Prideshipping

"Yugi... You always surpass your opponent's expectations. In the heat of battle, you analyze their strategy and gamble on a strategy that reads between the lines. Even when everything seems hopeless, you win battle after battle with a smile on your face, even going so far as to humiliate me."

- Seto, monologuing internally

Prideshipping is the slash ship between Seto Kaiba and Yami Yugi/Atem from the Yu-Gi-Oh! fandom.

School
Atem, whose soul resides in the body of Yugi Mutou, challenges Seto to a game of Duel Monsters following Seto's theft of the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" card of Sugoroku Mutou, Yugi's grandfather. However, Atem makes the duel a Shadow Game, where the monsters come to life when summoned and the loser suffers a Penalty Game, which Seto finds deeply fascinating. Seto attempts to use "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" to win, but the monster, remaining loyal to Sugoroku, refuses to attack and destroys itself. Atem then revives it with "Monster Reborn" and uses it to defeat Seto. He subsequently inflicts the "Experience of Death" Penalty Game on Seto, causing him to believe he has been imprisoned in a card and sent to the Duel Monsters Spirit World, where he repeatedly faces death at the hands of monsters. Atem hopes that through this experience, Seto will come to understand the heart of the cards.

Death-T
Seto eventually wakes from the illusion, although he frequently experiences nightmares about it. In order to get his revenge on Atem, Seto creates Death-T, a park consisting of a series of deadly games, and forces Yugi to go through them in exchange for his grandfather's life. Yugi and his friends clear three stages, and Atem emerges in the fourth stage to defeat Mokuba Kaiba, Seto's younger brother, in a game of Capsule Monster Chess. Following his win, Seto makes contact with Atem and says that he has been waiting for him, to which Atem angrily replies that he is on his way to Seto. As per Death-T rules, the loser is subjected to a virtual recreation of the Penalty Game which Atem had inflicted on Seto, but Atem saves Mokuba from the punishment. Atem's compassion causes Mokuba to think about how Seto has changed for the worst after they were adopted, and he wonders if Atem could return Seto to his past self.

In the final stage, which consists of a game of Duel Monsters, Atem faces Seto, who congratulates him for getting to the final stage but states that Atem will probably not make it out alive. Nevertheless, after a heated battle, Atem manages to defeat Seto with "Exodia". Atem then inflicts the "Mind Crush" Penalty Game on Seto, which shatters his heart and destroys the evil part of it, leaving him in a coma. After Mokuba discloses his and Seto's story to Atem, detailing how Seto has changed throughout the years, Atem tells him that Seto is now reassembling the shattered puzzle of his heart and will return once the puzzle is completed.

Duelist Kingdom
During the Duelist Kingdom tournament organized by Pegasus J. Crawford, Atem encounters Mokuba, who tells him that Seto's comatose state has negatively affected the management of their company, Kaiba Corporation, and Pegasus is planning to take over it. After Atem promises Mokuba that he will defeat Pegasus, Saruwatari, who works for Pegasus, apprehends Mokuba and has Atem duel the Ventriloquist of the Dead. The ventriloquist impersonates Seto through a puppet, which he claims contains Seto's vengeful soul. Atem initially sees the puppet as a mockery of Seto, who, he says, is one of the greatest duelists he has ever met, but when the ventriloquist uses Seto's stolen deck and summons "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", Atem begins to worry that Seto did give up his soul for revenge, and he wonders if they will forever be arch-rivals. Although Atem manages to destroy the dragon, the ventriloquist summons a second one. Seto, however, wakes from his coma and since his will resides in his cards, the dragon refuses to attack Atem and destroys itself. Atem is surprised at first but suspects this is due to Seto. Atem then revives the dragon with "Monster Reborn" and uses it to defeat the ventriloquist. A furious Atem subsequently inflicts a Penalty Game on the ventriloquist for stealing Seto's cards and playing with his soul.

