Fanfic / Fate/VRAINS

Welcome to LINK VRAINS

Fate/VRAINS, a Crossover of Fate/EXTRA & Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS, created by TheStrangerThatCameFromNowhere, with duels edited and created by Donjusticia, AKA The Don.

Hakuno Kishinami, following her victory against Twice H. Pierceman, finds herself on the verge of being deleted by the Moon Cell. She is an irregularity, and therefore, a program that cannot exist.

A fragment remnant of Twice, however, appears and offers her a means to escape her fate. Granting her the item that crowns her victory, he fades away. Using the Regalia, and her last remaining Command Seal, Hakuno Kishinami escapes deletion, but finds herself stranded in a new world.

Stranger still, she awakens in the body of a different version of her. One that already has a family. Between struggling and coping with the idea that she has taken over the life of another Hakuno Kishinami and a force that covets the Regalia, even in a new world, what Fate will Hakuno create for herself, in a world where one's Fate is decided through a card game?

Fate/VRAINS was completed on November 13th, 2019.

The sequel Fate/VRAINS -- Laplace was published on January 18 2020 and covers the events of Season 1 of Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS.

Additionally, "EPILOGUE" also revealed another story currently in the works: Fate/5Ds, which focuses on the male Hakuno Kishinami in the world of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds.

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These stories contains examples of the following tropes:

