#i never get asked ygo questions so i have to take advantage

[taichouu]

1, 3, 4 and 5 for both Jounouchi and Yugi please!

!! YES CHEF RIGHT AWAY !

My darling Jounouchi Gnocci and Yugi Boogie..

1. Okay yall are going to kill me. I never watched pokemon and I played like 2% of platinum growing up. I also never watched Digimon. SO! I'm going to do what I do best and assign them a BIRD ! ! !

I was kind of torn on Yugi, I really want him to be a belted kingfisher because they're one of my childhood favorites (and to me? Fit his energy?) They don't really stand out with any extraordinary behaviors though, so I'm also placing him with a parrotlet.

Parrotlets are the smallest parrot species and they're mischievous little birds that are SO sweet and extremely smart, they fit him very well. I hope to own one some day ^_^

-> Jou was SUCH an easy choice for me, what immediately came to mind was some kind of corvidae family member. I think he could be a jackdaw, but Scrub Jay's are soo him to me <3 They're pretty smart, playful, have big barks and are very under-appreciated birds! Just like our Jou.

3. Favorite Canon Looks?

-> This question haunts me because I love pretty much all of Yugi's outfits, including the stupid capsule monster filler arc armor suits 😭 Yugi was one of my biggest fashion idols growing up as a queer emo kid. I'd have to say his classic DK/S0 outfit is truly my favorite if I had to pick one. The symbolism of his thick leather vest that connects to his choker underneath his normal school uniform has always been eye catching for me. I also much preferred the rope on the puzzle compared to his silver chains. Very nostalgic look for me. (CLOSE TIE WITH HIS ANZU DATE OUTFIT <3)

-> Joey baby.. okay so I'm kind of lame, I LOVE. His battle city fit, I think it's so him. The sneakers, the baggy T-shirt, I also think the colors of this palette suit him well. I also like his wtd arc outfit, which is kind of similar vibes.

4. What movie(s) do you think they would not be able to stand?

This is so difficult.. I'm going to say Jounouchi isn't much of a fan when it comes to musicals or psychological thrillers. He seems like the warrior of the week film guy. He might groan about them in front of Honda but he will watch any chick flick with Shizuka. Hes surprisingly thoughtful about them too!

Yugi .... oh man, I don't know. He seems like he'd be a really big film nerd but at the same time he's not? He enjoys movies that have all sorts of twists and turns and also ones that are bold and not very subtle (FANTASY FAN). I think he'd have problems with very Film Bro movies? He doesn't understand the appeal of them and almost always finds plot holes within them that can never be explained.

5. What is a gentle memory they might have?

-> I personally think Yugi has SO many sweet memories of himself and his grandpa when he was growing up. He is such a grandpa's boy.. he remembers so many times that Grandpa was tucking him into bed at night and telling him stories of magic and fantastical creatures and adventures in his younger days.

-> And we know Jou has SO many memories of him and his sister as a kid. I doubt all of them were entirely gentle and more bittersweet leaning. Coming from a big brother like myself, I could see Jounouchi distracting her from their parents fighting by coloring with her or playing outside. But after they get reunited as teenagers, I bet they have all sorts of fun new memories together like finding the BEST spot to get pizza or biking to the beach every now and then together 🥹💓

YOUR HONOR. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH?

Character Questions!!

[fizzingwizard]

Time for some semi-ritual bitching about one of my favorite bitch-worthy topics, Yugioh

Why couldn't they have just done Memory World properly

Why make us suffer through Doma... and especially KC Grand Prix, a single episode of which is more boring than filler in any other fandom... and they made an entire filler arc out of it! Like Doma has lots of faults but at least it tried to do something interesting. It tried to develop characters, which proooobably shouldn't have been undertaken by a filler arc with no canon script to follow, but gold star for trying! Had a shitty finale not remotely worthy of its awesome beginning, but did we really expect any better? lol. KC Grand Prix tho, no. That's just there to Idk be mean to men with pink hair and dumb names?? In the ridiculous hair dumb names anime???

cut because Fizz has the curse of long-windedness thanks my evil fairy godmother

anyway back to Memory World, maybe the issue was the story in the manga still lagged behind where the anime was. I don't remember. If so I guess there was no choice but filler. Still, did they have to blow the budget on it? They lost most of their good animators during Doma, where they also introduced a couple new crap ones who stuck around till the end of course -___- And no doubt the animators were getting paid peanuts for long hours of work, and if they'd run out of budget to even pay that... well clearly the show should have been shorter. Like two whole filler arcs shorter. Just take a break, take a pause, come back when you're ready to do Memory World the way it should be done. Back then no one took breaks, "The fans will forget us," nowadays TV shows just up and away for multiple years at a time x'D before returning suddenly with a new season.

The reason I'm still salty and plan to be salty to my grave is just this. Memory World is the one and only YGO arc since season zero that was not explicitly about card games. They'd been dropping hints since the first that we could expect ancient Egypytian shenanigans in the finale. We were supposed to find out about Atem's lost memories and recover his name. That was the driving force behind everything that wasn't filler. I specifically became a fan as a kid because I enjoyed reading about Ancient Egypt and thought the idea of a millennia-old feud between a pharaoh and whoever Bakura really was sounded neat. So I watched hours and hours and hours of card games all for the sake of making it to Ancient Egypt.

