#the hint of the duel disk

[team-frightfur]

Thanks to the colour palette choice it also looks like she's facing down Yuri (and I guess her 'guilt in her 'responsibility' in her own mind). It's nicely symbolic and full of double meanings! Nice A+ work. Also forgot to mention but I love the addition of heartlands insane streets. I can see them lurking in the bg. No safety rails. Death city.

Birds and Stones.

[sketchyonlooker]

< A camera feed comes into view.

Numerous monsters and dragons are seen through Domino City. Some of them are climbing buildings, others are blocking traffic. Nothing appears to be getting damaged, but given that some of these creatures are as tall as a building, their presence causes panic in the masses. Several men and women are running away from a purple two-headed dragon in the middle of the road. They're screaming in fear, some of them trampling over each other.. A white gecko-like creature is climbing the walls of a building, tongue flicking as if catching a bug. Several police cars are surrounding it with the policemen pointing their weapons at it. An officer with a megaphone seems to be demanding its surrender. Other scenes are playing out on the live stream as if the recorder is moving very fast from place to place. A window-in-window video can be seen in the bottom right corner of the stream.> ----- < A screen-in-screen video is currently playing. Seto Kaiba is in front of a podium with hundreds of reporters pointing their microphones at him. The camera that is observing Kaiba appears to be one of the few in front. There's a hint of unease in the air, and that unease seems to be fueling the many questions being fired now. Many of the questions are outright accusatory. There were so many questions being asked that it all just turned into noise. Nothing coherent could be heard. However, as soon as Kaiba opened his mouth, the media fell silent. "After these events, we've shut down our Solid Vision systems for extensive testing. However, during this time, the monsters were still appearing; therefore, these sightings are unrelated to KaibaCorp. Something else has to be causing this."

---

DMGBeloved (v): omg. Of course you're covering this Sketchy.

CardGamesSon (v): Guys guys! I was in the middle of a duel when my Duel Disk suddenly died. Did something happen at KaibaCorp?

CardGamesSon (v): Oh hey, Sketchy's back to covering Duel Monsters? I thought they were on a food tour around the world thing.

Capu4Life (v): i hate the fact that when something weird is happening in japan, my first thought was this channel.

Capu4Life (v): then again, clearly the alien has the most up to date news.

BlueEyesBlondeDragon (v): @/CardGamesSon : KC shut the Solid Vision down because Duel Monsters appeared all around Domino City. The fact that nothing happened despite the shutdown means that KC is not responsible. Which begets the question who is and why are they doing this.

ManDuckPig (v): Dude. It looks like someone developed Solid Vision like KC did. Except they did it better.

BlueEyesBlondeDragon (v): NONSENSE. KC could do the very same thing if they felt like it. It's just that they're not out to disrupt society like all this crap is doing.

BlueEyesBlondeDragon (v): Seriously, if this is some sort of publicity stunt for a new hologram system, they've gone about it the worst way. I heard that several accidents happened because they got scared of a duel monster suddenly appearing in the road. Each one of those is a lawsuit.

I'mYourDaddy (v): yeah. That's me. Curse of Dragon decided to divebomb me while I was in my Jetty, and I swerved right into a fire hydrant.

CardGamesSon (v): OMG. Are you okay?

DMGBeloved (v): You okay?

Capu4Life (v): of course he is. if he wasn't, he wouldn't be here. lol. of course, he is a card game playing nerd. they don't run on common sense.

I'mYourDaddy (v): Thanks for your words of care, especially Capu4Life :^). But yeah I'm okay. My poor Jetty, not so much. I think I totaled it.

BlueEyesBlondeDragon (v): Sounds like it's time to finally get a new car. The fact you still had that two decade old hunk of metal is a travesty.

I'mYourDaddy (v): Hey. Don't rag on my Jetty. It took a hydrant for me. :^(

BlueEyesBlondeDragon (v): ::marik_creepy_eye_roll.jpg::

I'mYourDaddy (v): :^)

DMGBeloved (v): All the Duel Monsters here are dragons and lizards in this part of town. Where's my Dark Magician Girl?

Capu4Life (v): maybe she got eaten by a dragon lol

DMGBeloved (v): I'll feed you to a dragon. ::kaiba_death_glare_at_lumis.jpg::

CardGamesSon (v): Anyone know how long Solid Vision will be down? We were having a small weekend tournament - and going back to the playmats is gonna be such a drag.

BlueEyesBlondeDragon (v): No. Probably not until this mess is unraveled. Geez. It's like a feeding frenzy on the news and social media.

BlueEyesBlondeDragon (v): Major news outlets are accusing KaibaCorp of lying about shutting down Solid Vision and that they actually can't turn it off. Or that terrorists hijacked the technology and are using it for nefarious ends.

BlueEyesBlondeDragon (v): Ugh. KC stock took a major hit just now. And it seems like the media is trying to hit them while they're down. Assholes.

Capu4Life (v): the smallest violin in the world is playing for you, rich boy.

BlueEyesBlondeDragon (v): Shut up.

BlueEyesBlondeDragon (v): Wait. This seems familiar.

Capu4Life (v): well yeah, it's a pretty common insult, 20-to-life.

I'mYourDaddy (v): How so?... Oh wait. I think I know what you're talking about. Yeah.

BlueEyesBlondeDragon (v): Remember Duelist Kingdom. And the media was constantly attacking KaibaCorp after Kaiba went supposedly comatose. And later on there were signs of an attempted hostile takeover because someone was buying up stocks while the prices were down from the scandal.

I'mYourDaddy (v): I remember that. Someone asked to buy my KC stocks at a premium, 50% more than it's worth in fact. I held onto it cause you told me to lol. Turned out the buyer was connected with I2.

BlueEyesBlondeDragon (v): And you made bank, right? I'm one of the best investors in the world after all. Anyway, doesn't this seem very similar? In any case, it's time to add more KC stock to my portfolio. I gotta protect my nest egg, even if it's just a little.

Capu4Life (v): i'm surprised you talk to BEBD outside of duel monsters, @/I'mYourDaddy. how do you deal with his general smarminess?

I'mYourDaddy (v): Ah well. What can I say? I'm good at getting along with people from all walks of life, even the crooked ones. :^)

BlueEyesBlondeDragon (v): Shut up. You both suck.

CardGamesSon (v): lol

I'mYourDaddy (v): lol

Capu4Life (v): lol

[aster-pkmn-irl-real]

more notes under the cut in case you want lore. it's supposed to say 'spell & trap zones' i was just rushing when adding in the notes. idk what tumblr will do to the quality so maybe click on the images

plot

duel disk is based off of the d-pad model from zexal and the standard duel disk from arc v. i used rio and kaito's duelists for the most inspo

lowkey if you weren't here pre-redux this is a really good hint as to plans for @aspens-dragons lmfao

number hunter! works with kaito.

they are colleagues and brothers and best friends and mortal enemies and partners (like in the two guys who open a diner together but ten years later one of them wants to turn it into a chain and one of them wants to stay small and they part ways way. you understand.)

got involved with barian bullshit at a relatively young age [see below]

when he was about 11, he was a close friend of kite tenjo, and by proxy haruto tenjo, which eventually led to him also frequently hanging out in dr. faker's lab. not in like a child labor way, in a aspen is a fucking nerd and accidentally overheard something about parallel universes and refused to leave lmfao.

at some point [roughly 2-3 years, age 13-14] after the disappearance of byron arclight and kazuma tsukumo aspen started helping out with faker's plans; at one point, faker DID manage to open a second portal to barian, but it was unstable and vector wasn't there this time. as a result aspen, in true rotumblr fashion, fucking fell into barian.

he came back about 2-3 years before the WDC, around 15-16 years old, super fucking traumatized, with no idea what traumatized him and a card!! galaxy eyes cipher dragon.

in the time between then and the WDC he reconnected with Kaito obviously, but also restlessly improved his dueling skills; he went through the same training that kaito, droite, gauche, and various others did to be number hunters and well. hes certainly a number hunter. it was at this point that aspen became aware that he 'came back wrong' but he could never tell if he really came back wrong or if he'd just grown. it was also at this point that he and kaito saw each other as more rivals than friends, partially because of this, but also because they were both galaxy eyes users.

in all honesty, aspen doesn't know why he wanted to be a number hunter. he was never particularly invested in dueling before he fell into barian, but once he returned he found that he never felt the same sense of being alive outside of a duel. being a number hunter was a way of doing that.

additionally, as one of the few people aware of what happened to arclight and tsukumo, he felt that being a number hunter was the only way to find out what happened to him. despite caring about haruto, he really had nothing to do with his motivations to be a hunter.

post wdc arc i think he and kaito are on better terms mostly because haruto is not fucking dying

i think with the barian arc he is barely involved until mizael shows up and now it's like. 'ah fuck ANOTHER galaxy eyes? i have ANOTHER guy on my hitlist AND he's a barian? epic!!"

a lot of his dynamic with mizael involves attempting to interrogate him about what happened to him in barian during their duels. partially cause he did get his galaxy eyes from barian.

i dont actually know for sure what happened to him in barian.

my serious idea is that he tumbled into the barian sea and accidentally encountered don thousand. considering aspen was very young and scared and vulnerable it's very possible that don thousand saw him as an opportunity akin to vector later on and used him a a potential little hot guy until he got bored, and that is how he got his galaxy eyes.

my joke idea is that vector found him. which. yeah. its vector. and gave him the galaxy eyes just to fuck with mizael later on.

and thats it

i think he duels mizael with kaito on the moon and loses BUT. he plays a trap or quick-play spell that makes it so you take the damage from a direct attack and the original target gains LP equal to the damage you take. so like hes dead too. and then comes back with everybody else

miscellaneous

i think he'd probably have an arc v counterpart bc kaito did and in an arc v verse his ace would be galaxy eyes photon dragon. bc we love parallels

i think he thinks yuma is an annoying little shit but at the same time he wishes he could be that excited to be alive

he thinks astral is weird. not cause he's an alien that lives in yumas necklace he just thinks he's strange but like he's not allowed to judge cause look at him

when he and kaito's conversations are more than just silent glances he gives him shit about his outfit. "real subtle, tenjo" "at least im not a whore."

[autisticgirliesbracket]

What makes Rebecca Hawkins from Yu-Gi-Oh! the autistic girlie ever of all time? Here's what the people have to say:

Rebecca-related asks/reblogs: x This post will be updated after each round!

Image ID in alt text and under the readmore.

[Image ID. White slide with a screenshot of Rebecca Hawkins on the right, she has her Duel Disk equipped. There are text boxes around her which read,

"besides the fact that basically every dedicated duelist is autistic as hell, Rebecca stands out to me due to her Gifted Kid coding. she's first introduced as a young girl who's Duel Monsters Champin over in america, which is actually quite a feet considering most of the notable duelists around the world are either teenagers or adults, and she's only 12(8 in the english dub). that age difference between dubs is Another reason, actually; Rebecca initially seems much younger than she actually is, sporting pigtails and a teddy bear the entire time we see her, and it takes several seasons before we meet her again and see her in more age-appropriate attire. Besides her high intellect and great skill at a strategy-and-luck-based game, Rebecca also shows a pretty solid difficulty with social understanding. She's often regarded as Annoying by the fans, having a giant obvious crush on Yugi that she never seems capable of taking the hint against, and never being shown to have any friends besides her grandfather and yugi's gang, all people much older than her. she's also pretty blunt with her feelings and opinions on people, starting off incredibly rude and aggressive before her grandpa finally explains why she should stop being a dick to yugi's grandpa. pwease she gets so so SO little recognition and it'd be really cool if she was part of the recent trend where yugioh characters get surprisingly far in a blorbo poll 🥺"

"she is an obvious Gifted Kid, she's not very good at social awareness(constantly and bluntly flirting with yugi despite all signs that this is not a good idea), she has to be told by her grandpa that she's being a dick, she only really seems to get along with older kids, and her initial appearance is so childish that the dub made her 5 years younger than she actually is to explain the teddy bear. also she named her horse Copernicus." End ID.]