Fate/VRAINS

• Acceptable Breaks from Canon:
  • Early in the story, when Yusaku duels Run Ru, she uses Xyz Summoning. Yusaku is caught by surprise and states that he doesn't know anything about that summoning. In the anime, Yusaku is the first character to show off Xyz Summoning in one of his duels against Go Onizuka. This was before the other unique summoning methods were confirmed to exist in VRAINS.
  • In the story, Yusaku seeks out Shoichi, who was once a hacker called Kolter and has information relating to the Lost Incident. The chapter was published a few months before the episode in which Shoichi reveals his and Yusaku's first meeting, though the author has stated that the story was an Alternate Universe to begin with.
  • The fanfic has Hakuno and HAKUNO both possess a Link 5 monster: "Yellow King: Cosmic Clown" and "Servant Berserker — Lu Bu" respectively. Near the end of Season 2 of the anime, it was revealed that, up until Bohman and Yusaku's final duel, Link 5 monsters did not exist up until that point.
• Adaptational Nice Guy:
  • Archer. As he is different from his Counter Guardian counterpart, he lacks any sort of Jerkass tendencies and is often the first to comfort his Master in her time of need.
  • Shinji Matou also counts as this. It helps that he is an Alternate Self from within the Fate/EXTRA universe. While he's still condescending and arrogant, he's more or less a far cry of the asshole he was in the original series.
• Adaptational Villainy: Julius B. Harwey. Unlike in Extra, where he was strictly an enemy towards Hakuno but had no malicious intent towards her, his Alternate Self is a Dead Face who loathes her and the ground she walks on, siding with Kiara for the sole purpose of killing her.
• Alas, Poor Villain: While we're stretching the villainy part here quite a bit, one cannot help but feel sorry for both Julius and HAKUNO Kishinami, as Dead Faces cannot feel anything except anger towards the world and the living.
• Alternate Self: Each of the Extra characters that appear in the story, besides Hakuno herself, are from different timelines in the "Fate/EX" universe.
• Ambiguous Situation: It's never made clear what exactly happened that put the original Hakuno Zaizen into a three year long coma. What is known is that Hakuno Zaizen was already at death's door by the time Hakuno Kishinami appeared.
• Becoming the Mask: In order to live a normal life, Hakuno Kishinami pretends to be Hakuno Zaizen, her counterpart in the world of VRAINS. She isn't initially thrilled by the prospect until Hakuno Zaizen reveals to her that she allowed her to take over her body and live a normal life. Even after this, though, she has some reservations and wants to tell Aoi and Akira, but is fearful of the result of that conversation.
• Berserk Button:
  • Destroying a Servant in a Duel is a good way to piss off the Masters who command them, as Hakuno and Shinji prove. The former even gives a Death Glare that rivals even Rin's.
  • Interrupting her meal is a good way to piss Run Ru off something fierce. And unfortunately for Akira, he finds out the hard way.
• Big Bad: Kiara Sessyoin, who serves as the primary villain of the CCC Arc.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Kiara Sessyoin has more or less created a group with their own plans and agendas, and rules over them with the threat of death. BB, given her nature, is probably only working for her to ensure Hakuno is protected. Elizabeth (probably) just wants to take Aoi's spot as the Idol of LINK VRAINS and Julius wants to settle the score with Hakuno Kishinami, even though she is not the same Hakuno Kishinami who killed him. Run Ru probably just wants to eat with Lancer and have her fill.
• Big Brother Instinct: BOTH of the Zaizen siblings. Akira makes it clear that he'll do whatever it takes to protect his little sisters. Just ask Dead Face Julius. Aoi also wants to protect Hakuno and was willing to fight Julius, though she did lose to him.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • In an act of Dramatic Irony, considering the events of the anime's first season, it's Baira who defends an unconscious Akira from Run Ru and defeats her, saving the Zaizen siblings.
  • Revolver also gets in on the action by showing up to save Hakuno, right as she's about to have her Life Points wiped out by Kiara.
• Bittersweet Ending: Even though Hakuno defeated Kiara Sessyoin and managed to recreate the ruined remains of VRAINS and Gaea in the form of the New World, she can't bring back the lives lost in the Zepar Incident. Those who were devoured by the Demon Pillar's roots are permanently dead, and those whose were eaten in LINK VRAINS are permanently comatose in the real world with no chance of waking up. Unlike in most stories where recreating a world will just automatically fix everything, Fate/VRAINS makes it clear that simply making a new world isn't going to be the magic solution to fix every problem.
• Cain and Abel: Initially played straight, then subverted. In chapter 16, Julius duels Leo, as the latter arrived with the intent to save Hakuno from BB.
• Call-Back:
  • When Aoi first sees Saber when Hakuno summons her in their duel, she naturally feels wary around her and mentions not being a bride anymore. In the crossover story Digital VRAINS which involves Stranger's Fate/VRAINS and Boyzilla's Digital Extra, Saber kisses Aoi for admiring her beauty, on top of being Hakuno (Kishinami) Zaizen's sister.
    Aoi: I can't get married anymore.
  • The first round of the preliminaries of the VRAINS International Tournament has Hakuno face off against Shinji, mirroring the first round of the Moon Cell Holy Grail War as Hakuno's first opponent in the war was Shinji as well.
