Yuugi

To Yuugi herself, much of her early life is lost amongst blurs of thought. It’s not something she particularly minds not being able to recall clearly, but it provides context into the type of person she’s become.

Yuugi never knew her parents, and grew up in a shared home for children whose parents left them there after birth. It was a well-maintained establishment, thanks in part to the high quality of living in the Ultra Station.

She was among some of the rowdier children, always seeming to be filled with an abundance of energy – but didn’t ever come across as a troublemaker.

Her performance is school was generally average, though she excelled in athletics – and was a particularly notable member of the combat sports club, having racked up a number of notable trophies by the time she graduated.

So, it was only natural that after graduation, Yuugi would continue on with this path. She quickly became indomitable in the pro combat sports scene as well, though came to loathe any attention she got from media.

It was alright, but it felt too… clean. Yuugi wasn’t able to utilize her ‘full potential’ without others getting hurt beyond what the sport would allow.

In a private setting, Yuugi vented this to a lower level of management – who made a one-off joke that Yuugi would ‘enjoy the underground scene’.

Unfortunately, Yuugi didn’t take it in jest.

She had no idea there was an ‘underground’ scene, so she did some looking into it… and found that something with no limits and higher rewards sounded just up her alley.

So, Yuugi left the world of professional, regulated combat sports behind – and became just as notable as a fighter in the extralegal counterpart.

Having never lost a match, Yuugi was able to create a comfortable life for herself doing something she enjoyed, even if that something happened to be beating people up until they were unconscious.

But as time went on, the scene began to change… revelations in science had led to new methods of doping that those in the underground scene would use, and a closer-than-normal shave and a broken nose left Yuugi wondering if she’d have to resort to it as well in order to maintain her position.

Upon hearing her complain, one of Yuugi’s top monetary supporters brought up something unusual: there was a new street drug going around after having been leaked from a top-secret government facility.

While it wasn’t a traditional means of doping, the drug – dubbed nihiline – was allegedly sourced from the mysterious and dangerous parasite known as nihilego, and had a strong dissociative effect. But what had the eye of the stakeholder was that they’d managed to accrue wild-sourced nihiline, as opposed to taken from the lab-bred population.

They seemed to think that, potentially, a trip would be able to allow Yuugi to extend her potential by ‘breaking her subconscious restraints’.

Yuugi thought this sounded a like a lot of nonsense, but after the last close match…

Yuugi was never averse to substance use, but trying something new was always a bit unnerving… especially when it seemed as high-profile as the stakeholder described it to be.

Still, with a deep breath, Yuugi tried to prepare herself for the onset.

While Yuugi felt she could confidently defend her position as the boss of the Underdeck, it was admittedly a bit hard to manage it all.

Management wasn’t Yuugi’s strong suit, and in between her inquest for more nihiline to further strengthen the connection she felt requiring plenty of communication as well, Yuugi was finding it hard to find time to herself.

And seeing how the Underdeck was rife with backstabbing… Yuugi wasn’t so keen on trusting just anyone to follow her, especially given a handful of underlings running street gangs above the Underdeck had been problematic.

However, on one fateful day, while Yuugi was out and about in the entertainment district in her free time – she came across a scene of someone attempting a petty robbery. The victim seemed scared, but was standing her ground well enough, with a harsh enough growl in her voice that it was making the amateur thief hesitant.

Yuugi thought it’d be a great situation to make a spectacle out of, to show that particular underling how it’s really done… so, she brushed them aside, and quickly realized the woman they were bothering wasn’t supposed to be here.

Her hair was neat, and she had thick, rimmed glasses – and by her fashion choice alone, Yuugi could tell she wasn’t from the Underdeck. She seemed to be clutching a set of books and files closely, but since Yuugi was much taller than her, it wasn’t hard for Yuugi to grab them.

Yuugi asked the woman what she was doing in a ‘place like this’, but before the woman could respond, Yuugi’s eyes widened with intrigue at one of the research papers in the woman’s collection.

…It was about her theories of a lost machine located in the Ultra Ruins, with ‘godlike power’.

The woman proclaimed she was here to see ‘the oracle’ in order to get advice on her papers for university. And all Yuugi could do was laugh.

She simply stated that the woman would be coming with her – and didn’t leave her much of a choice.

That was how Yuugi met Suika – a now former university student from Megalopolis studying occultism. While initially quite harsh and cold towards Yuugi, Suika was quick to show interest upon learning that Yuugi knew of the machine and wanted to find it, too.

That’s where the similarities ended.

Yuugi was disappointed to hear that Suika’s reasoning for seeking out the machine was entirely different – that Suika’s theory was that the machine was powered by the brain of the ancient leader Tonantzintla, and she wanted to unseal them.

Still, she couldn’t argue that Suika was extremely knowledgeable, and a bit charming in… her own way. And as an outsider, she’d have no predispositions to betray Yuugi in order to climb the power ladder.

So, Yuugi and Suika made an agreement to work together from then on, as the two big bosses of the Underdeck – adopting the pseudonyms of Shuten-Doji and Ibaraki-Doji respectively. While Yuugi was the muscle, Suika orchestrated the behind-the-scenes busywork that Yuugi dreaded.

