Chapter 2

After breakfast I emptied Konami's piggy bank, and grabbed the 10,000 yen his father had left us. In total I now had 54,400 yen to spend on a children's card game, which is around 515 dollars according to google.

I then took my 15 year old ass to the nearest train station and after a short train ride, and 2 bus stops, I was now standing in front of the famous Kame Game shop.

It was weird looking at this place, and it was surprisingly empty. I had grown up watching Yu-Gi-Oh, and seeing the place that Yugi Muto lived in gave me mixed feelings, the two most blatant being nervous and excited. I mean, for all I know when I open this door I'll meet the anime protagonist with the craziest hair…

I took a deep breath and opened the door, and just like I expected I was greeted by the short anime character,

"Welcome to Kame Game Shop, is there anything I can help you with young man?" the ELDERLY Kame Game Shop owner asked with a smile,

"Um… Yeah, can I take a look at your singles?" I ask him, barely containing my inner fanboy. Solomon Muto was one of my favorite characters in the original series.

"Singles? Sure, start by checking out the displays while I bring the binders," he said as he walked to the back,

I looked through the cards in the display, the one card that drew my attention to it was Soul Exchange! The Universe really does want me to play Monarch's, 'cause that card was one of the best Monarch supports in the current format, the price next to it, however, made me double over. 12,000 yen for one mildly powerful card! I did look at the prices online, and it was along this range, but seeing is believing I suppose.

It seems like I will need to exchange some cards if I want to make a proper Monarch deck.

A few minutes later the old man came back with a dozen very large binders, I had no clue how he had managed to carry them all at once, anime logic I suppose.

"Old Man, do you need help?" I ask him, his back was famously bad.

"No, no, these old bones of mine can still carry a few cards no problem," he said with a smile

"If you say so," I said as he put down the binders in front of me,

I grabbed the first Binder, quickly looked through it to see what kind of cards were in it. It seems the old man Muto divided his binders according to attributes because this binder was full of Fire Monsters.

I then went back to the first page and started looking through the cards,

"Is there a specific card you're looking for?"

"Monarchs" I said as I continued to look,

"Oh really? We should have a couple of those," he said with a tint of jolt in his voice,

"You seem a little surprised, not many people want to buy Monarchs?" I ask him as I continued looking through the binder,

"You do know who my grandson is, right?" he asks with a raised eyebrow

"The shortie with multi-coloured hair disorder? Yes I have heard of him," I said as I continued looking through the binder, ignoring the minor chuckle from him.

"Many people only come here, hoping to find cards he uses," Older Muto said

I looked up from the binder, "Really?"

He nods his head,

"Wow… People are dumb," I said,

"That they are my boy, that they are," he said, as my eyes wandered to one of the cards that can be useful to me,

"How much is Ufo Turtle?" I ask him

"1980 Yen a piece for common rarity, and before you ask, Monarchs range from 9,000 to 12,000 Yen,"

"Um… Okay thanks" I said, the info he gave me matched the Internet, but I was taken aback how he could say so from memory,

"Do you happen to have a Change of Heart. If so, much is it?" I ask him, I hadn't found any info on it,

"We sold the last copy last week, but it costs 100,000 to 1,000,000 Yen depending on the rarity"

"Wow… That's a lot even for a powerful spell card, let me guess, because your grandson used it?"

"That would be a correct assumption," he said with a smile

"You know, I have a few cards he used, would you be willing to trade them?" I ask him, I knew there was no way I could possibly buy every card I needed with the cash I had, so I had to trade some cards in the Warrior deck,

"Hm," He rubs his beard. "That depends, which cards?"

I pull out my Warrior deck and took out 3 Monsters, the Three Knights Yugi used "I bet these sell like hotcakes,"

"That they do, I suppose with those three you can exchange for 3 Monarchs,"

I had checked the price range for the Knights before coming here, apparently the price for these cards range from 10,000 Yen to 120,000 Yen. My cards' rarity were all common, so the trade he suggested was probably fair.

"Cool, let me see how many Monarchs I can find, and if I find any other cards I want, then we can iron out the details," I said and he nodded his head and I started going through every card in the binders.

By the time I was done, I had found 7 copies of Monarchs, and more than a few cards I wanted, the only card I wanted, found and couldn't afford at all was a level three monster.

"Stupid Yugi making Marshmallon cost over a thousand dollars," I muttered. Seriously, the cost of any card the man used was instantly multiplied by 50 or something, this was insane.