On his way to get Mokuba back from Pegasus, Seto thinks about his duel with Atem in Death-T and remembers how Atem's battling had been splendid, wishing to duel him again regardless of his feelings of revenge. When Seto arrives on the Duelist Kingdom island and meets Yugi, the latter returns his deck which Atem had retrieved from the ventriloquist. Before leaving for Pegasus' castle, Seto says that he will be the one to defeat Pegasus and take back what he almost lost, but Yugi then switches to Atem, who says that he and his friends also have precious things they want to protect and he will be the one to beat Pegasus.

When Pegasus makes contact with Seto, the latter demands that he give Mokuba back, and Pegasus agrees under the condition that Seto defeats Atem in a duel first. Seto later thinks about Atem's victory in Death-T and wonders if people can be stronger when they are carrying the weight of protecting somebody. With saving Mokuba in mind, Seto challenges Atem to a duel, which he accepts. However, when Seto realizes that he is losing the duel and fears that he will not be able to save Mokuba, he threatens to jump to his death should Atem attack him. He claims that if their positions were reversed, he would not hesitate to attack to achieve victory. Although hesitant at first, Atem decides to attack after remembering that he has to save Sugoroku whose soul was trapped in a video tape by Pegasus, but Yugi stops him and Kaiba wins on the next turn. It is later revealed that this battle had scarred Atem when Yugi and his friends find the memory behind a door in Atem's soul room, with Yugi commenting on the pain as he approached the door and saw what was beyond it.

When Pegasus defeats Seto and traps his soul in a card like he did with Mokuba, Yugi realizes that Seto had been fighting to save Mokuba and gets angry at Pegasus. He then switches to Atem who warns Pegasus that he will not forgive him and vows to defeat him. When his friend, Hiroto Honda, asks Atem if he can save the Kaiba brothers, Atem promises himself that although Seto may forever be his enemy, he will save him and Mokuba. Before Atem's duel with Pegasus, he requests that the brothers' souls be freed if he wins, to which Pegasus states that it is odd that Atem wants to save his enemy, but agrees anyway. After Pegasus loses, he keeps his word and releases them. When Seto and Mokuba reunite, an apparition of Seto's younger self completes the puzzle of his heart, and Atem comments that Mokuba must have been the final piece. Seto then thanks Yugi for saving Mokuba and asks him to tell Atem that their battle is still unfinished since they are yet to face each other in a fair duel.

Battle City
On separate occasions, Seto and Atem each come across an ancient Egyptian stone tablet depicting a priest and a pharaoh who resemble Seto and Atem, and above them are monsters resembling their signature monsters, "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" and "Dark Magician". While Seto is skeptical of the tablet's authenticity, Atem realizes that he is the pharaoh and Seto is the priest. Ishizu Ishtar then tells Seto about the Three Legendary God cards, two of which were stolen, and asks him to host a tournament to find the stolen cards before giving him the one she possesses, "The God of the Obelisk". Seto subsequently hosts the Battle City tournament, and Atem decides to participate in order to learn more about his past life.

During the tournament, Atem is challenged to a duel by The Doll who is being controlled by Marik Ishtar, Ishizu's misguided brother and the holder of the other God cards, "Slifer the Sky Dragon" and "The Sun Dragon Ra". When Marik summons "Slifer the Sky Dragon", Atem is unable to find a way to defeat it and drops to his knees, doubting that he can win. However, Seto finds him and orders him to get back on his feet and live up to his reputation as a proud duelist, as he refuses to watch him miserably lose. He adds that their road of battle goes farther than the eye can see and that Atem cannot give up here. Seto then helps Atem out by pointing out a limit to the power of "Slifer the Sky Dragon", which enables him to win the duel. Atem receives "Slifer the Sky Dragon" as per the ante rule, and Seto challenges him to a duel. However, they are interrupted by The Doll, still under the control of Marik, who warns Atem that his friends are in danger. Atem postpones the duel and runs to find his friends, and Seto comments that Atem chose his friends over his pride.

