#his friend Téa!!

[millenniumdueled]

Yugi left his phone behind....

[victimsofyaoipoll]

Round 1

Propaganda Under Cut

Misa Amane

she gets treated in-canon the way fandoms treat female characters that Threaten an m/m ship. it's like, "oh why don't you go sit in the corner and be pretty, misa, while the Men have intelligent conversation and pretend they aren't ten seconds from fucking each other, doesn't that sound nice?" it's infuriating. and MAYBE it's better now but i remember her getting treated the same way in fanfiction too, like we all need to do just as badly by our female secondary characters as fucking tsugumi ohba, but with the added insult of making her be alternately oblivious of the relationship between light and L or actively trying to sabotage it—incompetently, of course, because god forbid misa be allowed dignity or moments of cleverness.

she's one of the first characters I think of when I consider old school fandom misogyny. The annoying bitch and clingy crazy gf allegations were AFTER HER ASS. She's also a lot more intelligent than people gave her credit for, but most seem inclined to take the Very Biased word of our unreliable, narcissistic narrator and his homoerotic arch nemesis and claim that just because she's bubbly and into romance that she's also a complete moron. Which is blatantly untrue. Everyone was afraid of Misa girlbossing too hard. Killing people and devoting yourself to the deranged twink of your dreams even though you know he'll never love you back??? Having a hardcore goth aesthetic and being so Hot even literal Death Gods are into you?? God forbid women do ANYTHING!

Not only is she the victim of yaoi culture, she is the victim of early 2000s misogyny by an author that wanted to introduce a girl character because he knew his male rivals were getting too homoerotic. She is a goth bimbo icon who portrays what I think is one of the few callouts for stan culture and what parasocial relationships can do to both the stan and the idol. The fact that she is a toxic fan of Kira and also hot, funny, sociable is tragic in its own way, which I think the author did try to touch on but was too misogynistic too really get through. Of course, she was reduced to villain status by the fandom and anime alike because she got in the way of the supposed romance in their psychological horror anime.

Téa Gardener/Anzu Mazaki

She's friends with Yugi, the main protagonist, who is usually either shipped with his other self (Yami Yugi), or Yugi/Yami will be shipped with the main antagonist (Seto Kaiba). She tends to get demonised a LOT. I have read SO many stories where she is turned into this evil, scheming harpy of a woman who will get in the way of Twu Wuv. 

the fandom does her so dirty bc she's in the way of at least 3 different yaoi ships she's so amazing and underrated tho she's such a great character

Was portrayed as a bitch very often in fandom! Is very not a bitch in canon! Supportive, occasionally snarky, occasional damsel in distress, good card player in her own right (this is important in universe, trust me), and very very loyal! 

[gx-gameon]

I just finished the ‘walk the dragon’ arc in DM and it’s always a wild ride. But it also really drives home the fact that the Gx friend group is just not the same as the DM friend group.

Atem makes a mistake. He lets his darkness win. He loses and has to face the consequences of his action.

Except the consequence isn’t that his soul gets removed, what he thought would happen, but instead that he lost Yugi. His most loyal friend. And this was Yugi’s choice. He chose to step in and take this blow for the pharaoh. He believed in him so much that even though Atem didn’t listen to him and caused one of their souls to me forfeited he still believed in the Pharaoh.

Showcased even more in their duel in the valley of spirits. Yugi through that whole duel is trying to help the Pharaoh face the darkness in his heart and over come it. He’s acting like he’s furious with the Pharaoh, emotions that the Pharaoh thinks he deserves. But is actuality he’s doing all of this to push his friend and make him better.

Even Joey, Tristian, and Téa still trust the Pharaoh. Yes they are upset with him. Joey punching him in the face. And they should be. But they never abandon him. They still believe he’s a good person. In the dub they insist that he was tricked.

Joey spends the whole season trying to get Mai to remember that they are friends and talk her down from her depression spiral/possessed state. He never gave up on here and even convinced Valon there was more to dueling and friendship. Like Joey kills this season.

And when they get Yugi back they are all so excited. Hugging him and telling him how glad they are that he’s back. But the pharaoh steps in once more to fight the leviathan and no one glares at him or tells him to go away now that Yugi’s back.

Every single member of the group still cares for and trust the pharaoh. Yes they had negative emotions towards him and the situation and not all of them were expressed in a healthy way. But they were all still there for him and each other.

And while some blamed him for his choice they could see that he regretted it and forgave him for his actions.

But Gx?

And again maybe I’ll feel different on my rewatch.

But the group doesn’t behave the same way. If Jaden makes a mistake they blame him for it.

I know in the dark world they are under a spell to have their negative feelings amplified but like Jaden’s not even calling the attacks. He got into that duel with only his life on the line. They were added in as a surprise later on.

And again amplified emotions. But those emotions have to exist to be amplified. They already felt that way about him.

I don’t know I just think about how many wild situations the DM crew got into. How many times their lives were in the Pharaoh’s hands. (His duel against Noah in the digital world is a great comparison) And they were always supportive. Trusting Yugi and the pharaoh to get them through.

Let’s compare the duel against Noah. He starts picking off the DM cast one by one. Each turn Yugi/Atem doesn’t beat him he turns one of their friends to stone. The group is watching each of their friends get turned to stone. Joey even watches his precious sister get turned to stone. But he’s never angry at Yugi/Atem. Their anger is directed at Noah. They keep encouraging Yugi/Atem to keep going that even if they all get turned to stone they know he can win. And it’s that friendship that helps him win with all of their souls guiding a card he needed into his hand.

Compare that to the dark world duel in Gx. Just like above the destruction of his friends was added on to the duel later. (Yes the situation is different since when Yugi/Atem won they knew they would be realized from the stone. In Jaden’s duel they died, or so they believed.) but Kadne is doing everything in his power to lose. To make sure his friends get out alive. He’s forced to attack. And his ‘friends’ blame him for everything. Again magic spell, but it’s enhancing emotions that are already there.

I just can’t see the DM crew behaving this way. Yes they wouldn’t want to die and would be devastated over the perceived lose of any of their friends. But I can’t see them yelling at Yugi/Atem that it’s all his fault. They would blame the villain.

You know who doesn’t blame Jaden? Jim, Axel, And Aster Phoenix. Like two kids who knew him for what? A few weeks? Months at best. And his rival from last year. These people shouldn’t trust Jaden more than his ‘friends’ do and yet they are better friends than the regular crew.

Like could you imagine all of the DM cast blaming Yugi/Atem for the situation and then Kaiba, and two characters that were added that season walk up and super supportive of Atem and help him. Like imagine the Walk the Dragon arc but the crew abandons Atem after he loses Yugi’s soul and Kaiba, Raphael, and Valon start helping Atem over come the darkness in his heart. You can’t that would be wild!

Again maybe I’ll feel different after my Gx rewatch but like they are not the duel monsters crew. Jaden needed better friends.

I don’t hate the Gx characters. I just wished the writers let them do more to support Jaden because they were all pushed to the background in most cases leaving them with the option to support or complain.

[dd-is-my-guiltypleasure]

A LIFE IN THE DAY

David Duchovny: ‘Love can happen at any age, right?

The actor, 63, on The X Files, songwriting and snacking

EKATERINA GERBY

Interview by Helen Cullen

Wednesday January 17 2024, 12.01am GMT, The Sunday Time

Duchovny was born in New York City. He studied English at Princeton University and Yale, before breaking into acting in the late 1980s, starting in TV adverts and working his way up. In 1993 he began playing the role of the FBI agent Fox Mulder in The X Files, which ran for nine years. He later played Hank Moody in Californication. He has also released three folk-rock albums and published five novels — last year he directed a film adaptation of one of these, Bucky F***ing Dent. Duchovny has two grown-up children from his former marriage to the actress Téa Leoni. He lives in California, with his girlfriend, Monique Pendleberry, and his two dogs, Brick and Rookie.

I like to get up at dawn because those are my best thinking and writing hours. I love the sunrise but it also means I can get some work done before the sun gets too much. That’s the best time of day for me. I have a coffee that makes me think I’m brilliant for ten minutes and that’s all I need to get going.

Food to me is just fuel and I don’t have very advanced taste buds. I think everything kind of tastes OK, which people react to with suspicion. For breakfast I like oatmeal — what my Scottish mother called porridge.

