Fanfic #147 One Card Short of a Full Deck by Stewart92(DC/Yugioh)

This fanfic is a crossover between DC and Yugioh following an oc with Yugioh monster powers. I really like this fic because it has a really unique power system with a lot of great world building when it comes to the oc and their power.

Synopsis: A boy opens a booster pack. The world changes.

Rated: M

words: 66k

https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/one-card-short-of-a-full-deck-dc-yugioh.972010/reader/

Here's the first chapter:

Gotham City had one of the highest crime rates per state. It wasn't really hard to see when the local news was filled with things like 'Batman stops killer plant' or 'Scarecrow's toxin only killed four people.'

Gotham City was kind of a shithole with a shiny hat on it.

But the thing is people sort of becoming adapted to it. Not in a 'stronger for it' means, but actually declaring that when it was quiet, Gotham City was really 'quite lovely'. It was insane and I guess I was insane because I didn't leave the city either.

Mine was more of a spite thing than a pride thing, which was arguably worse.

"Roger, do the last stack and you can get out of here," my boss called from the doorway as he smoked inside. It was his business, so who was I to tell him where to smoke?

"Sure thing," I called back, my arms aching like a fire had been injected into them. The transport of fish was a stinking, back-breaking, terrible job. Once it left the boat, it was on a timer to get to a cooler or storage unit to be kept fresh for the morning markets.

That meant a lot of boxes if all of Gotham was to get their fish fingers. Sure, some boxes rattled or didn't sound like 'fish', but I didn't look. I remember when a guy looked and made a fuss. He left due to 'workplace accidents' and a small compensation.

Only the rich or well-off had the privilege to stick to morals and the high ground. No work meant no pay and dying to be 'moral' didn't sound like a great idea.

My Mom needed help. I was only seventeen, but she was already working two jobs and my younger siblings needed cash for lunches, pens, field trip funds... it just didn't end really.

I left the building stinking of fish and a far too small paycheck.

The crime rate I mentioned before? It came at me not even ten feet away from the front door.

"Empty your pockets," the man snarled and I looked him over as he pointed a knife at me. It pissed me off to no end. He looked like he had both better clothes than me and more cash...

"Alright," I said slowly, reaching into my coat for things. In one hand, I held the paycheck, my sweat and blood that would keep us going one more night. In the other were keys that had a small knuckle blade on them.

I was between two choices. Acceptance or rebellion.

I looked into his eyes. He looked coked out of his mind...

I think that was what decided it. Anyone who needed money this badly to blow on drugs wasn't someone I could just bend my knee to. I lashed out, getting him the arm with my black metal knife, but he just grunted, eyes bloodshot as he didn't seem to feel it right away.

His knife slid under my ribs with motioned practise.

"I gave you a choice, now live with the consequences," he hissed close to my ear. The snow below began to turn red like someone was dripping raspberry sauce from an ice-cream cone on it.

I fell to my knees and pain was all I knew for that moment. My heartbeat oddly, like something was in its way... oh right... a knife.

He took my money and a few moments later, he took my life. I fell backward, the snow cushioning my fall as I stared up at the dirty sky, the snow drifting down like cool kisses on my face. The man simply walked off, scoffing at my paycheck.

Disrespect to the end... it looked like.

What a... an unfair hand.

I want... a redo...

I want a rematch with life.

---

Scales tipped one way before the chains wobbled.

"Just one? Hardly fair considering your number."

"I thought you'd always win... why are you so concerned? I even picked your champion for you.

"The scales are weighed unfairly."

"You're lucky they are weighed at all given your circumstance. This world shall be the purest test we have... only us and the game. It will be bloody and dark... but your 'light' will have its chance to shine."

"Fight with my hands tied or die with my head held high? What a cruel choice..."

"Why... thank you."

---

As I inhaled as my heart beat faster, the pain in my chest felt almost unbearable. I moaned as I rolled, snow and blood turning the ground pink. I saw my mugger walking away... was he whistling?

In that moment, I felt sparks of fury race up within me and I reached out with a snarl.

I think I tried to Force-choke him, but instead... something else happened.

Things flashed through my mind, shuffling, the sound of flesh, water. Wind, fire... until finally in my hands, silver light formed, illuminating the alley and causing my mugger to turn, his unkempt hair wild.

