#orichalcos magic

[angelus-tenebrae]

Yami set out a Duel Monsters card on the ground. He had chosen a secluded location outside. Just in case the magic might destroy something in his apartment. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Yami gathered the Orichalcos magic into his palms. Holding them above the card.

"Rise Spirit! Heed my call!"

The creature sparked to life. Green energy pulsing around it's body. A mark appearing on its forehead. Yes! He had done it! Unfortunately, the monster ran off before Yami could give any orders.

Shit... Now he had to go and catch the thing before someone got eaten.

[twisted-art-wounders]

YGO AU: Breaking the Seal 17

Chapter 17 Transmission Yami has played the Seal of Orichalcos against Yugi's wishes and now will pay the ultimate price.

Yugi blinked once-twice before finally focusing on his surroundings; the last thing he remembered was the other Yugi playing the Seal of Orichalcos and him being pushed away by the force of the evil magic. As he got to his feet he turned around looking left and right then up and down, he was in a dark void with nothing around him.

“Where am I?” He wondered looking forward.

Right in front of him was a floating window in the shape of the Seal of Orichalcos and inside the window he could observe the duel currently happening between Yami and Raphael only now the magic circle encased them both.

Yugi's whole body shock in disbelief.

“The Seal of Orichalcos! No! How could he have played it!”

Looking around again Yugi tried to find someway to escape but after running around he found this place to be nothing but a endless void. Whatever, wherever this void was he trapped there, he looked back up at the window again.

“Other Me! Can you hear me!? Help!” Yugi screamed hoping the spirit could hear him but alas he didn't respond.

This felt just like before in Duellist Kingdom when Yugi struggled to be able to get Yami Yugi to hear him, no matter how much he shouted his voice could never reach the other Yugi. Now he was back at square one stuck only watching as Yami Yugi controlled everything his body did and he had no say whatsoever.

“No...this can't be happening! I need to find away out! I have to do something before-”

As Yugi continued to watch on Yami used the power of the Seal of Orichalcos to summon 4 powerful monsters in one turn, he knew his other self was a exceptional duelist and under the influence of the Orichalcos he became far more ruthless in battle.

“I need to get out of here! There has to be away!”

<i>It's too late, my child He's already fallen into his own darkness...</i>

A familiar voice now echoed in Yugi's mind or was it all around him? Yugi looked back and forth again before he saw the figure of Dartz standing beside him; arms folded behind his back as he watched the window in front of him just as Yugi did. Yugi was surprised to see him here not knowing how he could be here right now but ignored it since this may be the key to his escape.

“Dartz! You have to hep me! I'm trapped in here and my other self played the Seal of Orichalcos! ”

Dartz seemed to ignore his question and kept his focus on the window, this upset Yugi since he was hoping Dartz was here to help him so he spoke louder.

“Dartz! Are you listening to me!? Please help me! I can't let the other me do this!” Yugi turned to Dartz with his fists clenched only to be met by the man's still statuesque form towering over him.

“DARTZ!” Yugi shouted again.

“Yugi. I want you to watch.”

Dartz spoke coldly with an almost robotic response to him, it once again made Yugi confused and frustrated.

“I <b>CAN'T</b> just watch! I have to do something!” Yugi growled only to met once again with Dartz's cold voice telling him once more.

“Yugi. I want you to just <i>watch.</i>”

Yugi wanted to argue, oh how much he wanted to argue with the man but something deep inside of him couldn't force the words out of his mouth, so he reluctantly turned back to the window and watched with a sorrowful expression.

--

Meanwhile outside of the void; Mai's Jeep had finally turned up as they all existed the vehicle and made their way to the edge of the tall cliff overlooking the canyon and below where the duel was in progress. As Joey called out Yugi's name he turned around to see his friends arrival only for them to be shocked by the not only the presence of the seal but the fact Yugi had the symbol on his forehead, a clear sign that he played it himself not his opponent.

As they made their way down the cliff face they met up with Rex and Weevil who realized they came along as well to see the duel thus why they had gone missing. Joey was furious and demanded to know why Yugi of all people was using the Seal of Orichalcos. After Rex explained Yugi got the card from Raphael and activated it on his own Joey couldn't believe Yugi would just play the card like that. After all they all witnessed this awful power for themselves just yesterday! And now he was using it like it was nothing to him.

“This is insane! He knows that card is evil!” Joey shouted.

“Doesn't look like its gonna stop him though...” Mai watched on folding her arms.

--

As Yugi watched the duel continue he started to see the dark power of Yami Yugi's heart manifest and grow around him as one by one he started to sacrifice his monsters using Catapult Turtle's special effect. He could launch a direct attack at Raphael by halving the monsters original attack points, but due to “Limit Tribute” Yami was only able to sacrifice one monster per turn while Raphael could dodge his attacks and rebuild his forces. This move was no doubt influenced by what Yugi had done in his duel against Joey earlier.

But while Yugi didn't want to use this method only in such a dire situation in his mind, Yami was more then ready to use this method as a fast way to win. He first sacrificed Dark Magician giving Raphael some direct damage and in the process powering up Dark Magician Girl due to effect of Dark Magician being the graveyard. To him it was just another cog in the machine to set up his final attack, but to Yugi who watched on all he could see was his other self losing respect for their monsters...

“Other me...you can't do this! Those are our monsters!” Yugi cried out holding his hands over his mouth to stifle some sobbing.

Dartz kept his same neutral expression but inside he was grinning from ear to ear watching the Pharaoh descend into his own darkness while dragging Yugi's confidence in him down as well.

--

As Joey and other's watched Yami Yugi duel it was Joey who noticed just how ruthless Yami Yugi was acting and could tell immediately it was due to Orichcalcos' effect on him. Mai had also taken note of Yugi's actions and while impressive she too could see Yugi was starting to dump his morals for the sake of winning this duel.

“I can't believe he's really acting like this...This isn't his style of dueling...” Joey looked down a little clenching his fists. “He's gotta snap outta this!”

“That magic card is effecting every part of him...He used to have a lot more of dignity as a duelist and now he's just a ruthless tyrant...” Mai watched with disappointment in her voice, she really hoped Yugi had grown out of his childish tunnel vision but it looks like he didn't.

“But...as long as he wins that what matters right?” Tristan looked up at Joey who only closed his eyes and shook his head.

“He may win this duel...but he's gonna lose a lot more then just that guy's soul in the end...”

Yami chuckled as he watched Raphael from across the field; it felt good to finally be the one taking control of the duel and have Raphael on the ropes finally. He never felt more liberated it was like the doors were finally open for him to cut lose and really let out some steam. And for it to be let out on the man who was mocking him earlier felt all too cathartic for the spirit of the puzzle.

“Do you see how powerful I've become Raphael? I managed to use the full power of the Seal of Orichalcos in one turn and I've beaten you down so hard you're the one running away from me...”

Raphael hissed drawing two cards and setting one face down.

“Oh you're powerful alright....but it's due to evil inside of you that brings out the power of the Orichalcos! You're power is from darkness just like I always suspected.”

Yami drew a card before he closed his eyes and put his hands on his hips with a Cheshire grin.

“I am in control of my darkness Raphael. That's why I can wield this card so perfectly. Anyway I think it's time I finally end things here...I'm tried of the cat and mouse game, so for my next tribute I'll use Dark Magician Girl!”

As he called out her name the blonde sorceress turned back to face him with a look of fear and betrayal on her face. Her bottom lip quivered wishing she could speak to him but it wasn't possible for her to do so. The sting of his betrayal burned into her heart and mind, adding to the misery she already felt form his first use of the Seal.

“Other Me Stop! Don't you remember your promise to Dark Magician Girl? ” Yugi shouted and banged his fists against the Orichcalos window.

Tears ran down Yugi's face as Dark Magician Girl looked back at Yami Yugi her eyes wavered ready to stream tears herself, reluctantly she landed on the back of the catapult and was sent flying at Raphael hoping this attack would be final blow.

“Take this! Direct attack!” Yami pointed as the pink ball of energy rocketed towards Raphael.

All of Yami's confidence was shattered as Raphael revealed his face down magic card “Shrink” cutting Dark Magician Girl's attack in half once more and saving himself from losing in this round. As the ball of energy hit him in the chest the blonde man was sent flying back into the force field with a thud, he slide down the green wall wincing in pain. Everyone including Yami was shocked by Raphael's saving move.

“You're such a stubborn cockroach you know that?”

Yami was annoyed with the out come he was hoping this attack would end things for his opponent but it seems he was far more suborn then he originally thought. He looked around as he saw the “Swords of Revealing Light” effect finally expired which gave him a renewed joy in the fact now all he hand to do was use Catapult Turtle's effect on itself and win the duel in the next turn.

“Well well well, looks like your magic card has finally faded and now we're finally down to your last turn! Stand up Raphael I can't wait to send you to hell with my next move!” Yami grinned with twisted joy as more darkness manifested around him.

--

Yugi watched with tears in his eyes, he'd never seen Yami looks so evil before. Yes Yami could be very cruel especially back when they first met before they started working together, but this time it seemed like all the evil he carried inside of him was fully on display and had no signs of stopping.

“Why...why is he doing this? Why didn't he listen to me?” Yugi sniffled and rubbed his eyes before putting his hands on the window again. “The darkness in his heart is growing stronger...”

“This is who he truly is Yugi...” Dartz's voice was sombre as he closed his own eyes and continued.

“The Orichlcos provides a path for the user to take, and for those with wicked hearts there is only darkness that pours from them. That is what is within him, darkness.”

Yugi turned to face Dartz, again he wanted to argue with him but he couldn't...he only turned around and continued to watch the duel unfold. Yugi's heart was sinking more and more as he started to see just how cruel the other Yugi was.