If I’m filming I still like an early start, but I shot my recent film What Happens Later, with Meg Ryan, all through the night because we filmed in a regional airport after it closed at 9pm. That’s a bit of a nightmare for me as a morning person, but we developed a great camaraderie from working while the world was asleep. My daughter, West, thought it was great to see a romantic comedy film with people my age, but I don’t think of myself as any age, so I hadn’t thought about that. Love can happen at any age, right?

Everybody wants me to have a hobby, but I’m blessed because I love my work. I’ve been able to branch out into music, writing and directing. With songwriting I can pick up the guitar at any time. If you wait for inspiration to hit, you’ll be sitting on your ass for ever.

I knock off for lunch about 12pm. That’s when I have the one big meal of the day that would be recognisable to other humans as a proper meal — vegetables and a protein such as fish. The rest of the time I snack.

In the afternoon I work out. I love the games I played when I was younger — boxing, tennis and basketball — but as I get older I tend to get hurt doing those, so I’ve found Pilates is best for me. It’s still super hard but the least dangerous.

I live in Malibu and the height of my fame has passed, so it’s not difficult for me to move around any more. It’s a different era now because everybody has a phone, so paparazzi are more a thing of the past. I tend to go to the same places where people are bored of seeing me.

There are always different reasons why fans might stop me — it could be still because of The X Files or Californication. I am very proud of The X Files. I can’t think of another show like it in terms of cultural impact and longevity. I just thought we were making good, goofy TV but Chris Carter, the creator and director, saw what was coming in terms of the culture of conspiracy theories. Gillian Anderson [his co-star] and I went from being unknown to globally recognised in a couple of years. We don’t get to see each other that much as she lives in London, but there’s no one else I can share that with.

West is an actor now too. It wasn’t something that I would have charted out for her because I know how difficult it is, even more so for a woman, but I want her to do something she’s passionate about. There are still dark corners in Hollywood but the pitfalls and dangers are much more upfront.

I do enjoy a party, but I’d rather spend time with friends in the evening. Because I like to get up so early, I go to bed early also. I feel electric light has really f***ed with our sense of mind and body, and that we were made to hide in the cave at night from predators and wake up with the sun, so I try to do that. Constitutionally, I feel like that works for me.

Words of wisdom

Best advice I was given

It doesn’t matter if people laugh; it matters if it feels funny to you

Advice I’d give

There’s no such thing as good advice — you have to come to it on your own

What I wish I’d known

Take a moment to appreciate what you’ve done before worrying about the next thing

What Happens Later is in cinemas now and available to stream in spring. The Reservoir by David Duchovny is out now (Akashic Books £19.95)

×

[one-idea]

I was interested in your “dream-stealer” devil fruit power idea! What would be the thing that stops is tho? The power of friendship lol

I know it won’t be easy to give the dream back. But what would your solution be?

“The power of friendship.” Téa from yugioh will haunt us all for years I swear.

I’m still figuring out the specifics of the fruit. I think the dreams would have to be stored somewhere. Else the only solution is death but you can’t guarantee that would undo the devil fruit’s work, it’s never worked that way for any other fruit to have their damage or effect magically reversed after the user passes.

So they have to be stored is a way. I kind of like the idea of floating bubbles. Not only because it calls back to the old comic thought/dream bubble but because they could be stylized so that each bubble is its own little dream world in it. If you look in the bubble you see what the persons dream looks like once it’s fulfilled. Or at least how they dream it will look.

So if Nami’s dream got stolen you’d see a complete map of the world completed in her hand writing. (Probable a lot of gold to)

Or if Sanji’s dream got stolen you’d see him cooking in a restaurant at the all blue. He’d probably be cooking for all of the crew, Zeff, and all of the beautiful women then met along the way. (It makes for a great way to cameo Vivi and other characters. This could also be used as a fun gag with the male strawhats being farther back, or could be really sweet showcasing all the strawhats together as it shows how much Sanji values his crew members)

But their dreams didn’t get stolen Luffy’s did. I can only picture Luffy’s vision of being pirate king as reaching the last island with all of his crew. The joy on all of their faces. Maybe Shanks is there wearing the famed strawhat as Luffy has returned it. Maybe Sabo is there cheering him on. Maybe because it’s a dream Ace is there. But regardless of anyone else. It is him and his crew celebrating together. Looking forward to the next adventure. Be that exploring the world (helping Nami’s map and Franky’s dream) or going on to accomplish one of the other crews dreams.

But as far as getting it back I think they would have to return the bubble in tact to Luffy. They can’t pop it. Dreams can be fragile things. If the dream breaks it cannot be returned.

This adds an extra layer of stress because the Strawhats don’t know this rule. Heck they don’t know what this persons devil fruit is. All they know is that Luffy pushed one of them out of the way and collapsed from one hit. When he woke up he gave up. He doesn’t want to go after this person and he doesn’t believe in his dream any more.

Maybe they try to confront the dream stealer head on. That’s when the user informs them of exactly what their fruit does. It steals dreams/ambitions and gives them power (I don’t know if this power is just greater speed and strength or if they can used the powers of the people whose dreams they stole)

They engage in a fight because they want Luffy’s dream back and Zoro cuts through one of the dream bubbles. Thinking if these are the things giving the user power he can just take their strength. Or maybe he’s thinking that’s how you free the trapped dreams. Maybe he’s thinking both maybe he’s not thinking at all. But he does it.

Only for the user to laugh at him. He just destroyed someone’s dream forever. Shattered it on impacted. And for one heart stopping moment. He and the crew fear that was Luffy’s dream. But no, the user is keeping that one close.

This means the crew has to find way to get the dream away from this person without damaging it. It also creates a tension because the user can pop the dream bubble at any moment. It would be a massive lose of power for them so they won’t do it but again the crew doesn’t know that.

Note

I don’t know if Luffy’s lack of ambition will carry over to his feelings about his friends dreams. Does he lose all of his conviction for his own dream but still believe in theirs? Or does he not believe in anything?

Just imagining Zoro realizing Luffy’s given up on being the king of the pirates. Listening to his captain repeat all the reasons everyone’s told them their whole journey it’s not possible. He’s to young, it’s not real, there are stronger people, etc. and looking at his Captain the only person with ambitions greater then his own and try to snap him out of it. “if you’re not going to be the king of the pirates then I need to leave this crew, I’m still going to be the world’s greatest swordsman.” He doesn’t mean it, not fully. If Luffy truly gave up then they need to separate (no matter how much it would hurt, he needs to keep moving towards his dream) but he knows Luffy would never give up just like he’d never let one of them walk away. He’s expecting Luffy to snap out of it, but instead he gets Luffy looking at him with such a blank look asking why he thinks he of all people can become the world’s greatest swords man. And just like that the crew knows that it’s not just his dream Luffy’s given up on, but all of their’s, he doesn’t believe in any of them anymore.

[rosalind-hawkins]

Can you please give me some minorshipping head canons? They won't leave my head.

Of course! Thanks for asking, I love these two together so much!!

Duke makes Ryou some custom resin dice for each of his Monster World characters. Ryou makes hand-painted figurines of all Duke's characters for him in return.

They gift each other the nerdiest things you've ever seen. Mug that reads "Rolling Dice Builds Character." T-shirt of D&D dice in pride flag colors. Art prints of their Monster World characters that looks like a movie poster for their campaign.

They are a switch couple. That means they take turns being the big spoon when they cuddle. (Sometimes Duke just wants to be held, okay?)

They love to play with each other's hair.

They shower together often.

Ryou falls asleep on the couch sometimes, and Duke will pull a blanket over him so he doesn't get cold overnight.

For Halloween, they always do couples costumes and throw a big party for their friends. That includes little monster cookies and tombstone cupcakes and all the fun party food you see in those home magazines.

Duke doesn't ask about Ryou's experience with the Millennium Ring, because he doesn't want to pry, but he will always listen whenever Ryou feels the need to talk about it.

Ryou started stealing Duke's t-shirts, so Duke started stealing Ryou's socks, and it kept getting worse until one day they realized they were both wearing only the other's clothes. Then they went on a double date with Yugi and Téa where they dressed up and acted like each other, just for the fun of it. Everyone had a good laugh. They now do makeovers often.