(don't get me wrong I enjoyed the card games lol. Never ask a YGO fan to explain how watching characters stand around and yell "Pot of Greed allows me to draw two cards from my deck!" for hundreds of episodes somehow stayed fresh and interesting)

So we reach Memory World at loooooooong last and. And the animation is the worst. Atem falls off a cliff it's just like "ow." Bakura isn't have as intriguing anymore now that he's a poorly drawn anime guy with scars. He arrives toting Atem's father's mummy it should be scary. It should be shocking. But instead, for some reason we watched dancing girls of questionable historical accuracy repeat the same frame several times, while Atem makes a face like a baby trying his hardest to go number two in his diaper. In the manga this scene is really funny, with Siamun being Sugoroku in every way, and Atem in his awkwardness being more Yugi-like than we've ever seen him. In the anime they are just going through the motions. There's no life in anything.

The one thing the anime version got right was understanding that this was the one and only opportunity we'd have to learn about Atem. You know, half of the main character for the whole show. Even the manga is really so busy doing plot stuff it kind of forgets to make us care about the ancient Egyptian cast. The anime took advantage of the need for pacing to give us a couple low key moments about Atem & Friends, but for some reason it decided we should 1) know what Atem looked like falling flat on his nose as a toddler, and 2) show us that from a young age he was making grand progressive speeches about equality. Seeing Atem portrayed as a nice guy who cared about people gave me mixed emotions after watching him struggle for seasons with the possibility that he might have been a bad king and not remember it. Because we got a whole season of him making mistakes and disappointing fans in Doma, and now in Memory World the final answer to what kind of person Atem was is just "well he's a good guy in the modern sense of the word lol" and then we move on. Also, neither that speech, nor Doma, are manga canon, but fans on the whole remember Doma much better than they remember nice guy baby Atem. Which is so very nice -.-;

So Memory World could have been so much fun, exciting, adventurous in a way you can't always be when you have to stay put on a holo-duel stage (card games on motorcycles hasn't been invented yet!), and insightful about a character who has been the central point of everything yet whom we knew next to nothing about. Instead it was a poorly animated clusterfuck of battle scenes that were difficult to make sense of. The Bakura stuff was the best. The Kaiba-insert filler was the worst. I was disappointed with Set's arc in the manga as well, another thing that had been built up for years and years and ended up more about the mysterious waif-like dragon girl than Set vs Atem. If the anime changed something to add in Kaiba, I wish they'd have rewritten the Set vs Atem duel so it was mildly interesting, and Idk maybe Kaiba could have teamed up with Atem against his past self, which would have aggravated him to no end? Instead of just wandering around insisting none of this could really be happening. Or he should just not have been there at all. Personally I go the DSOD route and pretend Kaiba was never in Memory World, same as the manga. It's not like erasing him from the anime version has any impact on events bahahaha. He was included for MONEY MONEY MONEY popular character NEEDS to stick around even if he has abso-fucking-lutely nothing to do because MONEY MONEY MONEY

I love DSOD to pieces. But my own dream for the anniversary project was a remake of Memory World. Even if it had been a 90 min movie version instead of several episodes, as long as it was better quality, and invested in Atem as a character instead of simply as a pawn in a game, I would have enjoyed those 90 mins better than the entire Memory World season. Doma and KC Grand Prix were a mistake if they played a role in how awful Memory World was.

But they did the Millennium Duel well. Not astonishing, but really, except for useless Kaiba being there, it was more than adequate. (And although Kaiba himsefl was useless, it was cool seeing him rejected as an opponent for Atem in favor of Yugi. Actually I kinda wish they'd made a bigger deal out of that...) Kid me cried buckets (actually I must have been well into my teens by then bahahaha. I def cried though). Thanks to those final two episodes, the series send-off didn't leave me with a bad taste in my mouth. If it had ended with Memory World it would have been an even bigger disappointment to me than the finale of Bleach. And I despise the finale of Bleach x'D

[ryouverua]

A Certain Lab, Reprised

lab get lab get lab get lab get LAB GET

Everything around us is either exploding or on fire so Sweetcheeks and I are going to retreat to our space safe, investigating

am I talking about the school exploding or tumblr

we just don’t know

Speak of the devil!

“I AM HERE!!!”

“K1-B0 THeRE WAS AN OPEN WINDOW OH MY GOD, THERE’S GLASS EVERYWHERE, OH NO -”

“OH YEAH!”

Didn’t really wait at all tbh 8′D

Actually all jokes aside Sweetcheeks is right, it was hella cool - and also thank god he was in the hallway and far away from the window! K1-b0 keeps asking if Shuichi is okay but is being incredibly reckless at the same time - what if Shuichi had been showered with that glass? He wouldn’t come out of that unscathed. Was that just K1-b0 taking more of his uncorked anger out on the school?

... Hm, though I guess calling it ‘anger’ isn’t quite right. Or, at least, K1-b0’s fluctuating between ‘anger’ and sort of... more... ‘grim determination’.

Yeah, he didn’t even flinch at being complimented. He’s got serious tunnel vision right now.

Damn.

LMAO SHUICHI’S SCREEN -

There’s only one other place I can think of that qualifies...

DON’T YOU DARE SHUICHI WE FINALLY GOT HERE AND I HAVE QUESTIONS

Oh thank god I want to satisfy my curiosity about the library as much as you do but RANTARO’S TALENT FIRST

Again - damn, K1-b0.

Whoa -

..... This has a very YGO Season 0 vibe. Sorry, that’s a weird comment. Maybe the better way to describe it is that the words ‘punishment game’ immediately come to mind? Some sorta wheel/puzzle thing in the back, cards hanging from the ceiling, some sort of... table...? Kinda reminds me of a poker table, though there’s no center to it... Maybe he... really did specialize in death games...?

