meant to be an experimental piece so it looks pretty off
lore dump:
During the barian invasion act they both regain their memories of their past love, however the duels were too much for Naomi and she knew she couldn't take much more, yet she kept it a secret from Astral. Her heart soon gave out, leaving Astral devastated from losing her once again.
She will return to Astral World once Astral used the Numeron Code to revive everyone, this time being able to turn into her astral being form.
I'm honestly kinda sad that this is it... that I must now wait another few months before the next Zexal Tumblr event and I must return to writing webcomics. Sigh
Firstly, thankyou so much to mods Fla, Hollow, and to everyone else doing Zexal OC week! I'm so amazed by all the eipc OCs and everyone's character writing skills, and I feel so much less worried about joining the yume community now.
Speaking of the yume community... (sorry that was a terrible transition, ik)
I appologise for my messy handwriting. Here's a blank version of the chart for anyone interested: linked here.
I love them so much, there are so many little details about Yuka I need to talk about and a lot went into her chesmisty with Quinton. I am still writing my fic, but unfortunatly I usually don't post fics until I've got a decent amount of chapter pre-written soooo.... keep an eye out lol
I've got Zexal fan theories*, Yu-Gi-Oh-wide timeline ideas, character analyses to make, a possible AU?
I really do want to post more, I know a lot of people complain about using social media too much but I really do want to post more. I love the sense of community here and I need an excuse to draw Zexal/Zexal OC art. I worry that 90% of my posts will end up just being Quinton gifs, but let's not worry about that
*Since it's the final day, and a free day, I just need to talk about Yu-Gi-Oh DM (I'm so sorry already)
I've already talked about how I think Nash's United Lands of the Posiedon Ocean is a rebuilt Atlantis as we see in DM. Now, of course, the timeline is a bit strange with Dartz's Atlantis coming first, Ancient Egypt/Millennium World after, then Nash's ULPO, then Yu-Gi-Oh DM, (then GX, but not 5Ds because of course the timeline reset plot) then Zexal, then Zark splits the timeline.
One of my favourite theories is that the shadow power/magic from Yu-Gi-Oh DM is Chaos. Essentially, Chaos is sealed away by Atem, and the Earth is left only with a limited amount of Chaos power. This continues up until the race for the Numeron Code and Astral returning Chaos to the Earth, resulting in humanity regaining the power that the Egypytains once used for shadow games, but this time without limitations, leading to Zark and the timeline split.
So in theory, Yuka/Polaria has her first incarnation in Egypt. She then continues to be reincarnated until Polaria in ULPO, where she becomes an Astral being. She then watches over Earth throughout the events of DM and GX, 5Ds where she sacrifices herself and is then cast down to Earth to become Yuka.
And I wrote like five more paragraphs explaining a timeline theory I have, but it's 2am now (when I wrote this, not when I'll post it), I'm going insane, and I'm going to save the rest of what I wrote for an actual theory post.
So remember when I said how the Shinori family had a long family history? Well! It's a family of Astral Beings, Barians, humans, and hybrids!
A good some hundred years ago the second Giver of Life (see my Zexal Month 2024 Originality entry for context) witnessed an Astral Being sneaking to Earth. Curious she snuck to follow secretly and had been stunned to see that the Astral Being was meeting a Barian. Unable to contain her curiosity the Giver of Life made herself known, frightening the two though the Barian was quick to shield the Astral Being making the Giver of Life ever more curious.
She assured them that she was not going to hurt them but asked about their situation. Cautious, the two revealed that the two were lovers in their past lives as humans and had been cruelly torn apart before their deaths. But they reunited on this spot after their reincarnations and upon realizing who they were they frequently snuck away from their home worlds to see each other. The Giver of Life was stunned by this and couldn't help but wonder how many other Barians and Astral Beings were like the two before her and unintentionally fighting each other. Making up her mind the Giver of Life decided to help these two to remain on Earth posing as humans in order to stay together and be far from the war.
The couple had been stunned but graciously thanked the Giver of Life who helped them acquire land and human forms while also giving them the given name Shinori. Over time the Giver of Life met other Astral Beings and Barians who did not wish to fight in a war they had no knowledge of and with assistance, in secret, she helped these beings go to Earth becoming part of the Shinori family. Over time some even fell for humans and so the Shinori grew to the modern day. Over the course of time members of the Shinori family branched out across the world some of the older members chose to remain on the old Shinori land leaving the future to the newer generation. In the current era hybrids were the more common blood and form with some members having either dominant or recessive portions of Astral Being and Barian heritage which brings to our Shinori sisters.
Hotaru is half human and half Astral Being her powers are based on fire with shadows from her past life. Because of it she can travel through shadows while at the same time able to conjure and control flames. In a way she is literally an embodiment of flames. She has minor healing abilities but she’s more a fighter than a healer.
Manami is half human and half Barian with her powers based on water with lightning from her past life. Thanks to it she’s able to breath and travel under water (she is quite literally a fish to water. You have to grab her or she’d be there until nightfall). And with her water abilities she’s a healer carrying healing and purity but her lightning is an attacking force that she can shoot with terrifying precision. Due to her being born prematurely her powers were a bit unstable and did harm on her body. But thankfully has a much better handle with them over the years thanks to her Uncle.
And finally we have Darka who is in fact an Astral Being, Barian, and human hybrid, this form due to her two past lives. She holds powers of light and darkness, the bridge of harmony and chaos. She has a distinct attention to life and souls but doesn't truly use those abilities unless she really has to. And due to regaining her memories of her past lives she’d unlock much more of her powers than she had ever realized.
okayy sooo I changed her lore a little, changing the way they met
the academy being the way they meet was boring sooo
Naomi had already sworn to never duel again, that because during a past duel, she pushed her heart beyond its limits, leaving her hospitalized in critical condition.
