This was inspired by a video I found called "James Veitch is a Terrible Roommate." This falls in the realm of my ongoing story Tales of Academia, a couple of months before Atem Muto enrolls in Duel Academy.
I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of the other shows referenced in this story.
Ducks
Mana was bored. Atem was busy studying for his entrance exam into Duel Academy, her friend Joan had been spending endless hours in the Taylor workshop, and Max and Airi were fighting yet again. Mana wasn't sure what the argument was this time beyond the usual Wheeler-Kaiba feuding, but she didn't really feel like getting in the middle of it again. So she clicked through mind-numbing video after video on Youtube, hoping to find something to find something fun.
She stumbled on one that had her gasping for air—it was that funny. I so have to do this. She began formulating a plan when she saw the spikey, tri-colored hair of her brother coming down the stairs. "What's so funny?" Atem asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
"Just this comedian I found," Mana grinned.
"Don't let it turn into another prank on Uncle Seto," her brother warned. "I still don't think he's forgiven you for gift-wrapping his desk."
"At least I didn't do the whole house like they did in Impractical Jokers," Mana countered.
"That show gives you too many ideas," Atem sighed. "Please tell me this comedian isn't one of them."
"No, he isn't," Mana rolled her eyes at him. "And I promise I have no plans to prank Uncle Seto in the foreseeable future."
"Okay," Atem headed back to his room. "Meanwhile, I still have studying to do."
"Have fun with that," Mana turned her attention back to the tablet and video.
As soon as her brother was gone, she ran out the door and straight to the Taylor's house. "Joan!" she burst into the workshop. "I have a brilliant idea!"
"I'm not helping you rig anything at Kaiba Mansion or KaibaCorp," Joan didn't look up as she twirled a screwdriver on a duel disk.
"Why does everyone assume that's what I want to do?" Mana asked.
"Because it usually is," Joan answered.
"Well not this time," Mana declared. "I need your help getting some ducks."
Joan looked up from the duel disk. "Where are you going with this?"
Mana replayed the video she watched in her living room. "I need to do this to Atem. Especially since he's been so boring lately with the Academy entrance exams coming up."
"So you're going to recreate this video?"
"No, I'm going to make it better," Mana grinned. "Ready to help?"
"I need to finish this first," Joan rolled her gray eyes. "Max's duel disk stopped working this morning, and he doesn't want Dad or Uncle Joey to know. Dad especially."
"Well Uncle Tristan doesn't like it when we break our duel disks. Anyway, I'll go find some ducks, and then we'll really have some fun. If Max comes back, let him in on it too."
It was quiet. Too quiet. That meant Mana had either left the house or she was plotting something. Possibly both. Sighing, Atem stood up from his desk and opened his door a crack, just in case his sister rigged a surprise for him outside it. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he opened it all the way. "Mana?" he called. No answer. He was alone in the house.
Maybe she went to the game store or to hang out with Max, Joan, or Airi. Joan was the most likely since Max and Airi were avoiding each other. Well I could use a break from studying.
Atem went to use the bathroom, but was stopped by a small glow. Flipping on the light switch, he found ten decorated rubber ducks along one side of the tub. Three of the tiny ducks had brown clothes wrapped around them and sticks attached to their wings. A closer looked showed the sticks had been painted with glow-in-the-dark paint to make them resemble lightsabers. The three Jedi ducks faced off with the other seven wearing white Stormtrooper helmets. "How late did she stay up watching Star Wars?" Atem mused. Well, if this is what she spent her day doing, it was better than doing something to Kaiba. Half the time Kisara called was because Mana was caught pranking them.
He picked up one of the Jedi ducks, about the size of his palm. The detail on the lightsabers and the cloak, while obviously Mana's idea, was undoubtedly Joan's handiwork. No one was better at detailing than her. Replacing the Jedi in the middle of the battle, Atem left the ducks and headed to the family's game store.
The war for the galaxy raged on. Every time Atem went into the bathroom, a new battle had been staged, and more ducks were added. Jedi called in reinforcements, as did the Stormtroopers. Jedi were slain. Stormtroopers were captured. A Jedi married a Stormtrooper. TIE Fighter pilots joined the mix. Darth Vader, evidence by a black plastic helmet, squared off against Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker, shown by the cloth wrappings given to the ducks. Kylo Ren and Rey joined their respective sides.
