*Prologue*
Fable:...
Angel: Fable...don't you dare...
Fable: But I-...
Angel: No.
Fable: But the cringe...
Angel: Cringe or not, this is something you put a lot of work into and I'm tired of you attacking your own work. This isn't some magnum opus. What happened to this being 'just for fun', huh?
Fable: I don't know. I just...I know I can do way better than this.
Angel: There's always room for improvement. That's not the issue here. Tell you what, you can 'remake' the collection, HOWEVER, you're keeping the old collection up this time around.
Fable: Eh?!
Angel: Trust me. This is what's best for everyone. Being able to read between the old and new will give everyone the chance to see how much you've improved. Or at the very least, you won't be deleting a piece of work someone likes. Don't you hate it when works of fiction you like get deleted for no reason?
Fable:...Fine...I'll keep the old collection up.
Angel: Yea! You won't regret it! I'll go tell the others!
Angel: Everyone, if I can have your attention, please! Season 3 of Yu-Gi-Oh Arc-V Shipping Collection is officially canceled! But have no fear, her last name is Writeworth for a reason! We got a new and improved collection coming right at you! Here with the new details, give it up for Fable Writeworth!
*Angel hands the microphone to Fable, who takes it*
Fable: Umm...h-hi everyone. What Angel is saying is true. I know this isn't the first time I'm 'remaking' a story and I won't claim this will be the 'last time' since some of us know that can be far from the truth. For this particular 'remake', I tried to focus more on the 'relationship' of the characters in question rather than trying to force a romantic plot.
Fable: Valentine's Day isn't just a day about love, it's a day about bonds. The bonds between friends, partners, siblings, and even rivals. I'm not saying that only certain ships can be romantic. That's not the point I'm trying to make. I started this collection to celebrate all the different ships, but I also want to celebrate all the different kinds of bonds that can be made through love too. I hope that, despite these changes, you all will enjoy these stories.
*Fable hands the microphone back to Angel.*
Angel: Also, this goes out to my Arc-V Actors out there, in hiding. Your contracts have all been terminated. That's right, you heard me. Terminated, nullified, voided, whatever fancy words you want to use. You guys are no longer the Arc-V Actors, just the Arc-V character I chill with on occasion.
*Sylvio slowly pokes his head out from underneath one of the refreshment tables.*
Sylvio: This isn't some trick to get us to come out is it?
Angel: Nope. You can thank Fable for that. We've decided instead of having you guys physically act out your parts, we'll just have demonic ink creatures do it for you.
*A blonde girl wearing a dress raises her hand from the crowd.*
Girl: I'm sorry but, run that by me again?
Angel: Of course, miss uhh...who are you?
*The girl looks confused, but then she realizes something and pulls off her blonde wig, revealing the hair of Zarc. He coughs a few times to return his voice to normal.*
Zarc: Sorry, been doing that stupid girly voice for hours now.
Fable: And you're wearing a dress because...?
Zarc: Ever heard of hiding in plain sight? Besides, all the good hiding spots were taken.
Angel: Well, you look good! Totally had me fooled!
Zarc: Thanks! Now, about those demonic creatures you're replacing us with?
Angel: Oh, right. So I got this idea from Bendy and the Ink Machine.
Fable: We felt bad that you all were so busy learning your lines you didn't have time to enjoy the food and show with everyone else.
Angel: But that's all in the past. Now all we have to do is take a good old blob of ink here and TRANSFORM!
*The black blob of ink pulled and stretched itself into a humanoid shape before color began to appear on it. A few minutes later the ink had turned into the spitting image of Zarc himself!*
Angel: And there you have it! These guys have zero needs and desires so everybody wins!
Zarc: And he just does...everything you tell him to do?
Angel: Yup! Zarc, punch yourself in the face.
Ink Zarc: Sure thing!
*Ink Zarc throws a punch full force at his face, knocking himself to the ground. Somewhere in the crowd, Ray is dying of laughter.*
Zarc: H-hey!
Angel: Don't worry. He's fine. These ink creatures have no emotions either. They can't feel anything, even pain. Right, Ink Zarc?
*Ink Zarc is still lying on the floor*
Ink Zarc: I feel nothing.
