"The next episode is called Rocky VII" Tristan said as he clicked on the next video
Joey's face lit up when he heard the title "Man I love the Rocky Balboa series, such a great inspiration. He's the reason why I decided to train as a fighter."
"Rocky Balboa?" Atem questioned, not getting the reference.
Joey put his arms around Atem and said, "The Rocky series is all about one man's preservation in order to become one of the world's greatest boxers ever, having to face many obstacles in his everyday life with some of them from his arch-rival Apollo Creed."
After finishing his explanation, Joey seemed to finally get the reference LittleKuriboh was trying to make.
"Just like how you and Yug had not only save the world a few times, but also battling it out with Kaiba to become the King of games and all those other nut jobs who have tried taking over the world."
Atem just gave a small smile, but by the look on his face he was still unsure of what Joey was talking about.
"Settle down Joey, so we can watch this already" Téa said.
Like the last episode, it began with the Pharaoh looking straight into the camera with duel monster cards flying around.
"In tonight's episode, the part of Tristan Taylor will be played by Barney the Dinosaur."
Tristan just growled in response to the comment, while most of everyone else just snickered.
Yugi, Téa, and Joey were playing duel monsters on one of the desks in their classroom, with Tristan and Bakura watching from the side.
"I say, Yugi, can I play too?" Bakura asked hopeful.
Yugi, who had his chin resting on his hand, dismissed Bakura by saying "Sorry, Bakura, main characters only"
Everyone, including Yugi, looked shocked over the comment that his abridged counterpart said to Bakura. Though they knew it was a separate universe from their own, just hearing such mean words coming from Yugi was unbelievable.
"Wow, Yug looks like someone has a bit of an ego" Joey said teasingly to his best friend.
Though Yugi knows the person saying those words to Bakura, wasn't actually him, he couldn't help but apologize to Bakura, who was staring at him.
"Bakura you know I would never say something like that to you. "
Bakura just smiles at Yugi and reassures him "Of course I know that, you would never say a mean thing about anyone."
Then he turns back to the T.V. and says, "Of course this abridged show, has completely turned our personalities into the complete opposite of who we really are."
"Yeah a bunch of complete idiotic nutjobs" Tristan said still furious over his abridged counterpart stupid ass voice.
"Well it seems like it got Kaiba's personality down to a T, especially the part of him needing to get laid"
"JOEY" Everyone yelled, while Kaiba just silently shook with anger.
"It seems like to me, judging from Yugi's comment, that my character in this alternate universe isn't a fan favorite" Bakura said disheartened at that motion.
Téa put a comforting hand on Bakura's shoulders and said "Don't worry Bakura, this is after all only the second episode. I'm sure your character is just as important as the rest of ours."
Though he appreciated her efforts, Bakura still felt uneasy about how his character will be portrayed, especially because of the spirit of the millennium ring taking control of his body for so long.
Joey plays a card down confidently and says ": Playin' card games sure beats doin' schoolwork. Arithmetic is for losers!"
Téa flips up her card to reveal her happy lover monster. Then the attack and defense points for both monsters were shown.
"Now I just gotta subtract your defense points from my attack points and...and, uh...wait a minute, how do I do that?"
"It's official, you're an idiot" Téa grinned at Joey's stupidity.
Tristan then starts to sing.
"I love you, you love me,
We're a happy family..."
Joey and everyone else burst out in laughter at Tristan's little song. Even Kaiba had a small smirk on his face, grateful at least his character wasn't a complete moron like Tristan's character was being portrayed as.
"Man Tristan, I don't think I'll ever get enough of your alter" Joey managed to say after laughing so hard. He literally felt chest pains because of how hard he has been laughing.
Tristan rubbed his temples in annoyance and said, "Not sure how much of this I can take."
Outside the school, Yugi was sitting on one of the monkey bars while Joey was leaning on the other one.
"Tristan's song taught me a valuable lesson. I need to learn how to be a better duelist."
"Finally, one aspect of this show speaks the truth" Kaiba said cocky as usually, satisfied that the show is finally making fun of Wheeler.
Though much to everyone's surprise, Joey didn't respond. He looked a bite ticked at Kaiba's response but had yet to make a snarky remark.
"What nothing to say Wheeler" Kaiba asked.
