.” (Manga card)

Jim drew 2 cards, then slowly ran a finger across the hand he was now holding, finally picking out one card.

“I Set 1 card. Turn end.”

“Then it’s my turn. Draw,” Kira said.

He drew, then revealed a card in his hand. A dignified man wearing a jackal-shaped mask appeared on his field in translucent, ghost-like form, a blue scarf billowing around him.

“I activate the effect of ‘Gravekeeper’s Commandant’ in my hand,” Kira said. “I discard this card to the GY to add 1 ‘Necrovalley’ from my Deck to my hand.”

He sent the revealed Commandant to the GY, took the card ejected from his Duel Disk, briefly showed it, then added it to his hand.

“I add the Field Spell ‘Necrovalley’ from my Deck to my hand.”

A slot on the side of his Duel Disk popped open.

“Field Spell ‘Necrovalley’—activate!”

The ground rumbled. The forest and the night sky vanished in thick, rolling smoke. In their place rose towering mountain ridges, piled up so densely they almost covered the sky. The sunlight was smothered by ashen clouds, as if this were an absolute forbidden zone where even light could not reach.

“Necrovalley… I see. So that An Owl of Luck earlier was trying to fetch this Field?” Jim murmured.

That would mean this Field Spell must have some kind of critical role. But since it was his first time seeing it, he couldn’t accurately judge what it did yet…

Kira, however, offered no further explanation; he simply continued.

“Then I Tribute ‘Tongue-Twister’ to Tribute Summon!

Emperor who rules over light and thunder, shatter any foe that stands in your way with your mighty bolts—

—Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, Summon!”

A domineering white figure slowly descended from the sky. The cloak of the imposing monarch billowed wildly behind him as lightning coiled around his form, surging at his command like a thunderous army charging into battle!

【Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, ATK 2400】

Twinheaded Beast was struck in an instant, blasted to pieces by the crashing thunder.

Jim raised his arm to shield himself from the shock wave, gritting his teeth. “That’d be Zaborg’s monster effect, huh…”

“Correct.” Kira smiled. “When Zaborg the Thunder Monarch is Tribute Summoned, he destroys 1 monster on the field.”

“I see.” Jim smiled back. “The famous Monarch series—its power is indeed something you can feel firsthand.”

“Also, when Tongue-Twister is Tributed and sent to the GY, I can draw 2 cards from my Deck.”

Kira drew 2 cards.

Originally, Tongue-Twister would then have to banish itself from the GY after those 2 draws. But with Necrovalley on the field, cards in the GY cannot be banished, so that part of the effect simply doesn’t resolve.

“Now I’ll enter the Battle Phase,” Kira said.

“I attack you directly with Zaborg the Thunder Monarch!”

…

Chapter 887 – Archaeological Apocalypse

“Zaborg the Thunder Monarch’s direct attack!”

Lightning surged into a sphere in Zaborg’s hand, then roared toward Jim like a thunderous comet.

But Jim wasn’t planning on tanking the damage. “I activate my face-down card!

Trap Card ‘A Rival Appears!’”

“I choose 1 face-up monster on your field, and then I can Special Summon 1 monster from my hand with the same Level as that monster!”

The Trap in Jim’s back row flipped face-up.

“Using A Rival Appears!, I choose your Zaborg the Thunder Monarch!”

“Zaborg is Level 5, so I can Special Summon a Level 5 monster from my hand as well.”

He pulled out a monster from his hand.

“The monster I’m Special Summoning from my hand is this one—come forth—

—Labyrinth Wall!”

The ground shook with a thunderous rumble. Though it was “just” a monster being summoned, the commotion was like a Field Spell being activated. With a violent tremor, massive labyrinthine walls burst up from beneath the earth, criss-crossing to form layers of barriers in front of Jim.

【Labyrinth Wall, DEF 3000】

“Labyrinth Wall, huh. A ‘Millennium Shield’-class absolute defense,” Kira said. “In that case, I’ll rewind the attack step and cancel the attack.”

Labyrinth Wall—Level 5 Normal Monster, 0 ATK but 3000 DEF, making it a defensive powerhouse on par with Millennium Shield. It first appeared in the Paradox Brothers’ deck, and in the future real-card environment would eventually be spun into a full-fledged Labyrinth archetype.

Of course, in this era, “Labyrinth” hadn’t yet become an official sub-type; right now it was just a high-DEF Rock Normal Monster.

“I Set 2 cards. Turn end,” Kira said.

“My turn, draw!” Jim declared.

“I activate the Spell Card ‘Pot of Greed’ to draw 2 cards from my Deck.”

He drew 2, and the corners of his mouth curled upward.

Perfect. It’s here.