//Other Me...Pharaoh...Are you really this evil? Are you really this cruel?// Yugi hung her head in shame.

--

Raphael slowly stood up again chuckling as he did.

“You really want to win don't you? No matter who, no matter how...Well done Nameless Pharaoh...how does it feel to know you'll win?”

Yami glared at Raphael as he continued.

“You've finally proven there is darkness in your heart...You trapped yourself because you wanted so desperately to win. As the darkness in you're heart grows so does the power of the Seal of Orichalcos. You haven't even noticed it but look at your field!”

Raphael pointed to Yami's monsters all of them hissing and shaking with the over whelming power of the Orichalcos running through them, all powered by Yami's darkness. Yami's eyes widened as he truly could see for the first time just how cruel he'd been to his monsters, sacrificing them one by one all in his desperate need to win...turning them into horrible versions of themselves betraying their trust... //I...I did all of this?// Yami thought.

Yami growled and yelled out “No! You tricked me!”

“You used the Seal of Orichalcos to seal away Timeaus power, the legendary power of the duel monsters world. You never realized the only thing I was afraid of was your Legendary Dragon! Not only that you threw away your partner...the only person who kept your evil in check!”

Yami held his head as he finally realized Yugi had been absent this whole time, his voice vanished from him the moment he used the seal and now he was alone.

//Partner! What have I done to you?// Yami held a hand in front of is mouth as he started to shutter.

“This is the final turn that will decide our fates! My turn!”

Raphael drew two cards and could feel he'd finally drawn the key cards to his victory.

//Eatos, You've finally come.//

He activated the magic card “Celestial Sword” the heavenly sword materialized and slammed into the ground below as it did Raphael then summoned his ace monster “Guardian Eatos”.

As the powerful aura that surrounded Raphael through out the duel finally manifested in it's true form; a blonde woman with a grey bird headdress and native attire appeared in the sky above them. She then picked up the sword and used her special ability forcing Yami Yugi's duel disk into the air and pulling out the top five monsters in his graveyard to appear before him; Dark Magician Girl, Dark Magician, Big Shield Gardna, Gazelle and Berfomet.

“Look into the eyes of your monsters Nameless Pharaoh, The darkness in your heart, you're cruel and heartless actions lead to their demise! Now you will face judgment from them...”

Yami fell to the ground as he looked up at each of his monsters, all of his creatures stood before him each with a look of disappointment and anger towards Yami for his selfish and cruel ways. Yami's heart sank into the pit of his stomach. He was so desperate and ashamed of himself he couldn't really face his monsters, not like this.

He shouted up to them

“St-stop it! Don't look at me like that! I never meant for this to happen!”

“The darkness in your heart will bring out the full power of Eatos effect!” Raphael yelled out.

All of Yami's monsters gave him one final look of anger before they all turned into ghostly phantoms and flew back into the holy sword held by Guardian Eatos her attack points jumping to 10,000.

“10,000 points more then enough to wipe you out...Nameless Pharaoh! Feel the rage of your monsters!”

The holy power bathed everything around them in new bright light the clouds of Yami's darkness that covered them before vanished instantly. Everyone watching from the sidelines had to cover their faces from the blinding light as Raphael called for Eatos to attack using “Forbidden Gospel”.

Eatos brought down her sword as an overwhelming power rushed out of the blade, the holy light ripping into Kuribaboylan and Catapult Turtle destroying them instantly before the attack finally reached Yami Yugi. He screamed out in pain as he too was bathed in the light of the monster's power, he could feel the anger and rage of his monsters all cutting into him at once. Only now could he truly feel the weight of his betrayal hint him like a speeding truck.

All of the other's watched as the light enveloped the field before finally letting the dust settle, all that stood there was Yami Yugi and Raphael only now Yami's LP were at 0 and Seal of Orichalcos was ready to claim it's prize.

--

“No...my other self...he lost the duel! Now he'll lose his soul!” He screamed.

Yugi watched from behind the window his eyes widened as he realized what this meant. As the blinding brilliant light of Eatos' attack hint Yami's field whipping out the last of his monsters and directly dropping his LP to 0.

“I- I have to do something! I have to save him!” Yugi looked back at Dartz once more.

“Please Dartz! I have to do something now before it's too late! I have to break the seal again!” Yugi yelled but could feel his legs were giving out as more of his energy was drained from him leaving him as weak as a new born kitten trying desperately to walk.

He dropped to his kneels and held himself again, shaking like a leaf he asked

“W-what's happening to me?”

“I'm afraid you only have 10 percent of your soul left...Now that this duel is over you will be gone once the seal leaves the field...” Dartz looked down at Yugi who held onto his puzzle tightly in his shaking hands.

He could tell it was true he felt like he was almost all gone and with this duel concluding they'd both be gone...everyone would lose.

“N-no...” Yugi whimpered out

--

Everyone couldn't believe Yugi had really lost. It was finally over and Yami stood in pure shock and terror as smoke floated away form his body from the direct attack launched upon him. Disappointment, despair, and guilt now hung heavily in his heart as Yami began to resolve himself to his fate. Raphael stepped towards him with a look of satisfaction on his face.

“Nameless Pharaoh, you lost something important in this duel, not only your soul but the soul of your partner as well. But don't worry your souls will be sacrificed to our god's resurrection. Goodbye, your highness.”

--

“This is the price he will pay for his actions. The Seal of Orichalcos will not leave the field without a soul. I'm sorry Yugi.” Dartz closed his eyes and turned away.

Yugi looked back to the window and saw that the seal was about to close around his other self.

“My other self! I wont let this happen to you!” As Yugi cried out his fully grey eyes soon sparked with light as he looked down and saw his puzzle started to glow.

“I-I'll use this!”

Holding the puzzle tightly he drew upon the very last bit of power he had, his hope his wish to save Yami driving him as he lifted the puzzle over his head and brought it down on the window slicing through it like paper.

Dartz's eyes widened as he saw Yugi become bathed in white light, he reached from him yelling.

“No!”

But it was too late Yugi was finally free of the void and found himself back in the real world; just as the seal had closed around Yami who'd relented to his fate and was waiting to be taken by the evil power. He then felt a pair of small hands push against his back and send him out the circle. Yami turned around only to be met with his partner looking back at him, a small weak smile on his face as he fell to his knees finally out of energy.

“What? Yugi! What are you doing doing here?” Yami yelled in surprise turned to horror. “Get out of here! You have to break the seal's power!”

Yugi had a sad smile on his lips as he looked up at Yami, tears started to stream down his cheeks “I'm sorry...I don't have the power to break the seal again... all I could do was save you...”

Yami's eyes widened once he realized what was going to happen now and reached out “No...no! Yugi please don't do this!”

Yugi closed his eyes and hung his head down, his final haunting words echoed in Yami's mind forever a chilling message he'd have to carry.

<i>“I'm so sorry other me...I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough...”</i>

“Nooo!” Yami screamed as the pillar of light shot up into the sky vanishing along with Yugi's soul.

Once the light had vanished Yami's body had gone limp as he fell forward into his stomach. His limp and lifeless from spread out in front of his opponent. Joey, Mai, Tristan and Duke could only watch and yell out for Yugi to wake up hoping this was wasn't real, hoping this didn't really just happen to their friend. But the truth was before them; Yami Yugi had lost his soul and with his soul gone now they didn't stand a chance of beating DOMA, their hope vanishing with it.

Raphael bent down and took not only the Orichalcos shard necklace from his lifeless body but also popped out the Orichalcos card in his duel disk. He grinned as he said he wont being needing them anymore, standing back up he felt the winds of the helicopter rising up behind him Alister in the pilot seat. A rope leader descended from the aircraft for Raphael to grab onto, with Yami's lifeless body under his arms he flew over Yugi's fiends and tossed his body to them causing Joey and Tristan to fall over in desperate act to catch him.

Before he left Raphael called down to Joey “Don't worry Joey, I'll be back to take your soul next! I look forward to it!” He chuckled as the helicopter flew away from them into the air.

“Get back here you cowards!” Joey screamed up at them while Mai, Tristan and Duke all looked at Yugi fearful of his demise. Rex and Weevil on the other hand saw this as their chance to join DOMA so they had run off quickly to grab their bike and follow the helicopter.

The group remaining placed Yami Yugi on his back, his friends calling out his name hoping he'd wake up. As he finally opened his eyes he blinked a few times before sitting up, relief washed over everyone as he got back onto his feet.

Mai felt the most at ease before her expression changed to that of anger.

“Yugi! What on earth were you thinking? Stealing my bike and riding off in the middle of the night like that!”

Yami didn't look up at her as he answered “I...I didn't damage your bike...”

She blinked at his answer which only made her more upset so she kept yelling

“I don't give a shit about the bike! That's what insurance is for! I'm talking about you! What if this guy was after more then just your soul!?”

Yami turned away from her and started to shake bit, Joey and other's watched him do so and assumed he was trying to avoid being punished.

“Mai! Chill he' been through enough!” Joey tried to interrupt her but she kept going.

“You're just lucky you managed to escape in one piece!” Mai huffed folding her arms.

Yami held himself now as he fell to his knees finally breaking down in front of his friends he yelled out.

“He didn't escape! They took him!”

“W-what are you talking about, Yug? Who didn't-” Joey asked confused.

“Yugi! They took him instead of me!”

Everyone stared in shock at the revelation that it was Yugi's soul that had been taken by DOMA. Yami slammed both his fists into the ground and yelled out again with tears streaming down his face.

“It's all my fault! I failed him and now-ARGGGHHHH!!!” He slammed his fists down again and arched down even more sobbing into his hands as everyone else watched him speechless.

