The last time I touched a Yugioh Deck and tried to play with it was when my friend and I parted ways. It was the last we were to ever meet and we had to make it memorable. I forget his name, but I could never forget his kind smile, the laughter, and joy we had when he dueled, but above all the time he took into helping me understand and play the game better than I ever could... That was a long time ago; he left with a sad goodbye, but not before we exchanged cards one last time. There, I exchanged a monster card for his spell card. A simple level three effect monster for one Magical Cylinder. Maybe not the best trade of all times, but it had meaning for us back then. His face was still confused like before at why I wanted that card so much. I could never get my hands on any card I truly wanted, but a card like this can slide by my parents and still be kept in my possession. After all these years, that was a card I could never part with. Just like another card I got on my birthday because of him.

It was a long time before I would hear of him again, not by name but just his playing style. He used a unique style. Very different from other Duelists. By chance, I heard that he would be participating in a local Yugioh Card tournament while browsing through the card section. I was debating whether I would save up or go and buy a new set of cards. This tournament got me interested, but not to participate, not by a long shot. Didn't have enough card to make a deck. Not even possess a consistent theme. Making plans to go and watch this with permission from my parents took some time by here I was, watching the first round matches go.

This tournament was small but it was exciting to see the guys go at it. Since I was the only girl there, I had to shrug off the flirting and focused instead on the duel. Despite me never playing the game for a while, I was aware of most of the rules and summoning methods - the only one I was still figuring out was the new Pendulum summoning - but for the other ones, I knew how they worked. Doesn't mean I liked to use them or look forward to watching them in action. Though mostly, I was pretty decent at Synchro and Fusion from what I've remembered. Ritual nor XYZ was to my liking despite how easy they were.

As time past, I found myself still stuck in the first round and no sign of my old friend in sight. If he were to be here already, I thought we'd already see each other. It would surely be a huge surprise for him and we'd finally catch up. Sadly not a single person here was him and I decided to take a seat next to another guy who was shuffling his deck. I didn't pay attention much to him as I took the seat, but I decided to pull out the Magical Cylinder Card he gave me. It was still treasured for being the past card he gave me; there was no way I would easily give this up. Even if the card was damaged alongside the other missing ones from my collection.

"Hey, that's Magical Cylinder?" The guy next to me asked; his voice sounding strangely familiar. "Haven't seen an ancient card like that in a long while."

"...Oh! You're talking to me. Yes, yes this is," I smiled a bit while still watching the duel, but now was started to glance to the card. Then again, I was the only one at this table. "It's a parting gift from an old friend of mine. Not a boyfriend. Just a guy who was a friend. He helped me get into Yugioh. As in the game and not the show. Was already into the show before he came around."

"Oh really? I'd like to meet him if I had the chance." He seemed to be acting nice, but I didn't want him to get too comfortable.

"I was hoping we'd meet up again here after all these years, but it seems like he didn't turn up." I sighed as I pocketed the card.

"I'm sure you will meet him again someday. He has to meet up with you again somehow."

"When I can't even remember his name in this huge world? It will take some kind of miracle for that to happen."

"Well, looks like my turns up next. Nice talking to you."

"You too."

Once he got up and walked away, I glanced over at his now empty seat only to find a Yugioh card resting in the middle of the table. Taking a quick look around, I decided to pick up the card after getting no response from the other guys in the shop. Turning it over from the normal back cover, I was befuddled at just the notion that the other side had a strange picture design to it. All I could tell was that it was a spell card and nothing more.

"What kind of card is this?" I asked, "This one-!"

I was cut off by a bright source of light that burst forth from the card. Covering my eyes, I lowered them once it receded to see what just happened only to find that I was no longer in a shop. In fact, taking a quick look at my surroundings it didn't seem I was anywhere I recognized. A sharp pain shot through my head as I grasped the card; was I having a headache now of all times?

Looking around, I seemed to have ended up on some dock with all the storage crates and warehouses open and unattended at the moment. Shaking my head, I strolled over to water in hopes of maybe figuring out where exactly and then call for my parents to pick me up. As soon as I was by the edge of the dock and decided to look down into the water, my body nearly jolted back and fell to the ground at what I saw.

