Hey everyone!
First of all, I apologize for being a day late. I didn't have much time this weekend to write, and this one was a little longer than I thought it was going to be, but the last part of this chapter was so much fun to write, and I hope you guys like it!
Second, one character is going to be reacting to the series. Now, in the original, this character was implied to be dead, but remember, this is the 4Kids universe, and this character was implied to being alive in the English dub, so he is alive in this story!
That's about it for now, once again I don't on anything that appears in this chapter... except for myself, and you'll see why later on. Enjoy!
-Abridge series.-
"Mind speaking."
Normal dialogue.
"…Where am I?"
He couldn't feel anything, couldn't see anything. All he knew was that he could still think, still wonder where he was, and what he was doing at the moment. A second later, he saw something. He saw his hands, his arms, the rest of his body appearing in this void. He looked down at himself and saw his white outfit. He touched what he assumed was his head, and felt his hair. One strand being pulled out, teal green.
"…I'm alive?"
Noah blinked before looking around in the void, darkness surrounding him. He gasped as memories started coming back to him.
"Father… Yugi… Mokuba…" he said as he remembered what happened in the Virtual World. He wasn't sure where he was now but he assumed he was somewhere in a virtual database of some kind. He remembered he made a backup so he could survive the explosion. Wherever he was, there was no one else around.
After floating for what felt like forever, even though it was probably only a few minutes, Noah saw a faint light. He willed himself to float over to it, and the closer he got, the clearer it became.
It was a screen. A screen that has static on it. Noah gave it a confused look, wondering what it was there for. Was it going to show him something? Maybe more memories from his past? Noah wasn't sure.
The static started to clear, and something started to appear on the screen. Noah continued watching, and his eyes furrowed in confusion.
Yugi's group met back up again, the same people as last time, only this time instead of a park, they were at a coffee shop. Joey was rubbing his head, wondering if he should tell the others about his dream from last night.
"Yu-Gi-Oh fandom. What the heck were they talking about!?" he thought. Yugi clicked on the next video.
"Alright, wonder what these videos are going to do with the Virtual World," he said.
"I am curious about what happened to you guys. I know you told me about it, but being able to see it will be interesting," Bakura said.
"Same here," Mai added.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Tristan said.
Since today was a day off for Kaiba, he was with Mokuba, seeing if there was anything worth watching on the television.
"Hey Seto, do you want to watch this with me?" Mokuba asked. Kaiba looked over and saw the next video was on the screen. "I know it has Noah in it, but…"
Kaiba sighed. "If you really want me to." Even Kaiba was curious about how this video would portray Noah and their time in the Virtual World.
Mokuba smiled. "Really? Thanks Seto!" He gave his brother a small hug before starting the video.
-Yami: Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged. It's just about the only show Nick Simmons didn't plagiarize. – "Yikes," Tea said. "But I could argue that this video is plagiarizing our lives." She paused. "Nah, I'll give it a pass because it's pretty funny.
-Kaiba: There it is. The Kaibacorp Duel Tower, the only structure large enough to hold my ego without collapsing. This is the last place I ever thought I'd be coming back to. And yet, here I am. – "But… Kaiba blew the place up," Tea said. "So does that mean his ego…"
"It was too big for the tower and it blew up!" Tristan said.
Noah looked at the screen in confusion. "What's is this?" he asked. He touched the screen, but nothing changed. Could he not do anything about it? He had more questions to ask, but the video continued.
-Mokuba: What's wrong Seto?-
-Kaiba: Oh nothing, I was just thinking about my evil bastard of a father who adopted me so that he could put me through Hell and treat me like his own personal slave only to spurn my affection at every opportunity. – "I still remember all of that," Joey said.
"How could anyone forget?" Tea said. She turned to Mai and Bakura. "Wait until you see what happened to us."
Noah blinked and did a double take. "Is this some kind of… joke… or something?" he asked. He still wasn't sure what was the point of this video.
-Mokuba: Oh yeah, that guy.-
-Kaiba: You know Mokuba, being the cliché emotionally-void antagonist, I very rarely feel true joy, but it makes me positively ecstatic to know he's dead. I may even do a twirl later once all this is over… and when nobody is looking. – Yugi's group started laughing. "I need someone to secretly catch that on video!" Tristan said. "Rich boy's never gonna live that down!"
Mokuba was trying to hold back a laugh, not sure if he should be laughing at that when Kaiba is sitting right next to him. Kaiba was turning a little red in the face.
"Like that will ever happen! Not in my lifetime!" he said quickly.
Noah gasped at the thought of someone like Kaiba doing a twirl and being happy. He smiled a little a let out a small laugh.
-Mokuba: It sure is good to know that our father could never come back from the grave to try and ruin our lives through some highly improbable means. – "…Is anyone going to tell him?" Tea asked.
"What do you mean?" Mai asked.
"You'll see."
-Kaiba: You said it Mokuba, now patch me through to the crew. I feel like rubbing my wealth in someone's face.-
-Mokuba: I am so glad he said 'wealth.' – "…What did you think he was going to say?" Bakura asked.
"Considering these videos, I have a few ideas," Duke said.
Mokuba started turning red. Kaiba looked over at him. "I wouldn't get any ideas from that," he said. Mokuba looked at him and nodded. Kaiba smirked. "Good."
-Yami Marik: Rahahahaha! You won't be rubbing anything in my face Kaiba, because unbeknownst to you, both your tournament and your series have been cancelled. Ahahahahaha! Hello world. It's time to give Uncle Melvin a hug. – "Okay, Melvin is bad enough, but there is no way I'm calling him 'Uncle Melvin'!" Tristan said.
"That does sound pretty funny though," Tea said.
