Venom's Quest: Chapter 1 – A Friend You Haven't Met

Starve Venom was a little disoriented at first when he and Yuri arrived in the Synchro dimension. He was having so much fun playing hide-and-seek with Yuzu a few moments ago. His silhouette had felt a little misshapen (a little like Kaiser Dragon's to be honest) but that hadn't stopped him from being his friendly fun-loving self. His venomous heart had filled up with so much love while getting to know Yuzu that he was about to give her an even bigger bear-hug than he had given Ruri and Rin. But just when he was about to seal their friendship, he and Yuri had been thrown into a weird dimensional vortex and had arrived in the middle of a busy highway a few moments later.

Of course Yuri had gotten right back on task following the professor's orders. Starve Venom wished he would just relax a little bit more. He had had fun with the game of hide and seek, but he always became so strait-faced when he wasn't with one of those girls. (Starve Venom made a mental note to find Yuri a girlfriend, that was probably what he needed right now.)

"We might find her in that stadium," said Yuri pointing to a large structure in the middle of a large body of water. "We can observe from the rooftop undetected and catch her when she's vulnerable."

Starve Venom, however, was occupied with something else.

"Before we do that," said Starve Venom speaking through his card, "let's help out those poor little children digging through the trash. I might not have great ingredients to work with, but I bet we could whip them up a delicious gourmet dumpster breakfast!"

Yuri suppressed a sigh, "Venom… were here to follow the professor's orders. We can't be wandering around helping every stinking person in every dimension or we'll get caught!"

"Oh I'm sorry," said Starve Venom blushing through the card, "but I can't help myself! I've gotta help people! I get this lovely tingly feeling in my toes, that wriggles up through my tail, flutters through my wings, tickles my venomous heart, and rises up through my neck till it drools out my multiple mouths!"

"I've been meaning to ask you," said Yuri looking around making sure they hadn't been spotted, "what is the point of you having, what, five mouths?"

"It's seven, " said Starve Venom smiling enthusiastically, "and it's so I can kiss seven people at once while giving many more a great big hug!"

Yuri smacked his forehead. He had chosen Starve Venom as his ace monster because of Venom's fearsome appearance and awesome card stats. Unfortunately, it turned out that Starve Venom was probably one of the least ferocious monster cards in all of duel monsters!

"Look Venom," said Yuri trying to sound reasonable, "I know you're a nice guy and you just want to help people, but these people are our enemies. We can't try being friendly if they're just gonna get in our way."

"Oh no Yuri my good friend," said Starve Venom wagging his finger at Yuri disapprovingly, "now what have I always said about 'enemies?' An enemy is just a…"

"Just a friend you haven't met!" said Yuri interrupting Starve Venom angrily. Yuri internally cursed his misfortune before settling on a plan that would placate Starve Venom for at least a few moments.

"Ok tell you what Venom," said Yuri leaping from Semi-Truck to Semi-Truck approaching the duel palace stadium, "If you help out your old buddy… befriend Yuzu, well go on an entire dimensional tour helping out all the sad children of this world."

Starve Venom could hardly contain his excitement within the confines of his card, "Really! You mean it Yuri!" he exclaimed with pure joy.

"Yeah sure, why not." Replied Yuri pretty sure this was going to be a promise he wouldn't keep.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWRRR!" screamed Starve Venom, which was his way of saying, "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!"

Venom's Quest: Chapter 2 – New Friends

Starve Venom had had an extremely exhilarating day. First he and Yuri had stopped at the duel palace to watch an exhilarating duel between two very nice people. Yuri had mostly been venting his frustration over failing to find Yuzu yet again, but Starve Venom didn't mind. There were so many nice people in the stadium having so much fun, it reminded Starve Venom why he always loved to help people so much. He couldn't see the actual duel very clearly from the stadium heights, but one of the duel monsters looked very familiar, like someone he had met in the fusion dimension…

But Starve Venom would have to figure that out later. Right now there were some people that needed Starve Venom's help. He and Yuri had walked into a dilapidated subway tunnel and found a poor little boy in a hoodie that looked like he had seen a ghost, a silly teenager and two dragons who had gotten themselves tangled up in a bunch of chains, a sweet little girl who just wanted to take a nap, and two of Starve Venom's old buddies from the fusion dimension, Barrett and Sora. Starve Venom was happy he had remembered to pack a few candy bars for his favorite blue-haired friend.