--

In the skies over the small island temple of DOMA's HQ a green beam of light appeared and shot down out of the sky landing inside of the spiralling mountain. Dartz awaited at his alter dressed in his white robes holding out his medallion as a set of white tiny orbs floated down and added themselves to the larger orb of light that floated over his jewellery, the glowing white orb flashed completing itself.

Dartz had a snide grin on his face as he held the larger orb in his hands, it's warm light emitting off the newly collected soul of Yugi Mutou. He chuckled as he stood up before the alter of his god and held up the orb presenting it for his god to see before bringing it back closely to himself giving it slight petting.

“Welcome home...<i>my son.</i>”

[millenniumdueled]

Thunder rumbles overhead once more as both Yugi and his Other draw their opening hands.

The two stand on opposite sides of the circles carved into the canyon floor, a mirror of one another.

It should never have come to this.

Yugi goes first and sets a monster face down.

"Partner, I don't want to fight you," the Other protests, even as he summons forth Gazelle, King of Mythical Beasts. As much as it pains him to, he orders the monster to attack Yugi's set monster. On the field, his Gazelle digs its teeth and claws into another King of Mythical Beasts. "The same monster--?!" Other Yugi gasps. He looks down at the cards in his hand and wonders.

Yugi draws for his turn, and again ends with only a single monster set facedown on his field.

Other Yugi draws. His heart pounds in his chest. He activates Polymerization, fusing his Gazelle with Berformet in his hand to form Chimera, the Flying Mythical Beast. He then summons Alpha, the Magnet Warrior. Chimera attacks, sending Yugi's Sangan to the graveyard. Sure enough, that card is in his own hand, too. The Other Yugi hesitates, staring at his Partner's empty field as Yugi adds a monster to his hand for Sangan's effect. Then he takes a deep breath, before ordering the Magnet Warrior to attack directly.

This doesn't make sense.

If they have the same hand, then why didn't Yugi use Monster Reborn? He should have ended his last turn with his own Chimera on the field. That's not a mistake that his Partner would make.

Yugi draws for his turn. "this isn't going to work if we have the same hand," he sighs. He sets a card face down, then plays Card Destruction, demanding both players to discard their hand a draw anew. "there. different hands, different paths, different hearts."

"Partner, why are you acting like this?!" Other Yugi cries. "This isn't you!!"

"of course it is. i'm the reflection of your heart. if your heart is filled with darkness, then so am i."

"No..."

"this is your weakness, other me. you're arrogant. you care too much about your pride, you only want to do things your way. you don't want to face me, so you think i should quit to protect your feelings. you can't save anyone if you're a coward who's afraid to get hurt!"

The cards in the Other's hand shake.

"and you were a king that ruled over people?? what a joke."

"Stop it, Partner!!! I don't want to fight you!!!!"

Yugi looks down at his fresh hand. A sad smile comes to his face, his eyes softening. He takes one card, gazing at it between his fingers. "why is this card in my deck....?"

Other Yugi gasps.

No.

No no no no no.

It can't be.

"oh yeah. i'm a mirror that reflects your heart... your choices..." The field card slot on his DuelDisk slides open, and Yugi places the card inside.

"Don't--!!"

Bright, teal light engulfs him. The Seal of Orichalcos spreads out across the field, trapping both Duelists.

Yugi's eyes turn red as he narrows them at his opponent.

"let's finish this, nameless pharaoh."

Yugi activates his set card, Monster Reborn. Dark Magician girl, discarded by Card Destruction, appears on the field. Like Yugi's, her eyes glow red as she stares down the Other. Yugi summons Obnoxious Celtic Guardian beside her. With the Orichalcos boosting their attack, they're more than enough to destroy the Other's monsters, bringing his lifepoints down to 3100.

Berformet returns to the field from Chimera's effect, and the Other draws for his turn.

He wants to scream. But he summons Big Shield Gardna in defense mode instead.

Yugi summons Queen's knight, then plays Magic Formula to raise Dark Magician Girl's attack. The Other's defenses are useless again, easily destroyed for Celtic Guardian to attack directly.

Now, Other Yugi screams.

"what's wrong, other me?" the way the words drip off Yugi's tongue turn the Other's stomach.

"Partner, stop--"

"no way. i'm just getting started. you wouldn't stop now, would you?"

The Other grits his teeth. It's his turn again.

He doesn't want to do this.

He sets one card face down and summons Giant Soldier of Stone in defense, then plays Swords of Revealing Light. He can stop Yugi's attacks for three turns. He can buy himself time to find another way out of this Duel.

But Yugi chuckles, and the sound chills the Other to his core.

"that's really cute, but i think you know this next one."

Yugi sacrifices Celtic Guardian to summon Catapult Turtle, and the Other watches in horror. He knows this tactic. It's the exact same move that he used against Raphael. The move that he had pridefully destroyed himself with.

"Don't do this. You don't have to do this!! Dont throw you monsters away, Partner, you're better than this! You're better than me!!"

Yugi smirks. "so you admit it then? you admit that you're evil? that you threw away everything you said you loved?" He sacrifies Queen's Knight to Catapult Turtle's effect, launching her past the Swords and into the Other's lifepoints, bringing them down to only 200.

The Other Yugi trembles. Is this what he looked like when he fought Raphael? That wicked, cruel look on Yugi's face now? Is this how all of his enemies have felt, staring down their final moments in his attacks?

"Partner, please!! I can't lose this, or-- Or everyone! Everyone will lose! Doma will kill everyone!"

"oh, now you care about other people?"

Yugi orders Dark Magician girl into the Catapult for his final direct attack.

The Other's heart breaks.

He doesn't want to do this.

He doesn't want to win if it means killing his beloved Partner.

He doesn't have a choice, though.

With a scream of frustration, the Pharaoh flips over his set card: Divine Wind. At the very last second, Yugi's attack is reflected, sent back at him twice as strong.

Yugi's eyes widen. Then soften.

A smile finds its way across his lips as the attack hits, and his own lifepoints drop to 0.

"you won after all, other me," he says as he falls to his knees. "i'm glad...."

The Other Yugi races across the field to scoop the fallen Yugi in his arms. Tears stream freely from his eyes now as he holds his other half close against his chest. Wasn't he just a hollow ghost before? He holds him closer.

"I'm sorry," he sobs. "Partner, I'm sorry."

"why? you passed the test, other me," Yugi says weakly as the Seal fades from his forehead, and the one that surrounds them closes in. "you beat me, even though it hurt you. you put saving the world before your own feelings. you won."

"What now though, Partner? What am I supposed to do now?!"

"keep going." The Seal grows tighter. As the light leaves his violet eyes Yugi utters three last words. "i love you."

The Other chokes. "Yugi--" He hugs his lifeless Partner close as he cries. "Yugi--"

"Yugi--"

Wait.

That's not him calling his Partner's name--

------------

------------

"Yugi!! Yugi, wake up!!"

The Other Yugi groans. His eyes open slowly, only for him to wince against the blinding light above.

"Oh thank god, you're alive!!!" Téa cries.

He sits up to find her kneeling beside him. Surrounding them both are pieces of jagged and twisted metal, not far away lie the larger remnants of the mangled train where he'd dueled Weevil.

"Was that... A dream...?" he wonders aloud as he rubs his head. Every muscle in his body aches and screams. Then he gasps. "Téa! You're bleeding!"

"Huh?! Oh!" Téa looks down at herself, her torn shorts, and shakes her head. "It's just some scrapes and bruises, I'm fine! It could've been a lot worse...." She trails off as she looks toward the wreckage. "Are you okay though?!"

The Other Yugi draws his legs to sit cross-legged in the sand as he blinks a few times, takes stock of his situation, and remembers Yugi.

Was that really just a dream?

It felt so real.

He can still feel Yugi, limp in his arms, and his stomach twists.

Far above the chasm where the two recover, Raphael frowns. So, the Pharaoh did survive.

He'll have to change that.

[themxtleycrew]

@kurai-honoo continued (x)

She had thought it strange that the spirit of the Pharaoh had even returned at all, after all, when Seto had attempted to bring them back by reassembling the Millennium puzzle, it hadn't worked, even when Yugi put the last piece in to prove it. Though for the briefest of moments, she could have sworn she saw him return. Anzu had not forgotten the hole Yami's departure had left in her heart, even if it was for the best, to finally let him have his rest, saying goodbye to a friend was never easy.

The fact that the Orichalcos was involved should have set off some red flags, that was something she had thought was also gone for good. Was that why he insisted on being referred to as Yami rather than Atem? At his question, she pursed her lips, then shook her head.

"Of course I still think of you as my friend. What kind of question is that? Magic or not, you've always been our friend Yami, you always will be."

[gaaralover55]

Yu-Gi-Oh: Seal of Orichalcos AU

I wanna thank you all for your likes and aupport! I am really happy that you all liked my idea^°^ and if you want to use it to write a fanfic! You are allowed you beautiful souls! Here is more of this AU. Hope you all like it.

All I can say is. It's all Raphael's fault!

If he hadn't given Yami the seal and the Orichalcos gem. Just to show how his agenda "that Yami is truly evil" is true. Then things wouldn't have turned out this bad.

Because the corruptive magic of Orichalcos was able to reach Yami's soul room. Weakning a seal of a forgotten room not even Yugi knows about.

This very room was the place he sealed away his darkness, His violent thoughts and lust for vengance. This room was were he sealed away his darkness from his past self aka his season 0 self.

The reason why Yami had sealed away this part of him. Is because he saw how terrified Yugi was of him. And he was also scared that maybe one day he would lose control and become like Yami Bakura.

So he sealed that darkness and the full power of the shadow game into this room. In the deepest and darkest part of his soul room. So no one could ever reach it. But after sealing it away. Yami lost his memories about this room and his former self.

