[CLOSED] It's Like Reverse 'Never Have I Ever'

[luckydragonsfoot]

Who: Yugi, Kaiba, Wester, and Jou
Where: Games Carriage, Lower Floor
When: Grasshopper - Day 14
What: The Gang Compares Notes
Warnings: Warnings will be added as necessary, depending on what matters of each other's world/timeline is detailed.

After the encounter in the hallway, Katsuya can't help but feel that maybe things are due to come to a boiling point. He had a similar deal earlier during their mission- a point of confusion turned peril with Yugi, regarding a single incident they remembered differently. And ultimately it wasn't so bad for him; he, after all, knew from the start that they couldn't be from the same world. Kaiba just wasn't her, and Yugi recognized Kaiba as the 'correct one'.

And that was without even speaking of Wester, who was very clearly from none of their worlds (or at least, that was how it seemed to him. Apparently it had gone a bit more hesitantly on the other's ends).

It's probably going to be a mess if he leaves it. Scratch that, it's definitely going to be a mess, and after a bit of groaning and grumbling about it to himself he ultimately decides to present an idea to the other three.

Which brings them here.

The cushions are set up for a group, including a ponyta. There's space in the middle to put something to write on, but the beanbags and cushions aren't set up near a table- they're going casual floor for this. And, beyond that, Katsuya sprawls out somewhat as he waits for the others to arrive. And once they're all there...

"Alrigh'! Everyone ready? I figure 'f we compare notes all at once, we can avoid freakin' th' other out...an' if we do it this way, we can even get somethin' good outta this!" He pauses, coughing. "Course, since I dunno how many differences we're gonna find, I figure we'll tally shit later an' decide on th' prize from there..."

Better safe than sorry and all.

Comments

[blue_ice]

Kaiba looks utterly exhausted when he drags himself into the car. He's slept, for once, but he's gone through an emotional ringer at the very least. He drops into a chair and gives Jonouchi a tired look.

"Starting from when we met, I assume?"

He takes a breath and begins, his tone somewhere between dry and exasperated with himself. "All right. We met at school, because for some inane reason I felt I needed to keep a pulse on the local duelist community and couldn't think of a more efficient way. You dweebs were already hopelessly entangled with each other, playing your games. I overheard you and came to suspect Yugi's grandfather might have the fourth Blue Eyes, so I challenged him to a duel and destroyed it, and he was hurt. Naturally, you all needed to teach me a lesson, and the Pharaoh defeated me with Exodia and a mind crush. When I recovered, Mokuba was gone, presumably to take revenge on the Pharaoh. By the time I reached you all, it was too late. Mokuba was already gone."

He falls quiet.

[sizedoesntmatter]

Yugi was still a little tired and before of that had brought his Kuriboh plushie to use when he didn't need to walk as it thankfully was big enough to be used as a pillow. Taking another seat his kneels up against him he placed the Kuriboh down leaning on it for a moment.

It was a few moments when Kaiba speaks that he just stays quiet and listens, though Yugi soon sat up for the moment.

"For me, you destroyed it after you left school and spent months building a theme park of death. Your brother went after me to thinking about it..."

[bloomingdespite]

Even though their friends are aware of their real origins and have a vague idea of how wildly different their world is, Wester has to admit, they're... nervous.

What would the others think when they heard about all the things Anzu had done? All the things Thorn did? Wester had- okay, what they did to Xue Yang was really their first foray into "massive mistake" territory, but Anzu and Thorn did a lot of questionable things and, well. It felt bad tattling on their components to their friends, albeit from another world.

But being dishonest got them into the mess that made such a meeting necessary into the first place. So. All cards on the table time.

"In my world, you actually came up for the idea for the Solid Vision system after you stole the fourth Blue-Eyes from Yugi. Thorn dueled you at school in a Shadow Game and inflicted a Penalty Game where you, uh." They scratch the back of their neck, embarrassed. "You got torn apart by all the monsters you'd stolen for twenty-four hours.

"...we really screwed up then." Wester slumps. "You were super unstable afterwards, not that I can blame you, and built Death-T to get revenge.

"I mean, the bit where Anzu and Thorn had to do a musical number was cool and thematic, but did you really have to put a SERIAL KILLER on your payroll?" Wester full-body shivers, recalling bad memories. "...Anzu really should've gotten therapy from having to kill that guy, honestly.

"But anyways, they made their way to you, and... I think I actually took control for the first time for the duel? My memories from back then are pretty hazy, but... Thorn really wanted to put the hurt on you, but I wouldn't stand for it, so instead of putting you in a coma for months I sorta put you on autopilot for a few weeks and helped you rebuild your heart inside your soul room. Mokuba helped you out then too.