What I saw… Was not me… Yet was me. I don't know what just happened or how my appearance changed, yet my quick look around of myself and reexamination from the reflection clearly crushed all my doubt and told me this was really happening. My appearance was still a teenager, though it didn't change the age looking the part of my look. Short purple/iris hair that just was above my shoulders alongside the cloud gray bangs that decided to sweep mainly to the left of my face and then some to my right for my face. This left my emerald eyes to remain untouched but visible once again. A long sleeve pale blue shirt was underneath a black open leather jacket with a white furry hoodie inside, gray pants, and black, white and pink tennis shoes. The laces were a solid white and the white socks underneath reached pretty high - nearly to my knees in fact. A golden necklace with a star charm hanging and in the center was an amethyst embedded inside.

"The hell is going on?!" I asked before I felt my brown belt and the side compartments, "Wait a second!"

Still, with the strange card in my hand, I found myself having a full Yugioh Deck, strangely different and brand new looking. Most looked pretty new compared to the limited recognizable cards. Otherwise, I had a cell phone, wallet, apartment keys, and a duel disk that suddenly appeared for me - or rather the strange card that brought me here decided to spit out one for me. It looked weird; having the appearance of a dark purple coloring and normal black screen without any place to put the cards down at all.

In order to better understand just what was going on and where I was, the information on my cell phone seemed to be normal in terms of what should be in there. The only thing missing was any access to normal websites or numbers of my parents. Nothing about Yugioh was on my phone anymore - which sent shivers down my spine.

"Just what is going on here?" I looked at the strange spell card before shaking it, "Hey! Take me back home! Come on!"

After shaking the card for who knows how long, I groaned before shoving the card back into one of the compartments and feeling that the Magical Cylinder trap in that same place. Taking it out, I looked and noticed that it stayed the same as before, but I swore something was different. Shrugging, I pocketed everything before walking the way where it seemed civilization would be.

And sure enough, this world was truly strange.

Walking around for what seemed to be a long time, I found myself unable to even use my phone to get any sense of the location I was currently trapped in. Eventually, I had exited the docks and finally found a city with actual people and life in it. When I kindly asked for the location from anyone, they would at me like I'm insane and then they'd go off on a popular card game.

That is how I came to the conclusion that I was in a Yugioh Alternate Universe/World of some kind.

It was nagging me why I got the trading cards and the duel disk and only then did it confirm that I'm in a Yugioh world. Which one I wasn't too sure but looking at my surroundings my heart immediately sunk. I had no idea which dimension or world this was or even if it was real and tangible. People kept talking about all sorts of summoning and Action Duels and never once did they mention where this place was. There weren't any clues as to which one I was in so I had no luck in guessing where I would be on the timeline. Definitely not like I fell into Domino City or Duel Academy.

So after grabbing a bite to eat and looking through my strange new deck, the city streets is where I wonder and it looked like this was a recreation of a city back on Earth. If I had to guess, it was along the lines of a big city that was built for the trading card game. Action Duels arenas, schools that taught the worldwide card game all were present in this city so I had no conclusion as to where this was.

"Man, at this point I would think to call this city The Twilight Zone if nobody can give me a direct answer to what this place is called!" I groaned before I pulled out the weird spell card again, "Why can't I just use this to bring me back? Obviously, it can bring whatever it likes but why not bring me back home?!" Just as I lowered the card down from my face to look up, I found lost in this weird city and all alone. "Oh come on! Can't this trip get any worse!?"

I tugged at my own hair to relieve some stress of mine. Ugh, this was getting too annoying! Why can't I get any directions or hints about anything around here? Geez, at this point I might as well just sit and wait for something to happen-!

My eyes widen, feet coming to a halt as three black blurs past by my side. Just what was that? Side-stepping on the sidewalk, I decided to casually lean against the covenant stone wall and pull out my phone. Guess I'll just have to eavesdrop on this little bit. Who knows? Maybe I can finally start putting the pieces together. A certain duo caught my eye. Almost like a couple.

"A triple Bullseye! 150 points!" What a strange male voice; sounds a bit too cocky for my tastes. And this brown-haired blonde banged male reminded me way too much of Shark. Scratch that - this privileged guy doesn't deserve to have that attached to his image. He'll be beside random generic douchebag of the day. "Pretty impressive, right?" Yep, totally going to stay in that category.

