#(CAUSE IT JUST SHOWS THAT NO MATTER HOW OLD MOKUBA GETS

[universestreasures]

Fly Away To Their Dreams (A Drabble For @shachou)

He still....He still couldn't believe it. The day had finally arrived and yet the reality of the current situation still seemed to feel like a dream. But time and time again reality slapped him in the face that yes, this was happening. That he, 19-year-old Kaiba Mokuba, was the newly appointed CEO of Kaiba Land Parks & Resorts, the one to who the Kaiba brother's shared dreams had been entrusted. Never did he think this would happen, and yet here he was, standing on the airstrip saying goodbye to his loved ones before flying off to his new place of residence in America.

Everyone he had a connection to was present to see him off, from Yugi and his gang, to his Buddyfighter friends (Buddy Monsters included), Utahara Kisara and her sister Shiori, a plethora of Kaiba Corp employees, and of course, Isano and his brother. The only person close to him who wasn't in the sea of people were Akatsuki and his buddy Byakuya, but that was for obvious reasons. They were to be accompanying Mokuba as his bodyguards and assistants, like his own Isano in a sense. That was the first thing the younger Kaiba did after being appointed, for he knew no one else more fitting for such a role than the two ninjas. Plus, being so far from home without anyone he was close to would have been too hard on him.

Even now, as he said his goodbyes, all he can think focus on is the towering figure clad in white in the back of the crowd, the one he for the first time in his life was going to be willingly separated from for long periods of time. Sure, he had practiced living on his own some of the time with that apartment of his he got near HQ soon after his graduation, but this was different. He was going to be living thousands of miles away from his brother in a whole different country. It was his first proper step of going out on his own in the world, and making that step was...truly terrifying, if he's being honest.

Would he be able to handle this immense pressure on his own? What if he should fail? What if he needed his brother? What if his brother needed him? What if-

"We're all ready to leave when you are, Mokuba-sama." One of the private plane's staff brings him out of his thoughts and back into the present, purple hues glancing over at the crowd of people staring at him. He can feel his palms sweat, not sure quite what to say. Luckily for him, everyone's attention is directed away from him as two figures moves through the crowd, one that causes Akatsuki and Byakuya to step forward to meet them.

"Anija..." Akatsuki speaks after meeting his brother Zanya and his buddy Tsukikage, both him and Byakuya attemping to bow their heads in respect to their elder brothers before both of them put their hands to forward to stop the action.

"Akatsuki. You are well aware of how important this task is. It is a great honor to be able to accompany Mokuba-san as his protector and confidante, an honor I know you will shoulder with pride." Zanya's hand is put on his brother's shoulder with those last words, giving Akatsuki a soft smile.

"I'll...I'll do my best." He nods as he then reaches for his sword held close at his side, taking it out and bowing his head as he makes a promise to both himself, his brother, his friend, and everyone present. "I swear by my blade to protect my best friend, Kaiba Mokuba, with my life. No harm shall come to him, and I promise to do all I can to aid him in his new role."

That's when Byakuya moves between the two brothers, his gaze focusing both on his buddy as well as the younger Kaiba before bowing himself before them both. "And I swear on my pride as a nanomachine ninja to protect and support both Mokuba-dono and Akatsuki-dono throughout their time in the new land, just as my brother has done with Zanya-dono for so many years."

"Nin." The single word escapes the usually untalkative Tsukikage's lips, and despite the shortness of the remark, they spoke volumes to his brother. The sentiment causes the more emotional Byakuya to start to tear up, moving to give his brother a hug. Akatuskki, like a mirror image, follows suit as his own eyes get all watery, and he wraps his arms around his brother's torso.

"Now, go make me proud...little brother."

The warmness of the display causes everyone in the crowd to get all sentiment, some even clapping their hands at the pure joy at the display. And while such a feeling reached Mokuba, all he could focus on after witnessing that moment between brothers was his own, still standing tall in the back, watching everything unfold with that usual aloof exterior of his.

"Alright. Let's...Let's get this show on the road, then." Mokuba speaks with his head facing the ground after having picked up Mochi's cat carrier, turning his back to everyone, his brother included.

"You're not going to say goodbye to Seto-dono...?" Akatsuki asked, breaking his hug with his brother to instead look at his friend and now boss.

"We...We already said our goodbyes at the mansion earlier. Besides, we...we have a schedule to keep. It be a bad impression if I couldn't keep to it on my first day."

And with that Mokuba and both ninjas began their way towards the private plane, the crowd waving and cheering them good wishes. As he makes those steps up to the ladder and into the vessel, Mokuba takes one glance back, noticing his brother start to turn around to presumably leave the premises to return to work. He can feel his emotions, the ones he's been doing his best to repress to try and remain professional in front of everyone, bubbling close to the surface.

He promised himself he wouldn't embarrass himself. He wasn't a little kid anymore. He was the CEO of the division of the company that was the result of years of hard work and dreams from them both. He had a duty to represent himself well. And yet...his new position, his new lavender suit, his new goal, could not change one thing about him. That deep down, he was still Kaiba Mokuba, the little brother of Kaiba Seto, who loved him with all of his heart.

"Wait....!!!" He shouts as the plane's door began to close on him, the action immediately being stopped and slowly reopened. As soon as the stairs touched the ground, the young man races off of the plane and onto the airport strip, running as fast as he could towards the crowd of people seeing him off to do what he had been denying himself of doing.

"Nii-sama!!!"

The cry from Mokuba echoes through the area, causing everyone's attention to be gravitated towards it. As the young CEO approached the sea of people, the crowd parted to allow him passage, giving him a clear gateway towards the person whose voice he seemingly stopped from leaving by his cries.

And soon, within a matter of moments, he finds himself wrapping his arms around his brother's torso, everyone else turning their heads to watch. The security of being close to him causes those locked floodgates of his heart to burst open, tears forming in his eyes like they had so many times before. As they say, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

"I...I'm going to miss you. I'm going to miss you so much! I'm...I'm so honored you trusted me with the responsibility our dream, and I promise to do my best to keep it alive and well...for all those kids like us. I'll make you proud, I swear it on my name as a Kaiba!" His grip on his brother tightens, but in response to the action and his words, he feels one arm wrap around his back as the other gently is placed on his head. Purple hues meet ones of cobalt then, with the smallest of smiles gracing the CEO's face.

"You already have. You've exceeded all my expectations of you. No one is more fit for this task than you. Trust in your ablility, Mokuba."

"Nii-sama..." He smiles softly as tears run down his cheeks, Mokuba slowly releasing himself to dry them. That's when the young man noticed Yugi approach the pair of brothers, offering a smile of his own to the two.

"We all believe in you, Mokuba-kun. And don't worry about your brother. Isano and I will make sure he doesn't get into any trouble at the office." Yugi gives a playful wink, one that no doubt causes an eye-roll from Seto and a giggle from Mokuba.

"Make sure he eats three meals a day, especially during the time of the Board of Directors meetings! He has a bad habit of skipping them then! And make sure he takes breaks! Bribe him with a duel if you have to!"

"Don't worry. I got it covered." He smiles as he brings out his deck from his pocket, something he's become accustomed to carrying on him in case the opportunity for a game arises.

With those words exchanged, he gives his brother one final wave before he turns to run back to the plane. Once inside he takes his seat, straps his seatbelt in, and after one final safety check, the plane moves at last to the runway before soaring through the sky. Mokuba's eyes glance through the window of everyone sending him good luck, giving him the confidence to go out and do his best.

"He'll be alright, Kaiba-kun." Yugi speaks up, standing beside his rival as they watch the plane go off into the distance. "He's not alone over there, just like you aren't alone over here."

"Hmph." Is all the CEO remarks before walking off, seemingly having had enough sentimentality for one day. But Yugi knew him better. He knew that Kaiba agreed with his words, for no one was more confident in his brother and his abilities than him. After all, he was the one who watched Mokuba grow up all these years into a capable young man who was more than worthy of the last name Kaiba, as well as his brother's respect...as well as his pride.

[mystical-flute]

The Scarlet Birthday: An Uncharted Waters one-shot

Seto Kaiba is turning sixty, but some of the traditions leave a lot to be desired.

Also on AO3

“I’m not wearing the hat.”

The couple was at a standstill, not for the first time that week. Seto Kaiba was turning sixty years old, and, much to his chagrin, their children had planned a full kanreki celebration for him, inviting their family and close family friends to the mansion, and all of them were downstairs, with their partners, eagerly decorating and cooking despite Seto’s protests to let the staff do it.

Seto was not a fan of the party idea at all, but Reika knew he was going along with it for the children’s sake, but the outfit - the red boshi hat and chanchanko vest - was proving to be a sticking point. Seto Kaiba was someone who was always well put together, even when they’d been teenagers and he insisted that wearing belts on all his limbs was fashionable.

Reika sighed, the boshi dangling from her finger. “You know it’s tradition, Seto. You know how important it is to the kids.”

“Yes, but it’s my birthday.”

“In the almost fifty years I have known you, you have never given a shit about your birthday, no matter how hard Mokuba, Noah, and I tried. It’s one night that you have to wear the vest and hat. Just one.”

Seto stared at her, and she matched the look, leaning against the vanity, the room in a tense silence.

“Fine,” he finally said with a sigh, holding out his hand. “Give me the hat.”

Reika smiled, satisfied, and wandered to him with the hat, gently placing it on his head and adjusting it so it was on correctly.

Seto stared at himself in the mirror when she was done. “I look like a baby.”

“You mean like the baby you’ve been acting like since the kids brought up the idea to throw you a birthday party?” She watched his eyebrow twitch and sighed, leaning to press a kiss against his shoulder. “It’s really not a big deal, Seto. This birthday is a symbol of rebirth, of a new age - ”

“Of me symbolically giving up control of the family to our eldest son and his wife.”

Ah, she had a feeling it had to do with the symbolism of passing responsibilities down to their children before he was ready. He could be more transparent than he thought he was. 

“I symbolically give up control to our eldest daughter and her wife, and yet, nothing has changed in our family. Seto, turning sixty doesn’t mean you need to go into retirement, okay? All of this is just symbolic, and you know how much it means to the kids. They aren’t going to force you to give up anything,” she said, cupping his cheeks in her hands and tracing her thumbs down the fine wrinkles that had formed on his face. “Though, you do look like you’re getting old.”

He bent toward her and took her face in his hands, smirking. “I could say the same about you.”

“You’re not supposed to say that to your wife!”

He smirked. “Perhaps you shouldn’t call your husband old, then.”

She rolled her eyes. “They say being grumpy causes more wrinkles. You should get that checked out.”

A knock on the door startled both of them. “Mom? Dad? Are you guys ready? The guests are starting to show up,” came Hinata’s voice.

“We’ll be right out, dear. Your father was having some trouble with the vest.”

Seto frowned at her, but she just smiled and kissed his cheek before pulling the door open.

Hinata’s face lit up like she was a child when they stepped out of the room. “Oh! Dad, you did wear it! I told Miyuki you would! Thank you!”

Seto’s smile was strained. “Anything for my children.”

“So we’ve ordered all your favorite foods dad, but we’re primarily going to be focusing on the traditional fare too. We’ve got kasane mochi, red sea bream and sekihan, steak, beef noodles, and of course, a cake decorated with white cranes and red turtles,” Hinata explained, a light blush dusting her cheeks as they reached the grand staircase. “Akari made the cake.”

“Then I’m sure it’ll be the best cake Japan has ever seen,” Seto said with a gentle smile only reserved for their family. “Thank you, Hinata.”

Reika smiled at the blush. How she remembered the giddy blushing she’d done after she and Seto were married, that blissful honeymoon phase.

“Hey-hey! There he is!” Mokuba cheered. “I can’t believe they actually got you to wear that hat, Seto!”

“You’re lucky it’s my birthday, Mokuba,” Seto grumbled, nudging his shoulder before moving to greet Serenity and their kids. “Just wait until you have to wear this thing.”

“I won’t look like I’m ready to get sucked into another dimension when I do,” Mokuba teased, poking his tongue out. “Besides, since when are you attention-shy?”

“Since I have to wear this,” Seto replied dryly. “It looked better on Reika than it does on me.”

“Because you somehow managed to marry someone who isn’t a complete stick in the mud.”

“It’s always nice to see you too, Mokuba,” Reika chuckled, before lowering her voice. “Be nice to your brother. You have no idea what it took to get him in that outfit.”

“Yeah, I’m sure. I’ll play nice today, for the sake of the kids,” he agreed, before glancing at his own two children. “C’mon you two, let’s get into the ballroom and see what your cousins have done for dinner decorations.”

The dining room, large as it was, still wasn’t large enough to hold enough seats for everyone that had been invited, so the Kaiba children had co-opted the ballroom for the night, decorating it with bamboo and pine, making the room take on a forest appearance.

“Seto! Reika!” Yugi called, rushing into the room with Téa and their children right behind. “Sorry we’re late, Téa had a dance class run over. Happy birthday, Seto!”

It had taken over a decade to get Yugi and his friends to actually call Seto by his first name, and now, Seto and the former Nerd Herd were on decent ground with each other - even Joey. While the two of them still bantered, it wasn’t nearly as vicious as it had been when they’d been teenagers.

“Thank you, Yugi,” Seto said with a nod of acknowledgement. “It was… kind of you and your family to come.”

“Are you kidding? We wouldn’t miss this for anything. It’s the first birthday party that’s been thrown for you instead of by you, after all!” Yugi replied. “Besides, we’re family.”

“Yes, right, of course we are.” It never escaped her that Seto seemed to be constantly surprised at the notion of he and Yugi actually being family.

“If we could have everyone’s attention, please!” Shiro called, standing near the buffet table with his siblings. “We just wanted to thank all of you for coming to celebrate our father. I know he’s a bit of a polarizing figure, but it means a lot that you’d all help welcome him to his new year of life, after we all spent so long begging with him to celebrate his birthday just once.”

The crowd laughed, and Reika glanced up at Seto. It was never easy to tell what he was thinking, but his face, at least, had relaxed, and he looked proud that their son, shy and sweet, had decided to go up in front of a crowd and make a speech for him.

“And Dad, I know that KaibaCorp was your child before any of us existed, but I just wanted to say, whenever you’re ready to step down, we’ll all be there to keep leading the company into the future you saw for it, just the way you taught us all to do. So, happy birthday, dad. And thanks for being the best dad I could ever ask for.”

Seto gave their children a kind, warm smile - one of the most rare faces Seto Kaiba could make - before taking a seat at the head of one of the tables on the special zabuton cushion and beginning the feast, soft music began to play through the speakers in the room, in lieu of live musicians.

Reika glanced over at the guests during dinner, a smile on her face. Their children and grandchildren, their brothers and their families, Yugi and his, their old friends that had gone through so much with them - Joey, Duke, Tristan, Ryou, Mai, Miho, Aiko, her old crew from Eturn… everyone that had been touched by her husband was here to support and celebrate him.

He was so loved, and that filled her heart with so much joy.

Her thoughts were broken by Seto’s hand appearing in front of her face, and he didn’t need to say a word for her to understand what his request was, and she rose to her feet, following him to the usable portion of the dance floor, beginning to waltz with him, to that same song that Gozaburo had forced on them when they were pre-teens still stumbling their way in the world.

“Alright, I admit it… this is a rather nice time,” he admitted, spinning her. “It… makes me happy to see you and the kids so happy.”

“Well, I’m glad this isn’t the horror show you thought it would be,” she said with a soft chuckle. “Because as much as you like to make us happy, we feel the same way about you, especially the kids.”