• Cast from Hit Points: The playstyle of Run Ru, who utilizes a "Vampire" deck. In exchange for paying Life Points, she can bust out with powerful monsters or use effects, and an replenish her own Life Points and gain more ammunition so to speak with Lancer destroying monsters and getting Life Points equal to whatever damage she dealt to her opponent.
• Convenient Coma: Hakuno Zaizen suffered an accident that rendered her comatose for three years before Hakuno Kishinami took over her body and woke up. According to Twice, Hakuno Zaizen was on the verge of death before Hakuno Kishinami possessed her body.
• Dead All Along: Leo, in TURN-16, is revealed to be a Cyber Ghost, having died in the events of his world but managed to retain his sense of self, as well as his existence. He's surprisingly okay with it, all things considered.
• Death Glare: Invoked by Hakuno. Shinji even compares it to one done by a pissed off Rin Tohsaka.
• Death of a Thousand Cuts: Aoi's strategy as Blue Angel with her Trickstar Deck. Dead Face Julius also gets in on the action with his Ultramarine Deck, except he also takes the damage he inflicts. Man is barely even fazed by his own attacks, showing an incredibly high pain tolerance, especially given the intensity of some of the explosions his effect causes.
• Determinator: Hakuno. She's been brutally beaten down more times than we can count in this story, and yet she somehow always manages to find a way to get back on her feet and keep on fighting. The same also goes for Ysaku, who managed to find the strength to keep fighting after being slammed into an electric fence (with the pain threshold cranked up way past normal regulations due to participating in an Underground Duel) and his opponent being Run Ru.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: HAKUNO Kishinami dies at peace, comforted by both the original Hakuno Kishinami and Saber.
• Distant Prologue: The first arc of Fate/VRAINS begins one year before the events of the main series.
• Dying as Yourself: HAKUNO Kishinami's ultimate goal. He's on the verge of death and is barely able to keep himself together, and he wants to know whether he's just a flawed imitation of the original Hakuno Kishinami from his world or his own individual person. Hakuno tells him that he is "Hakuno Kishinami," and no one else. He is his own individual. The man dies with a smile on his face.
• Fate Worse than Death: What Hakuno considers the fate of anyone who becomes a Dead Face.
• For Want Of A Nail: Hakuno's adventures in LINK VRAINS a year before the events of Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS, for better or worse, has effectively changed the foundation of future events.
  • Due to Kiara's actions, LINK VRAINS and even reality are utterly ripped apart a year ahead of schedule. However, this also leads to Hakuno having the opportunity to recreate LINK VRAINS and create a cyberspace, which is implied to be now fused with reality. Due to the nature of this action, SOL Technology can no longer make any revenue from it, but the overabundance of Cyberse data material, which they previously had little access to since Ai sealed away Cyberse World to protect it from the Knights of Hanoi, more than makes up for it. Akira also notes that this puts doubt into whether or not SOL will still chase after the Ignis, now that they have a steady supply of Cyberse data material to extract.
• Heroic BSoD: Hakuno suffers one when Dead Face Julius beats her down when she refuses to go with him, wondering if it was a mistake thinking she could live out Hakuno Zaizen's life. She's snapped out of it thanks to Archer and Twice.
• Hero of Another Story: Early on in the story, we see things from Yusaku's side as he begins his journey to face his inner demons and fight the Knights of Hanoi. His role more or less ends when he meets with Shoichi Kusanagi, as the two now work together to gather information about the Knights of Hanoi and get their revenge.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Akira attempts this in order to give Aoi a chance at defeating Run Ru, via an effect that nearly wipes out all of his Life Points while also destroying all of Run Ru's cards.
• Identity Impersonator: Hakuno Kishinami and Hakuno Zaizen are two different people, though parallel counterparts. This works in Kishinami's favor, as she's able to assume Zaizen's identity, though this is Played for Drama, as she clearly does not like having to lie to the Zaizen family.
• Info Dump: Professor Kogami gives this, primarily towards the conception of LINK VRAINS, its creator and the purpose behind the Secret Area - The Lunar Sea.
• Instant Expert: Played with. Due to his former occupation as a gaming prodigy, Shinji Matou naturally takes to playing Duel Monsters and, within the span of a few months, becomes the fifth top ranked duelist on the Score Board in Japan. It's subverted with Hakuno, however, who has never played the game and therefore, unlike other fanfic protagonists of the Yu-Gi-Oh! series, makes quite a few mistakes, as showcased in her first Duel with Go. She does prove to be a quick study, however, as she was able to perform a Link Summon fairly early.
• Intercontinuity Crossover: While the story is firmly set in the universe of Fate/EX, there are two other Fate entries that are included.
  • Fate/Grand Order is referenced by the existence of Kiara Sessyoin, who is an Alternate Self of her Extra CCC counterpart who managed to triumph over Chaldea.
  • The final chapter introduces the relatively new entry to the Fate series at the time of this writing by including characters from Fate/Requiem, namely Erice Utsumi, who in the fanfic is the daughter of Akio Pierceman AKA Queen and granddaughter of Twice H. Pierceman, and Servant Voyager, who is a Servant Monster created by SOL Technology forging an artificial Servant Vessel.