Actually, if Celeste had an Ultimate Lab, I feel like it would have a similar aesthetic ~

IT’S HIS SOUL ROOM WE’RE IN RANTARO’S SOUL ROOM

“Yeah so I never shared with you all, but part of the Ultimate Detective status includes the ability to shoot spirit energy from your finger like a gun -”

I don’t think that’s completely wrong but I feel like the actual talent name is going to be x100 times more ominous. 8′D

MAN end-game Himiko is so different than early-game Himiko! Nice to have you onboard - wait, I just realized we’ve got a magician sidekick helping us in an investigation. Is this the right time to make an Ace Attorney reference, or -

Okay, huh. There’s actually way less to click on than I thought there would be. WHAT IS WITH THE MOST CRYPTIC PEOPLE HAVING THE LEAST INTERACTIVE ROOMS, COME ON DRV3 -

Okay, that laptop first:

Empty laptop.... okay, let’s set that aside for now.

Here’s the real question - what came first? The K1-b0 we knew for the first five chapters or this K1-b0? Which one should we consider to be the ‘true’ K1-b0? I think the game is implying that this is the real K1-b0, and the one who we knew up until now was a ‘controlled’ version of him - but at the same time, if the antenna was built in with him, could it be considered part of the original design and therefore part-and-parcel of K1-b0?

omfg I just realized the implications of a white-haired boy hearing a voice (that he literally calls ‘voice’) in his head who may or may not be controlling him behind the scenes be still my heart you’re getting distracted

WHELP THERE’S REALLY ONLY ONE OTHER THING TO CLICK HERE SO -

Like a safe?

......... Omfg it says ‘B’ and ‘A’ on them and it has pictograms on them. Is... this going where I think this is going...

Okay Himiko is being our in-game tutorial and noting that the zodiac is on one side and astrological signs are on the other but honestly I’m fine to skip all past it tbh because there it is, there’s our fucking ‘horse a’ and ‘twin b’ is gemini, Kokichi himself was a gemini, this was where we were going with those hints??? Rantaro’s lab?! idk I just don’t find puzzles like this hard I kinda thrive off of symbolism and mythology in general 8′D

Wait.... doesn’t that mean Kokichi couldn’t have been the one to leave those messages behind?!

Okay this was pretty cute so I left this in ~ but straight up two minutes later it was just a string of KACHUNK KACHUNK KACHUNK until I got it open immediately -

.... the symbols are weirdly cute though, hehe ~

Don’t worry Sweetcheeks, the only life-threatening time-waster we’ll spend all of our time on is fluff text!

Aaaaaaand done. Thanks Kokichi!

MAN I LOVE THESE TWO SPRITES TOGETHER FOR SOME REASON

Ah, so they’re talking about the stone with ‘horse a’ written on it - which... does make me curious, honestly. I think the existence of this safe pretty much confirms that he didn’t write the original message... right?

When did the letters start appearing aside from ‘horse a’? Chapter 3? Was that around the time he concocted that particular plan, then?

H-Hey now, he’s also the reason we found the second clue. 8′D I mean, it wouldn’t have been terrible to go through 12 different combinations with ‘horse a’ determined, but it wouldn’t have been ideal.

i bet you can buy that, that is literally perfect DR merch

IT’S

THE VIDEO

THE VIDEO!!!!

yeah I’m totally going to pull up my old post to see what matches and what doesn’t

“Oh god I forgot how absolutely stunning he was.”

OH I thought that was an abstract red background, silly me - 8′D well, that was probably the point. It might give away the game if we saw something more concrete behind him way back in... what, Chapter 4?

Anyway, more importantly, Rantaro shouldn’t have had access to this place... except he clearly did. So... he... must have been here before. And he knew more about the killing game, or seemed to intuitively know more, than anyone else. He... must have done this before. Except he had made it all the way here last time??? So there is a loop of some sort? Though it can’t be an outright time loop because otherwise there would be no need to record a video (unless like I considered it’s a ‘simulated’ time loop, aka VR-style like last game)...

This makes me wonder how we saw the video the first time. Was it just another flashback/tease like the meteorites were, before we saw the flashback lights?

I mean, I guess it’s kinda hard for recording!Rantaro to prove, but we’ll have to take him at his word here I suppose. 8′D

OH

OKAY

WE’RE JUST GOING STRAIGHT INTO IT THEN

are you telling me you were the protagonist in the last killing game

DIDN’T YOU HAVE LIKE, TWO AHOGES TOO

Man, what an asshole move??? Like, okay, Monokuma’s creating the puzzle of the safe which would unlock this video. Fine. But almost half of the class would have to be dead in order for him to get to it! There’s no way for him to even start the puzzle at this point, because he wouldn’t know it existed! What a huge handicap!

......... Something.... he had.... since the beginning............. Hm. I’m drawing a blank. I don’t remember anything in particular that stands out....

My dead boy, that is an understatement.

AHAHAHA ABOUT THAT....

Now this makes me wonder if he is the only one repeating it or if anyone else is? Well, maybe the mastermind - but like, maybe everyone is repeating it, but only those who ‘won’ were able to have better memories, or were just able to retain the memories of the last game better than the others?

Or, hell, if I want to go along with my previous theory about downloading the memories of students, maybe... Rantaro can remember more about his real self? Or something? But everyone else can’t?

And if he’s really someone who won the previous one (along with one other person, I suppose), then he knows that for a fact.

???!?! Aaaah this part got cut off last time too - so it was actually cut off in the video, and not just in our flashback?!

“You’re also dead, which may make things a little bit more difficult, but I still believe in you!”

That at least I expected -

WHAT

OH GOD THERE ARE SO MANY LAYERS TO THIS

like the dramatic irony I’m sure the fandom has done to death, for example

What about the second person??? Is there a second Ultimate Survivor???? I guess there can’t be since everyone else knows their talents but -

wait, if you’re the Ultimate Survivor because you won a killing game, who were you in the last game????

Does this really give him an advantage though??? I guess the information would have been nice but I mean, it obviously didn’t do him much good because he got taken out so quickly!