“I’m still not happy about the hat.”

“I know.”

She watched as Tristan and Duke, then Téa and Yugi joined them on the dance floor, other couples following soon after, and as they passed a mirror, Reika swore that, for a brief moment, she saw their younger selves in the reflection, and smiled.

No matter how old they got, or how many birthdays they celebrated, she knew they were always going to be home in each other’s arms.

“Happy birthday, Seto.”

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S4 Ep6: Gozaburo Kaiba Just Casually Started WWIII And Only This One Guy Cares

Welcome to November, where we celebrate writing a 50,000 word book as if I don’t do that every single time I write about an episode of Yugioh. Hello, this is my season. It’s wordy season. I’m so freakin good at doing this. I can’t say most of what I’ve made is any good, but I CAN say at least I’m prolific. Do enough content to fill that bitter pit and walk right over it, that’s been my motto for the past 5 years.

Anyway, I had an awful flu this past week. (Everyone I live with had it so every bathroom was like ground zero) It was SO bad. I still can’t eat spicy food over a week later (Which is so hard for me because usually I can keep up with my Indian friends, that’s my spicy level--max spicy, please--but since this illness, my white taste genes went into overdrive and I tried putting pepperoncini slices in my sandwich and it set my mouth on fire. Pepperoncini. It’s v embarrassing.)

I did attempt to write this post. Unfortunately I never made it past this cap because I got VERY distracted by the emblem on Alister’s face, and how it isn’t proportionally adjusted to match the angle of his face, and it was like three paragraphs of just wanting to talk about it. And then at some point I got very distracted talking about how many empty glasses I was given at my place setting at this baby shower I went to during the flu epidemic, and it mattered a whole lot to me at the time, but I think, overall, was mostly just some sort of nonsense. The things I’ve spared you. 

(bro has just informed me that the 4 gold-lipped crystal goblets I was given at this baby shower was actually very distressing and a very big deal and that I should absolutely talk to at least someone about it, but maybe he’s just saying that to make me feel better, but I have no idea. I am too sick for sarcasm at this time but my god why was I given so many glasses????)

I straight up have no memory of if I’ve made this joke before. Maybe.

(read more under the cut)

Since it feels like 8 years since the last time I could just eat chicken without feeling like I consumed an entire Thanksgiving meal, a little recap:

-Alister pretended he was Pegasus to lure Kaiba and then, off screen, murdered everyone in Pegasus’ castle

-Pegasus got murdered by I’m pretty sure Mai (which is like...OK then...)

-Yugi and Co went on vacation by driving directly through San Francisco and peeking out the window and saying “yeah that’s enough for me”

-No adults, not even Roland, bothered to come with their kids this time, so the only adult of the entire crew--Pegasus--is dead

-Rex and Weevil are luggage

-The Eye of Sauron showed up and it was the end of the world but Yugi threw a dragon at it so I guess everything is OK now

-Monsters are real but they are hard to animate so we’ll just pretend like they’re causing havoc everywhere although most of the planet seems basically unaffected by this.

-The Grim Reaper is a friendly monster that hangs out in a Japanese park and that feels fairly on brand.

And I think that was all that was happening so far.

In a weird twist of fate, Mokuba is the only one in this room that isn’t trapped which sort of...if you’re the only one NOT kidnapped wouldn’t that also be a type of being kidnapped?

And we finally get to figure out why Alister wants to Murder Kaiba so bad and, spoiler, it reaches.

???

I’m gonna get more to the obvious problems with Alister’s devotion to murdering all the Kaibas in a bit but yes, Alister is in fact going to try and Kill Kaiba on this kid’s show because of Kaiba’s Dad, who is such a horrible and abusive person that Kaiba essentially drove the bastard out of Japan and straight to the bottom of the ocean.

Just kinda feels like Alister has been living under a rock...which, I guess he has been. He has been living in some weird Atlantis structure so I guess he never got the memo that Gozaburo Kaiba is hella dead.

So that’s what they’re up to. How’s Sausalito?

Um.

Huh.

So the North Bay is a really classic scenery. It’s rolling hills. It’s NAPA. It’s like...definitely not Arizona. California has a couple of mesas but they’re no where near here and the Monument Valley style Mesas really only exist in Monument Valley.

And I know it’s because the background artist for Yugioh is all horny for horny rock structures but like...this couldn’t be farther from the Bay Area in the way that it is drawn and it is such a shock after all the work they did last episode to research that Bay Area lore. Once they crossed the Golden Gate they were like “well no one will care about this part” which is true not only of Yugioh but also of real life Californian politics.

Anyway, I have been making a map, but unfortunately my original file will not suffice. time to fix it.

There we go. Now they’re in the right place. Just smack dab in Monument Valley, Arizona, smack dab in the middle of the Navajo Nation and so hypothetically, not even in the United States anymore.

While in the car, Yugi has just been anxious as hell the entire time, and just going “y’all I have a bad feeling I’m uncomfortable I have a bad feeling” while Joey and Tea just patiently stared at him flipping out in the corner. So...kinda like a normal trip with someone who has high anxiety/possessed by a ghost. I  kinda feel like this is every girls trip to Disneyland for me. There’s always one Yugi who’s like “no one said anything about CROWDS.” and you kinda just gotta let them do their thing. Just let them get it out of their system and hide in the bathroom when they need to hide in the bathroom and don’t fight it, they’ll be fine. Just hold their spot in line when they desperately look for a secret place to medicinally vape because there’s too many freakin children at Disneyland.

And it is HILARIOUS that Yugi is able to have this type of premonition but cannot figure out that they have somehow missed San Fransisco and have wandered into a DESERT.

Back in Pegasus’ California (an island that legitimately looks more like California than actual Yugioh California) Alister has decided to go completely off the rails and it happens so fast and without any warning.

the line is actually “This doll used to be my brother’s” which is a very different meaning but both are likely from weird ass Alister and this weird ass show, so I’ll leave the cap like this (although yes, this is what I thought Alister was saying for kind of a while until I recorded it for this blog and was like “oh shoot I heard the line wrong when I had the flu huh.”)

Man, RIP Noah, he would have been excellent this episode.

Honestly seems like just yesterday when Seto and Noah were pitted against eachother by a cyberdemon Dad-head floating in the sky, Mokuba was possessed for some reason and being used as a human shield, Tristan was a robot monkey, and Yugi was just shrugging at Kaiba from across the field like “Kaiba if you don’t play good you die--oh my gods, he died. Well that was bound to happen...again.” Man.

Alister should be their best friend, this is nonsense.

So lets do the math to 7 years before 2002.

I searched Wikipedia for wars during 1995 (they do have a list of 90′s wars) and looked for any that involved heavy use of tanks and their artillery fire (on big swatches of cities like this), inner city western architecture, temperate landscapes, and western clothing that match Alister and Mikey (AKA WWII vibes) and found out:

Nothing fits that description

UNLESS Alister and Mikey are time travelers from a WWII bombing in Europe. This is Yugioh. That could happen. Probably not, but youknow...it’s not too late for Yugioh to bring in time travel.

I mean if you don’t want to get super political in your cartoon just invent a world war I guess? We’ve already clarified that Gozaburo was Big Boss, so at this point I can easily see him inventing wars just to sell ships.

(I could probably add thousands of more deaths at this point but I have no idea where they are, if they’re on a tiny island or an entire country so I’ll just...leave the count alone but just now it’s implied that a hell ton of people died during this episode)

People going off about how Sesame Street is so amazing for talking about issues like you’re Dad going to prison while Yugioh was straight up talking about the intricacy of the War Economy. Yugioh being all “don’t forget kids, your good capitalist economy survives off of the undeserved bloodshed of civilians in other countries! Eat the poor!” and it’s like hot damn this heavy commentary came out of freakin no where.

Anyways, this is stuff most kid’s shows will delicately skip over but nah, Yugioh is going to go here, and they are going to steamroll directly through it with massive tanks.

So, lets kill this kid’s entire family and talk about the terrors of the World War of 1995 and all the war orphans who get recruited to become soldiers at the ripe old age of 9. Alister was 9 when he was recruited to be a child card soldier.

This kid’s show.

Alister is...basically Raiden, right? Like as long as we’re talking about Metal Gear, this kid is just one step away from cyborg implants and weird colored blood?

Better wear bright red when you visit the war crime scene, surprised Gozaburo didn’t invite like an entire photo -op crew to incriminate him even further.

Now we did look up “where the hell is Alister from Yugioh from?” (there is no answer) and we did find out a little factoid. In the Japanese version of the show, Gozaburo had bought the land and was just forcibly evicting Alister and his family from their home with tanks.

Which is wild.

He just straight up evicted an entire metropolitan city????

Like the dub did a way better job than the sub at this one, I’ll give them that.

It’s just so weird that Gozoboro just didn’t like...raise the rent like a normal bad landlord. Instead he was like “rather than gentrify my land and save me a ton of money, I’ll just destroy everything I just bought and murder everyone here” which is like...

...Seto did the world so many favors when he kicked out his Dad, right? Like Damn. I don't understand why Alister isn’t freakin worshiping Seto right now when his whole deal is “I must kill Gozaburo” and Seto’s like “yo I already did that. Twice. I didn’t even have to literally kill him either, I just embarrassed him so bad that he killed himself. His stupid tank company sells joke games now. I literally turned the man into a joke.”

Then again, Alister is on the green magic and like I think it alters your brain chemistry somewhat.

(How ripped did Alister get in this episode, by the way? The kid is like 16 years old or something so how did this happen? ...The perpetual horny line running straight through Yugioh, man. Look at it run. That 16 year old is drawn like he’s 28 and really into Crossfit and his crop top gets smaller and smaller like every scene.)

So like this is a very gray issue that I cannot believe they brought up in a kid’s show (like can you imagine if Scrooge McDuck had to face facts that his company murdered tons of people???), but also this is Seto Kaiba. Seto grew up in the system, so like he doesn’t need to be lectured to about dirty money because he was on the losing end of that not too long ago. Seto is himself basically a upscale war orphan since he was adopted by Gozaburo to continue the machine like a freakin maniac (a Solidus Snake, if you will) so of all the people on this show I don’t get why Seto would care about this. This is just how Seto views the entire world as either losing or winning and no reason to feel bad about it because he’s been both.

Also...Seto stopped the machine. Kind of. He was unaware that cards were the same thing as weapons, but at least he stopped the sale of huge child-stealing tanks.

So they play the game for a little while and Seto does kind of poorly as usual, and just when I thought this episode couldn’t get any weirder...

And just like that, Seto peaces out. Like he does almost every single time he has ever played a card game solo except for that one time he was playing Joey Wheeler. (Which was also one of the few times Seto ever won.)

Like I just want to remind you that this segment is in the same episode as WWIII and the tonal whiplash is pretty remarkable.

That’s right, we’re back in the Unnamed Monster World, which is not the Shadow Realm, and which I thought you could only access if you were dreaming and able to search through the puzzle maze.

Apparently this can just happen at any time and all that stuff with the guiding Kuriboh and Yugi and Pharaoh trying to find this place was just...them wasting time.

Again he ditches the legendary sword so freakin fast because who needs a sword when you have a dragon? Only this anime.

And that’s how Seto, who was absolutely going to lose this game, somehow just barely came to a draw.

So just to recap, Seto has yet to win a card game that he didn’t get prophetic help for via a hallucination or Yugi telling him what to do. Unless you count Joey and grandpa.

Then, the one last adult I forgot about, the driver of Yugi’s car, decides that it’s about time that he also died and left this show as adult free as possible.

THE HELL ARE THEY?

Also...maybe it’s the angle but the writing on that gas station looks a lot like kanji.

Yo, what if this is the backgrounds for a different show and they’re just sharing? I mean I doubt it because Yugioh had a good enough budget but...what if? What if that’s why they’re in Arizona?

Anyway, next time we’ll find out if this guy just drops dead or has been a Yugioh monster this whole time, and I think maybe both?

And if you just got here, this is a link to read all my Yugioh recaps in chrono order

[synthient]

Could you elaborate on what you mean about Death T re stanning and fairness? It sounds interesting and I'd love to hear about it if you don't mind sharing.

ajhfakj hoo boy. Okay.

So some time around the summer before last (judging by the point where the first baffled and frustrated readmores start showing up on this blog), I read Death-T. It made me feel…some kind of way. An…unpleasant kind of way.

Here’s the thing about me: I can’t just let myself have an emotional reaction to a piece of fiction. I have to, first, pick apart my own emotions to figure out why I had that reaction, and second, pick apart the story to figure out how it works and how it made me feel that way.

On the Feelings Front, I’ve isolated two main causes:

1. I have a brain that Needs Things To Be Fair. That doesn’t mean I can’t handle unfairness in a piece of fiction. Unfairness creates conflict, and conflict is what makes for good storytelling. But it does mean that I need the story to be aware of its own unfairness. I need the unfairness to be the point. Otherwise I start vibrating at high speeds and shaking my fist at clouds.

2. I’m a Kaiba stan. I accidentally got emotionally attached to the Funny Card Game Boy from the Funny Card Game Show. 

There’s the feelings part. That leaves the “picking apart the story” side of the equation. And I’ve been trying to do that in nice punchy little one-or-two-paragraph text posts for the past year or so, but I don’t think I’ve ever really done the argument justice that way. So I guess that leaves only one option: writing a giant wordvomit essay on Yugioh (1996-2004).

Why This Is A Death-T Hateblog: The Masterpost

An important note: I like being able to back up my thoughts with Evidence From The Text, but I’m specifically working off the (Viz translated) manga. You can read Cards with Teeth here, Capumon here, and Death-T starting here if you want to check any of my facts or draw your own conclusions. Keep in mind that the Toei anime made pretty huge changes to the s0 Kaiba storyline, and the DM anime skipped most of it entirely–if you’re more familiar with those continuities, there’re some major differences in the manga.

(Also this thing probably reads better on desktop. I think the formatting got screwed up on mobile)

How We Got Here

Before we can actually dig into Death-T, we need to start at the very beginning (♫a very good place to start♫). So that means taking a look at “The Cards with Teeth (Part 1)” and “The Cards with Teeth (Part 2).”

For its first 8 chapters, the Yugioh manga chugs blissfully (if repetitively) along with an episodic, conflict-of-the-week formula. No overarching plot. Next to no sense of continuity. No trading cards in sight.

Then this asshole shows up. 

His name is Seto Kaiba (or “Kaiba,” at least–not sure if this is just a Viz thing, but my copy of CwT never mentions his given name). Not that he bears a whole lot of resemblance to the Seto Kaiba we later come to know and love (and/or love to hate).

Almost none of his most defining traits are there yet. There’s no mention of Mokuba, no mention of Kaibacorp, no indicationthat he’s especially rich (besides the fact that he’s carrying around a wholebriefcase of trading cards), no reason to believe he has a specific obsession with Blue Eyes (he just thinks it’s a strong card and it’d help him win tournaments), and no sign of any special hacking/strategy/hand-to-hand-combat/etc. skills (the kid is hilariously incompetent). 

This dude was never supposed to be a recurring character, and it shows.