"Uncle Melvin can go join Florence in the ridiculous evil spirit names," Duke said. Everyone laughed at this, although Bakura felt a slight cringe in the back of his mind.
"Oh hey, look," Serenity said as the intro played.
"It's new," Tea said. "I guess if this is playing like a show, it would be a new season."
Joey gasped slightly at what she was saying. "…Like a show," he repeated quietly.
"Ha, look. It's called the Cancelled Series now," Duke said pointing at the screen. "I guess that makes sense after what was said in the last video."
Noah titled his head a little. "Yu-Gi-Oh… The Cancelled Series?" he asked. "Seriously, what is this?" he asked out loud.
-Yugi: Well, it's time for my weekly staring contest with the Millennium Puzzle, and while I may have lost the previous 68 rounds, today I'm feeling lucky! – Yugi started laughing. "That's pretty good."
"You'd always lose, since the eye never blinks," Bakura said.
Yugi took the puzzle in his hands and turned it so he was looking directly at the eye. He then looked up and saw Yami next to him. Yugi blinked before he stared intensely into his eyes. Yami was staring back, and the two remained locked in this.
After about thirty seconds, Yugi started laughing as he finally blinked. "Stop it," he said playfully to Yami.
Yami chuckled. "Alright, but I see potential in your staring contest career," he said with a wink.
-Yugi: What the…? Oh no! It is 2012 already?! – "Well, the apocalypse hasn't happened yet, and the year is…" Tristan stopped talking. "…Guys, what year is it anyways?"
Tea took out her phone. "Huh… my phone only tells the month and day. Nothing about the year."
Joey looked at his phone as well. He thought that was was the early 2000s… but some of the people in his dream the other night said that the 'fandom' was still going strong in the 2020s. "Ugh, I need to stop thinking about this," he thought.
-Joey: Ah! What the yiff is going on!? I think we hit an iceberg or something. I knew we should've made a sacrifice to Poseidon before we left. – "…Would that even work?" Duke asked.
"Depending on who would be sacrificed," Bakura said. Everyone looked around at each other, and slowly, everyone's eyes fell towards Tristan.
Tristan quickly looked at everyone. "Oh yeah, real funny guys!" he said loudly and sarcastically. Everyone laughed, with Joey giving him a playful nudge on the shoulder.
-Tristan: Mmm, Joey's sister…-
-Duke: Duke Devlin puts the 'wet' in wet dreams. – Mai had to hold back a laugh. Duke was also covering his mouth. Whether he was holding back a laugh of not, he wasn't sure.
Joey though, quickly turned towards the two boys. "What dreams are you two having about my little sister!?" Both boys were red, unsure how to answer the question. "May I reminder you two how old she is?"
"Y-You don't need to do that!" Tristan said quickly.
"Y-Yeah, it's not my fault that I cause people to have those dreams…" Duke realized what he just said and he turned even more red.
Joey glared at the two of them before turning to Serenity. "Don't worry Serenity, you don't have to worry about growing up like that any time soon."
"Thanks Joey, but you don't have to worry about that right now," she answered.
Mai sighed. "I think we should get back to the video before this talk continued on."
"Agreed," Yugi said.
-Joey: Stop it you guys! You're making Poseidon angry with your sex dreams! Nyeeeeeeehhh! Yaoi! – Tea was the only one who caught onto the word being used when Joey landed on Duke and Tristan.
-Duke: Oh, waking up next to a blond and a brunette. It's just another morning for Duke Devlin. – Mai started laughing while Duke looked back and forth at Joey and Tristan. He also noticed that this worked for the girls too, with Mai and Tea… but not for the girl he had his sights on.
"Kind of wish red hair was mentioned," he said quietly.
-Kaiba: Report!-
-Hans: Our Navigation systems are offline. Ve are changing protectory at an alarming rate.-
-Kaiba: Did you try pressing random buttons? – Mokuba tilted his head. "What kind of advice is that?" he said with a laugh.
-Hans: Sir, it is highly unlikely that zis would…-
-Kaiba: Well do it anyway! – Now this got Mokuba laughing. Kaiba had to process this for a second, but he soon found himself laughing, though not as outright as Mokuba.
Yugi's group was also laughing. "Hey, it's just like how I fix things in real life!" Joey said.
Bakura turned towards him. "And you're proud of that?" Joey stopped smiling, and Bakura was chuckling at this.
-Hans: Yeah Herr Kaiba.-
-Tea: Yugi, what's that thing? – "Oh no, are we doing this again?" Tea asked, with her hand on her forehead.
-Kaiba: That's phallic symbol island. – "Uhhh…" Everyone wasn't sure what to say. Joey placed his hand over Serenity's eyes.
"You don't need to see that," Joey said.
"Joey, I've already seen the building," Serenity said with a small laugh.
"Eh?" Joey removed his hand. "Fine, but the others better not be putting any ideas in your head."
"Don't worry Hon, we're not," Mai said.
Kaiba blinked before blushing slightly. Mokuba shook his head. "Father really was pretty bold about his designs," he said.
"Hmph, it would make sense Father would build the tower like that since he was always a d…" he paused. "And I'm not goning to finish that sentence, for your sake," he said.
"Thank you Seto," Mokuba said, not wanting him to finish the sentence.
Noah saw the tower and shook his head. "Okay, seriously. What's the point of this video?" he asked himself.
-Kaiba: Many years ago, Kaibacorp was a company that designed military equipment. Weapons, vehicles, you name it. But then I took over and we started selling far more useful things, like trading cards and holographic monster projectors. – "Well, people are happier to have Duel Monster card instead having weapons, so that was a good call," Yugi said.
-Kaiba: This island was my father's base of operations.-
-Yugi: I had no idea Kaiba hated his own father so much. Perhaps he and I aren't so different after all. – There was a silence before Joey spoke. "You know, you never really talk about your Father, Yug," he said.
