Hello there, citizens of the Interwebs! My name is Starpion (star+scorpion), and this here is my debut story, Koihime Duel! Now, I've always been a fan of Yu-Gi-Oh, and over the past few years, I've really gotten into fanfiction, although the two aren't always compatible (why does a series about trading card games have so many yaoi fics!?). For a while now, I've wanted to try to write a fanfic of my own, but until now, I've never tried. Well no more! Behold, a crossover between Yu-Gi-Oh and my latest obsession, Koihime Musou (thanks to Kamen Rider Chrome, Ten-Faced Paladin, Vanishing Raptor, and Fenikkisumaru).

Now, before I begin, some warnings, just so you know what you're getting into. This is a self-insert fanfic, as well as a harem fic.

*sees approaching lynch mob*

STOP! Let me go over some things. First off, my character isn't a complete SI. His personality and first name are based off of me, but his appearance is based off of my character from Pokemon Y. Secondly, I'm not going to make him some unstoppable Gary Stu who never loses a duel, is adored by all, and makes women fall for him at a single glance. He'll win most of his duels, being the protagonist and all, but he won't have a perfect record. There will be losses, not to mention flaws to make him more realistic. Also, he will have quite a few enemies, and the romance will happen over time, not to mention being the secondary focus. And the harem will be relatively small compared to other stories, and each girl will be given a decent amount of focus.

Now with all of that said, I hope you enjoy!

It was a calm autumn morning, with the city being unusually quiet, as a young man made his way down the sidewalk, passing by store after store. As he walked at a brisk, relaxed pace, his red sneakers made soft footsteps as they touched the hard concrete. He was tall, around six feet in height, yet somewhat scrawny. He was adorned with a simple pair of blue jeans and a plain gray T-shirt which was concealed by a red jacket, and was carrying a simple gray leather satchel slung over his right shoulder. His facial features were somewhat unremarkable, with a normal mouth, a normal nose, and a normal pair of blue eyes, with no marks or facial hair to make him stand out. He had shoulder length brown hair, and on top of his head was a red fedora with a black band, with a black-framed pair of sunglasses perched on it, although as it was a cloudy day, their only purpose was to appear fashionable. This was Anthony Calem, eighteen years old, and currently a college student.

As Anthony made his way to his destination, he reached into his satchel and pulled out one of his most prized possessions, a small orange box which contained a deck of Duel Monsters cards. As he eyed the box containing his precious cards, a smile gradually made its way onto his face. Ever since he was a kid, he'd loved Duel Monsters, to the point of being teased by his friends for his "obsession." Over the years, he had spent quite a lot of time and money building a sizeable collection of cards. Currently, his deck was comprised of Machine-type monsters, a personal favorite of his. He even had a toy Duel Disk inside of his satchel, which he had gotten for cheap at a convention. While some might consider it childish, to Anthony, Duel Monsters was a pretty big deal, even if it was just a game.

In fact, he was on his way to a local card shop, which swiftly became a favorite hangout spot of his. They had a large collection of cards, friendly employees, and it was even in walking distance of his college, which was good, since Anthony didn't drive. They also held tournaments every Friday, and seeing as he didn't have any classes on Friday, Anthony made it a habit to always attend the tournaments, even if he didn't always win. Seeing as there was a tournament today at 11:00, he woke up and got ready extremely early in order to not miss his chance to enter. However, when he finally got there, he found out that nobody was there, not even the owner. Anthony was confused, until he pulled out his phone and saw his mistake. His phone read the time as 8:24 a.m., and the shop didn't open until ten.

"Crap," he said to himself, "now what am I going to do for the next hour and a half?" As he looked around aimlessly, he noticed a large building which read, "Natural History Museum: Presenting Brand New Displays," and a small line of people entering. Anthony looked at the museum, shrugged his shoulders, and decided to browse for a bit before returning to the card shop when they were open.