And when Yami lost and seeing Yugi, his partner and light sacrifice himself for him. It broke the spirit and the weakened seal of the room broke into pieces. Unleashing the darkness, the full power of the shadow games into the millennium puzzle once again.

It started out small. With Yami drawing himself back, being less social and rarley smile. He looks like he is spaced out and this making his and Yugi's friends starting to worry about him.

But when they entered the train to Florida . They "realised" the reason he acts like this is because he lost the duel against Raphael (and Yugi's soul)

But in reality is much MUCH worse.

Yami was going through hell. He regretted he ever used that seal and wished it was he who had been taken by the seal! Not Yugi! Not his precious light! And this lost battle against Raphael has somehow awoken the shadows again! He starts to regain his memories from season 0 and the shadows becomes stronger. He can hear their whispering for vengance against Dartz! For taking the souls of so many innocent to sacrifice them to a monster. Raphael said that he. The nameless pharaoh! that sacrificed everything to save the world was a evil monster!? That bastard had ruined everything! That hypocrite destroyed everything he had done to protect Yugi!

Then the train jacking happened. Yami and Anzu got splitted from Jonuichi and Honda. So Yami tried to stop the train but was meet by none other then Haga on the top of the train.

The whispers got worse during the duel. And Haga's constant mocking made Yami nearly lose the very grip of the last rays of hope's he had.

Hopes from embracing and slowly becoming the shadow of his former self.

It took all of his will. And that will broke when Haga did his "prank"!

Seeing the card that "held" Yugi's soul being torn apart broke Yami's last will. The power of that shadow game embraced him with opened arms. Anzu and Haga could only see in terror as darkness sprouting out fron the millennium puzzle while Yami screaming in pain! The darkness wrapped itself around the body, changing him and on his forehead opens the third eye as his eyes are glowing gold! Blinding Anzu and the idiot Haga (who is not do arrogant anymore. He is now recounting all of his life choices)

Then the light and shadows dissapears. And now Anzu and Haga could see what had happened. Yami had now changed! His hair was now much wilder with hint of magneta, he had golden ankhs on his arms and his eyes! Dear lor his eyes. They were not the eyes of a human. They were eyes of a god? Monster? Looking into the deepest part the purple flames of underworld. Which danced dangerously in his eyes. As he smiled. Smiled as if he was a monster who finally got his pray at Haga as a dark aura danced around his body. This horrified Anzu! Because she reconized this man! This was the very man who saved her from the Gun wielding maniac (who was killed by fire) two years ago! And it had been Yami! And now she was scared! She started to beg Haga to stop this duel! Or else he would not come out of this alive

Haga on the other hand didn't understand why Anzu was so terrified of "Yugi" changing? He feelt his instinct shouting to him to get out of there. But he didn't care." He had the seal of orichalcos and he will win this duel. After all. "Yugi" wasn't able to summon Timaeus! So this duel was all his to win.

And that was Haga's greatest mistake! Because Yami smiled like a psycopath and whispered with a dissorted voice "It's game time".

[blueeyesking]

Duel for the World! Finale!

Darkness spreads across the Dueling stage, roiling in thick clouds like the serpent that ate the sun of Atlantis. And what comes from that fog is exactly that:

Divine Serpent Geh (∞/∞)

A massive, monstrous serpent, mostly obscured by a portal into the void it came from. Dartz's LP are 0, he has no cards in hand, but as long as this monster is on the field, he can't lose no matter what.

Seto feels some sweat run down his back.

Dartz holds both hands out, as if supplicating to and showing off this new, horrible monster to his opponents.

"You see now, Nameless Pharaoh, Seto? When Orichalcos Shunoros is defeated, it summons my Divine Serpent-" Yugi thinks to himself that Joey would make a double entendre about that comment, then feels a renewed strength to fight, just a little- "And as long as my Divine Serpent exists on my field, I am guaranteed to have your souls as sacrifice! With infinite attack and defense, there is nothing either of you can do against it!"

Yugi and Seto stare down the emotionless Mirror Knights wearing the faces of Yugi's friends, and the monstrous serpent.

"...You are exceptionally lucky I cannot attack with it the turn it is summoned."

The Mirror Knights stare back, with Yugi's eyebrows struggling to lift into an expression. Before he can do anything, it's Seto's turn.

Pot of Greed. Well... it gets him a couple more options, but not much! He sets a spell and summons Different Dimension Dragon, keeping his LP safe from the Knights, for now... but not from Geh. He hopes Yugi has a bright idea.

Trying to clear the field, Seto has his dragons attack the Knights, jeering confidently to Dartz, "These may have the faces of Yugi's friends, but I know they're not real. You can't fool me with reprogrammed holograms- I invented this technology!"

Dartz would have let him, too, interested to see what happens to the souls inhabiting his Knights- but Yugi shouts to his Duel partner, "NO!!" and activates a trap: Soul Shield. It halves his LP to end the Battle Phase immediately. How uninteresting. Dartz pouts at the Duelists having their quarrel, crossing his arms.

"Too afraid to see what destiny has in store for your friends, Pharaoh? I would be, too- if I didn't know you all will be in the same place, in the end."

Seto glares at Yugi and passes his turn. Yugi draws, hand shaking.

Magical Space Typhoon. He can at least get the annoying Centaur out of play and keep Seto's monsters alive for one more round. The marble statue shatters into dust in the wake of the Typhoon, and Dartz is only getting less and less impressed. He taps his foot.

When his turn comes again, Dartz draws- but he has no real need. First, to destroy Seto's monsters--

"Go, my Mirror Knights! Remove their defenses, that my Serpent may devour their souls!"

The Knight wearing Mai's face leaps toward Seto's dragons, and is summarily executed by them... but the other two, Joey and Yugi, don't move. They struggle against their direction from Dartz, which is finally something interesting.

"Oh?" Dartz's tone drips with irony. "Well, if you won't attack, I'll have my Serpent end him right here-!"

This time, the Knights can move, and they move to block the great Serpent in its wormhole. Dartz can't order it to attack his own monsters, despite everything else he can do... Finally, a little sweat appears on his brow, as well.

"What...? Get out of the damn way!"

The Knights, with their outstretched arms, don't move an inch. Yugi turns his head to look over his shoulder at the Other Yugi.

"my... other me..." he manages to choke out around the restraints from the Card he's trapped in, and the Nameless Pharaoh's attention is instantly on nothing but his Partner. "we can't... hold it back forever... please, remember that card...!"

Yami Yugi's face is etched with confusion and anguish well beyond its years. "Aibou..." That Card?

"Tch." Dartz passes his turn. "Just one more useless turn to try and deny destiny. You're wasting your time, Chosen Duelists."

"Destiny can kiss my ass," replies Seto, as he draws. Then he laughs again. "Hahahaha! Speaking of Chosen Duelists...!"

The legendary dragon Critias rises from behind his Duelist, though Seto has very few options with which to fuse it... He decides on his unused Reflect Energy- surely, direct damage from a Legendary Dragon will somehow pierce through his loss prevention effect...?

Alas, it doesn't. Seto is down to Kaiser Glider and Critias, having had to sacrifice Different Dimension Dragon to Relay Soul's effect. "Damn it... Yugi...!"

Dartz laughs at them. It echoes around the hall of souls, even causing the flames to flicker in time.

"You call that a final move? It's your funeral, Seto Kaiba!"

Yugi has sweat dripping down his brow as he draws again, praying for something that will turn this duel around. All he can do is place a card and hope that his Partner and best friend can hold the snake at bay for a little longer...!

On his draw, Dartz grins, and raises the card above his head with the most drama yet. "This is the end! Truly! The final level of the Seal: Orichalcos Tritos!"

"It can get even more powerful...?" Yami gasps out, barely loud enough for Dartz to hear.

"Oh yes, Nameless Pharaoh- you are dealing with a force greater than the darkest shadows, and older than time itself."

The seal grows another layer, and Dartz gains another 2000 LP from Deuteros's effect, but he doesn't need it. Because he owns Tritos, his traps and spells still work, so he can activate the card he set at the very beginning of the duel: Martyr's Curse!

Seto's Legendary Dragon is dragged forward by the impossible snake's head, lashing out in an instant to grab it over the Mirror Knights, and crushing it in its jaws in a shower of hard-light dust.

Seto's eyes go wide as the Serpent strikes at him, next. Its massive fangs feel like they really pierce through him, and he chokes, stumbling back against the Seal's barrier. Dartz smirks, all teeth.

"Your soul will feed my God wonderfully, Seto Kaiba..."

Yugi rushes to Seto to catch him before his legs give out, only to see him still on his feet, barely holding up a hand to activate a set card: Wish of Final Effort. He had had a nagging thought in the back of his mind while they were building their decks together: what if he lost? What if Yugi, with his stupid protagonist syndrome, managed to outlast him and be their last hope? How could he ensure victory?

Kaiser Glider swirls into glitter on the wind, landing in Yugi's Duel Disk and bringing his LP back up to something manageable.

"don't screw up now, Yugi... the only thing either of us owes now, is to save the world from this lunatic...! make sure the revenge in my name is painful..."

Yugi catches Seto's body as his soul is captured by the Seal. The throng watch as it bounces around the room and lands in one of the two empty slots set aside for the final Chosen Duelists, standing strong and stuck about to pound on the face of his prison.

Dartz chuckles at the Nameless Pharaoh. "It seems you're the "soul" survivor, Pharaoh! But your ally has served his purpose, so I have no use for the chaff he left behind." He flicks a finger, lifting Seto's body out of Yugi's arms and against the portal; it shudders and twitches against the force of the magic, but Dartz forces it through, leaving Mokuba Kaiba to catch his big brother's (effective) corpse.