You know that meme of the lesbians? One leaning over the other doing their makeup? Yeah, that's Duke doing Marik's Ryou's makeup.

They go to Renn Fair and fantasy/scifi conventions together, always with couples costumes. Sometimes as fairies or as their Monster World characters, sometimes as Duel Monsters cards.

Duke wears high heels sometimes, to show off his legs, and is greatly in support of Ryou in frilly skirts.

They have a very comfortable, playful relationship. They're cute and flirty and happy and great together.

[kira-quartz]

Kira's Sim Yu-Niverse: Nerd Herd Again, Now With Serenity and TKB

Next: The Ishtars and the Kaibas

Happy Sim Saturday, cornflakes! :D

I've revamped the Nerd Herd yet again (this should be the last one for a while 😅), and this time I've decided to include Serenity and TKB, since they'll each be part of one of my main households at some point.

The old save was kind of a mess, because I started it back in 2019 and it was a while before I came up with any real gameplay rules, so I'm thinking of starting again from an earlier point in the timeline - probably halfway between the Ceremonial Duel and DSOD, although I'm not sure if DSOD is an ingredient in my canon soup. 🤔 So yeah, when I start posting my gameplay, you'll be able to see the whole thing from the beginning! :D

Yugi's aspiration is The Curator, and his traits are Geek, Good, Loyal and Self-Assured (character development, cornflakes~).

Atem's aspiration is Discover Life (by Midnitetech), and his traits are Genius, Competitive (by Kuttoe), Geek and Socially Awkward.

I was lucky enough to win the Goth Galore kit in a giveaway earlier this year, and it's perfect for Yugi! I wish there were more CC addons for it, though.

Joey's aspiration is Friend of the World (still not sure about that, but I can't think of anything that works 🤷‍♀️), and his traits are Active, Glutton, Hot-Headed, Loyal and Outgoing.

Serenity's aspiration is Discover Life (at least until I settle on something else), and her traits are Gentle (by Lazurite, adopted by Chingyu), Loves Outdoors, Music Lover and Cheerful.

Fun fact: While I was playtesting the cornflakes, Wonderful Whims told me that Serenity found Téa extremely attractive. I haven't set anyone's preferences yet, so I guess my game's a Sideshipper! 😂

Téa's aspiration is World-Famous Celebrity, and her traits are Outgoing, Hot-Headed, Dance Machine and Ambitious.

Tristan's aspiration is Soulmate, and his traits are Dog Lover, Active, Loyal and Romantic.

We still need a dance career. 😔

Ryo's aspiration is either Bestselling Author or Paranormal Investigator (from Lifetime Aspirations Reworked - I like both for him), and his traits are Gentle, Geek, Glutton and Creative.

TKB's aspiration is Discover Life, and his traits are Glutton, Kleptomaniac, Geek and Can't Stand Cold (by NateTheL0ser). (Yep, I kind of struggled, ^^;. He's not exactly evil anymore at this point, so I wasn't sure what else to give him.)

Having them live together should be fun, especially with Tristan thrown in... (I've had Thoughts about this. Not all of them will work in-game, but still.)

Oh, and I took some inspiration from this piece of art for TKB's face!

Miho's aspiration is Soulmate, and her traits are Bookworm, Cheerful, Materialistic and Romantic.

Duke's aspiration is Computer Whiz, and his traits are Genius, Geek, Romantic and Outgoing.

These cornflakes just kept rolling wants to talk to each other during playtesting, and these probably weren't even the same Sims from the original save! I'm pretty sure I remade them from scratch! It's like the game itself ships them! VANITYSHIPPERS, UNITE! (All... maybe three of us! 😂)

Next up are the Kaibas (including Roland) and the Ishtars, and then some characters I haven't posted before! 👀

[unlikelyfanhairdoalmond]

VIDEO - Live From The Hotel Edison Times Square Chronicles Presents Jayne Atkinson and Tim Daly

Anybody else wondering why the ring is on his other hand? 🤔 I like that he says “our” house. 🤗

Jayne : […] “I met him and Téa at the same time and of course, fell in love with them both.”

Tim : “We’re actual friends, like in real life. Jayne and Michael stayed at our house and we hung out together before any of this came about.”

——————-

Tim : […] “I’m glad my accomplice thinks- If she thinks that I’m sexy then I’m okay”

[sunshinies]

can i get,, pink , or graveyard themed names ? (so sorry 4 the 2 very diff themes LOL) please & thank u in advance ! :3

hi friend!

💗 pink themed names

blossom , blush , cerise , claire , coral , delia , ellie , faela , faye , flora , gloss , june , pearl , peony , persephone , rosemary , rosie , shimmer , téa

☠ graveyard themed names

abyss , angel , anubis , aura , deidre , eldritch , hades , lilith , lucifer , misty , moon , morgana , norton , omen , rain , rue , salem , stone , thorn

[deusvervewrites]

Yami AU: Strange to think about, but since Shadi hijacked Stain and Iida for his games with Yami, I assume that it's possible that Todoroki and Endeavor weren't involved with fighting Stain. And I assume that Shadi either ignored Native, or that Native didn't get attacked by Stain at all, unless Shadi took control of Stain after he attacked Native.

Todoroki might be involved because Shadhi is trying to provoke Yami by threatening his friends, like when he kidnapped Anzu/Téa and used a brainwashed archeologist to attack the others

[enemyoflactose]

I finished rewatching season 1 of Yu-Gi-Oh. My redemption arc is 1/5 complete. (I have to watch the dub because I don't wanna support Crunchyroll and I don't know where else to watch the sub)

My main thoughts are about voice acting since of all the arcs, Duelist Kingdom and Domino City side stories make me the least angry.

So to start off, a comparison between Dub and Sub acting and which voice I like more as of now.

Yami: His sub voice in season 1 is honestly so cute. He just sounds like he's having a constant blast.

His dub voice on the other hand, sounds so hot 🥵. And Dub Yami is what's keeping me from doing drugs.

Overall, I like both a lot. I do however think Dan just makes the character.

Little Yugi: similar thing as Yami, only his dub voice doesn't sound hot. Just cute. I love both voices and honestly can't pick between them.

Joey Wheeler: I like his dub voice more. That's where the personality is. His sub voice just sounds generic.

Tristan: For the first few episodes of the dub, Tristan has this really stupid voice that I just don't like, so for that alone I like his sub voice more.

But then from the Rex duel and onward it's Greg Abby, and then I like both his sub and dub voice.

Téa: I think I prefer her sub voice. Just a little less grating. (I still love you Téa)

Ryou: He sounds like Gachapoid in the sub 🥺. I love Gachapoid!

His british accent tho 😩

Yami Bakura: Gachapoid doesn't suit him unfortunately. I like his dub voice more.

Pegasus: stunning. Both of them. The performance is impeccable. But Dub Pegasus never said "Jesus Christ".

Seto Kaiba: a hard one. In the sub he screams so much, but in the dub he doesn't sound like he's one insult away from killing himself... I can't decide.

Mokuba: they both sound the same.

Mai: I think I prefer dub. Just sounds deeper idk.

Weevil: I love him and his voices.

Rex: I prefer his sub voice. Just less grating and he doesn't sound like he has bronchitis.

Everyone else: meh. Could go either way.

Now to talk about the characters, and if I relearned anything:

Téa's friendship speeches are so sweet and cheesey I can't believe people don't like them. She is always there for her friends and clearly cares so much. I will never forgive Téa bashers for what they did to her during the great Yaoi Revolution.

Joey isn't as stupid as I remember him being, just a beginner at Duel Monsters. Nothing wrong with that. He's trying. His utter determination to get that money for his sister's operation is seriously so heart warming. I love whenever he says "Time roulette go!"

Tristan threw a dead body at Satan. And grabbed Ryou's leg while climbing the tower because he was getting impatient.

Yugi being uncertain of Yami until the Bakura duel is crazy. Like he wasn't even having memory issues. Bro huh? He's also so supportive! Like baby boy was the one to suggest he and Yami fight PaniK for Mai. He told Yami not to attack Kaiba and send him falling to his death. He gave Joey Time Wizard! Yugi is a bro.

Yami is such a good friend. Helping Joey out with duels, got Mai her star chips back, freed both Mokuba and Kaiba's souls because Mokuba asked, tried getting pink shirt his star chips back, and never believing that Joey couldn't duel by himself.