After paying the admission fee, and having a very awkward conversation in which he explained what a Duel Disk was to the very confused security guard who checked his satchel, he made his way through the museum, checking out all of the exhibits he could find. He began with the dinosaur exhibit, then made his way through an exhibit on ancient tribes in Central America, and after that, he found his way into an exhibit based around the history of China. There were displays of various weapons used by the Chinese military, household objects, and illustrations depicting many noteworthy events from the different dynasties. However, some of the later illustrations were rather bizarre. There was an illustration of what looked like an old, damaged doll, and despite the pictures having Chinese origins, one image clearly depicted a Western dragon. As he made his way down the exhibit, Anthony noticed one man around his age looking at an ancient bronze mirror. The man looked incredibly shady, wearing a black hoodie and jeans, but Anthony wasn't concerned, as security would certainly take care of things. After looking at a few more exhibits, Anthony tore himself away from a set of European armor and checked his phone, showing it was 9:51. However, as he made his way to leave, suddenly…

*SMASH*

"Hey, you there! Drop the artifact and place your hands behind your-oof!"

"AGH!"

"Somebody, stop that thief!"

Despite the alarm bells going off inside of his head, Anthony had to do something, so he ran back to where the shattering and the screams came from, the Chinese exhibit. When he got there, he saw the same shady character, only this time, his hood was down, revealing his face. He was Japanese, with brown eyes and a spiky set of light brown hair. The case in front of him was smashed, leaving shards of broken glass all over the floor. The thief was holding the mirror from earlier, seemingly admiring either his prize or his reflection, while a security guard was sprawled on his side, clutching his stomach in pain.

Quickly, Anthony whipped out his phone and began to dial 911, but the thief noticed this and, swiftly closing the distance between them, used his free hand to smack the phone out of Anthony's hand, as it went flying and hit the ground, no doubt breaking in the process. Acting on instinct, Anthony grabbed the thief's right arm, which held the mirror. However, the thief clearly had strength and training, both of which Anthony lacked, and he suddenly spun Anthony around and locked him in a chokehold.

"Fool, do you honestly believe that you can stop me from rewriting the past?"

Anthony was utterly baffled by this question, but on account of the arm against his neck, he couldn't respond. However, he could at least attempt to fight back. Mustering all of his remaining strength, he leaned his head forward, then whipped it back, smacking it into his attacker's face. The man let out a cry of pain, and suddenly dropped the stolen mirror. The mirror then hit the ground, and as a result, it broke into pieces.

After this happened, a small light began to emit from the mirror's remains, which gradually became bigger. Anthony, having just broken free from the would-be thief, landed on the ground, then looked at the light coming from the broken artifact in shock.

"Damnit, it's already started!"

"W-What's happening? Why is it glowing? What the hell is going on?"

"It looks like my plans have changed somewhat. No matter, I can still work with this."

"What are you talking about!?"

"It's far too late for you now, as the curtain has already been drawn. Now be swallowed by the light and face your punishment!"

Before Anthony could reply, the steadily growing light became blinding, and suddenly, everything became white, and then dark.

~KD~

As Anthony slowly came to, he immediately noticed that there was something wrong. Rather than waking up on the museum floor, a hospital bed, or even a police station for questioning, he found himself in the middle of a wasteland, with the only noticeable landmark being a mountain range in the distance. At this revelation, Anthony began to frantically look back and forth, while trying not to panic. A small part of him believed that this was all just a really bizarre dream, but the fact that he could feel the warm stone and rough sand beneath him destroyed any chance of that being an option. He was truly lost, in the middle of who-knows-where.

Suddenly, he noticed that his satchel wasn't on his shoulder, and looked behind him to see it lying on the ground, open, with the Disk and cards visible. In total, there were two deck boxes, the orange one containing his deck and a blue one holding extra cards, and the Duel Disk, with two pockets for his Fusion Deck and his banished cards. As Anthony went to grab his things, he suddenly noticed something was off when he picked up his Duel Disk. Rather than plastic, what was originally a toy had now become sleek metal. Anthony didn't have a chance to dwell on this, however, as there was a bigger problem at hand. His phone was lost, and he had no idea where he was, with no food, water, or shelter.

