This Trainer Has No Sense of Fair Play Chapter 1

This Trainer Has No Sense of Fair Play, by Zao Hua Zhai Zhu

A monster-taming story that treats Yu-Gi-Oh! monsters as Pokémon.

Reporter: According to audience statistics, most of the spirits under your command are cute girls. Does that mean you like beautiful female spirits?

You Zhi: Slander. What I like are muscular male spirits.

Reporter: As the leading prophet who freely shared spirit knowledge with the public, what valuable advice do you have for new trainers?

You Zhi: Put people first.

Reporter: You mean a trainer's own abilities are fundamental, so there are no strongest spirits in the world, only the strongest trainers?

You Zhi: No, I mean that as long as you knock out the trainer himself, it doesn't matter how strong his spirits are.

Starting with a Battle Is Tradition

Deep in a dense mountain forest, two young men dressed like thugs struggled forward while carrying a corpse.

"I can't carry it anymore. Let's just dump it here."

One of them, a young man with a nose ring, stopped and lowered the corpse's legs, panting heavily as he spoke.

"Isn't this a little too close to the city? What if someone finds it..."

"If they find it, they find it. The cops will check his identity, see that he's from our organization, then investigate the cause of death and find out the killer was that Champion. It'll probably just be dropped." The nose-ringed youth was unconcerned.

"That's true..."

The other man was tall, with a white bull tattooed on his face. After thinking for a moment, he lowered his head to the corpse. "Brother, it's not that I, Niu Wei, lack loyalty. You chose this path yourself, so don't blame anyone after dying. Besides, dying at that Champion's hands isn't a bad end for a spirit trainer."

As he spoke, he dragged the corpse beneath a maple tree, then gathered fallen maple leaves to hide it.

"Are you done yet? My stomach's growling. Hurry up and let's go." The nose-ringed youth urged him.

"Coming."

Niu Wei gave the corpse one last look, pulled the leaves inward with both hands to cover its face, then sighed and turned away.

The forest returned to silence.

After an unknown amount of time, several sparrows flew down from the treetops. They hopped around atop the pile of maple leaves, playing with one another.

Suddenly, the pile of leaves stirred. The sparrows fled in fright, flapping their wings as they took off. The corpse, long since cold, pushed away the leaves covering it and slowly raised its upper body.

"Ugh... my head... so dizzy..."

Two sets of memories merged in his mind. You Zhi clutched his head in agony, utterly unable to think. Only after quite a while did he finally cool down from his "overheated" state.

"I'm alive?" You Zhi looked at his somewhat unfamiliar hands. "I remember suffering a qi deviation while secretly practicing a forbidden technique. My blood and qi surged..."

The final image before he lost consciousness was of his body suddenly swelling up, followed by a bang...

As if some biological self-preservation instinct had kicked in, You Zhi hurriedly cut off the memory and stopped thinking about it. Instead, he examined his surroundings, then rolled up his sleeves and pant legs to inspect his limbs.

"No birthmarks. My limbs are thinner than I remember. So... I caught the transmigration train?"

Naturally optimistic—or perhaps simply carefree—You Zhi quickly accepted reality. He then searched through the items on his body, trying to find clues about the original owner and confirm his identity.

"My body is gradually warming up. By normal logic, the original owner had already died before I possessed this body. Strange, there are no obvious wounds. Did my possession heal the injuries, or did the original owner die from some unnatural phenomenon?"

You Zhi had once scoffed at so-called supernatural and paranormal explanations. But he had exploded from practicing martial arts, then somehow transmigrated. As a materialist, he could only admit that things beyond his knowledge existed in this world.

Suddenly, his movements stopped. Carefully, he fumbled through the maple leaves covering the ground and found a waist token, studying the words engraved upon it.

"Ghouls Group, Harin... So the original owner belonged to an organization called Ghouls, and his name was Harin. Tch, sounds like the name of a grunt who won't survive three episodes."

You Zhi smacked his lips in dissatisfaction. Fortunately, he had no intention of inheriting the original owner's identity. Even if the guy was called Maladin, it had little to do with him.

"You're not dead?!"

A terrified voice suddenly came from nearby. It was the nose-ringed youth who had left earlier.

You Zhi glanced up and sighed. "As expected, this body hasn't practiced martial arts. Someone got this close, and I didn't even notice."

