Yu-Gi-Oh! DF Book Seven: Their Most Dangerous Enemy - Chapter Thirteen

This chapter is really only dialogue, as Karen goes off on her own, seeking answers from Pegasus. Speaking of Pegasus, he's all somber, serious Pegasus in this chapter, which isn't really any fun to write compared to childish Pegasus, or confident gamer Pegasus (which we see next chapter, hurray for cliffhangers again!). Still, this was an interesting chapter to write, as I really tried to get into Pegasus' head and decide how he would feel about his past actions in hindsight. I think I did okay.

Also, Karen is so BAMF-y in this chapter! I love it! 

Chapter Thirteen

Teacher vs. Student;

Karen vs. Maximillion Pegasus

Digimon Reading Order

Now that there is at least one complete volume of one of my Digimon ND stories on the site I decided that it would be a good idea to post the reading order of said stories as I have with my Yu-Gi-Oh! ones, so that new readers won't have to go by the dates on the posts. Each title is a link to the first chapter of the specified book or story.

Digimon ND Special #1: The First Digidestined - Chapter One

As a bit of an interlude, here we have Digimon ND Special #1. It is only, like, four chapters long, kinda like one of the Digimon special OVA's that were like movie-length episodes. The chapters are kind of short, too. In fact, the chapters of my Digimon stories actually start getting shorter from here on out, at least for a while. They just don't need as many words to say what I need them to say, and have a lot more action pieces than character pieces for a while. In fact developing minor characters and world-building gets more of my attention going forward than developing my main characters does. They are already developed, save for Kris, who really isn't very complicated.

But I'm getting ahead of myself here. Book two isn't coming for another month. Right now we're focusing on this story, which tells the tale of how the Digimon Sovereigns came up with the idea to use humans to enhance the powers of Digimon. Unlike the rest of my stories, which take place in the "back-up file" Digital World, this one takes place in the original, the same Digital World of the original Digimon Adventure series. 

Chapter One

Glary

Yu-Gi-Oh! DF Book Seven: Their Most Dangerous Enemy - Chapter Twelve

And thus Lawrence's storyline concludes. Finally, after so much time humiliating this character, I give him a story where he grows as a character and accomplishes something. I hope I made this duel exciting. I certainly feel like it is. I love how this duel ends. I got to use a few original card ideas I've had for a while, and I got to show off what Lawrence can do when he actually puts his mind to it, and feels that he has a reason to do well. I also set up for a huge transformation to Lawrence's character at this point. He will, from now on, try to distance himself not just from Kaiba, but from Kaiba's attitude and influence. At the end of this chapter he leaves something important to him behind (well, three somethings), and that's permanent. Next time we see Lawrence duel after this, we'll see the affects of that decision.

The next chapter is Karen going to meet up with Pegasus and get clarification regarding some of the shocking things that she recently learned about him and is, peripherally, tied to the main plot. Then, surprisingly, the two of them play a card game where I feature the anime version of a card that I really wish was like the anime version IRL, as well as a slew of new Toon monsters that I made. It's the original master of Toons versus the master of field control! I mean, there is a chapter of Reaper in there again before the duel even starts, but hey, that's just how I troll.

Chapter Twelve

A Clash of Titans

Digimon Adventure ND Book One: Manipulamon Reigns - Chapter Twenty-Five

And finally, the first book in the Digimon ND series comes to a close in a chapter with lots and action (and lots of Digivolution padding, just like the show!), This chapter introduces us, briefly, to the next villain of the series. More importantly, though, it reveals the identity of the last Digidestined. Because this is the intro of this character, and technically not the villain, I don't dwell much on him here, and it's hard to get a feel for his personality. Let me put it this way for anyone who is curious about this character: where Manipulamon was smart, subtle and calculating, thinking things through, this guy is the exact opposite. He knows how powerful he is, he makes no secret of his desire to be even more powerful, and he will punch to death anyone who gets in his way. 

This chapter also introduces us to an alternate of another of my Yu-Gi-Oh! characters. Yes, that Chief Thompson is the alternate version of Detective Thompson from Reaper. At some point in Reaper (I can't remember if I've written this part yet or not, so maybe spoilers) we learn that Thompson was offered a transfer to Ohio, but he turned it down. From this story, we learn that if he'd taken it, he'd have been made a Police Chief, the stress of the job would have lessened, and he probably would have hung onto his relationship with his wife and kids. Even this mostly upbeat adventure story can serve to make Reaper even more depressing. Go figure.

We will not be going right into Book Two. First I'll be taking a break from the main story and posting a special story, akin to the specials that I've posted for Yu-Gi-Oh! DF. This special will feature characters created by some of my friends from yugiohcardmaker.net. At the time they went by frohawk and finalflash30. I don't know what they go by now, or even if they are still on the site. This story itself is an interesting one: a legend of the "Lost Digidestined" of my version of the Digital World, told as a campfire story by Mechmon.

Oh and, uh, sorry for the cliffhanger. Except not really. 

Chapter Twenty-Five

Tyranterramon

Yu-Gi-Oh! Reaper - Chapter Eight

This one was a lot harder to write than I thought. The characters have to run through a lot of emotions in a very short time. I thought that that would make things easier, since they would go from emotion to emotion more quickly, but I could not have been more wrong. Especially the big scene between Max and El near the end was hard to work through. I found my head wanting to switch gears every two seconds, every time I hit a creative snag. I think it turned out okay, especially since I spent a ton of extra time on it, even pushing the next chapter of DF Book 7 back a day to do so. I don't know, though. Read it and let me know. Either way, this one is a milestone for this story in more ways than one, and this chapter and the next one set the rest of the story into motion.