"…I don't hate him. He's just always away for his job." Joey could hear the slight sadness in his voice. "But I like living with my Grandpa," he added with a smile.
Joey then remembered something. "Yug has a mother, doesn't he?" He blinked. "Or did I just imagine her one time?"
Mokuba was slightly confused. "Yugi never mentions his Father. Does he really hate him like this video said?"
"Doubt it," Kaiba replied.
-Kaiba: Are you sympathizing with me?-
-Yugi: Well yeah, I mean…-
-Kaiba: Stop doing that! I hate it! – Yugi and Mokuba both laughed slightly, thinking that this was something Kaiba would definitely say in real life. Even Kaiba found that line funny, though he didn't really show it.
-Computer: Warning! Collision with ocean imminent! I hope you play Bioshock! – "Is that a game?" Yugi asked.
"Probably a video game or computer game," Bakura said.
"Huh, I'll have to check it out one day," Yugi replied.
-Kaiba: Well, this just bites! – This got a laugh from Yugi's group and from Mokuba. Kaiba was smirking a little, and Noah was still confused… though he did find that line a little funny.
As Noah watched the video, he started to realize something. "Wait, this is when I lured them to the fortress!" He realized. "This is the beginning of the time I trapped everyone in the Virtual World!" He watched as the blimp started to collide with the ocean. "This video is showing all of this, but what everybody says is different…"
Everyone then watched as the cast were thrown around, with Kaiba admitting he's fine. Yugi chuckled at that. "Leave it to Kaiba to keep his cool in a collision."
"Are you implying that none of us keep our cool?" Tristan asked.
"Well, considering what we just saw, it looked like it," Bakura noted.
-Joey: Oh is that all you got Poseidon? You got nothing, man. Nothing! – "What is it with you and Poseidon?" Mai asked. "Are you obsessed with water or something?"
"Yeah, if anything, I see you more obsessed with fire elements, with your fiery rage and all that," Tea said. "Oh wait, my bad. I meant your Brooklyn rage!"
Joey was about to say something, but stopped when he realized Tea had a point. "You know, having fire powers may not be so bad," he said.
"It would also explain why you have such a hatred for Poseidon," Bakura said.
-Mokuba: Whoa. Guys, check out the viewscreen.-
-Noah: Hahahahahaha! Welcome! – Noah's eyes widened. "Wait, that's me!" he exclaimed. "But… I sound different."
"Okay, here we go," Mokuba said.
-Kaiba: Who are you, and why do you look like me back in Season Zero?-
-Tristan: Oooooooo. The forbidden season. – "Season Zero?" Tea asked.
Yugi gasped. "Wait, remember that one video? It was a while ago, but there was a small part where Kaiba had green hair!"
"Oh yeah!" Tristan exclaimed. "I remember now!"
"So, you guys are saying this is the second time these videos said that Kaiba had green hair?" Mai asked. Everyone nodded. "Maybe Kaiba was going through a phase when he had green hair, and he doesn't want to talk about it," she suggested.
"Maybe," Joey said. He heard a few people in his dream mention a 'Season Zero' and he figured if he ever had that dream again, he would find out more. "But why would this 'season' be called the 'Forbidden Season'?" Everyone shrugged.
Mokuba was confused. "Did you have green hair Seto?"
"…Not that I can remember," was Kaiba's response. "I'd look stupid if I had green hair," he said.
Noah thought back to all the times he had seen Kaiba throughout his life, and he could not for the life of him… or digital life… a time when Kaiba had green hair.
-Noah: All your questions will be answered in due course. In the meantime, prepare to be assimilated. Resistance is futile, do not attempt to adjust your television, for I am controlling the horizontal and the vertical. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain for he…-
-Kaiba: Hey, uh, question. Are you just going to paraphrase old movies and TV shows at us, or are you actually gonna do something? – Tristan laughed. "I was about to ask the same thing. There was a lot going on there."
Noah knew all the references that his video counterpart was saying. Being in a virtual database of some kind did have its perks. He smiled slightly at all the references.
-Noah: Your mother. – And his smile was replaced with a frown at that joke.
"Um, Kaiba's real mother isn't here… so if he wants to do anything to her… You know what, not worth it, moving on," Tea said.
-Kaiba: Huh, wonder who that was? – "So that's that Noah kid you guys mentioned from the last video?" Mai asked.
"Yep, that's him," Yugi said.
"He doesn't seem that strong," Bakura said.
"Would you believe us if we said this kid beat Kaiba in a duel?" Tea asked. Mai and Bakura shook their heads, both surprised. "Well, it was a little more complicated than that, but still," Tea added.
-Mokuba: Seto, we appear to be locked on course with the giant ocean fortress directly beneath us! – "A fortress in the ocean?" Bakura asked. "That's pretty intense!"
-Yugi: That's weird, I don't remember any of this happening in the manga. – "Manga?" Tea asked. "Like those comics that I get at Duel Monster conventions?"
"Oh no, did someone write a book about these videos?" Duke asked. Joey already knew the answer to that… kind of, but he still wasn't sure if he should tell the others about his dream.
-Serenity: Joey, I'm scared.-
-Joey: Nyeh, don't worry Serenity. If we were gonna die, they'd have killed us by now.-
-Serenity: Who said anything about dying? I'm scared they're gonna write me out of the show. I mean, what purpose does my character even serve at this point? – Serenity looked at the ground. "…I mean, I don't even duel, and it felt like I didn't even do anything when we were in the Virtual World, beside setting chased and losing Tristan…"
"Don't say things like that!" Joey said as he placed a hand on Serenity's shoulder. "You played a large role in your duel with Nezbitt."