Ryou was, certainly there. Honestly his impact doesn't really matter. He just explains Duel Monsters to Tristan and Téa whenever Yugi is dueling. His first appearance isn't even that impressive because instead of killing himself to save everyone like in the manga, Yami switches the places of Ryou and Yami Bakura. So even if he tries to help, someone else always helps way more.

Yami Bakura is so hot. I'd suck his dick if he asked. I also just love how his deck can not only do tarot readings, but is also really annoying to go up against. Like boy had 3 morphing jars, an electric lizard, a man eater bug, and change of heart. Those cards were fucking devastating back in the day. He also would have won that duel if he used Just Desserts one turn later, but oh well. Why did he lick the millennium eye tho? I get the tarot reading, but why did he lick the eye?

Mokuba. Oh sweet Mokuba. He just wants to help his brother, but he suffers so much.

Kaiba is awesome. He hacks into Industrial Illusions and causes a satellite to crash into an office. Killing people. He helps Yami win a duel. He rips a Blue Eyes. He annihilates with Crush Card Virus. My man uses Saggi the Dark Clown. His devotion to rescuing Mokuba is amazing and is really what has me start caring for him when I first watched the series 5 years ago. His comebacks and sheer distaste for the Yugi gang are fun and amazing to watch.

Pegasus, the star of season 1. He's in my top 5 favorite characters list. I absolutely love eccentric villains, especially when they love cartoons and are actually threatening. Pegasus is a beast. If we ignore his millennium eye for now, he's a fantastic and fun duelist! His deck is interesting and entertaining to watch, neither of his duels were boring, and the man is so funny. "Do I spin it like a top, or roll it like a ball!" I love him. He's also (so far) the only villain I feel genuine empathy towards. Y'all, I'm a sap. If a villain's reason is being evil because they lost their Significant other than I'm sorry I'm crying. My poor guy.

Grandpa: he trained Joey and Yugi, he gave Yugi his deck, he appeared in dream sequences to help Yugi beat his opponents, and he gave Yugi the puzzle. If this man didn't exist, Yu-Gi-Oh wouldn't happen.

Duke Devlin: I forgot how much I hated him when I first watched his dumbass Dungeon Dice Monster 4 episode showdown. He's so fucking mean.

Rebecca: not much to say other than I like her.

The duels:

Seto vs Yami (first duel of the series): a fantastic way to start off the series. Kaiba finds out Yugi's grandpa has the Blue Eyes White Dragon card he's been searching for, he steals it, rips it, and Yugi challenges him to a duel.

Yami takes control and is surprised by Kaiba's duel arena having the ability to make life-like holograms of the monsters on the cards.

The duel begins and for the entire thing, it's honestly pretty equal. Yami summons a monster, Kaiba destroys it. Kaiba summons a monster, Yami destroys it.

It's a back and forth kind of deal until Kaiba pulls out his own Blue Eyes White Dragon card, shocking Yami. He surprises Yami again by summoning another Blue Eyes, but then gets hit with swords of revealing light.

Kaiba summons Judge Man, and it gets Destroyed by the Dark Magician.

During this, Yugi is having his doubts about winning because of Kaiba's Blue Eyes and can't seem to draw cards. Especially when Kaiba summons his third Blue Eyes White Dragon and destroys the Dark Magician.

This leads into Yami and Yugi having an inter monologue with Grandpa about Exodia. How Exodia is split into pieces. Pieces like a puzzle.

Yami gains the courage to draw and he gets all five pieces of Exodia! Instantly winning the duel!

Kaiba is then given a mind crush and starts to question all his life choices.

Rex vs Weevil (half a duel): in this not really a duel, we are introduced to two characters. Since they have names they are obviously important to the plot.

The duel starts with Rex summoning King Rex and instantly getting vortexed. Then Weevil summons his Basic Insect and equips it with Insect Lazer Cannon. This lets him wipe out all of Rex's Life Points.

Weevil is then named Regional Champion, and Rex is the runner up.

Yugi vs Pegasus (second real duel): this is where we are introduced to Pegasus as a villain.

He makes Yugi duel him on a 15 min time lock.

During this duel, Pegasus is cheating. Not just with his millennium eye, but he's sending subliminal messages to Yami. It's not mentioned in the dub, but it still happens.

Yami finds out that duel monsters was created in ancient Egypt and Pegasus starts talking up a storm so he can waste time.

Pegasus wins the duel due to the time limit and steals Grandpa's soul.

Weevil vs Yami (the third duel): This duel was initiated because Weevil decided to be a little dick and threw Exodia off the ship to Duelist Kingdom.

Yami bets his deck and star chip, Weevil bets both his star chips.

The duel begins, and we find out about field power bonuses. Insects get lower from the forest, warriors get theirs from the meadow, dragons and winged beasts get theirs from the mountains, zombies get them from the wastelands, and fiends get theirs during night time.

Unfortunately, Yami doesn't get many bonuses.

During the duel, Weevil summons a full board of monsters. He gets mirror forced.

Then he plays his Petite Moth and Cocoon of Evolution combo. He gets Burning Landed.

He then summons his Great Moth. He gets Makiyued and Summoned Skulled.

This is a simple explanation of what happened, but Yami wasn't met without struggle.

A lot of his monsters that he summoned got destroyed. They usually only lasted one turn.

Anyways, Yami won and has three star chips. Joey steals Weevil's dueling glove.

Joey vs Mai (Duel 4): this is Joey's first duel! Hooray!

He doesn't understand that his land monsters can't attack flying monsters, and gets demolished.

Mai adds several equip spells and uses Elegant Egotist to multiply her Harpie lady card.

Joey finds out Mai is cheating with perfume.

Joey then summons Baby Dragon and the Time Wizard and uses them to win the duel.

He got a star chip and his first rival!

Mako vs Yami (duel 5): Yami duels Mako Tsunami.

Mako's monsters are in the water and can't be attacked.

Yami attacks the moon and then uses his Burning Land card.

Yami wins

Mokuba vs Yami (half duel): Mokuba is trying to keep Yami from dueling Pegasus because he wants to save his brother's company.

He loses the duel.

Yami vs Ghost Kaiba (duel 6): Kaiba jumped off a cliff and died. Now his ghost is dueling Yami.

He's psychology tormenting everyone except Tristan. Mokuba quickly became distraught.

Ghost Kaiba summons his Blue Eyes one at a time, and they all get destroyed.

The first one is destroyed by the real Kaiba because OH MY! He ain't dead! That's just some fat ass pretending to be Kaiba! (Or he's Kaiba's dark half)

The second Blue Eyes gets destroyed because Yami summoned Mystical Elf and Raised the Attack points of the Blue eyes he stole from the graveyard.

Yami wins the duel!

Mokuba got rekidnapped tho.

Joey vs Rex (duel 7): Rex is dueling Joey because he wants to duel Mai, but Mai will only duel him if he beats Joey.

Joey again gets his ass beat and is saved by Time Wizard.

His spoils are some chips and the Red Eyes Black Dragon!!!!

Yami Bakura vs Yami (duel 8): in this duel we are introduced to two new characters. Ryou Bakura and Yami Bakura.

Before the duel, the gang and Ryou are talking about their favorite cards (important). Then Ryou challenges Yugi to a duel, Yami Bakura appears, takes them to the Shadow Realm, puts the squads souls in their favorite cards, then tries to steal the puzzle.

Yami challenges Yami Bakura to a duel and when he summons the Cyber Commander, he finds out that all of his have had their souls placed inside their favorite cards.

Tristan dies to the white magical hat or some shit and Joey Flame Swordsman gets summoned. Then Tristan Cyber Commander gets resurrected, then Yugi Dark Magician gets summoned, then Téa Magician of Faith gets places face down. (She's a flip monster)

Throughout this whole ass duel Yami and the gang are getting their ass handed to them.

Yami gets Morphing Jared like 3 times, had Man Eater Bug eat Joey, had Just Desserts taking life points from him, and Yami Bakura was looking at him like

(𓁹‿ 𓁹)

The whole time.

Anyway, Yami Bakura plays the Change of Heart card and we get to see Ryou in a dress.

