I would like to thank Yay899, CelestiasDisciple, and Geminise for their prereading of this chapter.

Dreams are fickle things. They're fragments of your memories, haphazardly stuck together by your brain. Many who study the brain believe they're your mind's way of cleaning up, so that you can have a clear head the next day. And of course, countless people believe dreams have a spiritual component, revealing gateways to the spirit worlds or afterlife.

And as I learned one night, they also function as the preferred means of finding heroes for duel spirits.

"Rise, Japhlet Gershon. Hurry, we don't have much time." Something was shaking me, in an attempt to rouse me no doubt.

I blinked my eyes open, doing my wake-up ritual of stretching up before flopping back down. "That is the worst line to give someone who is a slow riser. Also," I muttered as my vision cleared and saw a young girl, clad with long red gloves, tall red boots, a pointy red hat, and a revealing red corset hovering above me. "I don't remember inviting anyone to stay the night. You're lucky you're cute; otherwise I would have already called campus security."

Then it occurred to me that the duel monster card, Apple Magician Girl, was hovering above me. "Okay, clearly I'm still asleep and having the strangest fantasy."

"Please don't talk about such things while I'm around. Your help is desperately needed to save the world of Duel Monsters."

"Even if there was some alternate reality where the whole 'Duel Monsters are magitech' thing existed, you've got the wrong soul to save it, I'm afraid. Since you're a Yu-Gi-Oh card, I'm guessing you're looking for some skilled duelist, which I'm not."

"You must trust me on this. You're the only one who can save our world."

"Look, I'm a statistician by trade, and that seems incredibly unlikely. You mean to tell me no one else anywhere in the world can save you? Also, what happened to Jaden, or Yugi, or Yuma? Just get them to save the world."

Now she was getting cross with me. "You are the chosen one; you must come with me. If you do not, our entire world shall be lost."

"How, exactly, am I going to save this alternate reality of yours?"

"Need I remind you to that, to me, you're from the alternate reality?" She huffed and crossed her arms. "Anyway, I'll send you to Duel Academy, where you'll enroll."

"Place is a damn magnet for villains and plots to take over the world, apparently," I muttered under my breath. "Why can't Jaden save the world? Lord knows he's done it enough times, why not one more?"

"This threat is not from within our universe, but from outside it. That is why we need you."

"What exactly is this threat?"

"In due time, but time is of the essence right now."

"But what about my life here? I have obligations here too, you know."

"Fear not. Your life here shall be preserved. You can even freely move between the two worlds."

"If I die there, will I die here? How much skin do I need to put in the game?"

"The fate of countless lives and souls are at stake, and you are concerned for your personal safety?"

"I have a life here. Family and friends I care about, far more than a universe I only just learned was real. Quite frankly, I could turn you down, wake up tomorrow, and even if all this is actually happening, I wouldn't lose much sleep over it."

For a pregnant moment, she said nothing. We just looked into each others' eyes. Slowly, I watched her eyes begin to pool with tears.

"…So be it." She closed her eyes, turned around, and began to fade from view.

Well, now I felt guilty. And, if I really was the only person who could save this reality, I had a moral obligation to help, didn't I? My required investment was already so low. I was going to keep every aspect of my life here, and I only needed to make sure I stayed alive. No small potatoes given I was going up against supernatural forces of light and darkness, but no one got to be a hero by doing nothing.

"Wait!" I cried before she fully disappeared. "I'm in. All in."

Suddenly, she rematerialized in full and swung back around. "Do you mean it?"

I nodded. "I'm in. I do have a few questions, though. Will I get to keep all my cards? I don't exactly use GX-era cards."

"Must you ask so many questions?" She sighed. "Yes, you may use all your cards, but it will be on you to answer the questions you will get should you use them."

"Will I keep my sleeves?"

"Your what?"

"My card sleeves. And deck boxes and binders, for that matter. No way am I walking around with unprotected cards."

Another sigh. "Yes, you will have those."

"Alright. So… what now?"

My answer was a wave of sparkles and magic from her wand.

"Honey, wake up. We're here."

I blinked my eyes open again, but this time I found myself in the car. Shaking myself awake, I patted myself down for my deck box. Sure enough, in the pocket of my hoodie was one of my deck boxes. A small grin on my face, I climbed out of the car, waved to my parents (in the Duel Monsters universe), and strolled over to the line. It was no short line, either; even though we had gotten early, dozens of kids were already in line, eager to enter the testing facility.