"Wha-" he began but I was too busy holding a gleaming bow with blue and red wrappings before a glowing arrow formed in the string.

It was so light and holding it made my body glow.

"Silver Bow and Arrow..." I intoned, the name coming from deep within me. I had no clue what was happening... only knowing things had become very different.

"L-listen... just... I'm desperate," the man began, backing away and I fired, the thing almost natural to my hands as it pinned him to the brickwall behind him by his collar. A new arrow formed and I felt the bow... become less real. Like it wouldn't last too long.

I felt weirdly high and it took everything I had not to simply marvel at what I was doing. I fired three more times and the man was utterly pinned by the arrows. The bow shattered moments later but the arrows remained behind, as real as me or the ground under my feet.

"Please don't kill me," he said and the only reason I didn't was that I didn't want to go to jail and leave my family behind and... he offered me a choice.

A crappy choice between food and my life, but he didn't have to do that...

I leaned in.

"You made your choice, now live with the consequences," I repeated his words back to him before snatching my paycheck back and walking off, leaving him pinned there by his clothes. He could enjoy a brisk Gotham night until someone found him...

The only thing I could think once my adrenaline began to wear off was how much pain I was in. I walked down the street, ducking into a doorway, examining my bloody stab wound that looked more like a barely healed flesh wound.

That had gone to my heart... I should be dead.

But I wasn't.

Instead, I had gone all... Silver Arrow on that guy.

"Holy crap. I'm an archer," I announced. I mean, it wasn't like being Superman or the Flash or whatever, but it was a massive step up in my life prospects! I held my hand out and tried to focus around the pain.

"Bow! Uh... Bow and Arrow? Go Go Arrow!" I flicked my wrist. I could feel something inside my chest, a sort of warmth but it was sluggish and loose. I don't think I'd be 'go go'ing anything.

I looked out in the dark city of Gotham, thoughts chaotic.

--

"Roger, you're late! I almost put your food in a container," my Mom said as I finally made it through the door. I kept my jacket zipped up to hide the bloody traces of my... incident. Until I knew what was going on? My family would just have to wait for the details.

Besides... Mom was a chronic worrier. I could hear Liam and Gabby in the living room, discussing their show. Identical twins that were both on the outgoing brash side. That 'shy twin' stuff was utter crap. They were both terrors.

"Thanks, I'll just get cleaned up," I called as I saw my Mom, a petite woman with slightly dusky skin that I got but skipped the twins, bustling around the kitchen, preparing to go out and get to her night shift at the hotel over on Marksons.

I tensed as I imagined my Mother being mugged... would she magically awaken bow powers? I didn't think so, but we had that argument before. In the end, she was always right.

We needed the money or we'd be a lot worse off.

I shut the door to my room, the small second bedroom in the apartment. The twins had their own room and Mom converted the living room into her bed at night. Pulling off the bloody shirt I grimaced at it.

"No redeeming you," I muttered as I balled it up and threw it out the nearby window to flutter four floors down and out of sight.

The act stretched my wound and I bit back a curse that would get the twins giggling as I got my mouth washed out with soap. I sat on my bed, trying to make myself accept that I both died tonight... and I did something weird.

Like Meta weird.

Most freaks in Gotham tended to be more 'he fell into acid, she injected herself with mantis DNA, and he invented some portal gun and now robs candy stores'. This was a bit weirder since I was sure I didn't do anything in particular to get powers.

I didn't want to explode my apartment or hurt my family in my sleep, so I frowned, searching inside myself again. The energy flickered, ready to do something. There was that feeling again, of shuffling cards and this time, since I was looking for it, I could see almost a selection of blurs and colours before one appeared stronger and became clear.

A smiling woman with blue skin... she radiated a sort of peacefulness that made me feel like I couldn't go wrong with her.

Instead of using it, I held it... sort of just there for a moment in my mind. I could hold these cards back? That was good to know since I didn't want to draw some nuke and... well, play it.

"Mystical Elf," I mused as I turned the card over.

I tried to resist... really, I did.

But when Mom left, I wondered what the card was. It was a person, so did that mean I made them? I created them or became them? I had a burning desire that outburned the pain in my chest. Once I heard the twins snoring, I locked my bedroom door and held my hand out.

A moment later... a brilliant shining circle appeared, the form of the Mystical Elf rising from it, arms crossed over her chest as her flowing green dress seemed to be made of such a fine material it looked unreal.

