Between My Brother and Me

""There's a bond between my brother and me. Even when the world crashes down on you, you continue fighting.""

- May, providing the Title Drop for the story

Between My Brother and Me is a crossover fanfiction written by Green Phantom Queen. It takes place at the end of the "Battle Frontier" arc of Pokémon, and put in the beginning of the "Waking of Dragons" arc in Yu-Gi-Oh! May decides to head off to home before going to Johto. On the cruise home, she gets a nightmare of Manaphy and Samiya being destroyed by a shadowy creature. When she and Max arrive home, their parents suggest that they take a vacation to the safe Domino City. At night, May is awakened by voices to head off to the basement and soon awakens a spirit calling himself Atem  who warns her about a great evil.

Joining by her side is her band of Pokémon and her little brother Max as they head off to Domino City, uncover their destinies, get some dueling done, and save the world. In the span of one week, their lives change forever.

So begins the story's first three chapters. Even with a common crossover idea, Green Phantom Queen blends what she knows about the Pokémon world with the Duel Monsters of Yu-Gi-Oh! to create a dark crossover. There are also many common themes that are crossed in the story ranging from doing evil for good, doing good but not good and revenge before reason to letting bygones be bygones, standing up for your rights and fighting opposing fate. This crossover is a Deconstruction on the crossover genre and how the story line would change to benefit them for better or worse.

However, this story is somewhat dark once you get past the halfway mark. Do not expect the rules of the Pokémon universe to apply to Yu-Gi-Oh! villains that want to steal souls to empower an ancient deity. It soon becomes important for the characters to grow up and face their problems dead on, or else let the world become destroyed.

It is currently on hold at 28 chapters, but it is worth a read. You can read it here.

"May: "Then what's your (Raphael, Valon and Alister) decision? Let's just say Dartz gets the Pharaoh's soul AND, and summons Leviathan. Let's say that the world does become paradise and that there is peace in the world. What is it going to change? Raphael's family still forgets about him, Alister's brother won't return anytime soon, and Valon is branded as a criminal! All of you guys need to wake up! Dartz is using you for his own schemes! He doesn't care about you at all; all he sees are potential souls that are going to be fed to the Great Leviathan!""
 * Absurdly Sharp Blade: Raphael's knife is seen
 * Achey Scars: Poor, poor May...
 * Action Girl: May shows her stuff in 'Wrath of a Goddess'. In order she,
 * Adult Fear: Letting your kids head off to a town for a week is okay.
 * You know what makes it worse?
 * After-Action Villain Analysis: May dabbles with it, but mostly before she lays the beating on her opponent..
 * All Abusers Are Male: Or at least, all of the abusers who want May dead are male.
 * All There in the Manual: In-universe: May and Max learn all they need to know about dueling from a magazine called 'Duelist Monthly'...that their mom had for some reason. From it, they learned about Duelist Kingdom, Battle City and the 'who's who' in the world of dueling.
 * Alternative Character Interpretation: Done so with the Swordsmen of the Orichalcos as May points out that they are more ruthless to the protagonists. Points definitely go out to Raphael: while he is still loyal to Dartz,
 * Always Need What You Gave Up: What's the best way to make sure the Great Leviathan doesn't become strong?
 * Always Save the Girl: Subverted. May, being the one captured, saves herself from having her soul taken.
 * Amulet of Dependency: May's deck carries a special card called 'Revenge of the Dark King' which boosts the attack strength of all her Dark Monsters.
 * Anyone Can Die: In Ancient Egypt, you can.
 * Armor-Piercing Question: Subverted. May asks a question to the Swordsmen as to why they keep following Dartz's words.

"Mokuba:"
 * And we also cannot forget Mokuba's speech.

"Max: It's curtain call for you, I win."
 * Armor-Piercing Slap: After Raphael states his perverted oath to bring May back to him, she does this. This is AFTER the hell of Wrath of a Goddess and it's capped off with her vow to stop him.
 * Artifact of Doom:.
 * Author Appeal: The author loves Dark monsters, giving May a deck completely filled with them.
 * Badass Adorable: Jirachi and Manaphy brought their attacks into Duel Monster form. It rocks.
 * Jirachi has Doom Desire, strong enough to cause a geyser of light to erupt  He's also cute whenever he's hugged by Max.
 * Manaphy's Heart Swap also has become badass.  Manaphy is also shown to be hugged and cry 'Happy!' and 'Awesome!'
 * Badass Damsel: Let's summarize chapter 18 here:
 * Badass Normal: While we don't know what the Goddess of Joy power up does, May is written as an exceptional duelist, able to stand toe to toe with any opponent she faces.
 * Bandage Babe: May becomes one.
 * Barrier-Busting Blow: When Valon equips his Armor cards to himself outside of a duel, he's able to punch through doors
 * Bastard Boyfriend: Inverted. Raphael acts like one around May
 * Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Subverted with May.
 * Beta Couple: If there IS a main couple (what with Yami/Yugi and Tea being a focus--somewhat), it would be with May with either Raphael, Kaiba or Mokuba.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Max and Mokuba aren't as fiery as May, but people should also be careful for them.
 * Max is the youngest of the Chosen, and pretty much cheerful. However, he also has Jirachi in Duel Monster form  If Max tells Jirachi to use Doom Desire, he's pretty much wins the duel.
 * Mokuba is another offender of the trope. Innocent looking, but add the fact that, he's able to summon power to kick butt.
 * Blessed with Suck: All those Psychic Powers mentioned in the story? Well, they suck:
 * Jouno gives great prophecies, but no one listens to him.
 * Raphael's postcognition? It's made him into a crazy man
 * May's empathy? She understands their problems, but it also makes her divided as whether or not the Swordsmen can be forgiven for hurting her.
 * Mokuba's clairvoyance? He can sense the darkness if it's close by, but it also makes him more susceptible into becoming evil.
 * Blond Guys Are Evil: If their name is Raphael, this fits him.
 * Blondes Are Evil: Raphael and Mai fit this.
 * Blood-Splattered Innocents: Inverted. May gets splattered in blood,
 * Body Motifs: Whenever something's wrong with May, the character will always hold onto her wrist. Raphael grabbed onto it  and Kaiba does it  . May herself grasps them in worry, somewhat knowing that things turn out bad when they're grabbed.
 * Bond One-Liner: Max delivers one to


 * Brainwashed and Crazy: Anyone who works for the Orichalcos is essentially this.
 * Brainy Brunette: May is able to pick up the game of Duel Monsters well, and her improvised run in chapter 18 shows how far she's come.
 * Break the Badass: Subverted with May. She's not really a badass as she is just a good duelist,
 * Break the Cutie: They did with May.
 * Brother-Sister Team: May and Max. This is lampshaded with the Chapter 6 title, "Brother and Sister Unite!"
 * Calling the CEO Out: In the anime, Kaiba slams the phone after hearing Yami lose his duel. In the story,

"Mokuba:"
 * Cassandra Truth: Raphael is unable to convince his fellow Swordsmen that
 * Catch a Falling Star: May's Altaria saves her from a nasty death.
 * Cerebus Syndrome: Subverted; the season was dark already...but then we added many of the below tropes...
 * The Chase: Used in the second half of "Wrath of a Goddess.".
 * Chekhov's Gun: May and Max are picking out booster packs and sharing cards.
 * Remember the tag that Norman gave Max?
 * The card necklaces May and Max make in episode 7?
 * Child Mage: Max is this, being the 'Prince of Wisdom' and all. He also wields a Spellcaster Deck (but also uses low Light attribute monsters like Golden Ladybug and Watapon).
 * Children Are Innocent:
 * Cold Sniper: Penumbral Gunner,  is described as this. He's also part cyborg.
 * Cold-Blooded Torture: As if May didn't have to go through more abuse,
 * Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are: Valon uses this when he's searching for May in Paradius.
 * Complete Monster: The Swordsmen of the Orichalcos are this for various reasons.
 * Raphael: It's okay that you should decide that the ancient Pharaoh is evil.
 * Alister: For someone who wants to STOP war after losing his brother, he doesn't give a damn about hurting kids.
 * Valon: He doesn't get into action a lot, but he can get pissed off easily.
 * Cool Big Sis: Inverted. Mokuba sees May as an older sister--despite him being around 11 or 12, and May being 10. This could be because he's enamored by the adventures she gets to go through.
 * Crazy Jealous Guy: Raphael  are completely jealous of the Pharaoh for stealing their love away.
 * Cry Into Chest: At the end of 'Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt',
 * Curb Stomp Battle: Shadow's first duel is against Valon.
 * Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Used with Penumbral Gunner, but it seems to be a representation of  desire for violence and destruction. The appearance--an android with a face that's part human, part robot--seems to accentuate the importance of sacrificing human spirit for power.
 * Dark Is Not Evil: May utilizes two types of decks: a Gravekeeper's deck, and a deck that's comprised of most Dark monsters. She's also a good person and Goddess of Joy....
 * The Dark Side:
 * Dead Little Sister: Inverted with Raphael. His start was his disbelief in the Guardian of the Sea dying.
 * Deal with the Devil: Deals with the Orichalcos are viewed by this.
 * Deconstruction: This story is not sunshine and buttercups. Characters involved in a crossover can't work together if they don't get along, the Secret Keeper can only hold so much information before being pressured, Reincarnation Romance can turn sour if one becomes obsessed with another who has no idea what's going on, being between Easily Forgiven to a Karma Houdini is very thin and the concept of Light Is Good can come to light when your protagonist uses darkness as their aiding hand.
 * Deconstruction Crossover: The characters aren't getting along, and are not opening up to each other (Yugi and the others don't tell about Battle City, May and Max can't tell about Atem and his past), Pokemon are being subjected to monsters and power far worse than Team Rocket can do to them, and the characters are dealing with a world that will literally kill them without guilt.
 * Deconstruction Fic: This talks about what would happen if Dartz wanted his Swordsmen to attack people outside dueling, their mental states and how people would react to this whole ordeal.
 * Defeat Means Friendship: They were getting along well, but the duel between May and Mokuba ended with them laughing, shaking hands and cementing their friendship.
 * Despair Event Horizon: The ending of chapter 18 for May, the end of chapter 26 for Max, and the end of chapter 27 for Mokuba. This results in
 * Determinator: Max and May--despite being the youngest out of the main cast--show great skill in not giving up. It goes to the point that Max's first duel had him win  and May stood up to
 * Mokuba's time to shine was in his first Orichalcos duel. For someone who's never dueled before this story, he
 * Deus Ex Machina: Deconstructed. What turns out to be a blessing in disguise, actually becomes a horrible thing as it unravels everything that came before and after it. Because of this,
 * Did Not Do the Research: A minor complaint came from a reviewer who noticed the author misread the instructions for 'Fires of Doomsday'. The author didn't know that if the card was used, the duelist couldn't summon any other monster that turn.
 * Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?:
 * Disproportionate Retribution:
 * Duels Decide Everything: Deconstructed. Just because they can decide everything doesn't mean it's successful. Yami's duel with Yugi only makes May lose trust with Ironheart and Chris, stating that they had no idea how much it hurt Yami.
 * Earn Your Happy Ending: Oh boy... May, Max and Mokuba have their work cut out for them.
 * Easily Forgiven: Deconstructed. The story talks about how much it would take to actually forgive people of their crimes. May has the most trouble, seeing as she's been
 * Elemental Powers: The Chosen have this.
 * Frickin' Laser Beams:
 * Light'Em Up: Max uses powers of the stars, has some healing abilities and uses  as a Duel Monsters card. Also laps with Frickin Laser Beams above
 * Making a Splash: May has  as a Duel Monster Card whose Attack is raised by the number of Water Attribute Monsters on the field.
 * The Power of Love: As the Goddess of Joy, this might be May's power.
 * Soul Power: Mokuba has this by having a spirit by his side, using monsters based on stars, and creating barriers.
 * The Empath: May is noted to sense and understand the hearts of evil and can see from their perspective. However, if she doesn't know a lot about a person, she can't really help them. It's also Deconstructed because despite understanding people, she just can't understand how to feel about them since she's so confused about what she's feeling from them.
 * Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The Swordsmen all have lost people in tragedies planted by Dartz; of course, this is taken to newer heights for Raphael
 * Even Kaiba Has Standards: Kaiba is known to be cold to everyone but his little brother
 * Fate Worse Than Death: Do you want to die? Of course you do when
 * May even points out that she'd rather die than
 * Faux Action Girl: Inverted. May is told to run away when she says she can handle a duel on her own. The only reason that she doesn't fight is because of many things.
 * Feather Motif: Played straight with May and Mai. While Mai is the Broken Harpie with her Harpie Ladies, May also has feathered friends. One of her dark monsters is Dark Horus who sports black feathery wings, and she also has her Altaria, with white cloudy feather wings. Dark Horus represents that even when using Dark Monsters she can still be good, Altaria represents her gentle spirit as the Goddess of Joy.
 * Flash Back: The story only uses it them around Raphael
 * Forced to Watch: Max and Mokuba aren't forced to watch May being tortured, but they're being forced to watch May break down from her wounds and torture.
 * Foreshadowing: May falls off of the scaffolding of a building in chapter 4 by Raphael. In "Wrath of a Goddess"--14 chapters later--
 * Four Is Death: All over the place. Many of May's Dark Monsters are Level Four, she has four main duels, Max won four duels-- --Mokuba has also won four duels  ,  , etc.
 * Freudian Trio: May is Superego, Max is Id and Mokuba is plain Ego.
 * Fridge Brilliance: This may seem like a unlikely event but May being saved by a Swablu evolved into Altaria isn't coincidence. It's been said in the Pokemon series that Pokemon are closer to nature than humans, and thus can sense when bad weather is coming. Two days after May's fall, there's news spreading all over the world of unexplained weather patterns. Plus, May and Max's dreams about Manaphy and Jirachi missing must've affected the world in a matter. The Altaria and Swablu arriving in Domino could justify them trying to get to safety before bad weather struck.
 * Why is May written so well as a duelist? It's because she's adapting from her days as a Pokemon Coordinator. Coordinators are shown to be creative, analytical and quick on their feet; traits that duelists need to carry. This is how she's able to win and use effect moves in her duels.
 * When one re-reads the punishments the Swordsmen received, Alister got off a little too easy...until you remember what he told May back at chapter 17. His punishment:  is to pay back what he told May: if she didn't give them what they were looking for (in this case, the Winged Dragon of Ra) whatever they would do to her WOULD BE PLACED ON HER BROTHER. Now bear in mind that Max is at most 7 years old, so this would literally cross Moral Event Horizon status.
 * May and Mokuba hit it off very well, that's because of their ancestors right? Well note that Moka was a Vessel for Khonsu, the Moon God and Hara had relations to the Nile. When you recall that a Moon controls the tides of the ocean (water) it makes more sense!
 * May can somewhat understand the problems of the Swordsmen, why can't she do it to Mai? Because she has nothing about her. It was never stated in the story that May learned about Mai's past, and since Mai is trying to forget it, it couldn't be that much of a stress that she has no idea how to react.
 * Fridge Horror.
 * Remember the whole 'deck reflects soul' thing? While Max's spellcasters could represent his innocence and genius, and Mokuba's Celestial Spirits are related to his Chosen Title, May is ten years old, the Goddess of Joy, but duels with Dark Monsters in her deck. Just think about it.
 * Alister implies in chapter 17 that whatever punishment May is enduring from them would be set on her brother. Think about it: he's only 7 years old at most, and Pokemon are known not to do any harm to Orichalcos empowered duelists. Then factor in all of the attacks that his sister received (slices to the arms, cracked ribs, choking, thrown to a wall) and realize that they are going to BREAK a little kid into pieces.
 * Then we have Raphael and May's relationship. We don't know how old Raphael is (he could range from 18 to even late 20's) and May is only ten and he's going after her. This raises lots of weird ideas
 * Remember that monsters are real if combined with the Orichalcos, meaning their attacks are painful. Sure an attack from a Kuriboh's okay...
 * Genki Girl: May shows signs of this, as she's excited to go save the world.
 * Girl in Black:
 * Girl with Psycho Weapon:
 * Glass Cannon: May when using her Gravekeepers Deck. They're pretty strong, but they have to rely on Necrovalley or Gravekeepers Priestess to keep them on the field. Also, her strongest Gravekeeper doesn't go past the 2,000 Attack Point mark, so if Gravekeeper's Visionary is destroyed, she's pretty much a sitting duck.
 * Although that's if she only has Gravekeeper's. Her main deck is much more balanced that she can use its diversity to fight back.
 * Glowing Eyes of Doom: Happens in the second half of the story.
 * Go Out with a Smile: Mokuba does this in chapter 24... . Deconstructed because he doesn't realize how his going out is affecting people who care about him, and tearfully cries an "I'm sorry" after it's all over.
 * God in Human Form: Averted. Hara, Guardian of the Sea,
 * Graceful Loser:
 * Green-Eyed Monster: Raphael to the Pharaoh.
 * Hates Being Touched: Subverted with May. She'll accept a hug, but she freezes when someone grabs her wrist.
 * Healing Hands: If this is to go by, Max can temporary stop pain caused by sensing darkness, and May could be able to heal souls of upset emotions. We're not sure about Mokuba though.
 * Hoist by His Own Petard: Alister talks about peace and how Dartz would end all wars.
 * Mai also ends up like this. In her duels, she constantly uses 'Harpie Lady Phoenix Formation' to destroy all of her opponent's lifepoints
 * Hope Spot: It goes horribly bad. Just when May has finally escaped the Swordsmen
 * Hostage for McGuffin: Raphael makes a deal for Yugi's soul: He'd give it back for the Winged Dragon of Ra.
 * Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Either Raphael--or Kaiba--being the huge guy, and May being the tiny girl.
 * Hurting Hero: May was a cheerful Pokemon Coordinator, Max was a cheerful kid with lots of knowledge, and Mokuba was the younger brother of a CEO before chapter 17 happened. Then when that was resolved
 * I See Dead People: May, Max and Mokuba are all able to see Atem and other Duel Monster Spirits, but May is the one who was the first to have this ability.
 * I Want Them Alive: Deconstructed again. The Swordsmen will beat the Chosen into an inch of their lives, but they'll keep them alive long enough for Dartz to take their souls. This also has a bad effect on May, who is in constant worry that the Swordsmen will come out to beat her up.
 * I Will Find You: Deconstructed. Raphael becomes obsessed with finding his Guardian of the Sea, to the point that Valon and Alister are actually annoyed by this, his mental state is completely fucked up, and the person he's finding is getting harmed by his thoughts of being together with him.
 * Imaginary Friend: Deconstructed. Atem notes that he and the others were so real to May, that she was willing to use a ritual--at age 7 to make them become rela. Said ritual involved cutting her arms and using her blood. No wonder the mom didn't like it. One has to wonder what May's mental state was at the time.
 * Improvised Weapon: May will utilize Duel Monster Cards to get the heck out any situation she's in.
 * In Medias Res: Chapter 26 ends  and Chapter 27 begins   and the story picks up as to how it happened.
 * Indy Ploy: May's attempt
 * Infant Immortality: Averted. May, Max and Mokuba are targeted by the big bad and each have suffered various wounds for children their age.
 * What's even worse is that May and Mokuba's ancesetors died when they were young (at ages 10 and 7 respectively)
 * Innocence Lost: May, Max and Mokuba go through hell in one single week, seeing destruction and darkness everywhere.
 * Insistent Terminology: Inverted. Atem knows the names of the Chosen, but he always refers to them by their titles. This commonly occurs to May as he always calls her 'Goddess of Joy' instead of her real name. And even if he doesn't state their names, he'll call Max 'your brother' to May.
 * Instant Expert: Averted. Since the chosen only got their powers recently--and are being chased by madmen wherever they go--they never get the chance to actually train their abilities.
 * It Got Worse: It did starting at around the end of the chapter entitled 'The Wrath of a Goddess.'
 * It's All My Fault: Poor, poor May. In trying to stop Leviathan from being destroyed, she caused a LOT of problems.
 * Jack of All Trades: Out of the three chosen, this is Max. Although he has the most Magic cards, he balances this out with the effects of his monsters and traps to keep opponents at bay.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Kaiba shows his side to May
 * Kick Them While They Are Down: Valon does this to May. Why?
 * Kid Hero: Deconstructed. The only things that are keeping these kids alive are victories over duels and Pokemon battles, and they have barely little training in what they're supposed to be doing as Chosen (it took May close to the end of the story to pull out a Magic Music moment).
 * Kill the Ones You Love: According to May, her ancestor died
 * Knife Nut: Raphael has his trusty knife hidden in his boot--which was cut from the 4Kids dub--which he'll use to kill anyone in his path
 * Lightning Bruiser: In terms of dueling, this is Mokuba. His strongest monster has 4,000 Attack Points, but his diversity in Monster cards makes sure that he doesn't have to rely on him too often. The downside is that he's not that great when it comes to using Trap cards.
 * Love Makes You Crazy:
 * Love Makes You Evil: Raphael goes into this in the story. Instead of deciding that the world needs to be cleansed, he wants it to be cleansed AND makes sure the love of his life is with him.
 * Mad Oracle: Subverted. Jouno isn't particularly mad, just quiet. However, since we haven't heard about his past, one can assume that just because he's silent, it doesn't mean he hasn't been traumatized.
 * Magic Knight: From what we're given so far, Mokuba could count. He's learning some magic with Khonsu, and his weapon is a giant curved blade.
 * Magic Music: May notes that Hara loved singing. Given that she may--or may not be--the Guardian of the Sea, she might have some power.
 * May has this power as of the latest chapter.
 * Magic Wand: Max has one topped with a wand, and May has a sistrum.
 * Make a Wish: Jirachi, the Wish Pokemon makes an appearance in the story, being the guardian Pokemon of Max. With a single wish
 * Making a Splash: May has two monsters in her deck that are Water types. Both monsters help secure victory in the duels they debut in.
 * May-December Romance: Deconstructed. Raphael is at least in his 20's, and May is 10 years old. Raphael is obsessed with her only because she looks like his supposed savior. May, naturally, doesn't understand what is going on and is freaked out at the whole idea. Still, it doesn't stop Raphael from continuing to pursue a lover at least half his age.
 * Mental World: Playing with the soul room idea, Mokuba has his own. Mokuba's soul room is pretty plain, but covered with stuffed animals, representing not only his innocence, but also his loneliness.
 * Misery Builds Character: Deconstructed. Sure the misery that affects the chosen builds character, but it's not the correct type of character. May's pretty much strained between forgiving people who hurt her, Mokuba blames himself for letting May get hurt, and Max is divided as to how all of this plays out.
 * Mistaken Message: Hara confused 'like' for 'love'...
 * Moral Event Horizon: Where do we begin?
 * First off, the Swordsmen deciding that
 * My Name Is Inigo Montoya: Mokuba does this
 * My Name Is Inigo Montoya: Mokuba does this


 * Never Hurt an Innocent: Averted; the Swordsmen will hurt innocents and probably kill them too.
 * Never Say "Die": Averted; the earliest a character says the word is chapter 4.
 * No Escape but Down:
 * No-Holds-Barred Beatdown:
 * Outrun the Fireball: May has to outrun one she made.
 * Plucky Girl: May embodies this trope until her trauma after Wrath of a Goddess. Then she gets it back, but the following chapters are slowly making her break.
 * Prophet Eyes: Khonsu has them to represent his powers of the moon. Mokuba also wears them whenever he lets Khonsu take control.
 * Psychic Powers: Jouno has precognition, and Raphael has some type of postcognition, May shows signs of empathy, and Mokuba has bits of clairvoyance in him. The Chosen have bits of telepathy by communicating with their Duel Monster spirits. Unfortunately, they aren't sunshine and buttercups as the Blessed with Suck trope tells us.
 * Pursued Protagonist: Halfway through 'Wrath of a Goddess', May's being pursued
 * However, it's deconstructed. It absolutely sucks.
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: All users of the Orichalcos have this whenever the Seal is played.
 * Ritual Magic: Mokuba goes through this when he first gains his powers.
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something: The three chosen--May, Max and Mokuba--have different titles . Despite their age, the three children participate in duels and fight in the front line, rather than sit back and let other people do their dirty work.
 * Rule of Three: There are three chosen (May, Max and Mokuba), Max gets three Pokemon on his journeys, Mokuba's competed in three duels (as of the latest chapter) and May and Max fight against trainers using three Pokemon]].
 * Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Inverted. When they're at Domino, Max's the excited one while May is the worried one.
 * Secret Keeper: May, Max and Mokuba were promised not to tell Yami about his past. If they get questioned about it, people start to suspect something is wrong.
 * It's also deconstructed; they aren't the only ones with the secret. May has to constantly ask what exactly happened in Battle City and never gets an answer. The secrets slowly cause them to not trust in one another.
 * Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Jouno is able to predict the future. However, the future turns out to be very bad, and always happens. This doesn't stop the protagonists who see his visions try their hardest to avert the fate.
 * Shout-Out: The story has some of these.
 * Two of them are based on the film The Iron Giant. First is
 * Many of Max's later cards have this. For example 'Sorcerer's Assistant-Miey' is actually based on Mickey Mouse from The Sorcerer's Apprentice. (she even has her hair styled like Mickey Mouse ears and a red robe, but she doesn't have the infamous hat)
 * Shown Their Work: The author knows the series well, referencing stuff from the manga, the anime and researching cards (well, except for one). Many of the created cards were researched and based upon different works. Also during the scene where, the author goes to great lengths to reveal how to bandage the bruises.
 * Spirit Advisor: Khonsu, the God of the Moon, is this to Mokuba. However he's not shown doing a lot. This could be justified as saying that this is mostly Mokuba's chance to stand up and not be on the sidelines, and Khonsu guiding him. (That and since Khonsu is a god, he'd pretty much be doing all the beatings)
 * Stalker with a Crush: Raphael, AGAIN.
 * Stuff Blowing Up: In "Wrath of a Goddess", there are five sets of explosions all based on Duel Monster cards.
 * Summon Magic: The Chosen have this, but May gets bonus points.
 * Tears of Joy: When May finds out  these are shed.
 * Tears of Remorse: Mokuba sheds these once he realizes that
 * Three Amigos: May, Max and Mokuba.
 * Throwing Down the Gauntlet: Before May challenges  to a duel, she decides it's best to prove that she wants out of the place she's in   by unleashing all 6 of her Pokemon to kick everyone's asses.
 * Torture Always Works: Sure, let's torture the person that's given us a living hell,
 * Two Guys and a Girl: May, being the girl and Max and Mokuba are the guys.
 * Unfortunate Implications: Raphael is obsessed over a ten year old girl. One word can describe this situation...
 * Up to Eleven: You know the whole thing about monsters in tablets and then the Duel Monster thing? This puts in the situation of spirits of Ancient Egyptians and even STARS to become Duel Monster Cards.
 * Villainous Breakdown: Raphael is slowly getting there at the rate this is going...
 * Villainous Crush: Raphael's stalker personality for May has this.
 * Wham! Episode: Wrath of a Goddess and Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt are contenders for this.
 * White Magic: Max can heal--somewhat--and Mokuba's title is 'Defender of the King', hinting that he can create barriers or use defensive magic.
 * The Wise Prince: Inverted. Max, the Prince of Wisdom,
 * Would Hit a Girl: Oh they would. The Swordsmen
 * Yandere: Raphael is a male version of this,
 * Would Hurt a Child: They would. There were actually threats made by Alister that the Swordsmen would hurt Max . It should also be noted that Alister gets to duel a Kaiba
 * It gets worse. Max's first duel was
 * What about Ancient Egypt? Hara and Moka were killed at very young ages.
 * Yank the Dog's Chain: May's safe from harm, that's awesome!
 * You Said You Would Let Them Go: Inverted.
 * You Said You Would Let Them Go: Inverted.