We get to see Ryou in another dress because he betrays Yami Bakura and takes control of his Lady of Faith and tells Yugi to attack him.

Yami then thinks about how Yami Bakura took the souls of his friends out of their bodies and put them in the cards and then wonders if he can do the same. He can he does.

We then see Yami Bakura in a dress but he doesn't slay as hard as Ryou.

Yami Bakura is defeated but he took a page out of William Afton's book because he comes back instantly.

Yami vs PaniK (duel 9): This duel starts immediately after Mai gets defeated by PaniK.

Yugi calls this fucking giant of a man a bully, PaniK tries to kill him with fire, and the duel starts.

PaniK is hiding in the dark and Yami calls him a pussy multiple times.

PaniK sure is a duelist. He loses his temper easily and doesn't think about the opponent's strategy. This Leads his Reaper of The Cards to get caught in a Magic Circle (I can't remember the name) and destroyed by his monster.

PaniK gets Swords of Revealing Lighted and his Castle of Dark Illusions has its floatation ring knocked off. His monsters get destroyed and he loses.

Mai got her star chips back :D

Joey vs Kaiba (duel 10? Does this one even count?): the entire duel is Joey getting annihilated. He loses. Badly.

And Kaiba gets insulted.

Joey vs Bonz (duel 11): This duel happened because Joey got kidnapped.

We also get introduced to Bonz, Sid, Zygor, and Bandit Keith.

Bandit Keith used to be the intercontinental champion, and he hates Pegasus.

Bonz is just a little guy who doesn't really like Bandit Keith, but he wants to duel with his zombie cards. Keith is helping him out. So they just gotta work together.

Sid and Zygor are Bonz's friends. They're just kinda there.

During this duel, they are in a cave and Joey is getting scared because Bonz is ugly (no he's not 😤) and zombies are spooky.

Joey is managing pretty alright for the first half because Keith keeps making Bonz play not zombies and they keep getting destroyed.

However, Keith wanted this. Because he put a Call of the Haunted in Bonz's deck. This means that Bonz can bring his monsters back from the graveyard as zombies, they're indestructible, get stronger each time they come back, and they keep destroying Joey's monsters.

Bonz then summons his Pumpking and makes his zombies stronger, but it gets destroyed by the Red Eyes Black Dragon.

Then Red Eyes gets destroyed by ways I don't remember.

Now all Joey has left is his Battle Warrior and Sword and Shield.

He summons Battle Warrior , uses Sword and Shield, wins the duel!

The Yugi gang are now trapped in a cave and Bonz and his friends get their shit rocked by Bandit Keith.

Joey and Yami vs the Paradox brothers (duel 12): Ryou leads the gang here.

We meet the Paradox brothers. A pair of eccentric twins who can't shut up and keep rhyming.

The duel is a tag duel. Meaning they take turns, if one opponent loses all of their life points that team loses, and they can help each other out.

The duel is in a maze. Each card can move up a space for as many levels as it is.

Beaver Warrior gets destroyed instantly by the Wall Shadow, which gets destroyed by KUNAI WITH CHAIN.

Some other shit happen, Yami and Joey gotta face some tank and a worm and spider.

Don't know what happened to the tank, the spider got stabbed with Mystic Box, and the worm had something something Magical Hats.

Gate Guardian is a thing and Yami says it's in the class of Exodia even tho it's not an instant win. (Shout out Gate Guardian for getting support 😔✊)

Yami and Joey won the duel with Black Skull Dragon and make it out of the maze with some coins.

Yami vs Kaiba ( Duel 13): this duel starts after Pegasus told Kaiba that dueling him was a privilege, not a right.

Yami and Kaiba duel with the new Duel Disk system. They're using the advanced rules, that's why it's one monster at a time.

With the duel system, you can recall your monsters and replace them with a different one.

Yami falls for the Crush Card Virus trap and can now only use weak monsters.

He makes his Kuriboh wall, and Kaiba summons his Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon to try and get past it. He doesn't.

Yami then uses his stupid fucking arrow card that I can never remember the name of because it's so stupid and dumb to fuse his Mammoth Graveyard to the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon.

The dragon starts to decay, Kaiba has a panic attack and threatens to kill himself, Yami says "Bet", Yugi stops him, Kaiba wins.

Téa vs Mai ( duel 14): Téa wants to get Yugi his star chips back and challenges Mai to a duel.

During this duel Téa summons a bunch of wimpy cards like Petite Angel and most of them get destroyed by Mai's Harpie Lady.

Mai has a bunch of equip spells on her Harpie and Téa Wabokued her once.

Shining Friendship gets summoned, gets an equip spell, and Téa activates De-spell to remove Mai's equips.

Mai surrenders and Téa gives Yugi some chips.

Pegasus vs Kaiba (duel 15): in this duel Kaiba is trying to get his brother back.

Kaiba tries to get Pegasus to use his new Duel Disk system, but it doesn't go well.

The duel begins and Kaiba destroys some of Pegasus's monsters, but then Pegasus steals a Blue eyes and turns it into an Ugly Ass Toon.

Kaiba starts losing.

We learn that toon monsters are hard to destroy because they hide in a book.

Also Kaiba falls for his own Crush Card Virus trap and loses.

Mai vs Yami (duel 16): I'm pretty sure Yami was originally being sexist, but I watched the dub so Yugi is the one actually doing most of the dueling here. He doesn't want Mai getting hurt.

Yugi and Yami keep falling for the stupid Mirror Wall thing and their monsters keep getting wrecked.

Then we see Harpies Pet Dragon.

Yugi Mind Controls it and puts it on a catapult to destroy the Mirror Wall (shit looked epic).

Harpies Pet Dragon comes back and we get three Harpie Ladies.

Yugi let's Yami help and they do the Black Luster Soldier ritual and win.

Joey vs Bandit Keith (duel 17): I love this duel.

Joey gets his entry card stolen and Mai gives him hers, so wholesome.

During the duel Joey is fucking shit up. He's doing so good.

Then Keith starts cheating. But Joey prevails.

He uses trap hole, kunai with chain, time wizard, baby dragon, red eyes black metal dragon, and time machine!

Bandit Keith is using Machines and everyone is wondering why. Like bro, machines are a good monster type with a lotta cards.

Anyway Keith is pulling cards out of his wrist band, tries to use Shield and Sword to wipe out Joey, it doesn't work, Keith loses.

Then Keith tries to say that Joey didn't use his own tournament entry card, but Joey shuts that down

Then Keith gets accused of cheating and is sent falling to not at all death.

Yami vs Joey (duel 18): we have to sit through a long ass montage.

Joey throws some cards away, Yami wonders why.

Yami falls for a few traps, then Joey falls for some traps, this whole time Ryou is explaining the birth of the universe to Téa while Tristan kinda stares off into space.

Joey uses his last Time Wizard of the season to bring out his Thousand Dragon, but Yami planned this.

Yami's Dark Magician has become the Dark Sage and he uses Makiyu to stop Joey's attack and wipe out Joey's life points.

Yami wins and I cried the first time I saw this duel.

Pegasus vs Yami (duel 19): the final duel of the arc.

Pegasus tells Yami that if he wins he gets whatever he wants, but if Pegasus wins he gets his soul and the puzzle.

Yami says he wants Mokuba, Kaiba, and Grandpa's souls to be released and Pegasus says "Damn I thought you hated Kaiba", but Yami just doing that for Mokuba.

The duel starts, and Yami is immediately having trouble. He can't destroy the rooms and the Gorgon's Eye is keeping him from defending.

Pegasus also turned Summoned Skull into a toon and it's being creepy.

Yami keeps getting his mind read and Yugi comes in like "what if we switch places?" And Yami says they should.

This gives Pegasus some trouble. It gives him so much trouble that the toon world gets destroyed and he takes the duel to the Shadow Realm.

Yugi dies.

The Yugi gang feel this and send him some good vibes.

This means Pegasus still can't read Yami's mind.

Pegasus does some shit with Relinquish and Yami tries his Kuriboh stunt and his Magician of Black Chaos is there.

Yami wins and gets the souls back.

Pegasus does like 10 minutes later.

Other shit that happened that was interesting/Important:

During the Pegasus and Yami duel, Tristan and Yami Bakura go off on an adventure to find Mokuba's body. This leads to the ring getting thrown in the forest.