-Joey: Uh… well, you're… you're um…uh…uh…-
-Serenity: You don't even know, do you? – "I just said, you're super important!"
"Yeah, plus emotional support is important!" Tea added. "It was because of you that Joey entered Duelist Kingdom!"
"Yeah sis, you're super important to all of us!" Joey said.
"Yeah, you're important to me!" Tristan and Duke both said at the same time, earning a glare from Joey.
"I always like having you around for support, during my duels," Yugi said
-Joey: Give me a few minutes here. I'll think of something. Uhhh… Eh… uh… that is to say… uh… Aw dang it! – "Man Joey, is it really that hard to think of anything else?" Mai asked.
"That's okay," Serenity said with a small giggle. "I feel a lot better now!" she said, giving Joey a small hug.
Mai chuckled. "You got a good brother there, Hon. Better than your brother in this video."
-Noah: Okay people, time to disembark. Look lively, or I'll have to get deadly.-
-Kaiba: Get real! What are those? Guns that shoot magical bullets that send us to the Shadow Realm? – "It would be like those dark energy disks used in my duel with Arkana," Yugi mentioned.
"But didn't that video imply that those were supposed to be real disks," Tea remembered.
"Yeah, but those gun things… does anyone remember that?" Serenity asked. "I honestly can't remember if we were attacked or not."
"I don't either, but I'm curious to see how this goes," Duke said.
-Joey: Yeah, knowing 4Kids, they probably just shoot harmless rubber bullets that don't even… - Everyone gasped as the guns started shooting real bullets. "Okay, maybe they were real!" Tristan exclaimed. Tea also heard the bullet sound that is mostly used in cartoons.
-Noah: Oops, my finger must have slipped. Disobey me again, and it won't be an accident. – "That ain't funny!" Joey said.
Bakura's mouth was open. "You guys could have gotten killed if that really happened!"
"I can't believe you all had to go through that!" Mai added.
-Yugi: We'll do anything you want, just don't kill me, or possibly Tea. – Tea's heart fluttered slightly at hearing this. She glanced over at Yugi, who was also blushing slightly and glancing back at her. The moment was interrupted when Joey started talking.
"Hey! What about the rest of us!?" he asked loudly.
Mai shook her head. "Yugi would probably spare all of us too," she said.
-Noah: Make yourselves at home Gentleman. Hahahaha!-
-Hans and Gruber: Herr Kaiba, can ve come vith you?-
-Kaiba: I don't see why not.-
-Noah: No! They have to stay here.-
-Tristan: But why?-
-Noah: Because they are not duelists.-
-Hans and Gruber: Yes ve are. Ve play ze game all ze time. – Kaiba raised an eyebrow. "Hmph, even if they do play, they're amateurs compared to me and Yugi."
"Still, I wonder what their decks would be themes after," Mokuba said.
-Duke: And I only play Dungeon Dice Monsters.-
-Noah: Well, that's basically the same as Duel Monsters.-
-Duke: Why does everybody say that? – "We're still going on with this!?" Duke asked.
"What's Dungeon Dice Monsters?" Mai asked.
Duke brightened up. "Well it's-"
"It's Duel Monsters, but with dice!" Tristan answered quickly.
"Hey! Stop it!" Duke said. Mai laughed at the two boy's antics while Tea groaned.
-Joey: Serenity, I just realized why you're still in the show! So that Duke and Tristan have a reason to be here.-
-Serenity: Oh good. Now I feel so much better about myself. – "See, you're important to Tristan and Duke… Whether that's bad or good for me, I don't know," he added.
Serenity smiled. "Thanks again."
-Tristan: And then the talent agent says "What's the name of this act?" And then the father says "The Aristocrats." Why isn't anybody laughing?-
-Yugi: Hey Tristan, remember back in Season One when you were still funny? – "I'm still funny!" Tristan exclaimed.
"Keep on telling yourself that," Joey said, with Tea preventing more hassle between the two.
-Kaiba: Ah! What the hell!? – Everyone watched as The Big Five started their motto.
-Leichter: Prepare for trouble!-
-Nezbitt: And make it double!-
-Gansley: To protect the world from Japanimation.-
-Crump: To overthrow the Kaibacorperation.-
-Johnson: To denounce the meaning of the original dub.-
-Gansley: To extend our reach to the world above.-
-Joey: Hey, it's those mooks from Season One who tried to kill us in the Virtual World.-
-Kaiba: The Big Five.-
-Big Five: Team 4Kids blast off at the speed of light. Surrender now, or prepare to fight.-
-Meowth: Meowth, that's right!-
First was Yugi's group. A couple of them were laughing, but some of them didn't know what to say. "That was quite the introduction," Tea said. "I have the feeling it's referencing something, but I have no idea what."
"Hang on. We're those the same people who trapped me, Yugi, Joey, and the Kaiba brothers in the Virtual World?" Mai asked.
"Yep, they came back and trapped us again," Yugi said.
"I wonder who that little cat at the end was. He was cute," Serenity said.
Gears were turning in Joey's mind, and the mention of 4Kids made him think back to his dream, when some of the people mentioned the company. "I don't know why, but I don't have a good feeling about this," he thought to himself.
Mokuba placed his hand on his chin. "Huh, that motto sounded kind of familiar, but I don't know why…" Mokuba then looked at Kaiba. "Big brother?"
Kaiba seemed to be staring at the screen, mouth open slightly. When Kaiba heard the motto the Big Five were using, he felt something. He felt a sense of familiarity, like he has heard that motto many times before. Not only did he feel like he heard it, but that he had said that motto before… and he wasn't sure why he was feeling these things. Also, the cat at the end…
"Seto!" Mokuba said, snapping Kaiba out of his thoughts. "Are you okay?" Kaiba blinked at looked at his worried brother. He sighed.
