#and Zorc I guess but don’t let him get a big head

[fukia]

GUYS ;;;;; when I was little I was head over heels for Pharaoh Atem and still am ;;; I just remixed the two old designs I made for my childhood OC Queen 😭😭😭😭

I spent hours with GPT recapping and refining my devastating, resurrecting limerence. Look on ye mighty and despair! 😭😭😭

Snake Queenie here began as princess of Upper (or Lower Egypt (just whichever region was ruled by another pharaoh besides Atem), growing up w/ Thief as friend - maybe more - in an Aladdin-esque childhood. Thief disappears. Her Pharaoh dad has no clue of thief nor that lil village, assumes random bandits - years later, “anyway, wanna marry that lil King Atem down the street lol?” She goes, “ruling will be me job so yeah ok sounds cool”

-something something “my god my heart beats faster, and my mind is racing yada yada - 🎶 THIS MAN IS DEAD HE IS NO MORE 🎵 - surprise! Lil Aladdin Thief Yami Bakura boy is a young man and alive! Cue tears and whatever; who would she choose? the Sigma or the Alpha 😳😳😳

Later that nite, she sneaks out to meet prickly British man and he says, “run away with me!” She goes “nah ive invested too heavily in Crypt-o’ (the Sphinx),” he has outburst, “but this other pharaoh killed me home village at the very outer edge of your kingdom’s jurisdiction or something!!” She’s like backing away as he’s losing his shit “r u gonna cancel the pharaoh??,” then he’s found by her own servants and he gotta dash- later she’s like “oh age-wise those allegations dont make sense, guess I’ll find him next time and let him down easy lol”

- [a few days afterwards]

“Yo fiancee I killed some loony thief with a big smile, plz stay inside more I’m scared 4 you”

Oh dear that’s her loving childhood incel- “that’s cool thanks my g.” (Cue a year of sadness in secret but at least a loving new hubby)

“Tell me about Kul Elna,” she asks him,

“What’s kul elna?”

“Check out deez epic Kool-el NUTS haha gottem more like gAtem!

My dear, a village of personal import to me was ransacked a decade ago by who knows what, I need closure.”

“Ok”

- truth found , considering finding a way of communicating with Thief beyond the physical realm to help everyone move on, but job gets in the way

“I feel like sacrificing myself today to zorc. Stay put plz, don’t die.”

“Ok” (actually runs off to help protect her old kingdom from zorc fragments and die like a boss w/ discarded millennium item material)

[Thousands of Years Time Skip]

Yugi: What? What is it?

*yami and yugi have a flashback*

Yami: I think…

I think I miss my wife.

I ain’t even gonna color any of this, let me just dump dump dump my agony and mad ramblings — by the Gods I must scream into the void

[yugioh-why-not]

This is just a villain Yami Bakura appreciation post.

I just mean its not that I don’t think the others in the DM series did great, just out of all of them, Bakura actually put a lot of effort into his final plan, like everything up to that point was mostly him planning and mucking around cause he could. But like Pegasus is rich. He just owns that Island and he made duel monsters. Malik just mind controlled an army to do his bidding then also had his siblings, if we count Dartz, Noah and Zigfried, Dartz had a green stone IDK I feel like everyone kinda just screwed themselves over for Dartz, Noah he just wanted ‘brotherly love’ (I know that wasn’t exactly it but thats how I’m choosing to sum it up for this post) not a real real villain in my opinion and Zigfried mostly just a hacker. He used his brother to do that too. (BTW I know they all put lots of effort in their plots and stuff but this isn’t about them. This is about Bakura). But Bakura who (honestly I probably just playing favouritism toward but who cares) Actually bothered to sit down and make an entire model for his end game. I don’t think you could buy all the pieces for his diorama cause I feel like with the meaning behind it all he wants it to be perfect. So it was just Thief, Zorc (or a fusion of them as yami bakura, or maybe all three. Poor Ryou. Not that I think Ryou minds) and Ryou sharing a body to make this thing just for one game. All the late nights, trips to the store for materials, trying to work on things in the apartment then take them to the museum (I think they had the diorama in the museum basement or something?), repainting things because they the leaves were not that shade of green and honestly Bakura can’t remember properly so they painted then five times already and they paints getting too thick they just had to restart all the greenery. Etc. 