Yuri was looking very happy as well. He was smiling his bright, sunny smile, and he even did a fantastic front flip over the subway tracks.

"Well then," said Yuri still smiling his bright, happy smile while addressing the girl, "just capturing you wouldn't be any fun, so want to play a little?"

"Now Yuri," said Starve Venom a little concerned, "I like fun and games as much as the next person, but you've gotta let people take a rest occasionally. I mean, look at her. Poor girls probably been dueling so much all she wants to do now is take a nice little snoozle on the bench she's leaning against."

"Not now." said Yuri trying to maintain his composure while gritting his teeth. "I'm trying to capture, I mean… make a new friend here!"

"Well I am sure she will be happy to play with you once she's finished with her nap time," said Starve Venom enthusiastically, "but why don't you play with our old buddy Sora while you're waiting!"

"That candy munching, teddy bear ripping freak?!" groaned Yuri remembering the last time Starve Venom had arranged a play date between the two of them. Yuri swore there were still some old lollipops stuck between the folds of his cape.

"You too will have lots of fun together!" shouted Starve Venom encouragingly. "Why the last time you two hung out together, Sora walked right up to me and said, 'I wanna be just as ruthless as Yuri when I graduate.'" Starve Venom chuckled a little. "He was such a kidder back then, but he looks up to you as his role model so that's something to be proud of!"

"Yes," muttered Yuri sarcastically, "I'm just giddy with excitement knowing I have so many great fans."

"Come on," teased Starve Venom, "you know you want to."

"No!" Groaned Yuri.

"Come on." Starve Venom persisted.

"I said no!" said Yuri feeling like he was going to explode any second.

"I'll sing the friendship song until you do." Replied Venom clearing his throats (he could sing very well with seven mouths.)

"Venom, I swear to the Egyptian gods I will defuse you!" Shouted Yuri, momentarily losing his composure.

"Who're you talking to?" said Sora looking extremely confused.

"Forget it! I'm not dueling you!" Yuri snapped back at Sora.

Starve Venom started to warble:

"Oh friendship is a lovely thing!

It makes me dance, it makes me sing!

It touches my heart, it tickles my toes!

It flutters my wings and wiggles my nose!"

"All right fine!" shouted Yuri, veins pulsating on his forehead, "You! Candy freak!" he said addressing Sora. Trying the best he could to contain his anger, he continued, "Me… you… duel… now… I… win… take… Serena… take… Yuzu… all… over… freakin… all over! No more… Starve Venom… no more… Song!"

"Are you okay?" said Sora narrowly looking at Yuri with a bewildered expression, "You seem a little…tense."

"You, Me, Duel, NOW!" shouted Yuri whipping out his duel disk. He was about to draw his opening hand, when a glass window suddenly shattered right next to them. Whipping around, Yuri assumed a battle-ready stance only to relax when he saw who it was who had interrupted him.

"Oh hey Yuri." Said Starve Venom recognizing who it was, "It's that friendly motorcyclist from earlier! And isn't he just looking positively dandy in that white suit. I really wanted to talk with him earlier, but you cut us off too quickly with that violet flash of yours. But isn't it nice that he followed us all the way here! I bet he really wants to be our friend if he's that persistent."

"You know what venom," said Yuri grinning maliciously, "I could use a nice little friend like that as a punching bag right about now. But first, let's let Sora play with one of the Obelisk force's little pet doggies." He made a signal to one of the Obelisk Force soldiers who motioned for an Ancient Gear Hound Dog to leap forward. Starve Venom loved to play with the cute little robotic doggies, even if they could sometimes be a little overenthusiastic when it came to playing, "Fetch the Xyz Scum." Sora was gonna have a great time.

"Oh Yuri, you're so considerate when you want to be." Said Starve Venom beaming from his card.