"I'm fine, you don't have to worry about me," he said. Mokuba smiled a little. "How about we continue," Kaiba added.
A small smile appeared on Noah's face, and he started to slowly laugh. That was quite the motto. As much trouble as the Big Five caused him, he did find this intro funny. And like the others, he thought the cat at the end was cute, even if he was more of a dog person.
-Kaiba: You guys tried to take over my company. First by allying yourselves with Pegasus, and then by trapping me in a video game of my own design. You know what they say? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, you're going to get curb stomped by Seto Kaiba. – "Ha, there's another thing for you to say brother!" Mokuba said.
"Hmph, not bad," he replied.
-Gansley: Thanks to you fools, our minds have been trapped in Cyberspace. But since then, 4Kids took pity on us. They gave us new voices.-
-Tristan: Your voices changed? That's impossible! – "Ha, look who's talking," Tea said, remembering Tristan's voice changing in a very early episode.
"Yeah, kind of wish I kept that voice instead of getting my old one back," Tristan grumbled.
-Gansley: They also gave us a new job. Eliminating all of you!-
-Kaiba: Yeah, I don't think so. I'll beat you all single-handedly and then return to running my tournament faster than you can say 'Kay thanks.' – "Kay thanks," Joey said. Nothing happened. "Well, you didn't defeat them!" he added. Everyone laughed at this,
Gansley: You still don't get it, do you?-
-Johnson: There is no tournament. Your series has been cancelled.-
-Kaiba: What?-
-Joey: What?-
-Yugi: What the f*ck!? – "Oh, that's why he couldn't defeat them that fast. There wasn't anyone to defeat in the first place," Duke said.
"I'm pretty sure that's not the point," Yugi said. "If I'm correct, this video is using 4Kids as the main villain, whoever they are."
"Sounds like you had a lot on your guys hands," Bakura mentioned.
-Gansley: It's true. 4Kids finally saw fit to pull the plug. From now on, if children want to watch anime on American television, they'll have to make do with reruns of Avatar the Last Airbender!-
-Kaiba: Avatar isn't anime.-
-Gansley: It might as well be. – "Huh, that sounds like a cool show," Tea said. "I'll have to watch that later."
-Kaiba: You guys are a bunch of senile deluded old men who think they know better then everybody else. No wonder you fit in with 4Kids. – Noah still wasn't sure who 4Kids was. Another screen appeared and Noah tapped on it, trying to find information. After scrolling through for a while, Noah couldn't find anything related to 4Kids.
"That's weird," he said. "I should have access to every database on the internet," he said. "Unless... is someone censoring the information?" he asked himself. The screen closed as the video continued.
-Gansley: We'll see how long you keep that attitude of yours, when we defeat you, and take control of your bodies.-
-Joey: Well I don't see what's so-AHHHH!-
-Serenity: Joey!-
-Tea: AHHHH!-
-Yugi: Tea! Serenity. Aww that's cute, Duke and Tristan got their own little hole. – "What part about that is cute!?" Tristan asked.
"Well, remember when we said you guys fight like an old married couple?" Tea asked with a smirk on her face.
"WE'RE NOT A COUPLE!" both of them yelled.
-Mokuba: Seto, I want to ride the hole with you!-
-Kaiba: Wait, no, AHHHH! – "this got a laugh from Yugi's group. "Okay, that was funny!" Duke said.
"Um… I don't think I'd word it that way, but if it was different circumstance, riding on an amusement ride with a large drop with you wouldn't be so bad," Mokuba said to Kaiba. "I think we have a ride like that in Kaibaland!"
"I'm pretty sure we do," Kaiba responded.
-Yugi: Kaiba! Okay look, uh… hold on, uh… let's just talk about this, okay? Uh, to tell the truth, I always kind of liked 4Kids. That whole One Piece fiasco, water under the bridge. So uh, how about we just talk about this and maybe we can come to some sort of… Oh who am I kidding, I can't do it. 4Kids suuuuuuuucks! – "Yeah, I don't think you were gonna win that one Yug," Joey said. "I don't know what the One Piece fiasco was, but I'm pretty sure you weren't gonna win."
"Yeah, but Joey, you seem interested in this 4Kids stuff. Is there a reason for that?" Yugi asked.
"Uh…" Joey contemplated if he should mention the dream yesterday. "It's nothing, just a random thought," he said.
"Well, if you say so," Yugi said, but in his spirit form, Yami was glancing at Joey, thinking something was up.
-Noah: So as you can see, we're far too busy with other projects to even consider going back and dubbing Season Four. Please accept my apologies.-
-Jaden: Aw dizam. But, we still gonna do the move, right? – "Who's that?" Noah wondered.
-Noah: I'll think about it. Oh, hold on. I'm getting another call.-
-Jaden: Aye, catch you on the flippity flip end dawg. – "Wait, was that Jaden just now?" Tea asked. "What does he have to do with all this?"
"I don't know," Tristan said.
-Noah: Yes, yes, yes, what is it Nezbitt?-
-Nezbitt: Master Noah, I have terrible news! 4Kids were just delisted from the New York Stock Exchange! – "Uh oh, that doesn't sound good," Bakura said.
-Noah: A trivial concern. So long as we still own the rights to Pokémon, we'll be just fine. – Kaiba gasped again. "Pokémon," he said under his breath. He got that same feeling again, like when the motto was being said. He thought back to the cat that appeared… did he had anything to do with that? He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Mokuba laughing at the next line.
-Nezbitt: Um… Yeah, about that. We don't have those anymore.-
-Noah: Really? When did this happen?-
-Nezbitt: Several years ago, Master Noah. – "Welp, that stinks," Mai said. "All I know is copyright is so confusing," she added.