Angel: Atta, boy.
*Angel claps her hands together*
Angel: Now let's have ourselves an awesome Valentine's Day!
Ship Name: Aceshipping
Reason: Named so because they are the aces of their respective fields at LDS.
Relation: Close Friends
AU: Lancer Julia
Title: For Our Futures
Summary: After Dipper fails to show up for his duel in the Arc League Championships his two friends, Kit and Julia, start looking for answers.
"Hold the phone, we have breaking tournament news! Today's third duel has been decided before it even began. The duelist, Dipper O'rion, representing the Leo Institute, failed to appear for his bout against the king of the kitchen, Reed Pepper which means that Pepper wins by default!" Nico announces.
Julia shares a confused look with Kit, but he was already tapping away at his duel disk, attempting to call Dipper. A few rings later, Kit sets down his duel disk.
"No answer." He says. Julia frowns.
"That's not like him." Kit nods in agreement, standing up from his seat. Julia follows. The duo leaves the stadium. Zuzu's match was supposed to be on after Dipper's, but Julia figures she can rewatch it elsewhere. Right now, she has an Xyz user to find. The first logical place to look was his dorm room, but upon talking to his roommate he told them that Dipper left for his match hours ago.
Confusion was beginning to turn into worry. The dorm rooms weren't that far from the stadium. Even if he had walked the entire way, Dipper still should have made it to his match in that amount of time. Heck, he could have stopped at the theater to watch a movie on the way there and still have plenty of time left.
Julia and Kit decided not to say anything about Dipper missing his match to his roommate. Although it was strange, there was no cause for concern…yet. Thankfully, Dipper was a creature of routine and his friends knew that routine inside and out. Usually, before a big duel, Dipper liked to do a few 'warm-up' duels. To do that, he either went to LDS or one of the many public duel fields scattered around the city. Of course, Dipper was picky when it came to those public fields so that lessened the search area.
Julia decided that she would search the public fields while Kit went back to LDS. They would be able to cover more ground that way. Kit agrees, leaving Julia to start asking around. It took a few tries but finally, Julia was able to find someone who did see Dipper. Turns out he did have a few workout duels. After a few quick victories Dipper then left, heading towards the stadium.
"Alright, thanks for the info." Julia sighed, thinking she was back at square one.
"W-well, actually, there's something else." Julia hesitated.
"What?"
"You see…there was… another duelist."
The kid described the other duelist as 'creepy'. She wore a dark blue cloak with the hood pulled up to cover her face. She was with a scary guy who towered over everyone and wore the same cloak. It became quickly apparent to everyone that if you wanted to duel the girl, you had to deal with her bodyguard first which no one volunteered to do, so everyone kept their distance.
The girl didn't mind. She seemed pretty picky about her opponents anyway, only interested in those who could Xyz Summon. The moment Dipper Xyz Summoned the first time the girl zeroed in on him like a hunter finding its prey. She watched a few of his matches. It looked like she was going to challenge him since she brought out her duel disk but the strange thing is, she never did.
Instead, when Dipper left, the duo began tailing him.
"M-maybe she was shy or something. I don't know. It just seems really-"
"Which way did they go?" The boy points across the street in the direction of the stadium. Julia took off, already pulling out her duel disk to call Kit. The boy could be right. Maybe the strange girl was shy. Perhaps she wanted to duel Dipper but then decided against it. Maybe her next destination was in the same direction Dipper was walking.
There were a lot of maybes. Nothing was certain.
So why was her mind set on the worst-case scenario?
Kit answered on the first ring.
"Hey, bad news. No one in LDS has even seen Dipper."
"Yeah, well, I got worse news. Some kid saw him at the duel fields. He did some warm-up duels and left."
"Okay?"
"And then a couple of weirdos started following." There was a pause then Kit swore softly. "I'm retracing his steps now. You start in the opposite direction, that way, we have to run into him or…or something!"
"R-right, yeah. Call me if you find anything."
"Of course."
"Man, this is so lame." Kit grumbles under his breath.
It was after Declan Akaba had announced the truth of the tournament and the formation of the Lancers. Although it had only been a few hours ago the two had already decided to join the team of dimensional hopping warriors. Unfortunately, Kit couldn't travel due to his injuries from his previous duel against Iggy.
