Yu-Gi-Oh! Epic Battles #5: Tom (User-Submitted Character) vs. "Bandit" Keith Howard

This was the first Epic Battle to involve a character submitted by another yugiohcardmaker.net user. His character is a kid named Tom who uses a Machine deck. There are multiple versions of this duel, but this is the official version that is canon to the Epic Battles timeline. This is also the first Epic Battle to acknowledge the planned storyline for the series.

This is the last duel to be posted on yugiohcardmaker.net, so unless I decide to post the alternate versions, this is the last Epic Battle for now.

Duel Five

An Unexpected Meeting

Yu-Gi-Oh! Epic Battles #4: Yuma Tsukumo vs. The Other Yugi Part Four (Final)

Yuma continues to throw everything he can at Yugi, but Yugi is Yugi, so I think we all know where this is going...

Duel Four

Yuma vs. Yugi

Yu-Gi-Oh! Epic Battles #4: Yuma Tsukumo vs. The Other Yugi Part Three

Let's be fair to Yuma here: he's been fighting the "combat form" Yugi without going into his combat form, the form achieved through the power of Zexal. But to be fair to Yugi, he has been fighting at a greater than usual disadvantage, since he started out not understanding the nature of Yuma's Number monsters. It is in this chapter that things finally begin to equalize.

Duel Four

Yuma vs. Yugi

Yu-Gi-Oh! Epic Battles #4: Yuma Tsukumo vs. The Other Yugi Part Two

The duel continues, and it soon becomes clear to pretty much everyone except Yuma just how in control Yugi is, even if he is having to learn the rules of Yuma's cards on the fly. Will Yuma even stand a chance once Yugi has had time to fully analyze how they work?

Duel Four

Yuma vs. Yugi

Yu-Gi-Oh! Epic Battles #4: Yuma Tsukumo vs. The Other Yugi Part One

In this four part Epic Battle, the most underrated Yu-Gi-Oh! protagonist since Judai, Yuma, gets the chance to test his abilities against, not Yugi Muto, but the other Yugi, the Great Pharaoh Atem. Neither of them knows who the other is, and it is unclear if their meeting ever actually happened, but it is still an interesting duel, and I do plan for Yugi and Yuma to meet again over the course of this series. This gives us a preview of what that might be like.

Keep in mind that neither of them is at the point in their timeline when they are their strongest, so things might go differently if they were to duel again.

Duel Four

Yuma vs Yugi

Yu-Gi-Oh! Epic Battles #3: Judai Yuki vs. Judai Yuki Part Three (Final)

Things heat up even further, and it seems like, just maybe, these two are more equal footing than one might expect.

Duel Three

Judai Yuki (Season One)

vs.

Judai Yuki (Season Four)

Yu-Gi-Oh! Epic Battles #3: Judai Yuki vs. Judai Yuki Part Two

Things finally get going in this chapter. It is all action from here, plus what I think is some pretty good character analysis of Judai from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, who changed probably more than any other Yu-Gi-Oh! protagonist over the course of his series.

Also, keep an eye out for an original card in this chapter. I designed and even illustrated it myself, along with a second original Judai card. I'll post them at the end of the chapter.

Duel Three

Judai Yuki (Season One)
vs.
Judai Yuki (Season Four)

Yu-Gi-Oh! Epic Battles #3: Judai Yuki vs. Judai Yuki Part One

Since I was stupid enough to lose my draft for DF7, while I am looking for it, I have decided to copy/paste some more of my Epic Battles from yugiohcardmaker.net. I will also be continuing the series here, up to the point that I had finished plotting it out. I don't know how often that'll be, but whatevs.

There's no action in this one, just set-up, so keep that in mind.

Duel Three

Judai Yuki (Season One)

vs.

Judai Yuki (Season Four)

Yu-Gi-Oh! Epic Battles #2: John Sieger vs. Yugi Muto, Part Four

And finally we come to the epic conclusion of this four part short story. As I've mentioned before, in my comments of chapters of this very story, and on comments for Kaiba Corp. Invitational Tournament, I regretted John beating Yugi. It just wasn't a fair fight. As I've also mentioned, this is my atonement for that. This duel is a fair fight, and John has really come a long way toward closing the gap that exists (and even back then existed) between himself and the original Yu-Gi-Oh! protagonist. Still, this duel ends as I think we all realized it only could.