But I feel like Bakura deserves a little credit. He wanted to do this thing and he set out and it took 5 seasons // IDK how many manga volumes to finally get ready for the final battle, but he did it. He could of just been like fine everyone else is obsessed with card games, we’ll play cards. But no, he was like!!! RPG’s for the win! He wanted to do this right after waiting 5000 years to get revenge. 

Long story short. Bakura put a lot of time and effort into the diorama for the final battle and he should get more appreciation for all the work and effort him and Ryou put into it. ((I’ll be honest Zorc was most likely just thinking how he could Stitch destroy this fake city so I doubt if he was a seperate entity in their minds, he wouldn’t have contributed much.)) but yup. I feel like appreciating Bakura right now, give all three of them appreciation. It’s always a good time to appreciate these three <3

[theabcsofjustice]

I just got back from The Dark Side of Dimensions and HOLY COW THAT WAS AWESOME!! THE ANIMATION WAS GORGEOUS AND THE MONSTERS AND EFFECTS IN THE DUELS WERE AMAZINGGGGGGGGG!

Actual spoilers behind the cut, of course. :)

The theater was pretty full and you guys were right, it looked to be mostly 20 or 30 somethings in there. It made me happy to see that there were so many other fans in my area, and their reactions made me even happier. There was cheering and clapping when Kaiba summoned Obelisk, and hoo boy you should have heard the hollering and applause when Atem showed up in the final duel. :D

Speaking of Kaiba summoning Obelisk, I was genuinely worried about him during his first duel with Aigami because I had forgotten about that part. I had no idea how he was going to be able to avoid getting dematerialized and then right before it happened I was like “Oh wait, he summons Obelisk doesn’t he?” That was pretty awesome!

Kaiba of course gets all the best lines in the movie. I think my favorite was when he was talking about how his new technology could recreate things flawlessly, right down to Atem’s perfectly coiffed hair. XD And also that the hair was apparently the hardest thing to get right. XDXD Then there was also his “You really hate dragons, don’t you?” to Yugi after Yugi destroys one.

I obviously haven’t seen the Japanese version yet and maybe my opinion will change once I do, but I thought they did a really good job with this dub. It didn’t look like they censored anything or tried to lessen the fact that people were getting dematerialized and terrified. They also didn’t cut out the gun that one of Kaiba’s men pulls on Aigami at one point. I don’t know if any of the story or motivations were changed though, so I guess I’ll have to see about that.

IT WAS SO GOOD TO SEE ATEM AGAIN THOUGHHHHHH. ;__________;

I know that’s been a controversial point in the fandom for awhile now, and again I totally understand not wanting him to be there. But don’t let anyone tell you that he stole the spotlight from Yugi by his appearance because YUGI WAS DAMN AWESOME IN THIS MOVIE OKAY. He was fierce and determined and even stood up to Kaiba and basically told him “Nope, I’m dueling Aigami first. What are you gonna do about it?” when Kaiba wanted to do it. He was still his same compassionate self as well though. It was great to see him duel so much too, and he would have beaten Kaiba if Aigami hadn’t suddenly returned. And Kaiba actually didn’t seem mad about that as Yugi made his last attack with Dark Magician.

Also speaking of the final battle and Aigami’s return... GOOD LORD I HAD NO IDEA HE WAS GOING TO COME BACK WITH SUCH A FREAKY LOOKING FORM O_o. HALF OF HIS HEAD WAS MADE OF CUBES. CUBES WITH EYES IN THEM. Which I guess was appropriate considering his whole theme was based around cubes and also all of his monsters had those giant eyeballs on them.

