Chapter Text
Avery will admit that his first thought on seeing the guy who handed Daigo a random weekend beatdown is ‘he doesn’t seem like much’.
He knows he has to be something at least a little special if the captain went to the trouble of setting up an official school event just to create the possibility of him showing up, but the guy leaning against the team office cabinets is not it. Avery was thinking something more dramatic– y’know, someone flashy. Leather jacket and studded belts, the classic Duelist fare ever since the original King of Games pinned the gothic kei look.
That’s the polar opposite to what he’s wearing. Plain blue jacket and grey cargo pants, he's just… some guy. No Duel Disk no nothing, not even a cool hairstyle. If he didn't know better he'd say he didn't play Duel Monsters at all.
He looks like the type of guy that only stays on campus for classes before immediately leaving. If he was gonna be rude about it Avery would say he’s the kind that makes no friends and becomes violently depressed as a grad student because he doesn’t talk to anyone.
But he is the guy, that much is very obvious. No other reason Daigo would let someone in the team office when it's usually locked.
“I'll have to say no.” Mystery Duelist's voice is just as forgettable as the rest of him, but there's a weird gravity to it that makes him want to listen more. “I don't have time for something like that. Shouldn't you consult with your team before making those types of decisions anyway?”
“It's fine,” Daigo says, voice light but still weighted in a way Avery doesn’t think he’s heard before. Kinda like when he and Derek try coaxing the stray cats in the alleyway behind the apartment building. Now he’s really curious about what’s so special about this Duelist. “We can meet up after class if you don’t mind me crashing your hangouts.”
Avery tilts his head. Everything he's heard has been weirdly phrased– does Daigo actually want to add a 6th member? He thought that was an excuse, not the actual cause.
“Isn't the reason we kept missing each other on campus because our classes don’t match?”
“Mostly because you just leave right away,” Daigo replies dryly. “I promise socializing doesn't bite.”
That feels like a good time to announce his presence. Avery raps the side of the open door, drawing two sets of peepers, and oh boy.
The guy’s eyes look like they came from a corpse who sat back up and kept walking.
Well, that's rude, but it's not like saying he has dead fish eyes is any better. There's just… No light to them at all. No spark, no life, nothing that shows the occupant inside is aware of the world around him. Someone could tell Avery they belonged to some cursed plush sitting in a shop somewhere and he’d believe them, but even those would shine from plastic or glass.
Jeez, he knows academics can get rough for the achievers, but this is taking it too far. Also, the hell was Daigo saying about white highlights? He doesn't have those at all!
“Avery?” Daigo looks confused, as he should be when he knows he doesn’t go to campus this part of the week. “You don’t have class today.”
Avery shrugs and leans against the doorway. “Had something to ask an advisor, office hours, y'know. Dropped by to see if anyone was here.”
Mystery Duelist keeps staring, expression completely unchanged. He hasn't even blinked yet. It's not that the guy's uncomfortable or scared (alright maybe a little scared?) but his default just seems to be a total poker face. Either that or he zoned out right in front of him.
Daigo evidently thinks he'll continue doing this if nothing's done about it, because he gestures vaguely between them. “Rei, this is Avery, part of Team Colorist. Avery, this is Rei, a friend of mine.”
He gives him a lazy two-finger salute. “Nice seein’ ya. You're the one that beat the captain black and blue, right?”
Amid Daigo's groaning of ‘please stop bringing that up’, Rei’s only reaction is a slow blink and a nod.
Ohh, he gets it now. He's pretty much exactly like the ‘depressed antisocial grad student’ comparison. Any regular Duelist would take the reminder of defeating Daigo with pride, but Rei seems like he values his wins less and losses even more so.
Well, if he can handle Derek, he can figure someone who emotes less than a brick wall.
“Cool! Wanna play a pickup game?” Avery asks to fill the silence. “I’ve got some time before I feel like heading out.”
“… a Concentration Duel?”
He has to run that over in his head for a few seconds. That is a literal meaning of ‘pickup game’. “Nah, just a regular Duel. Table, not field,” He hastily tacks on when something about Rei starts feeling like he'll dive out the window to avoid it. “Haven’t got my Duel Disk with me anyway.”
The hackles lower. Avery still feels like he’s said something he shouldn’t have. Daigo's eyes are darting between the two of them like he's worried mister cryptid will go for the throat.
“Sure,” Rei says, and pulls out a chair before things get any more awkward. “Single or best of three.”
Avery didn’t actually think he’d say yes. He can see fine tremors shaking Rei’s arms as the guy reaches down and withdraws a deck of Duel Monsters from a hidden holster.