"Holy... crap," I whispered as the light died down. The elf opened her eyes and I gulped as something beyond my understanding was before me. A being far older than me but with a sense of retained purity that made me a little guilty about summoning her in my dingy bedroom.

"Uh... hi?" I tried and she smiled, uttering not a word as she floated closer... yeah, she was floating like that was a casual thing. I didn't really resist when she came near. One, she radiated such a peaceful aura I couldn't feel scared... and two... she was really attractive.

"Welcome to Earth, or to my side of it. I have soda in the fridge or snacks in the-" I rambled before she put one delicate finger against my lips. When her finger touched my skin, a tingling sensation spread out like little static electricity.

I went quiet and we just looked into each other's eyes before she gave me a sad look as if she knew who I was from that short glance. It was a pitying look, but the elf seemed to be conveying an understanding of hardship, as if saying to me that 'she got me'.

I was not an emotional guy, not much, but I wanted to tear up a little at the look.

She slowly put a hand against my chest and closed her eyes. I felt a flash in my mind, more shuffling and weirdly a purple card showed up with her image on it before relief from my pain washed over me like cool water.

I barely had time to read the card name before it vanished.

Gift of the Mystical Elf... and why was it called a trap? Was I now sealed into some elven slave contract with this really pretty elf lady? I'd gripe, but she seemed nice and servitude was a lifestyle I could adapt to...

She smiled as if hearing my thoughts. She sat at my desk and from nowhere, pulled out one of those fancy harp instruments. It was more... curly than a harp, but she began to pluck at the strings with ease.

"I have so many questions," I told her and she simply gave me a smile that said 'nothing is stopping you from asking, but nothing is making me answer'.

I opened my mouth and began to yawn, the tune she played reaching inside me and massaging my stress away.

"That's cheap," I muttered as I felt myself fall backwards, eyes closing. The last thing I heard was a small chuckle like musical bells.

---

As I worked nights, I didn't do the school thing anymore. I was technically a dropout with a cause. Usually I lounged about the house, being lazy or doing chores as quietly as I could as Mom slept, but today was different.

Mystical Elf was back in my hand, but she seemed fainter than before. Like the bow, I think I could only use her 'so many times' before she went away. The strange thing, she was both floating about and in another part of this power, her card in some grid. It was like if I used her card again in that spot... it would be easier or just instant? I didn't know yet.

I could hardly just summon her in Gotham's streets when the sun was out. I didn't want to be kicked by the Bat for doing something weird in his city. I grimaced at the thought.

His city? His city was a shithole and some people really did deserve an arrow in the eye.

I kept my head low, moving quickly through the meatpacking ports. Gotham was a mix of import business and high-tech companies. What Gotham had a lot of was port side places that were kept quiet. As the Mafia was pushed back and around by the new freaks in town, their business took a hit.

By the time you aired one warehouse of Joker gas, another had Bane setting up, Ivy crushing it for spilling chemicals, or one could stumble into any number of people setting up camp, but there were places so shitty that no one wanted.

One of the places I knew about came from an old coworker who liked to share stories of the 'good old days' when all you had to worry about was not paying protection fees or being from the wrong family in the wrong part of the city.

A water treatment site was a common sight along the shores of Gotham and its one of the very old models that I slipped into. It had been hollowed out for anything useful a long time ago, slowly flooding as global warming occurred. The walls had historical gang tags and names everywhere.

I whistled at the sight of the slightly large dingy room that once held a single machine designed to 'clean' Gotham's rivers. Poor things never stood a chance. According to my old buddy... the Mafia liked to use sites like these to dump old...trouble into the river and have them torn to shreds by the machine.

Of course, Wayne Enterprises long had 'new' expensive robots trawling the river and fancy dam stuff that everyone knew the police used to catch smugglers...

I managed to close the door behind me, needing to put my shoulder into it. I was lucky I didn't make it collapse into a pile of rust and metal to be honest. I turned to my... base? If I had powers and a secret place to go, did that automatically make it a base?

I shrugged and focused inwards. My power, whatever it was, was based on cards.

Strange cards that came in Booster Packs. I hadn't seen these things since that Pocket Monster fad came about.

I breathed slowly, pulling them closer. I saw two of them, each with a different symbol and name.