I did my best to tune out the chatter of the other applicants as I opened my deck box. Inside were my two favorite decks, Metaphys and Dinosaurs, snuggly sleeved. So the magician had kept her word. I breathed a sigh of relief. Truth be told, there was no way I would have been able to keep up with other duelists here without my favorite cards, and it didn't hurt that I had at least two decks that didn't exist anywhere else in this time and space. Still, I needed some good cover as to why I had cards no one else had. Actually, forget simply having unique cards - I had summoning methods that wouldn't exist for years.

Well, I could say I'm a time traveler from the future, come to stop a great evil. It wouldn't even be all that untrue. But who would believe me? I'd look like a loon, or a cheat with a bad cover story.

But what choice did I have? I wracked my brain for ideas, but nothing came. Oh well. I guess I'd burn that bridge when I got there.

Speaking of, I'd gotten to the sign-in table. A few signatures later, and I was on my way in for the written exam.

The written exams were surprisingly easy. Simple stuff like "List three ways to win other than reducing your opponent's Life Points to zero" and "What is the Spell Speed of a Counter Trap?" I was just glad they didn't have anything particularly hard like deck construction theory.

While taking the exam, I scanned the room for familiar faces. Any sign of the protagonists I knew from the show. Unfortunately, I didn't see anyone recognizable. Perhaps it was for the best. I would get tangled up with them soon enough. Right now, I had an exam to pass.

The written exam came and went uneventfully, to my relief. Now was the fun part. It was time to see if I could pass the practical exam - without drawing attention to myself.

"Japhlet Gershon, to Arena Three, please."

That was my cue. A brisk walk down, a quick check of my deck, and I was set… once I managed to squeeze my deck into the duel disk. Sleeving my cards might have kept them safe, but they did not make for easy duel disk use.

"I'm going to need to do something about that later," I muttered to myself. Still, I stood at attention, and nodded at my proctor, an aging man with a black vest on a while button-down.

"Good afternoon. My name is Dr. Drake Russo, and I'll be your proctor for today's exam. As a reminder, you do not need to win to pass, but it certainly looks better. Are you ready?"

"Well, it's too late to give up now. Your opponent is me!"

Duel Start - Dr. Drake Russo versus Japhlet Gershon

Turn 1 - Dr. Russo

Dr. Russo - 4000 LP, 5 Cards in hand

Japhlet - 4000 LP, 5 Cards in hand

Dr. Russo drew his card. "I'll go first. First, I'll-"

"Hey, what are you on? It's the first turn!"

"Yes, what about it?"

Oh, I had forgotten people here drew on the first turn. That was going to throw me for a loop several times before I got used to it.

"Never mind. Slight rules difference from where I come from. People don't draw on the first turn back home."

"Interesting. We'll have to teach you how to duel properly if you're accepted. Anyway, I summon Memory Crusher in attack position, and set two facedowns. It's your turn."

I rolled my eyes internally. Yeah, I was the one who needed to be taught how to duel properly here.

Memory Crusher (1000 ATK/600 DEF)

Turn 2 - Japhlet

Dr. Russo - 4000 LP, 3 Cards in hand

Japhlet - 4000 LP, 5 Cards in hand

"It's my Draw Phase, so I draw."

I looked over my hand. Unfortunately, I had drawn into a pretty bad brick. My only monster was a Level 6, not even a part of my archetype, and I had no searchers for monsters in hand. All I could do was cycle my hand and hope for a monster.

"Alright, let's have a little more excitement. I activate Terraforming, which lets me search my deck for a field spell. And I'm looking for an X-Factor. Or rather, a Metaphys Factor, which is added to my hand. But why stop there? I activate Metaphys Factor!"

The duel arena around us was shrouded in a stardust-purple glow. The professor raised an eyebrow at me. "Well, it's not every day I see a card I've never seen before, and I've been dueling for over thirty years."

I smiled back. "Glad I could show you something new. Here, I'm allowed to normal summon Metaphys monsters without a tribute, but they're banished at the end of your turn. But that's not very pressing right now, when I have two copies of Asymmetaphys to activate!"

When had I started shouting and narrating everything I was doing? Oh, right, I had always done that when I dueled. Must have watched too much anime growing up. Besides, it was fun to ham it up. And at least here, the stakes were on par with the cheese.