[bluewavesofchange]

The guardians of the Pharaoh

The rise of a new darkness

I don't own Yugioh or it's characters

Some mature scenes ahead but nothing too extreme. Just a fair warning.

Prologue

It had been a month since the events of duellist kingdom. So let’s see what the gang has been up to for the last few weeks:

Firstly Joey had helped his mom find the right doctor for his sister and had made the deposit for the operation. He was going to see his sister soon as the procedure was going to be in a few weeks’ time.

Grandpa and Seto had gone into business together, Kaiba Corp sending any new gadgets or games that was created to the store before sending it out to anyone else. It helped to bring in extra revenue for the Muto family as the store was constantly busy now. The family could now cover Lee’s medical bills and any other bills they couldn’t cover in the last year. this meant that Masami could spend more time at her and with her children and she could visit her comatose husband.

Mokuba joined Yugi’s group of friends, the young Kaiba brother fit in well with the other teens. He could act like a kid and wasn’t so alone anymore as he finally had friends. And the group liked the little guy too, he was a little cocky and had a hint of arrogance like his brother but he played it off as a joke for the most part.

Seto was doing a bit better. He left school and was permanently back at work. He had gotten another assistant to help him at work, this one being a close friend of Roland’s. This made keeping to a schedule, making sure he had time for work, time to spend with his brother, time for himself and time for his girlfriend. He was still having a hard time finding a therapist but he had other things to work on…which was a new duel disk. This one could be carried on your arm and could shoot out holographic devices so anyone could duel anywhere. He spent his nights working on the system, working on it into the early hours of the morning. He had built two disks already, one for himself and one for his girl. He knew she had a deck and they would duel each other every now and then when they spent an afternoon together. He had to admit she wasn’t bad, didn’t mean she could beat him though...and even if he defeated her they would end up making out after a long session of him teasing her.

Speaking of the Muto girl; life couldn’t be better. She was back with her family and was with the guy she loved. She could have them both in her life without any secrets. She spent time with her family during the week and would be with Seto and Mokuba over the weekend. The thoughts of finding her father had left her mind as the strangeness had that plagued her had calmed for the most part. Maybe it was in the past…

She would take Yugi to school in the mornings, either walking with him or driving around with him on her bike. She decided not to attend school anymore, feeling like she didn’t fit in amongst the other students. She wanted to find out what she wanted to do with her life on her own, feeling like there was more out there for her. But she had to admit that she did feeling like she was missing out a few things…

It was time for the Farewell dance at Domino high, an event for the seniors before they started studying for finals. Girls flooded the stores shopping for dress, making appointments for their hair and nails, looking for the perfect shoes and accessories and looking for the perfect date.

Lillian would walk passed them in the mall, feeling a little jealousy. Sure she wasn’t necessarily a feminine type of girl, normally wearing shorts and shirts, she used to get into fights with the boys that pocked on her brother, she never got along with the other girls in the school and she didn’t mind getting her hands dirty. But even so that didn’t mean that she didn’t dream of going to a dance with her dream guy, to dress up in a fancy dress, driving in a limo, taking photos, having an amazing dinner and most importantly dancing with someone special. Since she started to have feelings for her best friend, she had wondered if he would ever want to take her to a dance…to have her at his side while they spent a magical night together. But she knew he wouldn’t be into it. He wasn’t the type of person to go to these types of functions and to entertain other teenagers with his presence. And she was ok with that…

The sadness in the girl’s eyes didn’t go unnoticed by her brother, whenever they walked past a group of girls shopping from dresses or the committee for the dance shopping for decorations. He had an idea of what was going, the dance was the only thing on everyone’s mind at school.

He talked to Mokuba, trying to find out if his brother would be going to the school Fair dance but the young Kaiba brother unfortunately said no, Seto was too busy for something like that and he anyway dropped out of school…and since Yugi seemed to have forgotten, Seto wasn’t a senior. He had been in the same class as Yugi. When Mokuba asked why the short teen had asked, Yugi explained the situation to the kid, wanting to make her happy and he thought it would be something fun Seto and Lillian could do together…what could he say, the short teen was a romantic…a secret Yami was well aware of. Yugi had made him watch numerous rom-coms movies as a way to teach the spirit about modern day dating. (as annoying and confusing as Yami found them, he did it to spend time with Yugi),

Mokuba got an idea, he knew Seto wanted to do somethin special for his girlfriend but his brother was hopeless sometimes. This would be a perfect idea. He and Yugi headed to Kaiba Corp to talk to Seto.

It was Friday afternoon and Lillian was on her way after doing some grocery shopping for the house, finding a limo parked outside the shop. She was confused for a moment when she headed inside, finding her brother and Mokuba standing at the counter with grandpa, a weird smile on all their faces. She noticed an overnight setting on the ground, “What’s going on here?” She asked as she put down her bag of groceries. Mokuba answers, “Seto’s not doing too well. I thought it would cheer the sad sack up if you spent the weekend with him.” She raised a brow, this was the first she heard that her beloved wasn’t well…normally he talked to her. Something didn’t feel right. But she would go along with it. “I’ll quickly go pack.”

“No need.” Yugi held up the overnight bag, “Everything you need is here.” Ok something weird was going on. Yugi and Mokuba led Lillian to the limo, the driver putting her bag into the trunk. She says goodbye to the boys and her grandfather before getting into the long car, driving away.

Yugi looked at the other boy, “Do you think it’ll go well.” the young one shrugged, “I hope so. Let’s go check out that new game your grandpa was showing us.” They giggled and headed back inside.

Lillian arrived at the manor and was lead inside by Roland, immediately taken to a room where a beauty specialist and a hair stylist were waiting for her, a chair, table and mirror had been set up in the room. She looked at the assistant confused but he simply guided her to take a seat. She was so confused.

An hour later, Lillian’s hair had been done up, a few sapphire pins keeping everything in place and a blue flower placed on the side of her head. Her names had been done, a simple French manicure as well as her toe nails. Her make-up was professionally done, a mix of blue and white eye shadow decorated her eyelids and a soft shade of pink lipstick on her lips. She was given a set of sapphire earrings, everything looking so expensive…had Seto planned all this?

She was then taken to another room, a large guest bedroom with a large bed in the centre on the bed were two boxes. One was a box for shoes and the other was large and looked like it held clothes. She walked over and opened the box, her eyes widening as she covered her mouth with her hand. Inside was the most beautiful dress she had ever seen, the bodes was sleeveless with a thin lace along the trim, a sash of royal blue flowers and ribbons ran from the top of the right breast down to the waist, the skirt was the same beautiful colour with a mix of white and reaching just below her knees.

She opened the shoe box and found a pair of silver open toed high heeled shoes.

She didn’t understand what was going on as she put on the dress; it fitted her perfectly like it was made for her. She slipped on the shoes and went to look at herself in the mirror, everything she was wearing complemented her pale features and brought out her eyes…it was corny to admit but she felt like a princess. The door to her room opened and in walked Roland dressed in a tux, “Are you ready Ms. Muto?” she nodded as he held out his arm which she took as he escorted her out of the room. “Roland, what’s going on? Did Seto do all this?” the assistant shrugged as grinned leading her to the back of the manor and into the garden…

Lillian’s eyes lit up, there were fairy lights hanging in the trees, a pathway of white roses with little lights among them lead the way to the gazebo in the centre of the garden, white flowers covered the beans holding up the roof, a small table with two chairs where set up, the top decorated with a candle, a bouquet of white and blue roses (which shouldn’t exist) and the finest dishes and silverware Lillian had ever seen. She could hear soft music coming from somewhere… and standing by the table was none other than Seto Kaiba, dressed in a black tux with a light blue button up shirt and matching pocket square. In his hand was a clear box that held a corsage with white and blue flowers.

His breath caught in his throat as he’s eyes fell on Lillian. She was breath-taking. He had thought Mokuba had been crazy when he suggested it and that it would be a waste of time but…looking at his beloved now…it was all worth it.

Roland walked her down the path, bowing his head to his employer, “I present Ms. Lillian Muto…” Seto gives him a nod, “Thank you Roland. You can take the evening off.” The assistant smiled, “Thank you sir. Enjoy your evening.” The man left, leaving the couple alone. ‘

Seto turned his attention the beauty in front of him, “You look…incredible.” He smiled as he couldn’t take his eyes off her. A blush covered her cheeks as she smiled back at him, “Did you do all this…for me?” he opened the clear box and took out the corsage, “I did this for us…well Mokuba and Yugi did help.” Lillian giggled at his response as she held up her right arm, watching as he carefully slid the arrangement onto her wrist. He held her hand as he looked deep into her eyes. It was just them in this moment; this was their special night together.

He leads her to the table, pulling out her chair, carefully pushing it back in once she was seated. He then took his seat, a moment later a few servants approaches the couple with their meals for the evening. They enjoyed their dinner, talking and enjoying each other’s company as they ate their meals. Once dessert was done, Seto got up and left for a moment before retuning with a large box. Lillian raised a brow as he sets it on the table once in front of her, “What’s this?”

“Just a little something I’ve been working on.” He said proudly as he sat down. She was curious as to what was inside the box, it was huge…it had to be something special if Seto had made it…she slowly lifted the lid and was left speechless. Inside was a blue and white duel disk, it was sleek and beautiful; Lillian’s name was carved under the life point gage. And on the compartment where the cards were meant to go was the Blue eyes necklace she thought she had lost…she was speechless for a second before giggling, the billionaire raising a brow, “What’s so funny?”

“It’s nothing just…this is so like you…” She smiled at him as she reached over and intertwined her fingers with his, “I love it.” he smiled, glad she liked it as he stood up, walking around the table and picking up the necklace, placing it around her neck. He then took her hand and guided her to stand, the music in the background stopping for a second before starting up again, a soft slow song starting to play as he rested his other hand on her hip and started to slowly sway with her as she rested her hand on his shoulder.

Lillian couldn’t stop smiling; this night had been everything she dreamed of. Seto leaned down and rested her forehead against his beloveds, swaying slowly with her to the tune of the music, “You make my life so much better just by being in it…I would be lost without you…I love you so much…and I will always love you.”