"I can duel just fine! That nurse doesn't know what she's talking about." Julia glances over at her friend before poking his shoulder with her finger. This causes Kit to hunch over in pain.
"Ah, yes. Fit as a fiddle." Julia says sarcastically. Before Kit could bite back a reply, someone approached the duo. It was Zuzu, and for some reason, Declan's bodyguard was with her. "Zuzu?" The girl flinches hard at the name.
"That's…not me. My name is Celina."
"Celina?" Kit echos the name. "Are you her twin or something?"
"N-no. Look, can we talk? Alone."
The group finds a secluded room. Claude closes the door behind them for privacy. The girl takes a deep breath before facing the suspicious duo.
"You two are friends with Dipper, right?"
"Why are you asking?" Julia narrows her eyes.
"Because…I figured since you guys are friends…it's only right that I give you this." She hands them what looks like a dueling card. Julia feels frozen.
"W-what is that?" Kit asks, his voice shaking. Slowly, Celina flips over the card to reveal the terrified face of Dipper inside the frame.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know what I was doing was wrong at the time. I-"
"YOU DID THIS?!" Julia could barely contain herself.
"Yes, but I promise I'll do everything I can to make up-" Celina didn't get a chance to finish her sentence before Julia lunged for her. Claude however, already anticipating the attack, was in between them before Julia could land a hit.
"YOU KILLED HIM! YOU MONSTER!"
"What are you doing?!" Kit yells at the guard. Due to his injuries he couldn't do much but his eyes held just as much venom. "Did you not hear her?! She's the reason Dipper went missing!"
"We are well aware of the situation. However, due to circumstances, Celina will be joining the Lancers."
"What?! Are you insane?! How can you trust her?!"
"She turned our friend into a card!"
"You're right," Celina speaks up. "I'm not expecting either of you to forgive me. I don't deserve it." Celina steps around Claude and grabs Kit's hand, placing the card on top of it. "But I'm gonna fight Duel Academy with all I got. And when we win, we'll find a way to return your friend to normal." Celina takes a step back and bows to them. "This I swear to you."
With that final promise, Celina turns on her heels and leaves. Claude follows her, shutting the door behind them. Although frustrated, Kit restrains himself from crumbling the card in his hand. After all, he wasn't sure if his friend's soul was tied to the card's condition. He wasn't going to take any chances. Instead, Kit turned his attention to Julia.
"Are you still going to join? Knowing that you're going to have to work with…her?"
"As much as it pains me to do so…I can't back out of this. Our home…our families…our lives…our futures...we need to win this war." Kit nods in agreement.
"Just know that we'll be rooting for ya." Kit holds up Dipper's card. "The both of us."
Declan told them that all Lancers were to report to his office at ten am sharp the next morning. Julia's papa insisted on dropping her off rather than having her walk. Her papa was calm and quiet as he drove, a far cry from how he acted yesterday after Julia told him she was joining the Lancers.
She had never seen anyone go through the stages of grief so fast. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and then acceptance. Julia understood her papa's feelings. After all, it had only been the two of them for as long as Julia could remember.
But she needed to do this and her papa knew that.
Julia saw Kit standing by the front doors of their school. To her surprise, she spotted Gong with him. Kit was talking to Gong vehemently about something. Julia could only guess that it had something to do with his Synchro training.
After hugging her papa goodbye Julia squared her shoulders and march towards the two. She wanted to show her papa that she was strong and independent even though it felt like she was crumbling on the inside.
"-remember that you can also use Synchro Monsters already in play to Synchro Summon other Synchro Monsters, just as long-"
"As long as their Levels equal the total Levels of the Synchro Monster Gong's planning to bring out. Gong knows."
"Looks like you're ready. I've taught you all I know." Kit sighs.
"And Gong thanks you for being a good teacher." Julia notices the bandages on Gong's face as she approaches.
"I hope you weren't stupid enough to duel each other." Julia frowns, glaring at Kit. "The doctor told you no dueling until your arm has healed."
"What does that doctor know anyway? I could duel with one arm tied behind my back." Kit mutters sourly. Gong shakes his head.
