#who is doing it like yubel/juudai

[ravelqueen]

People will make fun of yugioh as just that stupid card game anime BUT what anime are you watching in which the shonen protagonist proclaims his undying devotion for his bigender dragon lover, who was the villain of an entire season, and then soulbonds them together so they'll never be apart.

[muzetrigger]

A Terrible Summary of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Season 3

Apparently, Friday nights are for me to ramble about the various fandoms I’ve fallen into, and since I’ve been in a Yu-Gi-Oh! Kick recently, let me talk about GX for a minute. (Don’t judge me, I’ve been clean for 3+ years and that was a brief relapse.)

Ahem

Anyway, this is Yubel:

They’re… insane.

They used to look like this:

And they became a monster to protect the GX protagonist’s past incarnation.

Still following me? Great.

So shortly before the events of GX, the person Yubel swore to protect is reborn as the series protagonist and Yubel is remade as a Duel Monsters card. The protag’s dad gives Yubel as a present to him, and then Yubel proceeds to hospitalize all of the protag’s friends through Sketchy Card Game Magic.

Understandably, this freaks the protag out, so he sends Yubel into space after winning a card drawing contest run by Kaiba, because of course Kaiba would host an entire contest just to send some trading cards into space.

Also understandably, Yubel feels kinda betrayed, and then their spaceship encounters Entities Beyond Comprehension, which drives them even more insane.

Eventually, they crash land back on Earth, trick a war vet into reviving them on the false promise of resurrecting the vet’s son, gaslight the vet so hard that he believes that his son never died and he walks off a suspended platform to his death.

They also transport the protag’s school to The Dark Dimension, possess the protag’s current best friend’s body (sorry, Syrus), and scheme to destroy the entire multiverse.

Predictably, this does not do wonders for the protag’s mental health, and he snaps, reverting to his past incarnation’s personality.

So, for like two or three episodes (I don’t know, it’s been like 10 years), the two of them had this aesthetic:

And yes, I was absolutely a Fujo for these guys, edgy teen that I was.

Anyway, the protagonist eventually snaps out of it (after sacrificing an entire country to make a single card) and beats Yubel out of his best bud’s body.

THEN HE PROCEEDS TO FUSE HIS SOUL WITH YUBEL’S SO THEY CAN BE TOGETHER FOREVER.

And that’s how the last season of the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX English dub ends. (Man, I wish Season 4 got dubbed.)

This was also just a really long winded way of introducing what I think is the first instance of gender envy I ever felt.

Which I think is really telling lmao

[yugioh-rare-pair-poll]

Welcome to the Yugioh GX Rare Pair poll

As voted by you, we'll go and shed a spotlight on all the rare pairs of Duel Academy. Like last time, this is a single elimination style bracket, without limits on submissions. Pairings have no limits, so don't be afraid to submit those pairs that no one else gets, but damn it, they make you happy. And also like last time, there is a list below with all the pairings that are banned, due to them being popular in the GX fandom. This is the Rare Pair poll afterall.

Also, like last time, bashing others, whether it's the pairing, the people in it, or even the person who likes that pairing, is prohibited. This is just a silly poll, there’s no need to attack anyone just to prove your point. If you do, you will be blocked.

The submission period will be from now til February 12th, so we can get things started right on Valentine's day.

Rules:

This will be a single elimination style bracket, with the size determining how big the tournament is.

No Multi-pairings. I enjoy them just as much as the next person, but they deserve their own separate poll.

No pairings from the other YGO series. But you can include characters who are from the manga.

Ban list (AKA these are the popular pairings here and we're trying to highlight those that are overlooked):Johan Andersen | Jesse Anderson/Yuuki Juudai | Jaden Yuki, Edo Phoenix | Aster Phoenix/Yuuki Juudai | Jaden Yuki, Manjoume Jun | Chazz Princeton/Misawa Daichi | Bastion Misawa, Manjoume Jun | Chazz Princeton/Tenjouin Fubuki | Atticus Rhodes, Manjoume Jun | Chazz Princeton/Yuuki Juudai | Jaden Yuki, Marufuji Ryou | Zane Truesdale/Edo Phoenix | Aster Phoenix, Marufuji Ryou | Zane Truesdale/Tenjouin Fubuki | Atticus Rhodes, Marufuji Shou | Syrus Truesdale/Yuuki Juudai | Jaden Yuki, Tenjouin Asuka | Alexis Rhodes/Yuuki Juudai | Jaden Yuki, Yubel/Yuuki Juudai | Jaden Yuki

Link for the form is right here!

[louve-garoue]

Ok, so this is gonna sound mean (sorry in advance for that), but I promise I meant it in the most factual, non-judgemental way possible ! But like, Higuchimon, your entire reply pisses me off.

So like I'm the person who sent the ask in the first place, and like I said I haven't watched GX yet so I only know what other people have talken about... But also like, first of if "the words used which are meant for romantic love" are actually "aishiteiru" I'm gonna lose it. Not even because I'm mad at you or anything (if you didn't kbow you didn't know) but because I've seen a lot of people saying that that word is only meant for romantic love when no ?? Here's a link where you can find a lot of post with exemple of "aishiteiru" being use in the context of familial love btw :

https://www.tumblr.com/kaizokuou-ni-naru/tagged/love%20words

Those post also explain that the word indeed not often use and mean the love expressed carry great weight. And again if the word you were talking about is indeed "aishiteiru" and you genuinally thought it was only ever used in a romantic way, it's not your fault. But also I hope you understand how frustrating it is to see a deeply amatonormative misconception (here the assumption that a sentence used to tell your deep meaningful love to someone must only apply to romantic love) being used to invalidate an ace/aro reading of a story, and that not even three hours after it was posted. Actually scratch it is not only incredibly frustrating but also deeply upsetting.

And even if Judai did mean it in a romantic way, that doesn't make op analysis any weaker, I would say it actually strenghten it actually. Because that promise of love, especially the part of loving ''Only Yubel'', would be in part what shaped Yubel monogamous view of love which lead to a lot of problems ! This promise was not a good thing and maybe it might have come from pressure because Yubel did a great sacrifice for Judai and he felt he had to offer them their romantic affection because that's how it works right ? I mean imagine sacrificing your humanity for a guy and then being friendzoned by him ahah. Beside Judai do love Yubel with all his heart so like of course his love is romantic right ? Right ? This can be another example of amatonormativity fucking shit up.

But you didn't think of that, and I'm gonna be honest here, reading your post felt so dismissive. You didn't even try to engage with the possibility of Jaden's story having an ace subtext, you just talked about why you thought it wasn't the case. I mean like

"It can be interpreted that Juudai's non-interest in love is because he's already in love"

Good for you I guess ? If that's how you see it then go ahead. But that does not invalidate Op analysis in any way or form. And the fact that you then follow-up with even more elements on why you think contrafict Op analysis, again makes the whole thing sound very dismissive of Op interpretation. Reading it made me feel like you thought your interpretation was better and Op's was not legitimate at all. Which is just not true. Plus :

"Yubel also states, when they fuse, that they can feel Juudai's love & power."

Have you not read the part were Op explained that Jaden still loved his friends deeply, just not in a way that could ever fit a strict monogmous relationship ? Because again you are equating Love with Romantic Love here. Oh and one last thing that sound dismissive :

"The real ignored aroace is Asuka."

Okay ? We weren't talking about ignored aroace character though ? We were talking about aroace subtext in the narrative of GX season 3. Asuka and Judai can be aroace together literrally nothing is stoping that. And who would be more likely to be aroace is irrevelant.

Higuchimon, I don't know who you are, and who know maybe you are aroace too ! But the fact is, your post felt very dismissive of a well-written analysis, though I don't think you had any malicious intent. I just wanted to get the uncomfort and anger I've been feeling over it out of my chest really. If you don't see any of the subtext we've talken about in GX then that's fine, you do you ! Everyone gonna have different view on a story, that's perfectly natural ! But if you feel like that subtext cannot exist and that thinking it does is objectively wrong, then you should probably take time to examine yourself and your belief.

Hello would you be willing to rant about the ace subtext in Yugioh GX season 3 to me ? I haven't watched GX yet (though I plan to) and I have heard about its gay subtext but this is the first time I hear about ace subtext 💜🖤 ! Don't hesitate to spoil to your heart content btw, I don't mind them (they're generally what stimulates my interest in something in the first place) and I already spoiled myself a huge chunk of the season 3 of GX anyway 😅

OH ABSOLUTELY

I meant to make an essay about this ageeees ago but ended up never getting around to it. For starters, let's just talk about how ace coded Jaden Yuki is.

