Aiballshipping

Aiballshipping is the slash ship between Ai and Yusaku Fujiki from the Yu-Gi-Oh! fandom.

Pre-canon
Ai was first created as a result of an experiment known as the Lost Incident that was designed to create AI with free will known as the Ignis by studying the problem-solving skills of young kids, with Ai being the Dark Ignis. Yusaku was one of those kids, having been kidnapped at age 6 and forced to duel for his survival for 6 months until the incident finally ended. Because of this, Ai was aware of Yusaku's existence but Yusaku was not aware of his. Five years later, Ai's home world in the network is attacked by a terrorist organization called the Knights of Hanoi, so he seals it away and ends up on the run to protect the rest of his kind. During this time, he seeks out Yusaku, pushing him to seek revenge on the Hanoi and become a cyber vigilante known as Playmaker from the shadows so Ai has someone to protect him.

Knights of Hanoi (arc)
Five more years later, at the start of the show, Ai sets things up so he ends up "captured" by Yusaku, who realized the Ignis could be useful to his mission and holds him hostage, leading to them officially meeting for the first time. All the while, Ai pretends to have amnesia due to an attack from the Hanoi five years prior. Ai and Yusaku have a bitter relationship at first, though Ai warms up to the other rather quickly and grows to genuinely care for him, wanting to have a closer bond even while Yusaku acts deadpan and cold towards him, often telling Ai to shut up. He even grows to love the name "Ai", which Yusaku had offhandedly named him out of convenience, and soon demands everyone call him by that. However, during their time working together fighting the Hanoi, their bond starts to grow as they built trust in one another.

Near the end of the season, when it is revealed Ai lied to Yusaku about having amnesia, Yusaku is hurt, denying there being any positive relationship between the two. In order to atone, Ai sacrifices himself to help Yusaku get the card he needs to fight the Hanoi at a pivotal moment in the duel, though he manages to return soon after. By the end of the season when the Hanoi have been defeated, Yusaku releases Ai, and the two part on friendly terms.

Ignis (arc)
Three months later, Ai finds his home world, Cyberse World, destroyed, leading to him and Yusaku teaming up once again to fight a common enemy. Over time, the two become even closer, with Yusaku finally being willing to acknowledge Ai as his partner. Later, the destruction of the Cyberse World is revealed to have been an inside job started by one of the other Ignis, the Light Ignis Lightning, and he and the Wind Ignis offer Ai a chance to join them in ruling over humanity in order to prevent their destruction. However, it becomes clear to them Ai is now attached to humans through his bond with Yusaku and he suggests that he and Yusaku will find a way for AI and humans to coexist instead. This decision is what ultimately leads to the beginning of a war between the Ignis who see themselves as better than humans and the Ignis who wish to coexist.

At the end of the arc, Ai and Yusaku end up having to fight against Bohman, an AI created by Lightning designed to be the ultimate Ignis that will merge all of them together, in order to save the network once again. Ai ends up sacrificing himself again to defeat the enemy, devastating Yusaku who becomes determined to defeat Bohman for Ai's sake. By the next episode, Ai returns thanks to a back-up he had saved, but the two are unable to save the rest of the Ignis, who end up destroyed along with Bohman. This causes Ai to fall into a depression and he disappears into the network.

After the fight is over, most of the rest of the human cast has moved on, sans Yusaku, who clearly misses Ai. However, he believes that they will never see each other again, as now that Ai is no longer his hostage, he has no reason to return to him.

Ai (arc)
When Ai becomes the final antagonist and declares his plans to attack SOL Technologies, Yusaku is shocked and clearly deeply affected, but despite the situation, admits he still wants to trust Ai. He hesitates in fighting his former partner at first, but ultimately decides to join the others in stopping Ai to save him.

