Shay Kono

Shay Kono (サエ·河野 Sae Kono), is an aspiring duelist and close friend to Yugi Muto and Téa Gardner. She loved her being with her family and was crushed

Though Shay does not posess a millenium item, she has a black choker that came from Egypt 5,000 years ago (3,000 years dub). Within the choker somehow had the spirit of a 5,000 year old Egyptian archer. At first, Shay was not strong enough to control her transformations between herself and Yami Shay because of the spirit's overwhelming power. The spirit within the choker was then able to use Shay's body for its own wishes, making her an antagonist for her first few appearances. It is later revealed that the spirit took complete control over Shay in order to search for a mysterious person.

Personality
As a duelist, Shay tends to show a very serious personality that masks her softer, more understanding self. While usually timid and quiet, she possesses a short temper and does not hesitate to use physical violence and/or surrounding objects to inflict damage to her offenders.

Design
In the first series, she has short grey hair and a green barrette accessory that contrast with her orange eyes. She usually wears a standard male Domino High uniform that is only slightly lighter in shade than that of the original.

In the second series, she has dark and messy blue hair with some hair resting on her shoulders and the rest in the back and her eyes are faded blue. Along with the majority of her outfits, she wears a black choker with a blue gem that had a 5,000(3,000 in dub) archer sealed within and a ring on her left index finger.

When Shay is at Domino High, she wears the standard female school uniform, light gray leggings, white socks, and brown shoes. During the Duelist Kingdom arc, Shay wore a gray shirt with a black undershirt, faded blue jeans. and dark green boots. She also had her hair up in a low messy ponytail.

After returning back home, her hair was put up in a ponytail. When watching Yugi and Joey Dungeon Dice Monsters against Duke Devlin, she was wearing a light green tank top, black jeans, and blue toms.

During the Battle City and the Virtual World arc, she wore a white half-long shirt, grey jeans, and black Velcro shoes. Once the Battle City finals were over, she was seen back at home wearing a long white t-shirt and black shorts.

During the Waking the Dragon arc, she wore a jockey shirt with black sleeves, blue shorts, and black sneakers. When she was in the hospital, she had her arm in an arm cylinder cast within a blue sling.

In the Capsule Monster series, she was only seen wearing the school uniform for she did not attend the trip with the gang and her arm is fine.

When the KC Grand Championship took place, Shay's arm is still in the sling. She wore a green spaghetti strap shirt with gray shorts, dark stockings, and white flats.

Yu-Gi-Oh! (First Season)
Shay has grey hair and orange eyes and usually wears her school uniform. She has never been seen dueling, but she has a more positive attitude about everything and is mutual about school. She usually looks bored during class and is spinning her pencil in her left hand. The choker was nonexistence during this series.

Duelist Kingdom
Shay made her first appearance when she was moving into her new apartment in Domino City. She seemed very anti-social and stayed away from everyone during school. She is later seen as Yami Shay who just finished dueling somebody and was holding him by the neckline. At first, Yugi and his friends were going to leave them be, but Yugi noticed the choker around her neck, so they stepped in. After they had defeated Yami Shay, they were able to reason with her to stop causing pain and suffering from dueling. After that night, she was able to transform voluntarily and considered Yugi, Joey, Tea, and Tristan as her friends.

Later on, Shay received an invitation to take place in the Duelist Kingdom tournament, but she wasn't sure about taking part of the tournament because she had no reason to attend, but then agreed to attend to help Yugi rescue his grandfather and Joey to pay for his sister's operation. During the boat journey, she stayed in her room, just thinking about the past. She decided she wasn't going to follow Yugi and Joey in the beginning because she doesn't feel comfortable with people watching her duel.

She later appeared when Joey was dueling Rex Raptor, saying to herself that he's a really crappy champion who's about to lose to an new-comer. After Joey won, she congratulated him for his victory, and left once again, saying she has more star chips to attain. She encountered Rex Raptor again, but kicked him out of her way.

She appeared again right after Yugi was defeated by Kaiba. She watched Kaiba silently as he walked away and tried to cheer Yugi up and give him her extra star chips, but he didn't seem to notice that she was there. Mai showed up after she did and offered her extra star chips, but Yugi gave her the same acknowledgement to her like he gave to Shay. When Téa dueled Mai, Shay cheered for Téa, which everyone found unusual. This moment indicated they were friends instead of rivals. After Téa's victory, they proceeded to the castle.

Shay was paired to duel Joey Wheeler the next day. They dueled after Yugi defeated Mai Valentine. Despite her best efforts and her heart in the cards, Shay lost, Joey having 25 life points left before taking out the rest of Shay's life points. She'd normally be disappointed, but decided that losing was part of life and stayed optimistic. During the finals, she cheered for Yugi. She was able to watch Yugi's duel against Pegasus from the power of her Millenium Gage, but it gave her a massive headache from all the darkness, so Yami Shay took over to watch over the Duel and Yami Yugi. She was relieved when Yugi had won and they all proceeded to the tower, where they found Pegasus' diary. While Téa was reading his diary, Shay was reading it from the side. As she progressed, she learned about Pegasus' wife Cecilia, his purpose for collecting the Millenium Items, and Kaiba Corporation technology. After learning all this information, she leaves with the others in Seto Kaiba's helicopters.