"Now I'll activate the effect of one of my Asymmetraphyses to banish another copy of Asymmetaphys from my hand so I can draw one card. And I drew… Metaphys Nephthys!" What a relief. If I hadn't drawn a monster, I would have taken at least 2500 damage from Memory Crusher, and that was discounting any other cards. "But before I can summon him, I got a few more effects to resolve - the effects of my two Asymmetaphyses. Whenever a Metaphys card I own is banished during my turn, all non-Metaphys monsters lose 500 ATK and DEF points. And since I have two copies of Asymmetraphys out, that doubles to a thousand-point reduction for your Memory Crusher."

Memory Crusher (1000 ATK/600 DEF - 0 ATK/0 DEF)

"With that out of the way, I summon Metaphys Nephthys - without a sacrifice necessary thanks to Metaphys Factor."

Metaphys Nephthys (2400 ATK/1600 DEF)

"I enter my Battle Phase. Metaphys Nephthys declares an attack on your Memory Crusher! Metaphysical Phoenix Flare!" Purple flame engulfed my monster as it eyed the proctor's fiend.

Dr. Russo smirked at me. "Now see here! I activate my trap card, Doble Passe. When you declare an attack on a face-up attack position monster I control, I change your attack target to me instead!" As the flames shot out of Nephthys' wings, they arced around the Memory Crusher and struck Dr. Russo instead.

Dr. Russo LP 4000 - 1600

"I should thank you, young man. Because you reduced my Memory Crusher's ATK to zero, I took no extra damage compared to battle between our two monsters, and my monster is safe."

"But you lose out on Doble Passe's second effect, which deals your monster's attack points to me in effect damage. With Memory Crusher's ATK at zero, I take no damage."

"But if you know about Doble Passe's second effect, then surely you remember it's third effect, which means now Memory Crusher gets to attack you directly on my upcoming turn. And Memory Crusher has a special effect when it attacks directly."

"Well, before that, I'll set a card, then I end my turn."

Turn 3 - Dr. Russo

Dr. Russo - 1600 LP, 3 Cards in hand

Japhlet - 4000 LP, 1 Card in hand

"I draw." The proctor drew his card, and nodded at his draw.

"Yeah, and now that it's your Standby Phase, I'll activate my Metaphys Dimension trap card! It won't do anything right now, but it'll kick in soon."

"Well, now it's my first Main Phase, and I normal summon the Goblin Recon Squad."

Goblin Recon Squad (1700 ATK/0 DEF)

"And as for my Battle Phase, I'll have Memory Crusher attack you directly!"

The fiend flew past my phoenix and straight at me, taking a swipe. I winced in pain, as is the proper protocol for holographic combat.

Japhlet LP 4000 - 3000

"And from my hand, I'll activate the quick-play Sebek's Blessing! Now I gain life points equal to the battle damage you took, so I'm up a thousand points."

Dr. Russo LP 1600 - 2600

"And now Memory Crusher's effect activates, dealing 100 damage for each monster in your Fusion Deck. I count fifteen monsters, so that's another 1500 points of damage!"

The man didn't need to know my Extra Deck didn't have a single Fusion Monster. Not yet.

Japhlet LP 3000 - 1500

"I should thank you, young man. Because you reduced my Memory Crusher's ATK to zero, using Doble Passe didn't cause me to take any extra battle damage, and I still kept my monster safe."

"I'd like to point out you spent three cards to deal only one hundred more damage than I did with only one card. You might have dealt a little more damage, but I'll trade a hundred life points down for two cards up in card advantage any day." Dropping technical statements like that was a bit on-the-nose, but hopefully it would make me look good from an examination standpoint.

"Ahh, but life gain is another form of card advantage, isn't it? After all, more life points means more breathing room to draw cards."

"That may be true, but it's a way worse form of card advantage. If my monsters have enough attack points, your life point won't net you any extra time."

"Well, let's make sure I have that extra time, then. I activate my face-down card, Gravity Bind! Now monsters Level 4 and above cannot declare attacks. And I'm willing to wager you don't have too many monsters that fit the bill."

"No, but I have plenty enough backrow removal to deal with that. I hope you didn't pin your entire strategy around that one card."

"Certainly not, and to prove it I'll set another card face-down before ending my turn."

I held my hand out, finger extended to pause him. "Since now it's the end phase, Metaphys Nephthys is banished due to the effect of Metaphys Factor. But don't worry, he'll be back." Metaphys Nepthys flew into the sky and vanished.

"And now that a Metaphys card I own has been banished, the effects of my three face-up backrow cards are triggered! I'll resolve Metaphys Dimension first, which lets me banish one of the cards you control. So say goodbye to your Gravity Bind!" A vortex opened up underneath the card, sucking it in and away.

