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Okay, so, awhile back I wrote and posted the first chapter of a Yugioh spinoff story simply titled, Bandit Keith. As the title suggests, the story centers around a minor Duel Monsters Season 1 antagonist named "Bandit" Keith Howards, who was last seen breaking free from sort of mind control perpetrated by the Season 2 main antagonist and running away from a burning warehouse, believing he was possessed by some ghost. However, other than appearing as a mirage in Season 4, we never really see Howards after that point. This struck me as odd since Howards, an American, was at that moment in time stranded in a city in Japan, Domino City, without any money or knowledge of Japanese, his story left open to interpretation. I decided to take the liberty of continuing Keith's story upon noticing this narrative predicament, as I saw the rich potential in developing the black sheep of the entire Yugioh canon: a foreigner scumbag who could not catch a break. I mean, this guy had Fate kick the living shit out of him on multiple occasions without anyone batting an eye. He's done some shitty things in his life, sure, but damn; his punishment far outweighed his actions. Keith's life story makes him fall under this rare grey area within the Yugioh universe as he was pitted against both the first series's protagonists and two out of its six major antagonists. He even lost the closest thing he had to friends due to his obsession with enacting revenge against the main antagonist of season 1, said obsession prompting him to manipulate, insult, and ultimately abandon his peers. In short, Bandit Keith's life is the antithesis to all the major themes and tropes presented in Yugioh. He wasted his chance at friendship, he never had some ancient power or spirit on his side, he had selfish yet sympathetic motives that were not tragic enough to be framed as sympathetic, he never had that moment of terror, glory, or drama, he was never really tied to one of the good guys in some direct way, he never got a chance to learn from his mistakes, and most importantly, he never caught a break whether it be morally or amorally. In a world where Egyptian gods actually exist, where people play card games on motorcycles, where one of the wealthiest and most intelligent men in the world happens to be a fucking teenager, where a kid shares his body with an ancient Pharaoh, where dimensions filled with monsters await to teach life lessons or grant extraordinary powers to the main characters, where an entire school dedicates itself to teaching its students how to play a children's card game, where you can LITERALLY LOSE YOUR SOUL IF YOU LOSE IN SAID CHILDREN'S CARD GAME, Bandit Keith Howards was just some average shmuck who's greatest accomplishment was topping in some off-screen tournament, only to have some one-eyed, mind-reading, Sephiroth looking FUCK ruin his reputation for funsies. Sorry I got carried away for a second. Anyway, this story will not only give a character like Keith a second chance at life, but it will also examine the insanity of the Yugioh universe through the lens of the average man. It'll explore the more nuanced aspects of the Yugioh universe, such as the culture of Duel Monsters and why people take the game so seriously even without the ancient Egyptian magic. It'll also attempt to draw parallels from real life that weren't really explored in the canon, like the in-universe game's trade economy or the financially dangerous addiction to opening packs in search of that one rare card that you really really want. My first attempt to write this story proved to be rather poor, as I fucked up on the characterization by literally making Keith the typical 90s antihero. Like, that first chapter wasn't much, but damn, I sacrificed any meaningful or interesting dialogue for the sake of making Keith look mean, but in a cool and badass way and not a realistic or consequential way. I mean, Keith has the potential to become a badass, but not right after hitting rock-bottom. Thus, I decided to burn the entire thing and restart the story from scratch. Also, nothing of substance really happened in that first chapter besides the introduction of Keith's predicament. Instead of writing the story in the style of a novel, I'll attempt to write the story in a sort of quasi-script style. When I say quasi-script I mean a script with large paragraphs that would remind you of a novel but with the formalities of setting up scenes and organizing the novel-like paragraphs into numbered sequences. I'm doing this because: A. I don't actually know how to truly write non-dialogue chunks of a script despite looking up online examples and B. It'll force me to take a break from long-winded descriptions of how characters inwardly "feel" to allow for stuff to actually happen in a more outwardly and physical manner. I will post each "Episode" (Chapter) in chunks separated by a "Commercial Break" so as to not take up too much space per post. I can't promise any frequent flow of content due to my college-bound duties, but I will at least try to finish the first episode within two months. Keep in mind that this story is based on events which happen in the Yugioh anime, because in the manga, Bandit Keith is actually killed during the manga's equivalent to season 1, which kind of ruins the entire thing ya dig? Feedback for this project is deeply appreciated, as I actually one day hope to see my vision become an actual, official thing at some point in my life. Thank you, and have fun reading I guess.