That moment though when everything was disappearing and Yugi was still holding on and was like “I believe... in the Heart... of the Cards” was so great though. His belief certainly came through in a big way. ^^; I like how Atem didn’t actually speak at all while he was there and just silently summons Mahad to kick Aigami’s ass. The animation also made it clear that he and Yugi were doing it together. And then when they just smile at each other at the end before he leaves again.... MY HEAAAARRRRTTTTTTT  ;_________________;

The biggest question I have about the movie though is, where the hell did Shadi get this power of the Plana from in the first place? That just kind of came out of absolutely nowhere. I guess if you want weird magical stuff to happen, Shadi is your goto person for it because no one really understands wtf his deal is. ^^; At least we finally got to see how exactly he died though. I laughed when he basically just told Bakura’s father “Welp, if it’s destiny then go ahead and take the Ring.”

The Millennium Ring seems to still have power in it in the present though, with what it did to Aigami and his friend. So does that mean some of Zorc’s power is still trapped in there? Or is it just the malevolence of the souls that were used to create it?

I was really worried about Joey too when Aigami sent him to that other dimension and began destroying his memories. That was pretty damn dark and I had no idea how he would be able to get out or if he would. But he was saved by what could never be destroyed, his memories of Atem and his friends. ;__; And of course that calls back to the end of the series, at least in the Japanese version, where he told Anzu to burn those memories of Atem into her head so she would never forget. Friendship always saves the day. ;___;

Aggh, there were so many great moments that I could go on and on about it all! Like, it was nice to see the gang talking about their dreams in the beginning and just generally hanging out throughout the movie and being cute. And I like that Yugi wants to design games of his own someday. That’s certainly something that’s right up his alley. :)

Anyway, I really enjoyed it and want to see the movie again! There’s supposed to be another showing on Feb 1 so maybe I will go to that if it hasn’t been sold out yet.

[mystical-flute]

Come Sail Away Ch. 11

Ao3 || FFN || Ko-Fi

"Pharaoh… there was something you needed of me?" Azila asked as she swept into the room, brow knitted in worry as she clutched her medical equipment closer to her. "Are you ill? In pain?" Oh Ra, they wouldn't be able to recover from losing two kings in under two years Not while there were still mysterious deaths happening.

"How many deaths happened last night?" he asked, not turning away from the window.

 "We have received word of three. One was not caused by any known illness. Are you feeling well, my king?"

 He turned to her, his lips pressed into a thin line. "I feel fine. I'm just wondering how much longer this country can take these mysterious deaths. Are you certain there was no known cause for the one yesterday?"

 "Yes my king. Your advisors did not tell you of this death?" she asked with a small frown.

 "No, no. They have. I was just making sure that you knew as well."

 "So it was a test."

 His lips quirked into a smirk then. "Technically, yes. But not for you. I had to make sure my new advisors were actually competent enough to work under me."

 She gave him a small smile. "You are a smart man, my king."

 "I suppose I had to be, in order to take the throne," he replied, before heaving a heavy sigh and sinking back onto his throne. "One death then?"

 "Yes."

 "Even one is too many if we cannot figure out what is happening. I sent Mana to study that strange stone but… she has not found anything, other than the glow that doesn't seem to go away." The pharaoh rubbed his eyes. "This country is still in despair, despite my hard work in recovering after Zorc's attack…"

 "My king… these things are not your fault," Azila said, "the people of Egypt know this."

 The pharaoh let out a grunt of frustration, his fist banging against the arm of his throne. "They may know that I was not the one that ordered whatever is happening, but it is my job to stop it. To protect them. What sort of king am I if my people keep dying without any cause?"

 "What sort of king are you to speak with a tone that indicates that you are giving up?" Azila snapped, before bowing her head in shame. "My apologies, my king, but Egypt is in need of a strong leader. He would not have chosen you to succeed him if he did not think you were strong enough to guide Egypt out of the darkness."

 Seto's lips quirked just slightly. "How is it that you know what to say to make me feel better?"

 "It is my job to make you feel better, my king. I am a doctor after all."

 Azila let out a soft sigh as she appeared in Reika's bedroom, finding the young woman asleep in her clothing from the previous day, surrounded by paperwork and machines she still didn't know the names of.

 "Reika…" she said softly.

 The woman shot up, her eyes wide. "Oh – Azila. It's just you."

 "Are you alright?"