But anyway, let’s run through the basic series of events:

- Kaiba wanders into the game shop looking forbooster packs. Yugi recognizes him as an acquaintance from school (not as a famous kid CEO, and not as a recent transfer student)

- Kaiba happens to notice the Blue Eyes card lying out onGrandpa’s counter (in this version of events, he hasn’t been stealing rare cards for months before this, he didn’t creep on Yugi’s conversation and followhim home, he had no idea going in that the Blue Eyes was there, and he didn’t already have the other three)

- He offers to trade all the cards in his briefcasefor the Blue Eyes (although he doesn’t tell Grandpa to name his price—again,the millionaire CEO element isn’t a thing yet)

- Grandpa refuses, so the next day Kaiba comes up with alaughably badly thought-out plan to steal the card

- Shockingly, Yugi notices that the “color copy from the catalog” isn’t the real deal. He gently tries to confront Kaiba about it in private

- Kaiba (without showing an ounce of the cool head you’d think you’d need to take over and run a company) panics, starts stammering and unconvincingly denying it, and then smacks Yugi with his briefcase

Annnd then Part 2 plays out like a standard s0 chapter.

“Yami Yugi” takes over. They play a shadow game. Kaiba cheats by slipping the stolen Blue Eyes out of his sleeve (Atem’s like “That’s my Grandpa’s card!” and Kaiba straight up goes “Whaaat, nooo, that’s my card that I, uh, found on the street just now.” A teen genius criminal mastermind, everybody). The shadow magic gives him a spritz from its metaphorical Karmic Cat-Training Spray Bottle and makes his Blue Eyes dissolve (I’d like to think that was Kisara going “I’m not mad, just disappointed,” and Memory World tries to retroactively make that connection, but it’s pretty abundantly clear that nothing about this series was planned that far ahead). He loses. Yadda yadda yadda.

And then Atem goes in for the penalty game.

To recap: 

Some random 10th grader from Yugi’s school stole a trading card, hit someone, and was generally kind of a jerk. As punishment, he was trapped in a hyper-realistic illusion of being ripped apart and slaughtered by half a dozen monsters at once.

Y…ay…?

Let’s Stop and Reflect for a Sec

In theory, I shouldn’t be that much more upset about Cards with Teeth than I am about any other part of s0, right? It’s not like the manga framed it as horrific and wrong when Atem set off an explosion in some teenage bully’s face a couple chapters ago. Giving us the vicarious pleasure of punishing our bullies in over-the-top, Carrie-style ways without actually exploring any of the consequences is, like, the early manga’s whole thing.

But even taking into account the fact that I already had an attachment to this Nasty Bowl Cut Boy thanks to the anime, I do actually think that there are at least two factors that set CwT apart.

The first is that Atem’s karmic punishments are usually…well, karmic. If he inflicts physical harm on someone, it’s because they already inflicted or tried to inflict roughly the same amount of harm on Yugi & co. If the crime was relatively minor, then he only gives out a minor punishment–like, say, when the homeroom teacher was Just Kinda Mean, all he did was allow the class to see her without her makeup on (…setting aside the Let’s Get Into Gender Politics-ness of that chapter).

There’s even a few cases where you could argue that the punishment is too light to fit the crime. Ushio beat Jonouchi and Honda half to death and tried to murder Yugi with a knife, and all he got was this lousy t-shirt an illusion that made the trash on the ground look like money.

In another chapter, the villain of the week tried to rape Anzu, and the only punishment he faced was having his side business exposed as a scam (Let’s Get Into Gender Politics).

Yet in CwT, we see one of the most harmless villains in all of s0 (no prolonged beatings or attempted murder? unheard of!) receive what’s arguably the most horrifying penalty game in the whole manga. At least when that guy got set on fire, it was over fast.

And that brings us to factor number two: Kaiba is the first penalty game victim in s0 who comes back. 

Capumon: Gotta Catch ‘em All!

Well, technically he doesn’t come back in person, at first. Someone else shows up to fight in his name.

Oh hey Mokie. How’s it going?

Rather understandably (imo), Mokuba wants the guy who tortured his brother last week to face some actual consequences for it.

Now here’s an interesting opportunity that the manga has set up for itself. Is it going to dig deep into the balance between defending yourself vs lashing out and causing undue harm? Is it going to remind us that most of the penalty game victims so far, whatever their crimes,have been children? Is it going to demonstrate that when you take out your anger on someone, you don’t just hurt your immediate target, but their loved ones as well?

Nah, who am I kidding.  

Hurting or inconveniencing the Good Guys in any way is Bad. Anything the Good Guys do is Good and Justified. Using magic to stick an already-hurting eleven-year-old in his own personalized hell? Good and Justified.

Before he’s shoved screaming into the Giant Vending Machine Capsule Where Bad And Naughty Elementary Schoolers Go To Atone For Their Crimes, Mokuba mentions that the other penalty game he heard about “made my brother go crazy!”

He also drops a hint of things to come with all the subtlety of an anvil. So I guess by this point, the numbers had come in and the card game chapter had proved unexpectedly popular enough that a sequel was in the works.

Death-Twink? Death-Tastic?Death-Two: Electric Boogaloo?

I’ve been pretty hard on Cards with Teeth and Capsule Monsters Chess so far. But you want to know the truth?

On their own, they aren’t necessarily that bad.

What really matters in a story isn’t the literal events: it’s how those events are framed. At the moment, we’re only midway through an incomplete storyline. Maybe we’re supposed to be horrified. Maybe we’re supposed to be questioning whether or not the hero is really in the right. It all hangs on what these chapters are building to.

As it turns out–as Mokuba just helpfully clued us in on–they were building to Death-T.

And that’s where the shit hits the fan.

Over a dozen chapters after we first met Kaiba, a whole bunch of completely-unforeshadowed facts about him are suddenly dumped on us all at once. He’s rich! The kind of rich that allows for limo rides, a giant mansion, and flouncing around in a fur-lined cape like feudal European nobility! And he’s the president of a company, even though “Whaa?!! But he’s still in high school!” Speaking of which, apparently Kaiba “hasn’t been at school recently.”

The Death-T arc opens with Yugi and Jonouchi attending the world’s most awkward sleepover–the host never shows up, and they don’t even get to paint each others’ nails or watch movies. Also Mokuba tries to murder them in the night, but you know what? If someone tortured my brother, “made him go crazy,” and left him huddled in the house feverishly working on a bizarre project and refusing to go to school for the next few weeks, I’d probably poison them too.

The morning after the sleepover, we learn another new Kaiba Fact…

Ever since the Experience of Death happened, he’s been having horrible recurring PTSD nightmares about it. As you do. When you get tortured.

(This is why, even though I know intellectually that it’s Not That Deep and people arejust having fun, I still get a little skeeved out when I see jokes about howDeath-T happened “just” because Kaiba was that mad about losing a card game or “just”because he had a crush on Yugi and he didn’t know how to deal with it. I’malways internally like “Nnno, I’m pretty sure it was the torture?”)

So far we’ve been shown in pretty brutal detail that our “hero” psychologically broke a fifteen-year-old for no good reason. The manga’s going to have its work cut out for it if it really wants to do a convincing redemption arc for its protagonist. And there’s no way it could possibly try to spin that random act of torture as an acceptable thing, right?

…right?

Crime and Punishment

That’s one of my first big problems with Death-T: to me, it reads as a way of trying to retroactively justify the Experience of Death.

That seems to be the purpose of suddenly giving Kaiba all this wealth and power that was never hinted at in Cards with Teeth. See, he wasn’t just some random high school kid who had the bad luck of crossing someone with magic powers; he was (however improbable that is, as the story lampshades) a high school-aged CEO. He’s so ludicrously powerful that he can torture an old man in front of a live audience and get away with it. Punching up looks a lot better than punching down, doesn’t it?

And you can’t really fault the hero for torturing someone evil, can you? Kaiba used Grandpa’s sanity as a blackmail chip! He ran experiments on human test subjects! He wants to kill Yugi and everyone he loves! Surely a little torture is no worse than he deserved.

There’s only one one problem with that: the Experience of Death happened before Death-T. There’s no way Atem could have known any of this was coming. The audience couldn’t have known it was coming. Takahashi didn’t know. Chronologically speaking, the Experience of Death wasn’t revenge for Death-T. It’s the other way around.

Best Served Cold

So Death-T is a form of eye-for-an-eye vengeance: “Yugi” beat Kaiba at Duel Monsters and tortured him, so now Kaiba’s gonna beat Yugi and torture him, using his own perfect virtual recreation of “Yugi’s” penalty game (oh yeah, that whole “the average person goes insane in about 10 minutes” thing? Kaiba was able to program that detail from personal experience).

But wait! This isn’t really eye-for-an-eye! Kaiba’s going after Yugi’s loved ones, not just Yugi, and that’s worse than what Yugi did to him! And even if it was proportionate, revenge is bad and wrong. That’s how you get endless back-and-forth chains of vengeance and generational blood feuds and stuff. Two wrongs don’t make a right!

And those could all be reasonable points, except…

This entire story is about how great and badass eye-for-an-eye justice is.

“Wouldn’t it be cool if you could take everyone who ever hurt you and make them suffer even worse” is practically the thesis of Season 0. You can’t make something look awesome when the protagonist does it and then turn around and make it seem evil and inexcusable coming from anyone else.

And while Kaiba does wind up targeting Yugi’s friends, that wasn’t part of his original plan. He’s surprised when random people start jumping out of the bleachers/the Kaibacorp employee roster and insisting that they won’t let Yugi do this alone. The writing uses his surprise as proof that he just doesn’t understand The Power of Friendship, but it’s also evidence that his original target was just Yugi.

“If you’re gonna side with my torturer, then you can have the same fate as him, I guess.” It’s not even that far outside the logic Atem’s been using all this time. Just because there’s only one main gang member who personally hurt his friend, that doesn’t mean that Atem won’t rope every random mook who gets in his way into the death game too. (Granted, this doesn’t really apply to Kaiba’s treatment of Grandpa. Or the offscreen experimentation/blackmailing. Or Mokuba, but…we’ll get to that).

…But like I said before, the big issue isn’t the events. It’s the framing. Maybe the point will ultimately be that if penalty games are wrong when the bad guy does them, then they’re wrong when the hero does them too. Maybe this is all leading up to a big reexamination of Atem’s moral code and some much-needed character development.

Maybe. Let’s keep going and see.

*Great Gatsby comic voice* Baby? What Baby

Death-T runs for 14 chapters, but Kaiba isn’t actually there for, like…half of them.

I mean, he’s technically there? Occasionally? He’ll show up long enough to dramatically play chess for a panel or so, or to stick his head on a TV monitor and provide some Helpful Death Game Hints. But for all practical purposes, he’s pretty much absent for the entire middle section of the story arc.

And, uh…let’s just say I 100% understand and respect the DM anime’s decisionto go straight from Grandpa’s heart attack to the final duel and skipeverything in between.

If Kaiba’s real goal is to beat Yugi at Duel Monsters, then all the death games leading up to that one are basically filler. And they manage to be just as contrived and nonsensical as any anime filler arc, without a fraction of the fun.

It’s largely a tonal issue. The writing swings wildly between grimdark dramatics, sentimental conversations about friendship where everyone hugs and cries (tbh that’s one of the few redeeming qualities of the arc), and “comic relief” where the “““comedy””” is all either bodily function jokes or sexual assault jokes (L̠̤̯͍̦e̮̪͎̞t's̞̮̳̱̰̦̲ ̲G͖͉̹̻̯͉͖e̜̝̗͓̟͚t̖͚ ͚̰̞̮̝̫͎I͓̜̦̳̭͚͎n̪̪͈t͍̥̰̼o͚͎͇̣̘̝ ̪̼̜̣̳G͈̠̫e̳̝̗̪ṋ͚̞͎ͅd͔̙͓̯̹e̯̺̯̩r͔̣̲͔̳̗ ̘͙P̖̦o̩̺͖͎̞̬l͎̺͕̹i͇̣̼̦t̰i̬̰̝͙̗̝c̜̼̺̪̲̞s).

Honestly, in terms of the “stanning and fairness” argument, there’s not much to talk about here. It just adds insult to injury that not only does Death-T throw my fave under the bus, but it’s really badly written.

The Mokuba Thing

Okay, let’s fast-forward through the filler zone and stoppp…here. 

In the context of the anime, where we know (and see multiple flashbacks demonstrating) that their whole life has been an “us against the world” story, this scene is tragic. Seto’s trust in people has been eroded so much that he even thinks Mokuba is conspiring against him? Their love and support for each other, which has survived through so much hardship, has finally cracked under the weight of this latest trauma? There’s a lot of dramatic and tearjerking potential there.

I think it’s pretty safe to say that most of us bring our baggage from the anime with us when we read the manga. The vast majority of the western Yugioh fandom did start with DM. 

But if we look at this purely in the context of the manga–if we can pretend, for a second, that none of us have ever heard of the anime–this is the first time we see the two of them interacting onscreen. And none of those touching flashbacks of Seto comforting Mokuba and defending him from bullies and promising to be his father exist here. All we ever really learn about their relationship before this point is “They used to be a little closer when they were younger. Source: one (1) photo of them playing chess.”

So instead of serving as the tragic lowpoint of their relationship, this scene sets the baseline for it: Mokuba desperately wants to make his brother happy and earn his approval, while Seto responds with dismissal and cruelty.

In the anime (and to a certain extent in the later manga), Mokuba’s purpose in the narrative is to humanize Seto. But in Death-T, he serves the opposite function. Every interaction they have is an opportunity for Seto to kick the dog and prove what a monster he is.

And it’s all downhill from here.

………………

…So.

I have…mixed feelings about this.

On one level–a meta level–I think this scene serves the same purpose as taking that random high schooler from CwT and suddenly giving him ridiculous amounts of money and power and mustache-twirling levels of villainy. It’s a way of making the Experience of Death seem retroactively justified (and also a way of making the upcoming penalty game look fair).

On the other hand. It’s. 

Horrific.

This scene is supposed to make us hate Kaiba, and it does it’s job really really well.

Personally speaking? I’m of the opinion that trying to hurt the child under your care as badly as you conceivably can is a “don’t pass go, don’t collect $100″ kind of deal. There’s no coming back from that. There’s no fixing or salvaging this relationship.  

(God, this whole thing is wrapped in so many layers of fantasy that I’m not even sure what the real-world equivalent would be. Trying to beat your child not quite to death?)

Mokuba should not have had to continue living with his brother after this, any more than the Ishtars should have had to stay with their dad or Seto should have had to stay with Gozaburo. Mokuba forgiving Seto for this isn’t touching to me, it’s gut-wrenching. Every “heartwarming” brotherly moment in the later manga (all, like…2 and a half of them) feels hollow and sad.

As far as I’m concerned, this scene doesn’t “complicate” their relationship in any interesting or meaningful way. Their anime relationship already has plenty of complications–their sometimes unhealthy co-dependence, the fact that Seto is still a kid himself and he’s not really equipped to be a parent,Mokuba’s difficulty understanding that Seto can’t just “go back to who he was” before his trauma, the times when Seto is too caught up in his own pain to really be there for Mokuba, the manipulation involved in Seto’s takeover plan, etc. This just makes their relationship outright child abuse.

But hey, they hugged that one time in Duelist Kingdom, so it’s fine, right?

ExODiA iiiIIIIT’s not pAHsible

The final duel happens. The big Blue Eyes vs Exodia showdown.

*Bill Wurtz voice* So that’s pretty nifty, I would say.

It’s..? A genuinely cool and dramatic duel. There’s a reason it’s one of the, like, three Death-T elements the DM anime actually bothered to keep. Not much to say about it.

Sure was a whole lot of buildup just to end things with one (1) deus ex machina instawin card, tho.

The Tragic Backstory

So if all this happened because of a penalty game, what do you think the solution could be?

Did you say “another, even harsher penalty game”?

Ding ding ding!