"What exactly are you, human or ghost?" Unlike You Zhi's calmness, the nose-ringed youth was panicking. Trembling, he said, "I've heard that after people die, there's a chance they'll turn into Undead spirits. Don't tell me that happened to you?"

He frantically pulled a card from his pocket and hurled it with all his strength, shouting, "Seal!"

You Zhi extended two fingers and precisely caught the spinning card. After examining it, he found that it contained a faint trace of spiritual power, but the card itself had no killing power. He couldn't understand what the other man intended. If it was a hidden weapon, it was far too gentle.

"The spirit card didn't react, so you haven't turned into a spirit." The nose-ringed youth lowered his head, then brightened in surprise. "There's a shadow under your feet. You aren't dead at all!"

You Zhi asked in return, "Since you're saying that, do you know how I died?"

"Of course I do. You received Master's orders to challenge..."

The nose-ringed youth abruptly stopped. His expression shifted unpredictably before his eyes suddenly lit up with realization. "I get it! I get it now! You deliberately faked your death so you could escape Master's control and leave Ghouls!"

"So that's what happened." You Zhi also put on an enlightened expression.

"Don't play dumb with me! If my waist token hadn't fallen, you might've really gotten away with faking your death."

The nose-ringed youth snorted, then broke into a delighted grin. "What a pity, what a pity. The goddess of luck isn't on your side—she's on mine. I'll capture you, traitor, and claim the credit from Master."

With that, he charged forward and reached for You Zhi's throat.

"So you're the one with the grunt name Harin."

You Zhi smiled in relief. Without dodging, he curled the fingers of his left hand and jabbed at the nose-ringed youth's wrist, striking the Spirit Gate acupoint. The youth withdrew his hand in pain, and You Zhi immediately drove his right elbow into the man's face.

"Uwah!"

Harin's nose bled violently, tears spilling from his eyes as he staggered three steps back. His gaze was filled with disbelief—he couldn't even beat a dead man.

"Y-you, who are you calling a grunt?!"

Enduring the aching pain, he raised a leg and kicked out, refusing to believe it.

"Your movements are way too obvious. The moment your ass lifts, I know whether you've got hemorrhoids."

As if he could see the future, You Zhi evaded the kick with movements that could hardly be called agile, then drove a knee straight into the target.

Crack!

He seemed to hear the faint sound of an eggshell breaking. Harin clutched his legs together and collapsed to his knees, his face twisted in agony, his features distorted as though he were suffering pain unlike anything he had ever experienced.

"You're... vicious..."

You Zhi paid no attention to whether the other man lived or died. Another question occupied his mind. Strange. I can feel some bizarre energy inside me, and I can move it with my thoughts, but I can't use it to strengthen my body. So it isn't inner qi from martial arts. Could it be spiritual power for spells?

Fortunately, his opponent was weak too, with no sign of martial arts training. He could easily handle a dozen grunt characters like this.

You Zhi was about to step forward and give Harin a dignified finishing blow when Harin hurriedly stretched out a hand. He pulled a card from thin air and roared, "Go, my strongest trump card—Hyosube!"

A flash of light appeared, and a monster resembling a kappa materialized between them. It wasn't especially large, but it was ugly, with an enormous turtle shell on its back.

"What the hell is that?!"

You Zhi was startled into taking a step back. One glance told him that he stood little chance if he fought it himself, especially with his current weakened body. At the same time, a stream of information entered his mind.

[Hyosube (Level 4) Water]

[Lineage: Water]

[Level: 16]

[Attack: 1500 (1350)]

[Defense: 900 (810)]

[Aqua, Description: Leader of the kappa. Its attack is unexpectedly high, but its defense is low.]

"Hyosube, use Water Gun."

At Harin's command, the kappa-like monster opened its mouth and blasted a jet of water at You Zhi.

You Zhi had already focused his mind and stayed on guard. He predicted the attack's direction in advance and dodged with a quick sidestep, but he was still shocked.

Water Gun is a move from Pokémon, isn't it? But I've never seen a spirit this ugly and this realistic! No matter how lazy Game Freak got, they couldn't possibly make something that looked like this! And he's directly ordering his spirit to attack a person. Do trainers in this world have no sense of fair play at all?

"You're pretty good at dodging. Let's see how long you can keep it up. Hyosube, get in there and use Claw Attack!"

The situation reversed. Harin grinned viciously as he commanded his spirit to attack.

