The plot…thickens?

"How has your day been? Good? Good. Mine? Well, I spent all day waiting around for Seto Kaiba to challenge me to a Duel. Then, when he finally showed up, I had the hilarious idea of making him wager his Blue Eyes against mine. I won, claimed my prize and went on my marry way.

"Of course, Kaiba expected to win and could not be bothered with setting up a way for me to get home. So, I took a cab."

"Then, I get home, open the door and head inside. I take out Kaiba's Blue-Eyes White Dragon card to admire my own 'greatness'…And, then the card started glowing, flew out of my hand, and now I have a nun in my house…Confused? So am I."

Dwain continued to have his internal monologue as he continued to stare dumbly at the woman standing before him. She stood slightly taller than him and was dressed head-to-toe in elegant white robes with blue designs that left only the area around her mouth visible - exposing her milky white skin.

Giving up on understanding the situation, Dwain opted to consider whether the woman's robes were very thick or if they were very thin and the woman's figure was responsible for their volume.

Several moments passed in silence with neither saying a word.

Then, the woman spoke in a silk-like voice, "Greetings master."

Snapped from his leering contemplation, Dwain cautiously replied, "Hello…." Seeing the woman was not going to say anything else, he decided to continue the conversation. "Okay, I'll bite. Who are you? What are you? Where'd you come from? Why are you here? And, how'd you get here?"

The corners of the woman's mouth upturned. Something about it caused Dwain's eye to twitch - feeling as though he had lost some sort of battle. "I am none other than the Duel Spirit born from your Deck."

Dwain's confused yet annoyed expression shifted to one of realization. "Ah, Duel Monster Spirit, magic nonsense, bullshit. Canon typical or not?"

The spirit confirmed, "Not." Dwain intentionally phrased the question as he did with the assumption that if this were an 'ordinary' situation, the spirit would probably be confused. Since they were not, it suggests they are more related to his 'unique' situation.

"So, I still have four questions you haven't answered. But let's start with, what has Mr. 'Fuck You', got for me now?"

The woman's mouth twisted briefly from Dwain's question but she quickly regained her composure and offered a slight bow as she said, "My information is limited, but I will answer your questions to the best of my ability." Standing back up straight, she continued, "What I am is a unique Duel Spirit born from a fraction of the spirit of Seto Kaiba's Blue-Eyes White Dragon and the power of your Seto Kaiba Starter Deck."

"I am a gift to you from…them… to aid you in your quest of 'screwing with the plot'."

"Okay," Dwain said happily before suddenly pausing. "Wait…Even if they knew about me planning to get Kaiba's attention, how would they know about me taking his Blue-Eyes? I literally just had the idea, like, two hours ago."

The woman offered a comforting smile and a small shrug in response. "Perhaps it was always meant to be."

Dwain did not know why, but for some reason, the woman's smile felt pitying - borderline contemptuous. Pushing that feeling aside, he gave the woman a flat look. "Then what's the point of you being 'born from the spirit if Kaiba's Blue-Eyes and my deck'? If you were always going to show up, then what difference does it make? And if I was always going to take his Blue-Eyes why bother with telling me to do whatever? It's not like I can argue."

The woman opened her mouth silently and Dwain felt a sense of victory over having seemingly caught her off guard. Raising one of her oversized sleeves, her hand remained buried within as she coughed into it. "Now, that I think of it, there is a…small variation."

"Alright," Dwain cheered as he clapped his hands together. "Exposition time! Do I get any cool powers? What all do I get? How-… Would you like to take a seat?"

Tilting her head in confusion, the woman asked, "Excuse me?"

"We've been standing here a while. As homeowner, rude. Plus, I'd like to sit down. So, yes? No? Would spirits want a something to drink?"

The woman was left dumbfounded. The next thing she knew, she was sitting at Dwain's dining table with a glass of water sitting before her. Though the upper half of her face remained covered, she stared dumbly at Dwain as he indicated for her to continue.

Several moments passed in silence save the occasional sound of Dwain drinking from a can of soda.

Eventually, the spirit collected herself and moved past her confusion. Taking a sip of her water, she began, "My being here was predetermined by your benefactor, but on the condition that you defeat Seto Kaiba. You are free to do as you please with various potential rewards depending on your chosen course."

"Hmm. So, quest rewards with no quest system telling me what to do. And, what do you do?"

"My purpose is to aid you against the supernatural forces your enemies may possess."

"So, you're my key to counteracting any Shadow Game bullshit?"

"That is certainly one simplification to it. My primary ability is to shield your mind from …excessive intrusion. Put simply, your primary causes of concern are the Millennium Items. Namely, the Millennium Eye, Millennium Key, and Millennium Neckless. I am to harness the great power of the Blue-Eyes to prevent anyone from learning things beyond what they should."

Dwain stared at the woman for a moment before saying, "So, you make sure no magical nonsense lets people learn about canon or any other meta knowledge I possess?"

"That is correct."

"…But you don't actually shield me from the items themselves."

"N-No…"

"…Then what's the point of you?"

The woman was taken aback by this.

"I get that what you're doing is important and covers up some plot holes. But why do I need you specifically for that? Couldn't whatever their name is have done that anyway?"

"Um, well…"

"Even if I do need something, why does it have to be a Duel Spirit? Why can't it be a Shadow Charm or something?"

"You see…"

"Then again, I guess it does reflect you being related to Blue-Eyes. Except for being a big beat stick, the things kinda useless. Just like you."

The woman was left silent.