"Right." They snap their fingers. "Mokuba tried to get revenge on Anzu before Death-T too, but she, uh. Looked super different than what was on file.

"...he thought she was a guy for, like, a full day while she kept him safe while they traipsed across Domino looking for her. Some suits tried to kidnap him, Thorn Penalty Game'd them, and we all had ice cream together afterwards. He joined our Monster World group after."

[luckydragonsfoot]

"Uhhhhhhhh..."

Well, Kaiba starts, and Kaiba gets wordy, as he does. It doesn't take long after he finishes before he's coughing- half sputtering as Yugi takes over.

"Y...Yeah man, like compared t' our end tha's fuckin' saintly. I mean, other than th' part where Gramps had a heart attack but..." He rubs his head. Oddly, that one sounds like it wasn't even 100% deliberate here. Just a feeling he gets.

...Annnnnd Wester is expanding a bit. "...Musical number huh..." wow...

Right. "Well. I'd been figurin' we'd go more vague honestly. Stuff like 'hey, r'member Death-T'? ...Which I guess is a three outta four ssssoooo..." Gently, he marks down a cross, and puts one tick in each respective 'free square' for himself, Wester, and Yugi. "Wild."

Right. "Nyh, anyway. Death T! Tha' happened. Penalty game put S- Kaiba 'n a coma for half a year, 'n Mokuba hung around w' us f'r a bit durin' tha' time. Would've woken up a bit into Duelist Kingdom, 'n early December." He grimaces. "And uh, gonna be honest, s- he looked like shit. Probably th' non-stop runnin' around lookin' f'r a kidnapped kid."

OH! Hey. "Oh yeah- Monster World. Obviously tha' still happened f'r you two then? Don' worry abou' th's one Kaiba, y' wouldn' have been involved either way." Well. Mokuba might have, but he has a feeling he wasn't in Yugi's case.

[blue_ice]

Kaiba listens in silent horror as the stories go on. A theme park of death? He'd tried to murder them all? He didn't particularly care for them back then, no, and his resentment led to cruel indifference, but...no.

And then Wester mentions a 'soul room' and he gapes. So when they'd danced, he hadn't been imagining things: they really did see more than he'd probably like.

He gives Jonouchi an odd look and lapses into silence, looking contemplative. He's always felt like he didn't quite fit, and now he knows why. Of course he has nothing to contribute this round, so he waves his hand to indicate that he's passing.

[sizedoesntmatter]

"Monster World happened here, but I wouldn't be able to say what differences there would be at the moment without anyone mentioning details. Except we didn't have Mokuba hanging around with us." So that was at least another difference.

"Duelist Kingdom was also when Kaiba woke up in my memories as well since he then came to the island."

[bloomingdespite]

"We had a pretty good campaign with the Ring-Spirit, all things considered! We met up for weekly sessions after the first one; he's a surprisingly good Dark Master."

...pardon, Wester?

"Anyways, Duelist Kingdom was...

"...wait, did you say island? The Duelist Kingdom Shizuka, Anzu, and Thorn all participated in happened all across Japan at the end of our second year."

...

A solid year after it was supposed to happen in Yugi, Jonouchi, and Kaiba's world.

[luckydragonsfoot]

Hm.

Katsuya slowly, and rather deliberately, puts a tick in the same three boxes, two more across his own and Wester's, and then from there simply stares.

"I got nothin' on how t' handle shit tha' goes differen' f'r all four 'f us," he confesses, shrugging. "You had regular sessions? Geeze, Bakura held off on tha' until he figured out he could do it online! ...After tha' he pr'tty much used th' whole summer after Battle City w'th it," the blond snorts.

That said. "Yeah, 's an island. Two days, no supplies, shitty penny pincher tha' Pegasus was." He huffs, and then again raises his brows. "Uh...all across Japan though huh...I already figured Shizuka'd be th' one goin' w'th y', but Japan? Heck, what happened t' everyone else! Why'd it take 'till second year even, we had tha' wrapped up th' D'cember before it!"

[bloomingdespite]

"Yeah! We found out later that he tried to kill us during the first two we attended, but we somehow managed to sidestep that and just had a regular game. He eventually gave up and started DMing us for real after that. No shadow nonsense involved, haha," Wester says, grinning sheepishly as they rub the back of their head. Ahhh, good times. Dark Bakura was honestly one of Thorn's best friends, after a fashion, and they felt the same way. "We were actually on for another session the day after I came here... and now I feel kinda bad for missing it."