Eventually, Anthony had the idea to simply walk in a straight line until he found somebody. Far from a foolproof plan, but it was the only plan that he had. Placing his cards and Duel Disk back into his bag, he slung it back over his shoulder and began to walk. But not long after, he suddenly saw a figure approaching from the distance. On his guard, he called out to whoever was there.

"Hello? Could you help me? I'm kinda lost, and I'd love to be able to go home."

His request was responded to by...soft laughter? Slowly, a figure stepped into view, a smirk on his face. He was a little shorter than Anthony, but far more muscular, with well-built arms exposed by his outfit. He wore what appeared to be a blue sleeveless top with white trim around the shoulders, and around his waist was a thick leather piece of armor that resembled a belt, brown with gold trim, held on by a thin blue sash. He had plain brown pants, and a yellow piece of cloth tied around his neck. He had brown eyes, a cleft chin, and a thin black mustache. On top of his head was a yellow bandana. He had a gray brace on his right wrist, while his left arm had…a Duel Disk!? However, unlike Anthony's, his appeared to be permanently extended, rather than having a standby mode, and while it was mostly gray like Anthony's, it also had yellow trim on the edge. The man spoke in a somewhat slimy tone.

"No, but I'm sure that you can help us. Starting by giving us whatever's in the bag."

As Anthony began to back away from the bandit, he suddenly thought about what he just said.

'Us?'

Slowly, Anthony turned around and saw two more bandits approach him. One of them was much shorter, about five feet, with a long nose, and the other one was a few inches taller than Anthony was, and was rather wide. They wore the same outfit as the first bandit, only without the Duel Disk-like device, instead having a brace on either wrist.

"Hey boss, check out his clothes! Never seen anything like them! Bet they're worth a ton," said the short one, in a sniveling, nasal voice.

"We'll be rich!" said the fat one, in a slow, deep voice.

"It's like you read my mind, boys," the leader said, still approaching his target. "Let's get him!"

"SOMEBODY HELP ME!" screamed Anthony as loud as he possibly could. And suddenly, as if by magic, a voice replied back.

"Don't worry, sir! I'll save you from this bandit scum!"

Suddenly, a green and black blur flew out of the shadows and into view, capturing everyone's attention. The figure was a girl, with long black hair that was tied up in a ponytail, which reached the back of her legs. Said ponytail was bronze in color, with a red ribbon trailing from it. She wore a sleeveless top that was green in color with yellow trimming, with a white blouse underneath that was exposed covering her...ample assets, and a pink and white tie. The green top split into seven points, two short ones in the front, and five long ones in the back. She had bare shoulders, and wore what looked like detached sleeves, which were mostly white with green, red, and gold patterns across them, and what looked like burgundy silk beneath them. She had a simple black skirt, burgundy tights that reached her mid-thigh, and simple black shoes. She had amber eyes, and her face was one filled with determination.

But it wasn't her ornate outfit, her long hair, or her large chest that stood out the most to Anthony. Rather, it was the fact that she had a Duel Disk as well! It looked like the bandit's, except that rather than having yellow trim, her's had green trim.

"Alright, step away from the citizen and get lost! Don't make me use force!"

The bandit leader laughed, and simply approached the girl, leaving Anthony forgotten for the moment.

"And who are you, trying to ruin our latest catch?" he asked condescendingly.

The girl's frown grew tighter. "My name is Kan'u, followed by Uncho! And I'll tell you once more, let the man go!"

"Pretty…" said the fat bandit, completely mesmerized by Anthony's would-be savior, which made her tighten her frown even more. However, the short one pointed out the obvious.

"Boss, this chick's got herself a Duel Disk!"

This shook Anthony to his core. 'They really are Duel Disks?' he thought. Suddenly, he got a crazy idea, as he ran up to Kan'u, bag in tow.

"Hold on a second, I think that I might be able to take these three!"

Kan'u raised an eyebrow at this. "But didn't you call for help just now? What, do you think that I'm not capable of dueling a few lowly bandits?"

Anthony rapidly shook his head at this accusation. "No, no, not at all! It's just that, I didn't realize that they could duel too. And if there's one thing that I'm good at, it's Duel Monsters!"

"Ah," said the bandit leader, "so you are a duelist as well? Well then, in that case, I have a little wager for you. If one of you can beat me, we'll leave you two alone. But if I win, then the both of you have to give us everything you've got!"

As he said this, he pulled a deck out of the Disk and began to shuffle it. "Now then, which of you will be my opponent?"

Kan'u and Anthony turned to face each other.

"Look," said Anthony, "I don't doubt your skills, and I'm grateful that you came to help out, trust me. But I promise, I can handle this. Do you trust me?"

Kan'u wanted to argue further, but seeing that there was no way to persuade him, she simply sighed. "Alright, I trust you."

Anthony grinned, and then reached into his bag and pulled out his Duel Disk, before strapping it onto his left arm.

"Whoa, that thing looks way nicer than any of ours!" said the short bandit.

"Indeed, it will make us a fantastic haul," said the leader, who finished shuffling his deck.

'We'll see about that,' thought Anthony, as he placed his deck into his Duel Disk, before pushing a button on it. Suddenly, the two plates on it slammed together, before coming to rest on the outside of his arm. His deck was automatically shuffled, and the black bar read, "4000," displaying his life points.

"LET'S DUEL!"

(Bandit Leader: 4000 LP)(Anthony: 4000 LP)

As both of them drew their starting hands, Kan'u watched them with concern. 'He said that he can handle this, but even still, I want to help him…'

"I'll begin!" said the bandit leader, drawing a card from his deck. "And I think I'll start by summoning my Dark Scorpion - Chick the Yellow!"

As he said this, he placed a card onto the Disk, and suddenly, a portal appeared, and out of it came a short yellow-haired bandit with a scorpion tattoo and a large wooden mallet (LV 3: ATK 1000). Anthony was surprised at first, but quickly shook it off.

"Then I'll place one card face-down and end my turn. Your move," said the leader, as a face-down card appeared behind Chick the Yellow.

"Okay then," said Anthony, as he drew his card. Not wanting to lose one of his more powerful monsters to a potential trap, he selected a weaker one, but one that was still stronger than his opponent's.

"I summon my Ground Attacker Bugroth in attack mode!"

Suddenly, a large frog-like robot appeared, with two large water jets on its back and two small laser cannons on its pitifully small arms (LV 4: ATK 1500).

"Now my Bugroth is going to take down your Dark Scorpion with Beam Barrage!" shouted Anthony. As if on cue, Ground Attacker Bugroth aimed its weapons at Chick the Yellow, and let loose a barrage of laser blasts, which hit the small monster and shattered it into yellow pixels (Bandit Leader: 4000-3500 LP).

"That's all for now," said Anthony, ending his turn. As the bandit leader drew his new card, Kan'u could only stare in shock. She'd never seen a monster like that before, one seemingly made entirely out of metal. Add to that his futuristic Duel Disk and unusual clothes, and what Kan'u assumed was merely an ordinary citizen in distress was becoming more and more mysterious.

'Who are you…" she wondered.

"You may have defeated my Chick, but your metal monster is no match for my Don Zaloog!"

Kan'u was brought back to reality as the bandit leader summoned a new monster, one who also resembled a bandit. He had long periwinkle hair, a bandolier containing ammo, an eyepatch, two guns in his belt, a scorpion tattoo, and a sword in each hand (LV 4: ATK 1400).

"But your monster is weaker," Anthony pointed out.

"Not for long," the leader said, "as I'm activating my Spell Card, Riryoku, to drain your monster's power and give it to my own!"