Well… if he thinks he’s fine enough to duel, Avery won’t be the one to tell him no. He’s responsible for the offer in the first place.
Daigo exhales in relief as Avery sits down across from Rei and pulls out his own deck. “I’ll leave you two to it, I need to go get some lunch,” He says as they both shuffle. “I’ll be back soonish.”
The door clicks shut. Rei plucks some dice from the side of the table and lets them fall out of his palm, the sides clacking against each other.
3 and 2.
Avery scoops and rattles them in his caged hands for a few seconds before letting them clatter to the wooden surface.
6 and 1.
“I'll be first, yeah?” Avery asks as he reaches across the table to cut Rei's deck.
The guy himself makes a vague sound of acknowledgement as he cuts Avery's deck in thirds. “Duel.”
“Duel!” Avery chirps, drawing his hand.
Rei
4000 LP
Avery
4000 LP
Ooh, it's a pretty good one. He’ll admit he doesn’t have the patience for table duels usually, but he can see XX-Saber Garsem, X-Saber Airbellum, two X-Saber Palomuro, and At One With The Sword. There's a simple path here with Garsem, and he can send out Airbellum next turn. Maybe Palomuro if he really has to, but he doesn’t want to lose Life Points yet.
“I draw!”
And that’s even better, getting XX-Saber Boggart Knight on his draw. The vague outline of a plan forms as he looks up across from him.
Damn, that's one hell of a poker face. Rei looks completely calm as he organizes his hand to some specification Avery doesn’t know, cool as a cucumber with no way to tell if he got a bad set of cards to work with.
The only thing he knows about Rei's deck is something about a really rude dolphin. Daigo didn't give any more specifics, but Avery knows the card pool is big enough that it's not helpful.
Main Deck? No, Daigo wouldn't have been annoyed by it otherwise. Has to be a Synchro Monster.
“I Normal Summon XX-Saber Boggart Knight in Attack Position.”
XX-Saber Boggart Knight ✪✪✪✪
1900 ATK / 1000 DEF
He taps on the effect box. “Since it was Normal Summoned, I get to Special Summon a Level 4 or lower X-Saber from my hand.”
Hmm… not a Palomuro. Garsem is a good option, but it’s honestly a waste given it won’t get a chance to pump itself up.
“I choose X-Saber Airbellum in Attack Position.”
X-Saber Airbellum ✪✪✪
1600 ATK / 200 DEF
Maybe it would've been better to put Boggart Knight in Defense Mode, but this way he has two options for At One With The Sword. “I set one card facedown and end my turn.”
“Draw for turn.”
Rei's face still doesn’t change as he glances at the new card. He plays it only a few seconds later.
“I play the Field Spell Umi. All Machine and Pyro monsters lose 200 Attack and Defense, all Fish, Sea Serpent, Thunder and Aqua gain 200 Attack and Defense.”
Field Spell first, of course. Avery says nothing, used to the bait-and-switch done by everyone who learned at Duel Academia or through bitter experience. Even though he has nothing to respond with, the bluff of a facedown card can sometimes be enough against impatient Duelists.
"I activate the Spell Card White Reincarnation from my hand. When it's activated, I can add a Fish monster with an effect that treats itself as a Tuner from my Deck to my hand."
Avery’s eyes widen and he nearly stands up in his haste to peer at Rei’s side of the board, now with a Continuous Spell that bears a strange white whale leaping out of the sea. Rei barely looks up, searching his deck.
He’s never heard of that card before. What the hell is ‘an effect that treats itself as a Tuner’? He thought only that old, unusable Spellcaster card had that attribute, and Industrial Illusions never printed that effect again because the prominence of Synchro Summoning reared its head not a month later. There’s absolutely no way they would ever print it on a modern card for the world to discover.
Wait, Fish? This is a Fish deck he’s fighting?
“I add White Sunfish to my hand.” Rei shows him a card he’s also never seen before, some sort of mola mola, before shuffling again. “Cut or tap.”
Avery cuts the deck in half, but there’s dread settling over his shoulders he can’t really shake.
Nobody plays Fish. Nobody. Sea Serpent, Thunder, even Aqua– those see play. He knows someone with a Sea Serpent deck managed to win US Nationals a few years back, but that Duelist hasn’t shown up again. Fish? The only explanation is that Rei has a full set of viable cards.
Avery’s hand was incredibly good. He’s starting to think it won’t save him if he can’t get past this turn.