Months later, as Heartland prepared to host the tournament, Naomi's father, who longed to see his daughter smile and reclaim what she once loved, encouraged her to give it a try, she reluctantly agreed to participate, only for his sake.
Naomi managed to easily gather the heart pieces. She attended the party hosted by Heartland before the tournament. From a distance, she noticed Yuma and the others and, to her shock, saw a glowing being floating besides him. Astral noticed her as well. Though she did not approach him, the encounter left them both unsettled. Naomi disappeared into the crowd, while Astral urged Yuma to search for her. Before they could find her, the lights went out and Tron’s interference began.
After the party was over Astral caught one final glimpse of Naomi as she vanished, his curiosity only deepening.
Though Naomi continued in the tournament, her health complications forced her to withdraw midway through. From then on, she watched the remaining duels from the stadium, her attention drawn less to Yuma’s battles and more to the mysterious being at his side.
@zexalocsweeek Days 5 and 6: Back to the future + Astral vs Barian
I figured doing these two days at once made sense, but now I don't know how to explain it all.
Firstly, Yuka's character technically goes all the way back to Yu-Gi-Oh DM's ancient Egypt. But the only important information is that she somehow ends up in Nash's 'United Lands of the Posideon Ocean' ...or as I like to imagine it, Atlantis*.
Yuka's past incarnation was Polaria, Nash's royal entertainer and confidant (due to the historical association with entertainers also being basically royal gossipers who act as advisors without fear of punishment). After her death - attempting to protect her homeland from Vector - she becomes and Astral being.
This is some gorgeous art I received for Artfight last year, and I pretty much made this Polaria's design permanently.
Polaria is very attached to the Earth and to humanity, insisting she watches over the planet and its people. Eventually when Astral and Don Thousand fought, the Earth was almost destroyed in the crossfire. Polaria instead put herself between the battle and the Earth in an attempt to protect humanity.
So you know how in a previous post I mentioned Yuka's ace card is a spell card? Well, it's by using that spell card that Polaria survives, succeeding in protecting the Earth, but instead her very being is split up and cast down to Earth. Her memories and power become the X-type cards, and her soul possesses the body of a dying child (Yuka).
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*I could write a whole fan theory on this istg, like
Atlantis from YGO DM (left), United Lands of the Posideon Ocean from YGO Zexal (right)
You can't look me in the eye and tell me there is no relation. And we know that Atlantis can literally just be pulled out of the ocean as we see Dartz do. I'm not saying that ULPO *is* Atlantis, but that it was formerly Atlantis and that Nash (or whoever came before him) revived and built upon it to form ULPO.
Last year for Artfight I wrote this in Yuka's 'fun facts' section:
And the time is finally here!
Yuka's father is Doctor Abe Nagatsuka, an Ethiopian scientist who moved to Heartland to work with Byron Arclight. While in Heartland, Abe fell in love with tech developer and duelist Mika Nagatsuka, and after many years of a private and quiet relationship, they decided to have a child together. Unfortunately due to complications with the pregnancy, both Mika and the child came close to death, but (much like with Nash and Marin) Mika's life was saved when the baby was possessed by the soul of an Astral being, Polaria. Following the child's birth, Mika falls ill, leading to Abe and Mika finally getting married (yes he took her surname, I thought it was cute).
Due to her father's proximity to Byron, Yuka grows up around the Arclight brothers, learning to duel with them. Yuka, Thomas and Michael all get along well and Yuka looks up to Christopher, eventually developing a childish crush on him, though this goes nowhere. These three relationships all dissolve when Abe loses his job and the Arclight brothers push Yuka away due to Byron's 'disappearance', leading Yuka to stop duelling. Abe has to move into working under Faker doing independent research, and though he is a very supportive father, he now often works nights, meaning Yuka doesn't see him as much as he'd like.
During this time, Yuka meets and befriends Ryouga and Rio, taking on an older sister role in supporting them. She develops her sense of style and has a steady education in acting and arts, until Rio's hospitalisation. Her relationship with Christopher/Quinton becomes strained due to feeling shut out, due to Rio's condition she refuses to acknowledge Thomas/Quttro (due to her conflicting feelings of both betrayal and wanting to help him) and arguably the least conflicted relationship with Michael/Trey, who she is still friendly with though they are no longer close.
Yuka drops out of school to instead find work, hoping to support Rio and Ryouga - even throughout Zexal I. Most of the development of her reltionships come with the WDC arc.
Despite being my yumeship, I don't post about them nearly as much as I should....
Following Yuka meeting Yuma and befriending him (in hopes of getting Ryouga into better friend groups), the next major development comes when Yuka has to confront the Arclights at the World Duel Carnival. During the span of the event, Yuka goes from highly defensive to sympathetic to forgiving in attempts to repair her relationships with the brothers. And after the WDC, Yuka reaches out to the Arclights and tries to begin new friendships with them, eventually leading to her feelings for Christopher to reignite and a relationship to begin between them (but that's later seasons) ack I wanna write the fanfic now
(I've never drawn chibis before so this has been really fun and I actually really love it)
I know I'm late but I'll try to catch up on the missed days🙏😞
Naomi has a plant type ice themed deck(it's going to be fanmade, I only have her ace number done by now. I created the 'ice attribute' to fit her story, I'm aware it doesn't exist but idc)
She got her duel disk specifically custom made. Instead of a duel gazer I gave her an eye tattoo because I couldn't figure out how it would look like since she has glasses. Her left eye turns blue while dueling.
dailybridgerton
germansingergirl
blakekathryn
tangentwithtanner