"Alright young man, your total comes to a 152,200 Yen" he said, and I took out my Ace in the hall Gilford the Legend. Apparently Joey had uses his counterpart, and the price for this card was 90,000 Yen, I have no clue how Konami managed to get it in the first place, but I was gonna trade it,

"Old Man, how about this card, and the three knights from before, and we settle the price at 35,000 Yen" I ask him

"I like you kid, you remind me of myself when I was young, so I will agree to sell it to you for those four cards and 60,000 Yen" he said with a smile, and for the first time since meeting the man, I got a sense of him being an ex-world-class gambler,

"Hm… How about 40,000 and you throw in 2 copies of Upstart Goblin," I suggested to him,

"50,000 and I'll throw in a booster pack of your choice," he countered

"45,000 and 2 booster packs." I said, despite knowing that he came out far better than I did.

"Alright," he said and we shook on it.

Then moved towards the booster packs, I stared at them for a while and got a minor Vietnam Flashback.

I was one of those suckers who had spent hundreds of dollars on Cybernetic Revolution booster packs, and never gotten one bloody Cyber Dragon. I had actually swore off booster packs, but I suppose a new world a new perspective,

"Which of these might have Brain Control in it?" I asked him, I still needed two more to have 3.

"Hm… I think Pharaonic Guardian packs might have it,"

"Is that the one with your grandson on it?"

"... Yes," he said after a moment of pause,

"Alright, here we go…" I said as I grabbed two of them with my eyes closed,

I quickly opened it. It had Don Zalong, DesLocada, 8-Claws Scorpion, Birdface, and Trap Dustshoot,

"Oh this trap is pretty useful," I commented. And then opened the second one.

To my shock I got 8-Claws Scorpion, Royal Keeper, Souleater, Birdface, and a Secret Rare Sangan

"YES!" I shout out loud, despite not getting a brain control. This was more than good enough.

"You know kid, that card is banned if you want I can buy it off your hand," old man said and I gave him a sting eye

"In your dreams old man, this card will get out of the banlist soon, and will be in my deck," I said then looked at the clock on the wall. It was an Analog clock and it reminded me of three things.

1) Schools are removing Analog clocks because kids are too lazy/dumb to learn how to read them,

2) I should buy a wrist watch,

3) Game Shops usually close around 7 in Domino City, and if I hurry I can see if other stores have Brain Control. I still do have 4,400 Yen with me and a few more cards I can trade, although none are as costly as the last 4.

"It was nice meeting you Old Man Muto, but I gotta run, thanks a lot,"

"No, thank you for shopping at Kame Game Shop. And please come again." He waves goodbye as I leave.

=======

After visiting the other game shops and trading for one bloody Brain Control, I was out of cash and 9 cards from Konami's main deck. It was quite expensive.

Once I returned home I saw that George and Clair Kujo were about to sit down for dinner. I wanted to ignore them and go to Konami's room. I had unknowingly taken over their son's body, and regardless of how much he looked like my younger self, there is obviously a part of me that feels bad about taking over an alternate version of myself.

"Hey son, you arrived just in time for dinner. Grab a plate." Clair said with a kind smile that reminded me of my own mom. They didn't look alike, but the kindness in those eyes were very similar.

"Ah- You see… mom, I just bought a few new cards and want to revamp my deck slightly. Improve it a bit before the big exam tomorrow." I said while trying to hide my nervousness, or at least hope they will think it is related to the exam, and not talking to them. "I think I'll skip dinner,"

"Nonsense, you won't be able to think with an empty stomach and make mistakes while building your deck," Konami's mother, Clair said,

"Don't worry I am not hungry," I said as I tried to make my way to Konami's room.

"At least take a sandwich" she said as she got out of her seat and quickly made a BLT, and put a glass of Coca Cola Light. "Here you go," she said as she smiled,

"Thank you," I said as I quickly made my way to Konami's room with a plate of sandwich and a glass of cola. I was actually kinda hungry so I ate as quickly as I could and cleaned my hands with a tissue Konami kept in a desk drawer next to a bottle of lotion.

I then made the deck with consistency in mind, although I am running all 4 Monarchs available to me, I do not want to anger the Duel Spirit of the Rock Monarch after all.

Then I put some 'destruction' spell cards, a lot of 'steal opponent monster' spell cards, powerful traps, and lots of consistent monsters.

Once I was done, Treeborn Frog reappeared.

"Hey buddy, what do you think about this deck?" I ask him

"Ribbit Ribbit" he says with a smile as he looks at the cards in the deck,

I look at him and ask "So buddy, do you have a way to communicate other duel spirits,"

He waits for a moment before shaking his head, "Sigh too bad, I guess I'll have to figure out a way to reach out to them," I muttered as I took the Monarchs out of the deck and looked at them.

"Hi Monarch Duel Spirits? Granmarg, Mobius, Thestalos, and Zaborg, I'd really like to meet you sometime soon. Would really appreciate it if you show up?" I said and after nothing happened for a while I sighed and go to bed,

"Good Night Buddy, Tomorrow Is The Big Day." I said with a smile

"Ribbit Ribbit!" My spirit partner said with a smile as he disappeared back to his card,