#tome ygo

[shadyvoxtruth]

How ShadyVox Threatened Myself & Others For Years

My name is Martin Billany but I am also known as LittleKuriboh in the YouTube sphere/Yu-Gi-Oh fandom.

I am posting this here for posterity in case all of my other posts elsewhere about it are removed. Also because there has never been a single unified place to find all of this information presented in sequence.

Patrick, also known by his pseudonyms of ShadyVox or Scratch21's Matt Robinson or Blake Swift, spent the better part of 2019-2023 both threatening me and manipulating a group of real victims.

A brief history - for those who don't know, Patrick/ShadyVox and myself were heavily involved in the "abridged series" world in the late 2000s/mid 2010s. I myself started the whole abridged parody nonsense with Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged, and Patrick would follow suit by doing a Yu-Gi-Oh GX Abridged. We met through content creation and formed a friendship through it. Not best friends or anything, but friendly enough.

Patrick would later leave the abridged series stuff behind and start over making music, working in original animation for popular internet channels, etc. Stuff he was genuinely very good at. It was a strong choice to move away from parody content, as it likely would have held him back at some point.

At a certain point in 2018, I received a communication from him that requested I remove certain YouTube comments on my videos that featured him. These comments were demanding to know why Patrick was following various right wing channels and were calling him alt-right, etc.

I agreed to remove the comments because I considered him a friend and automatically assumed there was some big misunderstanding. As it turned out, he was subscribed to a few channels that caused me to confront him.

I was emotional and upset, admittedly. Things politically were at a fever pitch and I had been swept up by it. I have included screencaps of our conversation.

Later I would apologize to him for my outburst and try to make amends. You're probably wondering why I would include this since it doesn't seem to involve Patrick threatening me, and it seems if anything to suggest I got upset at him.

That is because I truly believe this is the moment Patrick decided he was going to find some way to come after me. I believe that Patrick had spent a lot of time creating a mask for himself, and had worn it very well, and the moment someone saw through it for even a moment he decided I had to be dealt with somehow.

At this point - mid 2018 - Patrick and I were not close. We hadn't worked on anything together in half a decade. We really only kept in touch in a cursory fashion. So I imagine this interaction stuck in Patrick's craw something awful.

I was, however, closer with the person Patrick had worked in conjunction with on his abridged series, X. These days X is my best friend. Back then, I don't know how close we were. But definitely closer than either of us were with Patrick.

One day in 2019, entirely out of the blue, Patrick messages me privately to inform me that X once slept with a girl who was 17 when he was in his early 20s.

My own spouse was sexually assaulted before I met them, and as a result I have a no tolerance policy on anything that even could resemble assault. So I immediately ended my friendship with X.

And as I was doing so, Patrick told me repeatedly that I was overreacting.

As you can see, by Patrick/Shady's own words, this was a long time ago. Just under a decade or so, by my count.

And most importantly, Patrick had been aware of this for the whole decade or so and chose this very moment to tell me that this happened.

I want you to keep that in mind, especially the fact that when I said I was ending my friendship with X, Patrick's actual response was "it was a long time ago, he's gotten better."

It was painful to end my friendship with X, but I did. I told him that if he could provide satisfactory proof that what Patrick had said didn't represent the facts of the situation, I could be his friend again. Until then, I cut off all communication from X.

A week or so later I received specific evidence that pointed to a situation wherein Patrick was intentionally misrepresenting what happened, or the alleged victim's story. The alleged victim VERY specifically disagreed with Patrick.

You'll note that I'm not including screen caps of these conversations - that is because the alleged victim, and other involved parties, DO NOT WANT to be part of any of this and have needed actual therapy because of Patrick's behavior in the past. Not just here.

Anyway.

I returned to Patrick/Shady and told him there had been a misunderstanding. I wanted to clear the air and give him a chance to say something along the lines of "oh okay, obviously I had my facts wrong." I mean, as you yourself have just read - he said himself that this was a long time ago. Maybe he got some wires crossed.

This is how Patrick actually responded:

The screenshots were taken on different dates, hence why his twitter icon looks different suddenly.

But yes. His response to me explaining that the alleged victim disagreed with his stance, was to insist that the alleged victim must be lying and that I should be absolutely infuriated.

After he'd tried to tell me that there was no point in being upset about this information that he had sat on for the better part of a decade.

Patrick continued to scream at me via dm, repeatedly requesting that I give him my phone number so we could talk about this. I assume this is because he didn't want any kind of text evidence of what he was going to say to me, or what he was doing.

He would later, mid-conversation, tell me that he was deleting all of his dms to me. Not sure why. It doesn't remove them from my side of the conversation, so I still have access to all of them. I have not shared the entire private message thread yet, because it's sensitive and involves people beyond just myself. But if the dms ever do need to be made public entirely, I have them.

I ended up blocking Patrick during this very conversation because he had begun screaming at me, behaving extremely unhinged and in a frightening manner. I honestly think he had hoped that I would initially try to defend my friend from his accusation, in which case he was going to fly off the handle then. But because I had genuinely believed him and removed my friend from my life, only to then learn Patrick's story didn't hold water, he had no choice but to lash out now. When it didn't make any sense to suddenly be irate about a thing he had told me about, and had literally just said "it was a long time ago."

Within 24 hours, Patrick had sent me a threatening email saying he was going to expose me for everything I was doing. I have attached the highlights of the email, parts that don't involve other people's names.

Some of the references in this email - specifically about how I've associated with others and ignored people calling me out for it - are related to a podcast I was on, alongside Patrick. Until recently I had indeed tried to move on with my life after a number of the people involved had revealed themselves to be toxic. I had made efforts to separate myself from those people. It had been years since I'd really had any direct connection to any of them.

I do indeed regret not speaking out about it sooner.

Having said this, Patrick himself was equally as guilty for not speaking out - and had in fact spent a significantly larger amount of time talking to/working with the people in question.

As such, I believe a lot of this is some form of bizarre projection on his part.

I ignored the email because I was a) worried that he had suddenly snapped, and b) I didn't think any of the content warranted a response.

A day later, I received this email from Patrick where his tone has changed entirely:

As you can see, this is more in line with the reality of the situation. He is apologizing profusely and insisting I didn't actually do anything wrong, and that he was the one in the wrong.

You'll also note that he signs this particular email "Patrick." That is because it is his real name, and I believe he was possibly appealing to my humanity and the part of me that might still have seen a friendship worth salvaging. Otherwise I could not tell you why he signed his real name - he typically hates using it.

I still did not reply because at this point I was confused and scared and wanted him to leave me alone. And to that point, he had specifically stated at the end of his email that he was the problem and he would not "involve himself in my life any longer."

The police were contacted and they told him to stop. I had hoped that my part in all of this was over.

Later that very month, Patrick announced on his ShadyVox twitter account that a new GX Abridged was coming out for April Fools.

When it is posted on April 1st - less than a month after he had sent his email saying he would remove himself from my life, and not long after the police have visited him - the video contains many references to our conversations, and specifically the fact that the police got involved.

Yes, after being told by the police to stop - and after writing an email that insisted he knew he was the real problem and would be getting help - he decides to make a mockery of the situation publicly, in a manner that nobody else will understand. Except the people it is targeting.