“I activate White Sardine’s effect from hand. I send a copy from my deck to the Graveyard to Special Summon the one in my hand.”
Back in the deck Rei goes, quickly tossing the card to his Graveyard zone before shuffling again.
White Sardine ✪✪
800 ATK / 0 DEF
↓
1000 ATK / 200 DEF
“I activate White Sunfish’s effect from hand. I target a Level 4 or lower Fish in my Graveyard with the same name as a card I control, then Special Summon this card, and if I do I Special Summon that targeted monster as well.”
White Sunfish ✪✪✪✪
1200 ATK / 1000 DEF
↓
1400 ATK / 1200 DEF
White Sardine ✪✪
800 ATK / 0 DEF
↓
1000 ATK / 200 DEF
Hm. Nothing here can beat Boggart Knight, just Airbellum, so these must be for a Synchro Summon.
“I use Level–”
“What? You don’t have a Tuner yet,” Avery interrupts, squinting at the Sunfish and Sardine cards. No, none of them have ‘Tuner’ above their text box.
Rei holds up the White Sardine he just placed from his Graveyard. “If any Whitefish is Special Summoned from the Graveyard, I can treat it as a Tuner for the turn.”
It takes a second for Avery to process that, but the implications strike like a Raigeki.
Mill and revive. That’s all it takes for this deck to gain its wheels. All of these ‘Whitefish’ can do that? Rei can just create Tuners out of thin air with a single Special Summon? Shit, if he has–
“I use Level 2 White Sardine and Level 4 White Sunfish to Synchro Summon White Aura Porpoise,” Rei continues, unaware of Avery’s panic.
White Aura Porpoise ✪✪✪✪✪✪
2000 ATK / 1300 DEF
↓
2200 ATK / 1500 DEF
That card is also one he’s never seen before. Rei has a completely unique deck he doubts even the Industrial Illusions devs have clapped eyes on. No one would make these cards Fish instead of any other type.
“Because White Aura Porpoise was Synchro Summoned, I can Special Summon a Level 4 or lower Fish from hand or Graveyard in Defense Position. I choose White Sunfish in the Graveyard.”
White Sunfish ✪✪✪✪
1200 ATK / 1000 DEF
↓
1400 ATK / 1200 DEF
Another Tuner. That means another…
“I Normal Summon Creeping Doom Manta from my hand in Defense Position.”
Creeping Doom Manta ✪✪✪
1300 ATK / 1200 DEF
↓
1500 ATK / 1400 DEF
Rei’s eyes are dispassionate. Unfeeling. Nothing is betrayed by gunmetal silver as he recycles from the Graveyard and places a card from his hand.
He’s not even looking at Avery anymore, just the game in front of them.
“Level 4 White Sunfish and Level 3 Creeping Doom Manta tune to Synchro Summon White Aura Monoceros.”
White Aura Monoceros ✪✪✪✪✪✪✪
2500 ATK / 1500 DEF
↓
2700 ATK / 1700 DEF
It feels like a pit has formed under Avery’s stomach. All he can do is watch as Rei’s side of the table ramps and ramps and ramps.
This is too fast. Even Edward has to take more turns setting up his combos. What… what is this?
“Because White Aura Monoceros was Synchro Summoned, I can target a Fish in my Graveyard, then Special Summon it with an inability to attack this turn. I choose White Sunfish in the Graveyard.”
White Sunfish ✪✪✪✪
1200 ATK / 1000 DEF
↓
1400 ATK / 1200 DEF
Again. Rei’s going to do it again. He’s going to use the same monster over and over, always coming back when beckoned by kin, a Tuner harmonized for a different song each time.
“Level 4 White Sunfish and Level 2 White Sardine tune to Synchro Summon White Aura Dolphin.”
White Aura Dolphin ✪✪✪✪✪✪
2400 ATK / 1000 DEF
↓
2600 ATK / 1200 DEF
Rei places the final Synchro Monster in the center of his field flanked by two other Synchros. All three used the exact same card as material: a sunfish that came back to life three cycles in a row.
Avery’s body reminds him that he needs to breathe. He barely gets a second one in before Rei speaks again.
“I activate White Aura Dolphin’s effect.”
What the hell now?! How is there more for him to do after creating this sort of board?!
“Once per turn, I can target a face-up monster you control and make its Attack Points become half of its original Attack.” Rei taps against the number printed on White Aura Monoceros. “That means the one in ink. I choose X-Saber Airbellum.”
X-Saber Airbellum ✪✪✪
1600 ATK / 200 DEF
↓
800 ATK / 200 DEF
That… he sees now why Daigo called the dolphin rude. There’s almost no better word for what just happened.