"Anyways, after I helped Kaiba through his Penalty Game, he got really into Duel Monsters again as a... coping mechanism, I guess? And figured out a way to make the Duel Box portable. He partnered with Industrial Illusions to make a big tournament to promote the Duel Disk, and between development time for the technology and organizing the tournament it took a year to put it all together. Anzu was invited because she was kind of an unwilling celebrity in the community after beating Kaiba with Exodia on live TV.

"...she really hated the game at first, though." Wester slumps. "Bad memories and all that. But the prize money would pay for college, so she couldn't pass up the opportunity. Anyways, the locations were all across Japan so that the duelists could travel to various towns and wards to show off the tech behind the Duel Disk to promote it, and matches between high-ranked duelists were streamed live on Twitch. Anzu and Thorn were really rusty at first, funnily enough, it had been a while since they even touched the game. Shizuka absolutely destroyed both of them their first match with her, it was a huge thing.

"At least they didn't get FTK'd like K- UH Shizuka's other big match in the opening, HAHA," Wester says, suddenly extremely mindful of the fragile ego of one of the others at the table.

"Don't think the poor guy ever recovered from the humiliation of getting beat with his own Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. After regular Blue-Eyes got a worldwide release, too," they mutter, not realizing they're talking out loud.

"Oh, right! Yugi didn't join even though he had the chops because he didn't have a tournament record, and... I'm still kinda baffled at you being a duelist at all, Jonouchi. Although the way you beat me definitely proves your credentials, ha!"

[blue_ice]

Kaiba's silence continues, though the shameful look slowly morphs into a scowl the more Wester talks. He must remain calm...must be calm...the hateful, bitter, failed Kaibas they're all talking about aren't quite him, after all.

But he realizes as he thinks of what to say next that he's really not...any better.

"...right. I threw myself into Duelist Kingdom, and as desperate as I was to rescue Mokuba...and unfeeling for anyone else...I threatened to kill myself when the pharaoh was about to beat me. Yugi relented, and I charged in, only for Pegasus to destroy me and take my soul too. Yugi and the pharaoh saved us, again."

He sighs. "I took you all back to Domino and set out to immediately fire the traitors on the board. They got the jump on me and trapped me in a virtual world, where they planned to off me by sacrificing my soul. Yugi, Jou, and Mokuba came after me, as did Mai. Mokuba swapped places with a princess and intentionally got kidnapped to save me, and by the time the group reached me...they all fought wave after wave of monsters, and the pharaoh found his way to my side again. We had to fuse our monsters to win."

After that, Isis told me about the God Cards, tried to press her 'destiny' nonsense on me, and I created the Battle City tournament."

He looks steadily more glum the longer he talks.

[luckydragonsfoot]

".........." Katsuya takes a good amount of time to stare at Wester before Kaiba's voice pulls him from his thoughts. Shaking his head more than a few times, he refocuses.

"Yeah, rightf'lly despr'te- tha' kid was all y' had at tha' point, least where I was from! Then Pegasus' goes an' makes tha' damn deal w' th' Big 5, steals Mokuba away, gets in th' heads 'f half yer staff..." He practically spits on the ground, and he comes very close to some sort of equivalent sound.

"Y' didn' jus' threaten f'r nothin', Kaiba. At tha' point, who else could y' trust t' get th' kid out? You were dead on yer feet, an' we could all see it. No Mokuba...no point. I'm jus' glad Yugi snapped th' Other one outta it in time," he adds, glancing toward the shorter of them.

There's a short span of silence- he coughs, trying to move on- quietly, he puts a tick in his own, and Seto's boxes, glancing at the others. "...'Legendary Heroes', righ'? Yeah. Guess y' got around t' handlin' tha' a bit faster, took abou' two months b'fore tha' stuff happened. Christmas, 'n all tha'," he says vaguely, knowing full well that there was no way any alternate version of himself and the others had to deal with Kaiba's biological relatives over their holiday that year.

"Brutal fuckin' game, tell y' what- I'm surprised th' Big Five were even able t' get th' thing t'gether t' be honest. Kinda crazy t' watch th' kid take out a monster w' a pair 'f katana." He shrugs- and while he raised an eyebrow at the matter of 'destiny nonsense', he lets it pass.

"Hmm...yeah, I guess y' wouldn' have anythin' t' do w'th what came b'tween those points. Black Clown fire, right?" he huffs, nodding his head to Yugi. Though he does pause, and frown in Wester's direction. "...Huh, though I guess I oughta be askin' you if tha' happened..."