Man this makes me wonder if Kokichi had any inkling of this...

jsyk since I have the screenshots side to side, his expression is different in this video compared to the last one

~ fun facts ~

Yeah, see, the ‘he wanted’ part is throwing me off. He participated, sure, and he didn’t say he wanted the original one, but he came back for round two and said he wanted it.... but why???? That implies there’s a purpose to it, and he was okay to gamble his own life - but also, as a person without his memories of this, he wanted to stop the game. If the chip he bet is his own life, the reward must be huge, right? He won these supposed perks for this game, but what did he win for his life outside the game? .... Assuming there is anything outside the game? Is there anything for him outside the game?

HIMIKO DON’T BE RUDE

Yeah, she didn’t know the identity of her target. 8′\ Also I’d be sad if it was Kaede in the end. Second also! I know that she ended up being the first chapter killer and I’m one of the people got taken by surprise by that, but we were in her head for that whole chapter! Her motive made sense - but for her to end up being the mastermind now? That wouldn’t make sense, based on what we know of her, memory shenanigans aside!

That would require the mastermind to have knowledge of Shuichi and Kaede’s plan then, right? So they would have had to draw Rantaro to the library somehow, so he would get caught in Kaede’s trap...

It... should be one of a kind, considering the circumstances...

Yeah I’m still wracking my brain and not coming up with anything there. Could it have to do with his necklace? It did make me think of that ‘soldier tag’ present, about remembering someone who they lost. That would be an incredibly appropriate, if not cruel, ‘survivor’s perk’ present for someone who survived a killing game.

Man are we going to get a new flashback for every place we investigate???

OH SHIT IT’S BACK

FLASHBACK LIGHT!!!

you can pry the flashback light animation from my cold dead hands

?!?!?!

Immediate thoughts - generic students. But, are they? Is there any chance that they look generic on the face of it, but are actually representative of people in the class? I don’t see anything that could be an immediate match (Korekiyo = masked guy, Kokichi = small guy with similarly shaped hair/short stature/face, Kaito = tall guy, maybe), and they seem to have different VAs - hell, is that Jounouchi (or for the proper DR character, Munakata)’s seiyuu?

...... or the guy with the sick mask could just be sick lmao

Ah, so this is from when the virus began to ravage the population...

That seems like an understatement 8′D But at least we know for sure when in the timeline this takes place! Shuichi doesn’t seem to know they’re going to be the only survivors yet, but they’ve already been presumably screened for the Gopher Project which means it is well under way.

Calm down Sigma Klim -

Shuichi hasn’t told them he swings both ways, huh.

OH GOD RIGHT IN THE KAITO

DO YOU GET IT YET SHUICHI, YOU ARE THEIR HOPE

Don’t mind me, just wanted to make sure Shuichi didn’t miss the cryptic message left for him in these memories -

Not only that, but these aren’t memories meant to act as a reward for completing a stage like the other ones or even one they found - this was literally forced on them. It’s supposed to be Monokuma’s weapon against them. So... similar to the motive from the last trial, it’s trying to make them take action...?

And it’s clearly working!

... Maybe it isn’t the necklace then. I mean, he was wearing it when he died right??? And his body is gone...

Oh man unless just like everyone else there were copies of it along with the rest of it in his room - except there are 15, one for all the participants for the last game or something -

It might be 50/50 right now??? There’s something screwy going on, I just don’t know what.

[higuchimon]

[fanfic] Rebirth of Kaiser:  Chapter 11

Juudai stepped out of the shadows, looked around, blinked, and waved at the three people, two dogs, and a bird staring at him.

“Hi! I didn’t interrupt anything did I?”

Juudai didn’t wait for an answer. He just strolled off down the street, knowing they would wave off what they’d seen. People usually did.

They won’t always.

He smiled toward Yubel. They will for now. People don’t come out of shadows, do they? Normally, I mean. So they’ll decide they saw something else or pretend they never saw it at all.

Yubel didn’t answer. They’d had this argument before. He really did prefer coming out where most people couldn’t see him, but even after all these years, he couldn’t pinpoint it as well as he would have liked to.

But now he had something else to think about as he headed down, working on getting himself oriented. Once he’d decided he’d arrived in Domino City – not all that far from the Kame Game Shop, really, he would have to drop in and see if Yuugi-san was there – he dug his phone out of his pocket and checked his messages.

Most of them he expected. A few wrong numbers, Manjoume blistering him out because he hadn’t shown up to a duel – Jim reminding him that he’d promised to come and visit over the next holidays – then Shou.

Juudai listened to the message once and then again, his heart pattering faster before he breathed in enough to relax.

“I should have known,” he muttered, carefully putting the phone away.

You’ll have to tell him. Yubel advised. Juudai could feel something that might have been the edges of a smile tugging on his lips. The first year or so after Kaiser’s… departure… Yubel insisted on not letting anyone know about where he lived now. They’d mellowed on that some with the passage of time.

He glanced around again. He knew the main reason he’d come back here today had been to talk to Johan, to tell him what Yubel already told him about what they’d picked up in the village.

“We can take another trip, can’t we?” Juudai asked, eyes darting about as he searched for a patch of shadow thick enough to do what he needed to do.

He couldn’t see Yubel roll their eyes but he could feel it all the same.

Of course we can. But Johan needs to know this as well.

Juudai wondered for a moment how many secrets he actually kept from people. There were far more than he could really think about, and some he wouldn’t ever let on to anyone, no matter what.

But at least he could pass these on and that would be a little less that he had to worry about. Or more, just in a different way.

The biggest, deepest patch of shadow that he saw turned out to be cast by the Kame Game Shop itself. Juudai observed it for a few moments, still wishing that he had the time to go inside and say hello. It had been months since he’d visited Yuugi-san and he missed his friend.