The tweets about this video are the only thing remaining on Patrick's twitter account, as he had purged it some time ago.

(An aside - I do recall someone attempting to call Patrick out for being toxic previously on twitter, and his response was to spam them with the words "PROVE IT. PROVE IT. PROVE IT." until they gave up. I would include screenshots of this, but like I said - he purged his entire twitter except for this specific GX Abridged video he'd thrown together in a week to respond to the fact that the authorities had intervened to get him to stop)

One other important element of this video - which is where, I believe, this whole thing veers into genuinely disturbing territory - is that it is interspersed with garbled footage intended to look like some sort of creepypasta/vhs effect. At the end of the GX Abridged video, it is clear that Patrick is using this video to allude to some upcoming song tracks he is producing.

Songs that are tailored to threaten me in cryptic, indirect ways that very few people pick up on.

But I'll get to those later.

During 2019, Patrick reaches out to actual victims of the toxic individuals from the podcast I used to be on more than half a decade before any of the stuff chronologized in this post. He tells them lies, and demonizes me to the point that it convinces them that I am still both defending/supporting the toxic individuals, and actively mocking their victims in private.

I am aware of this because Patrick tweets about it - before deleting the tweets entirely. He even attempts to throw popular abridging group TeamFourStar under the bus, which I assume was merely out of spite because they had absolutely nothing to do with any of this.

I wish I had screengrabbed the tweets when they were still up, but there is still remaining evidence that they did exist.

Here is someone posting on Reddit about it - he only references one tweet, but this was around the time Patrick was posting and then immediately deleting what he'd said. I honestly can only assume - but I think he was fishing for people to latch on to what he was saying and contact him privately.

Not to mention the fact that the police had specifically told him to stop, so that was likely in the back of his mind also.

Here is someone replying to a since suspended twitter account that was discussing what Patrick was saying about TeamFourStar. Obviously I have no clear way to prove it, but please know that I have no reason to make that much up and point to a random ass tweet.

I imagine Patrick (not the suspended person in the above screencap) realized the best way to not seem directly to blame or involved at all was to remove any and all posts he'd made. Admittedly it would have worked if I didn't have the dms and these emails.

Speaking of emails, I received a third one in late 2019 - as you can see, Patrick's promise of leaving me alone forever didn't even last a year.

You'll note that he's speaking as though the second email never even happened. He's also just plain lying through his teeth for a significant part of it, but I think it's most important to note that this email requires you to assume the second email never got written.

He has gone from pages and pages of "of course it wasn't your fault, I'm the problem, you're good, I'm bad" to "I told you..."

Also, I think the words "You tried to damage me" should be highlighted here as it reinforces my theory that all of this was about me insulting him for all the right wing channels he'd subscribed to. Which, to me, was barely even a thought in my mind at this point.

So I choose to ignore this email also. Because y'know, why would I even humor responding to the guy at this point? I decide that I will only speak on any of this if it becomes public conversation. Until then, anything that happens would be because of Patrick's actions.

I do let my friends know about all of this - including TeamFourStar, who through this entire thing have been blameless and didn't even do anything to Patrick to begin with. And every time Patrick does something, I make sure people in my circle are aware and to be cautious.

Meanwhile Patrick alludes to all of this indirectly in the songs he posts to his YouTube channel. Yes, a situation that involves actual victims and one alleged victim that Patrick hadn't spoken to in years. He chose to make reference to all of this in videos where he raps, amongst other things.

There are a number of songs that feature references to this, it's mainly these two that I want to focus on

Birdy Boy is a song that is explicitly referencing Patrick's issues with me, without actually going into any details about what the issue is.

It is so clearly about me that people pick up on it - and rather than confront the issue or have a dialogue, Patrick decides to pin the comment about it to the top of the comments page.

Of course, if Patrick made any attempt to directly describe the issue or explain himself, it would likely result in the police becoming involved once again.

So he sticks to singing about the whole thing.

This next song is the most upsetting one.

Patrick/Shady writes a song called "Joker" about a psychotic individual murdering someone who "used to be funny." This is, specifically, the song that he teases at the end of the GX Abridged Episode 21 video he posted earlier in 2019 for april fools.

He has teased it multiple times on his twitter, and elsewhere, with the words "Coming Soon." The very same words he used to title his third threatening email.

Here is the email, placed next to some lyrics from the song Joker.

He is seemingly very specifically trying to threaten me without anyone noticing, in plain sight. I was unable to watch the video in full until after all of this stuff came out into the public. It was only through reading people's responses and the lyrics that I realized what he was doing.

Again, at this point I am doing and saying nothing publicly. Just watching this behavior and waiting.

Meanwhile in 2021, a videogame based on the web series TOME gets fully funded and Christopher Niosi - the creator of TOME - reaches out to the voice cast to see if they'll return. I myself was the voice of Nylocke, one of the main characters, and Patrick was the voice of THE main character.

As such, I told Christopher no and explained my reasons.

And here is Christopher's response.

Please pay careful attention to the fact that Christopher Niosi flat out says he already knew Patrick was doing this stuff - it isn't just me imagining it.

As a result of this interaction, I do not reprise my role as Nylocke and Christopher Niosi chooses to just recast every single character. Please note that he could have just recast Patrick, but did not. As a result, I feel responsible for all of the original cast losing out on work. It hurts to think about. But at least I feel like I did the right thing.

One member of the TOME production staff takes it upon themselves to reach out to Patrick personally. They discover that he is planning to write more songs/raps that target me. They ask him nicely to stop. He insists that he has to do this. Y'know, make vague allusions to extremely sensitive topics that he lied about in the form of song. Has to do it.

The member of production staff tells Patrick he should seek professional help.

Patrick ignores them.

Patrick continues to engage in behavior that, while not openly hostile or even specifically targeting anyone, is very clearly intended as mockery at best and a threat at worst until 2023 when all of this comes to a head.

In August of 2023, the real victims that Patrick has manipulated make a callout post aimed at myself and TeamFourStar. It specifically cites Patrick's testimony and the songs he has posted. They have been misled, but their anger is understandable.

Within a week, it becomes apparent to all sides that this is Patrick's fault. The person who posted the callout takes it down and apologizes to everyone. Not just me. They apologize to TeamFourStar, and to X.

And only then do I speak publicly about what Patrick has been doing.

I share all of the screencaps I've posted here, and give context. It's all a little muddled as at the time, my cat was dying of terminal cancer and so all of my posts are somewhat scatterbrained and aren't in chronological order. But it's still remarkably clear to everyone that Patrick has manipulated this whole thing, starting in 2019.

And that's only the stuff I feel comfortable sharing.

Since the callout post first dropped in 2023 and I began pointing people's attention toward Patrick, Patrick himself has been entirely silent. He has dropped off the internet with nary a word in defense. Not a single person directly associated with what happened has attempted to dispute my description of events.

This isn't my word versus his. It is my word versus silence.

I have it on good authority that Patrick is alive and well. I am grateful for that much. My attempts have not been to hurt him, but to defend myself. My efforts have not been to hunt him down and crucify him, but to make people aware of what transpired - and what could have easily been undone by Patrick/Shady just choosing to stop.

Instead a number of victims, and people who never did a thing, experienced a considerable amount of trauma as a result of his thoughtless and spiteful actions.