[sizedoesntmatter]

There was a lot of talking going on and Yugi at least was getting bits and pieces that made sense. He wasn't sure if he actually needs to add anything as that part apart from Westers was similar, so all he did for the moment was simply nod, but after a moment there was the point that he wasn't sure what was going on.

"Um, I guess I can say what you are talking about now is not something I am personally recalling, the Duelist Kingdom stuff did happen though and I try and not remember certain aspects of that for reasons, but at the same time it was something to learn by."

To not exactly be scared and to try and understand the other, which was what he managed to do eventually.

"After Duelist Kingdom for me was the Black Clown incident which nearly caused me to lose the puzzle, but managed somehow to put it together." He paused as he held the plush close to him briefly.

"Thinking about that moment now it sort of reminds me of the Dragon Cards. He had to save me from them and I saved him in return...At least I like to think of it like that."

[bloomingdespite]

"Oh, man, the Duel Terminal?" Wester smiles, leaning back in their chair. That was one of the best times in their life, despite the horrific stakes. Granted, it was also the first time in their life, period, but their point still stood. "That was the first time I woke up as myself. The computer didn't know what to do with Thorn and Anzu, so it shorted out and I woke up in there instead. Didn't... have any memories though. That was super confusing.

"At least I was a cool star-person. Shizuka made a badass Fabled angel, too, and Mai was kind of terrifying as a Gem-Knight. Mokuba was the real MVP for being mission control, honestly? He was super determined to get into the terminal too, but after the computer malfunctioned with Anzu as a test run Shizuka apparently decided it was too dangerous and convinced him to stay behind, since he actually knew how to run the system.

"Had a lot of fun with the junction system, at least. You can do some absolutely wild things with that if you're clever enough."

When Black Clown is mentioned, Wester's face falls. "...right. That was terrifying, honestly. If Anzu was slightly less kind, I'm... pretty sure she would've left Otogi's father for dead inside the fire.

"Wait, Imori? You actually played against him?

"Anzu just socked him in the face and took back the puzzle."

[luckydragonsfoot]

"Well, I dunno anythin' abou' Dragon Cards, but from th' sound of it tha' was a one-guy thing anyway. Uh...guess tha' explains where the creep went t' be honest," he mutters, looking distinctly uncomfortable for a moment. He swears he heard screaming.

Oh well. "Heh! Good goin' on Anzu though!! Here, pass th's on," he grins, holding out a fist for a fistbump. "I dunno abou' Duel Terminal, but it sounds like we got some kinda VR deal, so close enough I guess. I'll jus' timeline shit b'fore we start summarizin' again I guess, uh..."

Katsuya coughs. "So Duelist Kingdom was D'cember like I said, which i guess means tha's when Pegasus died...god tha's weird t' think abou' but anyway. January we had th' stint w' th' Virtual World, and uh...I'm pr'tty sure you killed 'm." He looks at Kaiba, and shrugs. "But t' be honest, it was kinda us 'r them."

It was not.

"Anyway...R'becca showed up jus' after Mokuba's elementary grad, an' he snuck us in so she an' Yugi could get las' use of th' duel table...littl' bit int' April, tha's th' fire...oh! I think Ishizu's museum thing wouldn've been long after tha', she was in th' paper..." Not to mention, he got to play bodyguard...

"Battle City didn' start until th' day after Marine Day though. Probably still broke records f'r plannin', t' be honest. ...we...should prob'bly go over what we all r'member goin' down there though, 'f th' Kindom was cross-country f'r you Wester, I gotta wonder abou' Battle City aft'r all."

[blue_ice]

Kaiba looks gratefully at Jonouchi for a moment...but not too gratefully. He can't be that obvious with his emotions. He listens once more, still wondering...and shakes his head.

"Unfortunately for me, Pegasus is still alive and still a pain in my ass. But...right, Battle City. The rules were simple: the loser of each duel was to turn their rarest card over to the winner, because I needed those god cards. I had Obelisk, but the other two were...tempting."

He shakes his head. "Our paths didn't cross much before the final rounds. I witnessed a duel between the Pharaoh and a Rare Hunter holding Osiris. The hunter got him on the ropes, but there was a way out...I wasn't about to let him give up, so I hollered at him until he won. After that, Malik's ghouls captured Jou, Anzu, and Mokuba, and I had to duel alongside the pharaoh to save them. Then the whole Pharaoh vs. Jonouchi duel happened...the incident that started this whole diverging timelines mess."