[puzzledmemories]

@kurai-honoo asked: Darkness. So much darkness. Yami did not know when he fell into these depths but it was all he knew for the time being. Until a light appeared in his vision. A familiar green surrounding his entire body. It was... Beautiful. Yami reached out. Wanting more of this light. Hoping it would take him away from the dark. Silence the awful voices. The next time Yami opened his eyes? He was looking right at... Someone. Did he know this person? It was difficult to tell through the fog in his head...

When Yugi found the other, he didn't know what to think. This was undeniably Yami, and of course he knew and trusted Yami. But that green light...

...Was it Orichalcos magic, or something else? He couldn't be sure right now. Either way, he was cautious. Something didn't feel right.

"Yami?" He frowned, stepping closer but keeping a fair distance between them. "It's me, Yugi. Are you okay?"

[sennenpharaoh]

His anxiety skyrocketed. Why was the other backing away? Yami didn’t dare come closer but he was even more confused. It was almost like… Yami was a bad person. “I… I don’t understand…” Fear. He felt fear rising up inside. What could this mean? What was he really? Yami started to shake. “He… You… But…” He held his head as some pain came. He couldn’t understand this behavior. Why was Atem telling him to keep Roy’s name out? The colonel didn’t show anything even close to anger. Was that only because of lost memories? Yami felt his eyes sting. This… Hurt.

"Don't you dare give me that." Atem growled, keeping his guard despite the weakened, almost fearful appearance the other was showing. No, so long as he felt the familiar pull of the stone's power inside of the other... he was a threat. Someone who couldn't be trusted.

"I told you to stay away from me, and not only did you trespass my home, but you dare mention the Colonel as if you know anything about what's going on?!" Atem's own fear, while hidden through his anger, was starting to slip.

"Get out. Get out! And don't you dare even think about poisoning the Colonel with your dark magic! You may have allowed yourself to become tainted with that stone, but I'll be damned if I let you corrupt him in any way!" Just the thought of the pure Colonel getting swept up in the Orichalcos magic was a nightmare, and he quickly shut his eyes to will that image away from his mind, small tears forming in the corners from shutting his eyes too hard.

"Don't... don't hurt him."

[universestreasures]

@youtriggeredmytrapcard

"Hey, bro? Can we...Can we talk for a sec?"

He stops in the middle of the hallway of Doma's HQ, his eyes avoiding those of his brother. Up until now, he's been going along with what his brother has done, as was customary for the boy. However, that doesn't mean he hasn't had his own internal reservations about everything that's been on, especially with what his brother has been doing the last few hours.

His brother wanting to fight Dartz and his cronies made sense. They were the ones who took their company from them and almost killed them and everyone else several times already. That wasn't his issue, but instead, the fact that his brother was using their own weapon, the Seal of Orichalcos, to do so, a card that was not too dissimilar to the dark magic he'd seen from both Pegasus and Marik in the past. Ever since he picked up that card after his first duel with Alister, he's been acting weird, more violent and angry than usual, a sight that he couldn't help but find similar to that of his stepfather.

So, after yet another crushing victory and another soul stolen, he decides enough is enough. He has to speak up, to say something to try and reason with Seto. Mokuba would be a terrible brother if he didn't at least try, for he could sense that unease in the air grow with each second that passed, a feeling that his heart screamed to him that it was wrong and that it needed to stop.

"I think...I think you should...take that card and pendent Alister gave you and...throw them away! You don't need them, Seto! You're the strongest duelist in the world, right? Stronger than anyone! And...And..." His hand grips over his pendent, using it as a tether to keep himself stable. He never quite liked opposing his brother in any situation outside of a game, and even then that was hard to do. However, for the sake of his only family left, he pushed forward, starting into his brother's eyes now with tears threatening to spill over.

"Y-You're not acting like yourself, and...I don't like it."

[doomstarmagician]

" what the hell happened ? "

Meme | @kurai-honoo

Starless eyes slant towards the source of such a panicked inquiry, though the entity hardly spares him more than a few seconds of a glance. There is work to be done, work that is not yet finished, and you… you, the parasite whom houses such wretched magic deep in his heart, are in the way. No matter how much you claim to be different, how you may buck against the very nature that has taken root in your heart, your mind, the magician knows what’s there. What lies and lurks and writhes beneath the surface.

You, the parasite whom reeks of Orichalcos magic, have the nerve to stand near him as he decimates the stone soldiers born from such wretched, vile means by the serpent who sank Atlantis many moons ago?

Do you want to join the crumbled forms of stone soldiers at the entity’s feet?

“—What do you think?” Clawed fingers tighten around the hilt of the cursed soul blade… the Man-Eater. The blade that has existed since long before Doomstar’s creation… the blade that has felled many of these stone soldiers here today, and will fell more than that should the entity not be left alone.

[angelus-tenebrae]

Yami set out a Duel Monsters card on the ground. He had chosen a secluded location outside. Just in case the magic might destroy something in his apartment. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Yami gathered the Orichalcos magic into his palms. Holding them above the card.

"Rise Spirit! Heed my call!"

The creature sparked to life. Green energy pulsing around it's body. A mark appearing on its forehead. Yes! He had done it! Unfortunately, the monster ran off before Yami could give any orders.

Shit... Now he had to go and catch the thing before someone got eaten.

[twisted-art-wounders]

YGO AU: Breaking the Seal 12

Chapter 12 Endurance

After Yugi and gang reach Industrial Illusions they discover DOMA has already captured Pegasus and now a new threat waits to challenge Joey.

“Okay kid you heard old Raph, be a good boy and retrieve Wheeler's soul for us!”Valon pointed down at Joey.

Joey blinked not fully prepared to face a copy of his best friend, he looked up at the men up above him and shouted out

“Hold it! I'm not going through any crackpot duel cooked up by you creeps!”

The copy Yugi's neutral expression suddenly shifts to a serious one as he held out his left arm a chaos duel disk materialized onto it with a deck inserted into the holding slot. He then activated it and drew out five cards, with his free hand he pointed at Joey and yelled.

“I'm your opponent now, Let's duel! My turn!”

Yugi then drew a card and looked at with a a small smirk on his face before looking up at Joey again.

“For my first move...I activate the field spell the Seal of Orichalcos!”

A small slot opened up at the side of his duel disk and Yugi deposited the card into it, with a small electrical noise the field spell activated on the duel disk. The strange letter patterns that encircled the top of the chaos duel disk started to glow and spin slowly. As this was happening a glowing circle grew out from below Yugi's feet then shot out quickly the sheer force of it's energy shoved everyone but Joey away. Yami and the others managed to keep themselves on their feet but had to keep their faces covered form the powerful winds stirring around them. Once the circle enclosed around both Yugi and Joey a single line shot across the circle going from one corner to another up and down back and forth drawing a six pointed star inside of the circle.

Once the Seal of Orichalos was finished another pulse of energy shot out this caused Yami, Tea, Tristan and Mai to be flung off their feet and forced onto the ground. Joey looked back and saw everyone on the ground so he instinctively ran to them to make sure they were okay only to run right into a green force field that kept him trapped.

Joey slammed his fists into the translucent wall and yelled out.

“What the hell is this!?” He then turned back and looked over in horror at the copy of Yugi.

His head was down with his blonde bangs covering his eyes dark energy was surrounding him making his body twitch a few times before he finally looked up to Joey. His normally purple eyes had a growling pinkish red tint to them. While his small front bang had rested itself on the opposite side it normally rested on. In the center of his forehead the same symbol of the Orichalcos planted itself.

“This is were it all ends for you...” The copy of Yugi said coldly.

Joey started to sweat looking over at Yugi before fully turning to face him again.

“No...Yug You- We can't do this! We can't duel like this!” Joey's voice was full of heartache as he watched his best friend glaring towards him with such rage in his normally peaceful and cheery eyes.

Yami and others managed to get back on their feet and stepped closer to were the duel was commencing, upon seeing Joey try to break out of the force field everyone was shocked to see Yugi's sudden transformation unfold.

“What in the hell is this thing?!” Mai shouted as she looked at the field spell that surrounded Joey and Yugi “I've never heard of this card before...”

“Is this that seal card you were talking about before Yugi?” Tristan looked down at Yami Yugi who only nodded.

“Yugi! What are you doing?” Tea yelled out towards the copy of Yugi before looking down at Yami Yugi and asking “What's happening? How are there two of you right now!”

Yami looked at her just as confused as she was but was trying to keep up his mask of bravado so he answered “I don't know this has to be due to the strange magic of the card, the Orichalcos's power must be behind it! They're using that stone's magic to control him!”

“You gotta do something man! We can't let Joey and Yugi fight! You said that card can steal peoples souls right? We can't let them do this!” Tristan looked down at Yami then back up at Joey worried.

“Don't worry I'm stopping this duel right now!” Yami glared with an angry scowl on his face taking hold on the chain of his puzzle, the glowing golden eye appearing over his forehead as his puzzle also started to glow.

“If this is some kind of shadow game I'm more then prepared! I'm no stranger to ancient magic...” Yami hoped to use his puzzle to penetrate the shadow game and hopefully establish a connection to Yugi's misplaced soul and with some luck maybe he could- Suddenly the puzzle's glow went out and the eye on his forehead vanished instantly.

“What?!” Yami looked down at his puzzle, what was going on? Why did his magic stop working?

His confusion was broken by the chattering laughter of Valon from above. “Sorry to break the news to ya your highness but nothing can break the seal of Orichalcos! It's waaaaaay older then your puny powers!”

“Impossible! A power older then the Millennium Items?” Yami growled looking down at the puzzle then back at Joey.