"Yes, yes, I know." Replied Yuri facing the new challenger who was removing the visor from his helmet and glaring at Yuri with a look of unfathomable hatred.

"Do you know how long I've been waiting for this!?" asked the motorcyclist brimming with rage, "ever since that night you took Rin away!"

"Oh please," said Yuri brushing aside the comment with a wave of his hand, "it was just my job you know, there's no need to get mad at me for following orders."

"Now Yuri," chided Starve Venom, "he's very, very, very, very, VERY, upset. Now the key to resolving any conflict is…"

Yuri quickly stuffed the Starve Venom card deep into his pants pocket, muffling the sound of Venom's voice. Meanwhile, the motorcyclist continued his rant.

"Following orders? From whom?" asked the motorcyclist dumbfounded.

"The professor's, obviously." Replied Yuri smugly, still clamping his hand tightly over Starve Venom. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to bring Selena back immediately."

"Selena?" asked the motorcyclist looking around. Suddenly he caught a glimpse of the girl he had been dueling only moments before, "Wait, what are you doing here? Didn't you lose to me and get taken under ground?"

"Sure… thanks…" gasped Selena struggling against the nerve agent, "rub it in why don't you," she coughed a little, "just cause I let you get," another cough, "that action card." Selena's face turned green, "Ooooh, I think I'm gonna be sick." She collapsed on the bench again muttering something about strong independent black women.

Yuri's eyes widened with interest, "Lost? Selena did? Oh that's right." He turned to face the biker while the Ancient Gear Hound Dog playfully bit down on Sora's arm. "Sorry candy freak, but I'll be dealing with you later." He strolled towards the biker who had activated his duel disk with a battle-ready expression on his face.

"So," said the biker getting down to business, "finally up for it?"

"Yeah," replied Yuri enjoying the moment more every second, "I really don't want to leave a blemish on Academia's history… what was your name again?"

"It's Yugo," replied the biker, "and don't you dare make some joke about me using Fusion!"

"That's funny," said Yuri checking his duel disk, "it says on the screen your name is 'Hugo.'"

"Oh yeah!" well yours says…" Yugo quickly checked his bike screen, "Joeri?"

Yuri reddened, "You do realize you deserve to die, just for that, right?"

"Going first sucker!" retorted Yugo quickly drawing his opening hand. Yuri silently seethed while Yugo made a bunch of pointless moves with some duel monsters resembling Japanese toys. Fortunately, Starve Venom seemed to have found something else to do in his card world as he was a lot quieter than he had been previously.

"And now! For the sake of my dear comrade Rin, who you brutally kidnapped…" rambled Yugo performing some lame floopty doopty Synchro Summon. It was always so boring listening to these potential protagonists and their heroic speeches. "You kidnapped Rin!" "You had Dennis date Ruri behind my back and she enjoyed it!" "You stole Christmas in Standard!" and on, and on, and on, and…

"CLEAR WING SYNCHRO DRAGON!" screamed Yugo interrupting Yuri's internal monologue. Suddenly, a massive dragon, illuminated with radiant green and white light, glided onto the battlefield in a swirl of synchro dust. Yuri had to admit he was a little impressed.

"Sugoi!" exclaimed Yuri clapping his hands together after Yugo ended his turn. "Well then," he continued, "I guess I will have to go all out now." Yuri quickly glanced at his opening hand and inwardly screamed in horror. He had totally bricked with nothing but a bunch of useless predator plants monsters and no way to fusion summon whatsoever! All of his tough guy talk was going to look pretty lame if he didn't manage to draw Polymerization on his first try.

"Now don't worry," soothed Starve Venom's voice from Yuri's pants pocket, "If you just believe in the heart of the cards…"

"Don't you start that again!" snapped Yuri silently. Fortunately for Yuri, he had secretly slipped in about five extra polymerizations from his side deck into his main deck while no judges were looking. It had helped him win quite a few tournaments and it blew his mind how few people actually checked.

"Boku no turn!" said Yuri crossing his fingers, "Draw!" Yuri's pupils dilated in relief. He had, somewhat predictably, drawn polymerization.