Jaden, at multiple points in the series, expresses a nonchalance, obliviousness, or straight up disinterest in romance. Multiple people ask him out and he either doesn't get what they're asking or turns them down. (This includes a guy btw, no not that one, an undead ghost king asks Jaden to marry him and Jaden turns him down.) Several minor villains attempt to distract him/flirt with him/straight up use love magic on him and it just. Does not work. His tag force profile says, quote "At times a girl may have a crush on him, but he has rarely, if ever, shown any interest."

Okay, so he's gay, right?

Well, as I mentioned, even the one male character that shows interest in him, he turns down, but maybe that was a fluke.

Enter season 3, and Jesse "Johan" Anderson.

Jesse is a sweet befrilled little bishonen boy, with a rainbow magic motif and the accent of Owen Wilson. He and Jaden instantly click. His entire introduction episode is just the two of them hanging out and talking about their shared interests, and Jaden's other friends commenting that they've never seen him act like this with anyone. Over the course of an arc, the two come to completely rely on each other and work in tandem, and Jesse takes to calling Jaden "partner".

This is the part that a lot of folks like to point to and declare "gay!" and I'm not going to deny it. Jesse is an undeniably queer character.

Interestingly, in a series set in highschool, with a large ensemble of characters undergoing coming-of-age plot lines, and having crises of identity, Jesse is one of the only members of the cast to never having an arc around his identity or his relationships with people.

Chazz learns that he came from an abusive family and has to shed the toxic expectations placed upon him by his older brothers, leaving behind the fruitless scrabble for their approval. Alexis slowly comes to terms with the fact that her crush (Jaden) will never like her back and she has spent so long chasing after friendships that she no longer knows how to exist without being an ever smiling supporter and it terrifies her. Syrus wants desperately to live up to his older brother's reputation, except said older brother is actually a mess, and the more Syrus tries to be like him the more he seems to drive them apart. Heck, even Hassleberry has some (extremely clumsy) magical identity shenanigans going on, and reckoning his past life as a dinosaur (it's a long story) with his understanding of himself. Jaden's a whole other bag of worms.

But Jesse is never troubled by his identity, or the way he loves people. That's what makes Jesse queer: he's comfortable with who he is, revolutionary so for his genre. He's happy to just be in Jaden's life.

Then Yubel shows up.

Okay, about Yubel. Now, you might have heard, but Jaden had this bigender ghost dragon demon sharing tenancy in his brain when he was a kid, who's actually a leftover guardian from a past life, who swore an oath to follow Jaden through his reincarnations and protect him, and underwent painful transformative surgery to make themselves an immortal monster creature so they could do just that. They asked past!Jaden if he would always love them, and he said yes of course. Then in present day they got a little into the protector sauce and started murdering anyone who made Jaden sad, so he decided to send them away into the cold isolation of space to stop the murders from happening. Now they're back, and they have a complex.

Specifically, they are very angry at Jaden for sending them away, but also rationalize it as "Jaden promised to love me forever. Then he sent me into the Torment Nexus. Therefore, sending the person you care about to the Torment Nexus = love."

(Learning all this also adds a fascinating layer to Jaden, because it recontextualizes all those interactions he had where he turned people down. Not only is he just naturally oblivious, but subconsciously he tries to hold people at arms length, so they don't go to extreme lengths for him.)

Yubel is royally pissed to come back from The Pain Dimension and see their "spot" at Jaden's side taken by this funky little rainbow southern boi. So they try to reassert their love by killing everyone Jaden knows; placing him in intense pain, and conveniently getting rid of all those "rivals" for his affection.

The plot of yugioh gx season 3 is the villain trying to force the main character into what their idea of a "romantic" relationship should be, while trying to eradicate the person who is completely comfortable loving him in a nontraditional way.

And! The interesting thing about Jaden! Is that he does love!

Jesse sacrifices himself to save Jaden and everyone, and Jaden cannot cope with that. (see above, for him having trouble forming connections because he equates loving someone with deep personal loss that's his fault) He sets out for basically the afterlife, determined to bring Jesse back from the dead, with everyone else in the show trailing after him and telling him this is a bad idea.

Jaden loves Jesse to death and past it. That cannot be understated.

For Jaden, love exists. It's primal and destructive and powerful and almost tears him apart, and he tries to burn down the universe to get the people he cares about back. He doesn't go on dates, he doesn't know what the word "fiance" means, he visibly cringes when people talk about romantic relationships, but he loves so powerfully that the entire conflict of the season, maybe even the entire show, is that Jaden loves so much.

Yubel puts together that Jaden loves Jesse, so they take over his body. They try to shape themselves into the form they know Jaden loves, and short of that, deliver an ultimatum. Them, or Jesse.

Yubel cannot comprehend a world where Jaden is allowed to love them both. Yubel is representative of the view of love as a monogamous, one-and-done kind of situation. Jaden reaches back out and says "No. I love him, and I love you. And I'm sorry."

Yubel cannot love him into the form of relationship they think is "normal". No matter how hard they try, the two of them are never going to be the traditional, picture perfect couple from Yubel's stories of the knight and his bodyguard. They will both always be "alien". And Jaden will never stop loving Jesse, in that messy and vaguely defined way neither of them will elaborate on, even when asked by other characters.

When Jaden gives up on the idea of love and being loved in exactly the way everyone is telling him he should, that's when he gets a happy ending.

It's a theme that permeates so much of the series. Chazz should stop striving for approval from people who don't care about him. Cyrus should stop trying to change himself just to fit a preconceived mold. Alexis can't keep bending over backwards to help people in the vain hope that one day they will love her back the way she wants.

And at the center of it all an asexual character, learning to accept the part of him that loves different from the way he is told he should.

[nettleshuttle]

Who do I ask about, who do I ask about... decisions, decisions...

Alright, throw me your thoughts on Juudai!

so, moving on to jaden!

fav thing about them: i actually wrote a separate post on that recently, but the pure, childish, selfish enjoyment of dueling as his chief driving force is what i really like about him. dude literally duels to the death with envoys of hell and goes like “that sure was a fun duel!” — and i respect that. on a more serious note, it fits his personality and motivates his development very neatly: the way he loses all excitement about duels when he is forced to play at too high stakes, which sets off a lot of his mistakes and leads to the miserable jaden/yubel fused entity…….. poetic. while we’re at it, that final duel with yubel was fantastic and forming jaden/yubel as a consequence, someone who is theoretically both still jaden and definitely not jaden anymore, very powerful and very confused, was also great.

least fav thing about them: the whole neo space chosen one bullshit seemed rather redundant and introduced a needlessly stupid arc with visits to space and what not?? i mean it’s gx, okay, but that was still hugely farfetched, even taking the context into account.

favorite line: i already brought up the “gotcha! that sure was a fun duel” quote and i feel like it’s really iconic for him, so yes. then maybe less of a one-liner, but what he says to chazz during their society of light duel (that stuff about how losing can be painful and that he apologizes because one of his friends went through all that and he never even noticed) also lives in my head rent free + is a great step forward in his development. lastly, it’s not even his quote, but the line “control the winds; there’s nothing that cannot be surpassed” is just peak jaden for me and i love it.

brOTP: jesse? i like them also as a romantic ship, but they’re great friends, especially with all the similarities and parallels established between them.

OTP: definitely chazz, it’s not even the yugi-kaiba relation analogy, but there’s just something about these two that makes me feel like they have the ultimate dynamic. still, the fact that jaden acts like a solid 80% of all characters were his boyfriends will never be not funny to me and i like the general uh relationship confusion that this all causes.

nOTP: no strong opinions here, but i kinda dislike shipping him with the kaiser or syrus. just very unfortunate combinations, romantic-wise, if you ask me.

random headcannon: i wrote a fic where jaden can’t really sleep during stormy nights because the sound of thunder gets to him and it just stuck with me and ever since. besides, i see him as extremely touchy feely clingy with all his friends, equally so with closer and more distant ones, but that’s at least half canon.

unpopular opinion: i disliked the supreme king jaden plot part — i get that he snapped hard after all that happened in that spirit dimension, but this whole situation seemed very exaggerated and didn’t really stick together plot wise either.

also i don’t know if that’s unpopular, but jaden’s ending in gx is probably the best i could have thought up for him myself. 100% satisfied with how his story was closed.

song i associate with them: the first opening, “fine weather rising hallelujah”! for non-op ones, probably either “new divide” or “burn it down” (linkin park), but that’s referring rather to jaden/yubel or his whole character arc, not the careless s1 vibes.

favorite picture of them: unspecific, really, but i remember liking this one from meeting jesse quite a lot.