This time, instead of torturing the fifteen-year-old, our hero puts the fifteen-year-old in a vegetative state as he begs for mercy.

Yaaaayy! 

Some fun facts about the Mind Crush that we don’t actually learn until Duelist Kingdom:

1. It lasted for 6 months

2. Mokuba spent that entire time alone, in the big empty mansion, with no parental guidance or adult supervision except the butlers and maids, caring for his brother’s comatose body 24/7

3. When Atem put Kaiba in that coma, he had absolutely no idea if he’d ever be able to wake up or not. He thought he could, maybe–Kaiba’s pretty strong, right? But he also finds the idea that Kaiba died in his coma and came back to haunt him perfectly believable. “Fixed,” dead…eh, it was kind of a coin toss.

But wait, the story’s not over yet! First we have to find out Why Kaiba Is The Way He Is (“Because your buddy tortured him last month” isn’t enough of an answer, apparently).

This is communicated in the most natural way possible: Mokuba just starts monologuing about all his brother’s deepest darkest traumas to a bunch of strangers his brother hates.

The claim that Kaiba’s backstory is “more complex” in the manga than it is in the anime has always confused me, because this is…it. These three pages are the whole backstory. I mean, in Battle City we do get one more passing line of dialog about how Kaibacorp used to be a weapons manufacturer and Gozaburo “sold Seto’s soul to the military industrial complex,” but other than that… The anime took these bare bones and fleshed them out significantly, but from a pure manga canon standpoint, it’s not a whole lot to work with.

But there’s still enough here to rub me the wrong way.

For one thing, this sequence is almost an exact parallel to two later moments in the manga: Pegasus’s backstory dump at the end of Duelist Kingdom, and Malik’s backstory dump mid-Battle City. In both of those cases, the purpose of the scene is to take a villain whose motives seemed cruel and inexplicable and finally reveal the reasons behind his actions. We’re supposed to be seeing these characters in a sympathetic light for the very first time.

But Kaiba’s motives in Death-T, uh, weren’t exactly a mystery. He already made it pretty explicitly clear that this was about the torture. So as a narrative tool, Mokuba’s monologue:

1. seems a little superfluous

2. seems like a way of taking any responsibility out of the protagonist’s hands. Kaiba didn’t snap because of anything Atem did, he just had a bunch of fucked up baggage that Atem couldn’t possibly have known about or accounted for. Who knew some people take it badly when you torture them??

3. seems to suggest that we weren’t supposed to be sympathizing with Kaiba before this point. If this is the big “oh, now that I know why he did it, I guess I feel a little bad for him :(” moment, then that means the part where he got tortured…wasn’t?

And, as always, there’s the issue of the framing.

The grace note of the monologue–the thought it leaves us with, the intended takeaway–isn’t “If only he hadn’t gone through years of abuse, in circumstances he had no real control over because he was a child.” It’s “If only he hadn’t brought all this upon himself by cheating.”

Even if we ignore the fact that it’s physically impossible to cheat at chess (which seems like kind of a big oversight for a gaming manga, but oh well, That’s Yugioh Babe)…

How can you possibly present a ten-year-old cheating at a board game in a desperate gambit to get himself and his brother out of an orphanage as his start of darkness?

Yet that’s exactly what the writing does. This is a story about how games “reveal the true hearts” of their players and bring karmic retribution down on anyone who doesn’t respect the game and follow the rules. The implication is that the child abuse Seto suffered was karma. He rightfully earned it by cheating at chess, just like he brought the Experience of Death upon himself by cheating at Duel Monsters.

Oh yeah, speaking of which…

Wheel of Morality, Turn Turn Turn, Tell Us The Lesson We Should Learn

What was the outcome of Death-T? What impact did it actually have? 

Did it bring about any big moral reckoning? Any questioning of the heroes’ values? Did Atem learn the difficult but important lesson “torture bad”?

Nnnnope!

Death-T is immediately followed by a series of episodic chapters that take us right back to the status quo like nothing happened. Atem keeps merrily handing out penalty games all the way up to the very end of Duelist Kingdom. When he does finally stop doing them, his decision has nothing to do with Death-T. It takes a comment from Pegasus about the Millennium Items having an “evil intelligence” to make him wonder “wait…I’m from a Millennium Item…I’m an intelligence…could evil…maybe include…torture????”

And even after the manga lukewarmly reverses its position to “torture sort of bad I guess,” it never really does anything with that revelation. None of the past penalty games are ever reexamined. No apologies are made. The Experience of Death is quietly swept under the rug, and the Mind Crush, when it’s brought up at all, is framed as noble act that “fixed” Kaiba (because “if you make someone suffer badly enough, you can hurt them into being a better person” is a great message).

Basically, we learned nothing from Death-T, nothing changed, and our takeaway is supposed to be “Atem was 100% in the right and Kaiba was 100% in the wrong, and also he’s an evil monster who deserved everything he got.”

Guess I Need A Satisfying Conclusion of Some Kind Even Through Death-T Didn’t Really Have One, Huh

Wow.

That was…a whole lot of words of Death-T rage that I apparently had in me zjkghzkkf. 

I tend to feel less justified about constantly harping on Death-T then I do when it comes to, like, the racism in Memory World, or the series’ general Miss O’Gyny. It’s not like “magical vigilantism” is exactly a real-word social issue that’s being reflected in this piece of fiction. I realize a lot of my anger pretty much boils down to “hey,, ! thats…my fave. stopp...being mean to him >:(”

But I also feel like the issues in Death-T aren’t limited to Death-T.

The manga has this…this thing where it wants to be able to pinpoint a few clear, unchanging moral rules (“cheating is bad!” “graverobbing is bad!” “patricide is bad!”) and just apply them neatly to every situation, without having to take into account any of that inconvenient stuff like “what were the circumstances of this specific situation,” or “how many choices were actually open to this person,” or “how much harm was done by this choice compared to its benefits in terms of basic human well-being.” Yet at the same time, that moral absolutism is somehow coupled with a reluctance to apply any moral judgement to its protagonists at all. 

The two points where that becomes clearest are Death-T and Memory World. And I feel like even when people acknowledge the issues with those arcs, they still want to be able to write it off as “oh, that was just a problem with the early chapters, it was fixed as the writing matured,” or “oh, that was just a problem at the end because of the mad rush to finish the story before it got canceled, it was never a thing before then.” But it’s not an isolated problem. It’s there at the beginning of the story, it’s there at the end, and it’s baked into everything in the middle.

…but anyhow. 

hey,, ! thats…my fave. stopp...being mean to him >:(

[alescheionned]

The Demon I Once Knew

Disclaimer Bendy and the Ink Machine belongs to TheMeatly games                   Yu-Gi-Oh belongs to Kazuki Takahashi

I couldn’t have done this without my lovely beta @karenusia

Chapter One: Moving Pictures

A group of teens walks down the street. Three boys and one girl, two of the boys are talking about dueling. One short tricolored haired boy and a tall blond this being Yugi and Joey. While the brunette haired girl Tea and ivory hair colored Ryou talk about studying. Wanting to get their homework all done so that they could enjoy the weekend. It’s no long till they reach their destination the game shop.

Yugi opens the door to the shop. The lights are off which is unusual for this time of day.

“Grandpa I’m home,” Yugi says expecting to at least a hear response from the backroom.

No response. They headed upstairs to the home thinking that Solomon must have gone up to get something. They enter the living room and see a surprising sight. Solomon and Ms. Muto are sitting on the couch both with a worrisome and puzzled look upon their faces. In Ms.Muto’s hand is a piece of paper, it’s yellow with age.

“ What’s wrong?” Yugi questions worry clear in his voice.

It’s silent as Ms.Muto hands Yugi the letter the paper crinkles as Yugi takes it and reads it aloud.

“Dear Henry,

     It seems like a lifetime since we worked on cartoons together

                   30 years really slips away, doesn’t it?

            If you’re back in town come visit the old workshop

                      There’s something I need to show you.

                                                         Your best pal. Joey Drew.”

Yugi finishes reading it and his hand clenches the paper so tightly it crinkles in his tight grip as he shakes. For a moment he feels like he can’t breathe.

“He�� went…didn’t …he ?”  He asks shakenly.

Ms.Muto and Solomon just nod their heads. The confirmation being all Yugi needs as he takes off for his room. Bewildered Joey, Tea, and Ryou try to go after him shocked at the sudden action. Concern for their friend overriding any thought about what the letter meant to cause such a reaction.

“Leave him be.”

They were stopped by Solomon’s words.

“But he seemed really upset about the letter, shouldn’t we make sure he’s okay?” Tea asks concern clearly in her voice.

Even in all the time, she’s known Yugi he had never been this upset. To just take off, he hadn’t even done that after his duel with Kaiba on top of Pegasus’ castle. Sure tears and such but never just shutting down like that.                  

“ Yeah, I’ve never seen my little buddy like this just what about that letter made him so upset!” Joey exclaims in his usual exaggeration.

“Yes, I’ve never seen Yugi act like that before. Please, we’re just really worried.” Ryou says as he glances up towards the stairs then back to everyone.

 Joey, Tea, and Ryou also have another important question in mind as Tea speaks up again asking.

“ Also who’s Henry?”

“Henry is-” Solomon starts to say but its cut off.

“Yugi’s father.”

By Mrs.Muto who had been quiet this whole time. She sighs her face bearing a downcast look.

“Henry, my dear brother, has always been the traveler even before his studio days which is why none of you have ever seen him.”

“But Yugi has never said anything about his father.” Tea interjects

“Yugi has his reasons that I don’t question as I respect his wishes. But if you have questions I can try my best to answer them.”

The three sit down when Ms.Muto finishes, their minds abuzz with questions as they hope to get the answers they seek.

---

Meanwhile, upstairs Yugi sits upon his bed his legs curled up to his chest as he holds the letter tightly. Yami sensing his distress appears out of the puzzle. Worry clearly written across his faces as he sits down on the edge of the bed.

“Yugi..” Yami is lost at the look Yugi has, he seemed so lost, his eyes usually so bright and focused are now cloudy and distant. Yugi looks at him the cloudy look fading into one of worry and fear.

“What has you so upset your so rattled by a simple letter. Please tell me what’s wrong?”

Yugi takes a deep breath bracing himself to speak.

“I never talk about my own past for several reasons, the main reason being Joey Drew. The owner of the studio which is where Henry went,”  Yugi glances over to his desk eyes catching a flash of white something long forgotten yet still held close by. Yami tries to follow his gaze yet Yugi looks away from it as fast he saw it. He closes his eyes tightly wishing he hadn’t looked.

“Yugi who is Henry to you that him heading to this studio has you so shaken?

“Henry is my father and I have to go after him. As much as I told myself I would never go back there Henry is worth it.”

Yugi gets up off the bed grabbing his backpack throwing some clothes in zipping it up and throwing it over his shoulder. He grabs his deck of the desk sliding it into the box on his belt.

“Yugi I respect that you do not want to speak more on the matter, yet I need to know exactly why Henry would need you to go after him?”

“ Because I am the only one that knows the studio and with Henry’s luck he’s already got himself in trouble.”

---

Back downstairs Ms.Muto patiently waits for them to ask her their questions. It’s not long till Joey bolsters out the first one.

“ How come Yuge never talks about Henry?”

Ms.Muto knew that question would be asked but she didn’t think this one would be the first one out of the gate. It takes her a moment to figure out the right words.

“I’m sorry Joey but as much I wish I knew the answer that is one I do not have. Yugi has his reasons.”

They except the answer, while unsatisfactory it’s still an answer. Maybe they can get Yugi to tell them himself. Other questions are still buzzing as Tea takes the chance to asks the next question.

“What’s this workshop that Henry went to?”

“Joey Drew Studios™ Henry worked there for a long time until one day he quit.”

Ms.Muto can remember going there once a few days after Henry had been hired, it was a quick visit along with Solomon just to see the place. Henry never did talk about his days at work after a while, before he would talk about his co-workers and how the cartoons were coming along. He’d call her once a week. Lost in thought she is startled at the next question.

“Why did he quit? Ryou asks

“He quit because of-,” She’s cut off suddenly

“Joey Drew.”

Everyone looks over the stairs Yugi stands at the last step the letter held tightly in one hand the other grips his bag strap. He takes the last step then sits down on the couch.

“I’m going after Henry and no one’s gonna talk me out of it,” Yugi says with determination even when he hates the thought of heading anywhere near that studio. After going through everything to save his Grandpa nothing is going to stop him from finding Henry.

“How are you even going to get to the studio?!” Joey exclaims clearly still worried about his best bud as he looks to the paper that started this.

“ I have a plan,” Yugi says

“Which is?”

“I’m going to offer Kaiba a deal.”

“Kaiba?! After everything he put us through?!”

“I forgave him for what he did and it’s my only choice. He is the only one that can get me to the studio fast enough.”

“Then if your gonna go after Henry we’re coming with ya.”

“Guys I couldn’t let you go with me, I don’t want to risk putting you all in danger again.”

“Yugi your not going to talk us out this you know.” Teas says knowingly that there no point in arguing. Yugi sighs giving in.

“Guys alright let’s go.

---

They head to Kaiba Corp and enter the lobby. They are surprised when they hear a voice call out to them.

“Hey, guys!”

They see Mokuba running up to them. They are surprised that he would be in the lobby. Considering that it would be expected that Mokuba would spend most of his time with Kaiba.

“What are you doing here?” He asks.

“I want to speak with Kaiba. It’s very important. ”Yugi says.

“You want to speak with my big brother? Why? What is so important?”

“I need to go to Joey Drew Studios™.”

“Come on.” Mokuba gestures them to follow him to the elevator. It is not long till they arrive at the top floor. What does take time is reaching  Kaiba’s office.

“Mokuba why did you let the nerd squad in?” Kaiba says annoyance clear in his voice as he looks to the group with disdain. He wonders just why Mouba would think they were worth his time.

Mokuba sees Kaiba’s look and knows what he must be thinking, why on earth did he even entertain the idea of having anything to do with the nerd squad.

“Well, it’s about Joey Drew Studios.”

“What? That old place Pegasus talked about? As far as I’m concerned I could care less.”

Kaiba goes back to looking at his screen finding the conversation over, he does not notice Yugi ‘s reaction to his words.

“Kaiba I came here to offer a deal and I’m not leaving till you hear me out.”

“Fine, I’ll be the judge if it was worth my time.”

“How about we settle this with a duel? If you win you get my title. But if I win you take us to the studio.”

“I accept your deal Yugi.” Kaiba gets up and leads them out of his office.

---

Kaiba tosses Yugi what looks to be an improved version of the duel disk they used at duelist kingdom. The design is sleek unlike the old model being round and bulky. The sides are folded in as it looks to be where the cards go when in play. Yugi wonders about how different a duel with these is going to be compared to last time.

“I wasn’t planning on releasing these just yet but what better time than now.”

They both head to their sides and call out

“Let’s duel!”

---

The last move is called out by Yami and Kaiba’s life points plummet down to zero. Yami changes back with Yugi. Kaiba has a look of anger clearly across his face, yet he prides himself on keeping his promises.

“How do you even know about the studio? No one has been there in quite some time.” He asks irritated

Yugi hands him the letter. He reads it over his expression never changing.

“Alright, who’s this Henry person that you find it so important that you would bother me?”

“My father and if going by his luck he’s already got himself in trouble.”

“So it seems to run in the family,” Kaiba says mockingly as he leads them out of the room.