Yuri could hardly contain himself. "I activate the magic card: Fusion from my hand, and fuse Predator Plants – Fly Hell and Predator Plants – Moray Nepenthes!" A swirling vortex of blue and orange energy materialized behind Yuri as two hideously twisted flowers with fang-filled jaws rose from the ground. Yuri began the fusion chant he had spent hours rehearsing in front of the bathroom mirror.

"Two beautiful flowers with a deadly alluring fragrance, join together and create a new terror from the hell that lies beneath your petals!" As the plants swirled into the center of the vortex, Yuri joined his hands together with a mad expression on his face and spoke the climax, "Yuugo Shokan! Come forth! Poison dragon with hungering fangs! Level eight, Starve Venom Fusion Dragon!"

The fusion portal continued to swirl behind Yuri like the loading screen of a slow PC. Yugo was starting to look a little confused and impatient from waiting for Yuri's monster to appear while Yuri was starting to sweat in embarrassment.

"Venom," whispered Yuri from the corner of his mouth, "where are you?"

"I'll be just a minute Yuri, don't worry." Replied Starve Venom cheerfully, "Just keep Yugo entertained for a teensy bit longer and I'll be right with you."

"If this is about me stuffing you in my pocket, look, I'm sorry!" whispered Yuri hastily, "but could you seriously stop making me look like a giant fool and get out here?!"

"Oh no Yuri, don't be silly, I'm not mad at you." Reassured Starve Venom. Yuri could hear typing noises in the background, "I'm just commenting on Ruri and Rin's Facebook pages."

"You have a computer in your card?" asked Yuri in confusion, "Wait! More importantly. Ruri and Rin have a computer?! With Facebook?! As in, a means to contact the outside world?!"

"Oh those two were kind of bored in their apartment rooms at Academia, so I decided to spice up their lives a bit by letting the three of us be Facebook buddies!" replied Starve Venom typing away on his computer. "I gotta tell you, Ruri and Rin are so high spirited sometimes. Oooh! Listen to this comment from Rin, 'Still stuck in Academia dealing with the worst dragon in history! #whereareyouYugoyoufreakinbaka!' Hah haah! Oh Rin you are such a kidder sometimes. Oooh!" exclaimed Starve Venom seeing a new comment, "This is from Ruri, 'This is a grave injustice! Dueling is not a tool for conflict. It is to make people happy through smiling!' You go girl! Definitely giving that one a like!"

Yuri furiously dialed the Professor's phone number on his duel disk, "Yeah, Professor? Hey buddy… what's up? … Well yeah, sorry to interrupt your Arc Area Project, but, you might want to kind of, check Ruri and Rin's cells just in case, oh I don't know, they've been given some," Yuri cringed, "unauthorized Facebook privileges."

Leo Akaba's voice furiously jabbered from Yuri's duel disk, "Yes…" replied Yuri cringing beneath the Professor's tirade. "No I had nothing to do with it… oh… right…" Yuri smacked his forehead with his palm, "Yes it's Starve Venom related. Yeah… okay… I'll keep him under control. Hail Academia." Yuri ended the call. He was going to have to do a lot of boring paperwork when he got back to Academia. Still, it could have been worse.

"Are you done yet?!" snapped Yuri turning his attention back to Starve Venom.

"Just a couple more… Oooh! Reiji wants to accept my friend request!"

"VENOM!"

"Oh all right Yuri." said Starve Venom getting ready. Remembering how much fun he had had the last time he materialized into the physical world, Starve Venom began summoning himself. It felt so great feeling the smiling joy-filled plants wrap their vines around each other in a friendship hug and merge together to give essence to his very being. As he emerged from the fusion portal, he was surprised to see just how lovely the world looked! There was the friendly biker Yugo looking all spick and span in his white riding outfit, Selena peacefully taking a cute little nap on the bench, Reira and Sora playing with an Ancient Gear Hound Dog who was currently giving Sora's arm a little love bite, and (and Starve Venom could hardly believe this) three new dragon buddies to befriend! Starve Venom felt a warm tingly feeling that crawled from his toes, wriggled through his tail, fluttered through his wings, tickled his venomous heart, rose up through his neck, and drooled out his seven smiling mouths. Starve Venom was smiling so hard, that the lower jaw on his facial mouth split in two just to accommodate his happy expression.