Joey responded by leaning back into the couch with his hands behind his head and said "Well I actually kinda agree with Kaiba, back then I was defiantly one of the worse duelists there was. Though I have come a long way, there's always room for improvement after all I can't afford all the cards in the world like Kaiba, and I don't have any magical influences like Yugi had with the pharaoh."
"That's very mature of you Joey" Atem said with a smile.
Joey grabbed Yugi by his shoulders "Ya gotta help me out here, Yug!"
"Let me see your deck." Yugi asked as Joey handed him his deck.
His violet eyes widened as he went through the deck card by card.
Oh man, his deck is even more powerful than mine! Woah, the Dark Magician! I just gotta have that!
"Jeez, Joey, your cards are worthless! Tell you what, why don't I get rid of these, and we'll go visit Gramps and set you up with a new special super awesome deck?"
"Thanks, Yug, you're always lookin' out for me!"
Joey suspiciously eyed a red faced Yugi and asked "So Yug, what really happen to that deck that you took when you supposedly helped me upgrade to a new one"
Yugi just gasped and said "No, I would never do that to you or anyone else for that matter"
Joey let out a little snicker before it became a full blown out laugh.
"You should have seen your face Yug, you actually believed me"
Yugi visibly relaxed at that, but his face was still red from getting so worked up over that scene.
"Just kidding with ya pal. I know you would never do such a thing but can't say much for your alter. He has to be a biggest jerk on this show, even more so than Kaiba at this point."
Back at the game shop, Solomon is seen hanging up a picture of the black luster solider.
Oh, Black Luster Soldier, no one must ever know of our forbidden love...
"Ewwww"
Most of the gang had some sort of look of disgust on their face, and no one had too much to say about it either.
Joey and Yugi then enter the game shop.
Joey walks over to Solomon and asks "Hey, Yugi's grandpa! How about trainin' me to become Duel Monsters champ over here?"
"Very well, but it will require hours of rigorous off-screen practice" he says as he climbs down the ladder.
Joey was shocked "Really? I don't even get a trainin' montage?"
"Who do you think you are? Rocky Balboa?" he responded angrily.
Joey had his head down in disappointment and gave a groan, he would have loved seeing his training montage with the movie's theme Gonna fly now playing in the background.
Tristan just laughed and said, "Even the show, knows you can't ever compare to Rocky."
"Hey, watch it" Joey warned.
The scene then cuts to a duel monster's arena, and as on cue the announcer introduces what is going on.
"Welcome to the Regional Championship, where the comic relief villains are having a meaningless duel. I can't believe we're actually airing this on TV, folks!"
Rex and Weevil are shown in their perspective places, as they look at each other with an evil grin on their faces.
"Oh great these idiots" Téa said only imagining at how they will be portrayed.
The T.V. shrinks back and shows the gang sitting around the couch watching the duel unfold.
"Man, I love the Card Game Channel" Joey said crossing his arms.
"It's almost as good as the Watching Paint Dry Channel." Yugi said happily.
Solomon then enters the room carrying a package "There's a package here for you, Yugi. You'd better not have been using my credit card to buy Duel Monsters merchandise off eBay again!"
"Wow first stealing Joey's deck and now your grandpa's credit card, are there no levels to which you will sink" Tristan asked Yugi, albeit jokingly of course.
"Here I thought it was Téa that was supposed to be the kleptomania" Bakura stated, as he noticed that the show was starting to go deeper into their personalities, and as mentioned before this Yugi was nothing but an egotistical jerk who put himself first, unlike their Yugi.
Téa growled and gave Bakura a death stare, who quickly decided not to say anything else since she was scary when she was mad.
Yugi looked at the box and said "It's from Industrial Illusions. I guess they heard about my victory over Kaiba"
"Yeah, those card games are big news. It completely overshadowed the fact that he kidnapped and hospitalized your Grandpa!" Joey stated.
Everyone just stared at Kaiba, who of course was annoyed of his portrayal as usually as well as the company he was forced to be with.
"Don't you think this is overexaggerating a bit" he asked, getting pretty tired of always being portrayed like the absolute villain. He would never openly admit it, but looking back on it, it was a bad idea to play with the actual holograms with the old man.
"Well Kaiba you did hospitalize him for a few days" Yugi stated, though he has forgiven Kaiba, it still doesn't change the facts that it happened.
"Here's another question, did you at all receive any hospital bills during that time" Kaiba asked.
Yugi thought about it for a second and realized that they never once received any sort of bill for Grandpa's stay.