Seto then catches up to Atem who was challenged to a duel by two of Marik's Rare Hunters. Since the Rare Hunters are unable to decide who will face Atem first, Seto suggests that they make it a tag duel and assures Atem that he is pairing up with him to get rid of the Rare Hunters and not because he cares about Atem's friends. Seto quickly defeats both Rare Hunters with "The God of the Obelisk" and offers to trace the location of Atem's friend, Katsuya Jonouchi, with Kaiba Corporation's satellite system. Before they can get to him, Seto and Atem are confronted by two other Rare Hunters, Mask of Light and Mask of Darkness, who were ordered by Marik to duel them in a tag duel. While Mask of Darkness and Mask of Light's strategy is based on teamwork, Seto refuses to work as a team with Atem, which hinders his and Atem's performance. However, after Atem shows him the power of unity, Seto accepts that they must rely on teamwork to win, and they work together to summon "The God of the Obelisk", which Seto uses to defeat Mask of Darkness. Atem urges Mask of Light to surrender now that his partner is gone but Seto insists on attacking him. Marik, however, takes control of Mask of Light and instructs Atem to come to where his friends is and duel Katsuya who has been possessed by Marik.

Seto takes Atem to Katsuya as he wants to know Atem's answer to whether the power of unity would still stand if he is forced to fight a friend. However, when Seto realizes that the duel has been set up to kill the one who loses, he says that he does not want to know the answer if this is the price, but before he can rescue them, Mokuba is taken hostage by a Rare Hunter who threatens to kill him if Seto interferes. Yugi asks Atem to let him fight the duel instead and manages to break Marik's hold over Katsuya while Seto saves Mokuba. Once the duel concludes with everyone alive, Seto asks Yugi to tell Atem that they have given him the answer and that he will see Atem at the Domino Stadium.

During Seto and Ishizu's duel in the quarter-finals, Ishizu remarks to herself that Seto has no chance of winning, having previously predicted his loss. As Seto starts to worry, Atem calls out to him, saying that he can see the road that leads to their battle, and Battle City is not over until he and Seto fight that battle, paralleling the moment when Seto encouraged Atem while he was facing "Slifer the Sky Dragon" and had lost hope. Seto then tells Atem to wait for him and goes on to win the duel.

To determine the match-ups for the semi-finals, the remaining finalists consisting of Seto, Atem, Katsuya, and Marik, who has been taken over by his malevolent split personality Yami Marik, face each other in a four-way duel. Seto hopes to face Atem in the semi-finals to fulfil their rivalry and gain an advantage over Yami Marik in the final round by winning Atem's God card. However, Atem decides to face Katsuya in the semi-finals, which causes Seto to taunt the latter, falsely claming that Atem is showing him sympathy by choosing to face him since Katsuya has no chance of making it to the final round anyway. Seto and Atem end up being the last two standing in the duel and are to face each other in the second match of the semi-finals after Katsuya and Yami Marik's duel.

After Katsuya's duel with Yami Marik leaves him unconscious, Atem is deeply affected by his condition but goes to face Seto anyway. Although Seto takes an early lead in the duel by drawing his God card first, Atem counters his attempts to summon it and manages to summon "Slifer the Sky Dragon", much to Seto's surprise. Seto eventually summons "The God of the Obelisk" and has his God attack Atem's God, but since the two Gods were left with the same attack points, they destroy each other. This causes Seto and Atem to have an out-of-body experience, finding themselves in ancient Egypt, where they witness part of a battle between Priest Seto and Pharaoh Atem. When the priest and the pharaoh use their Millennium Items to summon "The White Dragon" and "Dark Magician" respectively, Seto and Atem recognize the scene as the one depicted on the ancient Egyptian tablet. They are then returned to reality, and they come to understand that they are fated to duel each other. However, while Atem believes the vision to be a memory from his past, Seto declares that it was simply an illusion. As they continue to duel, Seto says that his own past is filled with hatred and anger, and by defeating Atem, whom he considers to be a creature of the past, he will trample on his detestable past and rise to the top to become the king of duelists. Atem, in turn, replies that Seto may pile hate over hate to reach the top but he will never achieve true victory; he will only find himself in an endless chain of hatred, wandering forever and seeking the next thing to hate. Atem adds that he will defeat Seto and exorcise his madness, both as a rival and as a friend. He then goes on to destroy all three of Seto's "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" with "Dark Paladin", winning the duel. As a stunned Seto reflects on his loss, Atem says that although one of them won and the other lost, there is no difference in their abilities. When Seto interprets this as pity, Atem responds that he recognizes Seto's talent as a duelist and attributes his defeat to the hatred that resides in him. He says that once Seto is able to defeat his inner demons, he will be able to walk the road to becoming a true duelist. Atem also admits that he has been able to reach this far because he had a rival like Seto to challenge him, and he knows it is the same for Seto, which leads him to wonder what exactly is Seto to him: his rival or his friend. Seto then gives Atem "The God of the Obelisk" as per the ante rule and states that Atem is not allowed to lose in the finals.