For some context, "Bandit" Keith is an explicitly American side antagonist who appeared in the Duelist Kingdom Arc (season 1) as well as the beginning of the Battle City arc (season 2) of the original Yugioh manga/anime series. He's sort of like Boba Fett (at least for me) in how his character proves to be more interesting than a lot of the main cast despite not being given any satisfying conclusion or proper character development. Thus, I felt compelled to expand on his ventures as well provide some sort of personal interpretations and spins on the Yugioh universe, a world primarily obsessed with a singular trading card game post-Season zero (a considerably darker season that never left Japan and focused on other games besides Duel Monsters). And so, I bid you a bon appetite as you digest a sample of what I have in store. Oh, and any criticism is very much appreciated. Prologue: Rock Bottom “Okay, wise guy, I’ll give you ‘till three!” “Fine; hm…one two three.” click Shame. Adrenaline. The salty stench of failure. These are the concepts that cloud a man’s senses as he falls through the trash chute of the castle of the flamboyantly effeminate founder of Industrial Illusions, the exuberant host of a children’s trading card tournament, the silver-haired man with a red one-piece suit and a closet fetish for cartoon characters. Everyone else above him will carry on with the tournament as if nothing happened. That pipsqueak with the spikey hair will face off against his blondie BFF, and then one of them will duel that man, the waste of human skin he came so close to ending. Someone will be crowned King of Games, all the participants will receive an “A” for effort, and someone will make a grand speech about believing in the heart of cards or some crap like that. The heart of the cards had denied him his own revenge. The man tried desperately to climb up the chute, his hands scrambling for some indentation within the slippery metal surface, but to no avail. His heartbeat rapidly increased as the chute’s slope straightened from a steep angle to a vertical falling, his grip on both his handgun and reality disintegrating as he arrived closer to the light below his feet. Then, weightlessness. For a brief passage of time the man felt as though everything had slowed down, his field of vision adjusting to a clear blue sky accompanied by a peripheral view of the castle’s rocky cliff face looming over him. The salty stench intensified as a whiff of air filled his lungs, his body now horizontal to whatever lay beneath him. He caught a glimpse of several seagulls flapping overhead, the sun’s rays radiating off of their round and smooth bodies. What a bunch of rats. And with that, the former Intercontinental State Champion’s body collided with the ocean waves. “Excuse me, young lad?” A hooded figure leaning against the side of a building appeared to snap out of a trance, his dark-purple robe standing out amongst a crowded sidewalk. “What do you want?” “You don’ ha’pen to have any spare yen on yah, if ye don’t mind?” “Do I look Japanese to you?” “No, but ye look like you’d speak English, which yah just proved, mate.” The hooded figure now felt compelled to check the surrounding urbia, almost as if the beggar’s comment triggered a vague memory. Foreign symbols consisting of strikingly thick outlines populated just about every sign and billboard on every street and sidewalk. Colorful cartoon characters with expressively wide eyes commonly accompanied these symbols, always attracting bustling foot traffic to a variety of stores and vendors. English letters would occasionally interrupt a chain of the symbols, though the words and phrases they formed proved equally nonsensical. Translucent tubing lined some of the signs, lighting them up with bright neon colors in lieu of the setting sun. One billboard in particular combined both the English break and the bright lights; its towering presence could not be ignored. Welcome to Domino City. Despair hit his body like a speeding bullet, the impact leaving him momentarily breathless. He hung his head down as the feeling consumed his entire body, leeching off what little dignity he had left. He then caught a glimpse of a dull silver shimmer near his feet, coaxing him to pick up and examine its source. The figure proceeded to briskly walk away from the beggar, a gust of wind pulling his hood down, in turn revealing a bandanna patterned after the American flag encapsulating a blond mane of vine-like hair. “Hey, what about yer yen?!” “I’m using it to buy a drink!” And with that, “Bandit” Keith Howards set off for the nearest bar to buy a drink.