Later, during Ai's duel with Pandor, Ai pushes back against her attempts to read his emotions, stating he doesn't want to open up to anyone other than one specific person, who is later confirmed to be Yusaku. Once he and Yusaku finally meet for their duel, Yusaku tries to convince him to release the consciousness data of those he's defeated and go into hiding, as he doesn't want to hurt him, but Ai makes it clear there is no going back for him. With no other choice left, Yusaku agrees to duel him.

As the duel goes on, Yusaku reveals that he has figured out Ai was the one that manipulated him into taking revenge on the Hanoi in the first place. Ai admits to this, but also states that their relationship is different now, as Yusaku is the only friend he has. Over time, Ai soon reveals his true plan to Yusaku: as a result of doing multiple simulations and living through multiple futures that ended in humanity being destroyed due to his continued existence, Ai decided the only way to prevent the futures was for him to die. He then set up their duel as an elaborate suicide ploy, as he will die whether he wins or loses, though Yusaku will also die with him if he wins. He makes it clear he wants Yusaku to be the one to choose how he dies, as he wishes to be with him until that happens. Yusaku desperately tries to talk him down, but is unable to.

However, eventually Ai offers Yusaku an alternate solution: Yusaku could turn his consciousness into data and fuse with Ai, allowing the two to live together in the network for all of eternity. After some initial hesitation, Yusaku refuses, as he doesn't want them to not be themselves anymore and believes that there is no true solution to living and that what they must do is make bonds. Upon hearing this, Ai jokes that he's been been dumped, but resolves to continue the duel instead.

After drawing his final card, Ai thinks back to all of their time together throughout the show, leading to Ai asking Yusaku if he was a good partner. Yusaku agrees, saying that he was the best partner. Ai then makes his final move, which Yusaku counters, winning him the duel. As Ai is dying, Yusaku points out that Ai could've won if he hadn't played his last card and Ai tells him that he realized Yusaku had a plan, but decided it would all be fine. He then explains something he left out earlier about the simulations: in the futures he saw, Yusaku would always try to defend Ai from people who wanted to hurt him, leading to him dying every time. Ai ultimately realized that that was a future he couldn't choose no matter what. Once he starts to disappear, Ai tells Yusaku that he really liked the name he gave him and asks if he could assign it a meaning. With both of them crying, Yusaku explains to Ai that it means "to love people" which Ai agrees with, saying he understands that meaning now while looking at him with a smile. He then tells Yusaku that he loved him as he fully disappears. Back in the real world, Yusaku goes to hold Ai's empty SOLtiS body and screams his name in despair.

Three months later, it is revealed that Yusaku has gone off on a journey alone, with it being implied that he is looking for Ai, who is shown to have reformed somewhere in the network.

Fanon
Early on, the ship gained some popularity due to interest in their contrasting personalities and ships involving protagonists and their partners. However, especially in the Western fandom, the ship was not as popular as other ships due to Ai initially taking the form of a small, cartoony-looking creature as well as the major slow burn nature of their relationship during the first two arcs. The ship eventually grew majorly in popularity during the final arc, where Ai gained a more human-looking android form, and it exploded even further due to the arc's focus on their relationship. It quickly became one of the most popular ships in the VRAINS fandom, especially with Ai's confession and the emphasis on their love for each other, which many interpreted as romantic in nature.

There are many fanworks continuing with where the show left off. They usually involve Yusaku finally finding Ai and the two reuniting, leading to Yusaku confessing his feelings in return and them entering a relationship. It's also commonly agreed by shippers that Ai created his android form in order to live alongside Yusaku and get him to fall for him, as he is shown to have created that form before he decided to become a villain.

On AO3, Aiballshipping is the most written ship for Ai, and the second most written for Yusaku. It is also the second most written ship in the Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS tag.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Yusaku/Ai tag on FanFiction.Net

PIXIV

TUMBLR
 * post on Tumblr
 * on Tumblr
 * post on Tumblr
 * on Tumblr

Trivia

 * Ai is apart of Yusaku in a similar way to Yuma and Astral from Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.