Everyone else just looked surprised by this revelation.
"Wow guess you're not the completely cold-hearted jerk I thought you were" Joey stated.
"I know must be such a shocker to you dweebs, now if you don't mind let's try and finish this episode" was all Kaiba replied.
"Hey, look! I'm on TV!" Tristan interjected.
"What are ya talking about, Tristan? That's just a purple dinosaur." Joey asked as the screen showed the purple dinosaur they were watching.
Rex chuckled and said as he raised up a card "Uh-huh-huh, hey Weevil, check it out. My dinosaur's horny. Uh-huh-huh, get it?"
Weevil gave off a nasal laugh as he spoke "Yeah, heh-heh-heh, yeah, heh-heh-heh, heh-heh..."
"It's, like, your move, or something?" Rex stated dumbly.
"Heh-heh-heh, bugs are cool, heh-heh-heh." Weevil said as he placed down a card.
The scene quickly goes back to Yugi who says "These guys sound awfully familiar..."
"Beevis and Butthead" everyone, but Kaiba and Atem, say at the same time.
"Beevis and who" Atem asked quite confused, since he never really understood a lot of the references in the modern age.
"Don't worry we'll explain later" Yugi said.
Joey turns to Tristan and said, "Hey Tristan no need to fret any longer, looks like we found characters more stupid than yours."
"So, like, I'll...attack or something?" Rex said
Weevil retaliated his attack "You, like, activated my Trap Card, buttmunch. Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh."
"Uh-huh-huh, no way"
"Fire! Fire! Yeah, heh-heh-heh, heh-heh-heh" Weevil said as his Basic insect destroyed Rex's Purple Dinosaur.
Rex put his head down disappointed in his defeat "This sucks! I'm gonna go, like, get some nachos"
The announces then appeared "Ladies and gentlemen, let's hear it for Maximillion PEEEEGASUS!"
Pegasus then entered carrying a shiny gold trophy in his hands and walked right over to Weevil. He bent down to his level as he presented him with the trophy and said "Congratulations, Mr. Underwood, here's your trophy. Now, allow me to render your victory utterly pointless by announcing a far more interesting contest with a much grander title up for grabs."
Weevil grabbed his trophy from Pegasus with a slight blush on his face "Whoa, heh, this chick is hot! Heh-heh-heh..."
The scene shifts back to Yugi's living room, where Yugi has already opened his package that contained a glove, 2-star chips, and a video tape.
"Hey, there was a video inside the package!"
"I just hope it's not one of those cursed video tapes that are all the rage these days..." Solomon said as Yugi put the tape into the VCR.
"Oh boy a ring reference, it's one of my favorite movies" Bakura said excited, that one of his favorite franchise was being referenced.
"What's the ring, never heard of it" Joey asked, though he was a little scared based on Solomon's comments about cursed tapes.
"It's a supernatural psychological horror film, in which a reporter investigates the mysterious gruesome deaths of several teenagers, who all died 7 days after watching a cursed video tape that lies the spirit of a girl name Sadako, who had psychic powers while she was alive and uses her cursed video tapes against the world. It's an amazing film series if you ask me, all the dread and suspense. It's become so popular, America has made its own version of the movie" he explained.
"Sounds terrifying" Joey and Tristan said together as they held onto each other, after hearing what the movie was about.
"I never took you as a horror fan Bakura" Yugi said, quite surprised.
Bakura smiled and said "Oh yes since I was quite young actually. Beside the Ring series, I also enjoy the Grudge, Suicide Club, and Tetsuo: The Iron Man. So, seeing this show reference one of my favorite series, is brilliant in my opinion".
After some static, Pegasus's face appeared on the screen "7 days"
"Oh snap, I knew it!" Solomon shouted.
"That's right, Yugi-boy! There are only seven days 'til Duelist Kingdom! And in order to get you to enter I'm going to force you to play a Shadow Game!"
Pegasus proceeded to bring Yugi into the shadow realm, leaving the rest of his friends frozen.
"Win in 15 minutes and I'll release your friends."
The pharaoh then appeared in the place of Yugi with a smug smirk on his face and said "That's fine by me, Pegasus! I'll beat you with the cards I took from...I mean, the cards that Joey gave me!"
Pegasus grins as a flash of light came from his left eye that was hidden by his hair, as the pharaoh was about to place down a card.