Yugo's heart skipped a few beats. He had been prepared to face just about any demon summoned by the monster that had heartlessly kidnapped Rin, but nothing could have prepared him for this. As he gazed upon the hideous shrieking form and soulless eyes of Starve Venom Fusion Dragon, he knew he was facing the physical embodiment of pure evil. A multitude of drool-filled mouths hissed in anticipation of their next victim, as if nothing could satiate the infinite hunger of this violet dragon monstrosity.

"Hey Yuri," whispered Starve Venom in excitement, "did you see that white dragon over there!"

"Yeah, yeah, Clear Wing Stink Dragon or something like that, what about him?" asked Yuri impatiently.

"Well I really want to befriend that guy," said Starve Venom twiddling his thumbs, "but he looks so fancy!"

"I don't care," snapped Yuri. He extended his hand toward Clear Wing, "Starve Venom Fusion Dragon, activate your effect! Destroy Clear Wing Synchro Dragon and his pathetic duelist right now!"

"Oh Yuri, you know I don't use the Super Silly Lovey Dovey Friendship Fun Times Beam unless it's an emergency!" said Starve Venom putting his claws on his hips.

"We agreed," replied Yuri, "Your ability is called the Fusion Death Beam!"

"Oh don't be silly Yuri, you little kidder you," Yuri cringed as Starve Venom leaned in to mess up Yuri's cute pink hair with a friendly noogie. "We'll find another way to make these people our friends. I know! I'll introduce myself to the Clear Wing over there. I'll just act really polite and high-class and he'll be beggin to be our new friend."

"EEEERRRRRRGGGHH!" Yuri groaned. It was going to be an extremely long and boring duel if Starve Venom wasn't going to attack. Their dragons were probably just going to stand around forever unless he and Starve Venom were somehow inexplicably teleported back to the Fusion Dimension by a random crazy bracelet girl or something like that.

"I know!" said Starve Venom getting another bright idea, "I'll speak to Clear Wing in a British accent! Fancy people love British accents!"

"Sure Venom," mumbled Yuri, "You go do that, you go do whatever you want."

"GREAT!" shouted Starve Venom clapping his claws together with joy. Approaching Clear Wing, he cleared his throat, puffed out his chest a little, and assumed a dignified pose, "Hello there my good sir." He said, carefully enunciating each word with his multiple mouths, "I dare say you must be Clear Wing Synchro Dragon. An indubitable pleasure to meet you my good sir, an indubitable pleasure indeed."

Yugo's jaw dropped. "Your dragon can talk?"

"Believe me," replied Yuri burying his face in his hands, "it's getting him to shut up that's the trick."

"By the way my good sir," continued Starve Venom, "I do say my associate and I are rather eager to get to know you and your companion better. What would you think of stopping by the Top's Central Park for a delectable cup of tea?"

Clear Wing's response was much less eloquent. Fuming with rage equal to Yugo's, he reared up and roared, "Rawr rawrawr rawr rawr rawr rawr Rawr Rawr RAAAWWRR!"

"You're gonna do WHAT with my skull?" gulped Starve Venom in shock.

"RAWR RAWR rawr rawr RAWR RAWRAWRAWR!" replied Clear Wing.

"The same thing you did to Moon-light Leo Dancer? WAIT!" gasped Starve Venom remembering the duel at the stadium, "You!? LEO DANCER!? DUELING!? I can't believe this… it's impossible…you were dating my girlfriend behind my back!?"

"Rawr?" asked Clear Wing stunned with confusion.

"Well I guess Leo Dancer can go out with whoever she wants," said Starve Venom wringing his hands feeling heartbroken, "it's just that… well… we had so many plans together! We were gonna travel the multiverse, build a house off the coast of Academia, create a new archetype of duel monster cards, (we were gonna name them 'Flower Kittens' they were gonna be so Kawaii!)"

"Rawr…" began Clear Wing.