Lillian felt her heart sing as she listened to his words, “You are my light…my hero…the one person that brought joy and hope back into my life all those years ago…you will always have my heart…I love you Seto Kaiba…forever and always…” she leaned up and pressed her lips against Kaiba’s, holding him close as they embraced each other, Lillian running her fingers through his brunet hair as she poured her heart and soul into their kiss. She wished this will last forever…

Eventually the couple made their way to Seto’s bedroom, their clothed slowly being removed along the way, the tall brunet laid his beautiful woman on the bed, his hands running over her naked sides as he pressed his firm body against hers, his lips kissing and nipping at her neck and along her collar bone, drawing the most beautiful moans from the raven head beneath him. Her hands ran over his back, her fingers tracing any scar she came across as his hands explored her body in return…

They came together as one a beautiful symphony of moans, thrusting and writhing bodies until they cried out while climaxing, leaving the two of them breathless…

The two lovers lay together in the afterglow of their lovemaking, a blanket pulled over the both of them. The brunet resting his head on Lillian’s naked chest, his gazed fixated on her tattooed arm, running his fingers over the images, tracing the delicate lines. Lillian had her eyes closed as she was lazily playing with his hair, humming softly as she felt so relaxed and mellow, and a soft smile on her face. Seto’s eyes slowly fell shut as he fell into a peaceful sleep, snuggled up with the girl that held claim over his heart.

Lillian was about to fall asleep when she notices a pair of golden eyes staring at her from the shadows. But a second later it was gone. She if she was seeing things but that would be a thought for later as she fell asleep.

[antihibikase2]

Numeron Code : Mary and The Amusement Park

A superb development unfolds- alarms are flooding Aschenputtel's Castle! The boy beams a smile more sinister than the demon. Beaming in innocence, cheeks stuffed with caramels, in this amusement park. I'll cut this chain of negativities

When Piper accepted Team Plasma's offer, he knew he would be selling his soul away to the devil.

At the time, it was a decision that only impacted him; so he had no qualms being selfish.

Who was to care if Cheren Piper, the boy who cared only about winning and being the best, were to disappear from the public eye for a moment's notice?

It would all be worth it in the end- their hatred, their anger, his suffering and his loneliness,

All of it would mean something once Piper reached that ideal of strength.

He stepped out of the spotlight and into the shadows, shedding his jacket in favor of the cloak that Ghetsis had given him; with it, he graciously welcomed the gifts that the Harmonia family had bestowed upon him, and dutifully attended to his assignments.

To be a number hunter, to seek out those who were unjust and unfairly blessed, perhaps Piper found his calling in putting these weaklings to their place.

But, as he strides in the hallways of the castle with his head held high, a flurry of grunts pass by, huddling over the figure in the center of the crowd.

He had assumed it was one of those sages-

Upon closer look, however, he sees a familiar head of blue-gray hair.

...

He had placed second in a tournament once more.

While many could not argue that he had the skill to make it to the stars, no one in Nimbasa City could vouch for this young duelist to be taken in by any professional dueling circuit.

Piper was, simply, a brat.

Any good will he could foster in the dueling scene was immediately stifled by his personality- some found him too arrogant, others too temperamental, and rumors of his infamy carried themselves in the streets, sullying whatever image he was trying to craft for himself.

As if that would keep him down- if Piper was anything, it was idealistic.

No matter how many bridges he burned along the way, he would keep marching on, and one day, his efforts would be rewarded.

That was what he thought to himself as he looked down at the silver medal around his neck,

and he hears someone clapping and cheering for him from the stands.

...

The Diviner of the Herald was a peculiar presence in the castle- he did not dine in the table with Piper and his "family", but rather, he took his place by Zinzolin's side with the other sages, as the latter touted and hailed him as a gift from the Heralds himself.

Piper was not certain that was a wise move- in front of Ghetsis, of all people.

Still, Zinzolin talks and sings the praises of this pure-hearted youth, claiming he had been able to see the angels; his mere mortal form could not handle their holy presence, however, and he was driven to silence as a result.

Piper clutches onto his fork as he bit down on his dinner.

He knew that was nothing but lies.

Even when Anthea tries to stir her family's attention away from the sages' table, Piper could not tear his eyes away from The Diviner.

How could he, when his dead-eyed friend sits there like a doll, head lowered like a sinner?

...

When Piper asked the strange boy why he chose to cheer for him, he couldn't hide his disappointment at his answer.

"We have the same name!"

Still, there was a hint of amusement.

Cheren Slater claimed he was no duelist, despite the presence of a folded duel disk clasped on the belt for his deck- which looked worn and used.

A peculiar boy. He said he was from outside the region, and had only moved in recently with his brother, who was terribly busy to spend time with him.

Lonely at Castelia Heights, he opted to travel to Nimbasa day-to-day to seek some form of entertainment from beyond his computer screens- and found himself drawn to the liveliness of Big Stadium and the tournaments it hosted.

He had seen all of Piper's matches recently.

He had nothing but admiration for Piper's skill- nevermind that it always landed him as second best.

Normally, Piper got short with people like those; he had no need for pity or false praises, especially from a fool that claimed to not duel.

But Slater was genuine- and the smile he gave him was warm.

Eventually, Piper finds himself performing not only for himself, but for his sole cheerleader at the stands.

...

Ghetsis partners Piper with The Diviner during a tag duel against grunts, claiming it would be a show of cooperation between Team Plasma's newly acquired number hunter and The Herald's Guidance- which was a cult in all but name, but Piper kept his mouth shut.

He did not want to know why Ghetsis was housing The Herald's Guidance within the walls of his castle, perfectly willing to let Zinzolin run his pet project in tandem with Team Plasma's current agenda.

All he knew was that The Diviner was his friend- his partner, locked away somewhere he couldn't reach, and those empty eyes were proof.

Under the watchful eye of Team Plasma's lord, however, he could not disobey.

But the least Piper could do was to keep him safe.

...

"Slater, what's wrong?"

Slater forces a smile, clutching onto his deck case- Piper noticed immediately it was empty.

"Um, I was challenged to a duel, see, and I lost terribly-"

"They took your deck."

The other bit down his lip, but nodded.

For the first time in awhile, Piper felt fury for someone other than himself- the world had already been unfair to someone like him, someone he knew could be callous and cruel.

But to Slater? His friend who had done nothing wrong but support him in all his matches? His sole audience?

Though rage bubbled inside of him, a mad grin stretches on Piper's face.

It had been awhile since he got to duel outside Big Stadium.

He was due for some downtime.

"Show them to me."

...

Though they shared their life points, Piper ensured that all attacks and effects from the enemy were dealt with.

A flawless victory, zero to four thousand.

But Ghetsis was not impressed.

He knew Piper did not keep himself safe for the sake of perfection.

As the duel ended, he catches Piper attempting to talk to his partner- who looks at Piper with those same empty eyes, and asks a question that breaks his heart in two.

"Who are you?"

...

"Don't be so reckless!"

For the first time since their meeting, Slater showed anger, fists balled on his side.

Laid on the pavement, Piper had a victorious smirk as he held up Slater's deck to the sky- riling up the other party with his burn tactics had been worth it, despite the physical beating he received afterwards from his sore loser of an opponent.

"It's fine-"

"No it's not!" Slater cried. "It's- yes, it's important, but do you think I would value a stack of cards over your safety?!"

Piper blinks. The smug expression of his is wiped in an instant.

"Slater-"

"I don't understand! Everyone is so cruel to you- I don't care if they think you deserve it! You don't!"

Tears start to form in the corner of his eyes.

Suddenly, Piper felt guilt.

"Please, at the very least," The other starts to sob, covering his face with sleeve-clad hands. "Let me tend to your wounds. We're friends, aren't we?"

Friends..

"No, we're not."

When Slater looks up, Piper's smile had turned from pure madness to what could only be described as fondness.

"We're partners."

...

This time, a test duel between Piper and The Diviner had been set up, to observe how the numbers collected would react when Piper had used them to their fullest.

Unfortunately, the experiment ended in a failure.

Only a few turns in, The Diviner loses his consciousness, and Piper runs forward to catch him in his arms.

With a hint of amusement, Ghetsis watches as his tool- who had supposedly abandoned his old self, proceed to cry out for help like a weakling, begging for the audience of sages and grunts to help his husk of a friend.

Unsurprisingly, that fool N and his sisters approach the scene.

As The Diviner is taken away to the medical ward, Zinzolin laments Piper's influence on the boy- all while Ghetsis sees a new opportunity.

Piper had been falling behind on number hunting as of late.

Perhaps he needed a little push in the right direction.

...

"I want to get stronger. Not just for myself. But for him too."

[sasuhinasno1fan]

How Lukadrien confessed when Chloe took matters into her own hands

@etherealxgenie I’m your secret santa for the @lukadrienvault gift exchange! I decided since it was at the forefront of my mind to do a Yu-Gi-Oh! au fic for our favourite King of Games and CEO. I added in a few of my own headcannons into this for the au, so I hope you enjoy! Happy Holidays!

Chloe took Adrien in, watching as he flicked through paperwork, seamlessly checking his laptop. Nathalie would no doubt be back in a few minutes, ready to answer anything Adrien had questions on.

“Where’s Rose?” she asked, glancing at the framed photo Adrien had of the two. From the background, she guessed it was on his jet, though Adrien seemed to always gain new ways of transportation, so who knew?

“With Juleka.” He answered, pulling something up on his laptop.

She thought of the girl with purple hair, the one Adrien shelled over a massive chunk of money so she could have a surgery. Adrien would constantly say he got paid back when the bank finally put Luka’s winnings from Duelist Kingdom in his account, but still. For the longest time, she was sure the only person who could pull Adrien from his CEO wall was Rose. She and Nathalie would get lucky at times but Gabriel got his claws into Adrien, keeping him a certain way. Then this blue haired duelist who seemed to switch personalities at the drop of a hat appeared and someone break down Adrien’s walls.

“When are you gonna ask him out?”

That got a reaction, pulling him from his work and looking at her. She didn’t know why he was surprised. She’d joined in a few of their adventures in understanding the simple looking jewellery that usually had a spirit connected to them and she wasn’t blind. Adrien was sweet on Luka and he was the same on Adrien. When he got genuinely angry when her scathing remarks were starting to rub Luka the wrong way, it was so obvious. He never cared much before, telling her to relax and continue later, but he actually yelled at her then. Rose had gotten mad too which meant Luka was really important to them.

“C-Chloe!”

“What? I’m not wrong, am I? I’m sure Plagg agrees with me.” The spirit in the ring didn’t take Adrien over since being released with his God Card, but she knew she was right. “Seems like blueberry likes you, so what’s stopping you?”

Nathalie came in and Adrien quickly ended the conversation, focusing on his assistant.

“Adrien, we still need to talk about the release party for this Duel Disk. You mentioned you wanted to hint at the rideable duelling arenas, this would be the best time, especially since we’re nearly done with the prototype.”

Adrien groaned, flopping back in his seat so hard, the white trench coat he wore fell to the floor. “Parties mean dates. No date means beating off investors’ daughters all evening. And doing that all evening means I’ll be in a bad mood which leads to a crap party and me all over tabloids. Can’t I just do a press release?”

“Just because we were busy with finding the God Cards, causing the spirts to be released fully from the items, your dad and Felix and the insanity that was Alya and Lila doesn’t mean you shouldn’t celebrate an amazing achievement. How is Felix by the way? Will he make an appearance at the party?” Chloe asked, mostly cause the party would make Adrien squirm.

“He’s fine, and no. He’s still got to regain strength in his body after having his mind stuck in a computer for years.”

“She’s right Adrien. The release was overshadowed by Battle City and everything else. It would do well to have this event, help increase our footprint as you will, with all the unpleasantness left over thanks to the Rare Card Hunters.”