Chapter Eight

Arlen Cord

A Quick Update

I have an awful cold, so unless I catch some kind of second wind later today or something, I will be putting the new chapter of Reaper off until tomorrow, or this weekend at the very latest. Don't worry though, it's still incoming.

Digimon Adventure ND Book One: Manipulamon Reigns - Chapter Twenty-Four

This chapter is a little shorter than most, but that's because this is a chapter of transition, from the first storyline to the second, and more so, as this is the last chapter where there will be only five humans on the team. There is no action in this chapter, just character stuff and world-building, so I tried to make it humorous. Before you leave an angry comment that this chapter wasn't funny, note that I said "tried".

Chapter Twenty-Four

A New Enemy is Foreseen

Card of the Day

I have decided, because I'm an insomniac hopped up on Mt. Dew, to go back and add Card of the Day sections to all applicable DF and DF spinoff chapters. That is all. This probably didn't need to be a post...

Yu-Gi-Oh! DF Book Seven: Their Most Dangerous Enemy - Chapter Eleven

I think the added seriousness of Lawrence's quest over Monty's is apparent right away at the very start of the chapter. Kaiba is aware that Lawrence is looking for him, and he is as over the top paranoid and theatrical as ever. He even reveals details about Lawrence's past that even Lawrence didn't know. As for the duel, it takes Kaiba back to his roots, so fans of his should have a good time. It's very informative, and exciting!

I know I give Lawrence a lot of crap in my writing. The truth is, he was never really interesting, and I never originally intended him to be. He was a powerful villain. A wall for Jen and Tucker to breach in the first book. He was also there to round out a trio. Monty was clever, Karen was in control, and Lawrence was strong. When I decided to migrate Karen to the main cast, it didn't take long for me to decide to bring Monty over as well, and by then bringing Lawrence over too made sense.

But I never knew what to do with him, and he became something of the Worf of my group, getting his ass kicked to show how tough the bad guy was. His deck barely ever changed over the course of the story, either. I eventually decided to give him development, and by then I was able to use that as a source of his development. I made it so he realized his deficiencies and made a conscious decision to overcome them. That's how this storyline was born. Not to mention that I always liked the early jerkish version of Kaiba and wanted an excuse to write him with a similar attitude into my story in some manner.

I've added another new section to these chapters. If I include original cards, to remove the temptation of making the card of the day one of them every time, regardless of if they are deserving, all original cards will be displayed beneath the card of the day. 

Chapter Eleven

At Kaiba Corporation

The Last Dragonborn - The Journal of Johan Abbot Update

This is a sad day for me that I must post that Johan Abbot, my take on the character of the Dragonborn, from Skyrim, named for my old DnD character, will not get a chance to finish his story. I had been getting a lot of crashes on his save files, and even after cleaning the saves and reinstalling my game, the problems persist. I may be able to muddle through at some point in the future and finish the playthough, especially if new and better performance-improving mods are released in the future, but for now I am moving on.

I have more journal entries to post, so the story isn't over yet, but I also have something new planned. I will be doing a Let's Play of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion featuring a character named Meline Belerd, a would-be instructor of Battle Magic for one of the Breton factions in the land of High Rock. She has been sent on sabbatical to learn more of her craft, a task which her government considers very important, as the instruction of Battle Mages is important to the civil war efforts in High Rock, but Meline is a scatterbrained girl and rather than ending up in the Summerset Isles where she was aiming to go, she ends up in Cyrodiil, where she loses track of her purpose and ends up on a grand adventure. Perhaps this is fate? Perhaps this silly girl has some purpose in this place.

I plan to make an episode at some point today, and the first journal entry, which will be in video form, will be up after that, maybe a day or so after, so look forward to it. To see the Let's Play, head to AJ22 Plays on YouTube. I think it will be a lot of fun. Until then, though, have a good one.

Digimon Adventure ND Book One: Manipulamon Reigns - Chapter Twenty-Three

Hurray! Manipulamon is defeated and the story is over! Wait, what's this about there being more to this thing? I'm the author and I didn't even expect this!

 Chapter Twenty-Three

A Losing Battle;

The Digivolution Miracle!

Yu-Gi-Oh! DF Book Seven: Their Most Dangerous Enemy - Chapter Ten

 And with that, Monty's journey is over, for this book at least. We get a pretty good duel, and an appearance by Little Yugi, who I portray as being something between the slightly meek Little Yugi of the canon series who is only really confident around his friends, and Atemu, who was confident around everyone about everything. I figure this is something like fifteen years after the canon series now, Yugi will have grown as a person, and since Atemu always seemed like a more mature, more confident version of Little Yugi, I always figured that as he got older Little Yugi would develop Atemu-like traits.

Next up next week is Lawrence's story, which happens at the same time as this in a different part of the world. Lawrence's situation is similar to Monty's, but a lot more serious, with higher stakes, and will be a lot more exciting, I think. Check in next week to see which dragon master will win, because Kaiba isn't Yugi. My characters are allowed to beat him.

Chapter Ten

Master Versus Apprentice