"Of course! Especially to popping an airhead!" And she was no better. Raven-like hair flowed down to her knees as light green fringes were present as well, leaving her orange eyes in view. The uniform she wore was strangely alike to what the other bully wore. A light blue shirt, red necktie under a gold and red lined jacket. Short red skirt, black stockings leading into white Mary Jane's… I was pretty sure she was from the same established school. That or they were siblings. Most likely not siblings by their behavior.

Though now while they chat, I guess it wouldn't hurt by getting a better look at them, unfortunately, the guy who became an unwilling target board. Besides the orange-yellow goggles upon his head… was it just my eyes deceiving me or did the coloration of his hair resemble a tomato? Guess that's something new for the Yugioh books of hair colorations. What's next, a pizza head?! Then again, this poor guy wasn't alone. Next to him was a girl with lots of pink in her hair. Seemed to be a close friend. Then comes the three younger kids by color: the blue boy, the red girl, and the green boy. Not sure why these kids were here but it could be the older two are friends with them or something.

"At the LDS Center Court!" The joy of one of the children's voice caught my attention, bringing me back momentarily.

"Why of course!" The female grinned. "We have got the Center Court reserved for the hour. It would all be a privilege for you to join us."

"LDS Center Court? Could they mean… Leo Duel School…?" My voice trailed off at the mention of that. Right, that is the rich school where you can go to learn how to play a children's card game. Just like what happened in GX but now I've got only an idea of what it could hold. If that happens to be elite and stupid as the Obelisk Blue students then I'm going to avoid it at all costs. Then again, this does seem to be more important than a random event. Haven't heard anything to prove it was more special. Though, maybe I can slide along and join them. Besides, if this is a Yugioh show then there are bound to be plot holes and things I can exploit. Until I find the main plot anyway; changing a few things on the side shouldn't affect things too much should it?

Putting my phone away, I saw the group running ahead of the LDS student, slowly trailing behind before stopping not too far away from me. Guess the girl was leading them to the building. Then strangely, he did a motion with one hand, like he was throwing another dart. "Everything's going to plan."

Welp looks like I was right. Does he even notice I'm just casually eavesdropping by and heard him? Doesn't matter now. Looks like I'm going to be snooping around LDS. And surprisingly they just let me in. Yep! Nobody asked questions or anything; the doors opened up and any doubt of getting punished flew out the window. It took a lot of my strength not to just burst out laughing as I strolled into LDS. Like seriously, you were letting a random stranger waltz into your institution. Wouldn't that raise concern? Somebody could drop off something dangerous and just leave without being checked once!

Mental note for the future: try and see if I could prank somebody without getting caught.

Though unfortunately I easily lost track of whoever that group was. Gave me time to learn about this place in exchange by the handy-dandy notices scattered about. Apparently, according to these notices, Leo Duel School was connected to a place called the Leo Corporation - oh geez, looks like Kaiba Corp doesn't apply to this world - with students only being brought by invitations. (At least I wouldn't have to see Kaiba smug face mock me. That, would be very awkward and embarrassing. Top-ranked institution for dueling alongside their motto being something like 'the best in facilities, lectures, and curriculum.' So this is just like the rich people's school to play a children's card game. Just great!

"Hey, Lady!" I suddenly jolted from my relaxed position on a free lounge to see a young kid looking at me. Crap, I forgot I was starting to doze off.

"...Huh? What wrong?" I groaned, covering my mouth with one hand to yawn.

"I don't think I've ever seen you here before. Are you an LDS student?" The kid asked and I couldn't help but notice the cyan hair of his, making him stand out compared with other students around here.

"Eh, not really. I just strolled right in and looked around. Wanted to see what the interest was about this place. You?" I asked, taking up less space while still up.

"Actually, I'm here to do the same thing!" He smiled with the pink lollipop of his clearly in view, "But I've also heard that a duel's going on the Center Court of this place. So I decided to go check it out!"

"Oh really?" So, this kid knows it was well and isn't an LDS student? Interesting… "Say, mind if I tag along to watch the Duel? If what you're saying is true, then it gives me a reason to not take a nap in the lounge. Besides, if we see an LDS student performs as well as people say they are outside of a learning class we can judge their skill."