“Battle Phase. White Aura Dolphin attacks X-Saber Airbellum.”
Avery
4000 LP → 2200 LP
“White Aura Monoceros attacks XX-Saber Boggart Knight.”
“I activate the face-down Trap Card As One With The Sword,” Avery interjects, flipping it. “I can only use it when there’s one X-Saber monster on my field. I equip this card to that monster, and it gains 800 Attack Points.”
XX-Saber Boggart Knight ✪✪✪✪
1900 ATK / 1000 DEF
↓
2700 ATK / 1000 DEF
“My attack replays. White Aura Monoceros still attacks XX-Saber Boggart Knight.”
That’s the thing, isn’t it. It doesn’t matter if Rei knows what it is. Either way, a mere 800 Attack doesn’t do anything but add a few seconds to the timer.
The cards have the exact same Attack Points, so both of them move their respective monster to the Graveyard. Now Rei is the only one with anything left on the field.
What had Avery thought when that damn sunfish was added to hand? ‘If he can’t get past this turn’. He was never going to survive this even if he managed to Synchro Summon XX-Saber Gottoms before ending turn.
“White Aura Porpoise attacks you directly, dealing the rest of your Life Points.”
How could he have ever beaten such an overwhelming difference in numbers?
Avery
2200 LP → 0 LP
One-turn kill. He’s been one-turn killed.
His soul doesn’t exit his body, but oh man is it close. He’s never… He’s never lost this badly before. A turn like this is what people speak of in playground rumors, not something anyone should ever see up close and on the wrong side. It’s not something you see in a World Championships much less a third floor office in a college building on a random ass weekday!
What the hell. What the hell.
“Good game,” Rei says, scooping his entire board in a single clean swipe of the arm and nodding slightly. “I'm sorry, but I have to go to work now.”
Avery starts, the thought ‘one-turn kill’ still echoing in his skull. “Uh… yeah, no worries,” His mouth says on autopilot, watching him gather his things with the precision of someone with too many spreadsheets.
Leaving right away without talking about the match he just annihilated him in–
No. Rei doesn’t even realize what he’s doing, does he? To him this is just something a friend of a friend asked him for in a spot of free time, and he’s weighing its importance accordingly. It isn’t an insult. Just the circumstances around the Duel.
Rei's hands still shake. They were shaking during the entire duel. He almost misses the holster at his leg, hand dropping past the mouth of the deckbox, but corrects fast enough that Avery wouldn’t have seen it if he wasn’t staring.
He has no idea why the winner of the Duel is the one shaking and not him when he’s the one that got politely but utterly demolished. Why hasn’t this guy swept the solo circuit yet? A deck like that, effects like that, where every card can become a Tuner if it rose from the dead just once, halving Attack Points, that Spell Card… Anyone with sense would pay big money for a Duelist like Rei.
That guy could be in some Ivy League school right now off a Ground Duel Team scholarship! He could’ve gotten into any Duel Academia in the world if he played like that at an entrance exam! Anyone serious about Duel Monsters would offer a contract in millions of dollars just for the cards alone.
A genuine monster had been hiding in the walls of this college and only stirred because a bright orange idiot marched up to his face and dragged him to the light.
Rei pauses when he reaches the door. Then he turns around and bows an exact 90 degrees at the waist.
Avery swears he can hear every atom of the room go dead silent along with his spiraling thoughts. It’s as if the world is holding its breath at this complete reversal of logic. Why is the victor bowing to the loser?
“Thank you for playing with me. We can duel again later, if you want.”
Then he turns and closes the door behind him.
Avery kicks back in the chair and stares at the ceiling of the office for what feels like forever. The only thing he can picture is the board exactly 2 minutes ago, a row of three white cards announcing his defeat in the middle of Rei’s field.
His pride burns. His heart genuinely feels like it’s going to give out from how bad it hurts. It feels like he was slapped in the face with the difference between them, an insurmountable gap created by a type that was worth nothing before this. He’s gonna have to get over his saltiness before it becomes a problem.
… But despite everything, nothing about that Duel was hostile or even condescending. It’s the only reason even Avery didn’t react at the bow. No boasting, no smirks, no sideways glances. Only acceptance.
Holy shit, is the guy a saint? That sort of thing’s impossible. Hell, Avery himself would be crowing about winning like that until the end of time.
Goddamn. Guess that’s why Daigo wants Rei to join.
The man himself groans as he enters the office five minutes or so too late, lunch in hand. “What? He left already?”