"Now let me finish," interrupted Starve Venom, "because Leo Dancer is very precious to me and we had a good relationship going."

"She was never into you." mumbled Selena sleepily, "She told me herself. She just went out with you that one time because she felt bad for you. She's regretted it," Selena yawned, "regretted it ever since."

Starve Venom continued as if he hadn't heard, "Now if you're going be her new dragon, you'd better treat her like a queen. Her favorite food is Italian mice with catnip dressing, she enjoys long walks on the beach, dancing at the night clubs, her favorite song is "'A Small World After All…'"

"It's 'Moonlight Serenade!'" groaned Selena, "sheesh, did you listen to her even once?! Oh gosh…" she exclaimed, "the nerve gas is kicking in again." she muttered flopping back down on the bench.

"AND!" continued Starve Venom, "and this is very, very, VERY important, underneath her fierce exterior lies a very sweet anthropomorphic cat girl who wants to do nothing more than help the poor people from all the dimensions."

"Again!" corrected Selena, "that's NOT her hobby. That's YOUR hobby. HER only hobby includes kicking butt and taking names on the duel field!"

"So treat her like she's the very center of the multiverse!" admonished Starve Venom, "Because an amazing cat girl like Leo Dancer, deserves nothing less!"

Clear Wing was steadily turning redder and, well, less clear with every second of Starve Venom's speech. "Rawr rawr… rawr rawr."

"What?!" asked Starve Venom, "Oh so you're not really into her? Oh, I am so sorry for the misunderstanding! Why you were only doing a friendly duel in the stadium that whole time. Well in that case, there's this really sweet girl who I think is just perfect for you, her names Cyber Angel Vishnu. Now she can be a little edgy towards other Fusion Monsters, but I think you two will get along handsomely!"

"Venom, he is not interested in finding a girlfriend!" shouted Yuri steadily losing his mind.

"RAWR RAWR RAWR RAAAWR!" agreed Clear Wing assuming a battle stance.

"He's not going to be your friend Venom," shouted Yuri, "get him already!"

"Now Yuri," replied Starve Venom, "I know he's said he wants to tear off my legs to let me know how it feels to be him, not to mention threatened to do all kinds of other horrifically brutal things to the rest of my body, but…" and Starve Venom clenched his fist with determination, "no matter how much others might want to beat me up, I will still be their friend!"

At this declaration of undying friendship, Starve Venom felt a sudden change come over his body. Suddenly he felt somehow… connected with the other dragons in the room. It was as if all the love he had ever felt for the entire multiverse had built up inside him and was now emanating from his body in a shadowy mass of darkness. Yuri and Yugo were looking a little different as well. Their eyes were glowing and they were chanting something about finally becoming one. Starve Venom decided to join in on their chant.

"Exactly!" roared Starve Venom, "after all this time, we won't act like we're separate from each other. We shall join as one, and spread joy throughout all the multiverse! We'll be the best friends in history, we'll bring smiles to everyone, we'll conquer all evil with our love! We'll… oh hi Yuzu!"

Suddenly the entire subway was enveloped in a brilliant pink light. Before Starve Venom knew it, he was suddenly violently thrown backwards into a swirling dimensional vortex before getting sucked back into his card.

Yuri groaned in pain as he rubbed his head, "What the? What the heck happened?"

"Oh I think we just got thrown into one of those random dimensional vortexes again." Replied Starve Venom pulling out his laptop from the corner of his card. "those seem to happen a lot when we're with that Yuzu girl."

"Again!?" groaned Yuri. "I had that stupid Yugo on the ropes! If you had of just attacked when I told you to, then maybe we wouldn't have ended up in another one of these stupid vortexes getting warped to who knows where."

"Well," said Starve Venom ready to cheer his best friend up yet again, "I'm a little disappointed that we didn't manage to become friends with Yugo and Clear Wing and got sucked up into this vortex, but you know what I say?"

"Enlighten me," mumbled Yuri.

"When life throws you a dimensional vortex, you just gotta take that vortex by the hand give it a fruit-basket, and welcome it to your neighborhood!"

Yuri sighed in exasperation. "I am so defusing you when we get back.