Another time.

Yubel was right. As much as he wished they weren’t at times.

I’m always right.

Of course they were. He stuck his mental tongue out at them, stepped into the shadow of the store, and stepped out again two doors down from Shou’s apartment, a trip that would have taken a day and a half by foot and an hour or so if he’d bothered with trains.

Being him had some fun advantages, really.

Juudai made his way to the door. He could have emerged inside of it, but when it came to his friends, he preferred knocking sometimes. Unless he had something else on his mind and just didn’t bother to observe the niceties.

He didn’t have a chance to knock this time. The door swung open and Shou stood there. He’d grown several inches after graduation. He wouldn’t ever be as tall as his brother, but he hovered around average height. Sometimes Juudai couldn’t help but be surprised that his old friend looked like he’d just gotten repackaged a little bigger.

Shou blinked at him for a heartbeat or two before he flung his arms around Juudai and hugged him.

“Aniki! You came!”

“Of course I did!” Juudai ruffled Shou’s hair, not failing to grin, that old friendship warming him from the inside out. “Did you really think I wouldn’t?”

“I wasn’t expecting you this soon.” Shou stepped back enough to give him a stern look. “I thought you might stay away for another month or so.”

It wouldn’t have been the first time if he did, and Juudai knew it. His travels took him wherever he was needed. Sometimes he didn’t set foot back on Earth soil for weeks or months at a time.

Once he hadn’t been able to make it home for a month shy of a year. His voicemail box had been stuffed to the gills.

Shou tugged him towards the apartment door. “We should probably talk inside,” he said, casting a glance around. Juudai didn’t protest, though he was a touch curious now.

“Were you going out?” He indicated the jacket Shou had on. Shou shook his head.

“Nothing that I can’t postpone.” He didn’t quite push Juudai inside, but he shifted from foot to foot, glancing up and down and all around as if worried someone might step out of thin air – someone who wasn’t Juudai.

No sooner had Juudai crossed the threshold and Shou shut the door, his former roommate turned to look him directly in the eyes. Juudai didn’t think that he’d ever seen Shou looking so serious or so hopeful before.

All Shou’s message said was that there was something they should talk about. Only one thing came to mind that Juudai thought Shou would really want to talk about with such urgency.

“My brother’s alive, isn’t he? Somehow? And you know where he is.”

One thing Juudai could say for Shou right now, he got down to the absolute point. He managed a small smile. He wasn’t sure where it came from, only that it was there when he needed it.

“You’re right. We do need to talk.”

High above the plains she circled, metallic wings gleaming in the brilliant light of the sun. She couldn’t hear what they talked about down there, but she didn’t need to. She just wanted to know where they were.

There’d never been a harpy born who couldn’t find their prey, and once found, never lost again.

Her claws flexed. She wanted to swoop down and take him away, drag him to the others, let them all rejoice in him having been found. But that wasn’t possible. Not yet, at any rate.

She spun and darted ahead, too quick for the eye to follow, too high to resemble anything but a bird crossing the noon sky. It would take someone else in the air to recognize her for what she was, and those below stood no chance at all.

When she dropped down again, it was to stand in front of a group of warriors, each clad in identical armor, but one standing in the front, the marks of a captain on her helmet.

“Cyber Harpie. Report.” She spoke as soon as the harpy’s talons gripped onto the rock she’d chosen for a perch. Not the best of perches, but the trees here were too thick for her purposes right now. They could be useful later, though.

“I saw him,” Cyber Harpie declared, eyes burning bright at the memory. “I saw him.”

“Where was he?” The questions rose up from the gathered warriors rapidly. “What’s he like? Are you sure?”

The captain gestured and the questions died at once. Cyber Harpie gathered herself.

“I couldn’t get close enough to see his face, but he and a traveling companion are on the way to the market town this way.” She tilted her head towards the road they stood in formation near. “I didn’t dare get close enough to hear them or to feel his effect.”

Soft murmurs of disappointment whispered among them, which were dispelled at once by another abrupt gesture from the captain.

“You’re certain it’s him, though?”

Cyber Harpie nodded, talons slicing at the stone beneath her. “You’ll see it for yourself and you can get closer than I can.”

“How can you be so certain?” One of the sergeants wanted to know. “If you couldn’t get close enough to feel his effect or even see his face, are you sure it’s him? We don’t dare make a mistake.”

Cyber Harpie snarled, loathing being accused of falsehood. “He’s the one we’re searching for. The Kaiser who will bring us strength.”

The captain cleared her throat. “We’ll know for certain when we cross paths with him. If he’s not, we’ll search again.”

“We don’t have that much time, captain,” the sergeant pointed out. “If we make a mistake with him, we’ll not have enough time to find the true one.”

“We have time. Not much of it, but enough.” The captain drew herself up, turning to look down the winding trail. “We wait until they return, however.”

Protests at once sprang up, the sergeant’s voice chief among them. But the captain again silenced them with a look.

“They may be alert now, but when they return, they’ll be tired and more likely to let the guard down. Then we’ll take them.”

“Why both of them” The sergeant asked, frowning. “We only need the Kaiser.”

Cyber Harpie raised a claw. “I wasn’t close enough to see much, but I could feel something. His companion is a shadow mage.”

The captain nodded, as if she’d expected that all along. “Because a shadow mage’s help could be very useful in this war. Now, clear off and get marching. We’re going to set up camp back there.” She nodded towards the mountains before she turned back to Cyber Harpie. “Go to the market town. See if you can keep tracking them there and alert me if anything else we should know turns up.”