Patrick is a remarkably talented individual, and it makes me sad I have to be the one to show people who he is. I genuinely think all of this could have been avoided. It's so meaningless. It's just pain on top of pain.

And Patrick stood in the center of it all, not just pulling people's strings but practically uprooting them and then acting like he didn't do a thing.

I'm not expecting an apology, and I'm not asking for his cancelation, whatever shape that would take. But I do think it's important that people know this happened, that he chose this.

He did this for almost no reason to a person he considered a friend, who worked on videos with him.

It just seems like the responsible thing, to make sure people are somewhat aware that he could do this to them if they aren't cautious and careful and super aware.

I'm sorry to anyone disappointed and hurt by all of this information.

Believe me, I understand.

[angeat]

I doubt this ship even has a name, but maybe Ms. Dorothy (Tome-san) and appropriately-GX-aged Mai could be fun?

you are a god damn genius

[bestygogirl]

BEST YGO GIRL: ROUND 2, GROUP C

Match 6

please use this as an opportunity to say why you like a character, not why you don't.

Propaganda under the cut!

Mana

Somehow still doesn't have propaganda. What the heck.

Tome

She was the moment. Completely deadass, I want to be her when I grow old.

[number-1-kuaidul-fanboy]

Not gonna lie this probably would've slapped

[lulue-xie]

👀

[melchinafan]

You're right and you should keep saying it.

Akhenaten's out there, making the same bad decisions, and getting sealed away by seven [important magical artifacts created via human sacrifice] each time.

This totally-not-suspiciously-named fellow is watching over the entrance to the physical location where he's sealed away (just another nameless someone's spirit is set to do in YGO):

They're The Same Picture Dot Gif (there's too much attention to detail in this game for them to have accidentally painted those crowns the wrong historical colors and coincidentally just so happen to match their respective hat and circlet, there's no way also a cartouche by the ALWAYS TALLER blue fella is for Seti I and I find both of those things amusing):

And how funny is it. HOW DAMN FUNNY. That, yanno, since Priest Seto's dad is Akhenaten, and Atem's dad is Akhenaten's twin brother? That makes Tiye (famously red-haired, y'all know what that means in this game) their grandma. (Pictured below, as well as on the sistrum/instrument both of them are holding above.)

And I'm not necessarily saying she had anything to do with the tombkeepers in YGO maybe several times, I'm just saying there's quite a few Ishtars running around, yeah?

Also there's a couple sarcophagi-shaped hologram-producers in SWL with convenient divots to place enchanted items into. As you do.

I have a dissertation's worth of notes and thoughts on this. XD Hopefully some day I'll get around to arranging it into more cleanly organized sections, and maybe upload said sections by chapter to AO3 or the like...

So, in my modern DnD campaign, we're currently in Egypt. We're in a place where one of our party members, ten years ago (in character), put down an attempted resurrection of the Amarna Sun Cult and my character keeps mking YuGiOh references about it

[twisted-art-wounders]

YGO AU: Breaking the Seal 08

Chapter 8 Cloudy Yugi faces off against Pegasus, as clouds start to come up over the horizon.

Yami sat on a stone throne in the middle of the endless maze that was his soul; the cold and dark tome of a lost pharaoh with no name, no idea of his past or history all he knew now was what he awoke to in the modern age. All his current knowledge obtained thanks to sharing a mind and body with his partner Yugi.

Right now that was all that was on his mind, his partner and the fact that he'd been attacked two nights in a row and he could do nothing to help him. Gilt sat heavy in his heart it was his duty to protect his partner to keep him and his other friends safe. But here he sat for a third night unable to do anything to help, without the memories of his previous life to guild him to give him a clue about who this new enemy they had to face was. He signed and looked down at his opened hands before slumping back into his chair which was pretty uncomfortable since it was made of pure stone.

“Now what do I do? Can we really even trust Pegasus of all people? He was the person stealing souls and sealing them into cards in the first place…”

Yami looked up at the empty void of a ceiling; endless stairs and doors that seemed to lead to no where adorned the walls of his room, echoing back the fact his partner told him about his soul. He had no memories so he had no idea what direction to take in his current form of existence.

“If only I had the god cards again…”

Yami closed his eyes only to feel a sharp pressure behind his eyes, he sat up and looked around the empty room again. He could have sworn he felt a pulse of darkness…not the familiar darkness he would occasionally feel in this room. The last time Yugi visited his room he told him about feeling this same darkness which is what brought him to his room in the first place. Yami did admit to feeling it as well but with all the events of Battle City going on it'd slipped his mind completely so he didn't investigate further.

This new pulse was familiar but somehow different it was distant like it was coming form another place, his partners room! Yami followed the feeling towards the exit door of his room, swinging it open he looked across the endless hallway to the side of their shared space owned by Yugi.

His side of the space was cold and dark with the walls made of ancient carved stones, his door was heavy and metal forged into the center was a large eye with veins emitting form the round shape. While Yugi's side was lighter with his walls made of plastic blocks stacked together resembling children's building blocks, his door was white made of simple wood and was always open just enough to sneak a peek inside his room.

Normally the space of corridor was narrow it'd take only 3 steps to be on the opposite side of each door, but this time the space was further away at least 10 ft apart form each other. Yami stared at Yugi's side in shock he wasn't greeted with the warm welcoming embrace of his partner's gentle soul. What he saw was broken and dishevelled bricks barely keeping the newly fractured and cracked door in place. It was like someone tore the door of his hinges threw it down, ran it over then tried to put the door back in place. An eerie green aura was peeking through the cracks of the door, no doubt it was the source of the darkness he was feeling.

Yami quickly walked towards his partner's door and reached a hand out to grab the doorknob only for for him to pause. He felt something shoot up into his arm keeping it frozen in place, his hand shook as it hovered over the doorknob, his heart was beating heavily. He wanted to open the door but something in his mind shouted at him to stop. Soon he realized why Yugi's door and his side of their shared space was so…broken.

A part of Yugi's soul was torn out of him…this was a result of the tear, his soul was broken and now was barely clinging to his body. Yami pulled his hand back and kept it to his side, he was afraid of what damage he'd do if just carelessly opened this already fragile door. Would it be enough to disintegrate the rest of Yugi's soul? Would it cause him more pain? He couldn't be so reckless! What was he thinking?

He shock his head and backed away, he couldn't risk it he didn't want to risk killing what was left of Yugi. Shutting his eyes he turned around and walked back towards his own room shutting the door behind him.

He slammed both his fists into the metal door and yelled out in frustration.

“ARGH!!! IS THERE NOTHING I CAN DO?!”

Hot tears ran down his cheeks as he looked up at the door again and narrowed his eyes.

“I'll find away to save you…no matter what it takes…”

--

Back in Pegasus' office he and Yugi were standing at opposite ends of the room the Seal of Orichalcos surrounding them. Pegasus' side of the field was empty since Yugi had just destroyed his last remaining monster leaving his life points at a mere 100. While Yugi not only had a powerful monster on his side of the field but had nearly all his Life Points 3200 and worse it was now his turn.

In Yugi's mind he was still facing Dartz and his duel was mirroring the one happening at the office at this moment.