-Noah: Why didn't anyone tell me? Oh well, at least we still have One Piece.-
-Nezbitt: Yes… about that.-
-Noah: Who the f*ck is Funimation!? – "Whoever they are, they're doing a better job at what you guys are doing!" Tristan said. Everyone looked at him. "Heh, I don't really know, I'm just trying to be funny," he said.
-[at least we lasted longer than firefly]-
-Tea: I was frozen today! - Tea got chills remembering that duel. "Hopefully nothing weird will happen when we get to that duel," she said to herself.
-Yami Marik: 98… 99… 100! Ready or not, here I come… to murder you! Wait, where the f*ck is everybody? Hello? – "Oh yeah, there's still an evil spirit on the blimp," Mai said.
"Except he doesn't have anyone to go after… and wait, what was Ishizu doing this whole time?" Tea asked.
"I have no idea!" Tristan said.
-Yami Marik: Oh, come on! I've bene planning my vengeance for the past ten years and they all just walk away? Well, so much for that. What am I supposed to do now? Hmm… wonder if those two German guys are still around. – "Welp, they're in trouble," Joey said.
-Hans: Nein, ve are not on ze blimp!-
-Yami Marik: Hello there… I mean uh, guten tag. I don't suppose you'd be able to tell me the German for 'hug' is, would you? Ahahahahaha! – Everyone heard Yami Marik attacking the two men. "Um, if two evils attack each other, does that mean they cancel out?" Tea asked.
"No idea," Bakura said. "But anyways, you guys really went through a lot. I really want to see what happened next."
"Me too. That must have been so rough for you guys," Mai added.
"Well, if anyone had a super rough time through this, it was Kaiba and Mokuba," Yugi mentioned. Noah is technically their brother."
"He is!?" Bakura and Mai asked at the same time.
"Yeah. You'll probably see more in the next few videos," Yugi said again. He then looked at the clock in the middle of the plaza. "I better get going. Grandpa might need my help in the shop."
"Yeah, I have to go too," Mai said. Everyone agreed to meet back here tomorrow. And with that, the group went off on their own ways.
Mokuba closed the laptop and Kaiba stood up. "Alright, we have some things we need to get done today," he said as he started walking to the door. "Mokuba, are you coming?"
"I'm coming," he said as he got up with his laptop. "Hey Seto, want to watch another video tomorrow?" he asked.
"…Fine," he said after a pause. Mokuba, happy with his response, followed his brother out of the room.
Noah saw the video end and thought about what he just watched. "So… was that a retelling of my time in the Virtual World? Or… was it a retelling from Yugi's point of view?" Noah then noticed a playlist next to the video. "Well, I can't say I'm not curious," he added.
He wondered what would happen with Kaiba, and more importantly, Mokuba in these videos. "I still don't understand this. I've been in this backup database for so long, and yet I've never heard of this." Although, he was unconscious for most of it. Noah sighed and clicked on the next video, wondering what was in store for him.
That night, Joey once again found himself in the same dream, surround by millions of people. He gasped as he saw everyone suddenly appear. "Ah! What are all of you doing here again!?" he yelled.
"We said we would come back tonight. Remember?" someone next to him said.
"…I guess I forgot," Joey said with a sheepish smile on his face. Some people started laughing.
"That's why we love you," a girl on his other side said. "Anyways, we really did come back for a reason."
"And what reason is that?" Joey asked.
"We'll explain soon, but first we want to show you around!" Suddenly, the surroundings transformed. Joey was then looking at a giant room, similar to old fashioned mansions.
"Wow, this is some fancy stuff here," Joey said, looking at the room in awe. He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to see another boy behind him.
"Come over here!" he said. He walked over to a door that was nearby. Joey blinked before deciding to follow him. When the two reached the door, the boy grabbed the knob and smiled. "First, the Fanart Gallery!"
When the door opened, Joey's mouth fell open. As he entered the room, he looked around in astonishment. All around him were pictures of him and everyone that he and the whole group have ever interacted with. All drawn in different styles, some looked very similar to how he looked, and others drawn very differently. Some taking place in Domino City, a lot were in Ancient Egypt, and other were in places unknown to Joey. Under each work of art was the artists name, or username, and links back to the original source. The room seemed endless, and Joey could spend years looking at every piece of art.
"We get new artwork for this Gallery every day!" the boy said before running of somewhere else. Joey continued to marvel at the art, especially the ones with him in them.
"And that room over there!" the boy said as he pointed to the connecting room. "That's the meme and edits room, check it out next time you're here!" He ran inside the room while Joey looked at more fanart.
He noticed a lot of pictures with two or more people in romantic situations. As he looked at those, he noticed a smaller door with a label staring with 'N' and ending with 'W.' "Hmm, what's in here?" he asked as he reached for the knob, only to be stopped by another person in the room. She slowly backed Joey away from the door.
"Oh no, we're not raising the rating on this fic. Time for the next room!" she said. Joey reluctantly followed her, taking one last look at the Gallery before the door closed behind them. The girl pointed at another door. "I think you'll like that room."
Joey walked over and opened the door. Inside was what looked like a lounge area. Everyone who was in there was on their computers, tablets, notebooks, or anything that can be eithers written on or typed on. Joey was about to walk up to someone, but another person stopped him.
"We shouldn't disturb them. They're writing fanfics right now," she said. Joey blinked in response, causing the girl to laugh. "Well, okay, we can talk to one writer." The two walked over to a girl sitting at a small round table, eating pizza with a glass of milk. A little dragon figure was next to her on the table. When the two approached her, she looked up and a small smile appeared on her face.
