Chapter 2: What The Hell
A week has passed since Joachim arrived in this world, and he still had no damn clue about which series he was in. Things hadn't become less crazy, either.
"Marik, dear, could you take out the trash?"
"I will get to it right away, Big Momma."
Life was so weird right now. After Big Momma- he still didn't know her name - dragged him away to her house, she suddenly decided to shelter him, feeling sorry for him. At that moment, he felt like he had lost something important; probably his dignity, but that didn't matter much in the current state of affairs.
Big Momma gave him a room to stay, and even cooked meals for him. She was a kind person at heart but also naive. 'Seriously, who lets a stranger into their home?' That was his thought at that time, yet going by the looks the neighbors gave him, they were used to similar actions from the middle-aged woman.
Taking out the part where he was literally kidnapped, Joachim felt indebted to her. Of course, that was after asking Ra if she had some evil in her heart - he was a God, he would know - because he definitely didn't want to stay near a woman that could very well be into human trafficking. Paranoid much? Maybe. Besides, the nickname 'Big Momma' didn't inspire anyone's trust. Although it was funny to him since she was on the short side.
He also decided to use his body's name since he doubted the 'real' Marik was still alive. There was also the matter that he wouldn't be in this body if that were the case, so it was relatively safe to use the original's name. Joachim didn't want to jinx it, but he at least hoped that were the case.
There had been additional talks with Ra as well; two, to be exact. Nothing really new surged from those talks since the third member of their little group was still sleeping. He was able to get to know the Egyptian God a bit better, though. Once you ignored his grumpiness and feelings of superiority, he was easy to get along with.
Joachim had also taken advantage of the misunderstanding with his 'missing memories' to get some information from Big Momma. Apparently, he was in a city called City. The irony was not lost to him.
He vaguely remembers that being the name of the city where the Lancers traveled to in Arc-V and that it was in the Synchro Dimension. However, he didn't see any high roads or people playing card games on motorcycles, so it wasn't much. Maybe the city he was currently in had a different name, and only the locals called it like that? It was so frustrating.
Like that, obtaining new information but not really getting something out of it, the week went by.
'I should not be that impatient. That's how bad things happen most of the time.' As much as he didn't like it, this whole thing made his mind constantly active, thinking about every possible scenario and how to react to them in case they happened.
...Yet no amount of planning would be enough to prepare him for what he saw the moment he got out of Big Momma's house.
The figures clad in blue wearing strange masks were walking calmly side by side. He quickly looked away lest they caught him staring at them. As careful as he could, he went to do the task given to him. Thankfully the trash container was not that far, so he was able to reach it in no time, place the trash inside, turn around, and go back. All the while doing his best act of 'I am a normal person doing normal things.'
Fortunately for him, those three guys didn't seem to have noticed him, and if they did, they didn't really care. Before, there were doubts. Now, there were not.
'I am in fucking Arc-V...' He really wanted to bang his head against a wall. This series had potential but it ended up sucking because the people behind it rushed everything. And the least he talked about the ending, the better it would be for his sanity.
'They weren't laughing like madmen while summoning giant robots, so they aren't trying to conquer this dimension. Which means... I am in the Fusion Dimension, aren't I...?'
He had only watched the earlier parts of the series, as well as a bit of Synchro and the end of Fusion. Whatever he knew from the Xyz Dimension was thanks to some videos on the internet, but he was drawing blanks outside of that.
'Who knew there was a city named City here as well. No wonder I didn't recognize it.' It was the worst series he could have ended up with. While he didn't remember every single detail about the other ones, he would be able to do so once he spotted certain parents. That was impossible for the most part here.
And as if that weren't enough, his Extra Deck was filled with XYZ monsters. It was like saying "Hey, look at me! Come here and card my ass!"
Although thinking about it, it might have been a blessing in disguise. If he had been transported to the Xyz Dimension where his Deck had the most affinity, he would have been fighting a war right now. 'I don't know if the invasion already started, and I can't exactly go and ask someone so openly.'
If he had the Millenium Rod he could attempt some mind-control to gather information. Sadly, he didn't have it. As for knocking out one of those masked guys and making them talk? Yeah, right. He had never been in a fight in his whole life, so he doubted it would work.
With no options in sight, Joachim returned to his temporary home. Big Momma was waiting for him with the launch done, something that improved his downed mood. Despite her lacking taste when it came to nicknames, her food was delicious. It was a good thing since he sucked so much at whatever it had to do with cooking. For him, it was easier to set the kitchen on fire than to boil an egg. That was how bad he was at it.
After washing his hands, he sat on the table, ready to enjoy another masterpiece. It was at that moment, though, where she informed him of a rather interesting thing.
"Dear Marik, could I trouble again after you have had your launch? My daughters will come to visit me since the Professor allowed them to have a little holiday from their studies at Academia. I want to buy some things in the market to welcome them." Of course that as soon as he discovered by himself where he was everything had to start scream 'Arc-V' and 'Fusion Dimension'.