"Crap!" Anthony exclaimed, as a card depicting a demon stealing a warrior's soul appeared. Suddenly, a purple mist came out of Anthony's machine, and made its way to Don Zaloog (ATK 1500-750)(ATK 1400-2150).

"Now, I'll activate my trap, Robbin' Zombie! This card will make it so that whenever one of my monsters deals damage, you must send the card on the top of your deck to the Graveyard!"

As he said this, the face-down card flipped up, revealing a card depicting a zombie with a sack in its hand.

"Alright, Don Zaloog, destroy his Ground Attacker Bugroth!"

Swiftly, Don Zaloog sped forward and slashed Anthony's monster with his swords, destroying it. Then, a dark mist surrounded the top card of Anthony's deck, and he begrudgingly sent the card to his Graveyard (Anthony: 4000-2600 LP).

"But I'm not done yet! Since Don Zaloog dealt damage, I can either have you discard one random card, or send the top two cards from your deck to the Graveyard. Hmm…I think I'll have you discard!"

Suddenly, Don Zaloog sheathed one of his swords and drew one of his pistols, and fired at a random card in Anthony's hand, which turned out to be Mechanicalchaser, the strongest card in his hand that wasn't five or more levels. Anthony grimaced, but complied, which wasn't unnoticed.

"Looks like he lost a good one!" the fat bandit laughed, when Kan'u sent a fierce glare in his direction, shutting him up.

"It's no big deal," said Anthony, as he drew a new card. He looked at it, then at his hand. All of his other cards were monsters, and only one of them was a low enough level to summon. Fortunately, it had the same amount of attack points as the bandit's monster. Making up his mind, he slapped the card onto his Duel Disk.

"I summon Cannon Soldier in attack mode!"

His monster materialized in the form of a purple bipedal robot which, true to its name, sported a large cannon barrel on its back (LV 4: ATK 1400).

'Another one of those metal monsters? This man is definitely strange,' thought Kan'u.

"And I'll set one card face-down. That's all for me."

The bandit smirked, then drew his next card. He looked at it, and smirked, before putting it in the Spell and Trap Zone, face-up.

"I'll activate my Spell Card, Sparks!"

A card depicting a fire with rising embers appeared, before a swarm of embers appeared and surrounded Anthony, making him shield himself even though they were only holograms (Anthony: 2600-2400 LP).

"Then I'll tribute my Don Zaloog to Tribute Summon Dark Scorpion - Gorg the Strong!"

The eyepatched bandit faded, and in its place appeared a much more muscular bandit with a scar over his eye, wielding a massive mace (LV 5: ATK 1800).

"Gorg, flatten that thing!"

The Dark Scorpion raised its weapon and slammed it down on Cannon Soldier, shattering it into pixels (Anthony: 2400-2000 LP). The effect of Robbin' Zombie then kicked in, and Anthony sent the top card of his deck to the Graveyard, before he activated his face-down, chaining it to the destruction of his monster.

"I activate my Trap Card, Time Machine!"

A portal appeared, and out of it rose a large metal container. The door swung open with a burst of steam, and there stood Cannon Soldier, good as new (LV 4: ATK 1400).

"By using Time Machine," he explained to anybody who needed it (which was all four of them), "I can revive any monster that was destroyed by battle in the same place and battle position it was in. Welcome back, Cannon Soldier!"

"Not bad, but since I dealt damage, I can either have you send another card to the Graveyard, or send a monster on your side of the field back to your hand. I think that I'll just have you keep thinning your deck, since I'm sure that you know what will happen if you run out of cards in your deck," explained the bandit, with Anthony complying.

"Yeah, I lose." Kan'u bit her lip; he was behind in both cards in his deck and in life points, and it didn't look like things would be getting better any time soon.

"And now I end my turn!"

Anthony took a deep breath before he drew his new card, then grabbed his sunglasses and placed them on his face.

