Dank Memes and Broken Dreams

**Dank Memes and Broken Dreams**, previously known as **the unnamed Dark Magician Backstory Fanfic** and formally known as **Yu-Gi-Oh! The Extended Edition Presents: Dank Memes and Broken Dreams**, is a fanfic in the Yu-Gi-Oh! The Extended Edition series. It details the backstory of Dark Magician.

Taking place over 5,000 years ago in ancient Egypt, the fanfic explores the life of Mahad, Dark Magician's human form, as well as his fellow High Priests and, of course, his beloved Pharaoh.

## Conception and writing

As Dark Magician was whacked repeatedly with the character development stick, the Author showed interest in explaining how he got to be the answagonist he was today. Work on the fanfic began in November of 2015, with the original plan being to get the fanfic out by February 19th, 2016, the 1-year anniversary of the series.

The story ran into numerous roadblocks, not at all helped by an onslaught of jolliness from Kringle, and was postponed. The Author did not forget about it, however, and would give small edits here and there, describing the writing process as; "writing one line of sentences, then screaming".

On March 27th, 2016, the Author announced to the Other Author her intentions to scrap the current draft, which was 25% done by the Author's guess. According to her, the reasons for the scrapping were largely issues with pacing and how the story was written; the plot itself had nothing to do with it, and would remain unchanged.

On May 28th, 2016, a post claiming to be the fanfic was posted to the official tumblr, remarking that it was too long to put in one post, and was being split into chapters. The post was taken down approximately 10 minutes later, with the Author citing the post as having been the rough draft of the first chapter, which had been proposed to be deleted. The TRUE and HONEST first chapter was uploaded shortly thereafter.

As of now, the Author has a "rough plot skeleton" for the story, which she marks as having "6 of the 21 points complete". The fanfic is uploaded in pieces on the official tumblr, due to it's sheer length.

## Plot

### **Chapter 1: Once Upon a Time...**

The story opens with Thief King Bakura in an Egyptian Walgreens, seeking out Whitening Lightning Super Booster Whitening Pens for Zorc Necrophades. There, he quickly spots Mahad, and steals his Millennium Ring, before then purchasing the Whitening Lightning Super Booster Whitening Pens. While attempting to chase Bakura down, Mahad crashes into Mana, who is revealed to be his only friend. Mahad reluctantly agrees to let Mana help him track Bakura, but the two ultimately fail to find him.

Realizing he is late to the Heartsweet Selection Ceremony, Mahad quickly leaves Mana and rushes to the Rad Rave Pyramid, where Pharaoh Atem and the other High Priests have gathered. Mahad attempts to get the Priests attention in regards to his kidnapped Ring, but they disregard him, stating that Thief King Bakura is merely a myth, "like the Easter Jackal, Canada, and Kisara", the last one earning an irate response from Seto. The Pharaoh then arrives, late, and takes to his throne before beginning the ceremony.

While the Pharaoh quickly narrows the pickings down to just Seto and Mahad, Bakura re-enters the Pyramid, seeking to show off his loot. He then uses a RIDDLE to flood the Pyramid, nearly drowning everyone inside, until Mahad pulls the plug and drains the water out, nearly drowning in the process. The Priests are far more concerned with Pharaoh Atem (who caught a mild cold) than Mahad, who steps outside...

## Trivia

* This fanfic marks the only appearance of the Pharaoh's High Priests.
* The fanfic reveals that Kisara, the spirit of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, is Canadian. This also means the dragon itself is Canadian.
* According to the author, this may end up being the longest fanfic in the series, due to all the plot.
* March 15, the date of Egypt Prom, is a date well-known in fiction for being a day of misery; March 15 is also the Ides of March, Annoy Squidward Day, and the day Denzel Crocker lost his happiness.
* The fanfic's name, Dank Memes and Broken Dreams, comes from a post the Other Author made on Miitomo.
* This is the first fanfic to update on the tumblr as it is written.
* The fanfic's theme song, as shown in the first chapter, is Happy! Smile! Hello! from Panyo Panyo Di.Gi.Charat.