“And if you bring a date, you won’t have to worry about investors. Mostly.” Chloe happily added in.

Adrien glanced between them both and groaned. “Fine. Nathalie, you’re in charge. I just want to go in, give a speech and disappear. I’d rather until we get info on competitors if they’re close to guessing our next venture so I know if they plan to try their hand.”

“Very well. Will I be inviting the usual list?”

“Please.”

“How about the group? I’m sure they could do with an excuse to celebrate as well.”

Adrien glanced at Chloe, like she was going to say something about what she’d brought up before. she just smirked at him, watching him silently squirm before he let out an annoyed huff.

“Yeah, you can invite the others too.”

                                                    ___________

Luka jumped when the door to his part time job burst open. A curse was on his lips when he saw Chloe standing in the doorway, looking as queen like as ever.

‘Odd,’ Sass said, floating over his shoulder and annoyingly missing the apron Luka had to wear while working. He copied everything else Luka wore, but not the apron. ‘This is the last place I thought she’d be.’

He couldn’t disagree with the spirit. Chloe worked for Adrien, as well as being his oldest friend and she took her job as a duelist very seriously, since she was sponsored by the Agreste Corp. She tended to rub him the wrong way a lot of the times with the way she acted but he was sure if Adrien acted like an egotistical tyrant to those who upset him, Chloe would take a bit of getting used too.

She walked in, her judgement of the place obvious, even from behind those big sunglasses of hers.

“Chloe. Can I help you? We have new Booster packs.” He was sure Adrien got her whatever cards she wanted, but he had zero clue as to why she’d be here. Adrien was taking school off for a week to catch up work things, Rose and Juleka were hanging out, Ali somehow nudging his way in and the others were doing things, enjoying the quite while it lasted.

“This place is pathetic.”

“You can leave.” He reminded, trying not to get angry. He was tempted to switch and let Sass deal with her. He was a former prince from what they figured out, he delt with annoying ladies.

‘I don’t think many women had a place in high society work. Though Chloe would probably have no issue. Also, I have a feeling she’d just order me to switch back.’

Chloe pushed her sunglasses up and was now digging in her purse before she slapped something on the glass counter and stood there, haughty as ever. “What’s this?”

“I’m playing messenger to all your dumb friends and dropping off your invites to the launch party for the Duel Disk.”

“But…” he glanced at where his Duel Disk was sticking out from his bag, half covered by his jacket.

“Yes, but it’s original launch was overshadowed by Battle City, which he did put together for you and your ghost friend. So, we’re doing it now. You’d better be there.”

He picked up the invite, looking at his name in cursive, the fact that it was also addressed to Sass. He’d never really stepped into Adrien’s world of glitz and glamor, the CEO more than willing to live the life of hanging out at arcades and being normal. The virtual world was more than enough of an insight to how Adrien lived before Sass broke him in a way that he needed to rebuild.

“Also, it’ll look really tacky if you don’t give him a present or something. Everyone’s going to do that, so try not to look like a hopeless mess.”

“Thanks, anything else?” he asked, glaring at the blonde, who pulled his glasses down.

“Nope. And don’t be late!” just as suddenly as she appeared, Chloe was gone, leaving Luka with an invite and bit of anxiety. Did he have a suit for this event? And what the heck did you get for a guy who had access to anything he wanted?

‘Perhaps we can get advice from your mother? And maybe ask your father for a suit?’

“Right, like Adrien is going to like me in anything the guy who kidnapped his sister puts me in.”

‘Maybe this is one of those times we dip into your winnings?’

Fair. Now what to do about Adrien’s present?

                                           _________________

“You look so pretty!” Chloe watched Rose bounce away from her brother, the tulle of her pink dress following after her. The off the shoulder and massive puffed sleeves was a direct contrast to Juleka’s purple dress, corseted tight to her body with the black lace halter. “you look amazing!”

“So do you. Ali must be losing his mind.”

Chloe rolled her eyes, hearing Rose giggle. Watching the two flirt would have been more entertaining if Juleka was actually jealous of how Ali, creator of the Dungeon Dice Monster, felt towards the CEO’s sister. Instead, they were practically in a polyamorous relationship.

Boring.

She did brighten up at the sight of Luka. Of course, he didn’t wear a standard black and white suit, opting for a black and silver mix, leaving his jacket open to show off the jacquard design of the waistcoat. Not bad for someone usually dressed in leather. She glanced at Adrien to see him staring at Luka, completely ignoring what the man he’d been talking to was saying, at least until Nathalie secretly poked him to refocus. She approached the King of Games, knowing her flowing white gown with soft flowers wouldn’t get him to relax. As much as she wanted her best friend to finally admit how he felt about a certain duelist, it was fun to wind Luka up. If he could put up with her, then he’d stick with Adrien through everything.

“Well, don’t you look nice. Didn’t think you owned anything other than leather.” Luka just side-eyed her, radiating annoyance. “I don’t see a gift.”

“I have one. Will you back off?”

“And not make you question your own sanity? Where’s the fun in that?”

She decided to actually back off when he rolled his eyes and she saw him fingering the jade bracelet around his wrist. She wondered if Sass was calling for her head or trying to calm Luka down.

“Juleka, Luka. you two look amazing.” Adrien was finally free of the conversation and walked over, his fake CEO smile replaced by a real one.

“So do you. Most guys can’t pull off a white suit, but you look good.” Juleka replied.

Adrien laughed, rubbing at the back of his neck. “You think so? Rose here thought I wouldn’t let my usually jacket go.”

“It looks good when you’re throwing cards like knives at Rare Card Hunters. Not in every aspect of your life. You’ve got the weirdest wardrobe ever.” Rose commented.

“Thanks. I’ll remember this when you ask for something. Anyway, the others arrived not too long ago. Nino has commandeered a waiter with hor d’ourves, so they’re most likely still there. I have to make my speech soon.”

“Oh, before that, here.” Juleka handed Adrien the bouquet of yellow roses, pulling out the only red one and giving it to Rose. “Congratulations on the Duel Disk release.”

“That’s so sweet, thank you.” Adrien said, sniffing the flowers.

“And this is from me.” Luka pulled out a small jewellery box, which Adrien zeroed in on.

“Oh, Luka, you didn’t have to.”

“I wanted to.”

Of course, before Luka could either open it, or hand it to him, an investor with a young girl – daughter no doubt – appeared and interrupted them.

“Mr. Agreste. I was hoping to introduce my daughter Fiona. She’s an exceptional duelist, best in her school. She wanted to apologise for not attending Battle City.”

“Uh, right. Of course.” And back in place as that fake smile. “If you’ll excuse me. Rose.” Leaving without taking the box from Luka, the two blondes slid back into the crowd leaving them alone.

She smacked Luka’s arm hard, nearly making him drop the box.

“Ow! What’s that for?”

“Try harder!” she stormed off, leaving the other pair of siblings alone. She put the ideas in their heads, she wasn’t going to let this night end without having the two fess up on how they felt.

The party continued, Adrien always talking to some snooty person about the business, or to Rose or Nathalie, barely going over to where his friends were. They were making quite a bit of noise as they got one waiter to bring them food over and over. Thankfully, she noticed Luka wasn’t pushing everything under the rug, watching Adrien from across the room. Of course, Adrien was accosted every few feet with a person and their daughter, one brave soul offering their son. Rose did her best to distract by inviting everyone to dance before the big speech, but she only lasted about two and a half dances before like the ball scene from the Cinderella movie 1997, with the prince dancing with every lady, switching every 2 seconds to get it over with. She just needed to get a Cinderella in there.

                                        _______________________

Luka was about to take some shrimp appetizer from the tray being offered when he was yanked away and dragged towards where the dancing was happening.

“Chloe, what the hell?”

“Shut up, and go dance with him.” She said, shoving him to where Adrien was, cutting off the girl who was about to step up to him.

“Um, uh. Care to dance?” Luka asked the CEO

“Excuse me!”

“Sure, I’d love to.” Adrien grabbed his hands and pulled him further to the middle of the dance floor. “Thank you.” he said, putting one hand on his shoulder, allowing Luka to put his free hand on Adrien’s waist.

“Of course, though Chloe helped I guess.”

“Yeah. She’s been a bit much since returning from the Shadow Realm. She’s trying to work through her time there and she’s taken a break from duelling, so she’s finding entertainment elsewhere. Don’t tell her this, but I wish I’d taken her advice for this party.”

“Oh?”

Adrien looked embarrassed, not a look Luka was used to seeing when he had to be CEO. “she told me if I had a date to the event, which I didn’t want to do because of this same issue, I wouldn’t have to deal with people throwing their daughters at me.”

“I think I saw a son in there.” Luka laughed to himself when Adrien glared at him. It was thankfully not his Agreste glare so he knew he was safe. “I’m sorry you’re dealing with all this. I wish you could come over and hang out with us.”

“I want to, but I’ve avoided any sort of big event like this since before Duelist Kingdom. I’ve changed and Nathalie said it would help bolster our image, especially since with everything the Rare Card Hunters caused, intentionally or not.”

“Yeah, causing a death via a duel probably doesn’t paint you in a good light.”

“Hey, in my defence, they had our friends hostage. Summoning Chaos God: Plagg was the only choice I had.”

“I’m not mad. Trust me, thank you for doing that. Hey.” He stopped Adrien and dug the box out of his jacket pocket. “Before I forget, I wanted to give this to you.”

Adrien smiled down at the box, just putting his fingers on it when Nathalie appeared.

“Adrien, it’s time for your speech.”

“2 minutes.”

“Now.” She ordered.

Adrien groaned and pushed the box back towards Luka. “Hold on to this for a little while longer?”

“Sure.”

Watching Adrien slip off into the crowd towards the stairs that lead to the party, Sass was the one who had to get his attention when Chloe reappeared, another smack to his arm.

“Now what?”

“Could you move any slower?”

He stared at her in confusion as she stormed off, grabbing another glass of champagne. “What the hell is her problem?”

‘It’s almost as if she’s trying to have something happen, but it’s not. Something to do with you and Adrien?’

He looked at the box and over to where Chloe stood, glaring at him. He didn’t want to think that she knew but honestly, what proof did he have that she didn’t?

                                   __________________________

“The old design hadn’t hit the shelves and had many issues, causing constraints and even making the holograms an issue to use. My hope is with newer models of the Duel Disk that the holographic input won’t need an external source to be seen. The magic of Duel Arenas is seeing your monsters come to life and that shouldn’t just be limited to a building. Duels are used all over to settle scores and understand a person and while doing it on a table opposite each other does allow for a bond to foster, you really get to know a person seeing them put their whole body into it. It’s my hope that these Duel Disks allow you to show the world the type of duelist you are. Thank you.”

Chloe swirled the little bit of champagne she still had in her glass. She was reaching tipsy and her entertainment was reaching levels of annoyance. She hoped it would have been dealt with early and then she could watch the two stumble over themselves all evening. But nope, here she was watching them get snatched away from each other over and over. It was annoying.

“You’ve been glaring at Adrien all evening.” Marinette said. “Is everything ok? Did you get into an argument? Is this about the Shadow Realm?”

“No, it’s not.” She snapped, but thinking about that place was something she’d rather not, at least not until her next therapy session. “Just, annoyed someone isn’t saying something. I wouldn’t be at this lame party otherwise.”

