A group of three was standing in front of a neon sign that was called YGO. There were three separate slots to insert their playing cards. The guy with short black hair at the front raised his eyebrow.
"Oh, that's quite convenient."
A girl next to him with short blonde hair clicked her tongue.
"Say that after we figure out what kind of game this is, Blake."
Another girl with long black hair let out a soft hum.
"Y-You didn't have to say that, Elise!"
The guy called Blake let out a laugh.
"Don't worry about it, Myra. It's not like she's even wrong in the first place. Still, this is probably our best shot."
Nobody argued with that fact, and the three of them got out their playing decks, ready to start up the game. However, before they did such a thing, Jack appeared, still wearing his mask and gaudy outfit with many jingling bells.
"Can I play too?"
Elise furrowed her brows, immediately taking out a utility knife, while the other two looked shocked.
"What the hell are you?"
Jack tilted his head. Seedy, who was on his shoulders, matched his actions with its petals.
"Ah, my name is Jack! What about you?"
Afterward, Seedy gave a wave with its vines and a tongue hanging out from its slightly parted petals as though it were a dog. Myra blinked a few times before shooting a glance at Elise.
"He looks friendly! We shouldn't be so quick to pull out the knife..."
Blake stared hard at Jack for a few moments before speaking politely.
"Sorry, we are trying to play a game with three players. We want to play together, so we can't join you for this game. Maybe there will be one in the future."
He put on an amicable smile. As for Elise, she whispered rather fiercely, though it was loud enough for everyone to hear.
"What the hell are you doing? That guy is clearly no good news! He's walking through this place in the complete dark, and with a monster on his shoulder. Actually, I doubt that thing is even human! Besides, where the hell did it come from?"
Jack let out a sad hum.
"I just want to play games."
Blake let out a forced chuckle.
"Don't worry about it, my friend here doesn't mean it. I'm sure other people are very willing to play games with you instead. As for us, we will be playing this game together. Maybe we'll meet in the future!"
Jack let out a sad hum.
"Ok..."
By now, Elise and Myra seemed to have caught on to what Blake was trying to do. The three of them hurried over to the bright neon lights and inserted their red card packs to be accepted into the game, disappearing into a flash of light.
Jack watched them leave with a frown, contrasting his mask.
However, he still walked over to the bright neon lights anyway. And against his expectations, there was a strange urge to continue forth. When he did, he somehow melded into the rocks and suddenly disappeared without even using his playing deck.
[Welcome to Yu-Gi... Cheerio. Ahem, YGO, is a card battle game that isn't based on anything that's copyrighted at all! You three will have a co-op...]
[...]
[Surprise Event, Joker!]
[This is now a game against the Joker, against you three! Players will draw cards from a deck in order to battle each other! Cards have the same attack value as their number, with the face cards all sharing the same value of ten.
1 - Cards with higher attack destroy others with lower attack, and deal excess damage to the owner. Cards with the same attack destroy each other. Each player will be allowed to summon once per turn.
2 - Values of 2-4 can be summoned without any cost. Values of 5-7 must first sacrifice one of the owner's cards to be summoned, while 8-10 require two sacrifices. The Ace can be used at any time in order to wipe out all cards on the board.
3 - Every player has 20 health, which when reduced to 0 makes them lose the game! All players start with three cards and get to draw a card per turn. Each monster they summon will get one chance to attack, except for the first turn.
4 - The Joker gets an advantage of one extra card draw, and the ability to possess one monster every turn, switching them onto their side! However, if they are alive by the end of the turn, they go back to the owner's side.
5 - Players are allowed to use cards in their playing deck along with the cards in their hands. The reward for winning is a random card in the opponent's playing deck, with winning determined by whether or not you survive! If there are no cards in the opponent's playing deck, they will be taken by The House.
Now, it's time to D-D-D... what? We can't use that either? Um, alright, it's time to battle in a fashion that is exciting!]
Jack appeared across from a table, and met with three familiar faces. Seeing them, he let out a giggle.
"Hey! It looks like I could play anyway, isn't this great?"
A bewildered expression formed on Elise's face.
"What? H-How did you..."
There was an ugly frown on Blake's face.
"This... is bad."
Myra scratched the side of her head gently.
"Ah, it's not a big deal... just one card isn't too much of a punishment."