He pinches the bridge of his nose. "In my version, Shizuka met us at the docks right after her surgery and saved Jou. But that particular incident seems to be different for all of us. Then the finals began, more injuries happened on my watch, and then we got sucked into a virtual world where my stepbrother and stepfather were waiting to torment me."

He'll just...stop there for now.

[sizedoesntmatter]

"So Pegasus being alive is another difference at least." He was at least keeping a note of that one. For he knew that in his world he was also dead.

But he was soon slightly puzzled again at the mention of Virtual Worlds and the like and it was clearly obvious Yugi had no idea what they were talking about on that one. "So it seems like you all have some kind of virtual things going on and I'm the only one who doesn't in that instance. I actually don't have a clue what any of you are on about... As for Imori, I did...But that's because I'm the only one who doesn't condone violence." quite literally the only one in the group.

i am tagging at 3 am so sorry if this is incoherent

[bloomingdespite]

Wester grins, giving Jonouchi a hearty fistbump. They only learned a bit of MMA from Hideo, but man, it has saved their ass way too many times to count. And also cut down on meaningless duels with scumbags.

They nod along to everybody else's accounts of events. "Yeah. Pegasus dying, Rebecca, the Black Clown, Battle City... it sounds like most of that was mostly the same on my end. I even ended up dueling you at the piers, Jonouchi, but for, uh," Wester's eyes flick to the side, guilty, "Malik had a hold on you for different reasons, I think. You ended up trying to sacrifice yourself for me, and- god, you're way too much like Shizuka sometimes."

They chuckle. "Otogi thought Anzu and you were about to suck face when she fished you out of the water like a drowned rat. Even beyond the whole... incompatible sexualities thing, I think he had a really romanticized version of what CPR looked like."

Wester shakes their head. "Anyways... Virtual World. That was the second time I was fully realized, and... it kinda messed Anzu and Thorn's brains up for good back then. I'm glad we at least all managed to work together to get Noa out of the computer."

[luckydragonsfoot]

"Well, I already said my piece on how you two experienced it," Katsuya hums, putting ticks in each of the boxes before adding one to Wester's, Yugi's, and his own. From there it's one more to Wester and his- this time for the CPR. "Geeze, firs' time I've heard myself compared t' Shizuka over somethin' like this though..."

With a headshake, he frowns. "...Guess tha' proves Otogi's better at readin' th' room where I'm from though. Far 's I was told, most 'f 'm were petrified th' minute he said 'CPR'. Sure ain' romantic, tha's f'r sure," he huffs. "Got my ribs broken fr'm S- Kaiba tryin' t' keep my damn heart goin!"

Ah well. With a stare, he rests his head on one hand. "Righ'...yer Noa tagged along. Guess tha' works' f'r you. 'F y' ask me, I'm glad he moved on in my case. Seemed happier tha' way."

And yet, he puts a tick in both his and Wester's boxes again. If anyone asks, he simply shrugs- "Anzu didn' 'xactly have a great time in there."

[blue_ice]

Kaiba pauses for a moment, giving Jonouchi another look. That's like...the third or fourth time he's slipped like that.

"There's something you're not saying about your relationship to your Kaiba, isn't there."

He squints like he already suspects, and moves on for Yugi's benefit. "Anyway...to fill Yugi in, Noa Kaiba was Gozaburo's biological son. He was originally trained as the heir to Kaiba Corporation, and though I don't believe Gozaburo was ever capable of love, he at least seemed to treat him well...at first.

When Gozaburo adopted Mokuba and I, he originally planned to have us all compete to see who was the worthy heir, but his plans were derailed when Noa's body was destroyed in a horrible accident. He uploaded his mind to a computer and originally cared for him, but over time he came to believe he could achieve the same results in producing an heir by cracking the whip over me. Noa was left abandoned for years.

The virtual world we fell into was Noa's. His plan was to defeat one of us in a duel and take control of a body so he could return to the real world...and he nearly succeeded, if not for the Pharaoh saving us yet again. Then we learned Gozaburo had uploaded himself into the same mainframe, and he planned to steal my body to restart his war empire.

It was Mokuba who believed in Noa, that we weren't so different, and it was him who convinced Noa to let us go. The computer that contained him was destroyed, but Noa kept fighting to the end to make sure Gozaburo couldn't escape either."

He clenched his fist and chanced a glance at Wester. "I couldn't save him. But...I'm glad you could. Your Mokuba must be happy."

[sizedoesntmatter]

Yugi used the time the others had been talking to shift himself enough that he could at least lean on Kaiba comfortably while he was listening, the Kuriboh still being held lightly.