It came to a head the day before Atem's written test for Duel Academy. He walked into find a hundred tiny ducks covering the bathtub The Jedi and TIE pilots stood on side, and the Sith and Stormtroopers stood on the other, staring each other down. In the center, a duck with a long white cloth stood on a larger blue duck and faced a duck with black and magenta painted on its head with a purple duck standing next to it.
Apparently the Muto-Kaiba rivalry had escalated to galactic proportions.
Yugi walked by at that moment. "Wow, she got a lot of ducks."
"She made you one," Atem pointed to the duck in the middle.
Yugi sighed. "It's not even a prank on Kaiba and she still managed to make him a part of this."
"Hi, Dad. Hey, Prince," Mana walked up to them. "Do you mind? I really need to use the bathroom."
"Can we talk about the ducks first?" Atem raised an eyebrow at her. Who knew how many more ducks she had squirreled away?
"What about them?" Mana's expression was that of pure innocence.
"How is anyone supposed to use this when Dad and Uncle Seto are negotiating galactic peace in the bathtub?" Atem asked.
"Oh good, you got that," Mana grinned. "I wasn't sure it was obvious for those two and the Blue-Eyes and Dark Magician."
"Okay, Mana," Yugi intervened. "You've had your fun, but I think you're going a little overboard. It's time to stop with the ducks. Find another place for them."
"All right," Mana pouted. "I'll get all the tiny ducks out of the bathroom."
Mana grinned as she bounded into the Taylor's workshop. "Time for Phase II!" she said.
"So what are you doing with the Star Wars ducks?" Joan asked, tinkering with another of her contraptions.
"I don't know," Mana answered. "Dad made me take them out of the bathroom, and I really don't have room for a hundred tiny ducks."
"So I put in all that work helping you make those thing and you're just going to get rid of them?" Joan glared at her.
"I'm not just going toss them," Mana said. "I took lots of pictures of this adventure, and I'll bring them to Aunt Kisara. I'm sure she knows someone who would like them."
"Sure," Joan with back to tinkering. "Your box for Phase II is in the corner.
Mana grinned and grabbed the box.
He should have known that wouldn't be the end of it.
True to her word, Mana had gotten rid of all the tiny ducks in the bathroom. But when Atem next went in, there were plastic ducks the size of his head on every flat surface in the bathroom. The sink, the toilet seat, the window sill. And these ones were painted red and pink to look like a flock of Biyomon and Hawkmon from the Digimon anime. Mana really needs to lay off the anime. Sighing, he stepped out of the room and almost collided with Tea. "Sorry, Mom," Atem apologized.
"You're fine, Atem," Tea said. "Is something wrong?"
"No, I just found the loophole in Mana's prank," Atem opened the door so Tea could see the large Digimon ducks. "She agreed no more tiny ducks."
Tea laughed at the sight. "I definitely prefer this to your sister's usual antics. And she's leaving Kaiba alone for once."
"But why all the ducks?" Atem asked.
"I don't know," Tea sighed. "Mana! Can you come here?"
"Yes?" Mana stuck her head out of her room.
"Please get your ducks out of the bathroom," Tea said. "This is starting to get ridiculous."
"Can I have one in there?" Mana turned hopeful blue-green eyes on her mom and brother.
"One," Tea relented. Atem had a very bad feeling as Mana gave them her widest grin.
"On to Phase III!" Mana bounced into the workshop.
"Before you blow that up, can you take care of the boxes for Phases I and II?" Joan asked. "Dad found them, and I really didn't have a good explanation for all the ducks."
"Okay, I'll run them over to Aunt Kisara now," Mana picked up the two boxes. "When I get back, I'll stage my last duck."
Atem hated it when he was right.
Mana didn't lie; she did limit herself to one duck. A giant inflatable Psyduck from Pokémon that filled the entire room. Atem could barely make it to the sink, let alone the toilet or the bathtub. "Mana!" he yelled.
"Mom said I could have one duck, Prince!"
This is probably one of the most random stories I have ever written. But once I saw that video, I had to do this. Go check it out, and I hope you like this one-shot. As an extra timeline reference, Atem is 15 at this point, Mana is 13, and Joan is 11.