They follow Kaiba to the roof where the helicopter is waiting. They board the copter. Yugi settles in next to a window he gazes out the clouds slowly going by. He notices Yami appear yet he does not turn away from the window.

“I understand that you wanted to duel on your own, yet with your emotional state I felt it best if I dueled Kaiba.”

“Thank you.”

Yugi even with that seems detached and distant, lost in his thoughts no true direction just whirls of worry. He is startled when he feels a touch on his arm until he realizes it is Yami. The touch feels comforting and is exactly what he needs right now as he slowly relaxes.

The ride is a few hours in. Everyone had fallen asleep from the long ride, well everyone except Yugi and Kaiba.

“Kaiba how exactly did you know about the studio?” Yugi asks breaking the silence.

“Before Pegasus decided to try to take over Kaiba Corp. It was during a meeting about getting the holograms set up. He started to go on about a similar project, something about bringing toons to life by Joey Drew. He kept going on and on about Drew. I passed his nonsense of on the fool having too many of his wine spritzers.”

“I should have guessed with his obsession about toons. It would be no wonder that he would have had something to do with the studio.”

“He did more than just have an interest in the studio, he spent a large chunk of money to finance the place. I found out by accident when trying to get everything in order after the mess I was left with.”

“Mr.Drew has never paid back so much as a dime of his debt.”

“He never paid anyone, he was only ever worried about getting everyone in his pocket. He was a man of great ambitions.”

They feel the copter started to descend and land. Everyone jolts awake from the landing. They rush to look out the window and they are surprised at what they see. The studio stands dilapidated from years upon years of neglect, boards all over the place and others look like they are about ready to fall off. The signs have seen better days the lettering now faded and scratched up. Still with the damage, one can read JOEY DREW STUDIOS™.

Yugi looks at the place with clear discomfort at being near the place while the others look around with curiosity and confusion.

“Let’s just get this over with, I don’t want to spend any more time in this dump than I have to,” Kaiba says as the briskly walks pass everyone to stand next to Yugi.

Yugi reaches out and opens the door the hinges creak from years of neglect

.“Alright, Henry where are you?”

[kudalyn]

So I just read you're new fic and on top of being hot and steamy and AWESOME, ...I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS I MUST hear more! So obviously Yugi is a sorcerer of some kind but what is Atem? Some sort of transforming/transfiguration creature? Also, is Atem an empath? Or is he just keenly attuned to emotions via smell? How did they meet? What is their occupation? How did their bond grow? I MUST HAVE MORE

Thank you for liking it!! I’m glad you enjoyed!

While the AU’s story isn’t super fully developed, I have a good chunk of it worked out. I’ll share some stuff from some chatlog brainstorming for ya, cause it’s all I have time for with this story XDOne day it’d be nice to work out, but I got too many other long-fic writings on the go for me to juggle another unfortunately. 

(First thing’s first: while the smutfic is a part of this AU, I started working on it BEFORE I fleshed out more of the world and storyline, so some parts of the smutfic might not fully line up with events in the storyline. it’s more of a ‘what-if’ almost, but I’m undecided on that. Just a heads up if you’re wondering where it is in the storyline.)

Atem is a conduit, a type of magical human-or-other who more channel elements and energies rather than manipulate them like wizards and other magic users. Conduits are usually very powerful but dangerous cause they can get overwhelmed by the natural magic current and cause destruction to themselves and others.  normally conduits show their magic traits early on in life and are whisked away for strict training, or if need be, magical dampening. Atem never showed any magical inclination or skills, so it was assumed he was a non-magic.

But thru events in the story, turns out he’s not just a conduit, he’s a Demon Conduit, the most dangerous type and usually the type killed on sight instead of trained.

and because he was never trained and is naturally very powerful, he grabs the attention of a very powerful demon called Zorc, who uses his body and takes it over to come through to the physical plane.  but before Zorc was able to fully take control of Atem or get anchored in the physical realm, Atem fights back and all but tears Zorc’s soul from his body, and from Zorc’s power, and casts his soul back into the demonic realm, leaving Atem with massive amounts of demonic power completely untrained.

Atem was about to be killed on the spot because of this (he had passed out right after) but Yugi rushed in, and despite the danger and consequences, blinked the two of them out from danger and now they’re fugitives

Conduits are fairly empathic to feelings but it’s more of a ‘hunch’ than anything direct, but Demon Conduits are much more sensitive since demons feed on human emotions and desires. It becomes almost a scent at that point, but with the extra effect of osmosis-through-touch that can be overwhelming to the untrained.

——

The AU starts out with Yugi and Atem being kiddos and friends in a small village. they’re fast friends, almost to the point that Atem is possessive over Yugi. as they get a bit older, Yugi starts showing magical attributes and promise, and as a result has to leave their village to go to the city for training, because the village doesn’t have any magical teachers. 

Atem is, of course, incredibly upset and angry about it, to the point he convinces Yugi and him to try and run away together so they wont be separated. they get into trouble in the forest, and Yugi ends up saving the both of them with his magic instinctively. They are found and taken home, and Atem has to confront his possessiveness and the fact he will be losing his best friend for possibly years (its rare for magic academies to let students visit home during their training)

Yugi promises that no matter how long it takes he will come back for Atem. He thinks he’d be gone for at most a few years, but Atem knows that Yugi’s got too much promise for that and it will take a lot longer. They promise to write to each other at least, and Yugi is taken to the city leaving Atem alone (he doesnt have many other friends because he was a little hellion as a kid aka a milder season 0 almost)

Years pass, and Atem grows up without Yugi. It becomes really sour at one point when some of his distant family moves to the village, one of them being Mahad who is an excellent magical teacher. Atem rues that if he had moved there just a few years earlier then Yugi wouldn’t have had to leave, but things happen.

Atem eventually warms up to him, and his cousin Mana (who is far too loud and bubbly for his tastes but he gets used to it)Also Atem is kind of seen as a minor disappointment in his family of magic users, for he shows absolutely no inclination for magic at all, something else he’s bitter about. He tried for years to get magic to work for him, but it never did, so he kind of grows to hate it. He also becomes rather sharp and gets a bit of a gambling addiction (and minor love of alcohol) to the point he’s known in the region for some not so nice things. Nothing that would get him killed or arrested, but he’s not allowed in quite a few taverns for multiple reasons. 

Over the years he stopped returning Yugi’s letters, and eventually stopped opening them even, bitter about the separation and feeling betrayed the longer Yugi never comes back for him. He never got rid of them, buried in the bottom of a chest in his room, but he’s too hurt to open them Also he could never lie to Yugi, and is somewhat ashamed of how he’s turned out, and doesnt want Yugi to see who he’s turned into.

——

One year atem is visited by someone, and at first he’s rather blunt and rude to them, but turns out, it’s Yugi!! who he hardly recognized over the years until he got a good look at him, and oh jeese he’s cute

Yugi is a proficient magic user now, highly skilled and powerful using multiple magics thanks to his rareish open affinity to magic (most of the time it’s skewed to one speciality or another)It took him some time to untangle himself from the academy because they didnt want to let go of such a valuable student, but once he was deemed fully trained and free to research on his own he immediately aimed for his old home.Ends up dragging along a boorish and snobby prodigy called Seto who he somehow managed to befriend in some form of another, partly because the academy ordered Seto to go with Yugi for protection, partly cause Seto wanted to to stay by his friend (mokuba is back home studying himself so he’s safe)Atem’s floored by Yugi, ashamed of himself and is royally pissed towards Seto, kind of avoids Yugi as much as he can at first. Not like he can clean up his reputation even if he wanted to, and he doesn’t have much to his name besides being the best gambler in the region.Yugi sticks to him like a dustbunny attracted by static, you brush it off and it sticks to your hand no matter how much you wave it around

Yugi was a bit hurt by atem not returning his letters, but assumed it was for a good reason. Is more hurt when he learns that Atem stopped replying for multiple reasons, and is determined to help Atem shine again. He made a promise and by gum he will stick to it, he missed atem dearly.Atem’s hopelessly entranced by Yugi but constantly tries to detach himself. Its a very stubborn tug of war of wills until Atem eventually relents in an angry bout of yelling of how much he hates himself and how Yugi’s better off anywhere but with him, and Yugi helps piece Atem together and try to put him on the right path again.

—-

I havent quite decided on the trigger that will be Atem being discovered as a demon conduit, but it’d be pretty big. Possibly him constantly being around such powerful magic users, combined with possibly a trip to the city? Which would be drenched in magic and loosening the locks on his power. Also the emotional draining he’d go through first with Yugi and then being in the city around so many people all so full of themselves and looking down on non-magics (like him) that it’d probably bring back his old desperate wish for magical power, and that would be what Zorc would take advantage of.

The event would be explosive, not like in the middle of town but he’d be with at least Yugi, Seto, and some other characters when it happened.  He’d be [] this close to being lost before hauling himself back from the brink through pure willpower and rage at something taking advantage of him, and would split Zorc asunder and absorb his demonic energy because that is his body, by thunder, gtfo

Atem collapses outright after it happens, his body slowly turning human back from its shifted hulking form that Zorc forced it in to, and Seto steps up absolutely ready to obliterate Atem on the spot. He’s far too dangerous to be allowed to exist, particularly so close to the capital and other sources of magic, and he’s never liked Atem anyways.

Yugi dashes in front of him, up to Atem, trying to get him to wake up. Atem’s out cold and trying to move him is like trying to carry a load of sopping towels. Seto demands Yugi move, or do the dirty work himself, because he knows Yugi knows Atem is dangerous. 

Yugi refuses, and despite knowing the consequences, blinks the both of them away from the spot and out to who knows where before Seto or anyone else can stop themThus begins Yugi and Atem’s life as fugitives, because Atem won’t be allowed to live and Yugi would be imprisoned and have his magic sealed for treachery.

:3

I got a bit more brainstormed out after this, like some more of Atem and Yugi’s bond forming, their life on the run, but you gotta send another ask for those deets~

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE: Why Seto Kaiba Remains One Of Anime's Coolest Characters

  What are some good character traits to have? Refusing to give up? That's a pretty solid one. Believing in yourself no matter how hard things get? I'm down with it. Devoting your talents and your energy to a specific skill and eventually coming to master it? Who doesn't want that? These are all traits that, when we see them in people, we applaud them. "Look at them go," we say, probably. "I'm so proud of them."

  And y'all, I am proud of Yu-Gi-Oh!'s Seto Kaiba, a man that has ALL of these traits.

  Now make no mistake, Seto Kaiba is a villain at worst and, at best, a really begrudging hero. He does good things from time to time (mostly to save his little brother Mokuba) but when the day is over, Kaiba's #1 concern is not the power of friendship or the heart of the cards. It's usually Kaiba. But because he believes so firmly in his own success and talent, I can't help but root for him a little bit. Kaiba just believes in Kaiba so hard. It's difficult to not be impressed with that kind of faith.

    At the very beginning of the anime series, Kaiba is a jerk. He defeats Yugi's grandpa in a duel and then rips up the old man's Blue Eyes White Dragon card to ensure that no one else but him can control that monster. Yugi later defeats him in a duel, and this shatters Kaiba, but only momentarily. This is a trend throughout the series, by the way. Yugi could beat Kaiba a million times in a row and Kaiba would still think he was the better duelist. To Kaiba, Yugi winning only proves that Yugi is worth dueling, NOT that he's the better competitor.

  Then Kaiba learns that the KaibaCorp executives and Maximillion Pegasus are trying to take over Kaibacorp, forcing Kaiba to literally enter the secret agent portion of his career. He evades gunfire, outwits assassins, sneaks into places, attempts espionage, and takes down bodyguards. I don't mean to stereotype, but as a tech company blue blood whose favorite hobby is obsessing over a monster card game, you don't expect Kaiba to also be Jason Bourne. But he is, and it never once feels off-putting. 

    He has to fight Yugi to gain the opportunity to get his brother back from Pegasus and when it seems like Yugi's gonna win, he steps on a ledge and tells Yugi that if he attacks, he'll fall off. Don't do this, by the way. It's really, really rude to people. But it shows just how far Kaiba is willing to go, just as later he starts an entire Battle City tournament on the off-chance that he might get some strong Egyptian god cards. That would cost millions of dollars, by the way, but again, Kaiba gonna Kaiba.

  Later in the tournament, when Yugi finds himself in despair against an opponent, Kaiba's words of encouragement basically amount to "You can't lose here, because if you do, it won't matter as much when I beat you." Yugi and Kaiba eventually team up to rescue Mokuba (who's been kidnapped again) and help by causing in-fighting on the enemy team. But while this might sound nice, his treatment of Joey is anything but. It takes him over a hundred episodes to basically treat Joey like a human. They're all well into Battle City before Kaiba recognizes that Joey is good enough to exist on the same planet as him.

    At the end of Battle City, when he loses a tournament that he specifically invented for his own gain, he doesn't learn that maybe it's okay to not be as good as Yugi or maybe that you need friends after all. Rather, he learns that he's been miserable for a long time and needs to stop being so hateful. So that's what we're left with: A Kaiba who is less angry but no less confident in thinking that he's awesome. 

  I know a lot of this makes it sound like Kaiba isn't a three-dimensional character, but I think Kaiba's strength is showing that maybe the core of your personality doesn't have to change in order for a character arc to be effective. Rather, Kaiba still thinks that he's the best in the world at a card game, but figures out that he shouldn't be so mean to others about it. He can still be cocky and still wear dramatic trenchcoats in his helicopter, but without all the needless bullying. 

  So when he jetpacks into the Kaiba Dome, you're not thinking "Wow, look at that jerk with the jetpack." 

    You're thinking "Wow, look at that really rich guy who learned to not hate others but is still pretty arrogant about stuff sometimes ... with the jetpack."

  What are your favorite Seto Kaiba moments? Let me know in the comments!

      Daniel Dockery is a Senior Staff Writer for Crunchyroll. Follow him on Twitter!

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features.

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[thewittyphantom]

DSOD Review/Thoughts

Watched DSOD in full, and I’ll stick most of my thoughts under a Read More. Overall, while it’s a spectacle for the eyes and parts of it were very vibrant, as a whole I think it’s just okay. The parts that work work well, but the rest I find  confusing, a bit hard to follow with the various plot threads all happening at once, and very saddening in terms of favorite characters and the series as a whole. I kinda wish it’d been a slice of life movie with duels on the side XD;

The numerous retcons and inconsistencies with the manga AND anime can make following it hard even if you have read/watched all of the original story as well, particularly involving the new villain Aigami, Ryou Bakura, Shadi, and Yugi’s final duel with Atem.

Another thing to note is how the movie was made in the first place. DSOD was commissioned without the creator's involvement originally, but upon being asked to work on it he agreed and took control of the project, being solely responsible for the script, story, and designs. Also, originally it was going to star Seto Kaiba alone, without Yugi or his friends showing up, but adding Yugi and co. made it 3 hours long so an hour had to be cut from the script, which may explain lack of exposition regarding certain plot points. A prequel manga called Transcend Game fills in some of the gaps but seems to have been made back when it was Seto Kaiba: The Movie, as several characters act differently than they do in this movie and Yugi and co. don't appear at all.