Listening to the story he was taking it in. Sure, the name Noa really doesn't ring a bell but it was something to at least hear the story... and continue to show that the person who adopted Kaiba was just awful.

Teaching a child that to lose means to actually die that is extreme, but what they did to another to put their mind somewhere then just abandon them is just as awful.

"So you all knew this Noa...I really never heard anything about them as far as I am aware...I was very much aware of the whole your father thing and how bad he was though. But I got told a bit after the Pharaoh Mind Crushed you at the end of Death-T." He had gone to hold Kaiba, having put the plush down for a moment as a way to comfort the other.

"So...where are we up to currently... because there has been a lot said and I'm starting to get a tiny bit lost."

[bloomingdespite]

"The Battle City finals, I think? That's what happened after the Virtual World for me, at any rate." Wester sighs, leaning back. Bad memories play across their face. "Not... much to say. Battle royale happened, and since Anzu won Duelist Kingdom, whoever won her duel got a ticket to the finals. Ishizu matched up against Malik and conceded. Shizuka dueled Mai and won. Anzu fought Kaiba, won. Shizuka moved up, dueled Malik, and won, but because of that little bastard's Shadow Game," Wester's nails dig deep into their palm, "she passed out once victory was declared and Malik moved onto the finals in her place.

"Thorn and Anzu were overmatched, stressed out, and after getting hit by Ra's God Blaze Cannon for the third time, they... conked out, fused, became me. I beat him after, happily ever after for all."

[luckydragonsfoot]

Katsuya goes quiet as Kaiba explains the matter of Noa.

Almost deadly so.

He didn't answer when Kaiba asked about his own Seto- no more than a huff anyway, and then the other was talking about what was technically more important.

But if anyone looks at Katsuya they'll notice he's tense. Unbearably tense.

"...Accident w's b'fore th' challenge," he finally croaks out, voice rough. "...He framed it up tha' way so you wouldn' know he was dead at th' time." The blond swallows, and forces himself to go on. "...Gozaburo... ...Gozaburo's challenge wasn' jus' f'r th' better heir. ....It was t' decide which of you would get t' live."

A shuddering breath. Wester speaks, and he lets them speak. "...Ishizu wen' tha' far huh? ...She lost t' Blue Eyes back home...'n no one beat Malik in th' end," he continues, before realizing that needs clarification big time.

Looking to Yugi, and looking away from Kaiba as deliberately as he can, he carries on. "Righ'. Battle City. Airship rounds finished off, an' we all got pulled under. Th' Virtual World happ'ned over a few hours, ev'n if it felt longer. We got out, an'..."

He cuts short. "...An' found out tha' Ryuzaki jus' abou' died t' keep Malik fr'm makin' sure we never got out," Katsuya finished. "...Helicopters still had a few hours. Turn aroun', an' Malik- th 'second' one, probably kills 's all. So th' finals went on," he explains with a shrug. "...Malik banish'd 's other self by forfeitin', we all wen' home on th' choppers...well. Other th'n th' Kaibas," he snorts, only now looking toward the other. "You guys went t' th' states..."

Katsuya sighs, leaning back on his beanbag. Kaseri- who for whatever reason stayed near the blond instead of going to the nearest upset person- snuggles against him. "An' tha' was it. F'r th' summer, anyway. Th' exact day we started up classes again, th' Tenmas d'cided it'd be a great idea t' kidnap Anzu an' take over KaibaCorp's tower f'r th' day. Er. Well, Yakou did at leas'," he mutters, shrugging. "Tha' was a one day thing. ...After tha'...."

Well. "...After tha', me, Yugi, Shizuka 'n a few others got on a plane f'r th' spring break. Half a year 'f quiet, can y' believe it?" The laugh is weak, the the timing is clear. The week before third year began. "...It crashed, we got stranded, we found some kinda Pyramid, an' at tha' point tha's it. Fell through some kinda wormhole int' Alola. Not much t' say after tha'."

[blue_ice]

Kaiba accepts Yugi's embrace and curls around him, but he looks at Wester when they clench their fists that tightly. After a moment of looking around...at Yugi on his lap and Kaseri on Jonouchi's, he puts the Kuriboh in Yugi's hand and subtly nudges him toward Wester.

"...what? Is there any way to kill Gozaburo any more than we already have? Just wondering. Just...wow. And aren't we all sick of destiny?"

He's a little bitter, a little worried, and shakes his head. His company is always under siege, it's exhausting. A moment of silence for Noa, and he moves on.