Dwain knew he was being unreasonable. However, the woman came across as 'condescendingly nice'. Every back and forth felt like some sort of contest to see whose on top. He did not get it and considered he was 'just being a dick', but ultimately decided to just stick with it.

Eventually, the woman weakly offered, "As you may recall, my creator has something arranged for you should you do well in Duelist Kingdom-"

"And that specifically requires you? They couldn't have just set up something; they specifically needed to create you for that?"

"…N-No…I suppose you are correct…"

Feeling like he had accomplished something by badgering the (presumed) condescending woman into her current position, Dwain dropped the matter and switched gears. "You said that there would be an extra bonus for taking Kaiba's Blue-Eyes?"

The woman sighed and straightened back up; however, Dwain no longer felt that sense of conflict from before. "Yes." The woman raised one hand (sleeve). In it appeared what Dwain correctly presumed was his Kaiba Starter Deck that should have been in his room. She proceeded to place it onto the table and flipped over the top card - revealed to be the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

"Impressive," Dwain said lazily. "I know that Deck was shuffled so I guess you used Duel Spirit powers to pull that off the top?"

"I did," the woman said flatly. She then placed her hand (sleeve) over the card and slid it to the side. As her limb moved across the table, more cards appeared. Once she was done, she retracted her arm. On the table now sat Dwain's Kaiba Deck, three Blue-Eyes White Dragons, Polymerization, and Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon.

"So, I get the rest of the Blue-Eyes collection," Dwain asked rhetorically. He then shrugged, "Fair enough."

"Yes, in commemoration for this feat, my creator sees fit to give you two additional Blue-Eyes and their fusion…I take it you are not impressed…"

Dwain could feel the bite in the woman's voice. However, Dwain honestly did not care. Either there was some sort of invisible conflict between them and he came out on top, or he was being unreasonable to a woman he just met. He felt fine either way.

Answering the question honestly, Dwain said, "Not really. In the current format where card destruction results in Life Point loss, strong monsters seem as much a liability as a strength. And, once Battle City rolls around and Tributing becomes a mechanic, they'll be even more useless without any support to get them onto the field."

"I…I see…"

Hearing such an otherwise pleasant voice sounding so tired and worn out, Dwain was beginning to feel just the slightest hints of guilt. Maybe it was a problem to be so overbearing to someone he just met for a presumed reason. He quickly said, "But, you know, if I can get the right support, I guess it could work. I mean, modern Blue-Eyes meta is pretty strong. Even just goofing around, it feels like it could be invincible."

"You are correct, master," the woman quickly says sounding far less tired.

"Huh," Dwain weakly offers.

"While I am unsure of the specific nature of the rewards you are to receive if you perform well, I do now, that it constitutes an 'evolution' of your standing resources."

"Her tone sure changed quick," Dwain thought - ignoring the woman. "I'm in an anime world, and I know there are anime personalities that bounce back like that. But I'm getting that same feeling of there being some kinda power play again…And I can't help but feel I lost…"

Sighing, Dwain leaned forward and rested his elbow on the table - propping his head up on his hand. He interrupted with mild irritation, "So, are there any others like you? If Duel Spirits were part of the plan, I'm guessing there's more?"

The woman stopped speaking and nodded in agreement. "Yes, each of the Starter Decks you received contain a trace of our creator's power set to give birth to a new spirit should conditions be met."

"From what you said earlier, I just gotta beat Atem, Joey, and Pegasus?"

"Mostly. One of my younger sisters - the one dwelling within the Wheeler Starter Deck has a slightly different condition. Due to the ease with which you are expected to be able to defeat Wheeler and the nature of events to come, the specific condition is to claim the Red-Eyes Black Dragon from Rex Raptor before Wheeler does."

Dwain raised an eyebrow at this. "Sisters? You're all girls?"

"Yes. Our creator thought it would be to your preference if you chose this path to 'be surrounded by pretty girls'." The tone of the woman's voice sounded slightly uncomfortable - possibly embarrassed.

"My preference huh…"

"Yes. And, for what it's worth, as you advance, your Decks shall 'evolve' as I said. Then, as the spirits of your decks, so too will we."

"So," Dwain began slowly, "you'll - and by extension me - will get more power, or is it purely cosmetic."

"I-I am not sure."

"Probably cosmetic. So, advance, do well in the tournament, get good cards, and spirit girls get a wardrobe change. What? Is this supposed to be some kinda 'harem route' if I want? Gotta say, if I wanted to go that route, I'd target actual characters. Still not seeing any point to creating OCs like this. Whatever. If you're taking requests, then I vote for a sleeker outfit. I don't care if its a MILF, GILF, loli, flat is justice, or pain in the ass DxD character; if you're going to give me some lame eye candy, I should at least know what's in the wrapper."

"Okay," Dwain suddenly said loudly as he tried to move past his thoughts. "These sisters of yours, do they do anything?"

"My sister dwelling within the Yugi Starter Deck would further protect you from the shadow magic of this world. The Wheeler Starter Deck's spirit would enable some measure of 'counterattack' against shadow magic used against you. And the Pegasus Starter Deck would give you some measure of shadow magic yourself."

"Hmm. Alright." Dwain leaned back in his chair. "Well, if nothing else, this gives me something specific to work toward besides just beating everyone. I was already thinking about getting Red-Eyes as my next 'genius plan'. Now! With all that said and done. I don't think I got your name."

The woman smiled and Dwain again got the sensation of being looked down on for some reason. "My name is Kiara."