[higuchimon]

I'm thinking this over carefully and feel I should get more opinions. Therefore, this for people who know about Reversal. Call to Darkness is, as previously stated, backstory to the larger Reversal AU, revealing how Juudai, incarnation of the Darkness of Destruction, was born of Fallen Angel Lucifer & a captive taken when Lucifer conquered a realm called Norbu. Juudai himself won't appear until close to the end. Characters such as Pegasus, Samejima, the elder Manjoume brothers, Cobra, etc will have roles to play to a greater or lesser extent. There will be a lot of politics, spycraft, magic, & very little dueling, but a lot of Duel Monsters.

It's also hard to write in a way I feel people will find intriguing & worth reading, because of featuring so few canon characters, & the ones who are there aren't fan favorites. Let's be honest, those of you who like Reversal aren't in it for the politics or the backstory (I know backstory for Juudai's *grandparents* in Reversal!) but because you want to read Juudai hurting Johan (& there's probably someone wondering if I will "purify" Juudai & have him be a Good Boy. No, no, I will not.)

My major characters are Fallen Angel Lucifer, Anisha (Juudai's future mother), and Celestia (Juudai's future foster mother), with other characters playing lesser roles that are meant to build up future events (Pegasus beginning the spy network Hayato will belong to, where Johan, Yubel, & Rune are, etc). So finally, here's what I'm asking.

[pinkprimrose05]

GX Month Day 30: End Phase

@gxmonth

Ao3 Version Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33473653/chapters/84490288

Welp, looks like that's my last stop. This year's prompts sure have been fun to do (even if I only did like, five), aaaand since I didn't exactly wrap up the chaos resulting from the main prompt AKA Day 18, you get a bunch of random unfunny skits from the various worlds to see bits of its aftermath. Enjoy!

(Side note: Due to life circumstances, this might be the last you'll see of my creations for a while, soooooo count this as a temporary goodbye, I guess? I just wanna say, thanks for such a great GX Month y'all, you're amazing and I want you to know that. Farewell!)

"Automatic Launch...Successful."

"Bonus Chapter: START"

Yuuma: Alright, so maybe I didn't expect us to get rebooted so suddenly when the new world came, and maybe I'm a bit disappointed we won't get to see that world for real until the Gate is fixed, but hey, everything is fine now!

III: Fine? Fine?? I FOUND A RANDOM UNCONSCIOUS GUY ON TOP OF ME WHEN I WOKE UP, YUUMA!! I THOUGHT HE WAS DEAD!!!

Sawatari: Excuse me, who the hell are you calling random??!!

~~~~~

Yuusei: Well..

Yuusei: Looks like things are...sort of back to normal. Now I can finally go sleep in peace-

Gongenzaka: Will you please stop following me like that?!

Placido: NOT UNTIL YOU SIGN HERE! *shoves his twenty-eighth petition to ban Synchros from PvP Duels into Gon's face*

Antinomy: Ready to take back everything you just said?

Yuusei: ....I take back everything I just said.

~~~~~

Literal Scum Kudaragi: Well hello, ladies-

*BONK!!*

Yuzu: *spins fan threateningly* Don't even think about it, jerkass.

Sera: Isn't that...a little bit excessive?

Anzu: Nah, she has the right idea. Always go for a smack when you're dealing with dumb boys.

Sera: Even nii-san?

Anzu: Yeah, even him.

Sera: Oh, okay!

..

..