“I’m glad you are. Really, it makes me happy to see you up and your usual self.”

She scoffed, getting what Marinette meant. “Trust me, I don’t plan on going back ever. Did Tikki ever send anyone there?”

“I don’t think so. Her memory is a bit fuzzy too and she can’t control me like Sass does Luka sometimes. She seems too nice to though. So, who isn’t speaking? Maybe we can help them out.”

“Blueberry and Adrien. I wake up and those two are more attached than normal. I didn’t think nearly getting killed by a crazed protector of the tomb did that.”

Marinette watched Luka who was still in the crowd listening to Adrien’s speech. “I think it was during the time Felix took us to the Virtual World. We saw a lot of what Adrien and Rose went through and when Adrien went up against Felix and his dad, Luka was there for him. He tried to act like it didn’t bother him but Rose was targeted and you know how he gets when she’s in trouble.”

“Ok, fine. So why make me suffer watching those two still figure things out?”

Marinette shrugged. “Maybe after it all it’s hard to think they can have it. I mean, there’s always another shoe dropping.”

“Screw that. I’m fixing this now.”

“You’re taking this a bit seriously.” Marinette said, stopping Chloe before she could go storming through the crowd. “They’re dealing with a lot.”

“So why not deal with it together? when I was stuck in the Shadow Realm, the only thought I had was that I had people I knew were fighting for me. The only reason I haven’t gone insane is knowing I have you losers to trust and depend on. Oh, don’t give me that look,” Chloe said, narrowing her eyes at the surprised look on pigtailed duelist, “like you and your friends aren’t always spouting that.”

“I just didn’t think you’d listen.”

“I’m not an idiot. I actually listen to good advice.” She said before gliding through the crowd, grabbing Luka’s arm as she passed. Once the photographers were done taking pictures of Adrien and Rose, she quickly moved passed the crowd of people and dragged Adrien off the stairs and pushed them to one of the balconies, shoving them both outside and stood guard at the doors. When she saw the annoyed looks on people’s face, she raised an eyebrow and pulled her signature monsters from the pocket in her dress. “Try it, I dare you. I’d be more than willing to prove why they call me the Stinging Beauty.”

Meanwhile, the two duelists stood in the cool quiet.

“Well, I guess I should thank her for helping me avoid that crowd.” Adrien said.

“Yeah.” Luka said, still thinking about what he was sure was Chloe knew. “Hey. I really want to give this to you tonight, so here.”

Adrien took the jewellery box and opened it. sitting there was a hand drawn card. It wasn’t like the one Rose drew for him all those years. This one was drawn by someone with years of skill. It was the card Black Snake, the Fusion card of his Chat Noir and Luka’s Viperion. It had honestly been either luck or Jagged’s hand that the card was created and its only copy given to Luka. the two had used it during their tag duel against the Rare Card Hunters. It had given Adrien enough time to get what he needed to summon Chaos God: Plagg and win them the duel.

“Luka, did you draw this? I thought you said you didn’t draw much anymore.”

“I don’t, but Chloe was insistent I give you a gift to congratulate you. I didn’t know what to give you, I mean, you have access to whatever you want. With everything you had to deal with during Battle City, I wanted to remind I’m here whenever you need, so I drew that for you.”

“It’s perfect. Thank you.” Adrien said, Luka’s favourite smile growing as he gently picked up the card. “I…I need to tell you something. Something that Chloe was also pretty insistent on. dealing with my father, having to relive some of the worst times of my life, all while dealing with people who wanted me dead, having you there meant a lot. It would have been a lot harder to ready myself for the semi-finals if you hadn’t stayed with me. You always seem to know how to keep me going, even if I’m pushing against you. you’ve never given up on me and when you have so few people who won’t give up on you, it means a lot when your one of the people who stay. But it’s more than that. I guess what I’m trying to say is…Luka, I like you. more than just the friend you’ve been. And I know I shouldn’t force you to answer now, but I do have to stay for the rest of the party and I kinda need to know if I need to put my CEO face on.”

Luka honestly hated the CEO face. He didn’t like it when it had been directed at him before he got past Adrien’s walls and helped save his sister, as much as it helped when Adrien used it on others, he hated seeing him become that cold person again. So, he did the one thing he could think of to make sure Adrien never had that face around him. He stepped forward, took Adrien’s face in his hands and pressed their lips together. One of Adrien’s hands just brushed his when the door to the balcony swung open, Chloe yelling.

“I said wait, you brat!”

“Adrien, Nathalie is – oh!” Rose went as pink as he dress before backing away. “Never mind, I’ll take care of it.”

The two looked at each other and started to laugh. “Um, I hope that answered your question.”

“It did. As much as I’d like to continue, I try not to have Rose deal with press to keep her safe so I need to…but, tomorrow, what are you doing?”

“Nothing really. I’m not working and I think Juleka mentioned something about helping Ali with something.”

“Cool. Tomorrow, I’ll take you out.”

“Ok, deal.” Luka said, sharing a smile with Adrien, who tucked the box, card and all, into his suit jacket and headed for the door, still smiling at him over his shoulder.

‘So. That was fun.’ Sass teased. ‘Maybe you should just keep me in your pocket so you can’t hear my commentary tomorrow?’

“Shut up.” He left the balcony and was once against assaulted by Chloe. “Oh my god, what? I gave Adrien his gift and I know you were pushing for more and it did happen. What now?”

“Relax, I was just telling you good job. Now, break his heart and I’ll destroy you before he does. Or worse, I’ll leave you to Rose. She’d got some rather dark ideas for a girl who’s favourite animals are unicorns.” She walked away, leaving Luka and his spirit staring.

‘She’s very strange.’

“Yeah, but I guess I should be thankful.” Luka said, looking at where Adrien was speaking to the press.

Luka knew that there were more things waiting around the corner in their quest for answers but right now, he felt like things were going to be ok.

[petitexmagician]

Now this is just a opinion - nothing Gen.shin related but different fandom I got a verse for.

Now Go rush watchers yes it IS annoying to have Sevens references show up like someone shoving something in your face all the damn time. But, that's kinda the point when you remember Go Rush and Sevens are both the same story told in a weird order.

It's tiring to see people rightfully voice the same thing, but the story isn't even done. Yet I'd also like to have the characters stand out more too without a Sevens mention but once Yuudias was shown with the Sevens style duel disk - that should've been the hint everyone should've taken and frankly put up with that Sevens story wasn't done and this is just the writers tying up loose ends and explain how Yuga got back.

Hell Sevens left questions unanswered regarding who Otes is and why Monster Reborn - a frankly iconic card for one reason Yugi and Atem's final duel with each other - was deemed forbidden. Not only that but what is it that Yuga found out about Otes to begin with and why Otes was smirking in the end of it.

To me this is what the writers are doing and we have to take that bitter pill no matter much it's annoying to take: Go Rush is it's own wacky misadventures, however it's also a messy on going story to tie up things Sevens left up in the air but at the price of characters and story telling of their current project.

All I want is this: Who Otes is, which twin is Yuga's grandparent and who's the uncle/aunt, and what happened to the aliens that were living on Earth during Go Rush and no thanks to the recent episode WHO MADE THE MOON ROBOT PUNCH THE SHIP because I'm pretty sure no one at the moon base or Asaka didn't make that call.

[murasakinohoshi]

"I guess we can get a hint from Duel Disk or something he has," Reiji said.

"I have," Reo said and gave Reiji his Duel Disk.

"Uhm... Where am I?" Tsukina wondered, looking around. "This place isn't like the Earth...."

(To Mirai Velgear xD)

@frostseraph

[kudosmyhero]

The Adventures of Superman (vol. 1) #524: Where is Superman?

Read Date: May 19, 2023 Cover Date: June 1995 ● Writer: Karl Kesel ● Penciler: Stuart Immonen ● Inker: José Marzan, Jr. ● Colorist: Glenn Whitmore ● Letterer: Albert DeGuzman ● Editor: Mike Carlin ◦ Chris Duffy ●

**HERE BE SPOILERS: Skip ahead to the fan art/podcast to avoid spoilers

Reactions As I Read: ● beautiful art ● ngl Supes is kinda rockin’ the lumberjack thing

● this art feels so much more modern than 1995. stunning. ● O_O goddammit I really liked her!! ● 👏👏👏👏👏

Synopsis: Superman, last seen fighting Conduit, has disappeared. Clark's family and friends appear to be at risk from Conduit's minions; Lois Lane is reportedly buried in a building collapse--although her father is not so sure. Jimmy Olsen infiltrates the base of Conduit and manages to broadcast some hints of Conduit's plans. The video that Olsen sends of of his findings ends with an ominous yell as someone comes up behind him and pulls his broadcast plug.

Meanwhile, Superman has obtained a job hiding out as a logger, using the alias Wayne Jordan. He appears to be happy and rested, enjoying his new job. On his way back from work to the camp, a fire appears in the wilderness, and Clark must choose between his new secret identity and helping those in need.

Back in Conduit's hideout, Shadowdragon uploads a virus (using a 3.5" floppy disk) to Conduit's computer. While using the computer, he discovers that Olsen may still be alive. As he ponders this information, Conduit appears. They duel, and Shadowdragon reveals his regret that he gave S.T.A.R. Lab's Superman file to Conduit. He knocks Conduit to the floor, and when Conduit gets up, Shadowdragon is gone. A scientist runs up to Conduit and informs him that their entire computer network is under attack by a virus.

In the wilderness once more, Clark finds the stranded woodsmen and rescues them, revealing to them--and reminding himself--that he is, and always will be, Superman. He calls in and speaks to his father; his father tells him not to worry, and that they (presumably, Ma and Pa Kent) will meet him at "the rondezvous."

Clark rejoins the efforts to contain the forest fire, and after much effort, they are successful. He shares a jovial moment with his new friend, Judith McGivney, when Conduit suddenly appears and attacks Superman. Judith is killed in the attack. After the battle, Lois drives up and discovers the wreckage of the fight, revealing that she was alive only through some good luck. Shadowdragon appears to Lois, telling her that Jimmy is not dead, and hoping to help Clark Kent's family and friends.

Superman slowly wakes up after (presumably) being knocked out; he sees what appears to be Pete Ross and Lana Lang. They are young looking, and dressed for high school. They tease Clark, who also appears young and somewhat gawky. Clark realizes that something is horribly wrong--and that he appears to be back in Smallville.

(https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Adventures_of_Superman_Vol_1_524)

Fan Art: Superman by danielmchavez

Accompanying Podcast: ● Relatively Geeky (Quarter Bin Podcast) - episode 01

[nightfurylover31]

I was thinking about how Tristan was trying to repair Joey's Duel Disk in DSoD. It seemed funny since he didn't know how to work a laptop during Battle City, but I thought of something that made it even better. Tristan's dub voice actor also voiced Yusei Fudo, who is a wiz when it comes to mechanics. So it almost feels like the directors were hinting at the American version of Yugioh.

[jjkyaoi]

hey y’all take these cutely ❤️;

• for their entire friendship, tommys always been more vocally protective of tubbo. it doesn’t matter who it would be, if anyone looked at his best friend wrong he’d already be starting a fight or provoking them in some way for tubbo’s honor. it wasn’t something that was hidden; he’d always get himself in some sort of trouble on tubbo’s behalf, like a fucking dumbass, and tubbo’s always had to get him out of these situations he’d put himself into- he’d gotten so used to seeing tommy put himself in danger that that over the years tubbo vowed to himself that he’d be the one to save tommy, if he ever really got into too much trouble; that’s kind of where it all started.

