This fic is heavily inspired by Yung Warrior's story "State of the Meta". Thank you for introducing me to this new form of YuGiOh fanfiction.

Inb4 you guys think this is an update. Don't worry, update is coming soon, school is taking my time rn.

I slowly rose out of bed, and stared at my pillows, there were four, which was weird, since I normally slept with two.

I shook my head over and over, trying to get my bearings... When I woke up, I was surrounded by a myriad of colors and posters, each of them containing a famous Yu-Gi-Oh! Character posing with their ace monster, Yugi with his Dark Magician, Kaiba and his Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and… That was it. I mean, sure Yugi and Kaiba were the most popular and iconic characters, but you would think that there would at least be Jaden with Elemental HERO Neos or Yusei with his Stardust Dragon.

Food first, thinking later. I shakily ambled over from my bed to the nearest drawer. I pulled one open, and my eyes ran over the layers of shirts, trying to find something that I could we- I don't own any of these.

Holy shit, was I abducted? I tiptoed around the room, trying to make as little noise as possible. There had to be some way to get out, some way to escape the horror that was going to unfold. My hand slammed against the door, which easily gave way. Turned out I wasn't kidnapped. That's… Pretty awkward.

My shoulders dropped a bit. Maybe it was from relief; maybe it was from early-morning tired syndrome. Either way, the stupidity I felt carried with me as I walked from not-my room to not-my bathroom, eager to wash my face and start the day. I rubbed my chin, expecting to feel some stubble that I would have to spend way too long to shave off which was a pain in the ass and- Fucking hell, is this always going to happen? There's nothing there! Next you're gonna tell me that I'm not even in my own body!

"Well shit, I'm not in my own body"

I stared at myself in the mirror. Sure I was still Asian, but I was… different. Instead of being the solid 6 feet that I knew and loved, I was at an average 5'10. My face had more angles compared to the more round shape that I was accustomed to, and my features looked… sharper? Thankfully, I didn't have facial hair anymore.

It was weird. I slapped my hands to my mouth, trying to repress a scream and avoid a confrontation from my not-parents. (I looked like I was a high schooler; there was no way in hell that I owned my own house.) I gave a small shout though.

"David!" A man's voice burst through my ears, and the sound of rapid footsteps soon accompanied them, and then a pause. "What the hell happened? Did you fall over?"

I shakily got back on my feet and looked at the man who was staring at me, he looked like… an older me. His hair was grayer, and his face had more wrinkles. He was probably "my" dad.

"Uh… Yeah," I said, "I thought I saw a cockroach or something like that."

"You're scared of bugs? Jesus Christ son, you have a Kaiba Corporation tournament coming today and the first thing you can think of is a cockroach?" Not-dad looked disappointedly at me. "Get dressed, we're driving out in two hours."

Alright, sheesh. "Alright dad, I'll be out in a second. Did you say Kaiba Corporation?" As in Yu-Gi-Oh Kaiba Corporation?

"Yes, son, Kaiba Corporation Cup USA. You know, the tournament I talked to you about for the past month? The tournament that you didn't prepare for?" He stared at me for a second, and then sighed. "Get dressed, we're doing some last minute studying." Not-dad stepped out of the bathroom, a frown on his face. "No son of mine is going to be a failure…"

Holy shit, was the guy I body-snatched some sort of slob? Oof.

Alright, so things I've learned so far: One, I've been transported into a different world and in a different body (My "name" is David, I should probably stick to that). Two, that angry old man is "My Dad", going from his reaction. And three, I'm in Yu- Wait I'm in Yu-Gi-Oh! Holy shit, wait this means I was going to be playing a children's card game for prestige?

But… I was also gone from my friends and family. Did I just disappear? Did my family think I was kidnapped? Should I try to go home? I deflated, the euphoria of my situation finally leaving me. Life back home… kinda sucked, there was a constant striving for good grades and a good college. Whereas here I could try and gain prestige through something that I truly knew and loved. For now I would be the best duelist that I could. If the situation to go home arose though… I would take it.

I quickly pulled on a shirt and pants, eager to start "training" (Since, come on, I'm literally playing a children's card game in preparation for a large, national scale event). As I was putting my socks on however, I spotted a black-sleeved deck of cards, which was weird. Didn't Not-dad say he would get my deck? I grabbed it and roughly shuffled through the cards. Bestial Thunder Dragon, Thunder Drag- Wait.

This deck was the new Thunder Dragon support that I was using since last month! (Well, last month for me.) I stared at it, and then looked at the calendar on the wall. The date was June 19, 2004

June 19, 2004.

