day 18:

So when it comes to monsters I don’t have a favorite so I’m just gonna draw one of these bad boys from their corresponding dimension instead.

@ygotober2020

Cause I care too much about this trapeze traitor bitch to be healthy anyway I made this on Instagram and didn’t share it here. Behold my boy

I’m not going to try to tell you that you’re wrong for feeling the way that you do, but I’m going to propose that you look at it from another angle.

Arc V was a story of consequence.

DM, GX, 5Ds and Zexal all had more than one antagonist. Sometimes their goals would overlap, and the actions of the lesser antagonists often inadvertently helped the Big Bad. But for the most part, all of the antags had their own goals. The end result of this was that often, the carnage caused by the lesser antags would often be reset in some way, done away with immediately so that the main characters could take on the next antag without any major baggage. 

Arc V only had two antagonists, Leo and Zarc. One of Leo’s main goals was to stop Zarc’s revival, which he viewed as inevitable. We can infer that if he had any sentience within the boys, Zarc hated Leo in turn for seeking to revive Ray. Their goals were antithetical to each other.

However, Zarc only became a truly destructive factor at the very end, for what, an hour or two in-universe time? On the other hand, Leo’s been at it for at least 10 years (we know that because of Jean Michel). And what did he do during that time?

He turned Academia into a military school churning out child soldiers. Through Jean Michel, he exacerbated the class divide in The City. He utterly destroyed Heartland. He ripped the bracelet girls away from their families, away from the people who loved and cared for them. He put the Yu boys through the wringer, enabling Zarc to influence his fragments towards each other. 

Realistically, none of the above can be easily undone. If ever.

We can assume that Academia is no longer a military school, but we can also assume that the brainwashing the students went through is still in effect; that sort of conditioning takes years to overcome. Not every student there is like Sora, or Asuka, or Serena; not all of them had the capacity to break out of the ‘soldier’ mindset on their own. 

The City was explicitly said to have gotten better after Jean Michel’s demise. But better doesn’t mean perfect, and I’m sure the divide between the classes still exists—at best, security is now more reasonable, and the class gap is now a bit smaller. 

We know that Heartland is still in ruins, and that it’s citizens are still traumatized. That sort of destruction takes generations to amend, but the legacy of the genocide will always exist. That sort of thing just never goes away.

Save for the problems of the City being a bit too easily overcome, for the most part i think that the fandom was fine with the above three. Now, for the more controversial consequences?

Serena, Rin, and Ruri are now a permanent part of Yuzu; Yuri, Yugo and Yuto are now a part of Yuya, forever. They will presumably go on to exist, and we can say that Yuya and Yuzu will both be able to communicate with their counterparts at will. But six of the eight counterparts are now without bodies.

That’s heartbreaking, when you really think about it. 

Ruri and Yuto had an entire group of friends that will never be able to see them again; Shun has lost his hometown, his sister, and his best friend, permanently. 

Yugo and Rin’s dream of rising out of Commons through their own skill, side by side, will never truly be realized. 

Serena spent her entire life confined behind Academia’s walls, and now she will live out her existence confined in Yuzu’s consciousness. And we never truly got to know Yuri, and what his aspirations were outside of ~having fun~; but him never getting a proper redemption arc is something to be mourned in and of itself. 

And that is a consequence of the war, one that cannot be undone. The counterparts merging permanently is a painful reminder that the effects of war sometimes never go away. You can interpret Serena, Ruri, Rin, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri as casualties in the interdimensional war. And just like in the real world, people don’t just come back from the dead because you love and miss them and wish they could come back. 

I take solace in the fact that Yuya is now stronger for the presence of his counterparts. We can presume that Yuzu is as well. The six other counterparts aren’t gone, they simply… took a different form. Just as you can say the people you love never really leave you. 