"Wow Joey, never thought I would actually get to meet you… well, I can meet your voice actor in the real world if I could."
"You know who I am? And what do you mean by 'voice actor'?"
"I know who you are. I mean, I'm literally writing everything that we're saying."
"What?"
"Yeah, I just typed all of this up."
"…So, this too?"
"Yep."
"And this?"
"Ye- oh wait, typo. Okay, that's better."
"Did you type that as well?"
"I did."
"And what about-"
"Hey, how about you show him the bookshelves before he starts asking more questions," the writer said to the other girl.
"Good idea, come one Joey!" She said as she took his hand as the writer waved at them. The two approached a wall of bookshelves, fitting hundred and hundreds of books. "This is the wall of tropes. Thought of a trope, there's a fanfic for that! We could start with the more popular ones, like our volumes of Soulmate AUs, or maybe some Domestic Fluff? How about Coffee Shop AUs, College AUs, Character Study, Major Angst, and so many more. But avoid that shelf in the corner." The girl pointed to the shelf that had the same label in the Gallery. "Like we said before, this fic is staying on 'T'."
"Wow, this is pretty cool," Joey said as he checked out all the tropes. He pulled out a few books and skimmed through them. He pulled out another one and started to open it. "Huh, what's this one? Tea bashi-"
Suddenly, the book was taken from him. Looking over, he saw the writer he talked to earlier. She closed the book and quickly placed it back on the shelf. "I don't mind what happens in other fics, but in this one, we don't talk about this trope!" she said as she walked back to her table.
Joey shrugged his shoulders and continued following the other girl. "In here, were fine with any kind of fic, as long as everyone follows the Golden Rule!" She pointed at a huge golden sign that was above all the shelves. On that sign was a simple phrase.
"DON'T LIKE, DON'T READ!"
"Huh," Joey said as he followed the girl again.
She then stopped at a screen on the bookcase. "Okay, this is the shipping master list! Pick a ship, and this screen will guide you to fic about it!" she said. She scrolled the list and stopped in the 'P' section. "Want to look for puppyshipping fics?"
"Puppyshipping? What's that?"
"You and Kaiba!" Joey froze for a second, causing the girl to laugh. "Okay, maybe next time." She scrolled up. "How about Polarshipping? That's you and Mai!" Joey perked up and blushed a little. "Or we could go down to Wishshipping, which is you and Yugi!" Joey smiled at that as well. "Well, we can go through this another time, I have something else to show you!"
The two walked over to a set of large windows. When they looked inside, Joey gasped a little. Inside the window was a Cafeteria room, where there were a bunch of people sitting at tables and talking amongst each other. There was a large variety of people, animals, and even creatures Joey had never seen.
"All of the people in there are original characters, or OCs as we call them," the girl explained. "There are also writers in this room that can also be seen in the Cafeteria. We call those Self-Inserts. There's modern OCs, Ancient Egypt OCs, and so much more."
Joey then looked over and saw a table with a bunch of girls sitting around and talking to each other. All of them had something about their appearance that was similar to Yugi. "What about that group?" he asked, pointing at the group of girls.
"Oh, those are all of Yugi's sisters! Very popular OC!"
"Eh? Yug doesn't have any sisters!"
"Not in canon, but here he has a ton of them! Also, a lot of them have other Millennium items!" the girl said as she pointed out character who had golden artifacts of them.
"What? Other Millennium items!?"
"Oh yeah, the Millennium Bracelet is one of the most common ones!" Joey was about to say something else when he was pulled away. "Anyways, we've seen enough in here, off to the next room!" Once they made their way out, the door closed behind Joey. Another person walked up to him.
"Okay, were running out of time, so I'm going to go through the last rooms quickly." The two walked to the next room and peeked inside. It was a small theater with people getting ready to watch something, eating food, and talking among each other. "This is where people watch the show. Even though they don't make fan art or write fanfics, they still are a big part of the fandom," they explained.
"…Show?" Joey thought as he walked along.
The next room had people dressed up as Joy and the others, and they were talking and doing whatever with each other. Joey almost walked up to a Joey cosplayer, but was stopped. "This is the RP room, where everyone role-plays as all of you. We shouldn't talk to them, or else they'll break character," they said as the walked over to another room.
This room had people placing notes on a giant bulletin board, some of them were grouped together, others were out on their own. "This is the headcanon room," the person next to Joey said. "This is where everyone pins their headcanons for all of you guys for everyone to see. Similar ones are grouped together." A few people looked towards the door and waved at Joey. He sheepishly waved back before moving on.
Another door opened and Joey felt a familiar presence. He looked inside and saw a group of people hanging around and doing similar things like the others. "This is the Season Zero room!" Joey remembered season zero being mentioned in the video he watched with everyone. "This is for people who want to focus more on the earlier days and the Toei anime!" the other said. More people waved at Joey before the two moved on.
Next room, there were game tables set up, with people actually playing the card game. No holograms, no nothing, just their cards on a mat. "People are still in the fandom and still like Yu-Gi-Oh, even if they've never read the manga or watched the anime," the person said before they closed the door quietly and started walking again.
The two passed by another door and Joey stopped with a nervous gulp. This door was made of steel, caution tape was all over it, and a 'Do Not Enter' sign was hanging up top. Joey could hear a lot of yelling and banging in the room. "Uh… what's in here?" Joey asked.
The other person looked over, and a look of dread appeared on their face. "Oh no, we're not going in there. That's the discourse room," they said as they pushed Joey to another door. When they got there, another girl was standing next to the door. "This is your last stop," the other said before running back to the other rooms.
"Alright Joey, let's show you what's out back.," she said as she opened the door. Outside was a large backyard with six holes in the ground. Inside the holes were vortexes, like portals to another dimension.