“Now don't hold back how you feel Yugi-boy! You tell Pegasus everything you're feeling! Everything you've kept inside of you this whole time! Let him have all of it!”

Dartz masked as Pegasus grinned as inside Yugi's soul room the deck of tarot cards placed inside by Yugi himself started to pulse as dark energy started to emit form it. Yugi could feel it, all of his pent up anger all of his hate all of his untapped rage was pouring out of him making him grit his teeth as he faced the man responsible for it.

“You thought it was fun to take peoples souls didn't you? Because you had power! And you could use it without consequences! Well now you don't have your Millennium Eye to protect you anymore!”

Yugi drew a new card looking at it with a grin, this made Pegasus the real one nervous…

“I guess it's true, you don't have any real skills not without cheating! Remember in our last duel when me and my other self had you on the ropes so you decided to drag us into the shadow realm?”

Pegasus swallowed hard he did remember; using their mind swap technique the Yugi's managed to outwit his mind scan power and pulled ahead in the duel if they had continued as they were Pegasus knew he'd lose. So he had to separate them and the only way to do it was to drag them into the shadows, a place where little Yugi wouldn't be able to survive due to mental strain he'd have to endure to keep the game going. And eventually his plan worked little Yugi only held out 2 turns before he passed out form the exhaustion.

“Y-yes…I do but I-” Pegasus wanted to continue but Yugi wouldn't allow it.

“Shut up! You knew what would happen to me in there! You knew I'd never be able to maintain my monsters for very long! You knew what would happen to me if I kept going! You were counting on it!” Yugi hissed.

“Do you know what is like for me in there? It felt like every breath was struggling to come out! Like my chest had something heavy constantly pushing down on it forcing me to breath harder! I was suffocating with every breath! The shadows were consuming me! I held out as long as I could…” Yugi's hand was trembling as he remembered his final breath before his collapse.

“You killed me.”

Pegasus felt a cold sweat run down his spine the moment he heard that “N-no! I didn't you survived!”

“I only survived because the other me won the shadow game! But before that I was DEAD! You killed me with no hesitation! My life meant nothing as long as you got what you wanted!” Yugi screamed and pointed at the red suited man.

Pegasus was trembling, he knew what he did was wrong he knew the boy was right…all he wanted was to see his wife again. He knew Yugi was an obstacle in obtaining that goal so of course he if he had to die it was worth it just to have her again…wasn't it? Pegasus looked down in shame he knew he was wrong and now this was his punishment wasn't it?

“Yugi…I'm sorry.” was all he could muster out right now, he only had 100 life points left and it was Yugi's turn all he had to do was attack him directly and it was over. He had no more moves left nothing in his hand could help him now.

“No. You're going to be sorry.” Yugi's voice was cold as he ordered his monster to attack Pegasus directly, with that final attack the life point counter hit zero and the green circle surrounding them started to enclose around Pegasus.

“Time for your punishment game! Now it's your turn to suffer inside a card! Just like Grandpa and Kaiba brothers!” Yugi chuckled as he watched the green circle finally close in around Pegasus making him scream out in pain.

As the dark power ripping the soul form the creator of the very game they were playing, a beam of green energy shot out form the window of the building carrying the soul of the loser away. Once the deed was done the circle vanishing leaving his limp and soulless body collapsed on the ground. Yugi opened the field spell slot on his duel disk and pulled out the card that was inside before walking pass the body. Glaring down at the empty shell before kneeling down and ejecting Pegasus' deck from the duel disk and pocketing it.

--

Yugi smiled as he saw Pegasus' Life points hit zero, finally he had a great feeling and accomplishment wash over him like something heavy on his chest was finally lifted and gone. Pegasus was smiling and started to clap his hands before returning to his true form as Dartz.

“Nicely done, Yugi!” He come over to the boy and placed a hand on his shoulder “My of my you certainly have away of playing this game! You had me on the ropes!”

“Thanks! You did really well too! You played just like how I think the real Pegasus would play!” Yugi smiled and let the duel disk disappear form his arm.

“Do you feel more confident now?” Dartz asked as he returned to the small table and chair and sat down prompting Yugi to do the same.

“Actually, yeah I do! You were right even if Pegasus may have other intentions for my visit it's nothing I can't handle!” Yugi sighed happily slipping into his chair he looked up only to see clouds starting to form in the sky, big black and blue clouds that covered the sun.

“Huh?” Yugi sat up again as he felt a few drops of rain start to fall form the clouds. “Oh no!” he shouted as he watched more and more rain come down around them making him jump up and look for shelter.

A small nook in the patio with just a tiny bit of cover was all he could see as a viable place to stand so he ran towards it expecting Dartz to do the same but the purple suited man just stood up and looked up at the sky. He held his arms out and closed his eyes as the rain washed over him shocking him form head to toe.

Yugi was confused why was he just letting the rain ruin his outfit?

“Dartz! What are you doing? Get out of the rain!” Yugi yelled but Dartz continued to stand in the rain as he got more and more wet.

“Come out here my child! Don't you see how wonderful this is!” Dartz chuckled.

“Getting wet isn't a good thing! You'll catch a cold!” Yugi yelled back.

“Yugi, the rain of a symbol of change! It's purifying effect is washing away your trauma! Do you not feel it?” Dartz looked at Yugi smiling once again beckoning him to come out join him.

Yugi watched the teal hair man and listened to his words…he was right he did feel so much lighter after that duel and now the raining come in at first felt like it was a symbol of something worse to come but no…he was feeling lighter.

Yugi reached a hand out and let the rain water hit his open palm, it was cool to the touch but somehow it felt warm. He slowly exited the small nook and allowed more of his body to be exposed to the rain; he felt it hit his head running down his scalp as the water washed down his face to his neck. Then his arms, torso, legs and finally down to feet.

Yugi made his way to where Dartz was standing and looked up at the sky along with him, he raised his arms up and allowed the rain to completely wash over his body; all of his fear and tension washing away with the water itself. Yugi felt joy start to bubble up in his stomach as he let out a laugh and started to run around the patio juts like a child would do when their playing in the rain. Yugi found as many puddles as he could and jumped into them making as big of a splash as he could with each jump.

He was having so much fun he didn't even mind it when he slipped and landed flat on his back, he just let out a bigger laugh and watched the sky begin to clear up again. The rain slowly started to stop only a few faint drops of water fell before it was all over. Now the air was murky but somehow felt fresher just like after a storm the world feels so different.

Dartz come over and sat down in the fresh puddles beside Yugi and smiled.

“Well, how do you feel now?” Dartz asked softly.

Yugi smiled and whipped his face free of any stray water droplets coming down form the bangs of his hair.

“Soooooo much better!” Yugi chuckled and closed his eyes. “I think this is really working Dartz…I'm feeling so much better about myself!”

“I'm glad you are my child…but there's still something important we need to discuss about your relationship with the Nameless Pharaoh…” Dartz's tone had changed drastically, no longer was it light and calm now it was carrying an air of dread.

Yugi sat up and looked over to the older man sat beside him, something was differently wrong he could feel it.

“…What do you mean?” Yugi asked trying to keep the worry out of his voice.

Dartz looked at Yugi his mismatched eyes wavering as he searched for the right words.