“Trust us, The Orichalcos' power it's more then a match for your powers Nameless Pharaoh...Just sit back and watch as you're 'partner' wipes the floor with his so called best friend.” Raphael grinned down at Yami and others.

“No way! So there's nothing you can do, Pharaoh? ” Tea looked at the Pharaoh with worry, she wasn't the only one both Tristan and Mai looked to him for an answer as well. He wanted to give her...to give all of his friends an answer.

But he didn't have one not really, he then looked to the apparition of his partner who normally stood by his side, his eyes widened in horror as he saw Yugi also had the Seal of Orichalcos symbol on his forehead and seemed to be in some kind of trance like state. Entering their mindscape he grabbed Yugi's shoulders and gave him a shake.

“Yugi? Yugi! Can you hear me?”

Yugi didn't respond at all.

“Yugi! You need to wake up! I need you to help me to reach your soul!”

Yami swallowed hard as he again begged Yugi to awaken, but Yugi stayed silent and unmoving. “Yugi you have to snap out of this! Come on!” “...”

“Yugi! Partner...please!” Yami continued to watch as Yugi remained in same state of mind; a lifeless figure with clouded unblinking eyes and a thousand yard stare.

“You...you can't hear me can you?” He waited for an answer he knew would never come, Yugi was far from his mind and there was no way to awaken him at this point.

Yami slowly released his hold on Yugi; lamenting as he finally left the mindscape he was back in reality, Yami looked up at his friends before lowing his head again.

“I...I can't wake him I can't talk to Yugi at all! Whatever this magic is it's cut off my ability to communicate with him mentally...”

Everyone gasped in shock at his answer none of them wanted to believe this was true; especially Joey who'd over heard Yami and saw how the puzzle's power was useless to help them now.

“There's nothing we can do?” Tea's eye wavered watching the Pharaoh look down and away form her.

“So we have to just sit here and watch Yugi and Joey duel to the death!?” Tristan tightened his fists and looked away.

“We can't let them do this! We have to try something!” Mai shouted looking up at Joey //There has to be something we can do...Joey just don't give up!//

Joey's hands were trembling as he looked over to the mind controlled Yugi and couldn't help but think of the duel they had to the pier. But this time he was the one facing a mind controlled friend, and while there was no anchor attached to their legs the danger was still very real. If Yugi did defeat Pegasus before and sealed him into a card, he could very well do the same to Joey.

“This has to be some kind of nightmare...Yugi you gotta wake up! These people are controlling you!”

“What's the matter Wheeler? You not manly enough to handle a squirt like him?” Valon yelled down.

“Here I thought you was a tough guy but looks like one glare form shorty down there and you're ready to turn tail and run!”

Joey glared back up at the brunette and shouted “Shut your god damn trap! You're the assholes forcing him to do this! And I'm not gonna play your game! And you're not gonna keep using Yugi's soul got it!?”

“Ha! Only one way outta this Wheeler! Either you duel him and win taking his soul or you sit there like a good little pup and let him wipe the floor with you, then he takes your soul!” Valon dusted his hands and leaned in “Your choice.”

“What kind of a choice is that!?” Joey growled and shook his fist then he looked back over to Yugi, Yugi simply ignored Joey and continued with his turn.

“I summon Sangan in Attack mode!”

Yugi summoned the monster Sagan, as it materialized on the field before him the small Kuriboh like creature let out a scream before it too was branded with the Seal of Orichalcos on it's forehead and it's attack points were boosted form <b>1000->1500</b>.

“What the- did your monster just get stronger? How!?” Joey was just as confused as everyone else by this only for Valon to once again interject.

“Oh that's right, you lot weren't present during Yugi's first duel against us so allow me to be your guide on this special edition of 'How in the hell did he do that?!'” Valon chuckled and continued “All monsters on Yugi's side of the field he controls gain an extra 500 attack points!”

“This means Yugi's already at an advantage...” Mai watched on as Yugi set one card face down.

“I set one card and end my turn. You're move.” Yugi said coldly.

“Yugi...” Joey sorrowfully watched as Yugi waited for him to start his turn, but Joey just couldn't bring himself to do it. He loved to duel and dueling Yugi was always fun for him but this twisted game wasn't fun a all. He couldn't stand the thought of having to fight Yugi like this...even if this was just a copy or maybe this was his soul? Did it really matter it was still Yugi!

Yugi's eyes narrowed as his lips parted showing off his teeth. “So you disrespect me this much do you?”

Joey looked up surprised, not by the copies ability to speak but more so what came out of his mouth. Before Joey could ask what he meant by his statement Yugi continued.

“You're just like everyone else, you look at me and don't see a threat or an opponent! You think I'm some weakling who can barely draw a card on my own!”

He chuckled a bit under his breath “You think I need <i>him</i> to win...I see you'll never truly respect me as a duelist in my own right... Do you think I'm going to crying to him if I lose?”

Joey and everyone else were surprised to hear this kind of talk coming form Yugi in general; yes he did have low self esteem but to hear him be so verbal and direct especially about his frustrations was different.

“Yug, what are you talking about? of course I respect you! I respect you more then any other duellist I've faced! That card has you're head all twisted around!” Joey squeezed his fists tightly as he watched Yugi's face harden in anger.

“If you truly respect me as a duelist then you'll fight me like any other opponent!” Yugi yelled then pointed to Joey “Now make you're move!”

Joey held out his arm and activated his duel disk placing his deck into the holding slot. Everyone watched as Joey drew five cards and started his turn; Tristan couldn't believe Joey was about to duel Yugi this way, while Tea was concerned about what would happen if either of them won since the result would be the same no matter what they'd lose a friend. Both Mai and Yami kept their thoughts in their heads.

//Joey, I know this is painful but you need to see this through, if anyone can get through to Yugi it's you...// Yami thought

// Joey if there was any time for you to use that “friendship bonds” speech now may be the time, I'm not sure how good a duelist the little Yugi is but if he's anything like the other soul inside of him...you need to stay strong and don't underestimate him...// Mai looked down at Yami Yugi before looking up to watch the duel before them.

“My Move!” Joey yelled drawing a card “I summon Goblin Attack Force in attack mode! I attack your Sangan!”

Joey's Goblins had <b>2300</b> attack vs Sangan's <b>1500</b> attack, they destroyed Yugi's monster instantly dropping Yugi's life points down; Yugi LP: 4000->3200.

“With Sangan in the GY I acitvite it's special effect! Allowing me to choose one monster form my deck and add it to my hand!” Yugi goes throguh his deck searching for a monster which he finds and places it in his hand before putting his deck back in the holder.

Goblin Attack Force then switches to defense mode, and Joey sets his spell card “Scape Goat” face down on the feild before ending his turn.

It's Yugi's turn and he draws; Yugi discards one card form his hand so he can sepcial summon “The Tricky” to the feild in attack mode it's attack points are then boosted thanks to seal's effect <b>2000->2500</b>.

“I attack your Goblin Attck Force using The Tricky!”

The Tricky destroys Goblin Attack Force but due to them being in defence mode Joey's life points are unaffected. Yugi activates his face down card “Tri-Wright”. “This card allows me to summon 3 level 2 or lower Normal Monsters from the Deck OR Graveyard! So I summon 3 Skull Servants to the field!” Suddenly 3 skeleton figures in robes burst form the ground and shamble their way onto the field, they too are effected by the Seal of Orichalcos and are boosted from <b>300 -> 800<b/> attack. Joey shirks a bit after seeing the skeleton servants being summoned to the field, his fear of the occult over whelming him. “Urgh...why's it gotta be skull guys?” Joey whimpers. Yugi grins and orders his “Skull Servants” to attack Joey directly but just before they're able to do so Joey activates his face down card; “Scape Goat” Summoning 4 sheep tokens to the field, three of the four sheep tokens are destroyed leaving one.

“Sorry but looks like your skull guys wont be damaging me yet!” Joey grinned.

Yugi huffs looking at the cards in his hand, he pauses for a bit thinking before he lets out a upsetting sigh. “I hate to do this to my monsters...but I have no choice... I tribute one Skull Servant for Catapult Turtle in defence mode!” One Skull Servant vanishes and is replaced with Catapult Turtle whose attack points are also boosted form <b>1000-> 1500</b>. “I use Catapult Turtle's special effect! By tributing my monsters half of their attack points can damage your life points directly!” Yugi uses both of his remaining Skull Servants <b>(400 + 400= 800)</b> and his Tricky <b>(1250)</b> to damage Joey dropping his Life Points with each attack;

<b>Joey LP: 4000 -> 3600 -> 3200 -> 1950</b> As each monster jumped into the back of Catapult Turtle they were instantly flung forward and hit Joey directly, Joey took one hit after the other sending him flying back by the force of each strike, he was panting on his knees by the time Yugi activated his final card for this turn. “Finally I activate the permanent spell card “Child's Play”! Every time you summon a monster I gain <b>300</b> LP! And with that I'll end my turn.” Joey struggled to stay focused on the duel; his mind clouded trying to find away to end this duel in a way so they could both keep their souls, but Yugi wasn't going to back down any time soon and it didn't seem like anything he said was getting through to him.

“Yu-Yugi...why are you doing this? We don't need to fight!” Joey still weakened form the attack tried to stand up but found it hard to do so.

Yugi only glared down at him in disgust “Just shut up and make you're move! I don't have all day!”

Hearing Yugi talk so brash and cold towards him made Joey's mind drift back to Battle City back to the duel at the pier were his mind was over taken by Marik who implanted his hatred into him and made his only mission in his heart to kill Yugi. <i>'To kill his best friend it would be the only way for him to truly be a man and be a strong duelist'</i>...that's what he was lead to believe and he almost went through with it! Joey was sweating as flashes from the event stabbed into his heart; watching Yugi suffer form the endless bombardment of fire balls that directly attacked him. His limping form walking over to him and putting the puzzle around his neck, Joey almost throwing a piece into the ocean throwing away their friendship...