• any fight that tommy would impulsively get himself into, tubbo would always be following right behind. it didn’t matter what intimidation tactics tommy used against the people he was fighting; it would always be tubbo just standing silently behind him with a fucking death glare that’d eventually get them to back off.

• tubbo always teases tommy for not letting him have other friends, & he likes to act like he doesn’t mind if tommy has any other close friends, but if anyone refers to themself as tommys “best friend” all fucking hell breaks loose.

SOMEBODY; so anyway, yeah, i’d consider tommy one of my best friends-

TUBBO, taking out a crossbow; it’d be so easy for me to shoot an arrow directly into your fucking eye :).

• a few days after the first festival, when tubbo & tommy were both in pogtopia, tommy wouldn’t let tubbo anywhere near techno. he, rightfully, hadn’t forgotten about the execution, but tubbo hadn’t forgotten about the pro scene; he hadn’t forgotten that he’d had to watch what techno did to his best friend because he was too injured to help. so, the days in pogtopia were spent w/ tommy “protecting” tubbo from techno but it was really just tubbo standing behind tommy w/ a large axe whenever techno got too close.

TECHNO; hey, tommy, i’m—

TUBBO, pointing an axe directly at his throat: get a step closer and i’ll chop off your head :]

TECHNO: i—

TECHNO: i literally publicly executed you??

• i feel like tubbo’s always had a relatively high pain tolerance, so whenever he’s gotten injured he’s always been quick to brush it off w/ a quick “lol it’s fine” but whenever tommy got the slightest bit injured he’d always freak out. he wouldn’t leave tommys side for hours & he’d constantly be asking him if he’s okay- constantly be wearing of touching him too aggressively. he’s always been a mother hen, but whenever tommys hurt it’s always turned up.

• speaking of tubbo being a mother hen, he frequently gets stressed over the impulsive things tommy does. he doesn’t like the fact that tommy doesn’t seem to think- doesn’t seem to worry about his own personal safety before he does things, & he’s always berating him if he does something impulsive. once again, he’s always been worried over tommys safety- he’s always prioritized it over his own. ((hint hint; him being willing to die for tommy if it meant he got the disks back & was happy.)) after the duel w/ dream in the first war, tubbo didn’t talk to him for a couple days, stubbornly avoiding him because of the fact that he lost a life in that fucking duel. that’s the first time they’ve ever really fought.

• after tommy comes back from exile, tubbo’s clinginess/mother henning/protectiveness comes back tenfold. he’s sort of always anxiously checking up on tommy and seeing if he’s okay, & there isn’t a second where he isn’t by the boys side, leading up to doomsday; he’s always standing right besides him and holding his hand, making sure he’s real constantly- that he isn’t fake, that he isn’t just hallucinating this.

• even after doomsday, tubbo’s constantly checking up on him, even if he’s in snowchester. he’s constantly messaging him w/ his communicator, asking for updates about the hotel, if he’s okay, if he’ll ever actually come & visit snowchester. tommy rolls his eyes whenever he see his messages and fondly calls him a “mother hen”, but he appreciates the concern.

• after sam & tommy started getting closer, tubbo actually took it upon himself to give sam the “shovel talk” when tommy wasn’t around. and it was funny because it’s just this 5’6 little kid staring down this 6’7 half-creeper hybrid w/ a trident.

SAM; oh, hey tubbo! it’s good to see you—

TUBBO; if you do anything to tommy, i’ll kill you and your entire family.

SAM: i—

SAM, who was planning to adopt him too: ,,...right

• also, tubbo frequently talks about tommy in snowchester. most of the time it’s just him complaining about how he hasn’t been around/complaining about him in general, but if anyone else talks badly about tommy he immediately snaps his head around and goes “what the Fuck did you say”

• also, when he was under schlatt’s administration, schlatt had a habit of talking bad about the past citizens of l’manberg- particularly, tommy & wilbur. it doesn’t matter what they’d be talking about, the conversation about the previous president & vice would always be brought up, and whenever schlatt would start talking about tommy in a bad way tubbo wouldn’t fucking have it.

SCHLATT; and tommy. honestly, i cant tell if he’s a normal kid or if he’s just wilburs rabid lap dog—

TUBBO; don’t say that about him.

SCHLATT; i— i’m sorry, tubbo?

TUBBO; you can talk bad about anyone else, but don’t ever talk bad about tommy. not in front of me.

SCHLATT; ...

QUACKITY, in the distance; yo that’s the fucken president you’re talking to 🧍🏼

• also, tubbo’s always sort of have this unspoken pettiness when it comes to phil. it isn’t obvious —and, he doesn’t voice it often— but he’s well aware of how phil used to treat tommy, & he’s always held a grudge against him for it. it doesn’t matter what it is; whether it be murmuring little petty comments about him under his breath and disguising it with a cough, or it’d be making snide little remarks and covering it up with a smile, he’d sort of always be coming for phil in some way. tubbo had a game in his mind for how many times he could subtlety come for that man’s shit parenting

PHIL; yeah, and my sons—

TUBBO; your sons? i’m sorry, i thought you only had one.

PHIL; wha-what?

TUBBO; i thought wilbur was your only son. y’know, given how you treat tommy half of the time :].

PHIL: i’m...

FUNDY, in the background; oooooh

[nb-lesbian-tkb]

Bakura took back the plush and leaned their back on the nearest wall, crossing their arms as they intended to enjoy the show. Asshole just signed his death.

Bakura raised an eyebrow as Kat got fire blades out of nowhere. Oh? Not something Bakura would like yo play with, a bit too flashy, but it looked nice. They rolled their eyes as the man thought it was holograms. Apparently he was dumb too, because it was obvious that Kat wasn't carrying a duel disk on her.

After realizing his mistake, too late, the guy tried to run away. Bakura's eyes widened as the fire wall appeared. They didn't expect it and it surprised them a bit. However… They couldn’t help but get a bit tense.

Bakura had never liked fire.

“Cut it out, Kat,” They growled, hiding the hint of anxiety in their mind. “Too flashy, you will attack people's attention.”

(continued from here)

Kat gave the guy a brief glance. He looked like he'd be too boring to play with. She was about to give Bakura the go ahead when the guy opened his mouth.

“Come on, sweetheart, come play with me,” he said with that look.

Her eyes narrowed in a death-glare that was quickly joined by a devilish smirk.

“This won't take long,” she said as she tossed the stuffed toy back to Bakura.

The guy looked pleased, obviously thinking he was going to have a bit of ‘fun’ with her.

“So, you like knives? How about I show you a few of mine?” she asked, her smirk widening into a grin.

As she spoke she gestured her hand in an arc above her head, five orbs of flame appearing and drawing themselves to a knife-point in the guy’s direction.

The guy's face fell in confusion for a brief moment before returning to its cocky grin.

“Oh, I see. You like to play with those holograms. Sorry, sweetheart, but my blade is real.”

Kat casually held a hand out in front of her, flexing a finger in the guy's direction. At the same time a single fiery blade shot towards him, embedding itself into the guy's shoulder.

“What the fuck?!!” the guy screamed, stumbling and falling over backwards as he tried to pull the flaming knife from his shoulder, burning his hand in the process. The blade vanished the second he finally managed to remove it.

“Fuck this shit!” he shouted as he stood and scrambled for the alley exit.

A blazing wall of flame appeared, blocking his escape.

“What's wrong?” Kat asked in a sickly-sweet tone. “I thought you wanted to play? You haven't even had a turn yet.”

((@nb-lesbian-tkb))

[stellocchia]

Since people often seem to think that Tommy’s and Dream’s dynamic is something that was established in season 2 and sorta came out of nowhere before that, I thought I’d finally take a look at the evolution of it throughout season 1. 

From here on out, of course, I’ll be talking exclusively about the characters. It is also to be kept in mind that season 1 was a LOT less scripted, so there may be streams and moments that I leave out as they don’t seem to be too impactful or they lack canonicity. So sadly the whole stream where they build Church Prime that has Dream comparing himself to God for 2 hours has to go...

 This will undoubtedly be an EXTREMELY long one, so be prepared for it...

Let’s go step by step in chronological order, shall we? 

THE DISCS WAR PREQUEL

By now a lot of people know that the Disc Saga wasn’t actually started by Tommy, but here’s a refresher anyway: Ponk started it off by pranking Sapnap’s base, in retaliation Sapnap burned down Ponk’s lemon tree. With this Ponk allied himself with Alyssa and the two started a war against Sapnap. 

Later Tommy joins the server. Tommy obtains the first netherite cheestplate in the server and it’s promptly stolen by Sapnap. Later again Sapnap uses the netherite chestplate to blackmail Tommy into joining his fight against Ponk and Alyssa. Tommy just refuses ang gets his armour back, but he considers Sapnap’s offer because of: Alyssa setting him on fire and Tubbo (who was mostly neutral but leaning towards Ponk and Alyssa) had made him loose his stuff the day before.

Dream arrived then to stop the fighting, but Sapnap and Tommy decided to kill him instead (non-canonically of course). Sapnap killed him twice and Tommy once. In retaliation Dream stole Cat and Mellohi. Sapnap stole one of the disks back and then they retrived the other one and Tommy hid them near his base.

So what does this tell us? Tommy most definitely wasn’t the one who instigated the conflict, nor the one who escalated it. YET, he was the only one Dream focused on. And remember, while a proper coherent storyline didn’t exist back then we know that the wars were at least somewhat scripted (thanks to cc!Dream telling us so on the Eboys Podcast). They also kept their characters characterization pretty consistent throughtout, which means we had the first hints of their dynamic all the way back here.

ESCALATION OF THE DISC WAR

(From Tommy’s main channel it’s: “Dream is a Psychopath.”)

Everything could have been over then, but Dream was still pissed he lost, so he removed all the floring of Tommy’s base (escavating all the dirt from in front of it) in order to find the disks and take them back. At this point, after once again stealing the disks, Dream asked Tommy for his netherite chestplate (again, only one on the server at the time) in exchange for them. Also, an actual conversation they had: 

Tommy: “Dream! Was this you that destroyed my entire base and re-named the sign to ‘BitchBoy enterprise?!” 

Dream: “I didn’t touch the sign. I didn’t destroy your base either it’s just the f- the dirt” (note: as I said before, all the dirt was removed, but, hey, he didn’t touch the chickens and the carrot farm!)

Also:

Tommy:“Dream, you removed the ENTIRE floor of my base” 

Dream: “It’s YOUR fault. It’s your fault...” 

T: “How is it MY fault?!” 

D: “‘Cause you hid the disks!” 

T: “Yeah, because they’re MY disks!” 

D: “You hid the disks and I’ve taken them back, okay?”

If this doesn’t sound like the beginning of the Obsession Arc, I don’t know what does! 

But, in all seriousness, even back then for c!Dream the key of everything in the server was Tommy, though at the time he was just “the reason for conflict”. Still it’s pretty obvious that the disk conflict could have ended before it started if Dream didn’t decide to escalate things (though, as it’s obvious by the conversation, he blames his own actions on Tommy as we see him do in later seasons).