'It couldn't have been earlier, no? Of course not.'
Despite his sarcastic thoughts, he still remembered to answer Big Momma. "It is no trouble. The least I can do is help you in everything I can after you took me in when I had nothing."
"Oh, my! Such sweet little boy! I am sure you will get along well with my daughters. They are the cutest things in the world!" She was practically beaming, causing him to sweatdrop as he tried to force a smile.
"Ahaha... I will try." 'I am not interested in interacting with them, but if they are from Academia, they should know some basic information regarding the invasion, if it already started or not. I could also ask them if they could teach me how to duel with a Duel Disk. I don't have a single clue about how to use those.'
They made small talk after that, enjoying a peaceful meal. Although it did feel a little bad knowing what could be happening in other places.
The duty of washing the dishes rested on him, so he immediately got to that as soon as they finished eating.
Once he was done, Big Momma came from the upper floor of the house carrying some empty shopping handbags. After drying his hands, he took some of them, accompanying her to do groceries.
Along the way, he met more of those Academia soldiers. Joachim honestly thought he was in some kind of Star Wars parody with how much they resembled each other. 'The creators of this series truly abused the copy-paste function.'
Noticing his stares, Big Momma decided to enlighten the clueless him, probably thinking that as he had lost his memory, he even forgot about who those people were. "Oh, them? They are a nice little group of students from Academia. I feel bad they have to take time from their studies to protect us from all those bad children that had been appearing lately."
'If only you knew...'
"Bad children?" Her way of speaking was weird as always, so he didn't know how to interpret her words. Joachim was sure that she referred to the people that in her own words, "assaulted him," though.
"They are youngsters wearing strange costumes. I know they are excited for Halloween, but that is no reason to attack people claiming vengeance. Their performance should be left for that date, otherwise what is the point?" A sad sight escaped her lips as she shook her head. Meanwhile, he was really wondering if she was this naive or it was one hell of an act.
'So some duelists from the Xyz Dimension arrived here, huh. I honestly don't fault them, but they should use their brain a little and make use of their tactical advantages instead of attacking so openly as they seemingly have been doing.'
He would need to make contact with them in any case. They just might be his only ticket to get out of the Fusion Dimension. Unfortunately, he couldn't just go meet them and say "Hey, look at my Xyz cards; I am one of you! Can you get me out of here?"
In the worst-case scenario, he would have to steal one of their Duel Disks. How would he go about doing it, he didn't know yet.
"I understand. You should be careful, Big Momma. There is a chance they might try to harm you with their pranks." He didn't want to say that they would card her without hesitation. Not that she would understand.
"Oh my! You truly are a kind youngster, Marik; worrying about an old woman like me. But enough of all this talk. We should hurry so that we can receive my daughters with enough food to feed the whole neighborhood. They are such gluttons..." Joachim simply nodded. He would think more about his future plans when night came.
The shopping went by quickly. At first, he thought she was joking by saying they ate a lot. It turns out she was not. If someone said to him that he was carrying half the market's products in their shopping bags, he would absolutely not refute them.
As they were coming back, Joachim noticed smoke in the distance. Squinting his eyes, he was able to make out the figures of two monsters fighting each other. One was Triple Ancient Gear Hunting Hound and the other one was Diamond Dire Wolf.
Big Momma didn't seem to have spotted the fight. She was happily singing a tune as she marched. He looked at the two monsters one last time before sighing and continuing on his way. As much as he wanted to help them, the only thing he could do was pray for their safety.
Without other significant events happening along the way, both individuals arrived back home.
As soon as he placed the bags over the table, Joachim excused himself. He couldn't even work as a helper, so he preferred to stay away from the kitchen.
He stayed in his room for hours, reviewing his first deck: the dragon one, as much as he could. Despite having cards like Draglubion, Hope Harbringer, Hearth-Earth, and some Numbers, it also had some fusions, so he could pass as a fusion duelist without much trouble. He ended up placing every card that betrayed him as an Xyz user in Ra's deck temporarily. Now, he only had a Blue-Eyes Deck plus their fusions.
It would still be strong without a doubt, especially for the cards people played in this world. More importantly, his cover wouldn't be blown out until he managed to escape.
A knock on the door interrupted his plans. Looking outside the window, he saw that it was already night. It seemed he had spent more time than he thought thinking about how to do things from now on.
"Coming!" After giving an affirmation, he got up from his bed and opened the door where someone was staring at him with cold and judging eyes.
"So you are the bastard that mom decided to rescue like an abandoned dog, aren't you? I will be clear. What do you want with her?"
'Oh fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. Why it had to be her?!' Joachim literally froze, unable to say anything. That was because in front of him stood one of most evil people in the series, at least until she was sort of evangelized by Yuya.
One of the Tyler sisters, Gloria...
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone