d i s p e r s i o n
is an Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V fanfiction on Archive of Our Own by EntameWitchLulu. It depicts an alternate version of the story wherein the Yu-boys have the Natural Energy Bracelets while Yuzu has the Pendulum. While the plot starts similarly to the canon, quite a few things begin to change due to the Swapped Roles.
Currently stands at 76 chapters.
Tropes featured in d i s p e r s i o n include:
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Shinji Weber appears prior to his introduction to the Lancers when Rin and Yuya go to him for help fighting Academia. He turns them down, due to lack of desire to unify with the Tops.
- Adaptation Personality Change:
- Yuri, as a result of not having been groomed to be Leo's lapdog in this timeline, is more paranoid and not as sociopathic.
- As a result of Ruri's influence, Shun doesn't go around carding people.
- Adaptation Origin Connection: In this universe, Reiji introduced Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz summoning into the Standard Dimension, a feat credited to Leo in canon.
- Alternate Universe Fic: As stated by
Word of God, something occurred in Ray and Zarc's final battle that forced the latter to use the Natural Energy Cards. - Adaptational Villainy:
- Serena in this fic has the role that Yuri had in the main canon: Leo's loyal dragon.
- It's subtle, but Masumi doesn't get the same Defeat Equals Friendship with Yuzu that she did in canon.
- Beneath Suspicion: Ruri infiltrates LDS to carry out her investigation.
- Canon Immigrant: Yuya, when under the influence of his berserk side, summons Performapal Odd-Eyes Metal Claw, his ace from the junior manga.
- The Corruption: While neither Yuzu nor Yuya merged with their Xyz counterpart midway through the Miami Tournament (at least not yet), both do fall under dark influences in the second round. And then Yuzu merges with Ruri, entering a similar Berserk state to canon!Yuya.
- A Day in the Limelight: Every chapter is told from the perspective of different characters.
- Fix Fic: Defied. The author has no problems with the canon ending of Arc-V and would prefer people don't mention it.
- Fusion Dance: Yuzu and Ruri undergoing this is accompanied by their ace monsters, Bloom Bard the Melodious Knight and Lyrical Luscina - Assembled Nightingale combining into Bloom Nightingale, Knight of Requiem.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Every chapter is named after the characters from whose POV the chapter elapses.
- In Spite of a Nail: The Stations of the Canon are still intact. Yuya discovering Pendulum during a duel with Strong Ishijima is just the start of this.
- Once an Episode:
- Chapters in both "Fractured" and "Standard" start with snippets of conversation between two people, implied to be Ray and Zarc.
- Chapters in "Championship" begin with either a log entry, notes of RSV, or newspaper clippings, all implied to be related to Leo Akaba.
- Chapters in "City" all start with a letter written by what is implied and eventually confirmed to be Zarc to his deceased parents.
- Chapters in "Tourney" start with transcripts of Leo's experiments with memory technology.
- Orwellian Retcon: Following the Black Lives Matter campaign, the "Melodious Minstrel" cards created for this story were renamed "Melodious Musicians".
- Point of Divergence: It all started when Zarc used the Natural Energy Cards, per Word of God. It only snowballs from there.
- Yuzu helps Yuya get through his dad's disappearance by telling him he doesn't have to keep smiling.
- Due to Ruri being the one to go to standard instead of Yuto, she cuts down on the number of people carded.
- Yuzu catches Sora's eye at LDS and any drama is resolved by Yuzu signing him up to You Show.
- Yuya is the one who meets his best friend's Xyz counterpart. In addition, Sawatari isn't injured like in canon, due to Ruri's gentler touch.
- The inter-school duel is part of a merger of curriculums, as opposed to a hostile takeover. In addition, Yuya loses his duel against Hokuto, while Yuzu wins her duel against Masumi and is the one to face Reiji.
- Yuzu intervenes with the duel between Ruri and Rin. As a result, Ruri isn't absorbed into her until much later.
- Instead of Serena carding Xyz users under the belief they're refugees from Heartland, Yuri cards Fusion users under the belief they're spies from Academia. As a result, Hokuto wins against Mikota, and subsequently gets carded during the Battle Royal by the Obelisk Force.
- Takeda doesn't get through to the Battle Royal. Instead, Umesugi teams up with a rival of Mikiyo Naname, forming an Enemy Mine to get back at both Yuya and Yuzu to prove their worth.
- Instead of trying desperately to plead their case to a disbelieving crowd, Yuya and Rin go to some big-name Duelists (Shinji) and explain the situation. It doesn't work, but points for effort.
- Story Arc: Has had 4 so far, entitled "Fractured" (Ch 1-4), "Standard" (5-27), "Championship" (28-49), "City" (50-72), and "Tourney" (73-??).