The ring goes back to Ryou because love or something.

In the sub Mai offered Rex anything he wanted during their first encounter. This was changed in the dub.

We still don't know how Ryou snuck in the ship to Duelist Kingdom.

Shadi doesn't even try to find Yami Bakura. He just goes to one person (Yugi) and gives up.

I'll never forgive 4kids for editing out Yami Bakura sexily licking the Millennium Eye.

If Joey had a Magic Jammer he would have won his duel with Yami.

Domino City side stories:

Rebecca's cool. I like her.

Rebecca vs Yami (duel 20): this duel happened because Grandpa got accused of stealing Rebecca's Blue Eyes White Dragon card.

Rebecca's strategy is also pretty good for the time. Her deck is centered around milling cards to power up her Shadow Goul, and she uses cards like Witch of the Black Forest and Sangan to do this.

During the duel Grandpa is having flashbacks because he had a duel go exactly like this. We find out Rebecca is the granddaughter of Grandpa's friend, Arthur.

Yugi drew Soul Release, but didn't use it because... I don't know. We find out that's how the duel between Arthur and Grandpa ended.

Arthur appears, says some shit, and we never see Rebecca again.

That dumbass game thing:

I wasn't paying attention to this because there weren't any actual duels and I didn't like this part.

Duke Devlin:

This bitch really gonna say Yugi cheats in his duels and steal all the girls. Bro.

Duke vs Joey (duel 21): Joey almost wins, But Duke does an ass pull and wins at 50 life points.

Duke vs Yami (Dungeon Dice Monsters): Duke doesn't explain shit because Yami is King Of Games and should know how to play a game he's never heard of.

Duke makes fun of Yami for not knowing how to play the game he never explained, gets angry when Yami figures stuff out, and is just an ass this whole game.

I wasn't really paying attention, until shit actually started to happen because there was just a whole lotta nothing.

Eventually both players have monsters on the field, some are doing magic, others are just standing there.

Orgoth the Relentless is certainly a thing. He gets beat by the Dark Magician.

Yami wins.

Other thoughts on the Domino City stories:

I laughed when Joey told Duke "I like ya game, just not you."

More characters gotta duel like Rebecca.

The existence of Adina is weird. If Kaiba made her, ಠ⁠_⁠ಠ. If the Big Five Made her, then fine I get it. Mokuba is like a damsel in distress. I just don't like it.

I hope you enjoy this long ass wall of text. My redemption is going steady. I have noticed no change other than being slightly more unhinged.

Imma do this every time I finish a season.

[millenniumdueled]

When Other Yugi comes to, it isn't in the mangled remains of a derailed train. Though every muscle in his body aches as he shifts, nothing seems to be broken.

Most importantly, he's alive.

Groaning, he pushes himself up, trying to get his bearings as he sits on the dusty ground of the canyon.

"Téa...? Téa?!" he calls out, panic suddenly overcoming the aching. He scrambles to shaky feet. He's alright, somehow. But where is his friend? Where is Weevil?

Where is the fucking train?

Is this a dream?

Maybe he isn't alive after all.

Maybe this is the Afterlife.

Is he supposed to believe in an Afterlife?

He raises a hand to his head and groans again. That dull throbbing feels very much alive to him. He calls out for his friend again, to no response. The aching in his body is nothing compared to the pain inside his chest.

First he lost his Partner. Then separated from Joey and Tristan. And now?

The Pharaoh is truly alone.

Where is he supposed to go? What is he supposed to do now?

"I need to find my friends..." he half sobs, quietly, to himself. Why shouldn't he cry? There's no one to hear him. But there aren't any tears left, either. He's exhausted, physically, emotionally, completely. "I want my Partner..."

As the words leave his dry lips, the Other Yugi swears he feels a pulsation from the Puzzle that hangs around his neck. Some sliver of a sensation inside his chest, pulling his attention in one direction. Maybe it's nothing. Maybe it's just his imagination. But he can't just stand here and feel sorry for himself, either. Following the feeling inside his chest, he puts one foot in front of the other.

He's never been a fan of hiking.

The hot morning sun beats down on him. Did he really live like this once? In the heat of a desert? He can't imagine it. Sweat slicks his skin, makes his hair cling to his face as he continues on, following the pull in his heart.

He swears it's growing stronger.

Maybe that's the heatstroke.

But he can't stop.

The pulsation leads him up a cliff, along a narrow, crumbling ridge, back down another canyon, up another steep incline. How many miles has he walked now? He doesn't have his phone to check.

Eventually, after what feels like hours under the oppressive sun, that pull disappears. Other Yugi stops in his tracks, finding himself standing over another canyon. But this one isn't so empty.

Two concentric circles lie carved in the rock and sand, surrounded by the remnants of several large, stone arches and structures. Something about the sight gives the Pharaoh an uneasy feeling. As he surveys the scene far below the cliff where he stands, something else catches his eye in the center of those circles.

He swears he sees a person standing there, amongst the boulders and ruins. A person with blond and black hair.

No.

That must be a mirage, Other Yugi tells himself. A trick of the desert, a hallucination brought on by heatstroke and exhaustion.

Still, the Pharaoh feels himself choke on another dry sob as he gasps in disbelief.

"Partner--"

[dei-lab-assistant]

Nothing Builds a Friendship Like a Crisis

Co-written with multifandoms27 Summary: You wanted to work in peace, but a certain CEO wanted you to take on a job for him. Dub canon plus a version of DSOD. Female Reader. Set maybe two years post DSOD. Fun fact: I always write my Reader character with personality and specific description. This means she may not be as generic as is customary for this type of story. Each reader character also has a specific place in the Yu-Gi-Oh world, and is basically an OC with set connections and feelings about the various canon characters and other reader characters. This is reader B, who is immune to the siren song of romance, cheap, eccentric, logical, and hands-on. Word count: 1,100 You never intended to become friends with Kaiba. You'd heard too much about him from Joey over the years to think such a thing was possible. But... It felt lonely after Yugi and his friends’ graduation. Over the course of the three prior years, while you had worked at Kame Game, Yugi had slowly pulled you into his friend group. Always slow to form emotional connections, you found you were no match for Yugi’s bright smile and quiet nudging to join in the fun. And despite being four years older, you had been well integrated by the time Yugi graduated—although, truth be told, you were only marginally aware of how much you had come to delight in spending time with the group. At least, until it ended, then you became keenly aware. Téa left to study in New York. Tristan was working full time in his dad’s factory. And Joey spent his days working a collection of odd jobs and chasing down his dream of becoming a professional duelist. And then Joey started dating your younger sister, and it felt like losing two friends at once. Fortunately, you and Yugi grew closer, starting Pharaoh Games together, designing a few games which the two of you sold for a slight profit at a small scale. And Mokuba started to swing by; he latched onto you, quickly becoming close. It was Mokuba who hired you and Yugi to design the proof of concept game for his older brother’s new solid vision holograms. And that was how, amidst a whirlwind year and a half project, you met Seto Kaiba. He was the most interesting human you had ever met, he designed incredible things, and he loved his little brother—the three shortcuts to winning your favor, all in one person. You and Kaiba worked well together—which Mokuba encouraged—and to your surprise, by the end of the project, Kaiba was going out of his way to talk to you, tell you about his plans, and ask for your advice on specific elements of scenario design for his own Solid Vision projects.

You even tried to help Kaiba win a bet with Pegasus, and although the two of you eventually lost, it did help create a true bond between you, (especially when it came time to pay up.) Still, once the Solid Vision game was completed, Kaiba moved on to other projects, and you were left with nothing to return to but quiet work at the game shop. It was a good job, a good life, and Yugi was a good friend; but you missed spending time with someone smarter than you, someone who built imaginary worlds from light, someone with impressive dreams for the future. It felt like, after years of hearing about Yugi’s adventures, you had been swept up into the edges of something grand, only to be dropped again back into the mundane—and there were fewer friends to share it with now.

Still, the Kaiba brothers both kept in contact in their own way, and you had low social needs, so it all seemed like it would work out. 