Cyber Harpie took to the skies without another word. When her captain ordered, she obeyed. Plus, she looked forward to exploring the market town and seeing what could be found there. She had a few connections there: there were Amazons who she’d chatted with on previous visits who would gladly trade news for interesting items she possessed.

That would require a bit of backflying, though. Her precious cache of gems lay hidden where only she could find it. But she had time. The Kaiser and the magician wouldn’t get to the town until the following day and she could make the trip ever so much faster.

He scrambled along after them, keeping himself as closely pressed to the ground as he could, keeping upwind to ensure they neither saw nor heard or scented him. He’d spent a great deal of his life spying and surviving and he wasn’t going to fail because of humans.

Or a human and a spirit. They couldn’t scent him – dull human senses the lot of them, even the spirit – but he could pick up a great deal from their scents, and he could tell the difference between the two easily enough.

Dark Familiar made certain that he wouldn’t be seen, as he did every time he watched them, and peeked up out of the tall grass. He’d done this many times since he’d caught up to them and even when they’d looked in his direction he hadn’t been seen.

Silly, useless things. He knew the stories; he’d known that this one called the Kaiser carried the reputation of having killed Haou in the old days. Even if he hadn’t done it – and he hadn’t, Dark Familiar had seen that duel and he knew the human who did the deed died in the doing – he was still a formidable warrior and not one that Dark Familiar wanted to face.

Why can’t she just let things go? It’s been years. Mourn the dead and move on. Find a new path. That’s what he’d done. But Chaos Hunter insisted on her revenge and she’d dragged him into this.

She’d regret it all. He didn’t doubt that for a moment. All he could do was hope that he wouldn’t end up regretting it too.

To Be Continued

Notes: Do you know how hard it is to find cards that involve ‘Cyber’ in the title and yet Ryou or Asuka didn’t play them?

[tyrantdk]

Ygo Fic-a-thon Day 2

Today’s theme is the ancient Egypt AU. 

The summery of this one shot is: Atem has been overthrown by his uncle thanks to a coup in the palace. Forced to flee, he makes his way across the Silk Road to his Prince-Consort’s home village, where they and their children will live a peaceful life.

“Hush, my loves.” Atem, former pharaoh of Khemet, whispered to his children. His little sun and moon were his life, his world. Why had he not spotted the signs of a coup? He hated this feeling of powerlessness. He had not been able to stop his uncle from usurping the throne from him. His son and daughter huddled close to his side, waiting for his husband’s return. The trio was hidden in a small alleyway.

                â€œAdjo, Khepri, Khonsu, come. I have found a boat willing to spirit us away from Khemet.” Yugi felt his heart break as his husband looked at him. Khonsu raced to him, taking his shenti hem into his tiny hands. “I know you do not wish to leave, but I would rather my children and husband safe, than to allow that mad man to kill you.”  

                â€œI know, Meri-I. Where will the boat take us? Where are we to go?”

                â€œIf we can make it to Sumer, I can get us into one of the caravans on the Silk Road. I remember the way to my village. It would be a long journey, and hard, but we could do it. The boat can take us as far as Israel. I can find work with a merchant willing to let us travel with them.”

                â€œAlright, Ib. I will go where you lead. I am Per’a’ah no more.  We shall flee to your village.” Yugi wrapped an arm around his waist. He kissed his cheek as their children made faces of disgust.

                â€œI love you, Atem.”

                â€œAnd I love you, Yugi.â€

    ---------- 

Yugi smiled as Atem sat on the camel drawn wagon. He walked along beside it on his own camel. He had found a fair employer once they had reached Israel, one willing to take advantage of Yugi’s familiarity with the caravan routes and Atem’s natural husbandry with animals. Khepri was seated beside Atem and Khonsu was settled in the saddle in front of him.

                Their employer hadn’t asked any questions, but they had explained their situation to her anyway. She would often check on them, keeping an eye on them personally. It was comforting to have an ally after being surrounded by the enemy.

                He glanced at his husband. Atem’s natural rich tan had darkened even more over time. Khonsu was the same. He had inherited his father’s skin, but Yugi’s features. They wouldn’t have him any other way. Khepri looked more like Atem, but had inherited his lighter tanned skin. He smiled as he stretched his arms.

                Atem had not complained once since they had left Khemet. He seemed to thrive in caring for their children and helping with the chores. The heat never seemed to bother him, and the animals loved him. He was truly carefree for the first time since Yugi had been sent to Egypt by the Hittites. He loved not seeing a frustrated frown, scowl, or pained grimace.

                â€œMeri-I, what are you thinking?”

                â€œHow wonderful it is to see you carefree, Adjo. I love seeing your former stress melt away from you and how freely you smile now.”

                â€œThis life seems to have its excitements, but it is rather peaceful compared to our former life. I can be around my husband and children all day. I can get my hands as dirty as I want. I can work with animals, like I have always dreamed. This was the right choice, Ib. I can feel it in my bones.”

                Atem gasped as they finally made their way through Yugi’s village. He was enthralled with the quaint wooden homes. Both their children rode on the seat of their wagon with him. Yugi rode on one of the two horses they had been gifted from an employer along the way. The wagon was a gift from their first. Some of the people stopped to stare at them. Yugi sat up in his saddle.

                â€œOkaa-san! Otou-san!” He leapt from his saddle, running to the man and woman. The woman shrieked, as she ran toward him. He hugged them both. “I missed you both so much! I have so many things to tell you, but I need to introduce you to my family.”

                â€œGo to Papa, both of you.” Atem instructed as he sat Khonsu and Khepri on the ground. He grasped the reins of the horses as he followed after. Yugi’s parents cooed over their children. They glanced up as he came near. He bowed.

                â€œHello.”

                â€œOkaa-san, Otou-san, this is my husband, Atem-kun. He is from a land called Khemet, but we had to flee.”