“I fear…he may be the root of your trauma. And he may have an alternator motive in your partnership…”

Yugi blinked and let his words sink in for a bit.

“…You think he's the root of my trauma? And that he has other motivations for me?”

Dartz nodded and waited watching Yugi as he let out a little chuckle, Yugi had to cover his mouth since he knew it was rude to laugh but he couldn't help it.

“Okay, you're pulling my leg right? This is all a big joke… right?” Yugi tilted his head and watched Dartz waiting for him to laugh and exclaim this was all a joke at his expense, but when he didn't receive that response he got worried so he asked again.

“Dartz…why to you think he's going to hurt me?”

“I don't think he has hurt you, he has hurt you. The trauma you've suffered all stems form his presence in your life…And I fear he plans to use it to control you…”

Yugi paused again inside part of him was trying to yell out but another part of him was holding back; he was upset Dartz would accuse his other self of this kind of thing! What possible reason would the other Yugi have for wanting to control him? He's always been his friend! He's always helped him! And Yugi has helped him back!

All these thoughts were circling Yugi's mind and Dartz could see it so he sighed and got up quickly dusting himself off a bit.

“Forgive me, I shouldn't have said anything…I know how much your partnership with him means and here I am talking so rudely about him…I must sound so petty to you.” Dartz turned and started to walk away.

Yugi felt guilty, he knew Dartz was just speaking his mind and here he was trying to control that. He got up and reached out grabbing his hand to stop him form leaving.

“Dartz wait! I didn't mean to make you feel like I wasn't going to listen to you, it's just…Well maybe if you spoke to him for yourself? Hey yeah! How about you two meet then you'd see he's not-”

Dartz looked down at Yugi their eyes meeting each other “No! We will not be doing that.” Dartz tone shifted to a strict and cold command. Yugi froze in his place surprised by the sudden shift in emotions, his eyes were transfixed onto Dartz's eyes now. Yugi was a bit frightened he didn't expect such a harsh reaction form the man who always seemed so calm and in control of himself.

Dartz noticed Yugi's fear and signed, he turned around getting down on his knees and taking both of Yugi's hands into his own. He made himself as small as possible so Yugi could see him face to face to make him feel less intimidated, once again shifting his tonal speech to being softer.

“My child, I'm here to help you first and foremost, that means sometimes my help may require you to do further soul searching and to truly face people for who they are…even people who we love can hurt us…”

Yugi's eyes widened as he watched Dartz's expression become sincere and thoughtful, he felt compelled to listen.

“I…I'm sorry Dartz…I know you're only trying to help me. I'm truly grateful for it I am! But I share a body with the other me…I can't keep things form him for long, eventually he's going to find out. He's already so worried…”

Dartz nodded “I understand…but perhaps we can try to keep it between us for a but longer?” he tilted his head slightly leaning more to one side.

Yugi smiled softy and nodded “Ok, I'll try and keep it secret as long as I can but eventually he'll find out…”

Straightening his head upright Dartz nodded again “Of course, but for now we'll do what we can okay?” a gentle smile grew between his lips as Yugi gave one final nod.

“Okay.”

“Alright then.” Dartz got up and dusted himself off a bit once more

“Now time for you to get some sleep! You have a big journey ahead of you!”

“You're right I really should sleep, Thanks again Dartz!” Yugi waved to the teal hair man before he spoke his returning chant and left his mind space again.

Dartz smiled as he watched him leave, he turned his head up as the clouds started to return draping the landscape in darkness, rain started to fall once more but this time in heavier buckets. He plants around them started to grow and expand covering more and more of the land, below canopy of the trees the greenhouse was again becoming consumed by the plant matter. Fully enclosing the structure making it impossible for anyone to enter or exit the building let alone even find it again.

“A cleansing rain to wash away the past…concealing the distractions that get in the way… It's time for the storm.”

--

Meanwhile on the roof of Industrial Illusions head office the three swordsmen of DOMA waited; They witnessed when the circle first had come down form the heavens and into Pegasus office, a sign the duel had started and that the duplicate Yugi was using it's power. Now they waited for the results of the duel; if the duplicate won then they got Pegasus soul, but if he failed…well then it was up to one of them to take over most likely.

Valon was pacing around bored as always, while both Raphael and Alister leaned against the walls of the small housing that contained the staircase that allowed access to the roof form inside the building. They too were bored but they didn't show it in the same way Valon was, they kept quiet as Valon exclaimed.

“Man, what is taking so long? If it was me I would've flatted this rich boy in 5 moves!”

“Calm down, Valon. Give the kid a chance.” Raphael told his fellow swordsman.

“Ugh I don't know what Dartz was thinkin'! I mean yeah the kid's a decent duelist for the most part but even against Pegasus didn't he need the Pharaoh to help him?” Valon stopped pacing for a moment to cross his arms.

“That was months ago, Pegasus hasn't dueled for a long time. He's probably rusty at this point so anyone could take him.” Alister looked down at his nails examining them for any dirt. “Even the Pharaoh's vessel.”

“So is Pegasus really worth all the fuss then?” Valon pouted. “I mean the vessel took out Gurimo and he's was one of your weakest guys Raph.”

“You heard Dartz, he still has a strong soul, and even if he hasn't dueled in a while his true instincts as a duelist will resurface again.” Raphael answered and looked up to the sky again watching as the clouds moved along passing the moon finally and allowing the moonlight to brighten the roof again.

Suddenly they saw a beam of green light shoot out form the building again, this meant the duel was over and they're knew the task was complete. They waited to see if the duplicate Yugi would return or not and to their shock he did.

“Hey hey! Look whose back!” Valon folded his arms behind his head.

“Looks like things have gone well. Did you have any trouble?” Raphael grinned as Yugi walked towards them with a card in hand.

Yugi shook his head and showed them the magic card; it was the Seal of Orichalcos but inside the circle was an image of Pegasus looking horrified as he was trapped in the card itself.

Valon whistled impressed with the boys work “Hey not bad kid! You may have some skills for yourself after all!”

Raphael nodded agreeing with Valon, the only one left was Alister who approached Yugi with his arms folded and glared down at him.

“You got the deck right?” He asked directly.

Yugi reached into his pocket and presented the full deck to Alister, he grinned and took the deck from him, fanning the cards out to get look at them ensuring what he wanted was all in there.

“That'll do kid, that will do.” Alister then folded the cards back into a pile and pocketed the deck himself.

Yugi's eyes went dull before his Orichalcos earring started to glow and in a flash of green light he was gone, only the shard remained floating in the air. Alister reached out and took the shard also putting it in his pocket.

“Why'd you have him steal his deck for?” Valon asked curious.

“My plan relay on it. I'll be down in Pegasus's office I got some more work to do.” Alister said looking over to Raphael before he turned to head towards the stair case. Valon shrugged then followed after Alister leaving Raphael alone.

Raphael watched them both leave before he placed a hand to his ear and spoke.

“Mission accomplished, master.”

“Good, return to HQ we have to prepare for the Nameless Pharaoh's arrival…”

“On our way.” Raphael put his hand down then followed his fellow swordsmen back down the staircase to their bikes waiting at the exit of the building.