  • It's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, but the Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG manga is also part of the fanfic (or at the very least is given a very brief cameo) as during "EXTRA FUTURE," had the tournament not have been canceled, Hakuno would have made it to the first round and dueled Shoma.
  Aoi: E-eh?! W-wait, you knew?!
  Akira: Come on. You think I got to be the Security Manager for show?
• Mythology Gag:
  • For Fate:
    • The doctor who examines Hakuno after she wakes up diagnoses her with symptoms of Amnesia Syndrome, the disease that led to her "original" self to be frozen in cryostasis until the proper vaccine was developed around the time of Fate/EXTRA.
    • The Dead Face are cyber ghosts who exist only with hatred towards the living and the world around them, originating from Last Encore.
    • The Regalia is a major plot device from the game Fate/Extella.
    • Hakuno's Avatar in LINK VRAINS, Emiya, is based on her appearance from Fate/Extella Link, but with silver streaks and with gloves bearing her Command Seals on them. The silver streaks were done in homage to Archer, before she learned he had came with her to the world of VRAINS.
    • CCC is also referenced thanks to Kiara Sessyoin, BB and Elizabeth Bathory.
    • Outside of Fate/EXTRA, Fate/Grand Order is also referenced, due to the implication that Kiara hails from an alternate timeline, where she encountered Chaldea, if the twisted throne she sits on means anything.
    • Kiara's Fusion, Synchro and Xyz Monsters are based off of the Assassin-class Servant Kama's Ascensions.
  • For Yu-Gi-Oh!
    • For Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V a familiar face in the form of Nico Smiley appears, running an underground dueling circuit to provide his patrons entertainment.
    • As of Chapter 12, the MC from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds makes an appearance alongside the MC of Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS as fellow commentator.
    • Saber briefly mentions encountering a grim reaper like being while she was in the Graveyard zone, after she was sent there following a card effect. In the first Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, that very same creature - the "Reaper of the Cards" haunts the Graveyard and hunts down Joey and Tristan while Yugi is playing a Shadow Game against Bakura.
    • "FATED BATTLE" features a unique summon called Integration Link Summon. This is not the first Integration Summon to be used, however.
    • Over-Link Summon can be considered Link Summon's answer to Accel Synchro, as it requires two Link Monsters and the user themselves must fulfill a specific requirement; Clear Mind for Synchro, and a powerful Link Sense for Link.
• Platonic Life-Partners: Hakuno and Nameless, along with Shinji and Drake. Nameless is more or less an older brother sibling to Hakuno, and Drake is Shinji's friend.
• Pirate: The Fur Hire Deck and Francis Drake. Lampshaded by Shinji, as he refers to his Monsters as members of his and Rider's crew.
• Put on a Bus: Yusaku is introduced early in the story and is given major focus in "ENCOUNTER." However, his role becomes diminished after he finds Shoichi Kusanagi and the two form a partnership to go after the Knights of Hanoi, with his last on-screen role being during the start of the VRAINS International Tournament.
• Secret Secret-Keeper: Following the Zaizen Sisters encounters with Dead Face Julius, Akira decides to ban them from LINK VRAINS until he's caught. Moments later, he teases Aoi about this and calls her by her Avatar's name, shocking her greatly.
• Serious Business/Duels Decide Everything: As is the case with most Yu-Gi-Oh! works, but justified if the words of the Servants are to be believed. While Servants and their Masters would otherwise duke it out like how they normally would in the Moon Cell, they must abide by the rules of the World they inhabit. This is even reflected by the fact that the Servants, barring Elizabeth, have all become Duel Monsters.
• Shout-Out:
  • Characters from Accel World appear as Link Monsters. So far, two of the Kings of Pure Color have appeared: Black Lotus as "Black King: Negas Nebula" and Yellow Radio as "Yellow King: Cosmic Clown." In "FATED BATTLE," Hakuno shows off two more Kings of Pure Color; the Blue King ("Blue King: Knight Leonidas") and the Green King ("Green King: Great Wall").
  • Hakuno bashing her forehead into the ground so hard that she bled brings to a mind a certain scene from Kamen Rider Build, namely Kazumi Sawatari showing off Grease Blizzard.
• Tournament Arc: The VRAINS International Tournament/Championship, depending on the writer's choice of words at the time. It's stated to be a mini-arc within the primary one.
• Vengeful Ghost: What Dead Faces are, with Julius being the prime example. He wants revenge for Hakuno killing him in his world, despite the fact that she is not the one who killed him. By default, Dead Faces exist only to hate the world and the living who inhabit it.
• World-Healing Wave: The end goal and result of the duel between Hakuno and Twice, using the power of the Moon Cell to repair the damage done by Zepar. While it does not bring back the lives of the people lost during the events of the arc, it is better than leaving the world of VRAINS for a slow and painful death.
• Your Days Are Numbered: According to Twice, this would be the fate of the world of VRAINS. Since Zepar was tearing both the Artificial World of LINK VRAINS and VRAINS Gaea apart and attempting to fuse them together, the damage done would have left the world on its death woes. It wouldn't have happened immediately, perhaps taking hundreds if not thousands of years, but it would have died eventually.