"Of course! That sounds like a wonderful idea!" The cyan kid looked so happy before he suddenly stopped, "Say, we haven't introduced ourselves yet. I'm Sora Shiunin."

Sora extended his hand to me and I did reach out to shake his hand. Naturally, I responded without thinking too much about it. "I'm Lowell Ember, nice to meet you Sora." Something deep inside of me was telling me that this was the start of a journey that I doubt even I could predict.

To say watching the duel in the LDS Center Court was entertaining was an understatement. Sora and I managed to sneak in just as the Duel was heating up and boy was it interesting to watch. Not only did this give me a taste of what these Action Duel were, but a glimpse into this new summoning method - Pendulum Summoning. From what I could gather as the match went on, there were cards placed at the very edge of the Duel Disk and you could summon monsters between whatever the scale numbers were. And they were treated as Spells. Appears to be a way to Special Summon a ton of monsters from your hand at once by sacrificing those two monsters that remained on the scales. Yet just watching gave me a sense of déjà vu. Why would it give me this sensation?

Though back to the Duel itself, the two playing where Yuya Sakaki and Shingo Sawatari. The latter being the jerk and this was all I needed as proof. Yes dude, endanger a bunch of kids just to fill your ego that may result in their death. Truly this guy deserves to be a student of this prestigious and totally not corrupt school! Guess that means the management of this place is complete shit as well. Even have Miss LDS student encourage this behavior. Like, seriously!? Another reason to ditch this place once the duel is over. But this seems to be too much of a 'please watch me' moment than any other. I mean, this Sakaki kid was putting on a show with his monsters! That was pretty cool concept other that Sawatari's generic robots. Even when Yuya turned the tides, I couldn't help but be invested to see the finale to the battle. The ending move where the smug LDS student lost to a spider; genius!

Both Sora and I were quick to start heading down as the Solid Vision stuff was fading away. Seemed like this was the real duel stuff of Virtual Reality for Yugioh. That was such an exciting match that I wanted to meet this guy personally. We both had the same idea with this other teenager. Arriving at the bottom, it appeared the LDS student couldn't help but take an actual loss and we planning to do something about it. So one glance from Sora was all I needed and he rushed ahead. This kid was amazing with how his speedy launch knocking out all the other students before taking out Shingo himself.

"Man these guys, were just uncool until the end weren't they?" Sora said after the incredible show of his skill.

"I'd say." I couldn't help but come from behind clapping my hands, "Who knew some of greatest duelist at LDS are so butt-hurt they can't take a legitimate lose?"

"That-? Did you just-!?" Yuya began as he looked from one to another.

"You were really cool back there! Really impressed the both of us," I took this as my chance to step beside Sora. The faces of the group were quite a spectacle to behold.

"Are you two LDS students?" Tomato head couldn't help but ask.

I shook my head. "Not me; I was looking into finding a Duel School to check out and this was a stop. Though after that display, I know this isn't for me."

I swore one of the LDS people said something, but it was too low for me to hear.

"I was planning to but now I'm not," Sora admitted. "I'm going to become your apprentice!"

"What?!" I couldn't help but feel for them as I even had to bite my lip to prevent myself from screaming aloud.

Their confusion was downright hilarious so I had to cover my mouth to muffle some of my laughter. Sora seemed to pretty adamant about this choice and I knew eyes were slowly focusing on me.

"Isn't it true Lowell? Yuya would make the best teacher for me?" Sora turned to me as I lowered my mouth.

"...Well, if you want my honest opinion, I do think Yuya would be an interesting choice as a teacher. But that doesn't mean I'm going to jump aboard that ship," I folded my arms, "In all honesty, great showmanship Yuya Sakaki. I haven't felt that much joy in a Duel in a long while."

"Um… thanks?" Yuya didn't seem to know how to handle the comment, so I decided to go on.

"Welp, I've seen what all I needed to see here. Now, if you don't mind I'm going to head out. Have fun trying to get Sakaki as your teacher. I have a few things to figure out before I decide on my next course of action." I waved before turning away, "Have fun with your Pendulum Summoning Yuya Sakaki! Maybe we'll see each other real soon."

Now this, this was truly the start of something new.

Revision: 10/12/18

A basic clean up of Chapter 1 that has a more satisfying ending than the previous one. Minor fixes were done to make things more consistent with the rest of the story.