#thank you for the idea bc you threw gasoline on a fire we didn't know was already lit

[yugirl-with-dragons]

ok but on that space au vein - Space Race AU. I've done it for Naruto before and it creates such an interesting dynamic between characters (from both Soviet and American sides) I'd love to see how this would pan out with 5Ds cast.

At first I was confused because I didn’t get that you meant the historical thing between the US and the Soviet union ahahaha (sorry my historical knowledge is very limited) but it’s actually a great scenario if you write it correctly!!!!!! :0 @aceyugiohdreamer helped me out so much and we came up with a list of ideas, but then we went so beyond our own expectations, it was unreal!!

It came out as an AU and a crossover (because we didn’t have enough characters in the 5ds cast who would fit every role we were thinking of + some specific characters would fit this AU in such a perfect way!!!) so here’s the list:

The US would be Neo Domino City, while Russia would be Heartland

The main leader of the space project in the US is Rex Goodwin

Nobody in Neo Domino trusts people from Satellite, which is the same hellhole it is in the anime, but Yusei is that one genius who could dramatically boost the chance of the US team winning the race! The main issue is all the prejudice and bullying he gets from the other Neo Domino scientists because nobody wants to trust a person from Satellite

Bruno/Antinomy is that only engineer of the team who trusts him, because he can see Yusei is a trustworthy person, like (and I quote)  "I don't care where he's from, he knows what he's doing, and I need him. If you don't bring him on the team, I'm leaving to join HIM over in Satellite"

Crow is the guy in charge of the espionage program, idk why but he feels like the right person who can take care of that specific thing

Aki is the doctor that helps with the space projects on the medical side :’)

Sherry and Mitzoguchi work for the Neo Domino side

Important: Kaiba leads the project in Heartland (I imagine an older version of him because of time consistency, plus Mokuba might be on board too!)

Leo Akaba directs most of the research in Heartland. He works for the Kaiba Corp

I could see several characters in the Heartland team, they have nothing to do with each other, but I hope you can see why I picked them: team Ragnarok, then Kaito, then Spectre and Revolver. I can’t explain why, but they exude the right vibe

also, as a background story (and this is entirely Ky’s idea, to which I give the greatest chapeau): imagine that Kaiba started expanding his company into other regions, and at some point he moved his headquarters to Heartland because he felt satisfied with the state of Domino, and he wanted a new pet project to develop, and so he made Heartland COMPLETELY based on Kaiba Corp technology (which is why everything is so techy there, like even the trash cans are talking robots, because Kaiba was like, "THIS ENTIRE CITY WILL BE A LIVING MONUMENT TO KAIBA CORP!!!!"), and after he left Domino, it became Neo Domino, and Rudger/Roman (who was the leader of the space project in Neo Domino at that time) decided he wanted Domino to surpass Kaiba's legacy, and that's why he wants to compete with Kaiba, and Kaiba's like, "You think you can surpass me? Bitch, I MADE Domino what it is today!! Domino would be NOTHING without me! And now I've already built ANOTHER goddamn city, and you think you can best me? You don't know who you're dealing with!!!" And that's how it started

But then, then, the whole Rex, Rudger, and Dr. Fudo travesty happens, and Reverse Zero has a devastating effect, and THAT'S when Kaiba realizes this isn't just a competition of geniuses comparing their achievements, there's like, legit danger going on, and so now he's like, I have to fucking shut that whole operation down before they fuckin destroy the planet, and so now he's competing with them in order to not only discourage them and beat them in everything they try, but also to infiltrate their companies and corrupt them from the inside (bringing in the whole spy and red scare aspect of the Cold War space race)

About the Zero Reverse, the accident happened all bc of Rudger’s thirst for victory, he wanted to beat Kaiba so bad that he was ready to send the reactor straight to overload mode. Dr. Fudo tried to stop him, but it went like we know in the anime (and that’s how Satellite was born). Only Rex survived and he swore to never let such a thing happen again. He’s leading the project to the present day, but he still hasn’t given up on the rivalry thing. They’re all calmer now but they still want to get first

About Yusei, he would be Dr Fudo’s son, but nobody would be aware of his identity! (Not even Yusei knows his father belonged to that project :v he might know in canon, but he doesn’t in this AU because to be fair even the anime thing was hard to justify :v) Rex would look at him and get almost a heart attack though because they look sOOO alike, so he decides to investigate and.... oh, the irony