As Atem prepares for his duel with Yami Marik, Seto meets Ishizu who tells him that Atem needs his help to beat Yami Marik's God card. Seto is, however, disinterested so Ishizu asks him if he translated the carvings on the ancient Egyptian tablet and explains that the tablet bears an elegy to the pharaoh, signed by his true friend, the priest, who created the tablet as a symbol of their friendship following the pharaoh's death. Seto is dismissive of this but realizes that Ishizu is willing to die if Atem does not win and she cannot save Marik from Yami Marik, and he remembers that he was willing to do the same for Mokuba in his duel with Atem in Duelist Kingdom. He then decides to help Atem by giving him the "Devil's Sanctuary" card, which will increase Atem's chances of winning if he figures out how to use it. When Yami Marik attacks Atem with "The Sun Dragon Ra", planning to defeat him, Atem manages to play Seto's card to counter the attack. While Seto is stunned that Atem managed to draw the card right when he needed it, Atem says that he felt Seto's soul meet his when he touched the card. After Marik is able to overpower Yami Marik, he apologizes for his crimes and surrenders, which destroys Yami Marik, and Atem is declared the winner. Seto congratulates Atem, saying that defeating Marik has earned him the title of duel king, and Atem internally says that he could not have won without the card Seto gave him. Before leaving Atem and his friends, Seto says that he will let Atem be the king of duelists for now, to which Atem simply smiles.

With the tournament over, Seto and Mokuba plan to destroy the tower where the finals were held since it was built on the ruins of their abusive stepfather's military base. As they leave after initiating the self-destruction of the tower, Seto thinks about how Atem has fought all the people who would lead him to understand his past, and he contrasts this with how he himself has been fighting his grudge against his stepfather, buried deep in his heart. He wonders if he was able to defeat those feelings and what his future holds. As Seto leaves in his jet and Atem in the airship, Seto internally says that their battle is not over yet while Atem internally salutes Seto.

Ceremonial Battle
Following Atem and Yugi's duel, Atem passes on to the afterlife but Seto and Mokuba arrive too late to see him leave.

TRANSCEND GAME
TRANSCEND GAME is a special two-part story in the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga, serving as a link between the end of the manga and the movie, ''Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions''

Kaiba Corporation has been working on a new duel disk model, the Neurons virtual reality system, which links the consciousness of duelists around the world and enables them to duel each other in the Duel Links world. When Mokuba informs Seto that test subjects' neuro-signals are being drawn to an unknown consciousness, Seto recognizes it as a dimensional ascension and accesses Duel Links via a VR pod. In Duel Links, he boards his jet to fly to the ascension and thinks about how the gathering of the neurons' consciousness amplifies the frequency infinitely, which evolves them into a superior consciousness, ascending to a higher-level dimension, which is where "he" is. As Seto approaches an apparition of Atem in the darkness, he summons his "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" and says that he shall illuminate the infinite darkness. However, before he can reach him, Mokuba performs an emergency shutdown on the Duel Links network, as Seto's amplified brain activity put his life in danger. Seto wakes up panting in his VR pod and convinces himself that it was not an hallucination and that he really saw Atem.