Aigami, somewhere in the distance: Why do I get the feeling that someone is trying to corrupt my pure and kind little sister?

~~~~~

Juudai: So Yuuya, has anyone suddenly dumped a ton of shocking information on you before?

Yuuya: *war flashbacks* A lot, yeah.

Juudai: Would you freak out if it happened again?

Yuuya: Ummm...probably not?

Juudai: Okay then..

Juudai: I have two different counterparts and a spirit partner roaming the place.

Yuuya: You have wHAT?-

Smol Juudai: Hiiiiii!! *shakes Yuuya's hand with way too much enthusiasm because he's a fluffy ball of excitement like that*

Yubel: Yo.

SK: Why exactly does any of this require my presence- oh, it's you again. Damn it.

Yuuya: A- Bu- You- Whaaaaaaaaaa- *faints*

..

..

..

..

SK: Congratulations, you broke the boy.

[silvormoon]

Anathema

Yubel likes flowers. The flowers do not necessarily like Yubel.

They were attracting some looks.

Juudai had been exploring the monster worlds for the past three weeks or so, partly out of a desire to see that things were settling down to some kind of normalcy now that the threat of the Haou was over, and partly just because they were interesting and he hadn’t really had a chance to enjoy them before. He’d spent a day or two visiting Misaawa and Taniya, explored a city full of robots, gotten acquainted with some dragons, gone fishing on the high seas, and had nearly been eaten by some sort of giant snake in a jungle. All in all, he considered that it had been a good trip. For the last two days, he and Yubel had been wandering over the foothills of some forested mountains, during which time they’d seen some spectacular views but had not encountered another sentient species. Juudai was glad to be back in something resembling civilization.

The village was populated primarily with plant-based creatures, ranging from the ones that were little more than flowers with eyes on up to elfin creatures with leaves and branches growing from their hair. All of them were giving Juudai and Yubel strange looks. No, that wasn’t quite right, he realized - it was Yubel that most of their interest was fixed on.

Well, whatever their deal was, they would just have to cope. Juudai was tired and hungry and in need of a bath. Yubel had kept them both alive in the wilderness by their knowledge of what plants were wholesome, which inedible, and which were downright dangerous. Juudai had a vague recollection that in their human existence, they had worked in the castle garden, and still retained a knowledge of, and fondness for, plants of all kinds. That was all very well, and had kept him from starving, but now he wanted a proper meal.

The first thing to do, however, would be to get hold of some of the local currency.

“Hey,” he said, to a friendly-looking acorn. “Do you know where we could...” But the acorn had already cast a terrified look at Yubel and scuttled away.

“Huh,” said Juudai. “I didn’t think you were that scary.”

“I wasn’t trying to be.” Yubel sounded a little hurt, and Juudai didn’t blame them. It seemed to him that a person like Yubel ought to be able to be themselves in a world of monsters.

“You’ll have to forgive him.” The voice came from one of the more humanoid monsters, a young man with green hair and pointed ears. “This is an isolated town. We mostly see plant-types here. We know about humans from those of us who have partners in the human world, but we rarely see Fiend-types here. In truth, we discourage them.” He gave Yubel a disapproving look. “They tend to bring trouble.”

“Well, Yubel isn’t going to cause any trouble,” said Juudai. “So anyway, is there anywhere I could earn some money around here?”

“There’s a job broker at the center of town,” said the elf, “but I doubt...”

But Juudai had already started towards the town center. After a bit of poking around, he did indeed find a building where a man sat at a window with a cork board behind him, stuck all over with slips of paper. A few people were hanging around, investigating the offerings. They gave Juudai and Yubel dirty looks when they approached, but Juudai ignored them. He sauntered up to the desk and grinned his friendliest grin.

“Hi,” he said. “We’re looking for a job.”

“We don’t give jobs to that one’s kind,” said the broker.

Juudai frowned. “But we...”

“It’s all right,” said Yubel. “I can go away.”

Juudai opened his mouth to protest, but Yubel’s voice in his mind said, You need a place to rest and something to eat. My job is to protect you. If the best way to do that is for me to duck out of sight for a little while, then that is how it must be.

But these people are being stupid.

Then let them be stupid. Take their job, take their money, and enjoy knowing that I will be reaping the benefits along with you in spite of all they’ve done.

And that was Yubel all over: putting his interests above their own, but with an edge built in. He supposed they were probably right.

“Fine,” he said. “Leave town. I’ll catch up to you later.”

Yubel nodded and left. Juudai turned back to the man at the counter.

“Now have you got a job for me?” he asked testily.

The man scowled. “You’re just going to meet back up with that fiend later.”

“Then give me a dangerous job - one you wouldn’t want to give to someone you liked,” Juudai suggested.

“Hmm...” the man pressed his lips together thoughtfully. “Well, there is one...”

He fished around among the slips of paper until he found the one he wanted, and pushed it across the desk to Juudai.

“Here,” he said.

Juudai read the paper. Someone apparently wanted him to bring them the juice of some kind of flower.

“The heck is an anathema flower?” he asked.

“Highly poisonous,” said the broker. “Even to touch it with your bare skin can kill you, but if it’s treated the right way, it can be made into a medicine that treats a lot of the infections us Plant-types are susceptible to. Just one blossom is worth a thousand times its weight in gold.”

Juudai thought a thousand times the weight of a flower probably still wasn’t very much gold, but he said, “Sure, no problem.”

“Fool,” said the broker. “You’ll kill yourself even trying to get near it.”

“I’ll manage,” said Juudai. “See you later.”

He wandered back out of town and found Yubel loitering under a tree.

“Well, I got a job,” he said. “Should be right up your alley.”

“Oh? Do tell,” Yubel said.

“I’m supposed to find something called an anathema flower,” he explained.

“Ever hear of it?”

Yubel considered. “Low-growing vine. Prefers low light and high moisture. Commonly found growing around the base of the common or alpine nectarpine tree. Its sap is toxic and can cause chemical burns just by touching it. Inhaling its pollen can cause respiratory damage if too much is ingested at once.”

“Wow, they sound pretty nasty,” said Juudai.

“Which is probably why someone is willing to pay for someone else to do it,” said Yubel. They smiled. “Fortunately I have had dealings with it before. Come. Let us find some plants.”

They set off into the forest. Juudai wondered if they would go straight to the place where this anathema flower grew, but that didn’t seem to be Yubel’s goal. They rooted around by the edge of a streamlet until at last they found a cluster of plants with soft stems and thick, rounded leaves.

“This is what we want,” they said, ripping up a handful of the stuff and passing it to Juudai. “Rub the juice of this into your eyes and nose, then eat some of it. It will sting and taste unpleasant, but after about fifteen minutes, it will take effect and the anathema plant won’t be able to harm you for the next day or so.”

Juudai unhesitatingly did as he was told. After all, Yubel was doing it too, now, so it couldn’t be that bad. The stuff did indeed taste unpleasantly sour, and made his eyes itch and burn so much he began to wonder if the anathema flower might have been preferable, but after the plant had been allowed a few minutes to do its work, Yubel permitted him to soak his handkerchief in the stream and press it over his face to cool the itch. He took a long drink to get the foul taste out of his mouth.

“Geez, what was that stuff?”

“It is called pennyleaf,” they said. “It is an antidote to many of the common plant-based poisons.”

“So why don’t they know that?” Juudai asked, getting up from where he’d been kneeling by the creek.

Yubel shrugged. “Probably because it tastes so foul that many assume it must be poisonous itself. Come. Let us find an anathema plant.”

They began to walk. Yubel checked to make sure they knew what direction they were going, and then struck out for a stand of pine trees in the distance. They looked like any other pine trees to Juudai, but Yubel assured him that they could tell by the way the branches were arranged that these were nectarpines and nothing else, and Juudai wasn’t going to argue. As they drew nearer, he began to smell a distinctly sweet aroma on the air, and asked about it.

“No, those aren’t the anathema flowers,” they said. “Those are the pines you’re smelling. They get their name from the sweet smell and taste of their sap. That is another reason why so few people know the connection between pennyleaf and anathema flower poison. If everyone knew how to get past the trees’ defenders, all the nectarpines would soon be cut and boiled for their sugar, and then there would be no more.”

Juudai nodded. “You sure know a lot of things.”

“I have had a lot of time to learn them. And I like plants.” Yubel paused and pointed. “Look, you can see them now.”

And so he could in a thick carpet around the base of the trees, Juudai could see a layer of glossy green leaves. Speckled against the green were a number of flowers, their petals white but dappled with purple and red. They were rather pretty, and if he hadn’t already been warned they were poisonous, he might have thought that this lovely, sweet-smelling grove was a fine place to lie down for a nap. As it was, he took a few steps closer and then paused.

“It’s all right,” said Yubel. “The antidote has had time to work.”

“Yeah, but what if I get the sap on my clothes?” Juudai asked. “Your antidote will wear off by tomorrow and I’ll still have poison on me.”

“A good thought,” said Yubel. All right, allow me.”

They took to the air, drifting carefully beneath the overhanging boughs of the trees until the nearest blossoms were within reach. Yubel picked a handful - half a dozen or so in all - and passed them to Juudai. He took them gingerly, but they didn’t seem inclined to do him any harm. The stems had an oddly prickly, sticky feel, as if they were trying to cling to his skin like velcro.

“Ick,” he said, and wrapped them up carefully in a few dry leaves. “Thanks, Yubel.”

“You are most welcome,” they assured him.

Within a few minutes, they were back in town. The broker looked surprised to see them.

“I thought I said...” he began.

Juudai placed the flowers on the desk like a gambler laying down a winning hand.

“Here’s your flowers,” he said.

The broker’s eyes bugged. “How on earth...? Never mind, I’m not sure I want to know.”

“Good, because I wasn’t going to tell you,” said Juudai.

“Well, a deal is a deal,” said the broker, as he began filling a cloth bag with coins. “And I won’t say I’m not glad to have these. We have sick people in this town who could do with the medicine these will make, so thank you for that.”