                â€œIt’s an honor to meet you both. Yugi has told me about you often.”

                â€œYou speak our language well, Atem-kun.” Atem smiled at Yugi. “I see you had good teacher. Come, you have traveled far and need rest.”

[ashethehedgehog]

OKAY U GUYS LMAO TY FOR THE ASKS <33333 I’ll do ygo for all the letters here! It’s long so I’ll put it under a read more! So dive on in for some talk about my writing and puzzleshipping fics! (Also some snippets I posted below so wink wink)

B: Any of your stories inspired by personal experience?

Not like directly, but I definitely put some of my influences into them. Like Yugi wanting to be a knight in The Beast Within was 100% because I used to want to be a knight lmao. 

F: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

Ohhh off the top of my head? Gosh mmmm. Okay so off the top of my head there’s this one scene in an AU I’m probably going to abandon actually, so it’s kinda ehhh to show it now and tease u all like this lmao, but I did really enjoy writing the interactions between Yugi and Atem in them, so I’m going to put one of those for this! I just like the way they butted heads and Atem refused to relent, but then so did Yugi so they just tip toed around each other looking for the weak spot while referring to ‘the pharaoh’ as if it’s someone else and not Atem lmao. For context, it’s from an AU where everyone is an anthro animal, felines are considered the high ranking ones, spotted cats (Yugi’s species) is endangered and highly revered, Atem is a lion.

“You’re under the protection of the pharaoh, and as such are to remain in the palace where said effect can be carried out.” Atem answered as dully as he could manage. It seemed to work, as Yugi’s expression dropped.

“That order can be extended and revoked by the pharaoh himself should he wish. Do you think the pharaoh realises that? I wonder…” Yugi clicked his tongue, a thoughtful hand tapping his chin.

“I believe the pharaoh wishes for the spotted cat to remain within the palace walls, where he would be safest. I wonder if he realises that he could have servants fetch anything he needed from the city.”

“He wants to go look at what the city has to offer. With his own eyes, not those of servants not belonging to him.”

“You have your own staff I have assigned to you.”

“They’re not loyal to me.”

Atem paused, finally giving his full attention to Yugi. So that’s the kind of game Yugi was playing today. It seemed he had slipped up, however, and Atem wasn’t beneath taking advantage of this blunder.

“You question the good intentions of the pharaoh, who has given you his place as residence while asking nothing of you?” Atem tsked, turning back to his scroll, attention slipping from Yugi. He knew that would irritate the little cat, and sure enough, Yugi gave a soft growl in warning.

“I do not question the pharaoh, only wonder if he remembers whether or not he will honour his agreement.”

“What agreement?” Atem rolled his eyes.

Yugi pushed off the desk, slamming a hand down on the table, tail lashing angrily behind him. “You cannot keep me locked up here, pharaoh. Protective rules or not, if I leave, you cannot stop me.”

“No, I can’t,” Atem responded calmly, adjusting the scroll in his paws. “But you lose my protection if you venture into the city. You go alone.”

"I will be going into the city, pharaoh. And you will provide me with the necessary guards."

G: Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order?

I tend to write random scenes around as I get inspiration for them, but mostly I write it chapter by chapter to keep it consistent! But if I’m in a slump, I write scenes that I had the motivation to work on, even if it’s for like three chapters ahead. I did this a little with my Big Bang fic because I had a deadline and needed to be working on it lmao. Fun fact tho, The Living Daylights I started off with the opening scene from chapter nine! Yeah nine chapters in right crazy ahaha, but that was what inspired the AU! xD

H: How would you describe your style?

I dunno? Semi-decent descriptions enough to understand locations and a fuckton of travelling montage work and fighting scenes. I couldn’t tell u dude I dunno my own style lmao.

M: Got any premises on the back burner that you’d care to share?

Sure, why not! So my list of fics I’m currently writing are:

Prince and King on AO3

Dragontaur AU/ Opportunities in Unexpected Places on AO3

The Demon Prince Yugi and Knight Atem AU, which will be my next multi chap fic after PaK is done.

A naga!Yugi and vampire!Yugi AU that I’m writing, buuuuut they’re both for my smut blog, where I post them exclusively, and I’m not going to move them to AO3 either soz (anyone is welcome to IM me for the link to the blog, but it’s on private so access is message only lmao).

Magic AU, which u can find some snippets of here! I don’t plan to take this further than a longshot, even with the potential for more there, I just don’t have the time for another fantasy AU world to build rn lmao. But I hope to have something of this to share soon!

Lion Atem, which I gave the snippet of above, where they’re all anthros. I never wrote much for this, and although I liked the concept, I don’t think I’ll work on it anymore. Maybe I’ll post the 6K I wrote just as a ‘read if u want but don’t expect more pls’ kind of thing. But yeah, at this stage this one is p much discontinued because I don’t have the time to work on it. 

And that leaves Elf King Yugi, something that has definitely been on the back burner for MONTHS now (ever since Trial and Error, so u do the maths lmao) which I have written a fair amount for, but need to do some serious plot work before I consider doing more. Since there is a chance I’ll continue to work on this one tho, I’ll post a snippet here!

"You know the council isn't going to like this Yugi. You're in for a long and dangerous fight with this one."

"I know Anzu- you don't need to treat me like a kid." Yugi scolded her with a quick frown.

"I'm just warning you. Be prepared to argue into the night."

"I am- believe me." Yugi groaned, a hand rubbing his forehead as if to still a headache.

Yami tittered at the edge of the room near the door, unsure if he should interrupt what looked like a conversation (or argument) between friends.

Luck wasn't (or was) on his side though it seemed, as Yugi took that moment to crane his neck to where Yami was standing, his eyes lighting up. Yami suppressed a groan as he waved him over. Yami stepped lightly, his steps hesitant as he approached the two.