 "Yeah… sorry. I guess I fell asleep. If you could call it sleep…" Reika said with a groan, rubbing at her tired eyes.

 "What were you doing all night?"

 Reika rubbed her eyes again. "Watching the Battle City Finals. Yugi's currently on-board a blimp hovering above the city with their leader so… sleep isn't so easy to come by now."

 Azila's eyes widened. "What? Is he safe?"

 "Yugi is, yeah…" she said with a sigh. "I spoke with him last night. One of our friends lost her soul to the Shadow Realm though, so it's not great."

 "Oh dear… but if I know the Pharaoh, I know he will be able to stop Marik Ishtar and protect all of the Millennium Items," Azila said with confidence.

 Reika's face deadpanned as she pulled on a shirt. "Azila, you don't even remember his name. How do you know anything about him, then?"

 "He saved Egypt. Why would he not be able to save you all as well?"

 "Because whatever was terrorizing Egypt is different from what's terrorizing us now?"

 Azila rolled her eyes. "How many times must I tell you that things will work out for the best?"

 Reika simply sighed, pulling her bag onto her shoulder. "Until I see it for myself. Now, if you don't mind… I'm going to be stuck at work for the next forty-eight hours while my family thinks I'm going to a spa. Yay."

 "Why did you not go with your cousin to the Battle City finals?" Azila asked with a frown.

 "Because Ishizu convinced my boss that I was needed here instead for some reason. She has all that infinite wisdom because of that necklace of hers and all," Reika rolled her eyes as she spoke and swept from the room.

 Azila frowned, left alone in Reika's bedroom, a feeling of dread beginning to prickle through her ghostly form. Whatever was left behind here for Reika Mutou… Azila had a feeling it was going to come at a high cost.

 ----

 "Miss Mutou! It's been a while since you've been here. Did you want your regular bouquets?" the shopkeeper asked with a polite smile.

 She nodded, forcing herself to look up at the woman. "Please. Thank you Kimiko."

 Flowers in hand, Reika then made the long walk through Domino's cemetery, pausing to lay some of the flowers at her grandmother's grave, saying a prayer and burning some incense, before she continued her journey deeper into the cemetery and sighing as she sat in front of another grave.

"Your grave is filthy," she remarked dryly, carefully beginning to clean it, "is that why you keep haunting me, Noah?" Lighting the incense, she sighed heavily. "I don't understand why you've decided to invade my dreams twice in such a short period. What are you trying to tell me?"

 The grave, of course, didn't speak back to her.

 "That cartoon movie we watched all the time came on last night. Gave me a break from work, which was nice. Made me want to play the piano again," she continued with a sigh. "But it'd be hard to do that without you."

 She sat quietly, looking at the grave in front of her, lost in her own thoughts, until her phone buzzed in her pocket. It was time for her shift to start.

 Well, at least she had Akio with her, and at least she knew Yugi and the others were safe from Marik Ishtar and the Rare Hunters.

 "Here, I grabbed some of the files Kenji wanted us to look at," Akio said the next evening as they settled in on the uncomfortable cots. "It looks like old business records. I don't know where Kenji and Yume would have gotten them."

 "When in doubt, don't ask," Reika told her with a snort.

 "Good call."

 The two settled into a comfortable silence, the only sounds in the room the papers being shuffled around. It was peaceful, until an alarm started blaring through the organization. In seconds, Reika and Akio were sitting at the computers, trying to trace the source of the commotion.

 "Got it," Reika finally said, the monitor finally zooming in on a warehouse. "There was a sudden burst of energy from this warehouse. The computer indicates it’s the same energy that's used in the portals. Someone's coming into the city that shouldn't be."

 "Damn…" Akio whispered. "We need to head down there."

 Reika nodded, pulling on her jacket. "Yeah, I'll send out a call."

 Before long, they found themselves sneaking inside the darkened warehouse, flashlights lighting their way through. It was advanced, well-cared for, and the cameras in the halls showed that people were here frequently.

 "I can't believe this was under our noses all this time…" Akio whispered, voice slightly muffled through her black mask. "How did we avoid finding it?"