While working alone at the game shop, you flipped the radio on. An old fashioned trumpet fanfare blasted out of the speakers as you scrambled to turn the volume down. You were all too familiar with the melody—the theme song for a rapidly ascending game company, Knightly Rook, which had been in an advertising blitz for almost a month now. From your admittedly biased perspective, the company seemed more hype than substance, but it was the company’s snide, barely concealed jabs at Kaiba Corp that irritated you. Still, there was a lot of talk from the company’s popular president that Knightly Rook would soon go public, so for the moment, even the news was covering their rise to prominence.

At your hip, your cell phone went off, playing the Kaiba Corp theme. Switching off the radio, you popped the phone out of its clip and answered it. “Kaiba?” 

“You’re taking Mokuba to Kaiba Land tomorrow.” Kaiba rarely bothered with the customary social dance that defined most people’s conversations.

Had you forgotten about a plan made months ago? You switched to your calendar app, “No, I’m not. I’m working tomorrow.” You liked jumping straight past the niceties too. “Besides, I don’t remember asking you to plan my schedule.”

“You should. You wouldn’t make yourself a long-term plan if I paid you to do it.” Kaiba gave a harsh little laugh. “Yugi can run the shop. I want to hire you to assist Mokuba for his park inspection tomorrow.”

“Don’t you usually do the monthly park inspection with Mokuba?” You switched your phone to speakerphone, setting it down and grabbing a box cutter. “Besides, Yugi’s out of town this week.” Cutting open a few boxes of supplies, you began to check the contents against the provided invoices.

After a moment’s silence, Kaiba gave a little growl, “Why is Yugi in New York?”

He must have checked Yugi’s duel disk location. “He’s visiting Téa.”

“Fine. I’ll pay Mr. Muto to give you the day off.”

“Honestly, just wait a couple of days and—“

“Do you think you’re not up to the task? Is that why you’re turning this opportunity down?” 

“Hey, we both know I’m capable of keeping up with Mokuba. I’ll be available in a few days. You don’t even have to pay me.”

“I’d rather you did it tomorrow. And I’ll pay you. The last time someone other than me did the inspection with Mokuba, he ended up covered in wet paint and quit.”

Not surprising. Mokuba could be something of a feral gremlin with anyone he didn’t like. You sighed. “What time will a car be picking me up?” You weren’t going to pay for parking at Kaiba Land if you could help it.

“Nine. I’ll have someone fax you your W-4. Fill it out and have it ready for tomorrow.”

“Okay.” You marked off the last of the supplies on the invoice. “Anything I need to read up on tonight?”

“I’ll send you the latest security protocols. But be sure to destroy the papers after you read them.”

“Security proto—Kaiba what’s going on?”

“I’m handling it. But I don’t have time to accompany Mokuba tomorrow. Just keep an eye out.”

You sighed again. Why did Kaiba have to be secretive? “Fine. But I’m not a bodyguard. I don’t have the right training.”

“Mokuba will have guards with him.”

You set down your pencil. “That’s good. Will we see you tomorrow?”

“I doubt it.”

“Well, I’ll keep Mokuba out of trouble.”

“Bye.” Kaiba hung up. Abrupt as always. Hopefully, you wouldn’t make any embarrassing mistakes tomorrow. If Kaiba trusted you, then you had no intention of letting him and Mokuba down. Part 2

[gx-gameon]

The roughest part of Gx is that Jaden doesn’t have a lot of real friends.

After watching DM and seeing how far the group goes to support each other. Even when they can’t help they still uplift each other. And ya I know Téa can get annoying to people. But as I rewatch DM Téa and Tristian are always supportive. Tristian’s not a duelist but he’s out here physically fighting people to keep his friends safe (duelest kingdom, battle city) they never tear each other down or put pressure on each other.

In Gx it’s different. (I’m going to rewatch it soon) but Jaden feels really alone even though he’s surrounded by people. Chazz might be a good duelist, Zane definitely is and Alexis can hold her own, but they don’t support each other. Cyrus is pretty useless for most of the show. I love Hasselberry but he quickly falls into the same trap the others do.

They throw Jaden under the bus a lot. They put a lot of responsibility and leadership on him that he doesn’t want. It’s not that Jaden won’t step up to the plate, he always does, but they aren’t supportive of him in the same way the DM cast is.

He doesn’t have a Joey who stands by his side no matter what. Joey’s a lot of things but above all he’s a great friend. His best friend tell him, “I’m going to fight to save the world against a cult because if the spirit living in my pendant. You know the spirit that possesses me.” And Joey immediately is like “you mean WE are fighting a cult to save the world. Love that spirit.(platonic) Love you. (Platonic) We’re best friends. You’re never alone.” Like Joey is THE ride or die. Yes he’s stupid. But his heart is in it.

Jaden doesn’t have that. Not until season 3 when Jessie, Axel, and Jim arrive. Jessie is definatly the most ride or die of the whole group. But Axel and Jim are right there to. They are the team going out into the duel world to get everyone back home. They save Jaden from himself/supreme king. Like he has support for the first time and it’s immediately removed.

Like I get why home boy went crazy. And the Gx crew see him rushing to save Jessie and go, “he’s selfish, he’s rushing ahead without us, he doesn’t care, this is his fault.” Like he didn’t ask you to come. You decided to come and complain the whole time. Most of you haven’t carried your weight since season one.

This is another reason why it’s going to take Jaden so long to tell people who his parent are in my Yugi raises Jaden au. Like homeboy grew up on Téa’s friendship speeches. He was probably so excited to go and find friends like his dad’s.

Cyrus is just not it, like he’s not a bad character, I don’t hate him. I just wish that instead of the writers making Jaden the only one who can do anything they let his friends help. But instead Jaden is constantly standing alone. They are there “cheering” him on, but it doesn’t have the same feel until season 3

I’m going to watch Gx again soon so maybe I’ll feel different.

[dd-is-my-guiltypleasure]

Born in New York City in 1960, David Duchovny graduated from Princeton with an AB in English Literature before earning a Master of Arts in the same subject from Yale. Following a small role in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks he won the starring role of Fox Mulder in 1993 on the global smash hit UFO series The X-Files opposite Gillian Anderson. From 2007 to 2014 – a period which coincided with treatment for sex addiction – he played troubled womaniser Hank Moody in Californication. He’s also written five novels and released three music albums. He has two children, 24-year-old actress West and 21-year-old son Kyd with his ex-wife Téa Leoni.

Best childhood memory?

I think it’s probably just being in the park playing football or baseball with my dad, in New York City, 21st Street and Second Avenue where I grew up. It conjures up memories of being with my dad and enjoying the sort of simple communication that you can have through a game. I did the same sort of thing with my own son, who was good at playing baseball for a while.

Best day of your life?

There’s no one specific day but in my mind’s eye I can see a beach and my kids. I don’t know if it’s a particular day I’m thinking of; it’s just one of those summer days. It could be on holiday, or it could be in the States; it’s really just that feeling of no structure, summertime and no school for the kids; being in the water and feeling the waves and having to protect them a little and teach them about the water.

Best moment on a TV set?

About two or three years after I started on The X-Files, I did the Larry Sanders Show with my friend Garry Shandling although he wasn’t my friend at the time. He didn’t know me, but I loved his show. The producers told me, “Oh, Gary loves you.” Then I got there and it was clear that he didn’t have any idea who I was, which was fine. We did this scene – half written, half improvised, maybe – and Gary said, “How old are you?” I said, “32” and he said, “What took you so long?” and that felt like a blessing as to me he was the king of a certain kind of comedic performance.

Best Hollywood party?

I didn’t really go to many, especially at the peak of the X-Files years. For five years the show was shot in Vancouver and in many ways, it was a blessing to be out of that world, but I had some interesting, if nerve-racking moments at awards ceremonies. I remember going to the Golden Globes and being sat on the same table as a really good friend of mine, director Bart Freundlich and his wife Julianne Moore. My ex-wife Téa was sitting there, and Téa went to the bathroom, and she came back and said, “Did I miss anything?” I said, “Yeh, they announced my award. I won and you missed the whole thing.” Which was not true at all. I only kept her in the dark for a couple of seconds as it became rapidly apparent that I had no statue.

Best moment of self-realisation?

In many ways we remain children no matter how old we get and in many ways a lot of my reactions were based on childhood stuff; not necessarily something that I am ever going to change, but something to be aware of and keep an eye on. It’s the fine line between realising that a lot of your personality was constructed a long time ago, before you were really smart about these things, or knew about these things. And that that’s the same for everybody – but that’s not an excuse to continue reacting like a child. So, for me, life is this balancing act between honouring that kid and also not letting him drive the bus.