"Oh wow Yugi is this him? Your narcissism is showing with this one." The girl’s eyes gleamed with something predatory, like she was sizing up how long Yami would last in... Something.

"Would you please stop saying 'this one?' It implies I do this frequently- which I don't." Yugi said, shooting Yami an apologetic look. "This is Anzu- she works at the castle here-"

"You forgot to mention I'm your best friend." Anzu said in a sing song voice. Yugi shot her a look this time.

"Yes, and you're my annoying best friend." He turned back to Yami. "She's going to give you your tour, alright?"

Yami nodded. "Where are you going?"

"I have to go to court today. We'll see each other later, my dear Yami." Yugi smiled at him, reaching out to pat his shoulder as he passed him, disappearing out of the room.

Yami turned back around to immediately jump in surprise.

Standing way too close for comfort in front of him was Anzu. She had a wild grin on her face, like she knew a secret Yami didn't.

"Well well Yami. Looks like it’s just the two of us for the rest of the day." She practically purred.

"Uh... Okay... Should I be worried?" Yami frowned, not liking the glint in her eyes. It's like a maze of demons here, Yami observed. You turn away from one only to find another.

"Not at all," Anzu hummed, patting Yami's shoulder. "We're all friends here I assure you. Yugi wants me to take extra good care with you. And I must say- I can see why. You're a keeper."

"A keeper?" Yami's frown deepened, and he suppressed a sigh of exhaustion. Just what have I gotten myself into here? He was beginning to seriously regret his decision to break the elves' border seal now.

"Never mind." Anzu waved him off, trotting over to the door only to swing back around, her hand on the handle. "You coming? Yugi wants you to see the castle."

"Oh, right, of course." Yami muttered, following Anzu as she made her way out into the hallway.

"Alright, first things first- unless Yugi gives you public permission to travel around, don't go anywhere without an escort, okay?"

"Why? I'm not a kid." Yami scoffed.

"Mmm, technically you are to a lot of these folk. Most of the population in the kingdom are elves, and they tend to be a lot older than they appear."

N: Is there a fic you wish someone else would write (or finish) for you?

LMAO YEAH REALLY WISH I DIDN’T HAVE TO WRITE THE REST OF PRINCE AND KING BUT WELP IT’S MY FIC AND I’VE COME THIS FAR SO I GOTTA FINISH IT RIP. I just reaaaaaally crave the day I can slap a COMPLETED on it :’’’’D

O: How do you begin a story–with the plot, or the characters?

The plot! Mainly because fanfic so the chars already exist lmao. I usually start with one thing that catches my interest, and work out from there. Sometimes my AUs start from dreams, like Demon Prince started because I had a dream Yugi was a demon in jail trying to seduce Atem to come work for him so lmao there u go. 

P: Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an “architect” or a “gardener”? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?)

I’m much more of an architect, because without a decent plot written out in front of my, in like a chapter by chapter format, I will easily lose motivation and focus because I won’t have a ‘oh yeah that’s what’s happening next!’ sort of thing. It helps with building up foreshadowing and stuff too for me. The stories I try to ‘gardener’ for I guess are the ones that often don’t see tumblr or AO3 lmao. AKA u will never hear of them because I have a few lmao.

Q: How do you feel about collaborations?

Interesting question! I suppose it depends what kind! I like collaboration ideas, in fact my first multi chapter fic The Living Daylights was a collaboration in ideas between me and my pal Ren! But I still wrote the entire thing lmao. I guess I like to have control over the writing for style consistency, but I think tackling the entire concept with another writer would be fun! I’ve never tried to write something with someone else so I dunno how that would go!

T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand?

[kinda nsfw] INNOCENT PURE YUGI MUTOU WHO MUST ALWAYS BOTTOM FOR ATEM BECAUSE ATEM IS SEX GOD AND YUGI IS VIRGIN WHO KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT SEX. Listen nothing rustles my JIMMIES more than that that troupe which is EVERYWHERE in puzzleshipping. I don’t understand why it’s so popular??? Like, this isn’t to say Yugi 100% CANNOT bottom because he totes can! But of ALL the puzzleshipping I’ve ever read that involved smut, especially in multi chapter fics, Yugi topped like... once, maybe??? ???? That’s SO MANY fics where Atem almost NEEDED to top. It kind of feels like people were too scared to write it at times? Like some stories I could totally see it either way, but it was ALWAYS with Atem topping, always. I don’t really understand why people are so against Yugi topping in puzzle but auuuugh I just wish there was more of it u know? Like if I want top Atem material shit man I got hundreds of fics for that, but top Yugi? Man, I can list them on my fingers...

Long story short ppl shouldn’t be afraid to let Yugi top pls. I’m not saying he ALWAYS HAS TO TOP, but more of that than Atem always topping would be real nice? A nice mix instead of everything seemingly so bias would be cool? Sometimes I want top!Atem, and sometimes I want top!Yugi, isn’t that the same for everyone lmao. Like they’d totes switch it up all the time so why is there so little for top!Yugi? The mystery of my life lmao. Let Yugi Top 2k17.

X: A character you enjoy making suffer.

Probably Atem, sorry to the kid but he’s the one who ends up suffering the most in my fics opps. I think there’s like ONE fic where Yugi suffers more maybe? The rest is all like nope lmao soz bro but ur the punching bag ahaha.

W: Do you like more general prompts, or more specific ones?

(this is the one I picked myself lmao) I like really specific ones! I like to know exactly what I’m writing, and unless I get a burning idea in my head I’d rather do (not often) I’d prefer prompts that give me more to work with, or at least more detail than like a one line simple prompt lmao.