[Video]

[infernofireblast]

[[Art courtesy of my fantastic missus, so many thanks to her for all her work!]]

[The feed opens on Joey and a Bisharp standing in front of a slot machine. Both wear ecstatic expressions as the machine dispenses coin-after-coin, and Joey holds a confused looking Dratini above his head as he cheers. Noise from the other machines and patrons occasionally cuts through the pair's exultation, but the majority of sound pouring through the feed comes from their cheers.]

Yo we did it! We made out like bandits!

[Joey thrusts the Dratini forward for the camera to see.]

Me and Hermos here have been killin' it on da slots, so dis lil' jackpot here marks twelve and a half grand we've managed to carve out! We got ourselves a big ol' chunk'a change and scored dis' heckin' baloon animal-lookin' Pokémon too! There's no stoppin' da wheels on da Joey Train!

Comments

[infernofireblast]

You know Duel Monstahs too! Aww hell yeah!

[Joey's face becomes both excited and surprised.]

You bet I play doe'! Joey Wheeler's da name. Runner-up in da Duelist Kingdom Tournament and finalist in Battle City, as well as a takin' paht in da Kaibacorp Grand Championship and Duel Links program.

[Joey thumps his chest triumphantly as he lists his tourneys.]

[songstressedout]

[ Well, what do you know? Another duelist! Though she's not heard of literally anything he just said... at least, aside from Duel Links, and KaibaCorp by extension... which brings up yet another question in what the hell is KaibaCorp? Still, she decides to not bring that up right away. She has a feeling that things will get too complicated too quickly. ]

Yep! I'm a Duelist! I hang around in Duel Links, too! Or, well, I did back when I wasn't here.

[ Granted, she could only really claim something like that as of her recent and sudden blackout resulting in an influx of memories. Something that she'd heard of happening to others, but didn't expect it to happen to herself. ]

[infernofireblast]

Oh what! Dat's awesome! You gotta be a pretty doggone' good Duelist too if da' eggheads in Kaibacorp decided you made da cut for comin' into da game. How long you been playin' in der? I heard from some of da other Duelists dat things used to be crazy in da early days, but once all da Duel Monstahs gotta added in it turned into da game we've got now. You get to be around for any of dat' craziness?

[[In Joey's era of the game there's only the Battle City era and the "present" of Dark Side of Dimensions so boy-oh-boy is he in for fun when he finds out the game can, essentially, bypass the boundaries of space and time.]]

[songstressedout]

[ Being praised on her skills as a duelist... it feels like it's been forever since someone's done that. Then again, she has been here for a long time now. ]

Well, I've been here for a long time now, but back when I was at home? I had joined pretty recently. There were a few uh... complications for me at first, but it had been loads of fun! Though it's weird that such a big game appeared all of the sudden, plus...

[ There was the weird mystery about some people she knew already... not knowing who she was. And that's not even bringing up Yuto's reappearance. It was really strange, and she knows that Reiji had decided to look into it, but...

...man, it feels strange to reflect on new memories from almost three years ago that you've only just received during the month. ]

A-Ah, well, the point is that yep! I'm a pretty good duelist, if I do say so myself! Not that I've uh... really had a chance to properly duel in a while.

[ No card games, only Pokemon Battles here. ]

[infernofireblast]

Well if dis place is anything like Duel Links den not everyone is actually a person. In Duel Links der's a version of a buncha da people from da time of da Battle City Tournament, even me! None ah dem were real people doe. Just programs.

[Joey shakes his head.]

Craziest thing was dat' dey seemed ta know dey weren't da real people too. Like da sistah of dis one guy who used to have da Winged Dragon of Ra, she got a program of her made from back den and it immediately knew dat things weren't right. It's totally wild. Da things Kaiba makes are always outta dis' world, but makin' friggin' people... dat's on a whole 'notha level.

[songstressedout]

[ ...okay, give Yuzu like, a few moments to uh... PROCESS... ALL OF THAT. Yeah, of course she knew that there was some high-tech stuff going on, that's how there were monsters you could interact with in the game. Like the Tour Guide from the Underworld and such... and the fact that Yuto had come back was already a mystery in and of itself.

So, understandably, hearing about that is uh...

...she sucks in a very deep breath. ]

I-Is that so? Aha... ahaha...

[ If you listen closely you may be able to hear the internal screaming inside Yuzu's mind. ]

[infernofireblast]

[Yuzu's uncertainty reminds Joey that not everyone is as used to the concept of running around virtual worlds as he is. Probably best to give some background to calm her down... or would that just make it worse? Crap... only one way to find out.]

Well ya know dis ain't da only virtual world I been to. Da gang an' I been to a bunch of otha places like dis too. Kaiba had a virtual world all da way back when Pegasus first rolled Duel Monstahs out to da public, and dat one had folks who coulda been livin' breathin' people too. It even had a version of his brotha' Mokuba who was a fantasy princess! Talk about uncanny eh?

[He laughs a bit and shakes his head.]

Der was anotha world made for dat creepy Gozaburo guy's son Noah and dat one was made ages ago. It didn't have people in it like da first one did, but all da monstahs in it were super real too! To get even crazier, der was even a game world we got'ta go to made by Alexandah da friggin' Great and dat one had a big world fulla realistic people too.

[He puts a hand on his hip and gives a reassuring wave of his hand as he continues.]

Sure Duel Links is on anotha level, and sure da idea of some memory-scan version'a me bein' in der is pretty creepy, but it's still just a video game. Don't let it get to ya just cuz' da characters are blasts from da past.

[songstressedout]

[ ...yep, yep yep yep. That's definitely it. Yuzu is just... not used to running around virtual worlds. Even though this place has much more of a real feeling to it that not even Duel Links can recreate. Nevermind the fact that she's turned 16 here.

Definitely not anything else. Though most of what Joey starts rambling on about ends up going straight over Yuzu's head as a result of her still going... going through something right now. ]

O-Oh! Whoa, sounds like you're a uh... a virtual world veteran, then! I'll uh... keep your advice in mind!

[ Except she's definitely still hung up on it. Well, if you can't sound convincing... just change the subject, right? Right. ]

So... it sounds like you know Kaiba, then?

[infernofireblast]

Boy do I.

[Joey sounds distinctly unenthusiastic.]

We been' dealin' with his egocentric self since we first stahted at Domino High. Doe' I'll admit he's gotten a lot betta since we first stahted dealin' with him, but I still can't stand dat bastahd.

[Grinding his teeth, Joey lets out a sigh before calming and continuing.]

We been through a lot with him, and even saved the world with him a couple'a times, but every time he manages to piss me da hell off.