"What are all those!?" Joey asked, mesmerized by the portals.
"Those are portals to the other Yu-Gi-Oh fandoms. One for GX, 5Ds, Zexal, Arc V, Vrains, and Sevens, which appeared very recently," the girl explained. "They're basically the same here, except different series'," she added. A boy ran past the two of them and jumped into one of the portals. "Looks like he's going to the Arc V fandom," she said. "Anyways, let's go back inside."
Once they returned to the main hallway, everything started swirling around Joey. He was then back to where he was before, with everyone surrounding him. "Aw, I wanted to stay there a little more!" Joey exclaimed.
"We can go back in another dream. But right now, there's something more important we need to discuss." The girl next to him said. "We know you're not stupid Joey. Did you realize something while we were giving you the tour of the fandom?"
Joey knew something felt slightly off while he was discovering the fandom. Points started connecting, points from the videos he was watching with everyone, and what he has seen here, and before he knew it, everything started to crash in on him. His eyes widened and everything went to black.
Joey woke up in his bed, panting heavily. As he tried to calm himself down, his newfound realization was still fresh in his mind. Once he felt himself calm down enough, he spoke, very quietly and very softly.
"I… I'm not… I'm not real."
Dun dun Duuuuuuuunnnnnnnn! ...Okay, I'll stop now. (also, one of the people showing Joey around uses they pronouns, in case anyone was confused)
Also, am I technically a self insert now, and I may or may not have described what I had for dinner last night...
Question for all of you, What room in the fandom would you spend the most time in, or would you use the portals and go to another series' fandom?
Fun Fact: I was trying to remember if the scene where Noah shoots everyone really was in the English dub, but I couldn't find out. I couldn't find the episode that easily, and the Wiki doesn't mention anything about it, so I made it where no one really remembers what happened, lol.
I wanted to write more Noah reactions, but I think he'll have more to say in the other videos. But until then, onto the reviews!
TheManiacalMadman: That is coming soon! it's honestly one of my favorite scenes from the series!
fireredtie, kittycatcatcher, Neroquin, epantoja521, Graceluvbug37, sixsevenlove, Guest #4: Thank you! Hope you enjoy the chapter!
Chronosign: I follow a few people who watch rwby on tumblr, and judging from their reactions, it's pretty serious.
Guest: Yep, everyone in the fandom is in this fic (technically)!
Evilkitten3, dragonslayerjahn, Dragonkeeper10, Beardonator, Mrpeepington: He can't escape the fanbase!
Valkoor123113: Unfortunately, he's having a bit of a crisis to answer your question. But seriously, what does it do?
The Sith'ari: It kind of does. I know Joey is a fan favorite, and it would have been too obvious if Yugi was the one to interact first, so I went with Joey. And yeah, we'll have to see how they regain their memories.
Spiritstrike: I knew I was going to write a puzzleshipping moment ever since I heard that line! And I love thiefshipping too, and I thank the abridged series for that! Joey's got some fans watching him!
Mella: Well uh... I don't know if fetal position is the right word (which I do know what that is)... but he's definitely having a crisis right now.
Romulus Black Talon: That will be done in a separate fanfic.
MrKeyfox: Well, this is the story I wanted to write, and I'm sorry it wasn't what you expected. This meta part that I'm writing is only going to happen for the Virtual World arc, and then it will go back to normal when the finals resume.
SilverJoJo: Well, I couldn't get the Big Five and Gozoboro, but I did get Noah in there, and we'll have to see what happens with Joey.
Sauwk: Ha, you're the second person who compared Joey to Deadpool!
Algalax2: Oh man, I think he'll be more embarrassed when he remembers being the toy monkey.
Rinfantasy: Oh he's having a crisis alright, but that last part was super fun to write, because I love (almost) all aspects of the fandom!
Turnabout Of The Storm: Joey actually took it in quite well, except for when his crisis began.
thedarkpokemaster: Third person to mention Deadpool, lol.
The Richmaster: I always saw Tristan as a movie nerd, so he was the most hyped for the lightsaber battle. And as for Joey, well...
Supernova23: Exactly! And since Yugi is already involved in magic and other worlds, I went with Joey because I know he's a big fan favorite that isn't Yugi or Kaiba.
laharl-chan: Looks like both you and 4Kids wants to take control of this world. Will Joey and the others be able to stop all of this, or will they be at the mercy of everyone who makes fan content?
Arkadian97: He might appear at one point.
TheOrangeLord: It sounds like Joey is going through something similar to what you just wrote down (which was really fun to read).
Scaehime: Honestly, I want to give Joey some spotlight and some time to shine, because every time something weird happens, it's always Yugi or Kaiba that notices, and I wanted to give Joey a turn. Also, he's a fan favorite. Though he might be asking Yugi for help in the next chapter, since he's more used to magical and weird things happening.
Guest #2: Honestly, the story getting meta wasn't something I thought of when I first started this fic all those years back, but it just came to me one day, and since we were getting close to the Virtual World, where 4Kids is more prominent, I wanted to try this out, and I loved writing it!
Makolik: I honestly loved writing those bits of the story, so we'll see how it goes.
Guest#3 : Someone please make an AU out of this!
fanficobsessed15: Haha, I love how there are so many different people in the fandom. Some only read the manga, some only the anime, but all important fans of Yu-Gi-Oh
Menrinus: I think Joey's too deep in his crisis to give you an autograph right now, maybe in the next chapter.
Guest #5: It's called 'having a life outside of writing.'
And that's all of them! Apologies if I missed any! See you guys April 20th or 21st for the next chapter, hopefully it won't fall on a weekend again (it doesn't, I checked). See you all next time!
Next time: Episode 48 - Penguin Ex-Machina! Duel Standby!