--

Yugi could feel the sun on his face, the light forcing him to stir a bit and eventually wake him form his dream, he sat up and let out a great big yawn. His hair was messier then normal and his pyjamas's were a skew. He must have had a rough night sleeping since he still felt so groggy and unrested. Rubbing his eyes to try and regain some focus he looked around his room and could see the other Yugi was dressing himself in his school uniform.

Yugi blinked and rubbed his eyes again; he had to be seeing things right? Why was his other self dressing for him? He never did that…not until the day before. But Yugi was feeling okay not perfect but he was feeling better then he had been the last few days…maybe? He wasn't sure anymore, what time was it?

He looked over at the clock and could see it read 7:35am, Oh great he was gonna be late for school! Yugi pulled off the covers and found himself floating just a few inches off the ground, okay yes he wasn't in control of his body he was in his ghost form. He only took this form when the other Yugi was in control of his body like right now.

“Other me, you should have just woken me up! You don't need to get ready for me.” Yugi said as he watched Yami Yugi straighten his hair with some gel while he looked in the mirror checking his face to make sure it was presentable.

He nodded then went to his school bag and started to put his books into it, textbooks, note books, a pencil case, hmm was he missing anything else? Yugi watched him confused as to why he didn't respond to him when he talked so he tried again.

“Other me! It's okay I'm awake now we can swap out.” Yugi waited for him to turn around and acknowledge him but he didn't, he just zipped up the bag and threw it over his shoulder before giving himself one last look in the mirror to tap down a stray piece of hair.

Yugi was getting upset now why was he being ignored? He growled “Okay this isn't funny anymore! Stop playing around and-” Yugi reached down to touch the puzzle but it wasn't there! He looked down shocked then looked around his room.

The puzzle wasn't in it's usual spot on his desk, it wasn't on his bed head, his chair, behind the door! Then it hit him the other Yugi wasn't wearing it either! He heard the door open just as grandpa's voiced called out.

“Yugi! Time for school!You're friends are waiting for you!”

“I'm coming Grandpa!” Yami yelled back as he closed the bedroom door and headed down the hallway to the stairs.

Yugi was scared why was this happening? Where was the puzzle? What was going on with the other Yugi? Why was he ignoring him? Yugi quickly followed after him floating through the closed door and out into the hallway, following him down stairs all the while trying to get his attention.

“Other me wait! Something is really wrong! Where is the Millennium Puzzle?! Why can't you hear me!?” Yugi screamed in a panic as he watched the other Yugi head towards the door and began to put on his shoes.

This was just like in Duelist Kingdom; before he and Yami properly met when he would take control of his body and duel. Yugi could only watch never speak to him since his voice would never reach him, it wasn't until their duel with Pegasus were they really started to work together did their bond truly grow. But now it felt like they where back at square one again! Yami taking control and Yugi have no power to control it or say anything to him.

Yugi floated over and in front of him again yelling at the top of his lungs “Other me you have to help! You…you have to- STOP IGNORING ME!”

Yugi held his head in frustration as he watched Yami Yugi stand up tapping his shoes on the ground to better fit them to his feet.

Yugi sniffled as tears started to well up in his eyes “Why…can't you hear me? Other me-”

“I'm not the other you.”

Yugi was shocked as he saw Yami Yugi now look directly at him his face was cold and stern along with his voice.

“I'm Yugi Mutou. You're just a refection.” He grinned now making Yugi's spine tingle in fear, he couldn't…he wouldn't believe this was his other self talking!

“W-what are you talking about?” Yugi muttered out.

“Everyone already thinks I'm you. I'm everything you could be; strong, confident, brave, everything you lack. ” Yami grinned as he watched Yugi float in disbelief at what he was hearing.

“No one would care if you vanished, I'm the Yugi this world deserves after all. I'm the Duel King after all, no not just that…I'm King of All Games. While you wasted your life away I was making you look better and now I'm going to take what rightfully belongs to me…” Yami chuckled putting a hand on his chest, the puzzle was truly gone Yugi had no idea where it was or how to find it.

Yami glared at him more sinister then before “I'm going to take your life!”

“No! This isnt real! This is nightmare!” Yugi yelled trying to back away only for Yami to grab him like he was fully tangible again, he forced him up against the long standing mirror by the front door.

He forced Yugi to look into his eyes, they had a tinge of red around them looking more demonic and full of malice.

A look of absolute disgust painted his face now.

“I'm the real Yugi! You're just my reflection. And reflections don't talk!”

He then shoved Yugi through the mirror a portal opening up and Yugi found himself falling down a long tunnel down and down and down he sank, the light of the mirrors opening slowly becoming more distant the more he fell.

Yugi screamed just as he hit the ground below, he sat up and saw he was in a dark cavernous like place. Looking up he could barely see the light of the mirrors portal above. He was so scared and confused! Why was the other Yugi acting this way? This was a nightmare it had to be! He just needed to wake up!

Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! He chanted to himself before he felt something grab his arm, not just his arm the rest of his body! It was…hands? Dozens of hands ripping through the darkness and grabbing onto him pulling him down into the depths of this dark and confined place.

Yugi tried to fight them but it was no use he was no match for the sure numbers of hands pulling him down, grabbing every part of him including his face and sinking him deeper into the darkness, all he could do was scream.

[cyberdragoninfinity]

I think the other two already got done so if you're still taking asks for the game can I offer Jakob? Asking bc honestly the scene where he nearly chucks the wheel of.fortune like a Frisbee in the WGRP lives rent free in my head and I need to hear what someone else thinks of him. Asshole of all tome

NOBODYS ASKED FOR JAKOB OR PRIMO SURPRISINGLY i would love to talk about Number One Worst Grandpa Though <3

Why I like them/why I don’t: i looove jakob i dont think as much about him as i do with aporia's other pieces but i love that he is just this completely miserable ASSHOLE of an old man. he hates his coworkers who are also him and also one of them is a child. He's one of the most terrifying yugioh characters to me, he's HUGE and completely willing to kill anyone in the way of completing the circuit INCLUDING LESTER AND PRIMO?!?!? He's so driven by agony and anger and has all the smug I Know Better attitude of all of your worst old conservative male relatives combined. AND THEN THEY MADE HIM KIND OF SAD AND LONELY IN TAG FORCE 6. ALRIGHT!!!! <-- *WILL GET IN THERE AND THINK THAT HARD ABOUT IT*

What I like about their appearance: THE FACT HE'S BUILT LIKE A BRICK SHITHOUSE + THE ONE SINGULAR GIANT EYEBROW IS JUST. PEAK INSANE YGO CHARACTER DESIGN. I LOVE IT.

Do I prefer their dub names or original names?: I do slightly prefer Jakob if only because "Jakob with a K" is just some peak yugioh dub name bullshit maneuver lmao. Jose is also a really funny name for him I do like it.

OTP: I DONT REALLY HAVE ONE FOR HIM. if i think about his devotion to 'God' vs. aporia's bond with z-one i Will start coughing up blood though.

NOTP: jakob/primo i guess?? JAKOB/LESTER ALSO???? DIE IN THAT CASE???!?!?

OT3: not romantic but i love thinking about the Emperors as the world's most dogshit family that is also all one person. Grandpa and his two idiot grandkids he cant fucking stand.