“Yugi...please...” Joey winched looking down at his duel disk and his deck, his mind was drowning lost in his emotions.

“Tsk. Giving up so easily? What happened to all that tough guy talk huh? Guess you're not as strong as you think!” Yugi growled and crossed his arms. Valon and Raphael watched form up high as the duel continued both were unimpressed with Joey's current performance. “God and here I thought Wheeler was supposed to be some big deal or something and here he is losing to the vessel! According to the hype he's supposed to be really good at this game.” Valon yawned drumming his fingers on the railing. “Looks like the 'hype' was all talk...we need strong duelists to awaken our god. Master Dartz may not be happy with this soul.” Raphael sighed and shook his head in disappointment.

Meanwhile back with his friends they too noticed Joey's lack of high performance in the duel. “Why is Joey having this much trouble? I know he always loses to Yugi normally but not so easily...” Tristan wondered. “Yeah but all those duels were for fun, this duel is far form it...of course he can't win this duel...” Tea looked down and away. Mai glared up at Joey her face becoming more annoyed as she watched him tremble trying to stand again. Yami Yugi had gone into his deck belt and pulled out the Timeaus card looking at it //If only I could give you this card it may help you to win...//

Yami looked back at Joey again “Please Joey you have to keep fighting! Don't give up!”

Raphael had noticed Yami pull out at the dragon card and froze in fear, he knew what that card was and how powerful it could be in the right hands. //He has one of the Legendary Dragons...No matter what I can't allow him to use it!//

//What am I supposed to do? If I fought my hardest and win then Yugi will be gone for good, but if I don't fight and let him win then I'm gone for good...//

Joey slowly stood back on his feet; it was his turn now so he brought his hand hover over his deck to draw but he stopped for a moment when an idea hit him.

Maybe...he should surrender.

Maybe his sacrifice might just be the thing that will wake Yugi up. Joey had a hint of a smile as reached over and left his hand hovering over the deck ready to place it down as an act of surrender. Everyone had gasped watching him but in a instant a loud and enraged voice burst out form the group behind him.

“Joey! You absolute coward!” Mai screamed at Joey making everyone now turn and face her, even the two men on the balcony had to look in her direction. Joey too had to turn himself around and look back to her.

Mai was furious, more furious then Joey had ever seen form her. Her fists were shaking as her knuckles became white from the pressure. In an instant she ripped her sunglasses off and glared at Joey with burning rage.

“I cannot believe you're really going to do that! You're nothing but a spineless weakling!” Mai shrieked out.

Yami watched Mai as well as everyone else; Tristan tried to step in and argue with her only to have her hold up a hand in front of him and shoot an intense glare to him making him shut his mouth instantly in fear. Mai then turned her attention back to Joey and continued

“Do you know how many times I've had to endure your god damn friendship speeches!? Always about 'trusting your friends' and 'being there for them' and blah blah blah! I even started to believe some of it! But turns out you're all talk and no bite! You can't even practice what you preach!” Mai put both hands on her hips and glared at Joey again.

“Mai...you don't- You don't understand!” Joey tried to interject only to be shot down by Mai once again.

“Shut the hell up! You got some nerve to try and talk down to me when here you are ready to throw in the towel! Is Yugi's friendship that worthless to you? He was willing to do everything to save you back in Battle City but now that the shoes on the other foot you can't pull your head out of your ass long enough to fight <i>for</i> him!” Mai huffed then brought her arms up and crossed them.

Joey swallowed hard it was hard to hear but she was right about him. He was trying to find an easy way out, away to not having to face Yugi in battle. He thought back to duel on the pier again how Yugi, even with his heart aching so much still decided to step in and face Joey. Even though he knew all the risks involved he still put everything on the line to save him and in the end it worked, Yugi won and saved their friendship...only because he had the courage to fight for it.

“I guess now we know what a friendship from Joey Wheeler is worth! Absolutely nothing! God if you treat your <i>best friend</i> like this I can't imagine how you'd treat me if I was the one under mind control!” Mai growled and closed her eyes turning her head away with a huff.

“Mai...you're going too far.” Tea spoke meekly to the older woman.

Mai responded by turning her back refusing to face Joey and gave her hair a flip “I was wrong about you all along, You're no true duelist Ha! you're barely a friend at this rate!”

“Mai.” Yami Yugi gave a stern look to her, he really did want to call her out for this but he was interrupted by Joey.

“Mai!” This brought the whole groups attention to Joey, he was looking at Mai with his bangs covering his eyes lowering his head a bit.

“You're right...I have been acting like a coward. I wanted to end this duel fast since...I'm scared. I'm scared of what will happen if I fight my hardest and win...I could- Yugi could...” Joey balled up his fists and signed.

“But that's no excuse...I can't truly call myself Yugi's best friend if I'm gonna turn tail and run when he needs me most! And I can't disrespect him by surrendering the duel just because it'd be easy for me...You're worth more then that Yug! And you deserve my respect!” Joey then turned back around and stared at Yugi, his eyes were filled with determination and hope.

“Yugi this duel is still on! And form now on I'm gonna give it all I got! One way or another I'm gonna save you!” Joey shouted as he placed his fingers on the top card and drew it.

Valon was impressed with Mai's ability to make such a strong presence of herself, she really could command a room with her voice. He smiled watching as Mai finally turned around with her arms still crossed and looked back at Joey with a genuine but very small smile across her lips.

Everyone else was also impressed with her speech; Yami giving her a small complement “You managed to reignite his dueling spirit, well done.”

Mai huffed a bit “Well someone had too! And you guys didn't wanna step up to plate so I did. I swear all your 'goodie two shoes' attitude is rubbing off on me...” she rolled her eyes but her smile stayed on her face as she watched Joey.

Joey grins as he starts his turn;

“I use the spell card “Monster Replace”! I use my final scapegoat to summon out my old pal “Red Eye's Black Dragon”!”

The scapegoat vanishes and is then replaced with the towering black form of the Red Eye's Black Dragon whose roar shakes the building's windows upon it's summoning. Everyone is in awe as Joey's signature monster rests in front of him.

“Aww yeah baby! Joey's best card here for a battle!” Tristan pumps his fist in the air.

“This card represents Joey's courage. Hopefully it will lead him to the answer he needs.” Yami grinned.

Valon and Raphael both were impressed with the fact Joey managed to summon a powerful and rare card at this point in the duel. With Joey's reignited courage his soul was surely burning with powerful energy, energy they hoped they could harness into a proper sacrifice for their God.

“I also summon “Little Winguard!” in attack mode!” the small knight monster appeared next to the towering black dragon.

Due to “Child's Play”'s effect Yugi's LP are boosted;

<b>Yugi LP: 3200 -> 3500 -> 3800</b>

“Now I'll attack your Catapult Turtle with Red Eyes! Then I use Little Wingaurd to attack you directly!”

Joey declares his attack as Red Eyes Black Dragon <b>(2400 ATK)</b> destroys Catapult Turtle with one firey blast of it's Black Flare Bullet attack. Little Wingaurd <b>(1400 ATK)</b> attacks Yugi directly, Yugi screams as the little warriors sword cuts into his shoulder. He holds his shoulder in pain, there's no blood but the pain certainly was real-the Solid Vision Technology was top notch at recreating a powerful sword attack that can actually hurt a player.

<b>Yugi LP: 3800 -> 2400 <b>

Joey then sets a trap card then uses Little Wingaurd's effect to switch it to defence mode before ending his turn. Joey was a bit worried when he saw Yugi take that kind of direct damage and yell out in pain but he also knew Yugi was a tough kid, he'd taken much worse blows then this so he finished by saying

“And I'll end my turn! Your move Yug.”

Yugi steadied himself on his feet, the pain from the sword attack still seething before letting out a soft chuckle watching Joey complete his turn “It's about time you started to take me seriously! Now we can have a real duel!”

“You bet Yugi! I'm coming at ya with everything so hold onto your horses!” Joey smirked.

Yugi returned the smirk before drawing another card, he chuckles again and looks at Joey amused with himself.

“Well then time to step up my game! I summon the “King of Skull Servants”!”

The field turns darker as a larger Skull Servant raises form the ground much bigger then it's predecessors and blankets the field in it's dark blue cloak; it's Attack points are <b>0</b>. Joey once again feels like his soul is about to leave his body as he watches the skull faced monster look directly at him with no eyes in it's sockets but Joey can still feel it's presence staring into his soul.

//Why Yugi...why does it have to be skulls?// Joey cried in his head.

“King of Skull Servants? I've never seen you have that card before, Yugi...” Tea looked down at Yami.

“But it has 0 attack points so it can't be that hard to beat right? Why summon something like that?” Tristan wondered.

“Looks can be deceiving...” Yami narrowed his eyes he knew exactly what Yugi was going to do with this monster.

“Joey! Don't let your guard down!” Yami yelled.

Joey finally got his head out of his fear long enough to notice the new monster just like the other monsters on Yugi's side of the field gain an extra <b>500</b> attack points, but that wasn't all.

“King of Skull Servants has an special effect! For every Skull Servant in my GY it gains <b>1000</b> attack points and I have 3 in my GY!”

King of Skull Servants attack suddenly rose from <b>0 --> 3000.</b>

“Plus those Skull Servants were also boosted by the Seal of Orichalcos so those extra points are also added to my King on top of the <b>500</b> point boost it receives form the seal itself!”

King of Skull Servants attack again increased <b>3000 --> 5000</b> Attack.