Although the kappa monster carried a massive turtle shell, it moved with astonishing agility. You Zhi's body was still weak. He dodged the first two strikes but failed to avoid the third, and three bone-deep gashes were immediately carved into his right arm.

Calm down. Since I came from the same organization as him, and he said I had "received Master's orders to challenge" someone, the original owner was also a spirit trainer. But the spirits in this world seem to be stored in cards rather than Poké Balls. So right now, I need to trust this body's instincts.

You Zhi tried to circulate the unknown energy within him while focusing his mind and sending a command to his body: I want to summon a spirit.

The next moment, as though it had been forged into instinct through countless repetitions, You Zhi likewise reached into thin air, drew out a card, and skillfully slapped it forward.

"You'll do. Go."

Light surged from the card. A little goblin appeared on the field, wearing a black eyepatch over one eye, holding a towel, and sporting a crafty expression.

[Assistant Goblin (Level 1) Dark]

[Lineage: Evil]

[Level: 15]

[Attack: 100 (200)]

[Defense: 100 (200)]

[Fiend, Effect · Union: Once per turn, during your Main Phase, this card can be treated as an Equip Card and equipped to your "Giant Ogre," or you can unequip it and Special Summon it in face-up Attack Position. When this card becomes an Equip Card by its own effect, you can change the equipped monster's battle position once.]

Spells Also Follow Physical Laws

"Hahaha! You actually sent out such a trash spirit? Without Giant Ogre, Assistant Goblin is worthless—even worse than Kuriboh. Just as I thought, all your spirits died in that Dark Duel with the Champion."

Harin pointed at Assistant Goblin on the field and laughed uproariously. Then he snorted. "Go, Hyosube. Crush it!"

Hyosube let out a confident, strange cry, opened its mouth full of tiny sharp teeth, and charged.

Assistant Goblin's face turned pale with fright. Waving its towel one-handed, it screamed as it ran away. Unfortunately, its short legs couldn't carry it very fast, and it was caught in the blink of an eye.

Hyosube immediately opened its mouth to bite down on its head. Assistant Goblin hurriedly flung out its towel, which landed right over Hyosube's face and blocked its vision. It rolled aside to evade the attack, then leaped up and kicked Hyosube under the chin.

The brilliant counterattack made You Zhi's eyes light up. Assistant Goblin had first pretended to be afraid to lure the enemy in, then used its only tool to interfere, before seizing the opening to strike a vital point. Both the tactical design and execution were excellent. This spirit was nothing like the coward it appeared to be.

Unfortunately, the difference in their stats was too great. Even though Assistant Goblin struck Hyosube's vulnerable chin, the damage was still minimal. Hyosube shook its head once and recovered from its daze.

Harin, however, felt utterly humiliated. He had just mocked You Zhi's spirit, and now he flew into a rage. "Hyosube, what are you doing? You got hurt fighting trash like that? Get serious! Use Water Gun already!"

Hyosube opened its mouth and sprayed out a jet of water, but Assistant Goblin easily dodged it.

"Hurry and pounce on it! Pounce to the left! The right is a feint, don't fall for it!"

"If you can't bite it, slap it with your hands! Didn't I teach you Double Slap last time?"

"Why didn't you kick just now? Your legs aren't decorations! Do I seriously need to remind you of that?"

"Tch, this trash spirit can really jump. What Assistant Goblin? It should be called Flea Goblin!"

Hyosube's attacks repeatedly missed, while Assistant Goblin ambushed it three times in return—kicking behind its knee, grabbing its crotch, and poking its eyes. It fully exploited its small stature, targeting vital areas with every move. Though the actual damage was low, Hyosube was left utterly miserable.

And it really hurt!

Hearing his own spirit's screams, Harin finally lost his patience. He cursed furiously, "Fighting trash like this, and I still have to help with spells? You're useless! When we get back, your training will be tripled!"

He pressed his hands together, palms facing one another. Spiritual power flowed between them, and a card appeared in his palms.

[Field Spell: Water World]

[Effect: All face-up Water monsters on the field gain 500 Attack and lose 400 Defense.]

As the card in Harin's palms released light, waves suddenly rippled across the surrounding ground. Seawater appeared from nowhere, quickly piling up to knee level.

At that moment, You Zhi received explanatory information again. From his observations, Hyosube's actual Attack and Defense had respectively become 1850 and 410.