While the two were content as just a duo for a while, one day, Yuugi was called to ‘clean up’ a situation involving an odd-looking humanform that allegedly was seen cannibalizing someone.

Upon investigating, Yuugi found the incident-causer, but no remains of any alleged corpse to be seen. They were wearing a medical gown, and seemed terrified. They did indeed look a bit odd, and Yuugi couldn’t quite place what humanform species they were.

They begged Yuugi not to hurt them, and… their voice seemed to have an air of familiarity to it.

Not quite the same, of course. But the type of fear their tone exuded almost perfectly matched the explorer Yuugi had seen when she had been given her mission.

Yuugi figured that until this odd individual proved otherwise, she’d give them a chance.

Astoundingly, with safe shelter and computer access, it would seem this mysterious person had a knack for… cybercrime. Yuugi was more and more curious as to who this person even was, given their talent, but the person said they had no idea.

They told Yuugi the name they’d started calling themselves was Tuesday, and they had escaped a confidential government testing facility – after having been fused with the DNA of a guzzlord and being deemed a ‘failed experiment’.

So, Tuesday went on to join the existing duo of bosses – their computer skills and uncanny ravenous abilities making them invaluable.

With a growing collection of allies Yuugi could trust, she felt unstoppable. That, despite their differences, she could trust Suika with anything, and that their comradery was unbreakable.

As one of the Underdeck’s big bosses, it was still generally up to Yuugi to delegate smaller street gangs that ran on the Station’s surface… though, this mostly just meant making a spectacle of humiliating the leaders of these gangs in order to maintain a level of fear.

One of these leaders was Kagerou, who was the leader of the largest on-surface group in Yuugi’s control – though it was still rather small compared to the gangs in the Underdeck. Yuugi found him to be a pushover who was all bark and no bite, and generally didn’t like interacting with him unless it was to punish him in some manner.

However, one day when reporting to Yuugi, Kagerou was joined by a doe-eyed young woman Yuugi had never seen before.

Kagerou explained that her name was Amity, and she was an expert thief… but something felt off about Amity.

Yuugi dismissed Kagerou, but asked for Amity to stay behind so they could talk… privately.

It was there that Yuugi learned of Amity’s odd backstory – she had lived her entire life in a research bunker in the Ultra Ruins, before being forced to leave due to rations running dry.

A secret research bunker in the Ultra Ruins…?

Yuugi pushed for more info, but Amity stood firm to even her intimidation. Unfortunately, Kagerou came back to interrupt before Yuugi could really try and shake information out of Amity, leading to Kagerou taking the brunt of Yuugi’s frustration instead.

Yuugi discussed it a bit with Suika, and Suika joined in on badgering Amity for intel as well – though Kagerou would still attempt to get between the bosses and Amity at any chance go got.

But Kagerou’s efforts were fruitless – Tuesday, who would frequently visit the Ultra Ruins, trailed Amity on one of her visits back there to try and clean out the bunker of sentimental belongings.

Upon exploring the bunker in Amity’s absence, Tuesday noted it seemed to be filled with lots of indecipherable old-empire tech, and contained many allusions to ‘the odd machine’ – though Tuesday hadn’t explored deep enough to find said machine.

This was it.

That was the moment the cannon fired off – and despite having worked so closely together for years… the fact that Suika’s ultimate motive was so different from Yuugi’s had never changed.

Arguments were more frequent, and inner workings of the Underdeck fell into chaos as Yuugi and Suika kept trying to sabotague each other in attempt to decipher the machine and take control of it first.

The infighting was threatening to tear them apart, something that was particularly distressing for Tuesday.

Unbeknownst to Yuugi, Tuesday began working with Amity, alongside an ex-government deoxys scientist and other scientists that were involved in the bunker mission in order to do something, anything to make sure neither Suika or Yuugi got their way.

And… Tuesday was successful. Tonantzintla, the old leader of the deoxys empire, was released from the machine and caught up to speed by parties who weren’t going to try and bind or manipulate them. Without Tonantzintla’s power, the machine to control Lunaires was effectively useless.

Yuugi and Suika were in complete shock over what Tuesday had done, but Suika was more quickly able to understand their point of view – plus, even if she wasn’t able to bind Tonantzintla to do her bidding, they seemed to like pestering Suika anyways, so she was content.

But Yuugi…

Yuugi couldn’t stand it.

Everyone had gotten their happy endings…

Except her.

Because of Yuugi’s overuse of nihiline, it seemed she was able to… overpower the control of nihilego, somehow, as well as narrowly avoid acute nihiltoxin poisoning.

Still, Yuugi was met with debilitating pain and brain fog for weeks after the incident. But with the help of both Suika and Tuesday, she was able to return to her former prime condition.

Since the unsealing on Tonantzintla, both Amity and Kagerou had been taken under the wing of a wealthy socialite – and while losing a subordinate was frustrating to Yuugi, she figured it was probably for the best.

Because now… Yuugi could truly focus on things that mattered in the moment. She knew those above would be waiting for whenever she could figure out a way to free their souls, so it was time to live in the present.

Parties, nihiline, philosophy, and hedonism awaited Yuugi – as well as the family she’d made along the way.