 Reika shrugged, looking around. "I don't know. Whoever owns this must be good at hiding everything.  But whoever they are… we need to make sure they can't finish whatever plan it is they have."

 "Wait… what's that sound?"

 Reika paused, listening closely as they slowly moved down the hallway. "That sounds like a heart monitor… like at a hospital. What the hell is going on here?"

Drawing their weapons, they approached the room in question, finding a large pod inside of it.

 Reika froze. Either the lighting in the room was strange or… the face she could see inside it looked… familiar.

 "Oh God… is that a kid?" Akio gasped in horror.  "Reika?"

 Dread began to spread through her, cold and menacing as she made her way further into the room. "No… no…"

 "Reika?"

 She broke into a sprint, skidding to a halt and feeling the color drain from her face as she got up close to the pod.

 "No!" she screamed, unaware her legs had given out until she felt her knees collide with the cold tile floor, shaking hands grasping the pod for support and pulling her mask away from her face so she could breathe properly.

 "Reika!" Akio shouted, pulling her by the shoulders and forcing Reika to look at her. "What the hell? Who is that?"

 A brief moment of clarity found her as she pulled her hands away from the pod and up into her hair, gripping the strands tight in her fists. "H – his name is Noah Kaiba," she sobbed. "He's Gozaburo's biological son."

 "Wait – what? Then how come – "

 "They told me he was dead…" she whispered. "They told me he was dead!"

 "Who did, Reika?"

 She suddenly went rigid as realization struck her, looking at Akio with wide, horror-filled eyes. "The Big Five did…" she whispered.

 Akio stared back at her with an identical look. "Oh God. Then… that explains who has been in this warehouse. Come on. We need to get Yume and the others filled in."

 Reika nodded, slowly rising to her feet with Akio's help. "I just…"

 "It's okay. He was important to you, huh?"

 "He was my best friend when we were kids…" she replied softly as she felt the bruising already beginning to form on her knees. "The first friend I ever had. He was hit by a car when we were twelve. I thought – I thought there was no way to save him…"

 Akio kept a firm hold of her. "Well, don't worry. We'll figure all of this out."

 "How?"

 "Focus, Reika. We're spies. We know how to solve these sorts of things."

 Reika swallowed, shaking her head as she tried to clear it. "Right. Yes, of course we will I just… I can't believe this."

 "I know, but you need to focus."

 "Akio? Reika? What have you found?" Yume asked with wide eyes as the two stumbled into the room.

 Reika heaved in a breath. "Gozaburo Kaiba's biological son… in a pod… being kept alive after being presumed dead. We – we think the Big Five own this warehouse."

 Yume didn't seem fazed, nodding slowly. "Yes, that seems to line up with the documents we've found… and with the doctor that showed up here."

 "Doctor?"

 "Yes. I have some agents talking to her now. You're welcome to look in on the discussion if you want. She didn't seem all that interested in a conversation."

 Reika nodded, taking another deep breath and trying to steady herself and making her way to the room Yume pointed out. She paused outside the door at the voices within, and she felt herself lose a bit of color in her face when the doctor's voice registered with her.

 "Dammit…" she whispered.

 "I won't tell you anything. My job depends on it!"

 Swallowing tight, Reika opened the door, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared down her former doctor.

 "Perhaps you'll answer my questions, then?" she asked with a raised brow. "After all, it isn't everyday one finds their old best friend alive after they've been declared dead by everyone they trusted as a child."

 "Reika Mutou?"

 "Hello Doctor Shizuki."

 "What – how – why are you here?"

 Reika took a seat at the table and laced her fingers together. "I think you should answer my questions first, doctor…"

 Doctor Shizuki let out a sigh, rubbing her temples. "Okay. Since you've… somehow found this place. You deserve to know the truth." Taking a deep breath, the doctor steeled her gaze and looked at Reika with a sad smile. "They were going to tell you, eventually."

 "The Big Five were?"

 She nodded. "Yes."

 "Where are the Big Five?"

 "I don't know. They disappeared over a month ago after the Duelist Kingdom tournament ended."

 "But they're still giving you orders?"