"To answer your question, no. Kit wanted too but Gong knew better." Gong points at his face. "These came from Gong's daddy. He wanted to test Gong's might before Gong left." Gong's voice softens. "He's worried about Gong leaving to fight and Gong wanted to ease his concerns." Julia glances back at her father who was still sitting in his car.
"I understand that feeling."
"Hey! Gong!" The trio looked up at the sound of the voice to see Yuya running towards them. "You made it!"
"Of course Gong made it! Gong was waiting on you!" Yuya peeks over his friend's side to see Julia and Kit.
"Julia? Kit? Are you joining the Lancers too?"
"Julia is. I'm staying behind in case those mask-wearing freaks come back." Kit answers. Yuya nods in understanding but frowns after a moment.
"But how are you going to duel them when-ow!" Yuya winces as Kit whacks him with his wooden katana.
"I don't need to duel to be a threat, you know."
"I-I know but...oww! Ow! Okay! Okay! I get it!" Yuya raises his hands in defense of Kit's attacks.
"Kit, I don't think the president will be too pleased if one of his warriors receives a concussion before leaving." A smooth voice interrupts. It was the voice of Claude, Declan's bodyguard.
"He's fine." Kit huffs, bringing his katana to rest on his uninjured shoulder. "I wasn't using my full strength."
"Sure felt like it." Yuya mumbles while rubbing his head.
"Are you three ready to go?" Claude asked. "The president is waiting for you in his office. I'm here to escort you there." The three duelists nod just as they were about to leave Julia felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked back to see that the tap had come from Kit's katana.
Without saying anything Julia understood what he wanted.
"I'll catch up later, Claude. I know where the office is." Claude stares at her for a moment, his gaze unreadable before finally nodding.
"Don't be long." Once they were alone again, Julia turned back to Kit.
"What was that about?" Kit doesn't answer her. Instead, he sets his katana against the wall and pulls out a handkerchief from his pocket. He unwraps it revealing Dipper's card inside. "This is going to sound dumb but...I talk to him. I know he's a card and he probably doesn't hear me but..." Kit scratches the back of his head. "I feel better when I do."
Kit rewraps the card and hands it to her.
"Take it."
"What?"
"You're the one going to the Fusion Dimension and if there is anyone who can fix Dipper it's whoever made the tech in the first place. I've already said my goodbyes to him." Slowly, Julia reaches out and takes the card. "Just don't trade him. He probably won't forgive you if you do." Kit jokes. For the first time since Dipper's disappearance, Julia laughs.
"You're right. He probably wouldn't."
Fable: Compared to my first and second attempts at Aceshipping, I feel like this is definitely an improvement.
Angel: Well, since you're not deleting your old collection, other readers can actually see the improvement themselves.
Fable: Yeah, and you know, I might actually post the first collection so that others can look at those too. Although, I might have to dig through some files to find them.
Angel: I'm sure your old reviewers would enjoy that, assuming they're still around. How long has it been since you last posted?
Fable: ...June 5th...
Angel: Huh, 8 months. That's-
Fable: 2020...
Angel: You've been gone...for TWO YEARS?!
Fable: G-good things comes to those who wait?
*Angel sighs and shakes her head*
Author Notes
Wow! Hey guys, it's certainly been a while. Not sure if anyone remembers me but I'm cool with it. Anyway, I've been working on this collection since August of last year. I don't know. I just got inspired and began remaking the chapters. I wanted to get done with all the 'A' ships before Valentine's Day but I knew that was a long shot.
Now, even though it's been years, my rules are still the same. I accept criticism on my writing but no hating on the ship in question. It's fine to not like the ship, but don't be an ass about it. I don't want a shipping war started in the comments. I'm going through each ship in alphabetical order (including new ships that have been added since last time) but only ships in Yu-Gi-Oh Arc-V so no crossover ships.
I'm not going to delete the old 'collection' this time. I'm done deleting my work just because I end up cringing at it later. I need to embrace the cringe. I might even repost the older collection I had, assuming I can find the files for it.
Also, I'll respond to each review with each chapter I put out be it a normal or role-play review. Until next time, everyone. It's good to be back!