"And now the effects of my Asymmetraphyses activate! Whenever a Metaphys card I own is banished on my opponents turn, the battle position of all non-Metaphys monsters switches! So the first one switches both your monsters to defense mode, and the second switches them back to attack mode."

"So we're going in circles now?"

"Hey, that's pretty important, because with your monsters in attack position, if I topdeck the right card, I'm going to win this upcoming turn!

"…Topdeck?"

Turn 4 - Dr. Russo

Dr. Russo - 2600 LP, 2 Cards in hand

Japhlet - 1500 LP, 1 Card in hand

Before I drew, I puzzled over the state of the game. He had two monsters, both relatively weak, but protected by his face-down. Knowing where I was, it was probably a battle trap to negate my attack and probably do something unpleasant to me, too. I would still win the long game, but I had just predicted my victory this turn, and I didn't want to make a liar out of myself.

"Ore no… tan!"

I looked at my draw - Unmasked Dragon. A grin spread across my face.

"You lose, professor."

The professor inclined his head at me. "Is that so?"

"Let's find out together, shall we? In the Standby Phase after it's banished, Metaphys Nephthys is shuffled back into my deck, and I'm allowed to add a Metaphys monster from my deck to my hand other than another copy of Metaphys Nephthys. So I'll add Metaphys Daedalus to my hand."

I paused. In order for my plan to work, his face-down had to be a battle trap, or at least a trap that wouldn't stop a summoning like Bottomless Trap Hole. If he did stop my summon, then I'd be left wide open for an attack, and without a trap in my deck that stopped battles, I would be done for. I could remove the trap by banishing Metaphys Daeadlus right now, but then my plan wouldn't work, and I couldn't win this turn. The smart play would be to play it safe, and win in the following turns.

Oh well.

"All in! I normal summon Unmasked Dragon! Response?"

A pregnant pause. "No." Was the professor… smiling?

Unmasked Dragon (1400 ATK/1100 DEF)

I returned the expression. "Now I activate the effect of one of my Asymmetaphyses, and banish Metaphys Daedalus from my hand to draw one card! But more importantly, the effects of both my Asymmetraphyses kick in, and all non-Metaphys monsters lose a total of 1000 ATK and DEF points!"

Memory Crusher (1000 ATK/600 DEF - 0 ATK/0 DEF)

Goblin Recon Squad (1700 ATK/0 DEF - 700 ATK/0 DEF)

Unmasked Dragon (1400 ATK/1100 DEF - 400 ATK/100 DEF)

"Furthermore, the effect of my Metaphys Dimension also triggers, and I can banish one card you control! So I'll send your face-down backrow to the stars!" A crack appeared across the card, warping it away - but not before revealing its identity: Negate Attack.

I grinned. "Now you have nothing to stop my attacks."

The professor shook his head. "It seems you made a mistake. Had you summoned Unmasked Dragon after you banished your monster, it would have hit the field at full strength, and you could have destroyed my Goblin Recon Squad. But now it's had its strength reduced too, and my Goblin Recon Squad is still stronger."

"Exactly."

"Huh?"

"I enter the Battle Phase! Unmasked Dragon declares an attack on Goblin Recon Squad! Unmasked Blaze!"

"But my Goblin Recon Squad has more attack points! Your dragon will be destroyed!"

Sure enough, the goblins pounded my dragon.

Japhlet LP 1500 - 1200

"The effect of Unmasked Dragon activates! When it's destroyed in battle and sent to the Graveyard, I'm allowed to special summon a Wyrm monster with 1500 or fewer DEF from my deck. And I choose my Metaphys Armed Dragon!"

Dramatically, I pointed to the sky.

"Now comes the reincarnation of a legendary dragon!

Witness the transcendent power of a new reality!

Appear from ether! Metaphys Armed Dragon!"

Metaphys Armed Dragon (2800 ATK/1000 DEF)

"But why didn't you just add him to your hand at the start of your turn? With Metaphys Factor, you could have summoned him without a tribute and attacked for game."

"Surely you're not this dense, professor. Had I done that, you would have stopped my attack with Negate Attack, and then you'd be in a position to topdeck a game-winning card."

The man smiled and shook his head. "Well, don't just stand there, young man. Finish the duel."

"With pleasure. Armed Dragon declares an attack on Memory Crusher! Cosmic Claw Slice!"

Mr. Russo LP 2600 - 0

I walked up to the proctor as the holograms faded to shake his hand. "Thanks for the duel."

He took my hand and shook it. "It was a pleasure. I hope to see you at Duel Academy."

I smiled. I knew I was in.