Favourite card they use: Meklord Emperor Granel <3 Terrifying robot war machine with bizarre sea animal motifs but is also an Earth Machine for some reason <33 Slaughter Cannon <333

Favourite moment they were in: like. it's gotta be him RUNNING down the WRGP race track, right. it made me shriek laugh the first time i saw it and it gets me every time. they should have let him run the whole course flintstones style. i think he coulda done it

Least favourite moment: it is bonkers when he throws sherry's bike just Into the Ocean one hand like it's nothing but then theres that weird bit where he grabs her and shes kind of. Breasting Boobily iykwim. and it's just very #yugiohwomanmoment. get away from her old man. etc etc etc

Something I associate with them: all of his tag force story route events feel exactly like this tweet

[bakawitch]

If ZMG was to become a deck, I'd think it would be link or more likely XYZ strategy instead of Lv, due to them being the evolved extra deck form of Lv monsters, just like how zorc is "evolving" mana into a vessel of his resurrection while striping her of any LEVEL of control 😉. An Xyz ZMG deck would probably have the ever evolving mana gain abilities via her materials, with the final version using them up to demolish the foe.

That's actually a really cool idea though XD

I mostly just said Lv, cause DMG is mostly from the DM, GX, DSOD eras where Xyz isn't really a thing yet XD (I know there are DMG cards that are Xyz, but sue me, I'm old fashioned tcg-wise, and I prefer to think how things would make sense with anime logic lol) Also I really, really love the idea of Xyz versions of ZMG scaling up from each other turn by turn, each effect becoming more devastating than the last, because it kinda reminds me of Yubel and Destiny Board... imagine one of the effects just outright being, 'you automatically win the duel'. Though that might be a bit much 😆

Anyway, now I'm thinking of a weird ass fanmade ygo series that takes place between Zexal and Arc-V where Abidos the Third's reincarnation, Yukitani Saburo (random yu-protag name, with Yukitani being the surname) goes up against a scientist hell bent on resurrecting Zork with a cursed deck that appeared in a mysterious room filled with odd scriptures of monsters (literally one of those shrines the priests kept the ka monster tablets in for summoning) including the only copies of the ZMG archetype. This scientist could probably look suspiciously like Mana or DMG for the lols, too. Maybe we could even bring the Shadow Charms back for an added level of mysticism, or even the Millennium Tome for Zork reasons XD

I kinda want both Xyz and Lv deck versions of ZMG now, but I don't have the mental fortitude for it right now, it's been too long since I made custom archetypes XD Maybe some other time though.

[mediocredoots]

FE!Ygo au brainrot for a sec

Kaiba would def be a lancer riding on a Wyvern with an affinity/res to light magic

On the other end of that jou would def become a wyvern rider that uses an axe. Max strength breaking lancers left & right lol

Yugi & atem dark mages for sure ( atem being a dark knight/paladin ) I can only see yugi having tomes but atem would have a sword

Ryou is definitely healer vibes that uses light magic. Eventually gets to the Bishop role. Plus the idea of him & yugi looking smoll & defenseless but having magic that could obliterate a man is amazing aesthetics

Anzu a dancer lol supporting/empowering the group. Honda seems very generic knight tbh or he could be a shield knight. Mai ofc a Pegasus knight very strong & beautiful. Otogi although I could also see him as a dark mage could make for a good archer too

[goatlingsvent]

compiling of things that have yet to come to be in the sneak peeks/high res library and the dates they were posted, so these don't get lost in the server deletion

glittering galaxy explore map, jan 31st, 2024

(not fully confirmed) giving tree update plan, jan 25th, 2024

ygo's warlock AD, HA buddy items, and tome, design pass. jan 13th, 2024. note that on august 7th ygo asked for an update on the status of this in the mod help channel, to which snow replied it'll likely be added towards the end of the year

theenforcer's emokid AD and RAD, design pass, as well as fairybreads great grammy set, also design pass. jan 6th, 2024

winner of dec. 2023's DAG, conquerorwyrm's crowsmic rogue. dec 28th, 2023

winner of nov. 2023's DAG, gobs' star hopper. nov 24th, 2023

winner of oct. 2023's DAG, zillychu's comet chaser. oct 26th, 2023

[the-evil-authoress]

Snowfall

Gift for @lemmint from the Secret Santa event on Discord. Using the sub names was a trip but I made it! And I feel like should have done more with Tome but I hope this satisfies, lem! <3

“SNOW! Aniki, it’s snowing!”

Judai jolts awake to the sound of Sho’s voice, squinting out from his cocoon of blankets in confusion. “It’s Saturday,” he mumbles, pulling his nest over his head before the words finally click in his brain. “Snow?”

“Snow!”

Judai peeks out of his nest again to see Sho nodding enthusiastically. His toes curl, already feeling the chill. But… snow. His first snow at Duel Academy; his first snow having friends since… He can’t actually remember the last time he had friends.

Whatever, not thinking about that.

Snow plus friends means snowball fights and snow forts and- “Why didn’t you say something sooner?” Shoving the blankets aside, Judai emerges from his nest - crap, it’s cold in here - and beelines for the closet.

“I did as soon as I saw it!” Sho whines and does a double take as Judai pulls out the big poofy coat. “Wait, you’re going outside?”

“Yeah?”

“But you hate winter!”

Judai can’t really blame Sho for this assessment. The onset of colder weather brought on a couple of discoveries about their new living space- the heater was janky and half functional at best and the door and window created a draft. Judai promptly stole every extra blanket he could, complaining loudly about the lack of heat.

Still, he rolls his eyes as he double layers his pants. “I hate being cold. I love snow!”

“Weirdo,” Hayato grumbles from the top bunk as Sho visibly tries to piece the seemingly contradictory statements together.

Judai grins at a boy he knows isn’t looking. “I take it you won’t be joining us?”

“Nope.” Hayato hunkers further into his own nest of blankets.

Blowing a raspberry, Judai zips up his coat, stuffs his feet into his shoes, and throws open the door. The cold air assaults his face like tiny little knives, but the white expanse before him sparkles like something straight out of a fantasy. Snow has always been beautiful. And he’s not alone this time. “Sho!” he calls over his shoulder before charging down the stairs.

“Coming!” Sho scurries out, zipping up his own coat and a hat pulled down over his ears. Kind of adorable, really; he almost looks like some poofy little duckling.

Judai has a ball of snow in hands before Sho makes it down the stairs and Sho shrieks as it sails past his head. “No face shots!! Don’t you know the rules?!”

“Nope!” Judai laughs joyously as Sho groans, and begins shaping another handful of snow. “So what are the rules?”

“No face shots!” Sho repeats and okay, yeah, Judai probably should have aimed a little lower - not that he was really aiming to begin with it. “And I dunno, there’s only two of us so I guess it’s just a free-for-all?”

The grin splits Judai’s face and he can tell Sho immediately regrets those words. “No take backs!” he singsongs and lops another snowball into the air before Syrus can protest.

Another scream as Sho ducks and Judai takes off running, scooping another handful on his way. “You didn’t even give me time to prep!”

“All’s fair in love and war!”

Judai can’t tell if his aim sucks or Sho is really good at dodging, but Sho’s aim sucks just as bad and he’s slower at restocking ammunition, so it’s a fairly even match. When Judai accidentally manages to catch one of Sho’s balls, the fight evolves into something halfway between pelting each other with snow and a game of catch.