Jim looked up with a confident smile.

“Mr. Kira, did you know? There are many incredible things hidden in this world,” he said. “Ancient fossils that have existed since long before the dawn of human history, buried deep beneath the mantle.

Mysterious powers from prehistoric ages that only modern science and human wisdom can unearth!”

“Fossils, huh,” Kira said. “Jim Crocodile Cook, you’re quite the archaeology fanatic.”

“Ahaha, that’s right. And my Duels are the same way. The best moment in a Duel is when you awaken those slumbering powers in the Graveyard, summon them back to the field, and let them reveal a brand-new form polished by endless years of time!”

Jim raised his voice.

“And that romance of archaeology is best expressed in my Duels through this card—

—Spell Card ‘Fossil Fusion’!”

Kira narrowed his eyes slightly, a smile tugging at his lips.

Just as expected.

“Fossil Fusion lets me banish Fusion Materials from either my own GY or yours, as specified by a ‘Fossil’ Fusion Monster, and Fusion Summon that corresponding Fossil Fusion Monster!”

Jim called it the romance of archaeology, and it really was. The effect of this Spell is exactly as it looks—put bluntly, it’s grave robbing.

It digs up his own grave and his opponent’s, stealing monsters from the opponent’s GY as his own Fusion Materials—that’s Fossil Fusion’s signature trait.

In the printed version, that concept is kept and enhanced: for example, Fossil Fusion monsters can’t be targeted by monster effects, and when a Fossil Fusion monster is destroyed, you can recover “Fossil Fusion” from your GY to maintain your resources.

But those are all buffs from the printed version; Jim’s anime-series card has none of that.

And right now, Jim had an even more awkward problem standing right in front of him—

“Definitely a Fusion method tailor-made for an archaeology maniac,” Kira said with a light laugh.

“But it’s a shame. For an archaeologist, this is probably the worst excavation site you could ask for.”

As he finished speaking, Jim suddenly saw the color draining out of the Fossil Fusion he had just slotted into his Duel Disk. Pale, translucent lightning crackled over it, and then the Spell simply fizzled out, turning see-through before vanishing entirely.

“!”

What’s going on?
“My Fossil…?”

He snapped his head up.

He looked around at the valley he was standing in—the oppressive cliffs, that eerie sunlight, as if it too were locked inside this sealed cage.

“Is it because of this Field?” Jim realized with a jolt.

“Noticed it, have you,” Kira said. “Necrovalley is a Field guarded by the royal protectors. It’s a forbidden cemetery where no intrusion is tolerated.

Here, any attempt at grave-robbing, reanimating corpses, or messing with the Graveyard in general is strictly forbidden.”

He paused, then translated into more standard card-game language with a faint smile.

“In Necrovalley, all effects that would affect cards in the Graveyard are negated, and neither player can banish cards from the Graveyard.”

“!”

What? I can’t banish cards from the GY? Doesn’t that mean my entire Fossil deck—

Realizing how serious the problem was, Jim clenched his teeth.

“My Fossil Fusion… is sealed?”

For someone like him, a hardcore archaeology nut, this really was the worst possible Field. Fossil Fusion’s biggest defining trait was digging up both GYs to create all kinds of Fossil boss monsters; blocking grave-digging was basically the same as sealing off his deck’s entire main offensive backbone.

And even without Fossil Fusion, his trump card “Gaia Plate the Earth Giant,” which he’d used against the Supreme King, also required banishing 2 Rock monsters from his GY to Special Summon itself.

A big monster with 2800 ATK that comes out with a condition that simple, and on top of that halves the ATK of the monster it battles—under normal circumstances, that’s a very high-quality heavy hitter. But in this Necrovalley, even if he drew it, it would just sit dead in his hand forever.

And beyond just banishing, this valley also shuts down GY recycling, revival, and any effect that meddles with the GY, which is another huge blow.

It’s no exaggeration to say that this one Field Spell alone had just cut off more than half his game plan.

Jim suddenly felt a phantom toothache.

As expected of the Duel King—he’d whipped out an anger-inducing artifact like it was nothing and casually slapped it down. No wonder he’d gone out of his way to fetch this Field using multiple search effects earlier; as soon as this card hit the field, half the Duel was already won…

“Your Fossil Fusion fizzled, it seems,” Kira said, eyes narrowing slightly. “So now, what will you do?”

Jim mulled it over a moment.

“…I switch ‘Labyrinth Wall’ to Attack Position.”

【Labyrinth Wall, DEF 3000 → ATK 0】

“Then I activate this card—”

Jim swept another card into his Duel Disk.

“Spell Card ‘Shield & Sword’!

All face-up monsters on the field swap their original ATK and DEF!”