“Thank Yubel,” said Juudai. “They were the one who did all the real work. I wouldn’t have been able to lay hands on these in a million years without their help.”

“Huh,” said the broker. He looked at Yubel, who smirked. “Well, I suppose I might have been a little bit hasty, at that.”

“I think you were,” said Yubel. “But I will be gracious and accept your apology.”

“Hm, well,” said the broker. His greenish skin went even more green. “I do apologize, then. I can see I was being closed-minded.”

Juudai got the feeling that Yubel was thinking, “Yes, you were,” but had decided not to say so.

“Glad that’s settled,” he said aloud. “So, where can a couple of hungry flower-gatherers find lunch in this place?”

A short while later, he and Yubel were sitting at the town’s common room, enjoying a meal of dumpling soup. The broker had come with them and exchanged a few words with the innkeeper on the subject of an ailing mother, the uses of flowers, and the benefits of being nice to the people who fetched them. After that, the innkeeper couldn’t have been more pleasant, and had given them the best room in the building without charge. Word seemed to be getting around, because the looks Juudai and Yubel were getting now were curious but no longer hostile. Juudai got the feeling that a lot of people were going to feel they owed him and Yubel favors after this. He smiled as he slurped his soup. It was nice to be appreciated.

“They seem to like me now,” Yubel observed, with some amusement.

“They should,” said Juudai. “After all, you’re the best.”

“I don’t really care what anyone but you thinks of me,” they said, but they seemed to be pleased anyway.

“Well, it’s nice to have friends,” said Juudai. “Who knows? Maybe we’ll come back here again one day, when they need more flowers.”

Yubel looked around thoughtfully. A small girl wearing a dress made of flower petals waved shyly at them.

“Perhaps we should,” they said. “After all, I always did like flowers.”

[xamaxenta]

Big fan of your work .. especially that Soulshipping fic... Yum. I would interested about your thoughts about Psyche/Soulbondship aka (Johan X Yubel X Juudai). It's probably my favorite ship in the series, Mostly due to the fact i'm a big Yubel simp and... well we should have got more interactions between the 3 in canon imo. (also bondshipping is extremely underrated (I wonder if Yubel put Johan in that suit for more than just Juudais enjoyment ;))

Thanks! And right here with you man I am also a huge Yubel simp

I am actually in the process of writing a Johan/Yubel/Judai fic with the whole Johan and Yubel fighting over Johan’s body to see who gets to go at Judai first 😂

Yeah that suit was a look and from a screen design aspect may I say Hell Johan got a three cut shot of his reveal in that suit and it worked very well for him because who are they kidding nearly anyone would say thats a kinky outfit

Usually one wouldn’t need to do this for a villain or antagonist of a sort they didnt even do a thee cut reveal for the Supreme King let alone the reveal that its Judai

I am here to agree with you on the fact that yes Yubel got that drip for Johan because Johan wanted it 👏🏽 And i eternally love anyone who likes to emphasise on the outfit in general for Judais enjoyment or Johans or Yubels

[sacredfire44]

Watch Yugioh GX part 2

Huh... I’m actually doing it again... And, so soon, too? This is episode 5!

I SWEAR TO FUCK, JUUDAI! THIS IS WHY BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO YOU!

You DON’T go to the scary haunted pool! God, you’re like the blonde girl in a horror movie!

Juudai Yuki here, casually mentioning that he hears voices. Someone get this kid some professional help, I’m begging you.

First thing about this next scene. This image does not convey the creepy, childish laughter JUUDAI IS HEARING!!! Jesus, at that age I probably would have grabbed my stuffed animal and booked it to my parents room!

Second thing, DAWWWWW!!!! BABY JUUDAI!!! Look how cute he is! Look!

LOOK AT HIS LITTLE LEGS! HIS TINY TOES! HIS BIG HEAD!!!! HIS CUTE LITTLE EYES! HIS FLUFFY HAIR! I’M DYING.

Thirdly, look at the size of that closet, and that bed, and that bedroom! If his bedroom isn’t the master bedroom and the rest of the house is proportional to this, we can only assume Juudai’s parents are at the very LEAST pretty well off!

Fourthly, and finally... Juudai hears voices and creepy laughter in his closet. First assumption? The monsters are throwing a party! He should join!

How is this kid still alive?

I mean, if he was hoping to scare his friends by convincing them that he was absolutely insane, it probably worked. Boy, I don’t care if there’s a canon explanation for this! You’ve known these kids for like, one month! You don’t go throwing that information at people you want to be friends with, dude!

Hayato’s got the right reaction here!

Wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold up. Juudai just KNOWS what Millenium Items are? He never studies! Who told him, Yubel? Oh, what if it was Kuriboh! Or maybe one of the Elemental Heros? That’s a cute image, baby Juudai sitting in a circle of Very Intimidating And Strong Monsters while all of them fuss and coo over him and tell him stories. Does Juudai subconsciously remember stories they told him when he could speak to them as a child? Headcanon accepted!

Disappearance?!?! WAS CHRONOS PLANNING ON KILLING MY SON????

Haha, that bit with never showing your back to the enemy was actually pretty funny lol

Does NOTHING phase this child? A card talks to him, and he responds. He hears creepy laughter in his closet so he assumes its a party. Walking into a haunted house and everyone screams and he’s just like ‘better investigate’!

Fucking. Asuka’s brother disappeared at this school and her parents still sent her to it? What the heck?!?!

Okay, that’s it. I don’t care if this turns out to be fake or smth, Chronos was an accessory to assualt, battery, and kidnapping of Asuka. I don’t know anything about law, but I bet threatening to kill them, even if it was fake, is also some kinda crime. I have NO mercy for anything that happens to this man.

This dorm is so weird, and I have so many questions. Did none of the affected family members reclaim the items left in the dorms? Why was there a signed picture of Asuka’s brother on the wall in the main room of the dorms? Did HE put it there? Why? Also, wtf were those stone tablets doing in the middle of the dorm and how did the students get it into the dorm without a teacher stopping them? Where did they even get them? A museum?

Was Hayato just... carrying a duel disk in his backpack? Why? What the heck, did he know they were going to encounter a challenger? “This kid’s a protagonist, so something’s gonna happen.”

*Me, who knows Juudai’s backstory and knows he probs used to center his deck around Yubel, snickering*

...Dude, by putting Asuka underground like that, you could have suffocated her...

Okay, I call bullshit. Either the show’s quality dropped SIGNIFICANTLY, or this guy’s a fake.

OH MY GOD THEY DIDN’T EXPLAIN POT OF GREED!

So. That was that episode. I’ll probably have more to say about the next one, too. So far, though? My opinion is simple. This guy is a psychotic fake, and Juudai is so disconnected from reality that he doesn’t understand danger when its literally punching him in the face

[pinkprimrose05]

Hmmm...

1) I think it depends on which Juudai we're talking about here. If it's the rambunctious idiot from S1-3 (and I believe that's who you're referring to here), Astral wouldn't like the overconfident 'n carefree attitude, but I think he'd still hold a generally positive opinion on the guy, despite feeling rather miffed around him.

S4 Juudai -or Juudai/Yubel, if you've seen him in Duel Links- is a whole other deal, though. Astral wouldn't have as much of an issue with his personality, actually (he's a bit more responsible about the chaos he causes with Yuuma), but he'd still be rather wary of him. Astral is a being of light and order, after all, and I don't think he'd be too enthusiastic about an envoy of darkness hanging around him and his partner. Ditto for Yuuya, but at least his darkness is not as blatantly obvious to any and all spirits in a close proximity.

(That, and Astral just finds him more tolerable than Juudai in general. He's totally not jealous of this random man that Yuuma calls senpai. Nope, no, absolutely not.)

2) Yuuma would definitely idolize the heck out of any iteration of Juudai that he meets- Yes, even S1-3. Yuuya... not so much. His brand of hyperactivity is more lowkey than the former two, and to me it feels like the younger Juudai would idolize him, not the other way around.

He sure as hell looks up to S4 Juudai, though. The guy just gives off an aura of "Trust me bro, I know what I'm doing", and Yuuya wholeheartedly holds him to it.

(They also get to talk about their shared unprocessed trauma. And the ghosts in their heads that will NOT shut up when they need them to. And, of course, they bond over building their entire Deck around That One Card™.)

3) Astral is definitely good friends with Yuugi; their discussion are often calm and lighthearted, and Astral finds himself enjoying Yuugi's company quite a lot.

(And besides, they make a damn good damage control squad for the trio of idiots above. Someone has to step up when Yuusei is busy, and it's definitely not gonna be Yuusaku.)

Is it just me who thinks Astral and Judai/Jaden Yuki would not get along? At least, Astral would not be able to stand Judai?

I don't know WHY but I just keep imagining Judai just really getting on Astral's nerves. By just being Judai (I have only seen season 1 plus the version of him in duel links and cross duel).

And I can also see both Yuma and Yuya WORSHIPPING Judai and following hin everywhere and copying his every single act much to the horror of everyone around them. One Judai is enough, thanks.

On the OTHER hand, I can totally see Astral and Yugi really getting along.

[chromsai]

Fandom meme for ygo. Specifically the first three because we know you.

DM:

01. The first character I fell in love with: Atem02. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: Yugi, actually. I never paid him much attention or gave him much thought when i was younger (especially cuz i just digged Atem way more) but like... recently??? I fucking love him03. The character I’d slap: Jounouchi. no particular reason tbh.04. Who are my 3 favorite characters.: Yugi. Atem, and Kaiba05. What are my 3 favorite pairings.: puzzleshipping, polarshipping, and kaiba/seto x kisara (idk the ship name(s))06. Which character you’re most like.: pfffft.... jounouchi actually? except for i’m not as dumb... i’m not trying to be cocky, i just know this is true.07. The coolest thing about the canon: dragons

GX:

01. The first character I fell in love with: Judai02. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: Johan and Sho actually i love them both03. The character I’d slap: Yubel actually (i love them but yeah)04. Who are my 3 favorite characters.: Judai, MANJOUME SANDA, and Jim Crocodile Cook05. What are my 3 favorite pairings.: spiritshipping, juudai x manjoume (again, idk the ship name), and tigershipping06. Which character you’re most like.: Judai07. The coolest thing about the canon: y’all gonna judge me but fuck it Duel Academia has always appealed to me