Battle City
Shay knew something was troubling Yami Shay and demanded she spit it out. After a whole bunch of bickering, Yami finally told her that she's troubled with some of her past memories and the missing memories about herself. Shay first suggested Yami should tell Yugi and the Spirit of the Millenium Puzzle about her knowledge, but Yami gave her a small speech about fate and destiny. Oblivious of what Yami had just said, Shay then suggested that they visit the Ancient Egyptian exibit that was in town to learn more. Shay finally learned that Yami was an elite female soldier that served the Pharaoh 3,000 yrs ago(5,000 yrs ago in the English version). Before departing, Ishizu said that there might be something for her a few days later. A few days later when Yugi asked Téa out, Shay teased her as she made a run back to her apartment.

Like Ishizu predicted, she received an invite to the Battle City tournament and went back to see Ishizu, who told her that she must attend to assist and protect the Pharaoh from the danger that will occur. Shay and Yami Shay got into a small argument of who would be dueling. The two finally reached the conclusion that Yami could do the dueling once Shay duels once. Her opponent was a Rare Hunter named Gavin who claimed to be after her two rarest cards, Distinct Enchanter and Cryptic Wyvern. Shay thought he must be some kind of fluke because he was a horrible Duelist, until she defeated him, when he was taken to the Shadow Realm. Yami Shay took over dueling their way into the quarter finals.

Shay was present at the Stadium before Yugi and his friends arrived. She was really surprised to see Bakura show up because she never thought of him as a Duelist before, but Yami Shay said that he wasn't the Bakura they knew and told her to be careful. Once boarding the blimp, she was starting to feel lonesome because Joey's sister Serenity was here and her brother wasn't with her. She was also experiencing a bit of air sickness and stayed in her room the entire time.

Virtual World
When the Battle City Blimp was sucked into Noah Kaiba's underwater fortress, she thought they had landed and rushed after the gang to get air. When encountering Noah and the Big Five, whom required a body in order to return to the real world, they were all separated. Shay was transported to the same place Téa was transported to, but was a few feet ahead of her hanging upside down. She was relieved when Téa showed up and helped her down. Later, they were both being chased by a group of Hitotsu-Me Giants, barely managing to escape after the bridge they were to cross broke.

When they were rescued by the penguin, Shay suggested they should go find the others, but Téa said the penguin wants them to follow it. As they followed the penguin, Shay whispers, "I hope you know what we're doing." They travel across the Virtual World, where they arrive at a temple. Inside, they meet Crump of the Big Five in the form of Nightmare Penguin. Once announcing that he requires a body to return to the real world, Shay suggested they get out now.

They tried running, but they were transported to an icy region, where they were forced to Duel standing on opposite icebergs in freezing water. Crump imposes a Duel and takes her to an icy region, where both players stand on opposite icebergs in freezing water. Both Shay and Téa are to assemble their Decks from the monitor of cards in front of them. Shay chose her Distinct Enchanter, Téa and the Dark Magician Girl, and Crump as Nightmare Penguin.

After barely defeating Crump, Shay saw Yugi and bellowed that they were over here. After Yugi gave Téa his jacket, Shay handed him her scarf as they proceed to find the others. After reuniting with everyone, Shay was left behind with Serenity, Duke, Joey, and Monkey Tristan as they attempted to catch up to the gang. They were then confronted by the remaining Big Five, who were attempting to steal their bodies. Leichter, in his Jinzo form, had chosen to take Shay's body until Noah Kaiba appeared, saving the four of them from losing their bodies. After Yugi had defeated Noah, the gang returned to the real world to resume the Battle City tournament.

Battle City Finals
Once returning, Shay attempted to return back to her room, until Kaiba stopped her saying that she hasn't made one appearance for any of the duels. Shay then asked what was he going to do about it, receiving a response of dueling against him before she makes herself disappear again. Shay agreed and said to wait for her while she takes a minute to arrange her deck. The duel started and bored Kaiba to tears as he was impatiently waiting to draw Obelisk the Tormentor, believing that he would win once he was able to summon him. Although Shay was able to summon her Cryptic Wyvern, it was no match for Obelisk. Despite attacking her directly, Shay was left with 5 life points and still had her face down, but decided she couldn't bare to see Kaiba's shocked face if he lost, so she pretended she was experiencing some air sickness and forfeited the duel.

Later, when she found Kaiba alone with Mokuba, informing him how weak Shay was to forfeit to go puke, she came in to reveal the truth. At first, Kaiba didn't believe her, until Shay showed him her face down card, Warrior's Revenge. She revealed that she couldn't bare to see Kaiba "cry" and decided to let him slip. She left the room leaving Kaiba thinking Shay took him as a fool or a weakling of some sort. It was assumed that she stayed in her room until until the gang flew back home to Domino City.

Waking the Dragons
Shay found Téa up on the school's roof and followed her to the museum, where they found Yugi. Later when the Egyptian god cards were stolen, they were led to a man named Gurimo, whom Yugi had to duel in order to get the cards back. Despite that Yugi won, they instead received Weevil and Rex's souls as an award before they left. Shay heard one of the boys hollar, "J, Let's go!" and she turned around just in time to see "J" jump into the air and following his teamates. Shay wondered who he was as she followed the gang back home.