"It's time to face the future!"

With newfound confidence, he took his Cannon Soldier off of the field and placed a new card in its place.

"I tribute my Cannon Soldier to summon my favorite monster, the all-powerful Machine King!"

Like Don Zaloog, Cannon Soldier faded into light as a new monster took its place. This new monster stood at least twelve feet tall, towering over the duelist and the spectators. It was a large humanoid robot, mostly gray in color with red forearms, a red visor, and a mostly blue torso with a large red disc in the center (LV 6: ATK 2200).

The two bandits that weren't dueling were silent in fear, his opponent looked a little nervous, and Kan'u was in complete awe of this newfound monster. What incredible power it must have! In a small part of her mind, Kan'u was anxious to duel this mystery man for herself.

"And seeing as he is the king of machines, every single Machine-type monster on the field boosts his attack points by one hundred, including himself!"

As Anthony explained his monster's effect, its power slowly increased (ATK 2200-2300).

"Okay, Machine King, it's time to unleash your full power! Go, Jet Punch!"

Machine King slowly raised it right fist and cocked it back, before letting out a powerful punch. As this happened, the monster's forearm actually disconnected from its body and was propelled by rockets, flying into Gorg the Strong and smashing through it, before finally returning to its arm where it belonged (Bandit Leader: 3500-3000 LP).

"Do you think you can top that?" Anthony asked.

The bandit scowled before drawing a card, and placing it on the Monster Zone face-down, sideways.

"I set a monster face-down and end my turn."

The bandit was smirking inside. That face-down monster was Man-Eater Bug, so if that huge metal monster attacked it, it would be destroyed instantly. It was a foolproof plan, or so he thought, until Anthony began his turn.

"I'll activate the Shield Crush Spell Card, letting me destroy your defense position monster!"

The bandit's eyes grew wide as the card appeared, showing a yellow energy bolt shattering the monster known as Millennium Shield. A bright yellow beam of energy shot out of the card and struck the face-down monster, shattering it before it could reveal itself. Then Anthony grinned, before activating another Spell Card.

"And now, I'll finish this duel by activating the card Limiter Removal!"

A card appeared on the field showing a car speedometer that had been tampered with.

"This Spell Card makes the attack points of every Machine-type monster on the field double, meaning that Machine King is strong enough to wipe out your remaining life points in one fell swoop!"

His Machine King suddenly began sparking, as its power increased until it was much stronger than any monster that Kan'u had ever seen before, as she continued to stare in disbelief (ATK 2300-4600).

"Now, Machine King! POWER SURGE!"

Sparks began to build around the disc on his monster's chest, until a large blue beam of energy shot forward, hitting the bandit leader head-on and sending him flying backwards (Bandit Leader: 3000-0 LP)(Winner: Anthony).

Kan'u smiled, and pumped her fist in celebration. Meanwhile, the bandits made a break for it, but not before their leader left some parting words.

"You haven't seen the last of the Yellow Turban Bandits!"

With the duel having ended, the remaining holograms disappeared, and Anthony returned his Duel Disk into its resting position.

"That was amazing! I've never seen cards like those before," said Kan'u excitedly.

"Thanks, uh, Kan'u Uncho, was it?"

"Yes, and you are…"

"Oh, my name's Anthony Calem, pleasure to meet you!"

Kan'u smiled, then she began to think to herself. 'He's got an unusual name, unusual clothes, and uses cards that I've never seen before. Could this man be...the Messenger of Heaven?'

"Oh, before I forget," said Anthony, lifting his sunglasses back utop his hat, "may I ask you something?"

Kan'u turned to face the man. "Of course, anything. I'm always happy to help somebody in need!" As she said this, she puffed out her chest with pride.

"Where exactly am I?"

And there we go! Feel free to say what you liked, give suggestions on how I can improve, or just ask questions that I may or may not be able to answer!

Edit 12/1/2018: fixed a timing error with Time Machine. Starpion out!