Anyone wondering about the gravity of Tommy killing Dream once non-canonically before this: In this video Dream kills both Tommy and Tubbo twice in the first 10 minutes. Yeah, he’s not any better. Btw, this is the video with the fight they then mimicked in the finale and they actually loose this one as well. 

Tommy: “What is your obsession with this disks? Why don’t you just give them back?” 

Dream: “No because I can get something in return for them, I don’t care about the disks”

Oh what simpler times when blackmail was just simple old blackmail to obtain material possessions... 

Btw, this one ended with basically a double scam where Dream gave them fake disks and they logged off with both the fake disks and the netherite chestplate.

(Main channel: “mission: kill dream (FINALE)”)

Tubbo: “Please do not tell me you have sentimental attachment to the bullshit disks...”

Early theme of attachment back in season 1. Either way Tommy has been portrayed as an extremely sentimental character that develops attachments scarily fast from all the way back in season 1. C!Dream’s idea of him he expresses in the finale isn’t born from nothing.

Anyway, Tubbo and Tommy use the composter glitch to find Dream’s base to try and get back the disks, but they aren’t there, so they end up going for the original exchange, this time with no scamming included. Tommy get’s his disks back, while Dream gets Tommy’s netherite chestplate. Just to point out: at this point Dream was the one completely at fault. Tommy was dragged into a war he wasn’t involved in and yet was the sole one to be punished for it and Dream couldn’t just accept a defeat so heavily griefed Tommy’s base and stole back HIS posssession. Dream is the main instigator here, yet he blames it ENTIRELY on Tommy from the start. Literally their dynamic started off pretty f*cked. 

Still, since Tommy didn’t want to keep risking loosing stuff to Dream for the disks he decided to make an ender chest for himself. He gets some blaze powder and ender pearls from Punz in exchange from an apple (that was too sweet not to include) and then, when it comes to getting the obsidian is when Dream realizes what he’s been doing. You’d think he’d be fine with it considering they already had a “fair” exchange (aka Dream’s blackmailing had been succesful), but nope. He hunts down both Tommy and Tubbo, but fails in killing them and they manage to put the disks away safely.

L’MANBURG BEGINNING

As we know Wilbur founded L’Manburg and Dream did not like that, so he declared war on them. Here’s the speach: 

“Tommy! (pause) And Wilbur and the rest of L’ManChildburg, we are at war. There is no mercy. We’ve burnt down Tubbo’s house. We’ve planted tnt cannons around your land. We have cobblestone walled the outside and we shot ONE warning shot inside your walls ans an explosion and we have NO MERCY! NO MERCY FOR YOU! Do you understand? We will come! We’ll burn down your houses, we will kill anything inside your walls and we’ll take back the land that is rightfully ours if you do not surrender. I want to see WHITE FLAGS! WHITE FLAGS OUTSIDE YOUR BASE BY TOMORROW, AT DAWN, OR YOU’RE DEAD!”

So, a couple of things to unpack here:

1) Dream first and foremost singles out Tommy who, if you all remember, was NOT the leader of L’Manburg. He was barely Wilbur’s right hand man and had only been confirmed as such recently at that point. He is not the leader and YET, in how the speach is enunciated it’s obvious that it’s directed at him specifically.

2) For anyone wondering if Dream could be considered a villain back in season one: so far the people from L’Manburg had done nothing but frolic in the flowers. They were a group of pacifists that refused to use any armour and Dream’s reaction to them is to kill them all and burn anything they built. And he’s doing all this because he thinks he’s entitled to all of the land in the smp and even something as small as og L’Manburg had no right to exist free of his rule.

(Always from the main channel: “Doomsday.”)

Two important things for their relationship happen here: Dream deciding, out of everyone, to kill Tommy specifically in the final control room and the duel (or more so the result of the duel). 

It is something back then no-one wondered about, but why would Dream, the leader of the Greater Dream SMP, go after the second in command instead of the leader? Possibly for the same reason he singled out Tommy in the declaration of war? Possible foreshadowing of their future dynamic?

Also, may I mention that Dream was the one to add the condition that, on top of not getting independence for L’Manburg, Tommy had to give up one of the disks (mellohi) if he lost? And Dream being the one to mention it is the reason why Tommy knew they were valuable to him in the first place. It’s the reason why Tommy proposed the deal of his disks for L’Manburg independence (which worked, which tells us a whole lot about when Dream’s obsession withe the disks started. Man was willing to take an L to have THAT sort of control over Tommy already in season one)

POGTOPIA

Jump to when Tommy and Wilbur get exiled. A lot happens here, but, for the function of this analysis, I’ll only be talking about what pertains to Dream’s and Tommy’s relationship. 

So, at the beginning of exile Dream offers his support for Pogtopia leaving a chest specifically for Tommy (once again, not Wilbur, the leader, but Tommy. He also gives Tommy a lot more stuff then Techno who was arguably a much more valuable asset). In the chest there was: a full set of netherite armour, 3 stacks of ender pearls, an enchanment table, a netherite sword, Dream’s crossbow (”Definitely not penis”), a stack of golde apples, 1 enchanted golden apple, 1 stack of diamonds, 17 obsidian, 3 potions of strenght, a stack of steak and a book written by Dream called “Tyrant” which, again, is addressed soley to Tommy. (In the book he basically says that he doesn’t like Schlatt and that he’s only going to help from the shadows because he can’t directly involve himself). 

Now, for the standards of the time, that was A LOT of stuff. Dream clearly wasn’t half-assing his support to Tommy there (I’d say to “Pogtopia” but, again, it was all specifically for Tommy). He keeps up his help when he intervenes in favour of Tommy in the Battle of the Lake (from the vods channel: “TommyInnit, Dream & Technoblade TEAM UP (dream smp war)”). Before that however he also helps Tommy to lava cast (or attempt to) the Eiffel Tower (built for Karl’s and Sapnap’s honeymoon). For this battle Dream also gives Mars (Sapnap’s and George’s fish) to Tommy (together with quite a few more ender pearls). Their relationship up until this point seems to have improved quite a bit with Tommy immediately trusting Dream again (he seems to be always inclined to trust Dream much in the same way he’s always inclined to trust Wilbur) and Dream seemingly being supportive (although that was actually because he needed both Manburg and Pogtopia to disappear as we discovered later on). 

Fast forward again we have the moment when their relationship sours again: Dream provides Wilbur with the tnt. With this momement we have the confirmation that Dream truly was only siding with them for his own self-interest (as he always considered L’Manburg as his own propriety, independence or not, and he wasn’t happy with Schlatt wanting to expand and being morw ambitious then Wilbur ever was) and Tommy also looses part of his trust in him, though not completely. 

You see, their relationship is a bit more complex then that. In season 1 even when Tommy and Dream were enemies there was never really much bad blood between them. And when I say this I mean that Dream in particular didn’t let there be much bad blood between them, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

After Quackity joins Pogtopia they try to make a plan to get L’Manburg back that would not include blowing it up. After that fails (from the vods channel: “Dream BETRAYS TommyInnit during the Dream SMP Meeting...”) and Fundy joins Pogtopia as well Dream announces that Schlatt gave him something “more valuable then frienship” and he’s now siding with him and leaves the Pogtopians announcing that there is a traitor among them. 

Wilbur: “Dream just wants to be on the side of the rebellion and now that we are the dominant force technically... isn’t that right Dream? Would you say you just want to be on the other side? You just want to be on the other team?” 

Dream: “No I- I don’t think so...” 

Tommy: “Dream’s the good guy Wilbur” 

D: “I think I’d say that my interest is in myself”

So, despite everything, Up to this point Tommy still trusted Dream. Fully trusted him. But now, soon after this conversation, Dream explicitely tells them that he never considered them “friends” they were “convenient allies” for him (a mindset that he carries on later on and brings to an extreme). 

Now you’d think that was the breaking point right? I mean the whole vod was also titled “Dream betrays Tommy” and Dream just left them telling Tommy specifically that no, they were not friends (though Tommy didn’t agree on that point, much like with Techno later on). But that’s not were Dream leaves it. 

First he allows Tommy back in his old base to get some stuff once they’re alone (despite having just said in front of Wilbur, Quackity and Fundy that he’d stab him if he tried going back)

Tommy: “I just don’t understand, why would you team with Schlatt?”

Dream: “Tommy... I’m a business man, you know what that’s like”

T: “No I don’t”

D: “Well you do, of course you do”

God since exile that damn soft condescending tone he does hits me so different... anyway. As you see as soon as he’s alone with Tommy he starts being more friendly, less formal. He also takes on a more menacing persona (I really don’t know how he manages to do both at the same time... no wait, exile. He acts more like how he did in exile). Anyway the switch is actually pretty interesting to see. 

Tommy: “Why would you not team with us?”

Dream: “Tommy... I’ve never been on your team. I have never been on your team, ever!” 

T: “Well I’ve been in your team...”

D: “Wel I- I’m not saying you have. I’ve never been on your team. I’ve never been on anyone’s team” 

And with this we are done with their important interactions for this stream, but wait! They have a war in a few days, right? Well, Dream makes sure to spend that time with Tommy. Like, a lot of it. 

All of “Dream bullies TommyInnit for having low viewers.” Is Dream following Tommy ominously around while mildly inconveniencing and somewhat helping when they’re supposed to be enemies (it’s literally one of my favourite vods, it’s great! It was also the one vod that sparked the “Dream is obsessed with Tommy” theory in me. Yes I’ve had it from all the way back then, but I also was right, so...). 

Tommy: “Okay, so you know how we’re going to war in 7 days time?”

Dream: “Yes”

T: “like, ME and YOU are going to war...”

D: “Yes”

T: “Yes, yeah so I need to- I- it feels very strange to be- I need to prepare for THAT”

D: “Well, what do you need?”

Dream then proceeds to half-help him half-stop him from getting gold in the nether. The whole vod is like this. It definitely has a very weird atmosphere as it’s clear that both of them are fully aware of their respective roles in their upcoming war, but Tommy doesn’t know what to do and Dream is clearly willingly ignoring it all. It’s pretty jarring to watch tbh (together with being a hilarious vod to watch) and it helps starting to paint the picture of Dream having the level of dependence on Tommy that we know he has now.

Then there is “TommyInnit, Dream & Sapnap's PET WAR FINALE” which is LITERALLY THE DAY BEFORE THE WAR. Here Dream, once again, decides to spend the whole time with Tommy. He helps him against Sapnap (who is Dream’s ally) and even decides to lead Tommy to Sapnap’s and Punz’s secret base where they keep their animals and starts encoraging him to kill them. Tommy, of course, refuses and the whole pet war finishes with Sapnap and Tommy releasing Mars and promising to be friends once the war was over. 

Like, honestly, if anyone in Pogtopia had known about this interactions maybe they could have suspected Tommy of being the traitor for legitimate reasons instead of misinterpreting him entirely as a person and thinking he just wanted to be president... and you’d think that, maybe, THAT was Dream’s goal, but... not really? He always made sure to spend time with Tommy when there was no-one from Pogtopia around. In all 3 of this vods he is drastically different when they’re alone and, I mean, he stopped hidining how he is with Tommy only during Doomsday (when he gave his speach on the obsidian grid to Tommy, not caring that Tubbo and Quackity were both there).