The Dark Side of Dimensions
The ''Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions movie takes place six months after the end of the Yu-Gi-Oh!'' manga

In his continued attempts to reawaken Atem in order to duel him, Seto makes a virtual reconstruction of him, based on his own memories of Atem, and they engage in a duel in a virtual church-like setting. Although the duel ends in Seto's victory, he is still frustrated, deeming the duel to be imperfect because despite having accurately recreated Atem, it is not the real him. Mokuba then informs him that they found the disassembled Millennium Puzzle, which had previously housed Atem's soul before Yugi solved it and Atem began residing in his body. The puzzle was shattered and buried underground in the Mortuary Temple when Atem passed on to the afterlife, and Seto had commissioned an excavation to retrieve the pieces of the puzzle as he intends to reassemble it, thinking it would revive Atem. Seto arrives at the Mortuary Temple where he engages in a duel with an intruder, Aigami. Seto is outperformed at first but decides that he cannot lose since he still has to face Atem. He then summons "The God of the Obelisk", which surprises Aigami due to it being the pharaoh's monster. However, the duel is interrupted and Aigami manages to acquire two pieces of the puzzle, one of which he gives to his sister Sera, who, in turn, gives it to Yugi.

As the puzzle gets reconstructed by a computer, Seto internally tells Atem to wait for him. After the computer reports that two pieces are missing, Seto figures out that one piece is in Aigami's possession and the other in Yugi's. He finds Yugi and shows him the nearly-reassembled puzzle, expressing his desire to face Atem and demanding that Yugi call Atem after the puzzle is completed.

After Yugi defeats Aigami and obtains the other piece, he engages in a duel with Seto, who is bent on facing Atem. During the duel, Yugi completes the puzzle to demonstrate that Atem's soul is no longer inside it, but Seto refuses to accept this, saying that he will defeat Yugi and bring Atem back. However, the duel is interrupted by a mutated and corrupted Aigami, leading Seto and Yugi to team up and duel him in a Shadow Game where the players fade away as they lose life points. Seto loses when he redirects Aigami's attack on Yugi to himself, but before disappearing, he hands Yugi the puzzle and urges him to call Atem back. As Yugi loses consciousness, Atem takes control of his body and continues the duel, summoning "Palladium Oracle Mahad" to defeat Aigami, who reverts to his normal self. Atem and Yugi then split into separate bodies and share a smile, after which Atem returns to the afterlife with the puzzle. Seto returns and is pleased after hearing Yugi and his friends talk about Atem's return. After Yugi exclaims that Seto never stopped believing in Atem, Seto bids Yugi farewell.

Seto later uses his technology in conjunction with Aigami's Quantum Cube to travel to Atem's palace in the afterlife. He walks to the throne room and stops before Atem's throne, activating his duel disk. Atem rises from his throne and replies with an impressed smile.

Fanon
Despite being one of the most popular pairings in the Yu-Gi-Oh! fandom, Prideshipping is often considered to be unhealthy since the rivalry between Seto and Atem is constantly fueled by Seto's obsessive, and sometimes destructive, desire to conquer Atem at dueling. Seto will often go to extreme lengths to duel Atem, even going as far as traveling to where Atem is in the afterlife, and the two are often referred to as eternal rivals that not even death can part.

However, it has been argued that their relationship goes beyond their rivalry and Seto's obsession with Atem since they share a mutual respect and have been a means of growth for each other, both strategically and personally, as they not only push each other's limits, but they also provide each other with the reality checks they need. While Atem has made Seto confront the harsh truths he had tried to deny or bury, Seto has asked Atem the hard questions he had not considered or did not wish to face. They have also been a mutual source of encouragement during their duels with other people, as could be seen in the Battle City arc, when they reminded each other that they could not lose to anyone before their destined duel, resulting in them achieving victory.

The outcome of their implied duel at the end of The Dark Side of Dimensions has been the subject of differing interpretations, and fanworks often explore its continuation. Some believe that Seto would win since he has learned all of Atem's strategies and has seemingly evolved since their last duel, while others believe that Atem knows Seto better than anyone and would most likely defeat him again. The general consensus, however, is that the duel would most likely end in a draw, due to the implication that their rivalry is eternal, and it is part of their destiny to keep dueling each other for eternity.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

Trivia

 * The pairing is named so because Seto and Atem are both prideful and will do anything they can to protect and defend their pride as duelists.