Redraw from the latest Arc V episode....a screenshot of Yuzu Hiiragi ....with Serena haha since I have seen an Edit of Ruri with this screenshot I wanted to redraw it with Serena (my favorite of the Bracelet girls) I have her a blue dress and Kitty earrings X3 <3

Hope you like it 

Art by me 

Screenshot originally belongs to Arc V!

A knock was heard at the door, having Jaden get up from his seating an answer the door. He opens the door and sees Serena and Yuri with their cat Jewel. The white persian cat seems to be in a mellow mood as Serena holds it in her arms.

“Oh, hey. Didn’t expect to see you here. What’s up?” Jaden asked with a surprise.

Serena doesn’t look too happy, which is probably why she came over here. She took a breath before speaking.

“We have a little problem.” Serena stated as she pets her cat in her arms.

“O-Ok? What problem?” Jaden was a little confused.

“Remember how I had Yuri dropped Jewel off at your place a couple of weeks ago so you guys can look after her while we were out on vacation?”

“Yeah I remember,” Alexis walked up to the door, grabbing hold of it and opened it wider for her to see them. “Why?”

“Well…” Serena started, looking annoyed thinking about the problem. “Apparently something happened when we got her back.”

Alexis thought on what she meant, not really understanding where she’s going with it.

“Did Jewel leave something here?” Jaden looked around the living room to see if the persian cat might’ve left a toy behind at the house.

“No,” Serena sighed, still a little upset. “She gained something. Jewel… is pregnant.”

Jaden and Alexis went wide-eyed. “Wait really?”

“It seems so,” Yuri added. “After noticing her differentiating behavior, we took her to the vet and found out the news right then.”

“Ok,” Jaden respond. “But what does that got to do with us?”

“What do you think!?” Serena eyed at a certain direction in the house, making the Yuki couple look towards her direction. A light brown cat rests on the living room furniture as it stretches one of its legs out and gets back into its comforting position. Jaden looked and then went back to Serena.

“Pharaoh? A-Are you saying that--!?”

Serena just glares at him in response, not giving Jaden the courage to finish his sentence.

“Well how can you be sure?” Alexis questions. “For all we know Jewel could just be taking a stroll one day and met with some other cats she could be fooling around with.”

“See that’s the thing though,” Serena argued. “Jewel doesn’t go outside. She’s an indoor cat. The only other cat she could possibly be close to is yours.”

Jewel meows along with the conversation, mainly for fun.

“Alright. Let’s say it was Pharaoh.” Alexis decided not to deny the theory. “But what are you so upset about?”

“I’m upset the fact that my little princess got knocked up by your… whatever kind of cat Pharoah is!” Serena complains, as Pharaoh perks up by hearing his name, and just meows at her. “And she a purebred. Now I’m gonna get a weird mix litter.”

Jaden finds this interesting. “Aww c’mon now, it’s not that bad. There are mixes everywhere. And that’s what makes things like this unique.”

“But I hoped my cat would save herself for a different persian purebred.” She pouted.

“But Serena…” Yuri turned to her. “Don’t you think this is our fault?”

“What!? Who’s side are you on?”

“N-No one’s. I’m just saying we just dropped off our cat at the wrong time. Apparently she was in heat by the time this happened.”

“Yuri’s right.” Alexis stated. “Technically it’s not our fault that Jaden and I didn’t realize this could happen.”

Serena went silent for a moment. “... Why didn’t you get Pharaoh fixed?”

“Excuse me?” Jaden questioned.

“You heard me.”

Dr. Banner’s spirit appeared as he heard over the conversation. “Jaden! Whatever you do don’t even think about neutering Mr. Pharaoh. He is just a man who got excited like any other male would do--”

“Don’t worry Banner. Besides I’m in the middle of something at the moment.”

“Ok how about this!” Serena makes a bet. “If I see by the time she has her litter that your cat is the father, we owe me ¥3000!”

“What why!?” Jaden freaked out a bit.

Cloaked in shadows and relentless in its objective, I call upon the most dangerous of dragons!

I XYZ SUMMON!