While Yugi and his friends have returned to a peaceful life, Seto Kaiba is determined to see and duel the Pharaoh no matter what by excavating and completing the Millennium Puzzle, and both sides are menaced by Aigami, a mysterious classmate of Yugi's with magic powers who is determined to stop the Pharaoh's resurrection even if it means killing Kaiba or Yugi. Yugi's friends mainly have a supporting role, with the exception of Ryou Bakura, who has a role in Aigami's backstory. Nothing of the cut-short Ancient Egypt arc is mentioned, and while Kisara appears in the prequel manga she isn't seen or mentioned in the movie itself. Pegasus does not appear as he was killed in the manga, and the Ishtars only appear in a flashback. The animation quality and music is the best Yu-Gi-Oh has ever seen, and hearing the old voice actors in English and Japanese again was a treat. Aigami also has a very good design and voice, as do his sister Sera and confidant Mani. However, some of the plot threads as presented in the movie don't align with the manga OR the anime, particularly with Shadi, the Ring, and Bakura. Those three are probably the biggest outliers in the movie for several reasons, listed below:

Shadi's appearance is changed slightly, he raised Aigami, Sera, Mani, and the planners, and he has powers he's never had before in any continuity, such as wielding the Quantum Cube, which can directly erase people from existence, grant teleportation for one’s self and others, and send people to other dimensions. He can also transfer these powers to others, which will activate upon the Pharaoh leaving, but they will lose them if the Pharaoh is reborn into the world a second time.

Bakura's father got the Millennium Ring from Shadi instead of from an antique shop/bazaar in Egypt, and was killed by it despite being alive to curate the museum in the manga, which allowed the Millennium World to happen. Bakura himself also tagged along for the trip, despite it being implied in the manga and stated in the anime that he got the Ring when his father returned.

In the manga it was stated pretty clearly that as long as Bakura didn't wear the Ring it couldn't do any harm, but in this movie it corrupts several people without the need to wear it, in Aigami's case without even needing to touch it.

The climax has the Millennium Ring corrupting others, and bonding with Diva to create a reality-warping monster, but how it does so with Zorc and Yami Bakura gone is never explained, nor is it explained who/what the resulting monster is.

Characters who were very active in the manga, such as Joey, don't get to do much at all, with Joey even wearing a dog suit like in an anime arc infamous for putting him down. Ryou Bakura also gets the short end of the stick despite his backstory role, as he doesn't have a dream for the future, nobody asks him what it is, he gets stuck in another dimension for the last third of the movie, and his father is also apparently dead despite being alive in the manga and anime. While Mokuba Kaiba gets some time to shine, his relationship with Seto isn't as close as it was, as Seto is mainly focused on seeing and dueling Atem. Tea and Tristan are mostly filler, but they get off relatively easy, while Yugi himself tends to react more to what Kaiba and Aigami do than act on his own.

How Aigami's powers work is a mystery even if you have read the prequel manga, and if you haven't, then how Kaiba's VR tech works--by constructing solid images and transcending dimensions through his brainwaves and a collective consciousness of duelists--will be hard to follow. Aigami's motivations and methodology in the Japanese version revolve around quantum physics, which are also hard to understand, and his goals sound noble but are pretty selfish, as he wants to remake the world into a place of beauty as fits his desires, get rid of anything in his way to keep his powers, and believes so much in better worlds he feels Yugi’s is static, meaningless, and hateful.

Since the Plana’s powers activated upon the Pharaoh’s disappearance, it turns what was a bittersweet but powerful ending for the original series--Yugi defeating his other self, seeing him off, and proving he could be on his own--into a tragic moment as Yugi almost dooms the world by winning. The Pharaoh leaving causes the whole movie to happen, not only with Aigami's escalating war, but also Kaiba's plot to find and assemble the Puzzle, which is what starts Aigami targeting them.

More significantly, the final duel of the movie also breaks the lesson of the main story by having Yugi need help to win when he couldn't do it alone, despite his entire arc being about standing up for himself on his own and beating the Pharaoh to prove he was ready. (Making this worse is a comment from volume 8 of the bunkoban about a canceled YGO vs GX movie, where Takahashi said that reviving Atem, which he considered, would betray the themes of the original story.)

The movie kinda paints itself into a corner--Atem had to return to stop the Plana since him leaving started it, despite the movie also enforcing the idea that he couldn't return and everyone had to move on, including Yugi and Kaiba. And speaking of Kaiba, there’s the ending to the movie.

Kaiba spends much of the film in an obsessive state, trying futilely to see Atem while being told that he has moved on and isn't coming back, with Yugi recompleting the Puzzle to prove it. (Kaiba is crushed when this doesn't work.)  Throughout the movie Yugi and his friends have moved on from the loss, Yugi gives Kaiba a speech directly telling him to move on, and Atem himself takes the Puzzle to the afterlife with him. Kaiba  decides that if he can't bring Atem back, he'll meet Atem by going to the afterlife instead, leaving Mokuba to run his company in his stead. Whether or not he’ll return or can return is ambiguous, and the movie ends before the duel starts, figuratively leaving us in limbo.

I know all this harping on sounds like I hate the movie. I don’t. I loved hearing the old voice actors again and the new cast, the character cameos and call-backs were cool, the animation and music is amazing, and Yugi and his friends graduating and just hanging out and having fun is really sweet. DSOD is at its best in its joyful, quiet moments when the fate of the world isn’t on the line.

It’s just... When I get into a new series or rediscover an old one I want to learn as much as I can about it so I can fit all the pieces together, like a puzzle. I want to know why things are the way they are, not only out-of-universe, but in-universe. Before DSOD it was fairly simple--the manga did X, the anime did Y, the Toei anime did Z, the video games tend to mix the continuities, and spinoffs either follow the manga, anime, or are set in their own worlds. After DSOD, it feels like pieces are missing from the puzzle, and I’m frustrated by my lack of ability to comprehend it.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if it wasn’t set after the ending and thus necessitating new conflicts, or maybe I shouldn’t be writing this review at 7 AM after staying up all night. Maybe I will understand it someday, but for now my favorite YGO movie is still Pyramid of Light. (Joey getting to fight and duel plus Pegasus being involved helps. XD)

[the-cryptographer]

Here, I'll help get your ideas going about the rest of Lottery Ticket. Pick the most helpful? 001 for Polar OR Violet OR Ettushipping OR even Arrogantshipping, OR 002 for Mai OR Joey OR Seto??? (also I can't decide either lol)

Thank you for the ask  :D

Lotto Ticket’s pretty much planned out. I just need to stop making things difficult and write more, but-

mmm, I already answered 002 for Mai, and I talked a little teeny bit there about how I see her and Seto’s being bros. So… I answered 001 for JouKai and Polar. Under the cut because whining about Jou and Kaiba gets long in particular x_x

JouKai

when I started shipping it if I did:

Somewhere in the nebulous time between watching the show as akid and when I started first reading fanfic for this show, my subconsciousdecided this was the combination of characters to slot into ffnet’s searchengine.

my thoughts:

F- F- F- F- FOILS! It’s a ship of conflicting circumstanceand ideology. It’s super fun to watch them butt heads at every turn, until somethingmanages to break through.

I think- In the series itself, Jounouchi and Kaiba both, ina sense, have their worlds and eyes opened by Yuugi and Atem respectively.Yuugi opens Jou up to opportunity – the possibility that there are ways he cansucceed without having to be a bully and a thug, and that it’s okay for him tonurture the more kind and loving aspects of himself. Atem opens Kaiba up to theidea that there can be trust and opportunity and connection with other people,that there is a way that cooperation and friendship (and maybe even miracles)can happen. I guess I think Jounouchi and Kaiba’s relationship is a kind ofnext step? Jounouchi & Kaiba are far more dissimilar than Yuugi &Jounouchi and Kaiba & Atem – so the process of reconciling their worldviewsin a way that is made to accommodate one another, while allowing them to retaintheir differences, is one that is able to open their eyes further to grandbreadth of the world and its possibilities – that there are many ways to liveand to be and they only need choose what works for them.

Also they both really deeply understand what it is to be desperate. I don’t really think they’dbe able to empathise much with the particular circumstances of such desperation,but I think they could really begin to understand on a deep level that alldesperation looks the same and it’s ugly and brings out the worst in people. If they could come to have sympathy for each other and themselves it would be nice.

Also I’m addicted to the class background spin *gnashesteeth* Jou’s more prototypically lower class than Kaiba’s prototypically upperclass in a cultural sense, but it’s still fun as heck~

What makes me happy about them:

The process of them coming to respect one another. Theprocess of them learning not to hurt each other. The process of them learningto cut themselves a break and deciding that there’s no reason they shouldn’t eachbe allowed their own happiness and fulfilment.

What makes me sad about them:

They already have an established relationship based on beingreally cruel to each other, and it’s really hard to alter patterns of behaviourthat have already been established. I can easily see them making efforts torepair how they interact with one another, and then, in some moment whenthey’re both angry and under pressure, losing the traction they’d built up tothat point – slipping into old patterns of being really nasty and cruel, exceptworse because they would be armed with an amount of intimacy that meant theywould really /know/ how to make the other one hurt. I wouldn’t want them tostay together if they crossed that kind of line, but it makes me sad how easilyI think they could cross that line, especially within the span of the firstcouple of years they’re together. It makes me extra sad how easily I think they mightbe inclined to /purposefully/ cross those lines as a means of sabotaging a lovethey feel they don’t deserve.

Also, something that doesn’t make me sad so much as frustrates me in my attempts to write them: In the pre-DSoD world, or given a post-DSoD world where Atemisn’t able to be Seto’s continued outlet for duelling/interpersonal connection,it’s very, very easy for me toimagine Seto isolating himself to the point of potential fatality. Seto… couldbe very rigid about this… and I find Jounouchi uniquely capable of addressingthis problem. Given that Jounouchi has some pretense or motivation for hasslingSeto, I think Jounouchi would – and that becomes self-perpetuating as Jounouchiis met with resistance. The more barriers Seto puts up, the more Jounouchi seesthis as a challenge, and the more he takes a sadistic glee in tearing thosebarriers down. In some ways, I think you need somebody with Jounouchi’s levelof reckless, self-destructive persistence to break through to Seto. But, at the same time,Jounouchi’s not being nice when he does this. He’s being forceful. He’s beingdisrespectful of other people’s boundaries. He’s not doing it out of concernfor Seto (at least not at first). He just enjoys forcing Seto into situationswhere Seto is off-balance, so he can feel steady in comparison. He’s being a bully. So I’m kind of torn betweenwanting to say, ‘jfc, Jou, STOP!’, and ‘jfc, Jou, KEEP FUCKING GOING! You willrestrain Seto and physically drag him out of his comfort zone if you have to,bc Seto’s comfort zone is such a small stretch of barren land – it’s only amatter of time before he dies of starvation!’ Ugh, and as Jou does this, he’salso being met with Seto giving off terrible mixed signals and periodically beingreally, really terrible in an attempt to get Jou to buzz the fuck off, but it doesn’t work because Jou is a neglectbaby who doesn’t care if people hurt him so long as they’re paying attention tohim. And then Seto gets to be all relieved when Jou hasn’t given up on him evenafter he’s gone and stabbed Jou with a pen.So all around it feels like I’mrewarding them for behaving really, really terribly. But it feels so organic to me the way it’s happening - let me stew in thistrash a little bit longer, okay?

things done in fanfic that annoy me:

Everything.

Offthe top of my head – the narrative pushing the idea that either Jou or Kaiba isthe better person, or the idea that their power struggle can be resolved in theprocess of finding the winner, instead of abandoning the fight. Seme/uketropes. I think everyone at this point has acknowledged Seto calls Jou doggythings is an attempt to dehumanise him, so Seto using such terminology as a petname is really fucking gross.

things I look for in fanfic:

Sometimes I’m just in the mood to read something fluffy, butmost of the time I’m looking for fic that acknowledges that they are bothreally cruel to one another, and that that cruelty isn’t superficial. That theyare both angry and maladjusted as fuck, and they have very, very valid reasons to have beef with oneanother and, without reaching and reassessing the deep insecurities and beliefsthat cause that anger, any attempts they make to play nice and be kind aresuperficial af and unlikely to last.

(I mean… I think there’s value to thembeing able to indulge in a little kindness even superficially – certainly theycan’t spend the whole long, gruelling process of self-change being at eachother’s throats, it would be too exhausting. So I don’t mind reading about thembeing superficially kind, but it can’t be sold to me as being somehow deeperthan it is, you feel?)

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

As much as I’m SUPER invested in Kaiba and Jou having someset of postcanon foibles that allow them to better understand one another andgrow as individuals - yeah I’m okay with them ultimately ending up with other people.

For Jou – Mai. For Kaiba – either Isis or Atem. I likerivalshipping too, but jumping from Jou to Yuugi would definitely be the causeof upsetting dramas.

My happily ever after for them:

Theylearn to fucking chill a little

who is the big spoon/little spoon:

Once more – “Jou doesn’t so much spoon people as he wraps hislegs around their chest and awkwardly strangle-hugs their face like it’s astrange laying-down-on-your-side sleepy piggyback ride.”

It’s things like this that, at first, make Seto wonder whyhe puts up with Jou. But, as time goes on, he gives up on wondering because he’snever going to find the answer. (Or, rather, admit the answer to himself.)

…At least one of the answers is that Jou likes running hishands softly through Kaiba’s hair and soothing him to sleep by massaging hisforehead, and it’s very comforting.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity:

They both enjoy duelling to a certain extent, but I thinkKaiba finds duelling Jou much less fun and challenging than the other wayaround, so that mismatch probably discourages it from being their true go-toactivity. But Yuugi invites them over for game nights periodically, and it’sbecomes a kind of fun thing for both of them to do.

They kind of have different interests, so I imagine they’rethe kind of couple that does their own things and then reconvenes to sharestories or otherwise silently enjoy each other’s presence. Kaiba’s aworkaholic, so a lot of times he’s on his laptop in the evenings, while Jousits next to him reading manga, or watching TV shows with headphones in. Kaiba oftenstays at the office late too, and Jou will come over just to be a reassuringpresence. He brings a sleeping bag and something to do and camps out on thedivan. Jou has learned not to bother Kaiba, and Kaiba’s learned not to bebothered in a complementary fashion.

For a very long time, Seto proves to be kind of difficult todrag out for dates and the like with any regularity. But, as Seto ages andstarts trusting Mokuba with more Kaiba Corp responsibilities, he’ll have morefree time. Jou starts taking him out for walks – sometimes to really date-ishplaces like theme parks or the promenade or the aquarium, but a lot of timesthey just go to the park or on nature-lite hikes. Jou’s extremely chatty onthese walks and runs ahead to look at this or that and points things out toSeto. Jou kind of gets worked up because Kaiba’s really quiet and mostly justnods and doesn’t say much, and then Jou becomes worried he’s annoying Kaiba,and then he gets annoyed that he’s worried and resolves to be extra loud andannoying. Really though Kaiba’s not annoyed at all – he enjoys listening to Joutalk and enjoys watching Jou get really cheerful and excited about these walks– Kaiba’s just quiet. By this point they won’t be so incapable of propercommunication though so, within the span of a walk or two, either Seto willnotice Jou’s being angry about talking and pointing things out instead ofproperly cheerful and ask him why, or Jou will break and ask Seto if he’sannoyed and that’s why isn’t he talking, and then they’ll clear up theirmisunderstanding. Jou will feel kind of silly for worrying afterwards~

==

JouMai

when I started shipping it if I did:

I was shipping this in 2001, when I didn’t know whatshipping was. I don’t remember what about Duellist Kingdom convinced me… Butsomething in Duellist Kingdom convinced me!!!

my thoughts:

Oh, geez, I mean- They’re just so lovely!!! I think theirDuellist Kingdom repertoire convinces me more than their Battle City one does.The way Jounouchi convinced Mai to take the star chips from Yuugi and kind ofconvinces her they’re friends, and then the way Mai returns the favour when shegives Jou the entry card. I feel like it was a really strong base of give andtake that wasn’t borne out of some kind of attempt to return favours upon eachother, but to genuinely help one another. It’s just so sweet.