 "Only to monitor Master Noah and make sure his body is still healthy. That's all, I swear, Reika. I never would have agree to this if I'd known you would find out early."

 "You should never have agreed to this at all!" Reika snapped back. "You should have told me the truth from the beginning. I trusted you!"

 "You were too young… you wouldn't have understood."

 Reika's eyes narrowed. "Not understood that my best friend was actually still alive after I thought he was dead?"

 "The reason why they've done what they have…"

 "What was the reason?!"

 The good doctor went quiet at the question, and Reika lunged to grab her before she was pulled back by another agent.

 "Reika, you aren't going to get answers from her this way… and besides, we have a bigger issue on our hands," the agent said, leading her outside so Shizuki didn't hear. "The Battle City blimp just went off the radar. There was a distress call sent out from Fugita."

 There was little time for her to process that bit of information, before she was following the group through a quick portal to the Kaiba Corp Airship, finding a stunned Roland waiting.

 "Fuguta, what the hell happened?" Yume asked.

 "It was Noah Kaiba. He took everyone involved in the Big Five takedown plot hostage, so I assume he's working with them," Fuguta said with a small frown.

 Reika rubbed her eyes. "Of course they are. Okay. So he's got Yugi, Seto, Mai, Tristan, Téa, Joey and Mokuba, I assume?"

 "Duke Devlin and Serenity Wheeler as well. They insisted on going. We tried to follow them but… there are machine guns out there that stopped us," Roland explained.

Reika chewed the inside of her cheek before taking a deep breath. "We need to figure out a way to get in there without being shot. I'm a dead eye shot but it looks like those guns are on all sides. There's no way any of us would be able to get through that without looking like Swiss cheese."

 "Reika. Might I suggest you take my brother along with you?"

 Reika jumped and looked over. "Ishizu?"

 Ishizu stepped into the room, flanked by two men. "Hello Reika. It's been a while, hasn't it? But yes, you should take Marik with you. His Millennium Rod will be able to stop any guards that might be in your path."

 "Oh yeah, let me take along the guy who tried to kill myself and people I care about," Reika said with a snort. "Great plan, Ishizu."

 "Marik is cured of the darkness that caused him to do that. The Pharaoh helped him. Allow this to be part of his redemption. Please."

 "Fine," Yume said before Reika could protest further, staring straight at the Egyptian trio, "but he tries anything Ishizu, and he's being taken down."

 Marik – the younger of the two men with Ishizu – pulled out the Millennium Rod and nodded. "I promise you. I will not bring harm to any of you. I owe a great debt to Yugi for helping to save me."

 Reika adjusted the hood of her cloak and slid her mask back into place. "Let's go then."

 Yume carefully stepped outside, throwing a few pieces of fruit into the motion sensor, waiting for the guns to fire. When nothing happened, the small group ran through the labyrinth, searching for anything that could be helpful.

 "This place is huge. We're going to need to look through it more carefully once we find the others," Yume said, before they skidded to a halt in the largest room.

 Reika's face fell as she took in her friends and loved ones stuck in pods, not unlike the one Noah was in.

 "Oh my God… there's so many pods. What the hell are they planning?"

 "Reika, look. There's Yugi," Marik suddenly said, pointing up at the large screen. "And… that almost looks like you."

 Reika followed his gaze, eyes widening. "That is me. But – from when I was nine. Why would he be with an nine-year-old me?"

 Then, her grandfather entered the frame, visibly shaken and distraught, and her eyes widened, just as Yugi also seemed to realize what was happening.

 "Oh no. I know what that is. This is the day we found out my uncle was killed. This is one of Yugi's worst memories," she explained.

 "From the looks of it, all of them seem to be having their worst memories. They must have trapped them there," Akio said softly.

 Reika ripped her eyes away from the screen, looking at the pods. "I'm going in," she said. "I have to get to Noah and tell him to stop."

 "Reika – "

 "You're not going to convince me otherwise, Yume. It has to be me," Reika said, walking over to one of the pods and opening it. Taking a deep breath, she took a seat inside and watched as it closed, before closing her eyes, feeling her mind separate from her body as the blinding light enveloped her.