5Ds:

01. The first character I fell in love with: Yusei (wow can y’all tell i’m protag trash?!)02. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: JACK ATLAS literally i never expected to love him as much as I do, I’d go as far as to say he’s in my top 5 fav overall YGO characters him being in Arc V and being a mentor figure to Yuya got me like 💘03. The character I’d slap: Divine. Because fuck him.04. Who are my 3 favorite characters.: JACK ATLAS is my fave from this show, Yusei, and Crow. so obvious but idgaf. I wanna put Aki in here too cuz god I love her but I love Crow slightly more.05. What are my 3 favorite pairings.: SCOOPSHIPPING CRIES, toolshipping, and faithshipping. this show was like the first time i started shipping anything seriously.06. Which character you’re most like.: JACK ATLAS wow that doesn’t sound totally narcisitic. but also Crow??? fuck.07. The coolest thing about the canon: bitch fucking cARD GAMES ON MOTORCYCLESSSS (i went into the show thinking it was a stupid concept but little did i know it was fucking genius and felt almost natural)

[zombiegangster]

Yubel

A Terrible Summary of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Season 3

Apparently, Friday nights are for me to ramble about the various fandoms I’ve fallen into, and since I’ve been in a Yu-Gi-Oh! Kick recently, let me talk about GX for a minute. (Don’t judge me, I’ve been clean for 3+ years and that was a brief relapse.)

Ahem

Anyway, this is Yubel:

They’re… insane.

They used to look like this:

And they became a monster to protect the GX protagonist’s past incarnation.

Still following me? Great.

So shortly before the events of GX, the person Yubel swore to protect is reborn as the series protagonist and Yubel is remade as a Duel Monsters card. The protag’s dad gives Yubel as a present to him, and then Yubel proceeds to hospitalize all of the protag’s friends through Sketchy Card Game Magic.

Understandably, this freaks the protag out, so he sends Yubel into space after winning a card drawing contest run by Kaiba, because of course Kaiba would host an entire contest just to send some trading cards into space.

Also understandably, Yubel feels kinda betrayed, and then their spaceship encounters Entities Beyond Comprehension, which drives them even more insane.

Eventually, they crash land back on Earth, trick a war vet into reviving them on the false promise of resurrecting the vet’s son, gaslight the vet so hard that he believes that his son never died and he walks off a suspended platform to his death.

They also transport the protag’s school to The Dark Dimension, possess the protag’s current best friend’s body (sorry, Syrus), and scheme to destroy the entire multiverse.

Predictably, this does not do wonders for the protag’s mental health, and he snaps, reverting to his past incarnation’s personality.

So, for like two or three episodes (I don’t know, it’s been like 10 years), the two of them had this aesthetic:

And yes, I was absolutely a Fujo for these guys, edgy teen that I was.

Anyway, the protagonist eventually snaps out of it (after sacrificing an entire country to make a single card) and beats Yubel out of his best bud’s body.

THEN HE PROCEEDS TO FUSE HIS SOUL WITH YUBEL’S SO THEY CAN BE TOGETHER FOREVER.

And that’s how the last season of the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX English dub ends. (Man, I wish Season 4 got dubbed.)

This was also just a really long winded way of introducing what I think is the first instance of gender envy I ever felt.

Which I think is really telling lmao

[higuchimon]

[fanfic] Mistaken Birthday

Juudai lounged underneath the tree, his eyes partially closed, his thoughts as at peace as they ever were. A light breeze flickered by, tangling in his hair for a few moments before moving onwards. If he opened his eyes all the way then he could have seen so much more.

If he’d opened Yubel’s eyes, then he would have been even more than that. But he reserved Yubel’s eyes for matters of importance. Besides, in this world of spirits, he could see anything that he chose just by wanting it.

Ever since he fused their souls and he became aware of who and what he was, Juudai put a little more effort than some might have supposed he had in him to learning how to use his power. He knew that he couldn’t use all of them; some he could only access when he didn’t wear a flesh body. But he learned what he could and couldn’t do, and one of the first things he’d learned was that seeing spirits was just the finest touch of what he was really capable of doing.

In point of fact, he’d learned that his power and the nature of spirits were so intertwined that he could spark the gift in others if he was around them long enough and if they wanted it or needed it. Journeyman had needed someone like Ojama Yellow, just like Hayato had needed Death Koala.

Sometimes he wondered if it happened to other people and he just hadn’t been around them long enough to notice. Since graduation he’d wandered around so much.

Yubel’s fingers brushed against the back of his neck. “You enjoy this,” they murmured. Like always, they knew exactly what was on his mind. He leaned his head closer to them.

“I miss them some, though.” They’d spent so much time together those three years that now being out in the world required adjusting. Of course, he’d had to adjust to so much else in his life that this was just one more thing on the list.

Yubel nodded, a faint quirk to their lips. “Then you could go visit them. I think they would like seeing you.”

Juudai tilted his head a little. “Are you sure?”

“When am I anything else?”

He had to agree there. Yubel remained certain about everything. Sometimes their ‘everything’ was wrong, but that didn't mean they weren’t certain about it.

He counted up the days in his mind. How long had it been? Weeks? Months? That sounded about right.

He tugged his laptop out of the case and flipped it open. He couldn’t quite get internet reception everywhere he went, but this place here was one of the odd ones where it was at least possible, with a little figuring. Computers weren’t his best subject by any means but he’d learned enough to manage when he really needed to.

So now he worked through until he could get to his e-mail, and worked out a quick message to his friends, at least the ones from Duel Academia. He’d made other friends during his travels and while he wouldn’t mind seeing them again too, this was something different altogether.

Shou, Kenzan, Asuka, Johan, Manjoume, Ryou, Edo, Saiou, Hayato, he mused, before adding a few more names, such as Rei, Martin, O’Brien, and Jim. He asked if they could all meet him at a particular place he knew. Thin places between the worlds occurred naturally all the time, and it would be easy to find them at one of those. He assured them that there wasn’t anything bad happening - and he could take care of it if he had to - but he just wanted to hang out for a while.

As he worked, another thought slid into his mind. It was little more than a whisper of a notion, but he focused on it - a notion encapsulated into a single word.

Birthday.

Was it someone’s birthday? That certainly felt right but it wasn’t anyone’s that he remembered. Manjoume’s had been a few weeks earlier. Shou’s wasn’t until closer to the end of the month. Ryou, Fubuki, and Yuusuke had their spree of birthdays at the end of October and start of November. But the end of August? He couldn’t think of anyone who had a birthday then.

Oh. Oh! Juudai slanted his eyes quickly to where Yubel’s presence hovered warm in the back of his mind. Often when they were in other worlds they appeared like usual, but today they seemed to want to stay tucked away inside of him.

Obviously Yubel had a birthday. They’d certainly not just popped into existence. But try as he might, he couldn’t remember when that birthday was. He vaguely recalled glorious celebrations in their old hometown, but whether said celebrations had been because of Yubel or not escaped him.

They should have. Yubel deserved every bit of praise for everything they’d ever done to protect him, even if they didn’t ask for it. Probably because they didn’t ask for it.

Well. That made his mind up. He’d not asked his friends to spend much time around Yubel before, knowing that a lot of them were still a little iffy about them. But he thought they could manage just for one afternoon. Once he was sure Yubel’s attention remained elsewhere, he added in a few notes to the e-mail, and sent it off quickly.

What can I get them? It wouldn’t be that hard to find a way to get Yubel something. While their souls were one, and they could learn anything about one another with a little mental effort, they also respected one another’s privacy. If Yubel knew there was something that he wanted to keep to himself, then they would allow it. The odds were that he’d tell them sooner or later anyway. He didn’t like having secrets from Yubel. That had caused enough issues in the past.

But the question was what to get in the first place. Yubel didn’t wear clothes and had never had a use for much else. Maybe some new cards? Yubel was as much a duelist as he was, and any duelist could always use new cards for their deck.

Somehow, that didn’t feel right either, though. He wanted it to be something special, something perfect for them, something that really showed Yubel how much he loved them and how much he’d missed them, even when he hadn’t been aware that he’d missed them. There had to be something.

Then he knew. He would have to travel a little to get it, but he could manage it, and then when he saw everyone, he’d give it to Yubel in front of them. It was private and public all at the same time. Exactly what he wanted.

Seeing everyone again was one of the best things Juudai could think of. He hadn’t meant to startle everyone by walking out of a shadow - he’d been pretty convinced most of them knew he could do that to start with - but once the startled noises died down and Manjoume finished yelling at him for doing it in the first place, things started to pick up a little.

There were tables set up in the center of the park he’d asked them to gather in, some groaning with food, and one groaning with presents. Juudai was a little surprised by those; he’d mentioned that it was Yubel’s birthday, but he hadn’t expected everyone to get Yubel something! Still, he wasn’t going to complain about it. Everyone greeted the two of them with ‘happy birthday’ - which was a little weird because he knew that they couldn’t see Yubel. Yubel, unlike most spirits, appeared only to those they chose, so it was like they were saying it to him.

He could feel Yubel’s presence there all along, though, watching him with their loving regard, observing his friends and dismissing most of them, enjoying the pleasure he felt when he plowed into the food. Yubel might not need to eat human food, but that in no way lessened the joy they took in knowing he enjoyed a great meal.

