The New Duel King

As the annoying sound of classical Timba started playing from his phone, Dwain Snyder knew it was time to wake up. Stirring under the covers of his bed, he managed to roll over to stop his alarm.

Once his alarm was off, he settled back into bed and stretched his back. He thought, "I slept great. When was the last time I got a full night's rest?…And when was the last time my alarm woke me up…Wait a minute…This doesn't feel like my bed."

Slowly pulling his head out from under the covers, Dwain's brown hair and dull blue eyes peeked out. He then began to survey the room and realized he did not recognize it. The bed he was in alone was far bigger and softer than the one he was used to. The room was similarly much larger. Also, unlike the tacky, half-finished paint job and random furniture of his room, this one was entirely white with matching furniture of far higher quality than his own.

Dwain began moving his body under the covers to see if he felt anything wrong with it. That is when he realized another problem. Although he felt physically fine, his body felt radically different. Fighting with the plushy and oversized covers, he eventually managed to throw them off of him and get out of bed. Standing on the thick, shag carpet, he found his body had become smaller and leaner.

Despite his confusion, Dwain quickly concluded that this was either a dream or the impossible had happened and he had been isekai-ed.

Taking a closer look at the room, he found it contained its own bathroom with a sink, toilet, separate shower and bath, and hot tub. At the same time, he noticed his usual toothbrush and toothpaste sitting on the sink. Mulling it over, he decided to just follow his usual morning routine - it was not as though it would hurt anything if he freshened up.

After brushing his teeth and showering, Dwain moved over to the closet opposite the bathroom to change into something other than his boxers. Despite the size of the walk-in closet, there was actually very little to wear. This suited Dwain just fine as he hated having too many clothes.

Throwing on a new pair of underwear, shorts, socks, and a random T-Shirt, Dwain stepped out to explore wherever he was. Stepping outside the room, he thought he was in a mansion upon seeing the expansive hallway. Trying to imagine a possible layout for the building, he tried to find some stairs and head downward.

It did not take him long and he soon found himself descending the stairs into a grand entrance. The familiar scene further confirmed to him that he may have been inside a mansion.

Snapping Dwain from his musings, the doorbell began to ring. Almost on reflex, Dwain quickly descended the rest of the stairs and answered the door - needing to unlock them.

On the other side was a delivery man carrying a large box. Seeing Dwain open the door, he asked, "Are you Dwain Snyder?"

"Yeah."

"Delivery for you."

Dwain then absentmindedly took the package as the deliveryman handed it off to him before leaving. "Have a good day," they said.

Though slightly baffled by events, Dwain closed the door and tried to find somewhere to set down the package. He found a dining room to the left of the large hall fit to seat twenty people. Putting the package down, he looked it over. Besides the large postage sticker on one side reminiscent of something he'd seen on UPS packages, the other five sides had the words 'CARE PACKAGE' inscribed across them in big, bold, letters - each side being written in a different color.

"Guess this is a care package," Dwain said rhetorically.

Needing something to cut the tape with, Dwain went looking for the kitchen. Once he found it, he searched for a knife before returning to the dining room.

Slicing open the tape on one side, Dwain opened the box to find it full of packing peanuts. He brushed them aside and found a layer of Styrofoam underneath. A little more investigating revealed that inside the cardboard box was a Styrofoam one. Having conveniently opened it to where the top was facing him, he pulled off the Styrofoam lid. Inside was more packaging peanuts and a square, metallic box.

Growing annoyed by the Russian nesting doll of boxes, Dwain pulled out the metallic box and set it on the table. There was a handle on top and the front of it had a lock. Ready to curse whoever sent it if it was locked, he was relieved when it opened without issue.

Inside the box, there was a key and letter. However, those are not what gained Dwain's attention. Instead, he found his eyes automatically locking on to the four boxes slotted into four compartments in the box. He recognized these boxes. Unlike the cardboard, Styrofoam, or metallic boxes, these were not meant to carry anything. These were Yu-Gi-Oh! Structure Decks.

What's more, these were not just Structure Decks. On the cover of each one, there was a character - Yugi, Kaiba, Pegasus, and Joey. These were Starter or Structure Decks for the four top players of the original anime.

Dwain has been a fan of Yu-Gi-Oh! since he could remember. His enthusiasm has waned in recent years as he does not have the time for it, but that is not important. The question was, why was he getting these. Grabbing the letter, he took a seat hoping it would shed some light on the situation, opened it, and began to read.