The deck I was holding was made in 2018 though! Holy shit! Oh my god, I'm gonna hit everybody with the power of power creep and it's gonna be great and OTK's- wait a minute I can't use these.

I mean, I shouldn't use these! This children's card game is essentially the end all be all of this world, if people see me bring out Superbolt, the first thing that's going to happen is I'm going to be put on a cross and crucified for allegedly creating counterfeit playing cards.

What a world, getting killed because of children's cards.

"David! Get down here!"

I quickly grabbed my Thunder Dragon deck and stashed it in a deck box. "Coming!"

We awkwardly stared (well, more like I awkwardly stared, Not-dad was trying to eye-beam lasers through my skull) at each other at the dining table. The silence was deafening. I was getting the silent treatment when all I wanted to do was play a children's card game.

"-I want to Tribute Summon Summoned Skull." Holy shit Not-dad, don't just say that. "How many monsters are required for the tribute?"

"Um…" What level was Summoned Skull again? "Summoned Skull is level 6, so you only need 1 Tribute for it."

Not-dad stared at me, his eyes widened a tiny bit more. "...I summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon, my opponent activates Bottomless Trap Hole, how do I protect my Dragon?"

"I would uh… Chain Solemn Judgment. It negates the effect of Bottomless for the cost of half my Life Points." The questions that were being thrown at me were pretty straightforward. There were honestly tons of ways that one could protect a monster's destruction from Bottomless Trap Hole's effect. I just picked the most straightforward solution.

More silence.

"... So you have been studying. Normally I wouldn't expect you to know the answers to these questions."

Wait these were the questions I should have been studying for? "Uh… Yeah!" I gave a small smile. "Yeah! I uh… Studied pretty hard for this! Big event and all!" I gave my best impression of a laugh. We stared at each other for a bit more. I didn't think he bought it.

"... Anyways, here's your deck." Not-dad handed me a deck of Yu-Gi-Oh cards. "I hope you studied the in's and out's of it." I accepted the stack of cardboard, quickly rifling through the cards. Alright, so there's a 2004 banlist so… Alright I have Pot of Greed sick… Buster Blader… Dark Magician… Dark Magician Girl- After looking at this deck I came to one conclusion: There was no coherent strategy to this deck: I could barely bring out the multiple tribute summon monsters, and most of these backrow cards were situational.

"Hey… Dad?" I looked up at him, his stern face staring at me. "Can I change my deck?" His face… Darkened? Wrinkled more? Either way he looked pissed. "David Chen…" Not-dad exhaled (Also "my" last name is Chen apparently). "This deck is a carbon copy of Yugi Moto's deck when he was dueling in Battle City. We are a family of success, and because we are a family of success, we will only follow successful people."

But Yugi was only successful because he had anime draw skills. Skills that were strong enough to let him draw the right cards at the right time, skills that I didn't have. "But Dad, there's no coherency to this deck. Look there's like 5 monsters I can Normal Summon without tribute, and most of these Spells and Traps are incredibly situational. There's no way I can win without a coherent strat-"

"Son, I don't know what you're on about, the deck is only one half of the strategy, the other half is you. You need to be able to draw the cards you need at the right time." Sure you can say that, but I don't have that anime-exclusive skill.

"Now, I may have given you the proper tools to win-" No you haven't. I can't win with this.

"But that does not mean you can neglect your skill as a duelist. This is very important, we are a family of…" I honestly blanked out at this point. Either way, I needed to build a deck in secret.

Looking through my collection brought me to a conclusion: Some cards are here that shouldn't exist elsewhere, Elemental HERO Stratos was released in 2007, not in 2004. Same with more HERO cards (Elemental HERO Great Tornado, and Elemental HERO Absolute Zero). However, I'm absolutely certain that there was no trace of the alternate Extra Deck summoning methods, or cards that exceed a certain time period, probably 2011. I also noticed that I… own a lot of Elemental HERO cards, as in 3 of every card in the archetype. I didn't own a lot of other stuff though. There's also future HERO support like Great Tornado and Absolute Zero.

I resolved to create an Elemental HERO deck, adding as many three-ofs as I could. Add an occasional power card along the way, and eventually created what I called "Absolute Zero Turbo". The deck put a focus on summoning Elemental HERO Absolute Zero, a 2.5k beatstick that destroys all of the opponent's monsters when it dies. And after that, I could use Miracle Fusion to summon Elemental HERO Great Tornado for game. There was also another win condition, but… I didn't expect it to come up very often, it was just there because I had the deck space. Over all, I wasn't very happy with this deck, but given what I have right now, it was the most consistent thing I had, Stratos was at 3 here, so I should've been able to bring out my fragile win condition turn 1.

"Son! It's time to go, get packed!"