Jack raised his hands up, while Seedy matched his actions with its vines.
"This is so exciting! I'm ready to play the game!"
A deck of cards appeared from the side, dealing three cards to each person. Then, a coin appeared in the middle of the table, flipping up into the air, revealing one side with the face of a laughing Jester, and the other with a torch.
It landed on the torch.
Then, three blue indicators appeared underneath them.
All three of them drew a card. As for Blake, he rubbed his chin in thought for a little while.
"...I suppose if the punishment is just a random card, then it won't be that big of a deal to lose."
However, his eyes narrowed right after that.
"But there's still a chance that we lose the 7's that we had to give up an arm and a leg for. We should still try to win this."
Elise started off by placing a 4 in front of her. As for Blake, he only had an uncomfortable expression on his face, while Myra was smiling bitterly. It was fairly clear that neither of them had cards between 2 and 4 that they could play.
Myra looked at Blake with a soft expression.
"It looks like we can't use the other cards as sacrifices... Um, it's not a serious game, so we shouldn't use our playing cards, right?"
In return, he furrowed his brows rather intensely. Although using their 2's and 3's wasn't a big deal on paper, the problem then came with if they lost after. The fewer lower numbers in their playing deck, the higher chance they would lose a good card.
"...That will be up to you."
In the end, Blake didn't place anything, and Myra didn't either, ending their turn. Elise's eyelid twitched when she saw this.
"Dammit, I wouldn't have placed this card if I knew you both weren't going to!"
Blake smiled wryly.
"The odds are stacked against us in the first place. It's going to be hard to do this... We should talk amongst ourselves before we make any decisions next time."
From there, it switched to Jack's turn. He drew two cards, making his total hand consist of a 3, 4, 6, 9, and Queen. After a bit of thought, he pointed at Elise's 4, making it come to his side.
Elise cursed under her breath.
"How the hell is this game even fair?"
Jack tapped the bottom of his mask a few times.
"Hm... it looks like I got very lucky!
Then, he sacrificed it to summon his 6, causing the four to crumple up before wrapping around the back of the six. After that, he attacked Blake directly with it. The card physically jumped up to smack Blake in the chest. From his expression, it looked like it hurt, but it wasn't anything that would actually affect him.
A simple gauge next to him appeared, changing from 20 to 14.
Then, the turns switched over. Each of them drew a card before Blake spoke up.
"Are you guys able to play a card? Unless I use a card from my playing deck, I won't be able to."
Elise nodded, but Myra shook his head. Seeing this, Blake let out a sigh.
"Then let's just skip this turn so that he can't steal a monster from us.
With that, the turn order once again switched to Jack. He drew two cards, making his total hand a 3, 4, 8, 9, 9, and a Queen. He summoned a 4 to join his 6 and used them both to attack Blake once more.
The 6 hit him in the chest, making him groan out in pain, while the 4 slapped him across the face. More than how much it hurt, was the humiliation. His gauge went from 14 to 4.
Although the game was fairly simple, since a card with higher attack was able to destroy others without consequence, it made gaining momentum a very big deal. Having a high attack card made one nearly invincible.
If they wanted to win, then using their playing cards to summon was a rather big deal.
Blake only realized this now. He took a look at the person in front of him with a small frown but decided to try and make a deal.
"Hey, how about we make a deal so that nobody loses out too much on this? Regardless of what random card is given to the winner, they return it in exchange for a three."
Jack tilted his head to the side.
"But I already have a lot of threes!"
Blake's eyelid twitched.
"Well, if you lose, then you will only have to give up your threes then, right?"
Jack let out a playful hum.
"But it looks like I'm going to win!"
Blake smirked as he put down an Ace, causing all the cards on the table to shrivel up and disappear.
"Are you so sure about that?"
Jack shrugged his shoulders.
"I still think that I will win!"
Blake clicked his tongue.
"Yeah, but this is just a preventative measure in case you do lose so that you don't lose too much."
Elise let out a sigh.
"Why are you even trying to convince that thing? Do you really think it will uphold its part of the deal?"
Myra let out a soft hum.
"I don't think it's right to call him an it."
As for Jack, he simply scratched the side of his head.
"Let's just focus on playing the game! If you can beat me, then you deserve it! I think it's better to spend time having fun instead of thinking about all the cards."