Team Rocket meets the Seal of Orichalcos....

The first draft of the fic is done! I watched the third movie to get inspiration for fleshing it out so it's not so raw and I came up with some stuff that I'm inputting now. Hopefully I'll get the first segment up soon.

One thing I'm debating is whether or not to do any scenes from Mokuba's POV after the Unown unleash their spell. I'm wondering if it looks better from a storytelling POV to not do Mokuba's POV, so that there's more of a mystery for the readers as well as the other characters as to what's happening and why some of these locations are in Mokuba's dream world.

I'm still wanting to see more YGO episodes on DVD. It was so fun watching some episodes this week. I watched the Duel with a Ghoul trilogy twice, LOL. Those episodes have always been among my most favorites of the series as a whole, and as I recall, they were also largely responsible for me liking Seto. (I didn't at first, and these days, post-Duelist Kingdom Seto tends to frustrate and aggravate me greatly, albeit less so in the anime-only arcs. I love him in Noa's arc. I hate to say it, but I think the anime writers knew what to do with the character more than the manga-ka did, since he decided to write The Dark Side of Dimensions and screw over Seto's characterization. Ugggh.) I think I actually do prefer the ghost Seto being an imposter, though, rather than the evil part of him from episode 1. Mainly for this reason: the ghost Seto is very cold and cruel to Mokuba (at least in the dub) and I don't like to think of the real Seto ever having that as part of his personality. I guess manga-wise it would fit, but anime-wise, I don't think so. One thing that baffles me about the imposter idea, however: how would that imposter manage to get such a vastly different body shape, unless he's a shapeshifter or something? I almost wonder if that's why the dub changed it to a supernatural being. LOL. That's really the only thing that makes sense.

And I still love Seto's sassy computer. I know most of my friends hated her, but I thought she was awesome. Now, of course, I want her to meet Vincent and interact with him somehow. That would be a blast. Barney and Seto would be so bewildered. I'm pondering on the possibility of a full crossover, but in any case, I'm going to write a blurb of the computers meeting.

Anyway, so I wanted more YGO episodes on DVD. I went looking and stumbled on a seller on eBay who has seasons 1, 3, and 4 brand new for incredible prices. It's the half-season sets and if you get three or more, you get 50% off the entire order! **jaw drop.** I selected the second half of season 1 and both season 3 sets. Then I had a huge struggle over season 4. Part of me wanted to add it too, even though I really shouldn't (and probably shouldn't have bought any right now, really). The other part argued that it really is the most depressing season. As much as I love the bikers, I can't deny that. The season is largely people losing their souls left and right and good guys going dark. I finally opted to set it aside for now, especially since I do have the VHS copies, but I may go back for it later. So far I don't seem to regret it, but I am worrying over whether I should have bought any at all right now. But they were almost sold out and I'd never see prices like those again. I got all three DVD sets for $8 and change!

I also remembered an idle thought I had the other day. That old pondering of wondering what would happen if James either went on a power trip or got corrupted? I pictured him getting hold of the Seal of Orichalcos somehow. Original thought was that eventually he would lose the duel and his soul, but now I'm thinking maybe he wins and has to cope with what he did. I don't think he's dueling Jessie or Meowth; I think some enemy backs him into a situation where he feels forced to use the Seal even though he really doesn't want to, similar to Atem and Raphael's duel. And unlike that duel, it's the enemy who loses his soul. But I think James would still feel terrible about the darkness of the Orichalcos getting hold of him.

I'm also thinking back on that dark fic I started where Alister and Rishid think their friends and siblings are dead and form Doom Reborn or something similar to try to get them back; I remember the Neo-Orichalcos. That was a weird one. I've got one favorite character as the main antagonist, another as the secondary antagonist, and other favorite characters thought dead and out of commission for most of the fic. I never did quite figure out if they were really dead or if their fate was something else, like their souls being stolen, so I never was sure how to get them back, either. I naturally did plan that I would, somehow; I just wasn't sure how. And I never did advance very far into that one. I've read it over several times since the stall and haven't been sure what to do with it. Like season 4, it's pretty depressing. Part of me would like to explore that dark Alister's character and eventually wrap up that storyline; the other part doesn't want to make the effort, since there was so much to do and most of it was depressing.

I have been distracted today....

I've gotten more written in the fic and am fleshing it out. I like how it's coming! Still don't think it's ready for the first segment to go up, though. Hopefully later tonight.

Then I kept thinking about Dragons at Dawn and ran through a couple of explanations for things. First I pondered on characters from the main verse visiting the DaD verse and it revealed as an AU. Then I thought that maybe Alister and Rishid had been placed under a spell by the bad guy they were trying to stop so that they would think their loved ones were dead and end up unleashing the very power they had been trying to stop. Then I dug out the story, re-read it again, and decided that really, under the circumstances, they still sounded IC. I know that was something I'd worried about a lot at the time and I worked hard to make the plot work while keeping them IC. Alister seems to be trying to run his organization differently than Dartz and be more fair about it, while not realizing that in some ways, he's becoming Dartz. And the stones are definitely corrupting him and Rishid all the while.

Anyway, so after re-reading it, I'm not sure what to think about either of the possibilities I thought of today. I came up with a good explanation for any characters that look dead, though: it's suspended animation, duh! Just like what happened to Baxter in Winds of Change, only brought about by magic rather than science.

So now I have other thoughts swirling through my mind. One thought is for investigation. Leonhard was defeated and looks dead. Maybe Siegfried investigates more and discovers it's suspended animation. Alister and Rishid learn about this (and Alister, incidentally, was furious that someone targeted Leonhard) and realize maybe their loved ones are under suspended animation too. But by now their organization has spread so far and wide that it's not so easy for them to stop it. Members are doing things they're not supposed to, like the one who went after Leonhard.

Another thought was for the suspended people to be able to converse in spirit and one of them, at least, is able to get back and try to help out in spirit form and that person is the one who tells Alister and Rishid what's going on.

I really like this investigation concept, though. Then Alister and Rishid probably wouldn't be the antagonists all through the story, as originally planned. They would end up having to align with the other characters and try to stop the organization that they misguidedly started. And the other things originally thought of would probably still happen as everything goes out of control, like Joey being defeated and falling under the Neo-Orichalcos's control and eventually defeating Duke (who is another suspended animation victim).

Maybe with this new slant, I actually can write the story to completion. I think it's certainly worth a try. I would love to actually be able to get it done after all these years!

Then I decided to pull out my YGO plushies that I commissioned from SetsunaKou long ago. Bakura and Marik are both showing signs of age; the glue holding the hair pieces together is yellowing and showing through. (I'm glad I don't work with glue for the plushies I make....) Marik's pants are yellowing too. Bizarrely, Yami Bakura had something in his hair that looked like moth powder, maybe. Ugggh. It came right out with an antibacterial wipe. His coat, by the way, is also fading into his hair. **headdesk.** Then Marik has something reddish-rusty on his pants. I wondered if Alister's boot was fading on him, but I don't think they were positioned in a way for that to happen. But if it wasn't that, then WTH is it and where did it come from?! Alister, incidentally, is the only one not really showing signs of age, save for the straps on his gloves coming off. Odd, especially since he's older than Yami Bakura.

I need to get back to the Pokemon-inspired YGO fic....