Alright, let's rumble. "Coming dad!"

There was a car ride, but it was incredibly short to me since, you know, I was about to see Yu-Gi-Oh holograms for the first time, and I can actually get money and prestige for playing a children's card game. The Thunder Dragon deck was secure in my backpack, never to be played. I mean, what were the odds that there would be a time to use this deck? I'm in America, GX is set in Japan. No way in hell that I'm going to join the canon cast, that's for sure.

The Kaiba Corporation building that was hosting the tournament was huge though, holy crap.

"Alright son," Not-dad walked in front of me. "Remember, I don't expect you to win this competition, I haven't seen you study. However I want you to not lose during the first round."

Wow, thanks Dad. Jesus Christ, I feel bad for David if his dad is always like this.

I found a way to get away from Not-dad and find a place to sit. My hands were violently checking my deck, trying to memorize all of the half assed strategies that I created in my head while making this deck. I stared at three cards that I added last minute, either this would create a poggers topdeck or I'm gonna get something really bricky.

"Will Duelists David Chen and Jason Jackman please come to Arena 35? I repeat, Duelists David Chen and Jason Jackman come to Arena 35, thank you."

I slowly got out of my chair and made my way to the aforementioned area, noticing how there were the original Duel Arenas from Duel Monsters instead of people standing with Duel Disks. Guess Kaiba just wanted to be extra flashy. Like I said before, the building was huge, as in airport huge. It took me a solid 20 minutes to get from where I was to Arena 35.

"David Chen?" A person in a suit and sunglasses walked up to me as I approached the Arena. "Please let me see your deck to see if it obeys the International Duel Monsters Banlist".

Wow, the banlist in this world was International? I mean, if the Duel Monster cards here were produced at the same areas at the same time, then I had no problem with it.

"Uh… Yeah sure." I handed the Judge(?) my deck, and he took about 5 seconds shuffling through the cards. He looked at me, and gave me a nod.

"This deck is… Interesting, yet acceptable." He said, "Remember, this will be a duel with standard rules. I expect to see no cheating."

"Got it." I gave my best smile. What were the standard rules though? "So uh…" I stared at the tall area where I was supposed to be, one of the stands were blue, the other red. "Is there a set of stairs that I should walk up or-" A door suddenly opened up right next to me. "-Ah alright."

I went into the chamber that I assumed was an elevator. And as the doors closed behind me, my hands trembled in excitement. Today was the day where I would finally be able to see Yu-Gi-Oh cards come to life! I would finally be able to see the battles that I constantly imagined!

I would finally be able to shout my monster attack names!

I looked at my opponent standing across from me, he looked pretty normal. Wait- what's the meta right now? Oh shit if, this is Goat Format, I'm going to lose so hard.

"Contestants David Chen and Jason Jackman!" A large voice boomed through the speakers, enhancing my already jacked nerves. "This duel will have the standard rules! Four-thousand Life Points! Player on the Red will go first-" I looked at the stand I was on, it was blue. "- And I want to see no cheating is that clear?" Both of us gave him a nod. "Good! Now… Begin when ready!"

I stared at my opponent, "Ah well, 'Good luck have fun' I guess."

"Yeah… Have fun…" Jason just stared at me… Oh god, he's not one of those people is he?

"So uh… How do we start the duel?" Now that got some extra stares. I pulled out my stack of cardboard playing cards "Do I just… Place my deck on the table and maybe-" Oh the table lit up I guess that's how I do it. I stared at the console, there was a small, card-sized screen to the side of me, most likely to show card images and the such. And there was 4000 LP per user… Interesting.

"Hey, are you ready?" Oh shit.

"Oh! Uh… Yeah! Let's go."

"Duel!"

Jason - 4000LP

David - 4000LP

"My turn first! I draw!" David flamboyantly pulled a card from his deck (6 cards in hand). "And I'm going to summon Luster Dragon (1900/1600) in Attack Mode!" A blue, shimmering dragon burst out from its card hologram and flapped its wings. I could feel the "wind" pass by me everytime its wings moved back and forward. "Next I'll set a face down and end my turn!" a flat hologram appeared behind the dragon.

"Alright… So my turn! I draw." Despite all of my hype around being in the world of Yu-Gi-Oh, I couldn't actually stomach the art of fancy card draws (6 cards in hand). But anyways, this hand is what I would have normally expected.

"I'm gonna activate E-Emergency Call which allows me to add an Elemental HERO from my deck to my hand! I add Elemental HERO Stratos." I mean, that facedown kind of sucked, this being a time where Battle Traps were actually relevant but… I was sure I could get the OTK? "Next I'll summon my Stratos (1800/300.)" A blue man with a jetpack flew onto the field. "Which allows me to add an Elemental HERO from my deck to my hand. I'll add Elemental HERO Bubbleman!"