And I feel like they buzz at similar levels. They’re bothkind of high energy and outgoing. And they’re both kind of immature, but inways that can both cause conflict and complement each other.

Also, it is kind of important to me that, in canon, theyseem to react to each other in the realm of being attracted to one another.Something about how it’s presented in the series, with Jou immediately going ‘wow,’and Mai being both dismissive and smitten seems really honest to me.

What makes me happy about them:

When they can be honest with each other and really bask inhow much they are cherished.

What makes me sad about them:

I think they don’t have a very good grasp on when theteasing things they do and say become genuinely hurtful to other.

I think theymight never meet each other at the right time to make their romance work.

And, also, I think Mai’s highkey convinced there’s somethingwrong with her for being attracted to Jou, given he’s eight years younger andalso washed-out thug with no prospects. Which… I won’t say her tastes aren’tinteresting, or that she shouldn’t absolutely keep in mind that he’s still aminor during the series, but I think it’s just one of many data points that Maicherry picks to use as part of her thesis on why she is fundamentally flawedand unloveable, which is kind of – fuckingstop it, Mai.

things done in fanfic that annoy me:

Excepting a couple of key stories, a lot of JouMai fic seemsto blend together in my mind in one really indistinct blob. I’m not sure there’sanything that outright annoys me so much as a lot of things that haven’tinspired me. I’m sorry, I still haven’t read yours yet miranova~

things I look for in fanfic:

I’mnot really sure what to say except, ‘something unique’ or ‘something thoughtprovoking

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

Vivian for Mai. And pretty much anyone for Jou, but Yuugi andYuugi&Kaiba both come to mind. I’ll confess I flat out don’t want to readabout Jounouchi and Mai breaking up though. Even in passing, like, a throwawayline about how they dated once and it didn’t work out. In all the fics I’veread, I can only think of two that did this that I didn’t x-out of andneither one was JouKai

My happily ever after for them:

Maigets to have her career and make lots of moolah and live her life, and thenthey get together when they’re both older (Mai might even be pushing 40 at thatpoint, lol) and have lots of new exciting adventures together :)I think they’d want a kid or two but, even after the kids, Mai probably won’t be convinced on marriagefor another ten or twenty years, lol

who is the big spoon/little spoon:

Mai gets fed up with Jounouchi’s strangehold piggyback ride versionof spooning and takes over big spoon responsibilities… at least part of thetime. I think Mai likes feeling warm and surrounded, so she might curl upfacing him and he kind of curls in around her.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity:

Duelling and talking duel monsters, tbh. But I also thinkthey’re a very date-y couple. They’re always going places, whether it’s to themall or the movies or biking out to scenic kinds of places. Mai would like totake Jou on vacation abroad too~

I’ve talked about Jou and Mai going to the spa together too, but that might be overly indulgent of me~

[graveyardshift-writer]

Endearment and Enmity Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh.

Title: Endearment and Enmity

Rating: T-M depending on chapter, M overall

Summary: When you’re literally married to the person you despise.

Warnings: Homosexual relationships,vulgar words and adult situations.

Author’s Note: I don’t know why I wrote this.

Chapter 2: Fallacies

Living in the Kaiba mansion wasn’t that bad all things considered, although he still missed his old apartment in San Antonio. The size of the mansion was just as much of a curse as it was a blessing. It was nice to have all the space, because this allowed him to have a completely different living space from his… spouse. Especially since it was just him, Kaiba, the small live-in staff and technically Mokuba (who was studying abroad) who still had a room set up. However, all the unnecessary space made the mansion seem so empty… not like a home at all.

When Kaiba had first made his ‘proposal’, he’d assured it would only last about three years, five years at most. Mostly just to get the CEO’s peers to clearly see that he had no intertest in women. Although it seemed like a long time, it was still only a fraction of the time it would take to pay back his student loan debt. As much as he didn’t like Kaiba, at least the guy kept his promises and paid it all off as soon as they both signed the marriage certificate. Jonouchi could have divorced him on the spot, but if Kaiba could uphold his promise, he would as well.

The brunet allowed him to finish covering down for his head nurse as he got his affairs in America in order. He was quite sad to leave America where he’d made several new friends that now he’d probably never see again. Plenty of military personnel in fact since Joint Base San Antonio was the military medical training hub for Soldiers, Airmen and Sailors, a lot of them had a second job at the hospital or worked there as ordered by the military for some reason or another, and they’d introduced him to military culture.

Once he had all of stuff packed, and all his affairs in order to move back to Domino City, Kaiba first had them sign an American marriage license to make the marriage seem more credible given Jonouchi’s dual-citizen status and a long-distance relationship would explain why they’ve never been seen in public together.

Once back in Domino City they weren’t legally married under Japanese law where same-sex marriage wasn’t recognized yet except for a few cases. Kaiba had, however, been right when he said that a big enough donation would make the city look the other way. It made Domino City all too happy to legally recognize their marriage license and issue them a Japanese one as well. It made Jonouchi feel bad though, to think about the legitimate and loving same-sex couples across Japan who couldn’t be married under Japanese law, yet Kaiba could for business purposes just because he was obscenely wealthy. If that wasn’t special treatment, he didn’t know what was.

The two duelists had made a promise that they wouldn’t tell anyone the true reason of their marriage as not to either humiliate in Jonouchi’s case, or demonize in Kaiba’s case, either of them in the eyes of their friends and loved ones. Well, Jonouchi’s friends and loved ones at least; for Kaiba it was loved one, peers, and the public opinion.

Speaking of their friends and loved ones, their marriage had no doubt caused quite the shock, Jonouchi ended up lying to his friends and family that he’d been keeping the ‘relationship’ secret for three years because he didn’t want to cause any drama if it didn’t work out and, and that Kaiba needed time to publicly come out of the closet. His sister was hurt that he’d keep something like this from her, and was still giving him the silent treatment about it.

Mokuba was the opposite to Jonouchi’s sibling, he was ecstatic over his brother getting married to someone who was both a familiar face and 'wasn’t a gold-digging hoebag’ in his own words (guy had a colorful vocabulary). However, Kaiba admitted to him soon after the 'wedding’ that Mokuba knew him so well that he probably knew it was all a façade and went with it because he was just glad his big brother wasn’t totally alone now.

Now, there was no way in Dante’s Inferno that Jonouchi would resign to become a housewife (he cringed at the word) after he’d spent so much time and stress to become a CRNA, so with some heavy persuasion, which was actually just carefully worded blackmail, Kaiba agreed to let his new spouse work under the condition that he would work at a private hospital owned by Kaiba Corp.

While he hated that he had to technically work for the guy he had grown to despise more and more each passing day when he already had to bear with being married to him; the facility was a doctor’s office and acute care clinic that catered specifically to orphan or underprivileged pediatric patients, which Jonouchi couldn’t bring himself to disapprove of no matter who owned and funded it. It was almost sweet how the CEO in all his influence, wealth and power, couldn’t let go of his roots.

Not that he empathized with the man.

Being new, he was just a regular CRNA with RN duties since anesthesia was rarely administered with pediatric patients compared to adults. He wasn’t in as high as a position as he used to be at the hospital he used to work at, to his chagrin he’d have to work his way up all over again. And it wasn’t easy because being married to the owner of the facility meant that automatically one half of the staff hated him and swore up and down he got special treatment, while the other half consistently tried to kiss his ass.

Home life was dull, Kaiba was usually at work, and even when he wasn’t they lived in different wings of the mansion and so far, have had very little interaction since getting married. A small comfort, in the beginning of this convoluted 'plan’ the red eyes black dragon master was afraid that his… spouse, would require them sharing a bedroom and bed; or worse, sex. He’d seriously prefer sticking his dick in an ant hill over having sex with Kaiba, his animosity towards the CEO was just that strong.

They’d been married, and he’d been back in Domino City, for six months so far. They still didn’t even really like each other at all, and hadn’t so much as kissed for obvious reasons.

Currently Jonouchi was in one of loungerooms, which each floor had, but he was in the first floor one; he’d just gotten back from the gym after work, and didn’t feel like going up the stairs. He was lying on the couch in just his scrub pants and white cotton shirt, watching TV and munching on a bowl of seedless grapes.

All of a sudden, his 'knight in shining armor’ shows up, and Jonouchi just tries his best to ignore him but he stands there quietly staring at him from the doorway as if expecting acknowledgment, which he most likely was but Jonouchi didn’t give two halves of a fuck.

Eventually he relented “Can I help you, Kaiba?” He asked as calmly and politely as possible, but of course he sounded irritated.

“We’re going to a social event tonight.” The brunette informed him without a hint of bargaining.

But Jonouchi was a haggler nonetheless, and he groaned “Can’t you tell them I’m at work?”

“It’s an acute care clinic, not a full hospital, it closes at seven o'clock. The event starts at nine.”

“Can’t you tell them I’m sick.”

“Katsuya it’s been six months and I’ve used that excuse eight times already.”

“Can’t you tell them I died.” Okay that one was obviously a joke, but he was still irritated and didn’t want to go to some business event designed for extremely rich people to show off projects and hypothetically show everyone just how big their dick really was.

Kaiba sighed and walked over, resting a hand onto the couch to lean on it slightly. Oh great, now he was going to use one of those bullshit first-semester-of-community-college-psych techniques on him. Oh, joy how he really looked forward to being guilted by a guy he despised but was unironically hitched to. “Look, if this arrangement is going to work we have to at least occasionally be seen in public together as a couple, we don’t want this to look like a sham.”

“This is a sham, dumbass.” He popped another grape into his mouth and chewed with his mouth open just to spite the blue-eyed duelist, and to highlight the fact that he still didn’t give two halves of a fuck.

“Regardless, Katsuya, you should at least put some effort into this marriage, I can’t be the one pulling all of the weight.” Kaiba stated sternly, and his statement almost made Jonouchi throw the whole ceramic bowl of grapes at him.

Angrily the blonde retorted “Oh hell no are you going to accuse me of not pulling my weight! I gave up my life for this 'arrangement’!” His appeal to emotion fallacy fell to ears that belonged to an emotionless brain.

“Get upstairs, clean up and put on something decent. This isn’t an option, you’re going to go. It isn’t a very formal even so I’d suggest business casual.” And with that, Kaiba left the Livingroom, to get ready for the event as well. He put emphasis on the word suggest because Jonouchi had no choice.

-/-

“If you like me Kaiba just say so.” Jonouchi whispered, harshly but in a joking manner as his… spouse, practically dragged him out of the limo, insisting on their arms being linked together so they wouldn’t give away the fact that they hated physical contact of any kind with each other.

“Just stay quiet.” Kaiba instructed in a mumble, walking them both to the Centre where the event was being held – some old billionaire unveiling his next product to make even more money, seeking out fellow business tycoons to invest in it.

“Whatever.” The brunet continued to walk him in, and Jonouchi was relieved to see that it wasn’t a formal white-collar event, and the other people attending were in business casual as well, but all of them minus the presumably single ones had brought their spouses. Okay so maybe Kaiba had good reason to drag him with him, not that he’d give him credit or anything.

Once they were both seat at some random table, the CEO started giving him a 'pep talk’ “Don’t you dare talk to anyone. If you do, keep it limited to pleasantries only. I don’t need you saying anything unintelligent to my peers.”

“Yes 'dear’, of course.” Jonouchi sarcastically replied, but nodded as well. He didn’t want to talk to some random rich people he didn’t know anyways. He didn’t even like talking to Kaiba and he knew him.

“I’ll go grab us a drink, you wait here.” Kaiba said, then paused “Not because I care but, you know, have to keep the image of a marriage up.”

Jonouchi rolled his eyes, crossed his arms and not caring how unprofessional it looked “Whatever, Kaiba, just, no alcohol okay.” The blonde duelist didn’t drink. The blue-eyed man simply nodded and walked away, giving his 'partner’ a moment of peace.

Jonouchi heavily sighed. He really should have paid closer attention to the big print of that contract.

TO BE CONTINUED

Author’s note: I don’t have a name for the clinic that Jonouchi currently works at but it’s a children’s acute care clinic owned by the Kaiba Corporation. And when Jonouchi said he’d rather stick his dick in an ant hill than have sex with Kaiba, it’s a reference to watch?v=3vXNTCpM6rE

Please leave a review.

[mystical-flute]

Uncharted Waters (ch 4)

AO3 || Ko-Fi

She wasn’t brought to the dining room the next morning. Instead, Croquet brought her breakfast in her room.

And the uncomfortable knot in her stomach she’d fallen asleep with only tightened.

As soon as the lock clicked shut again, she glanced over. “Azila?”

“I’m here.”

The ghost - guardian - whatever she was - materialized next to her, floating gently above the ground.

“Were you there last night when Pegasus and I were watching my cousin duel?”

“I was. Why?”

Reika wrapped her fingers around the mug of coffee, trying to get the chill of dread out of her system. “I noticed something odd. Yugi seemed… almost taller. Not actually taller but… he was carrying himself with his poster completely straight. He seemed… confident in himself. I love him, but that’s not exactly what he’s been like.”

“The spirit of the puzzle…” Azila said softly. “I’ll tell you what I know about him.”

She set the coffee mug down and nodded, her eyes wide with curiosity.

“But I caution you, it is not much.”

“How come?”

Azila gazed out the window. “My husband was asked by him to erase all memory of his identity. I was told by Osiris to help guide him to the truth whenever the puzzle was solved, but he did not restore my memories.”

“Well… what is it? Why was he erased from history?”

“There was a war, back when I was alive. He sacrificed himself to save Egypt from destruction. I admit, we destroyed much about the war itself too, so I cannot recall the details, in order to protect ourselves,” Azila looked a little lost in her memories.

Reika frowned a little. “So he’s, what, some ancient Egyptian wizard, or something?”

“He was a noble. High-ranking, if I recall. He and my husband were best friends. It broke his heart to have to erase him from history.”

“Your husband?”

“Yes, Pharaoh Seto.”

The sound of footsteps distracted them, Azila vanishing from view for a moment as the door opened, revealing Kemo with another food cart.

He gave her a delight smirk as he approached, putting the empty plate on the bottom shelf.

“Miss Muto. I’m sorry we didn’t get the chance to talk last night,” he said as he set her food on the table next to her. “I’ve been quite busy with the tournament.”

“Yes, I’m sure kidnapping twelve-year-olds keeps you extremely busy,” she bit out. She ignored the food, taking the glass of wine into her hands. “What are you even doing here? I thought you worked for KaibaCorp.”

“What can I say? Mr. Pegasus has a better healthcare plan.”

“Bullshit.”

Kemo shrugged. “I prefer the new vision for KaibaCorp than the current one. I think that’s fair after working for a kid for three years.”

“You’re a traitor no matter how you try to justify it.”

“And what does it matter to you? You’re just some brat that was lucky to catch Alden’s attention. If it weren’t for him, you would have been thrown out of The Young Five when your mother disappeared,” Kemo sneered.

She tried not to let his words get to her, but she couldn’t stop the tears that sprung to her eyes and the knot that formed in the pit of her stomach.

It was enough for Kemo, who laughed. “But don’t worry, maybe you’ll get another lucky break once Master Pegasus gets his way.”

With that, Kemo swept from the room, the door locking behind him.

Reika set the wine glass back on the table with a shaking hand and lifted the lid of the tray, although she wasn’t very hungry.