To finish it off, we know that season 1 ends with Dream fighting alongside Technoblade and nothing else of significant happens for their relationship. Still, I hope this was comprehensive enough to show that, most definitely, his obsession with Tommy and the having power over Tommy is not a new concept for Dream. It’s something that got worse with time, but it’s most definitely not something new. The main thing that changed throughout season 1 and 2 was Tommy’s perception of Dream (which went from easy trust and friendship to hatred and fear), not vice versa.

Also may I add that Dream's constantly acting friendly when they most definitely aren't is probably one of the reasons why Tommy was so predisposed to accepting Dream as his friend in exile? Just a thought...

@ladycatland

[shadow13dickpistons]

Even though I adore Rival, Host, and Guard, you know I gotta ask for some Dragonshipping.

I know you do, bestie, I know you well.

Ink asked for post- Battle City! Sfw, under the cut!

At the end of their duel in the alleyway, Jonouchi says to Yugi, “You’re shaking.”

It is not Yugi, though, per se, though it is his body trembling. It is the rich voice of his spirit half that says, “I am.” Jonouchi approaches him slowly, duel disk folded back against his arm again, and he stands very close to his friend. Yami half laughs, “I-It’s funny, now that everything is alright, I think it’s hitting me…” He swallows and looks up into Jonouchi’s amber colored eyes, “How much it…wasn’t alright.”

He doesn’t say anything at first, shifting on his heels. “It is now.”

“Mhm.” He nods, but the trembling hasn’t stopped. “I just don’t…know what I would have done…if I’d really lost you.” He has ideas, though. He would have hurt Kaiba, certainly, for allowing that ridiculous farce to go on, and for what? His own egomaniacal pride. He still wants to. And Marik, he thinks he knows so much of the shadows, not half of what the Spirit of the Puzzle knows-

That’s wrong. Yugi’s gentle voice from within him, warm and golden, like the first ray of the dawn. Marik was a victim, too. Everything turned out right now, I don’t want to focus on hurting people. But it’s hard. It’s still hard, and there’s so much of him inside that’s burning and full of rage- I-I feel that, too- Where does one stop and the other begin?

“Hey.” Jonouchi is so close, Yami closes his eyes and breathes in the rich, musky smell of him. It’s not cologne, it’s more natural, with just hints of his soap; a lingering odor of cigarettes, not overwhelming. The scent of late teenage angst on the burgeoning edge of manhood.

He feels dizzy.

“Yuge- you wanna sit down?”

“It’s not…I’m not-” 

Jonouchi assesses him. “You’re the other piece of him. The pharaoh, whatsit.”

“Something like that, yes…” He looks up at him with eyes burning with want, and his throat feels dry. If he really was the Pharaoh Isis said of him, these are things he probably knew, in his own time, in his own body. What it is to want, to have that want slaked on a cool mouth, like water flowing from a pitcher-

Jonouchi has steered him against a brick wall, leaning over him, the shadow his body casts is cool. “Listen - gotta slow that roll.” Apparently his eyes have been betraying him, even if his mouth hasn’t spoken. “Wouldn’t be right - kissin’ my friend when somebody else is behind the wheel, know what I mean?”

“Yes…I’ve taken so much already, done so much to a body that isn’t mine… He doesn’t complain, but-”

“He never would.”

“If I weren’t Yugi at all-” His breath comes heavy. “Would you kiss me then?”

“How can I answer that?” The point is a fair one. “Who would you be if you weren’t also Yugi?” He thinks that he would like to know.

[asjjohnson]

It's been awhile since I've drawn or written anything Yu-Gi-Oh! related, but it's sad hearing that Kazuki Takahashi, the one who created Yu-Gi-Oh!, died.

I've been looking through some of my old Yu-Gi-Oh! fanart and fanfiction.

Here's a little 4-chapter fic I'd written in 2005, based on Yu-Gi-Oh! DM and supposed to take place two years afterward. (I copied and pasted it without editing anything, so it's not too well written.)

---

KAIBA

Kaiba sits in his office at Kaiba Corp., looking at some of his once-valuable cards. He sighs.

"Big Brother, what's wrong?" Mokuba asks.

"Business is bad..." Kaiba says without looking up. "I had all the latest Duel Monsters game technology! I was on top - one of the world's top Duelists!..." Kaiba says, clenching his free hand into a fist. "And now Duel Monsters is yesterday's news...!" Kaiba says, carelessly scattering the ultra-rare cards onto the floor.

"But there's so many new games now. You can still be a world champion! Kaiba Corp. can design more software for today's games and get back on top!" Mokuba tells him.

"They're not the same... as Duel Monsters..." Kaiba says. "Duel Monsters was my expertise. I've been playing for eight years. And now it's nothing. It was a big part of my life, Mokuba... How can I just forget about it?..."

"C'mon, Seto... Another game will become just as important to you, you'll see..." Mokuba says.

"But it wasn't just another game..." Kaiba tells him, with a hint of sadness in his eyes. He picks up his deck from the desk. "I'm just not ready to move on yet." Kaiba says and stands up. "I need some time to think..." Kaiba explains, putting on a jacket. Mokuba watches as Kaiba walks out the door - not even bothering to pick up the rare cards that he tossed to the floor earlier.

Kaiba gets off of a plane in Egypt and goes to the museum where the only copy of the ancient tablet is kept. He doesn't truly know why he came; his heart guided him to this place. Ishizu lets him pass by her without a word. He enters the dimly lit room, his footsteps echoing as he walks toward the tablet. He stops in the center of the floor. Kaiba looks at the tablet for several minutes and then slides his duel disk onto his arm expertly, without even looking.

Atem's presence fills the room without explanation, but Kaiba knew he would be here. "I've come to duel you... one last time..." Kaiba says and activates his duel disk.

---

JOEY

Yugi and Joey are playing a board game in Domino Park. It's a nice day today; the sky's blue with a few white fluffy clouds, there's children playing in the grass, and there's the incoherent sound of many conversations in the background.

Joey moves his game piece apathetically. "Yugi... You ever miss Duel Monsters?" Joey asks.

"Well, I guess it was a fun game," Yugi replies while moving his own piece.

"Yeah, it was cool. But I meant about all 'a the adventures we had. All the challenges we faced. We entered Duelist Kingdom..." Joey says; thinking about Pegasus laughing evilly, his Millennium Eye shimmering, "and Battle City," he states; thinking about Kaiba in his white leather jacket, his arms crossed over his chest and a smirk on his face. "We faced off against Dartz," Joey says and thinks about Yugi, him, and Kaiba summoning the legendary knights. "Then we also helped Atem get his memories back," he tells Yugi, thinking about their time in the memory world. "Now it's all over..."

"Uh, Joey...? It's your turn," Yugi says with an apologetic smile.

"Oh, yeah," Joey says, blushing slightly. He moves.

"Joey... you're wrong about all of the excitement being over..." Yugi tells him, concern about Joey's misconception clearly written on his face. "We could still have more adventures..."

"I felt like I really achieved somethin' out there duelin', Yuge," Joey starts again. "I've learned strategy..." him and Yugi facing off during Duelist Kingdom, "determination," him dueling Mai to save her soul although tired from his duel with Valon, "patience," him and Odion on top of Kaiba's blimp with the Swords of Revealing Light on the field, "gamesmanship..." him talking to Kaiba about having fun after their duel at the end of Battle City.

"I know what you mean, Joey. I think we've all learned something from our adventures..." Yugi tells him; thinking about a time when he told Yami he needed to duel on his own and that Yami won't be there to protect him forever.

"You know... all of our adventures really strengthened our friendship. We've become so close," Tristan says, popping up from behind Joey. Tristan thinks about how everyone could feel Yugi during the duel against Pegasus.

"Tristan!?" Joey exclaims, almost knocking over his chair. "When'd you get here..." Joey says with a sweat drop on his forehead.

"Yeah," Yugi says with a smile; completely ignoring Joey. "We've gotten through so much as a group. - But there will always be more adventures as long as we're together."

---

MAI

Mai steps out of the shower with a pink towel wrapped tightly around her figure. Steam from the shower begins to fill the small bathroom. Sitting down, she glides her pink razor over a smooth slender leg.

Mai hardly ever spends more then two days out of a hotel room. She's been by herself for years and is always traveling. Her and Seto Kaiba might understand each other pretty well, them having several similarities, but neither has ever noticed the other. Although Mai is a loner and isn't interested in love, there is one guy who has touched her heart. A younger man. He has played with her feelings for years. Or perhaps it's her who has been playing with him. She still can't understand why his face appears on the fogged up mirror every time she finishes a shower.

After watching him smile at her through the glass, she steps out of the bathroom and slips on a skimpy purple outfit. She sits on the edge of the bed while sliding on her long, high-heeled purple boots. At the little counter under the mirror, she runs a brush quickly over her hair, knowing it won't make much of a difference if she brushes it or not. Then, looking closely into the long mirror, she carefully applies mascara and lipstick before dumping the whole counter of cosmetics into her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. As she walks down the stairs to check out of the hotel, two men whistle at her. She notices, liking the attention, and walks by them sexily, giving them a wink.

The Duel Monsters card game is over, but it doesn't mean much to Mai. She has the same routine as always; still entering and winning tournaments around the globe. So what if it isn't Duel Monsters? As she races down the highway in her convertible, wind whipping through her hair, she would admit to missing that influential card game a little. She became kind of close to some of her competitors. She wouldn't mind dueling Yugi again, or seeing Joey Wheeler one more time, but she's put all of that behind her two years ago. And she puts it out of her mind once again.

---

TÉA

'I miss you, Atem...' Téa thinks as she brushes her short brown hair in front of the large mirror. She's sitting in a chair. Her books are in a shoulder bag, which is on the floor, resting against the chair. By the mirror, there are pictures of Yugi, Joey, and other friends, smiling as they're goofing off. With her big blue eyes, Téa longingly glances at one photograph of Yugi, Joey, Tristan, and herself, wishing for one of those carefree times with her friends. And then there's her crush. She sighs sadly, wishing she had a picture of him, too.

It's not that she isn't happy. She's in America, studying dance. It's been her dream...

'That's it. - I'm going to make myself a picture of him and nothing's going to stop me,' she thinks determinedly. She puts the hairbrush down and gets a blank piece of paper and a pencil from the bag against her chair. And she begins to draw.

'His eyes have a brave look... So serious... And mysterious,' she thinks as she draws his eyes. Her eyebrows furrow in concentration. 'And his jaw makes him look so strong and courageous. And he stands so proudly and determinedly...' When she's done with the rough sketch, she tapes it to a corner of the mirror, by the photographs of her other friends.

'Oh! I forgot his cartouche!' She thinks, taking the paper back down and drawing the necklace around his neck. - The one she bought for him a little before he left. 'There. Now it's complete.' She tapes it back up and smiles at her crude drawing. 'You are my first and only true love, Atem... I will never love anyone as much as you...' she thinks. Her cell phone starts ringing and she hurries to get it out of her purse.

"This is Téa," She says. She then glances at her wristwatch. "Can you please call back later? My dance class starts in five minutes," she says into the phone before the person at the other end can say anything.

"Téa...?" the person asks.

"Yugi!" Téa says excitedly. "How'd you get this number?! Why are you calling?! - It must cost a bundle to call me from Japan!" Téa says worriedly.

"I thought it was worth it... to hear your voice..."

Téa blushes. Behind her, the taped picture of Yami falls off the mirror and lands on the floor.