One had a shadow of some huge dragon on it, that was the one I drew Silver Bow and Mystical Elf. It was called 'The Legend of Blue Eyes White Dragon'. I didn't know what that was, but anything with 'dragon' in its name was automatically 'neat' in my opinion.

The other was called 'Metal Raiders' and the shadow on that one seemed to be some towering creature made of three 'bodies'.

I felt I could 'choose' what to open. So far, I knew the first gave me bow and Mystical elf, I had little idea on the other.

In the end, I went with more Blue Eyes, simply to see if I could find a limit of sorts to what each pack contained. Hopefully they weren't unlimited or never ending... It would make finding Mystical Elf again a pain and I really liked her so far.

This time when the pack opened, I saw the cards... and they were fucking weird. I think I lucked out in the pretty elf lady department because one of these suckers was legit called 'Terra the Terrible'.

One of them did seem more interesting than the rest. A green card that showed a strange void of purpleness. It was called 'Yami' so I picked it.

It appeared in my mind and curiously I pushed it to my field and the ground underneath my feet began to flash slowly, I looked around and the flashing light moved from the floor to the door and when I looked at my hand, my body began to flash.

Was this some selecting tool?

I selected the floor to be safe and slowly, like spreading ink, darkness crawled along the concrete surface. It climbed the walls until it was completely surrounding me. I stared around and as I did so, the walls began faintly visible as if the Yami card let me see even though I shouldn't.

I also felt... a little more intense. Like my senses were sharpened and perhaps like being a little buzzed, I had an easier time to find things more amazing or amusing. I flexed my hand, enjoying the sensation.

So, I had a bow, a magic elf, and a field of darkness. Was I perhaps not a magic archer, chosen to wear tights... but perhaps a LARPer?

I think I'd feel better once I got a dragon.

Dragons made everything better.

---

"Sorry, it's not one of mine," Green Arrow said as Batman showed him the scans of the arrow.

"Huntress said the same," he said darkly. Green Arrow leaned in, trying not to look amused.

"Batman... arrows are used by lots of people. They've been around a long time since people decided they really wanted to stab someone... from far away," he explained slowly as if Batman were a dim-witted child.

After a moment of staring at each other, Green Arrow blew out a sigh on his side of the video link.

"Okay, the arrows are atomically perfect and they glow. That's weird," he admitted finally.

"If they could do this with arrows, what else can they do... the only good thing is that the user didn't kill the criminal. It means I might not have a psychopath on the loose," Batman said as he slowly moved the scans of the arrow to be in front of him, the energy coming off it similar to the energy released by Zatara, but... more fluid.

"To be fair, a shaft and simple metal isn't that hard to get almost perfect in most labs anyway. The feathers are more complex, but once you mail down the blueprint and build a printer, you could pop them out like paper," Green Arrow suggested as he began to sketch the arrow on pen and paper.

"The question is why bother?" he added and Batman admitted it was a good question. Why bother making flawless basic arrows? Was it key to the energy they possessed?

"How's Robin?" Arrow asked abruptly. Batman paused in his work at the change in subject before continuing.

Robin was... complicated. The boy clearly felt he was outgrowing his boy wonder of being Robin, looking for new ways to excel at his abilities. Too eager, his success and experience under Batman made him a more brazen version of Batman.

There was also the single issue that Robin had no clue on how to work with anyone that didn't think and act like himself. A flaw that Batman himself had to work through with the Justice League many times.

"Progressing," he finally said before he could feel Alfred's eyes on his back, parental pressure heavy.

"How is... Speedy?" he finally asked and the look vanished. Only Alfred could make him be social.

"Angsty, wanting to surpass me, ready to take down the big names with spunk and attitude," Green Arrow sighed dramatically. Batman smirked.

It was nice to see he was not the only one with apprentice issues.

"Which reminds me..." Green Arrow said, leaning towards the camera with a grin. Batman eyed the 'disconnect' button for a second too long to be casual.

"Did you hear Manhunter wants to bring his niece to Earth for... education?" he asked slyly. Batman shot him an annoyed look.

"I have a hand in all Earth security measures involving the Justice League," he reminded Green Arrow, who waved him off.

"I got a kid, you got a kid, Manhunter's got a kid..." he led on.

"Three isn't a team," Batman said bluntly.