Best personal characteristic?

Perseverance. There have been many occasions when I’ve felt like giving up on everything, but I didn’t. I don’t give up. I guess I gave up trying to be a professional athlete at some point. I loved baseball and basketball and before getting to college I still had secret dreams of going pro.

Best decision?

This is going to sound negative towards education, but to leave graduate school and try to find out what else I wanted to do aside from being an academic. Not to denigrate academics but, for me, that was a hard and good decision although a scary one. I was a dissertation away from my PhD. I had done four years as an undergraduate, nearly four years of graduate work. Eight years towards a certain life; a good third of my life pointing towards a certain goal and then saying, “You know what, I’m gonna go do this thing, where none of that matters.” At the time it felt a little like I was throwing it all away. But in the end I think I’ve honoured those academic years and they also fed me.

Worst childhood memory?

My parents’ divorce. I was 12, which wasn’t a good age – but it’s never a good age. It’s hard to say exactly what the impact was on me, but it was profound. And I think having gone through it, as a parent as well, it’s taught me what I might not have been able to process at the time: it really pulls the rug out of a kid’s life. You can sugar-coat it all you want but it’s a traumatic experience. It’s not the end of anything and it’s not like you can’t recover from it but you do have to acknowledge that the world turned upside down. It’s hard to say how my life would have turned out had it not happened but I think I’m thankful for being hurt. I’m thankful for the wound because that’s what makes you human and makes you an artist. If you can survive it and remain empathetic it makes you aware of other people’s hurt. And without that, I don’t think I’d have anything.

Worst moment of your life?

Telling my kids about getting divorced. I still can’t think about it without feeling terrible. It’s actually a memory that I push out if it comes up. I don’t want to think about it. It happened nearly 10 years ago now, so the wound has healed a little but it’s not my wound; it’s theirs. And that’s why I push it away. I’ll never know it.

Worst moment on a TV or film set?

I wouldn’t want to name the project because I wouldn’t want to hurt the people involved. Probably my feeling of being in the wrong place at the wrong time was more about me than it was about the project or them. But, yeah, and that’s just a terrible, terrible feeling. I’ve certainly had periods of self-doubt and I very nearly got fired on an early job. They gave me dailies to take home to see how bad I was. I wasn’t great but I think I was just young and green. I just needed some more gentle direction.

Worst moment of self-realisation?

I guess I have two self-conceptions. One is that I’m really talented and can do a lot of stuff easily. The other is that I’m not very talented at all and I have to work, work, work hard to do anything. And I believe I’m both of those things. It’s a fight when I’m not working. When I’m working, and I have something to work on; to put my perseverance and hard work into, then I’m healthy and I’m good. When I’m not working, I can be a little on edge. And I know this sounds like a humble brag, but it’s my reality. Obviously, I do a lot of stuff, but I feel lazy. I always feel like I’m not doing enough or working hard enough. Whether it’s in work or life, I always feel like I want to go and rest, to switch off and tune out. I also want to give up half the time, which is why that tendency in myself of perseverance is my greatest trait. 

Worst thing anyone has ever said about you?

It would have to be something that I thought was untrue – and there have certainly been plenty of untrue stories written about me. But then, I’m willing to entertain anything. Whatever you say to me, I’ll entertain it for a minute, and I feel like that’s a strong point for me. It’s a painful thing to be that open but whatever is said I’ll consider the source then come up with my own opinion.

Worst decision?

I think even some of my worst decisions have been beneficial. When I took the X-Files job I’d also accepted a small part on a TV movie, and I had to let the director of that project down because the dates of the two projects conflicted. I told my agents and obviously they said, ‘Take the X-Files’, which meant breaking my word, which I wasn’t comfortable with. But, clearly, ultimately my agents’ decision was absolutely correct. If it had been left to me, I would have made the wrong decision.

[capucapo]

Into the Storm

Storms berrate the helicopter as it draws near, towering waterspouts reaching into the dark clouds like pillars of the Parthenon. Rain swirls around them, flashes of lightning threten to blind the pilots, all while something darker than the clouds snakes throughout the sky.

The chopper shakes with turbulence, but the Other Yugi pays it little mind as he sits with his rival. In a rare moment of cooperation, they compare their decks, discuss their strategies, try to form a battle plan to save the world.

Finally, a geat tower appears through the wall of dark clouds and rain, a spire of white stone rising from the black, tumultuous sea. Mokuba, hanging on to the back of Isono's co-pilot seat, gasps as it comes in to view. He calls out for Seto to look, finally daring to interrupt the Duelists' conversation.

Somehow, the pilots manage to brave the winds and land atop that massive structure, before an intricate and ornate temple.

Without hesitation, Seto Kaiba and the Other Yugi exit the helicopter and approach that temple, both determined to bring this Armageddon to an end. Though Tristan and Téa both hesitate at the entrance, Mokuba marches in right behind his brother.

The temple feels ancient and brand new all at once, with all its long, stone hallways and intricately carved snake motifs, and not a speck of dust. It almost feels unreal, like a sophisticated movie set, or something in a theme park. But the oppressive feeling that permeates the air in this place is very real, making Mokuba's hair stand on end and his chest feel tight.

Seto tells him to stay close, and Mokuba wishes he could laugh. As if he could stay any closer. No, he doesn't plan to fall more than a step behind.

The group enters a massive chamber, dimly lit by standing torches but otherwise empty. The walls, floor, and ceiling of this room are carved in thousands upon thousands of perfect rectangles, each filled with the image of a different human being.

Téa gasps as she realizes what these tiles depict.

Mokuba feels his stomach sink.

The walls of this chamber stretch up, up, up into shadow, to a peaked ceiling too dark to see. And every inch of those walls is tiled in trapped, human souls.

So this is what made the air feel so heavy with dread.

Out of the rows and rows and rows of poor, unfortunate souls, somehow the Other Yugi finds that one in particular almost immediately. His eyes widen as he calls out for his Partner and races ahead impulsively, and the rest really have no choice but to follow.

Until an echoing voice stops them in their tracks as they reach the center of the expansive hall.

"You've kept me waiting, Nameless Pharaoh, Seto."

Who is this guy to use his first name, anyway?

"Still, my god feels blessed that those with strong souls have finally arrived. And you brought your friends for dessert, too. Good. My god is very hungry."

The torches flare, flooding the room with bright light. Finally, Dartz shows himself, appearing from the dim shadows as if by magic. Or some cheap parlor trick, as Seto would say.

Mokuba steps closer to his brother.

Yugi starts to argue with Dartz, to launch some speech about the value of these lives and souls, but Seto cuts him off. "You know there's no point to arguing with him, Yugi. You know what we came here for." Straight to the point, as always. Unwavering and confident as he readies his DuelDisk.

Mokuba feels a hand on his shoulder. "C'mon," Téa urges him away from his spot at Seto's side. He glances back up at his brother, with his own determined glare fixed on his enemy. Reluctantly, Mokuba follows the cheerleaders to the sidelines.

He had told Crowley he preferred his role as support. But when there's no computer to hack, no plane to save, nothing to sabotage or investigate or DO except watch and cheer, he feels helpless. Maybe if he played Duel Monsters more, he could fight too. Maybe if he wasn't so afraid of being the hero, he could have taken that Claw of Hermos when Joey fell. Maybe he could be helpful. Useful.

The Duel begins, and Seto goes first. By the end of his turn, he already has one Blue Eyes White Dragon on the field, and Mokuba feels his spirits lift a little. Yugi's first turn ends with Black Luster Soldier at the ready, and the teenager cheers.

And then Dartz begins his turn. Unfortunately, he had a fortunate opening hand as well.

He activates the Seal of Orichalcos.

A gust of wind snuffs the torches, leaving the chamber illuminated only by the teal light of the Seal of Orichalcos. The air, already thick with the anguish of countless trapped souls, feels suffocating. The temperature drops.

Across the playing field, the expression on Dartz's face changes, his lips curling back in a snarling grin. His mismatched eyes narrowed, fixating on the Duelist's with what could only be described as bloodlust.

Mokuba feels that hope fade as quickly as his brother had summoned his first dragon.