Finally, Shou stared him in the eyes. “Aniki,” he said, “Aren’t you going to open your presents?”

Juudai blinked for a second at that, then grinned. “Hold on.” He reached inside of himself and tugged. In a second Yubel appeared, a flicker of confusion crossing their features before Juudai took their hand.

“Juudai?”

“Everyone, today is Yubel’s birthday!” Juudai proclaimed. “I know I already told you, but I wanted to be sure that they know that I didn’t forget.” He couldn’t help but be proud of himself.

He tugged a small item out of his pocket and presented it to Yubel. “I picked this up for you the other day. We can keep it in Neo-Space if you like.”

Yubel stared down at it, then up at him, all three eyes clearly confused and mystified. Juudai started to say something else, when Shou spoke up again.

“Aniki, it’s - it’s your birthday. That’s why we brought all this. “ He waved tow rads the pile of presents. “I mean, happy birthday to you too, Yubel.” He nodded at them before looking back at Juudai. “But we didn’t know until you said something about it.”

Juudai blinked a few times, then looked back at Yubel. Yubel nodded slowly.

“It’s not my birthday. I don’t even remember what that was anymore, it’s been so long.” They shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. Enjoy your party. I’ll enjoy it with you.”

Yubel started to fade back into his soul, but Juudai seized onto them again, eyes flashing bright. “I don’t care! If you don’t remember when it was, then we’ll just celebrate together! We do everything else together! And this is yours no matter what!”

He thrust the box at them, and Yubel slowly accepted it, still confused as they opened the lid. Once more heir eyes widened, and then a smile broke over their features. Juudai smiled as well. The moment that he’d seen that dragon statue crafted of amber, he’d known it should belong to Yubel. Amber was forever - just like the two of them.

Yubel cradled it for a few seconds before turning to Juudai. “Thank you,” they murmured, before flicking their claw-hand and a box appeared there as well. “This is for you.”

Juudai tilted his head as he picked it up and thought for a few seconds about tearing into it. Instead, he opened it up carefully and peered inside. There was a sun,crafted out of some black material that sparkled like the night sky.

“You are the Darkness, but you are the light to so many people’s lives,” Yubel told him. “This is all that I could find that spoke to me of you.”

There could only be one answer to this as far as Juudai was concerned. He threw himself forward and wrapped his arms around Yubel, holding them as tight as he could, his heart and soul swelling with joy, fully aware that Yubel could feel that as well.

“If you two are done,” Manjoume drawled, “we brought a few presents that you might want to look at.”

Juudai reluctantly pulled himself back, swallowed, and nodded. “Thanks, guys. I missed you all too.”

“And for the third year in a row, Juudai forgets his own birthday,” Manjoume declared, arms crossed over his chest. “At least the cake’s decent.” His eyes shifted to the side where only a handful saw the tiny gremlins floating there. “No, you don’t get any of it.”

Juudai didn’t bother holding back a laugh, but moved towards the presents. Cake could come later. For right now, he had Yubel and he had his friends - and he had so much new to discover.

The End

Notes: I decided to use this chance to finish last year’s Soulshipping Week. Want that cleared up before December of this year rolls around again! I’m going to try to write something for every day this month, but I can’t promise anything. We’ll see how it works out.

[the-cryptographer]

My tiny yugioh shrine - before and after pics. The Jounouchi figure still up top, holding a chain and ready to shank you with a scapegoat~ But I thought I’d zoom in so we could see my BEAUTIFUL NEW ISHTAR SIBS CLEARFILE INSTEAD~

I thought my shrine was getting a little too shippy. And especially a little too shippy in the absence of Mai. WHERE IS ALL THE KUJAKU MAI MERCHANDISE?! i need it pls, thx. But, anyhow~ I bought the Ishtar clearfile off of auction. And I thought it might be an old one, but on the back is actually a logo for the 20th anniversary of ygo, last year in 2016. And they weren’t even really in the movie, so now I’m wondering maybe there is also the chance of some recent Mai merchandise out there, hmm, so she will properly be represented in my collection >3>

But yeah, this is just by the exit to my room so i can stop by before i leave for the day and, offer coins or pieces of fruit or whatever and pray at my card game based alter, and maybe then Jounouchi’s good luck will rub off on me a little~

...

And there’s also a gore version of the shrine, but I usually keep that picture in the back so visitors don’t think i’m a creep. i guess i’ll put this picture in the front if i ever decide to host ritualistic demon summonings in my room or smthn~

(Both prints are from toxicosis by the way.)

Doujinshi are in another location. And I was only going to talk about my stupid ygo bookshelf shrine thing today, but then my doujin shipment came in and I decided FUCK IT i will brag about my crippling lack of impulse control cool swag all at once if i want to... Under the cut-

@battymarionette

If you remember this one~

tdah~ Basically it seems like a Kaiba Corp has put out a game, some kind of ridiculous fantasy RPG where Atem is some kind of Ron the Death Eater villain and Jou may or may not be the princess or smthn. And Mokuba invites Jounouchi over to play it or playtest it or something of that nature. Which seems like as good a premise as any for this kind of thing. And it’s got all the cute platonic Joukuba vibes which is a plus~

But yeah, Jounouchi goes over to Mokuba’s place, has some kind of fight with Seto, and some kind of conversation with Atem, and Mokuba’s kind of confused or upset about something, and then Jou gets all cute and announces that he and Kaiba are dating~ which i’m pretty sure Seto didn’t want Mokuba knowing about or whatever~

But, see, now I’m making this doujin sound sweet when, to be really blunt, i didn’t like it. At some point Seto slaps Jounouchi across the face for something.

I guess I shouldn’t pass judgement when I can’t even read the moon runes that explain why this has happened, but- no. (I’m trying to articulate. It’s not that I think Jou and Seto are incapable of being violent with one another (jfc how hypocritical would it be of me) but there’s something about the whys and the hows~? in my mind, Seto doesn’t gets hands on with that kind of thing unless it’s landing a measured martial arts blow in self defense, or lashing out from a place of extreme vulnerability - the kind that involves him being five seconds away from curling up in a ball of self-protection. So... Seto being collected and composed and instigating violence on Jounouchi’s triggers all my ‘no’ responses. And I also doubt Jounouchi would take that kind of thing without complaint, unless he was actually raving or spiraling and it was, like, a calm-the-fuck-down slap. I think he would definitely retaliate with shouting and intimidation, if not a physical blow. With Jounouchi it’s a little harder for me to define what would prompt physical violence, partly because i think his idea of what violence is is narrower than mine, and doesn’t include things like grabbing somebody’s jacket collar and shaking them around. But, hmm, I think by the time he’s through canon he doesn’t exactly break out the fistcuffs lightly.)

The point was that this doujin made it to the top of my shit list very fast. And I was concerned because, see, I had been avoiding buying KaiJou (in that order) doujins because most of them kind of do this thing to me and completely miss the glass cannon type of volatile fragility I see as being kind of central to Kaiba’s character. But then I caved and ordered a whole bunch. But, actually, I was pleasantly surprised by the other couple of ones I bought, so maybe the curse has finally lifted~ I liked this one in particular-

But, tbh, it also knew the way into my heart~

The way into my heart is Wheeler siblings :x

@rainstormcolors

First of all, I got POLARIS and it was good!

I don’t know what to share about it other than that because it was mostly porn. But I felt like it was kind of sweet and sentimental and Kaiba and Atem going on silly dates at the beginning with gorgeous background details. Also they sit on the throne together at the end and look very in love teehee~

But, yes, thank you for reccing~ I enjoyed a lot~!

BUT- !!! More importantly this finally came in the mail!

To answer your question, it’s a normal rivalshipping anthology. 112 pages, comics and fic~ Exciting things happen like Yuugi and Kaiba playing twister~

And in another story they’re out travelling and having punishment games of some sort and Yuugi gets a beard painted on his face~

AND HIS MOM OMG!! I love when odd characters cameo in my doujins. I think you can tell~

But, no, I lied- I addition to the anthology I got all this other stuff too~

I don’t know. There’s a set of tiny playing cards you have to disentangle. Some have exciting images.

Notably Jounouchi and Atem are the jokers, heh~

I still haven’t checked out the CD. This is a very rushed post where I don’t attempt to read things carefully or any of that~ But it comes with a manual with a bunch of character avatars - lots of expressions for Yuugi and Kaiba, as well as one avatar each for Jou, Anzu, baby Seto, Kisara, and BEWD. So I think it may be a visual novel of sorts. Undetermined~

So now you’ll know what you’re getting if you decide to order, in theory at least. I’m not sure because I bought this off the author’s BOOTH, so idk if the extra merchandise is limited in any manner or if toranoana only sends part of it(?)

ugh, let’s see.

I also got another anthology- a Yuugi-centric one.

It’s mostly rivalshipping, which I’d expect. rivalshipping is really popular in the jp fandom. but, tbh, i enjoyed the more odd ships more-

Like Juudai/Manjoume/Yuugi... Kaiba walks in on the Kohais basically crushing yuugi with love after this it’s so cute~

And Otogi/Yuugi. Ah~ I love the DDM chapters in the manga and how softly Otogi warms up to Yuugi~

A Duel Monsters themed art book I spent too much on~ I’m ashamed to say I don’t recognise a whole lot of the cards

but you’ll recognise Yubel, perhaps~

or the lady that Y!Bakura crossdresses as ;)

and there were quite a few dark magician girls and blue eyeses.

from another illustration book~

and i found a couple of apprenticeshipping doujins on BOOTH, but none of them wow-ed me really~

although I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how Mana inherited the Ring in manga canon. I feel like there are things to consider here. This picture struck me as a result.

Alright~ And now for my favourites~

OMG! A WHOLE DOUJIN ABOUT MALIK AND HIS SIBLINGS!!! I think this one was a predictable fave. I loved it so, sooo much. I was absolutely filled with quality Malik and Rishid moments.

EVERYONE IS SO CUTE!!

Malik and Rishid go biking and run into Mai which is very !!!

There are vacation photographs~