"For our quarterfinals, I dueled Isis. She taunted me about her future sight, but when she had me on the ropes, I saw Blue Eyes. And the girl who was her...Kisara was her name, I believe. The Pharaoh defeated me after that, but I couldn't allow Malik to win, so I gave him an additional card. I blew up the Alcatraz tower, but everyone escaped safely. Unfortunately for me."

A dry joke. He takes a breath and continues, curling up against Yugi.

"Does the Seal of Orichalcos or the Doma organization ring bells for anyone? Stealing souls to power Leviathan? The heart of darkness? The Pharaoh, Jonouchi, and I each acquired a legendary dragon card, and in order to summon Leviathan they needed our three souls. They preyed on Mai's feelings and tricked her into joining them, and it was...a mess.

We were all captured...again, the Pharaoh rescued us...again, but Jonouchi, Yugi, and I fought back in the end. I took everyone to go home, and hosted another tournament at KaibaLand...but I didn't participate this time. I needed to sniff out a rat, and his name was Siegfried von Schroeder."

Even now, he curls his nose up in distaste at that name.

[sizedoesntmatter]

Yugi nodded slightly, he knew what Kaiba was gesturing for him to do all things considering and it was rather lucky Yugi had decided to bring the plush fluffball with him as she the moment while it was Kaiba's turn to talk he had moved to get up to pass him over to Wester because why not Wester needed a hug to and why not have something cute to hug. Though to be fair, after this whole thing is done, Yugi probably will just want to hug everyone at the end.

Once he had gone back to where he had been sitting moments before on Kaiba's lap he could tell the other had finished, so that meant it was his go. "I remember the airship fights and the fact we ended up with three people out cold for various reasons one more severe than the others" Poor Mai really, she was just extremely unlucky that shit happened before it was her turn to duel really.

"But unlike the rest of you who went into the virtual world we arrived on the island and carried on with the tournament with Jounoichi very nearly winning against Marik if he could have summoned and called an attack, but passed out due to the game before he could.

Of course the Pharoah won against Seto, and we had a rather fun... game where I was there as well, but also if the Phoroah lost life points I would lose parts of myself to the darkness, so whoever lost would be lost permanently. Thankfully the other Marik managed to regain control before forfeiting."

But it seems like after that everyone else seemed to have a lot more going on. Except him anyway. "I guess I'll be quiet for the moment since it seems like everyone else had stuff going on before the whole final game..." And with that, he is just going to lean on Kaiba again.

[bloomingdespite]

Wester can't help but raise an eyebrow at everything they hear. Jounouchi being a duelist is still strange enough (especially considering this one's reluctance to duel), but Isis losing to Kaiba? Mai losing to Malik? It all seems completely impossible.

Different strokes for different alternate realities, they suppose.

"That all sounds... just about right. And-

"...wait, Doma what?"

[luckydragonsfoot]

Katsuya doesn't reply, about the matter of Gozaburo. The ghost is gone, and won't be coming back.

He does seem to listen on with idle interest as the matter of Doma is explained though. "...Someone back on Alola mention'd Doma," he remarks, saying nothing more. Seemed weird after all. But Leviathan...

Recognition sparks in his eyes, and they narrow- but still, he says nothing.

That, after all, was just a story his prior self told to little kids at night.

And there are more important things as is. Like what Yugi said. "Three-"

There were only coma victims. The surprise lingers on his face, and fades away with dwindling horror, his hand idly catching Kaseri's mane as the ponyta nickers worriedly. It's done. There's nothing more to be done. It's...

It's done. "...Righ'. Well fr'm th' sounds of things, only Kaiba's got more t' say..." He glances to Wester, raising a brow. "Unless y' had more?"

[blue_ice]

Kaiba listened intently, squinting at Wester and Jonouchi in particular. So much was going on that he couldn't quite follow, even now, but there was more to cover. And it didn't make him look good.

"Right. The final game. The Pharaoh had to unlock his memories within his mind and learn his true name, his friends went with it, and I got dragged along. I've already More nonsense with the Bakura in the ring and his greed happened. We fought Zorc, the evil within the items that Atem gave his life to seal away, and I got hit hard in the fight. I was unconscious long enough that Yugi and friends went on without me, and by the time I recovered and tried to catch up...Atem had already left our world."

He clenched a fist. "I couldn't believe he was gone. No last duel, no goodbye, not even a thought. I refused to let things stand the way they were, so I traveled to the ruins and scavenged the pieces of the puzzle, using a computer program to rebuild it. Doing that awakened two who needed to stop me, because they would lose their creepy powers if Atem ever returned.