"Dear Dwain Snyder,

As you may have noticed - hopefully you're not that oblivious - you are not in your home or even your world anymore. For arbitrary reasons I know you won't care about, you have been transported to another world. I even took the liberty of de-aging you to age 16~17. For the record, someone like you who wasn't even thirty should not be complaining about wanting to be younger. Anyway, as you might have guessed by my care package, I have transported you to the world of Yu-Gi-Oh! It is just before the plot begins. During this time, I would recommend trying to make a name for yourself to gain entry into Duelist Kingdom. There should be a tournament or two you can get into and to get you started, I've provided you with the Yugi, Kaiba, Joey, and Pegasus Starter Decks and something special. Have fun.

-Sincerely, Fuck you."

"Well, that was nice," Dwain grumbled.

Throwing the letter to the side, Dwain pulled out the four provided Decks and read the card lists on the back. These were not anything special and he was not sure if he would be able to manage. Having a proper deck would go a long way in this world but he was not sure against the big named opponents.

Dwain turned back to the metallic box to see about this 'something special' his kidnapper mentioned. He did not see anything else in the box but then had an idea. Given the nature of the packaging and size of the box, he had a hunch. He reached into the box and found that the four compartments holding the Starter Decks was removable. Rolling his eyes at how unnecessary it seemed, he pulled it out. Underneath was another layer with a single compartment. In it was a single Deck wrapped in plastic.

Curious, Dwain pulled out the last Deck and unwrapped it. Turning it over to look through it, he was immediately caught off guard by the first card he saw. Continuing to leaf through it, a smirk appeared on his face. This Deck was something of a gimmick and he was not sure it would be all that effective in modern play, but here it would be good enough.

Setting the Deck down, Dwain considered his options. It was no lie that he was a fan of the 'meta player destroys canon' branch of Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfiction. Problem was, he was not a meta player. He liked the game but any hard-core gamer could probably destroy him. There was also the problem of this world's magical nonsense. Even if he could make a name for himself, this world's magic shenanigans would probably be the death of him. That was a best-case scenario.

Giving a weary sigh, Dwain decided to just roll with things. He then got to his feet to check the kitchen. Finding the necessary ingredients and kitchenware, he proceeded to make himself a bowl of cereal. Sitting back down at the table, he ate his breakfast in peace - ignoring the mess he'd made at the opposite end.

"If nothing else, I guess I should thank whoever for this house and supplying me with food. Hopefully there's no strings attached…Still, how exactly am I going to take care of this place on my own. Do I have any money? I guess I could try Yu-G…or I guess 'Duel Monsters' Tournaments. But how would I go about that? It's not like I can just look it up on my pho…Wait." Dwain's eyes narrowed as he came to a realization. "This morning. That was the alarm I use to make sure I get out of bed on time. The alarm I have set up on my phone!"

Dwain pushed away his empty bowl of cereal and headed upstairs.

Although he remembered the way to the floor he was originally on, he could not remember which room was his. So, after several minutes of opening and closing doors, he eventually found the room he woke up in. He approached the disheveled bed and began searching near the pillows. Feeling a familiar cold sensation, he wrapped his hand around it and pulled out what was undoubtedly his phone - small chip in the corner and everything.

Opening it, Dwain swiped around the screen to find that it is mostly the same except for the App Store having been removed. What he found strange was that he could still access WebNovel and such. He checked his photos and notes and found they were still there as far as he could tell. Going into his settings was when he noticed a larger change. The settings for WiFi, cellular signal, and the battery were all missing. This is when he noticed the icons in the upper right corner were similarly gone. Out of curiosity, he tried to access the internet and found he had no problem. What surprised him was that he could access both this world's internet and his own - having free access to the Yu-Gi-Oh! wiki pages.

Ultimately, Dwain decided to brush this off as him being gifted a phone that works anywhere, has limitless battery, and access to meta knowledge. He hoped everything his kidnapper had arranged was as convenient. "This should go a long way in helping me deal with this world…I think."

Dwain sat on the bed and began browsing the internet.

XXXXXXXXXX

Unknown to Dwain, a taxi pulled up to his driveway. Its passenger stepped out and the cab drove away.

Looking at a piece of paper in their hand, they looked up at the large house.

"I think this is the place."