It looks like Malik tries to feed Ra a revival slime and gets eaten himself. I don’t know. But it was good. I’m so happy~ Ishtar family doujins. My life is complete. not really. i can’t die until i finish my fics.

Okay, but my other fave I didn’t see coming at all.

I don’t ship this! I shouted into the void. But nobody really believed her, not even herself. It’s too late for me. I’m just multiship trash. I will ship anything you put in front of me...

Okay, but the real reason I decided to get this was because of this preview panel. Of course I knew it was puzzlleship. But actually I love Mana and vaseshipping for reals. And this was so cute and the art was so pretty I thought- We might as well check the rest of it out~ (the idea of top!Yuugi didn’t hurt either...)

And then jackels happened~ And this kind of ethereal magic stuff~

There was some confusion I think with the cultural imagery in the doujin. Some of it looked vaguely Indic to my untrained eye but- I don’t know what to say, the art was so gorgeous and detailed.

And the smut was all facials and frot so obviously the doujin artist has my gd number, smh.

And Jou appeared near the end, looking amazing, and Jou is automatically about +50 points for any doujin.

I don’t know what to say. Very nice. Would recommend.

Also- just fyi- I do buy doujins for things that aren’t ygo. pls forgive my focus on my ygo obsession tho.

I’m really glad I stumbled across this in the hetalia tag~

And there’s a picture of Tifa being so bad at games at the golden saucer that Nanaki, who doesn’t even have opposable thumbs, can defeat her in PvP. Beautiful~

[silvormoon]

My Hero

A little vignette set in my superhero universe. Juudai’s been giving his all to being a good hero. Sometimes, he just needs someone to give a little something back.

It wasn’t easy, being the most powerful super in the world.

That sounded trite. Worse, it sounded self-congratulatory, a way of boasting that he, Yuuki Juudai, had much grander and more important problems than the humdrum things mere mortals had to deal with. It conjured up images of some movie star or millionaire lounging on their sofa sipping champagne while they talked about how stressful their life was.

And the point was that it wasn’t easy for Juudai, and he didn’t even get the champagne to make up for it. Granted, his life did tend to involve a lot of sofas, but mainly in the, “Can I crash here tonight?” kind of way. The hardest part was that he knew he could change that if he wanted to. He could make himself famous overnight. He could have as much money as he wanted. People would line up for miles to get the kind of treatment he could provide. He could make the world his oyster, if he wanted to, or crush it under his heel, and no one would be able to stop him. That was the whole reason why he worked in the dark, kept his name out of the papers, and slept in a tent or on friends’ sofas and spare beds, earned money doing odd jobs when he had any money at all, and spent a lot of time second-guessing himself.

But he wasn’t doing any second-guessing tonight. Tonight, he had found the hideout of a gang of criminals who had been peddling a bogus drug they claimed would give people temporary superpowers. What it did was to give the user a sense of euphoria, a feeling that they were all-powerful and omniscient. Several people had died from jumping off buildings or doing other equally risky things under the influence of the drug, and Juudai had decided someone needed to put a stop to it.

Just now, he was waiting near the front door of the lab. Yubel was standing over the collection of about a dozen men they’d captured together and was giving them all vicious glares if any of them so much as breathed too loudly. Juudai was aware of a few more who had fled out the back door, but he and Yubel had managed to capture the three ringleaders, so he doubted the operation would be starting up again any time soon. They had been using some specific know-how blended with the application of some unique superpowers to synthesize the drug, and those powers were gone now. It was a shame, really. A power to synthesize chemicals like that would have been invaluable to the medical community. Perhaps if this man learned his lesson, Juudai would let him have it back someday.

For now, he watched as a number of police officers warily approached the building.

“It’s okay!” Juudai called out to them. “My partner and I have things pretty well nailed down here.”

The lead officer edged a little closer. He was eyeing Juudai warily, and Juudai didn’t blame him. Most supers at least tried to look like superheroes when they were on the job. Juudai was wearing ragged jeans, hiking boots, a fleece-lined brown leather jacket that had obviously seen a great deal of life, and a T-shirt advertising a band called Sugar Snow. He looked more like a college student out for a beer than a superhero.

“Doing a little spur-of-the-moment heroing, are you?” asked the officer suspiciously. “Care to show me your license?”

Juudai produced his ID card and flicked it towards the officer, who caught it neatly out of the air.

“Thank you, sir,” he said, and ran it through a scanner at his waist. He looked at the results. His eyebrows rose. He scrolled rapidly through the rest of the file, then looked back at Juudai.

“You’re the Haou?” he asked.

Juudai shrugged. “Apparently. I mean, I didn’t come up with the name, but it’s sort of stuck to me now so I figured I might as well own it.”

“If you’ll excuse me, I didn’t think you were real,” said the officer, handing his card back.

Juudai shoved the ID back in his pocket. “Yeah, well, I like to keep a low profile.”

“I can certainly understand that, sir,” said the officer, a bit more respectfully. “But I would like to see some proof, if you don’t mind. May I...?”

“Huh? Oh, sure,” said Juudai, who had been through this song and dance before. There were ways that a villain could disguise themselves as a hero, many of them quite hard to detect. S-levels, though, tended to stay stable, so one way of proving a person was who they said they were was to test their blood and see if their S-levels matched what was printed on their ID card. It wasn’t foolproof, since it was possible for two people to have the same S-levels, even if the odds of any two people matching were one in several hundred. Nobody, however, had levels like Juudai. He offered his finger to be pricked, and watched as the numbers on the little scanner lit up. It showed 9999, just as it always did.

“You are him,” said the officer. He was visibly impressed now.

“Yeah, that’s me,” said Juudai uneasily. “Look, we’ve got these guys all tied up in the back, so if you wanna...?”

“Oh, yes, of course,” said the officer.

Uniformed men poured into the building and started doing official things. Juudai watched a little while to make sure everything was going as it should, then quietly slipped away when no one was looking.

“I wish they wouldn’t always do that,” he complained, woefully regarding his finger. “Just because I’m famous doesn’t give people the right to punch me full of holes.”

“You don’t have to let them do it,” said Yubel.

“I know,” he said. “It’s just not fair. If I had a normal power like flying or punching holes in walls or laser vision, no one would ever ask if I am who I say I am. They’d just go, ‘oh, you’re Wonder Guy, can I have your autograph?’”

Yubel gave him a knowing look. “And you’d want that, would you?”

“Not really,” Juudai admitted. “Well, maybe a little.”

“Do you know what your problem is?”

Juudai smirked. “I’m sure you have a list.

Through all he’d done in the years since he’d left school, Yubel had been his constant companion. Juudai had promised, after all, that they would stay together once they had found each other, and Yubel took him at his word. Through rain and snow, through train delays and cancelled flights, through cheap motels and leaky tents, gang wars and monster battles and helping lost children find their parents, whatever Juudai did, Yubel did too. Even on those days when everything went wrong and they were both feeling thoroughly sick of each other, Juudai was always thankful that he didn’t have to do all this alone.

“I think,” said Yubel, “that you’re burned out.”

“What do you mean, burned out?” said Juudai. “It’s not like I do very much. Mostly we just travel.”

“That still counts as doing things,” Yubel pointed out. “Anyway, you know what I mean. I’ve been watching you. You’re all give and no get. You do all these wonderful things but you don’t stick around to enjoy the thanks, because you’re afraid it will go to your head. Sooner or later, you’re bound to run out of give.”

Juudai scowled. “You know...”

“I know why you do things the way you do. You don’t want the whole world beating a path to your door demanding you give them all godlike superpowers, or take the powers away from people you don’t like,” said Yubel. “I’m just saying, it might be time for a vacation.”

Juudai knew his laugh sounded forced. “I don’t exactly have money for a tropical vacation.”

“Then ask one of your friends. Any one of them would let you stay with them for a while.” Yubel smiled. “It wouldn’t hurt to relive your school days for a while. Do you remember all the fun we had? The annual snowball fight, staying up late telling ghost stories, eating popcorn and watching movies in the common room...”

“Yeah, I remember,” said Juudai. He smiled a little. “Those were the good old days. Man, I’d give a lot to have another go at some of those games we used to play in Chronos’s class. Remember the time you got tangled up in that net so bad they had to cut you loose?”

Yubel huffed. “I could have gotten out if I’d wanted to.”

“I know,” said Juudai. He took out his phone and poked at it for a moment. “Hey, you know, there’s a gym close by that has those reinforced training rooms for playing capture the flag and stuff. We could see if we could scrape up a team. And then we could, I dunno, grab a pizza or some ramen or something, and then maybe catch a movie? And tomorrow I’ll call around and see if any of our friends mind having a couple of house guests for a few days.”

Yubel grinned. “Now you’ve got the idea.”

Juudai grinned back. “Knew there was a reason I kept you around.”

Yubel reached for his hand. “You keep me around for a lot of reasons.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” said Juudai. “Come on. Mission ‘Have Some Fun For A Change’ is officially under way.”

They began making their way towards their destination. Somewhere in the distance, Juudai could hear sirens. There was always something going on in a big city like this, and a part of him itched to be part of the action, but he knew Yubel was right. Sometimes, the person he needed to protect was himself. He was lucky he had someone by his side to remind him of that.

It doesn’t matter how strong I am, he thought. Sometimes I still need a hero, too. He was glad he’d found one.

“So, Yubel, what movie do you want to see?”

“I don’t know. What’s playing?”

“Well, there’s one about this secret agent who...”

“I am not sitting through another movie full of cars exploding. Pick something else!”

“I didn’t say I wanted to see that one!”

“No, but you were thinking it.”

Laughing and bantering with each other, they walked away, hand in hand.