Next I'll activate the effect of King of the Swamp! Which allows me to add Polymerization from my deck to my ha-"

"- Hey! Stop adding cards and actually do something. Your turn is taking twenty times longer than mine!" Jesus Christ, kid, calm down.

"Alright then! I activate Polymerization and fuse my Stratos and Bubbleman to summon Elemental HERO Absolute Zero (2500/200)!" I almost got a semi due to the awesomeness that was Absolute Zero, the caped man in sleek white armor slid onto the battlefield in a trail of snowflakes and ice as he approached the Main Monster Zone that I placed his card on, eventually coming to a halt and flinging one of his arms back in a triumphant pose. Although Absolute Zero looked like a badass, I wasted a ton of resources in making him. Meaning that if I got Mirror Force'd, it would be game over.

"Next I'm gonna-" I raised my hand, 'Let's see if he's gonna take the bait', and made to point at him. His eyes lit up, signaling that his face down was a Battle Trap. Sweet. "- Activate another Spell Card! Mystical Space Typhoon! Destroy his face down!"

Jason cursed as a blast of wind destroyed his set Magical Cylinder. "So what if you destroyed my Trap Card? You're still not winning this turn! And you just wasted three cards in making that HERO of yours so I'm gonna be in the lead!"

Not for long you aren't, OTK time! "Well get a load of this! I activate Miracle Fusion! This allows me to Fusion Summon an Elemental HERO card using monsters on my field or in my graveyard! I fuse my Stratos and Bubbleman again! Come forth Elemental HERO Great Tornado (2800/2200)!" In a gust of wind, a cloaked man in green armor flew onto the field. "And when Great Tornado is summoned, all of your monsters lose half of their Attack and Defense points!"

"Oh no!"

"Oh yes! Great Tornado, hit 'em with your... uh... Great Tornado!" Although my attack names were pretty low-tier, this was the thrill I had been looking for! The feeling of shouting your monsters attack names was beyond gratifying. Jason's Luster Dragon tried its best to stand against the gusts, but ultimately fell to the huge amounts of wind (Luster Dragon 1900/1600 - 950/800). Anyways, this was game.

"Now I enter the Battle Phase! Great Tornado, attack his Dragon!" Great Tornado, to my dismay did not shoot a wind blast, instead opting to fly over and punch Jason's dragon. The force of the punch created shockwaves that carried over to Jason. (Jason: 4000LP - 2150LP)

"And this is game! Absolute Zero! Attack Jason directly with your Ice Edge!" The chilly hero slid over to my opponent, constantly gaining speed until he cut Jason with a protrusion coming out of his gauntlet. (Jason: 2150LP - 0LP).

Anyways, that duel went better than I thought. Drawing the 3 of that was Miracle Fusion on the first turn was honestly a godsend. Sitting on Great Tornado was fine and all, but any form of spot removal would have turned me to easy pickings.

"That was bullshit!" I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at my opponent, and boy was he mad. "I barely get to play the game, and you take 5 whole minutes to do something and win on your first turn!"

"Well, I mean… My deck is pretty much a glass cannon, and I only really just filled it with consistency cards, if you had some set spot removal you probably would have won…? Like it takes me 3 cards to make 1 and-"

"Fuck you!" Jason gave me a nasty glare and exited his stand. I did the same, awkwardly looking at the spectators, who just stared at me.

"Anyways…" The Judge coughed into his fist, no doubt sensing the awkward atmosphere. "David Chen wins! He now proceeds to round 2!"

This duel was pretty good, but I could see its glaring weaknesses, if at any time my monster was hit by removal, I would severely be down in advantage. Like… I was glad that I OTK'd this game, but I really needed to play safer next round.

The second, third, and fourth rounds just went by in a blur, there was nothing really noticeable except one thing:

There was no defined meta here.

I fought against Dragons, Archfiends, and freaking Mokey Mokey turbo! There was nothing I could side for! And when I asked one of the judges for what the most dominant deck was right now, he just stared at me.

"The deck is a reflection of the duelist, so there wouldn't be a most dominant deck. If you've gotten this far you should know this by now." Bullshit! Industrial Illusions needed to make better cards so that people would buy them! Therefore resulting in a dominant deck and creating a coherent meta. I mean it was the Anime-verse and all but still! The reality that this world came to was ridiculous.

"Finalists David Chen and Harry Klein please come to Arena 1. I repeat, David Chen and Harry Klein to Arena 1. Thank you." The fact that I got to the finals already spoke volumes to me. I got up and made my way to my final destination, oozing with confidence.