“Go long!” Judai calls, throwing another into the air. Sho slips as he scrambles backward and falls into the snow, and the snowball finds a new target: the back of Professor Chronos’ head. The teacher makes a shrill noise as he pitches forward and snow undoubtedly slides down the back of his collar.

That’s not good.

“You hit Chronos!” Sho gasps, seemingly frozen in horror halfway to his feet.

“Who threw that?!” Chronos’ voice always gets screechier when Judai’s involved, he’s noticed. Usually it’s amusing and easy to deflect, so Judai isn’t terribly worried when the teacher spins around and he and Sho are the only viable culprits. Preparing the usual disarming grin, Judai holds up gloved hands.

“You see, it was an honest-”

Then Chronos starts packing a snowball the size of his head, Judai decides this is maybe one of those times he can’t talk himself out of Chronos’ ire; Sho grabs his arm, and they book it. The cannonball sails past them way off the mark - huh, they found someone with worse aim than them - but Sho screams all the same.

“Retreat!” Judai calls, laughing over his shoulder as Chronos stops to make another giant snowball - pfft, he’ll never catch them if he can’t pack snow and run at the same time - screaming something about finally teaching you delinquents a lesson. “Any ideas?” Judai asks as he saves Sho from faceplanting in the snow.

“Card shop!” Sho puffs between breaths.

Ooo, yeah! Maybe Tome will have snacks!

*

Like Judai suspected, they lose their angry tail pretty easily and take refuge in the card shop with Tome. Kicking off his shoes, Judai presses his frozen toes against the heating vent in the floor. Two layers of socks and the winter chill prevailed again. Worth it. Sho crouches by the window, peeking out as if expecting an enraged Chronos to come barrelling toward them any minute. Not a totally unfounded fear, but Sho really needs to light up and relax more. Being that high strung so often can’t be healthy.

“You boys look like a pair of snowmen!” Tome chuckles with that homely warmth and good natured cheer. “Enjoying the snow?”

The smile softens on Judai’s face, the tension he usually transforms into energy easing out of him as he tips his head back and slouches in his seat. “Yeah.”

“We were until aniki hit Professor Chronos with a snowball,” Sho says without looking away from the window.

Tome’s laugh warms the chill in Judai’s bones. “Oh, I bet he didn’t take that well!”

“He tried to murder us!”

“Stop being dramatic, Sho.”

“That snowball was as big as my head!”

Another warm peel of laughter breaks into the argument before it can devolve further. “Well it sounds like you boys have had quite the adventure this morning! How about some hot cocoa to help chase away the chill?”

“Yes, please!” Judai cheers as Sho finally swivels away from his watch at the window and murmurs a gratitude. Gotcha. One final glance out the window and Sho joins Judai at the single table. A pair of toes nudge up next to Judai’s on the heating vent and Judai jerks.

“Your feet are ice!”

Sho huffs. “You didn’t exactly give me time to grab an extra pair of socks.”

Well, that’s true enough. Judai charged out into the snow without stopping to wait for anything.

They don’t have to wait long before Tome returns with steaming mugs of cocoa and Judai eagerly wraps his hands around one, letting the heat chase away the lingering chill.

“So, any other plans for today?” Tome asks as she pulls up a seat with her own mug.

“Not really-”

“I wanna make a snow fort,” Judai announces and Sho squeaks. “Maybe get enough people together for a proper snowball war.”

Sho balks at the notion but Tome lights up. “That’s an excellent idea!” Sho does not look like he agrees. “You kids should enjoy yourselves while you’re young.”

“How are we gonna get that many people?” Sho frowns, likely fishing for reasons to abandon the idea but Judai is determined.

“I’m sure Misawa and Asuka would join us! And they probably know people.” Sho’s expression only sours. Geez, why is he so against this? “Lighten up, Sho. There’s a campus full of snow out there! We should make the most of it, dontcha think?”

“I guess…”

And now Judai’s getting the feeling there’s an underlying issue here. Like with Power Bond. Now how to get the little guy to open up without making him mad…

“Do you not like snow?” Tome asks and Judai nearly jumps. Right! She’s here! Geez, how did he zone out that hard?

“N-no! I like snow!” Sho promptly waves his hands before looking down again and yup, Judai recognizes that crestfallen look. Definitely a bigger issue here. “It’s just…”

Silence falls and Sho calms up again. It’s really frustrating trying to problem solve when the other party won’t offer information. “I’m listening,” Tome prompts, voice gentle and lacking any expectation. Oh! Judai can just let her get the information. He doesn’t have to this time and that’s probably better for everyone involved.

Scratch that, Sho shrinks into himself further so it seems even Tome’s gentle touch won’t work; but there’s this tiny little smile on Sho’s face that Judai’s never seen before. It looks…bitter? “I didn’t really…have friends in middle school,” he talks to the table. “When it snowed, the other kids would have snowball fights, and sometimes I’d try to join in, but I was never on anyone’s team…” He goes quiet again, before whispering, “I was just target practice.”

Oh. A cold feeling that has nothing to do with the weather outside settles into the pit of Judai’s stomach. His own experiences had been with being isolated and ignored; it sounds like Sho had been actively bullied. Judai isn’t sure what’s worse.

“That’s horrible.” Tome puts a hand on Sho’s shoulder and the boy leans into it. “No one should have ever treated you like that, but this isn’t middle school anymore. And you have friends.” Tome looks up at him with a smile and Judai figures that’s his cue.

“Exactly. And you can be on my team.”

Sho looks up as if this is somehow new information. Dang, his insecurities run deep. (Not that Judai is one to talk…) “Really?”

Judai grins. “We’re partners, aren’t we?”

The way Sho’s face lights up is worth all the melodramatic waterworks that will inevitably follow. Surprisingly, this time that doesn’t happen. Chin raised high, Sho looks Judai in the eyes and smiles. “You’re right. This isn’t middle school. So let’s go find our friends, build a fort and start a war!”

“That’s what I’m talking about!”

Tome urges them to fuel up before ‘starting a war’ and brings out snacks while they sip on the cocoa. It’s rich and warm and fills parts of Judai he hadn’t known needed filling. Then he’s pulling on his shoes and winter wear again while Tome waves them off and promises more hot cocoa for the cold and battle weary.

Back out in the cold, bright, beautiful snow, Judai breathes and his breath comes out in a cloud of white. Like this the campus looks like a blank canvas, a fresh start, full of endless possibilities. Perhaps, that’s why he loves snow so much.

Judai smiles down at his best friend. “Ready to start a war?”

Eyes bright, Sho smiles back. “Yup!”

“Then let’s go!”

[bestygogirl]

BEST YGO GIRL: Round 1, Group C

Match 12

Propaganda under the cut!

Tome

She was the moment. Completely deadass, I want to be her when I grow old.

Lyna the Light Charmer

Wasn't submitted with any propaganda, so hopefully there will be some in the notes!

[luvmagician]

rpg

[lulue-xie]

Also today i finally found à complet set of the ygo manga i cant wait to have it in my hands and re read it !!

[spiritsncrystals]

I wanna know when miss tome got this cleaning pharaoh look alike

I want one