Joey's mouth hung open as he saw just how powerful Yugi's monster had become in one turn.

“No way...” //How am I gonna get over this? With 5000 attack points!? It's unbeatable!//

“Oh no! Now Yugi's monster is stronger!” Tristan was biting his nails.

“If Red Eyes is attacked he'll lose!” Mai yelled.

//Joey...// Yami glared as he watched Yugi declare his attack.

“Now “King of Skull Servants” end this duel and attack his Red Eyes!”

Yugi pointed his monster to it's target. The towering Skull monster raises it's cloak from under it darkness bleeds out into the ground swarming under the Black Dragon. From the darkness many sets of skeletal hands raise up and take hold of the Red Eyes Black Dragon pulling it down into the darkness before it's destroyed in a flurry of polymorphic triangles that made up the hologram.

“You triggered my Trap! Go Nutrient Z!” Joey yells out revealing his trap card.

Before Joey is able to take the full damage that would drop his LP to <b>0</b> he activates his set trap card “Nutrient Z”. During damage calculation if he was going to 2000 or more battle damage he'd gain 4000 LP. <b>Joey LP: 1950 -> 5950</b> from Nutrient Z.

As Red Eyes is shattered into thousands of pieces Joey feels his heart become heavy watching his best monster die in front of him.

“I'm sorry Red Eyes...” Joey closes his eyes.

Red Eyes is destroyed for <b>2600</b> damage, <b>5950 -> 3350 LP</b>

Everyone lets out a sign of relief once they see Joey is still in the game; Tea commenting on how she's not sure how much more of this stress she can take, Tristan agreeing with her and Mai sighing trying to reduce some of her own tension by rubbing her face a few times commenting on Joey's weird luck powers always saving him somehow. Yami was worried as he watched how intensely Yugi was dueling, he then looked over to the ghostly image of Yugi, stone faced an still under the control of the seal Yami worried Joey may not be able to reach him in time.

Back on the balcony Valon huffs and crosses his arms in annoyance.

“Guess he's still in the game for now.”

“He wont last much longer, his luck will run out soon. Yugi has a 5000 attack monster and I doubt he has anything that can save him form that.” Raphael kept his arms crossed but soon felt his phone vibrating, he pulled it out to look at the text he just received, giving it quick glace he narrowed his brow a bit then put it back in his pocket.

Valon had noticed and asked “Who was it?”

“Alister, and I don't think he has good news. We need to wrap this up soon.”

“Urgh of course he's gotta rain on our parade!” Valon rested his chin in his hands and pouted looking down at Joey. “Hurry up and lose already Wheeler we ain't got all day!”

Joey growled and once again yelled up at Valon to shut his mouth before he'd bolt it shut for him, again it made Valon chortle in laughter over his threat which only made Joey fume more.

“Somehow you managed to pull out just before a crash... I'll end my turn here. So what will you do now?” Yugi smirked crossing his arms looking up at his powerful monster that towered over the field leaving Joey's Little Winguard in the shadows of it's intimidating form.

Those same shadows looming over Yugi making him look more monstrous himself, now Joey faced the unstoppable force of a duelist at his peek. And if he didn't think of something soon not only would he lose his own soul but Yugi would be forever under the Orichalcos' control.

[oreichalkos]

something something the purer the soul the greater the darkness born from it , and by this i mean the orichalcos does corrupt people ( usually slowly ) but it has one of two effects on a pure soul — 

1 ( the iorei effect ) — causes a rapid, drastic fall in physical health, so much so that the body can’t resist the change into a monster, but the soul remains a pure soul capable of leaving the body ( or had dardanos gotten rid of the orichalcos, reverting the body to its former state )

2 ( the dardanos effect ) — a rapid smothering of the soul, requiring a pre-existing weakness, trapping the soul so that it can’t fight back. usually resulted in sudden death without transformation, or just leaving a body with the dull-eyed look as if the soul had simply been removed all-together 

both of these usually required physical contact with the orichalcos stones in an unaltered ( basically just like a raw, unpolished stone ) form. notably, dardanos and his family didn’t actually seem to have contact with them, making their cases fairly unique. iorei’s health failed her slowly because she wasn’t in contact with the stones, but was in fact surrounded by people who had them. not to mention, for some unknown reason, the atlanteans were like lmao ok let’s just COVER OUR CITY IN THIS 

the point there is the orichalcos shard or stone is a carrier of the consciousness of gaea and capable of exposing wickedness in souls. turning it into something else like uhhh they used it for everything lmao from medicines to fabrics? miracle material? anyway that actually didn’t ... do anything to people. but, they had to have a stone to convert other stones? like the philosopher’s stone “bypass equivalent exchange” sort of deal. 

the royals, not just dardanos, but his nine cousins, had innate divinity as descendants of poseidon, so they didn’t actually need the stones to have some wildly overpowered magical abilities. the orichalcos does in fact grant power, which is how it worms its way into people, but the royals didn’t need more power. hence why the royal families weren’t the ones who died from the stones — iorei did not die because of having an orichalcos stone, she died from being in contact with people who DID because the royals didn’t stay cooped up in the castle. dardanos and iorei were very friendly to the commonfolk. iorei was not born with noble blood… no one really understood her sudden illness until it was too late. 

dardanos only needed to be in contact with a stone for literally like 5 seconds for it to actually be fatal. gaea, being the origin of the orichalcos, could also command what it did and dardanos was a great puppet so lmao new lord of doma. his soul was in fact essentially sealed away but like deep within his own self which allowed gaea to command what he did without having him lose his personality or whatnot. when dardanos confronts the nameless pharaoh after being leviathan, he shows up and his eyes are blank and yeah lmao gaea killed him for a hot minute. since his body was still there for his soul to return to after the pharaoh essentially siphoned gaea’s power somehow thru the puzzle ... (?) dardanos was able to live, much as others who still had bodies to return to ( eg. the swordsmen ) 

anyway i know that was probably very confusing but i wanted to just put that there. thanks for coming to my tedtalk

[mutogamingco]

What's Domaswap AU?

//Ah yes! I should definitely explain. The DomaSwap AU refers to a change in the timeline that @nevertem and I have been working within. We are actually in the process of getting it all organized to write out in detail but once in a while it pops up in RP here.

It started with an old thread where we were exploring what would have happened in the Doma arc (season 4 of the anime) if it was Yuugi that played the Seal of Orichalcos and lost Atem instead of the other way around. It actually ended up having a domino effect (heh!) on the entire story line afterwards, so if we tag a thread or post 'Domaswap' it's adhering to the events within that timeline, if that makes sense.

For the sake of clarifying the conversation he has been having with this Dartz anon, it is referencing how the influence of the Orichalcos and the raw dark magic of the Puzzle without the spirit to keep it contained nearly drove Yuugi mad and turned him to endless rage and violence. To the point he was starting to even turn on people he loves and who love him. It was an exploration of all of the bottled up rage he carries with him, because he was not allowed (or didn't feel like he was allowed) to express his true feelings. It's not that he resents any of them, and most of his anger was actually directed at himself. He was frustrated at not being understood even when they were trying to help him.

His dragon is one that literally self destructs, so we wanted to explore what that means for Yuugi as a character. He needed an arc to himself to really grow and deal with some character development, and as much as I do enjoy the canon Doma angst, they had Atem relearning lessons he already had learned at the end of Duelist Kingdom and Battle City, so Doma feels like the good spot to insert this kind of character arc rather than create a new one.

[worldendercharles]

Pardon me for coming in here but now I'm thinking about it again. Disclaimer I haven't read the battle city arc in the Manga in a long time, but I'm quite familiar with the anime so there might be details not included in the manga that I bring up so maybe this is all just nonsense.

I find it incredibly odd thinking about the Pandora duel, where the red dark magician was shown to be somewhat ... idk if sentient is the right word like you said? But Along the same lines as Yugi/Yamis Dark Magician where it acts like it has SOME autonomy regarding its actions and expressions?? The card obviously can't refuse to do something when instructed, but we've seen that the two Dark Magicians can show apprehension or distaste/approval for choices their duelist makes.

We don't see anybody else duel with a Dark Magician besides Yami Yugi and Pandora (that I know of?) so it's hard to say if these discrepancies are due to Atem being present (like the magic/energy of the millenium puzzle brings the spirits of Mahaad and other duel monsters more out into the open???). But we also see this happen with DMG when Tea duels with her (but also, this is anime only so. Idk. And this concept is brought up in the Waking The Dragons arc regarding the orichalcos). Regarding the Dark Magician as a trading card, are every single one of them infused with the spirit of Mahaad? Or is Yugi's DM special due to Atem's spirit being present when dueling? Then there's the whole matter of them being "holograms" that we have to consider when trying to pick at their behavior (expressions, emotions etc)..

TLDR; I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS OVER A ONE OFF DUEL THAT IS RARELY BROUGHT UP but it just brings up SO many questions? AUGH

I ALSO have incredible thoughts on this duel, more than I can word. I think Yugi's may be special, considering the show-wide destiny theme. I think all of the card spirits are sentient and aware, but it takes a duelist who really cares about them, ex. Atem, to NOTICE it.

[bakawitch]

What would happen if Kakeoh Dartz met cannon Dartz or maybe even Yuriko

Let's see.

So Dartz A. is pretty much orichalcos Dartz, but as a teenager and no magic, so they would probably get along well. They both dislike what humanity has become, and one or the other would probably help the other out, but if it ever came down to it, they would throw the other under the bus like that 🫰

I can see him getting on well enough with Yuriko as well. They both have this disdainful nature, and I think they could easily relate to each other because of their deceptively proper and polite characters. They're also fiercely protective of their respective clubs, which is also a subject of interest with them.