Fate/VRAINS — Laplace

• Adaptational Early Appearance: Aoi's second avatar, Blue Girl, appears in Laplace's version of the events of Season 1, albeit undergoing Adaptation Name Change.
• Adaptation Name Change: In Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS Season 2, Aoi's second avatar was called Blue Girl. Here, it's named Lapis.
• Archaic Weapon for an Advanced Age: Several duelists have begun to utilize one of the earliest known unique Summons, that being Ritual Summon. TURN-02 has Yusaku, Hakuno and Alkaid using Ritual Summon during their respective turns. The latter is by far the most proficient in this regard as he uses an archetype chock full of Ritual Monsters.
• Atrocious Alias: The first chapter introduces a character named Kara Kuri...who uses the Karakuri archetype. Aoi figures out he named his avatar after his own deck, simply by putting his name and the effects of the first card he played together before he even summoned a Karakuri monster.
• Big Bad: The Knights of Hanoi are the major antagonists of Laplace, targeting and attacking anyone in possession of Cyberse cards.
• Fantastic Racism: Downplayed in that the Knights of Hanoi aren't so much racist as they are hellbent on destroying anything relating to Cyberse out of fear, given the results of Professor Kogami's simulations. According to Yusaku and Shoichi, ever since Cyberse cards began to pop out of the woodwork in the recreated VRAINS, the Knights of Hanoi have been hunting down anyone who uses the archetype.
• Light Is Good: Aside from her Trickstar monsters, Aoi incorporates two new LIGHT Attribute monsters into her deck: Counter Fairy and a fanfic original Cyberse archetype Silver Streak. Nero also exchanges her iconic red dress for a white bodysuit.
• Surfer Dude: Aoi's new ace monster is called "Silver Streak Sky Surfer." And as its name implies, its riding atop a surf board.
• Time Skip: Laplace is set six months after the events of Fate/VRAINS.
• Uniqueness Decay: Cyberse Monsters were only used by certain characters in the main series, mainly the Ignis and their Origins, with Pandor and Revolver being key exceptions. With the creation of the new SERAPH VRAINS, Cyberse cards have been appearing all over the place, now widely used by anyone who finds them. This ends up being a plot point in Laplace, as the Knights of Hanoi now target anyone who uses Cyberse cards.
• Wham Episode: The second chapter shows off Servants new and old, some of which have undergone changes. Nameless is now called EMIYA (And according to Word of God, his current form is him representing him being "midway on the path of the Second Magus Killer) and two Servants shown this chapter are not Link Monsters. Tamamo went from being one to a Ritual Monster and Robin Hood is an Xyz Monster, showing that Servants aren't necessarily restricted to being Link Monsters.
• Wham Line: Two-fold in TURN-02. Alkaid reveals his true identity upon summoning his ace monster: Servant Archer - Robin Hood. Dan Blackmore, one of Hakuno's opponents from the Moon Cell Holy Grail War, is now once again her enemy, and by extension Yusaku's as he is part of the Knights of Hanoi.
• What Is This Feeling?: Non-romantic variant. Hakuno notes how she gets an odd feeling around Yusaku and Playmaker and feels as if they are connected to each other, but she doesn't understand why.
• World of Weirdness: Zigzagged. Following the creation of the New World, the Moon Cell can be seen in perfect view in the sky by everyone, not to mention the fact that it is implied that traversing to VRAINS has changed drastically to the point that most people, after having spent six months living in the New World, have come to accept it as part of their everyday life. That said, scientists are still trying to rationalize and figure out how such a thing is even possible.

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