"You won't beat anyone with that Dragon card"
Yami who appeared shocked asked "You can see into my mind?"
"Yes, Pharaoh-boy! And I can see that you and I have a great deal in common!" he said as he casually looked at one of his cards.
"What's that supposed to mean?" The Pharaoh asked in an offensive tone.
"Isn't it obvious?" he asks as he throws his hands back in a flamboyant fashion.
The Pharaoh was furious at the comparison he was implying to make "Look, pal, just because I inhabit the body of a teenage boy doesn't mean I'm a—"
"Oh, come now, Pharaoh-boy, don't be so gauche! I was referring to our Millennium Items."
"Oh...right, I knew that!"
"What did my alter mean, I don't get it" Atem asked looking to his friends to explain for him.
However, everyone appeared shocked even Kaiba's mouth was slightly open over what was being implied. Yugi had a slight blush on his face as he looked over at the Pharaoh.
Atem took this a bad sign, since no one wanted to tell him what it was.
Téa moved closer to Atem to explain to him what his alter had meant. As she explained, not only did he start blushing, but he looked absolutely horrified at was being explained to him.
"My ra" he exclaimed with his hand over his face, completely embarrassed not only for himself, but Yugi as well.
It seems like fate has decided for his character to be the worst of all out of everyone in this show.
The timer appeared signaling 5 minutes left of the duel, with boxes of Yugi, Pegasus, and Yugi's frozen friends appearing.
"What would you say if I told you I didn't actually create Duel Monsters, and that it's actually based on mystical duels held by powerful pharaohs many thousands of years ago?" Pegasus asked pointing a finger at the Pharaoh.
"What you talkin' 'bout, Pegasus?"
"These pharaohs battled with real monsters and real magic, so as you can imagine, it was a great deal more exciting than the watered-down product I created."
"Wait a minute, you're just using this monologue to stall for time!" The Pharaoh exclaimed finally realizing what he was trying to do.
"Well it worked, didn't it?"
"You're a cheat!"
"No, my strategy was merely—" Pegasus tried to explain before the Pharaoh interrupted him by shouting.
"Hey, everybody! Pegasus is a big stinky cheater!"
"How mature Pharaoh" Joey teased, laughing at the childish comment.
Atem however just kept his head low, too embarrassed to respond.
"Ooh, so that's the way it's going to be, is it? Fine then. Let's see how your Grandpa manages...without his soul!" he said as he lifted his hair to reveal his Millennium eye, which he then proceeds to take Solomon's soul.
"Ooooh, I'm so ambiguously camp!"
Solomon appeared on the T.V. with his hands pressed against it "Yuuugiii..."
The Pharaoh has switched back to Yugi, who got in front of the T.V. By this time everyone else had been unfrozen, with Solomon's body falling to the floor.
"You bastard! You turned him into a mime! Grandpa! Graaaandpaaaa!"
"Hey, Yug, down in front, will ya?" Joey asks.
"Yeah, we were watching that!" Tristan said.
(End of Episode 2)
"Oh wow, so many references I wasn't expecting" Bakura said, going over the number of references alone in this episode.
"I know of course Rocky Balboa was my favorite of all of them." Joey stated.
"You ok Pharaoh" Téa asked noticing his expression.
"Just irritated that my character has somehow become the worst one out of all of them, and that comment my character made earlier just unbelievable" Atem said.
"Hey, don't feel too bad, I mean we are all getting the brunt of it too. I mean you heard my voice, sounds like a man voicing me" she said hoping to bring some comfort to him.
"Yeah and my voice that sounds like Barney and being a total scatterbrain" Tristan said.
"And me being a huge egoistical jerk." Yugi said with a smile.
"I've already accepted there's more embarrassing and cringe worthy stuff to happen to our characters, most we can try to do is laugh at ourselves the best we can" Joey said as he leaned back in the couch.
Atem just smiled as his friends were able to bring him some comfort, though he knows with the way his character is going there's a lot worse yet to come
Author's Note
Well there's chapter 2 and I hoped everyone liked it. I just want to say thanks for the amazing reactions that I have gotten so far for this story, it really means a lot to me so a big shout out to all who have reviewed, favorited, or followed. I'm sure I mention this last chapter, but I will mention it again, I have every intention of not only doing all the episodes, but also Season 0, Marik's evil counseling, and the songs as well. So quite a bit to look forward to. So please continue to read and let me know what you think.