I battled Yugi over our disagreement about Atem, but one of the lunatics, Diva, used his power to cast the world into darkness and nearly killed us all. So I took Yugi on as a partner to duel him, but I had to sacrifice myself to keep Yugi going. He was our best chance at calling Atem. And it worked. Atem saved us all again, apparently, before returning to the afterlife."

Kaiba rested his chin on Yugi's head, sighing. "That definitely put Yugi on my radar for the company's future, but by then I was getting really sick of Atem avoiding me. So I scavenged up the remnants and followed him to the afterlife.

We dueled. He was glad for the chance to say goodbye, but lectured me being reckless and urged me to go back to Mokuba and Yugi. I took off to do that, but ended up here instead."

And that was that. His expression by then was...oddly distant.

[sizedoesntmatter]

Yugi listened all the while leaning back against the other. He could already tell what the differences between the final battle were and of course he knew to bring it up. But other than that he knew that the rest seemed to be pretty much the same, but he had his side of certain things of course.

"The final game for us was different. For one Kaiba was never there, after Battle City he went off to America to start Kaiba Land over there with Mokuba. We had to find the true door in the puzzle to be able to join. I had to duel Bakura at on point which...that was interesting if I am honest in order to get his name.

We tried to battle Zorc but...that didn't go well for us, but ultimately he won the game thankfully and got his name back." He paused for a moment as he looked down at his hands, fidling with them for a moment.

"Then it was the final duel, which I of course managed to win and sent him to the afterlife. Few months after that was graduation and I was still in my own way mourning the loss of him, but before that Kaiba did what he did and because of that I ended up getting involved because of my connection. I got given a piece of the puzzle which...Kaiba somehow knew." He... could take a guess as to how he knew.

"So I dueled Diva first and won then Kaiba and proved that by simply putting the puzzle together wasn't going to bring him back. Kaiba has explained what happened after that, leaving me to pass out a short time afterward only for him to have to come back to deal with it because I just couldn't anymore.

We had a moment and...it honestly helped me be able to move on really, make my speech at graduation and actually graduate. Last thing I remember was seeing Anzu off as she was heading to America."

[bloomingdespite]

Wester nods along to their story, brow furrowed. It all seemed about par for the course for the ridiculousness they experienced back home. They'd be worried about their future, but, well. Wester had already proven well enough exactly how different their world was from the rest of their friends'.

(...friends. Holy crap. Wester had actual friends now, not just ones inherited from Anzu! That was crazy to think about.)

But one thing still bothers them.

"Wait, you fought the Ring-Spirit? That's... really weird. He was practically part of the gang for me. Not that, er. We really knew about that. For a while. It wasn't until Anzu's duel with him on the Battle Ship that we learned he wasn't just Bakura's really intense side.

"But even after that, we were friends. I don't understand, why would he..."

[luckydragonsfoot]

"Might not 've had much choice," Katsuya says without thinking, only to jolt to awareness of the words. "Uh- That's uh, that's th' feelin' I got fr'm th' guy while he w's in Alola, at least. ...An' I mean him, like...Ring w's gone, Bakura w's gone...Wormholes 'r weird," he manages, rattling off as many excuses as possible before moving on.

Once the ticks are added appropriately however, he lets out a breath. "Hoohhhhhh though. So two 'f y' are a good while ahead 'f us, but th' rest 'f us jus' have more goin' on...hell of a balance I guess!" Maybe if he gets amped about other things, everyone will stop paying attention to whatever weird things he has said or done! Yes.

Oh. "Oh, uh. Not t' spoil too much f'r y' Wester, but you don' have t' really worry abou' tha' Final Game deal. I think th' other two sorta...work shit out f'r y' some other way." There's a smirk, and even a wink- he can't well say everything even if he knows the way it happened for Zahra after all.

It fades though.

He can't stop thinking about the matter of Zorc and the Ring, even if he doesn't know what it means.

Or maybe he does, and he just doesn't want to think about it.

[blue_ice]

"I never had cause to trust him, but that doesn't mean you didn't," he finally says, willing to concede that. "But I don't really have room to talk, do I."

He shifts awkwardly once, then looks at them. "Alright. Think we've settled the interpersonal crises for now?"

[sizedoesntmatter]

"I think we have for the most part. Pretty sure there isn't anything else to add really. As for the Ring Spirit, I can't really say... I think there is a lot to it that I don't know and never will."

Not really much more he could say about that one really, there was a lot about it he couldn't understand. Was there more to them? Yes. But he didn't know that.

He looked up at Kaiba for a brief moment as his way of asking if he needed to get off his lap now. "Though with that done and out of the way, anyone want to do something while we are here?"