“That man was quite cruel…” Azila’s soft voice said from next to her.

“It’s fine,” Reika replied, pushing the salad around her bowl with a fork. “He’s right. I did get lucky. It’s because Mr. Leichter picked me for the Young Five program that I was even able to meet Seto and Mokuba.”

“Who are they?”

“You’ve been talking inside my head for a year and you haven’t seen my memories?”

“I’m merely a guide. I figured it was better to not intrude on your memories.”

Reika looked at her, considering. Yes, it would be easy to agree and block Azila from her mind, but… maybe it’d be easier to just allow the spirit to see who she was. It was easier than saying it out loud, at least.

“It’s okay. If you want to go into my head you can. Seto is my boyfriend. Mokuba is his younger brother. Mokuba is the kid that was dragged in by Kemo last night when Croquet was dragging me back here,” she explained softly. “Seto took over a company from his adoptive father. They make games for children.”

“I assume this ‘takeover’ was not peaceful?”

“His stepfather jumped out the window after he lost. The company originally built tools made for war. Seto hated it and changed it, and it caused a bit of an uproar with some of the employees.”

“Do the rulers not make their own tools for war anymore?” Azila questioned. Her tone seemed annoyed, more than anything.

“Everything is made everywhere, it seems. Some parts are made in Japan, some in the United States,” Reika said, pausing when the ghost seemed confused. “Never mind. My parents wouldn’t tell me much anyway, since I was a kid, and then Leichter shielded me from most of it after they disappeared, and when Seto took over the company… I didn’t bother to ask.”

Azila tilted her head. “Were there other children at this KaibaCorp?”

She paused, setting her empty bowl down on the table. “Each of Gozaburo’s top executives had a child they brought around once in a while. It was called the Young Five Program. We learned about business under them, and Gozaburo was kind enough to pay for dance lessons and music lessons for us.”

“Was this Gozaburo some sort of king?”

Reika snorted, although there was little humor in it. “If anything, he likened himself to a sort of god.”

Azila’s eyes widened. “He wielded such power?”

“Gozaburo was a cowardly fool who liked to talk big,” Reika spat, glancing over at the spirit. “He only thought he had that sort of power, until he was outsmarted at his own game, and erased from this world, like he never existed at all…” she trailed off, suddenly lost in her own memories.

“I feel like you are no longer talking about Gozaburo.”

Her eyes glazed over briefly as she looked at the trees beyond her window. “It’s nothing.”

They were cut off at the sound of footsteps again, Azila disappearing just as Croquet unlocked and opened the door.

“Master Pegasus would like to see you now.”

“What’s with the prisoner treatment, Croquet? I was told I was getting a VIP experience,” she said dryly, following the man back to the too-large room.

“They were Master Pegasus’ orders,” he said simply. “I’m just doing my job.”

“Lots of people just ‘do their jobs’. Doesn’t mean it’s a good thing,” she spat before entering the room and staring down Pegasus, who was looking at her with a smug grin that had her dread returning as she took a seat.

“I hope you slept well, Reika-girl,” he began, sipping at a glass of wine.

“I slept as well as anyone could, given the whole blackmail thing,” she replied.

Pegasus’ face screwed into a pout that seemed unbecoming of a CEO of a multi-billion dollar company. “You and Kaiba-boy have such a flare for the dramatics. It really is no wonder you two are together, and trust me, I could be making your little stay here so much worse . But… you and I are friends now, right?”

“Friends don’t blackmail their friends into telling them their deepest, darkest secrets,” she spat. “We aren’t friends.”

“We just got off on the wrong foot is all.”

She reached for the wine glass in front of her. If she could get a bit of a buzz, it might ease her tension. “I have to say, I don’t exactly feel like a VIP… what with being locked in my room all day.”

“I do apologize for that. I had some business to take care of. I believe you’ll be quite interested in what I have to show you.”

Reika quirked a brow, but turned her attention to the screen in front of her, the calm demeanor vanishing instantly.

Her boyfriend and her cousin, already locked in a duel.

“Why are they dueling?”

“The only way into my castle is to win ten star chips. As Kaiba-boy has none, he needed to get some in a hurry. Your cousin was the easiest target,” Pegasus said with a shrug.

There was the sinister tone again, and Reika watched the duel with dread, downing another large gulp of wine.

“If Kaiba-boy wins this duel, he’ll be playing the hero instead of the villain. Aren’t you proud of him?” Pegasus asked.

“Let me guess, the villain is you?” she asked dryly.

“If that’s how you want to look at it, yes. Kaiba-boy certainly seems to think so.”

“With good reason, seeing as you’re helping to stage a coup at his company. Surely, there was a better way to handle this?” she hadn’t exactly taken to the business life Leichter had been trying to teach her about, but hostile takeovers and kidnapping didn’t seem to be the best route.

“What can I say? I love the drama of it all.”

Reika’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t dare say anything further. He still had her grandfather, after all.

“When did Seto get here?” she finally asked quietly.

“Last night.”

More questions filled her head. Did Seto know she was here? Had Yugi told him? Had they managed to come up with a plan to beat Pegasus at his own game?

But no, as the duel continued, it was increasingly clear that there was no secret agreement between them, no master plan to stop Pegasus. Which was probably for the best - Pegasus could read minds, after all.

Except for hers.

If she got the chance to see Yugi or Seto, she knew she’d have to be careful with what she told him. If he faced off against Pegasus, she didn’t want to run the risk of him seeing something he shouldn’t.

Her hands curled into fists on her lap as the duel continued, afraid she would shatter something if she held onto anything.

And then, she watched in horror as Seto backed up to the ledge of the castle, taunting Yugi about the shockwaves that could push him off and into the forest below.

Bile rose in her throat.

There would be no winner of this duel.

She watched Yugi suddenly return to normal, calling off the attack right before it was too late, forfeiting the duel. She wasn’t mad at either of them - she couldn’t be. They were both pawns in a twisted game.

“Well, that was quite an exciting duel, wouldn’t you agree, Reika-girl?”

“No, I wouldn’t,” she rasped. She couldn’t muster the energy for anger at this point.

“Mm, well, all the same. I think it’s time we congratulate the winner before the next duel starts, don’t you?”

“What are you talking about?”

Pegasus grinned as he rose to his feet. “Why, I’ll be dueling Kaiba-boy next, of course. And it wouldn’t be right of me to not allow you to see him after so long. Consider it a gift from a friend.”

“Allowing me to see my boyfriend. You must be the best friend I’ve never had,” she spat, standing on weak legs and following Pegasus out of the room.

Seto stood at the beginning of a long hallway, a sign pointing toward a duel arena just behind his shoulder. His face was twisted into one of pure loathing, which turned into confusion as he spotted her.

“Kaiba-boy, what a match! I knew that fire was still in you!” Pegasus said, pointedly ignoring Reika’s presence.

“Let’s just get this over with. I have a brother and a company to save,” Seto’s voice was nothing but venom.

Pegasus rolled his eyes. “You and your dramatics. I know our deal. I’ll be dueling you soon enough, but there are some things I need to prepare in the arena first. I’ll give you time to get reacquainted with Reika-girl, hmm?”

He sauntered off, leaving the two alone.

She closed the gap between them, wrapping her arms tight around him. For a second, it was like nothing was wrong, that they were just hugging each other because it had been a year since she’d been in his arms. But that bliss didn’t last when she realized she was shaking.

“Reika… what are you doing here?”

“He invited me to be a VIP, but Seto, he’s got my grandfather hostage, and… he knows about us.”

“Wh - you mean about us dating?”

She nodded. “He read Mokuba’s mind,” she mumbled into his shoulder.

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“You’ve known me for six years. You think I’d lie about something like that?” she scoffed, pulling back.

“I think he’s just messing with your head. Trust me, it’s what he does,” Seto said, cupping her cheek. His eyes were a brilliant shade of blue that showed his ire toward Pegasus, and yet a flicker of fear just beneath the surface. “I’m going to beat him.”

She wanted to scream that there was a very, very high chance that he would not , but she didn’t have the energy to argue, instead she nodded in agreement. “I know.”

Lie.

Seto’s thumb stroked her cheek gently, before he bent to kiss her. As soon as his lips met hers, she melted into the touch, gripping his jacket tight in her fists. It was a kiss of passion, of everything she wished she could say but couldn’t.

“Oh, young love is such a beautiful thing.”

They broke apart, but Seto’s grip tightened against her back, pulling her closer against his chest as he stared coldly at Pegasus. “Are we dueling or not?”

Pegasus smirked, watching them with a critical gaze. “Of course we are. You can head to the arena whenever you’re ready. Croquet, please escort Reika-girl to the balcony so she can watch the duel.”

It felt like she was walking to a funeral.

“Reika!” Yugi called.

She forced a smile, forced her face to be calm, and prayed her eyes weren’t giving her away. “Hey Yugi,” she said, glancing over at the trio of not-duelists. “I thought you told me your friends weren’t allowed to come?”

“Pegasus made an exception,” Tristan said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

Reika quirked a brow. “You snuck on the boat, didn’t you?”

Tristan pulled a face. “What? No don’t be ridiculous Reika! We’re VIP’s, just like you!”

She deadpanned. “Uh-huh. Well, far be it from me to tell you off for sneaking in somewhere.”

“What do you mean?”

She shrugged casually, leaning against the railing. “My friend Sanji and I snuck into a 21-and-over casino when I was still in the States.”

“You did what?!” Yugi snapped.

“It was fine, Yugi, don’t worry about it,” she said dismissively.

Lie.

It had been an infiltration mission. She had mingled on the casino floor to get intel while Sanji had gone deep underground to find their friends that had been taken hostage. She had gotten into an altercation with Miss All-Sunday of Baroque Works, and the night had ended with Luffy nearly being buried alive in the Alabastan desert.

Yugi gave her a look that said he didn’t quite believe her, but didn’t push the subject further. Instead, he turned toward the tall blonde woman that had come in with them. “Reika, this is Mai Valentine. She’s one of the competitors here and she helped us out a lot!”

Reika smiled. “Hey, nice to meet you. I’m Reika Muto, Yugi’s cousin.”

“So you’re the famous Reika I’ve heard so much about this weekend. It’s nice to meet you,” Mai replied with a smile, shaking her hand.

“Attention: The exhibition match between Seto Kaiba and Maximillion Pegasus is about to begin,” Croquet’s voice suddenly cut through.

“Who are we supposed to root for?” Joey muttered.

Tristan frowned. “Can they just destroy each other?”

“Tristan, that’d mean we lose the one chance we have of saving Mr. Muto!” Bakura’s voice was nothing short of horrified. “I think all we can do is pray Pegasus doesn’t make any dirty tricks like he did with Yugi…”

“That might be wishful thinking…” Téa said quietly as Pegasus entered the arena and began making a fuss about the disks Seto had brought with him. When he called out for Mokuba, Reika’s heart stopped.

He’d gotten to Mokuba too.

She knew the duel was over before it even started.

“This is so messed up…” Téa whispered, Mokuba led away. “Why would he do something like this?”

“Because he has no soul,” Reika muttered. “This is going to be a disaster.”

The duel - if it could even be called that after one duelist read the others’ mind until they ran out of moves - was a bloodbath, and Seto ran out of cards in only a few turns.

“Well Kaiba-boy, it looks like I’ve won the duel and your company. But don’t worry, you’ll see your brother again,” Pegasus pulled an empty card out of his jacket pocket, and she had to force herself not to jump across the chasm, Croquet’s gun be damned.

Seto’s eyes flickered up at her a second before they became dull and listless. Hollow.

“Teach him to wash dishes or something!” Pegasus sneered as guards came to lead Seto away.

She hung her head, swallowing back the bile that kept threatening to overtake her. It wouldn’t be that hard to get to Pegasus. With Yugi and the others now in the castle, she doubted she would be watched and locked away like a prisoner. Surely, she could leave her room whenever she wanted and follow Pegasus wherever he was going. She could use force to get what she wanted.

She’d done it before.

“All he wanted to do was save his little brother… and all I want to do is save Grandpa. This isn’t fair…” Yugi murmured. “Reika…”

“What?” She couldn’t stop her voice from cracking.

“Are you okay?”

It was then she felt six pairs of eyes on her, reality came back into focus, and she stared at them.

Even if she wanted to lie, she knew she couldn’t - she could feel the exhaustion deep in her bones and knew it was probably clear on her face. “No. I’m not okay.”

“You’re upset about Kaiba? Why? He’s - ”

“My friend,” she snapped, staring at Joey with narrowed eyes. “He’s my friend, okay?”

“Kaiba has friends? After everything he’s done?”

Her eyebrow twitched in frustration. “Big talk for someone who bullied my cousin.”

“Wh - ”

“You think I don’t know what you did to Yugi before you magically became his friend?”

Yugi’s eyes widened in confusion. “I - I never told you that, Reika…”

“You didn’t have to. Your classmate Miho is my friend’s little sister. He’s the one that told me,” she explained. “So tell me, Joey, if you can have a friend - especially my cousin - why can’t Seto Kaiba?”

Joey opened his mouth, ready to retort, but Croquet’s gravelly voice cut him off.

“Dinner is served. Please follow me to the dining room.”

“That was an impressive show,” Mai said, slinging her arm around Reika’s shoulders. “But I guess that’s to be expected from anyone who can be friendly with someone like Kaiba.”

A small, genuine laugh managed to escape her. “You just have to know how to deal with him. It’s not that impressive when you’ve been doing it so long. But as for Joey, well…” she shrugged casually, watching the group with Yugi, Joey’s loud voice echoing through the hall. “He’s just lucky I wasn’t there before his transformation from bully to friend.”

“Feisty. I like you. I think we could be good friends.”

“I would like that, Mai,” she said as they took their seats at the long dining table.

Dinner was a blur, and as they were led to the rooms, Yugi followed her straight to hers.

“Reika… can we talk?”

She gave him a tired smile. “Always.”

“I’m scared about tomorrow,” Yugi admitted, sitting on the loveseat. “You know how we talked about our items having ghosts in them?”

She nodded.

“Mine… he… he can do magic. He keeps doing magic. I don’t know how! But the worst part was when he didn’t even flinch at the thought of Kaiba being knocked off a tower during our duel tonight.”

Reika pressed her lips together. “Have you… talked to him?”

“I’m scared to. What if he tries to hurt me?”

She sighed. “Yugi…”

“I’m serious! Dueling can kill people, especially with him around!”

“So don’t wear the puzzle when you duel.”

Yugi looked as if she’d slapped him. “I can’t not wear it! I… feel a bond with it. I don’t know what would happen if I didn’t.”

“Okay, then talk to him.”

“But…”

Reika frowned. “You don’t have many options here, Yugi, especially if you want to be at the top of your game.”

He sighed. “I know… I’m just afraid that dueling is only going to cause more trouble.”

That sparked an idea, and she rose to her feet, going to her bag. “Dueling, huh? Do you have your deck on you?”

“Yeah, why?”

She returned to her chair, setting her own deck on the table between them. “Practice on me. I’m not afraid of you, or the spirit in your puzzle.”

Yugi looked hesitant, but swallowed thickly and pulled out his deck. “A-alright… let’s duel.”

He started off hesitant, but slowly, he came into his own once again, and by the time he’d beaten her, the spirit was smiling, relaxed.

“You see?” she said, taking her cards and shuffling them again. “All you need to do is work together, and you’ll be just fine tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Reika. Goodnight.”

She collapsed onto the bed, her mind whirling

“It’s up to you now, Yugi,” she whispered into the darkness.