"We'll ask Aquaman to send some little guppy and maybe Diana knows a bored girl on that amazing lovely island. I even heard Blood's an apprentice," the archer pushed and Batman sighed, knowing this was not going to go away, even if he hung up.

"Blood's apprentice causes tables to run off like horses and Blood to drink. He won't let the boy come into any team until he gets his magic under control," he said before raising a hand.

"If… if viable members appear, we'll consider it, but for now? We continue to train them as we have done. A few more months won't harm their chances," he said, more diplomatic than he had been in a while.

"Tell that to Flash. The man looks ready to give Kid to the first reasonable adult he finds," Green Arrow joked before he hung up.

Batman remembered how the boy once devoured an entire buffet in one of those many parties Bruce Wayne held over the years. It was... a sight.

Flash's food bill was insane, the man sometimes sent it to the tower in a plea for help.

He shook his head and got back to work.

"Do your homework," he said to the silent cave before a small shadow above darted away, muttering to himself.

Batman let him have two mistakes for free, Robin would need to get a lot better to sneak up on him.

---

I was looking at the notepad I had on hand. I only had one diagram so far.

The page read as 'Magic cards>???>profit?' I was also tracking down what card was and also what power they displayed. I was using a basic cipher to make it look like gibberish, but I got used to writing in it if I didn't use big words.

The dark field was still around and I was pretty sure it wasn't going anywhere since it had lost almost no power since it clung to the treatment building. If a monster or spell used the energy inside for something, it would diminish, but with just me here? It was content to be fucking spooky to anyone that walked in.

I felt a slight pulse in my mind and I turned off the timer on my phone. I counted a rough hour for the ability to open one of the two booster packs.

If I kept counting the time between these rises in energy, I should be able to get an idea of what to expect... maybe.

I once again had the massive choice between blue eyes or metal raiders. I decided to go all in until I got a dragon. The cards revealed themselves and I nearly gasped when I saw a purple card with a wyrm-like dragon and a knight, but while I could select it, I was also able to read the fact it needed two other monsters first in my hand or field... that was a bit of a bummer, but there was Lesser Dragon.

It was... well, it had 'dragon' in the name. I called on it and there was a rush of wind as another glowing circle formed, forming upwards until a hunched scaled form was revealed. The silence was broken by the slow rumblings of a growl.

I think I just summoned something I had no idea if I could control. I think I may be an idiot. The dragon looked around sniffing before it landed on me, those red eyes glowing in the gloom. It didn't seem able to 'see' me, but it could smell me. It roared and charged, a big lizard the size of a cow was not something you could quite avoid in a tiny room.

I had no idea what to do but Mystical Elf pulsed so I called upon her, she appeared before me in a shimmering green barrier, arms crossed. The dragon pressed into the barrier with annoyance.

"What's your problem?!" I demanded of the dragon and it snorted, prowling back and forth. Mystical Elf gave me a look that was unamused.

'Dragons... big pride, little logic' she seemed to say with her face alone.

"So, what? I need to beat it down to make it listen?" I asked as the dragon sniffed again, its armoured body looking around for a way out. I sensed the two monsters, but my power was 'telling' me that Mystical Elf couldn't lay the smack down, even with the passive power she was drawing from the Yami field.

Mystical Elf thought for a moment then I felt her card begin to resonate with another card I had set, the Yami spell. It was like she was asking for permission to do something. I eyed the Lesser Dragon, getting close to the door to the outside.

I nodded and she began to draw in the Yami field, draining almost all of power as she was covered in it.

In my mind I could see the process more smoothly, the Yami field and Mystical Elf seemed to be combining in a whirl of light.

A wind picked up and I had to cover my face before it died down and my pretty elf lady stood there with a scowl and a prominent Adam's apple.

I checked my field and saw a new card on the field.

Ancient Elf: Yami

It showed the monster before me and seemed to be glowing slightly with power as she flexed the darkness inside her. The card shifted to grow more text.

'An ancient elf born from consuming a dark energy field bigger than their head. The result is an ancient elf that seems stronger than its brethren everywhere. 1650/1500.'

The wizard and dragon faced off and weirdly... I think they seemed to enjoy the idea of the fight. It was over in a single blaze of Ancient's staff and the Lesser Dragon laid there before it seemed to calm.

It nodded to me and I looked between them, my gender-changing elf dark-eater and my rude lesser dragon.

What the hell were my powers?!