More Epic Battles duels will still come periodically, but more frequently from now on, Reaper will be interspersed with chapters from the new penultimate Yu-Gi-Oh! DF book, titles Their Most Dangerous Enemy, which will reunite much of the old main cast and feature some character development for practically every member of the team. It will also utilize elements from the Yu-Gi-Oh! R manga, and feature duels with Yugi, Kaiba, and Pegasus. So, you know, look forward to that!

And now, without further blabbering, here is the chapter proper. I hope you enjoy it!  

Duel Two

John vs. Yugi Muto Part Four

Yu-Gi-Oh! Epic Battles #2: John Sieger vs. Yugi Muto, Part Three

So I had planned to really dig in in my free time yesterday and get Reaper chapter four ready (hence why I had nothing else prepared either) but I felt pretty crappy and never did. I may get it done today, but if I do, I still wanted a for sure update to make up for missing yesterday, so here is John v Yugi part three, the penultimate chapter in this story. If I do finish Reaper chapter four today (which is unlikely) I don't know if I'll post it today or wait. I guess we'll have to wait and see!

I'm a little worried that I made Yugi a little too arrogant in this story. He's very confident, where in the anime and manga he seems to be pretty humble. However, I often remember that Yugi can be a little shit to his friends, and the entire purpose of Atemu (the character who most people still  think of when they think of Yugi, for those who don't know) moving on at the end of the series was to give Yugi a chance to grow in his own, and as similar as he and Atemu are at a base level, I think added confidence would suite him by this point, some five or six or something years later. Either way, I hope you enjoy this update.

Duel Two

John vs. Yugi Muto Part Three

Yu-Gi-Oh! Epic Battles #2: John Sieger vs. Yugi Muto, Part Two

Here we have part two of the John vs. Yugi duel, proving that, yes, I do intend to still upload these things as well, alternating them with Reaper, and any other Yu-Gi-Oh! short stories that I happen to dream up. I really like this duel, but it is a four-parter, and this chapter honestly feels a little floaty. Still, I think it's pretty good.

Duel Two

John vs. Yugi Muto Part, Two

Yu-Gi-Oh! Epic Battles #2: John Sieger vs Yugi Muto, Part One

Okay, yeah, this isn't Reaper, which means another week without Reaper (unless I get the third chapter ready sooner than I expected). I apologize, this chapter is just being difficult.

Instead, here is the next Epic Battles duel, a rematch between John and Yugi, something that I wanted to do since the second that I first posted the old Book Five duel between John and Yugi where John wins against Yugi with magic. Still, I was limited by my "no Yugi without a super-good reason" rule, so I used Epic Battles as an excuse. I'm clever that way. This time John is much more skilled, but he doesn't have Hiro with him, and he doesn't plan to use Destiny Draw, as (I'm pretty sure) he does in that duel. In other words, this duel is as fair and even as can be.

Duel Two

John vs. Yugi Muto, Part One

Yu-Gi-Oh! Epic Battles #1: Paul "Pyro" Tucker vs. Katsuya Jonouchi, Part Two

As it has been for a while now, chapter three of Yu-Gi-Oh! Reaper is giving me trouble. The first three chapters are supposed to establish the "opposition" to Reaper throughout the story in the form of the cops, who will be important characters in their own right, to establish Reaper's powers, and finally, to establish Reaper's quality of living. Reaper is like Batman: he pushes himself harder than he should, and his lifestyle isn't healthy. This will be the first half of chapter three, with the beginnings of the plot making up the second half, and I'm just having trouble capturing exactly how I want to portray this.

So, in the mean time, as I said last time I posted one of these, here is the second half of the first Epic Battles duel instead. I know it was a long wait, and I don't particularly care.

Duel One

Tucker vs. Katsuya Jonouchi, Part Two

Yu-Gi-Oh! Epic Battles #1: Paul "Pyro" Tucker vs. Katsuya Jonouchi, Part One

So here is something else that I used to post on yugiohcardmaker.net. Despite the issues that I have with my login there (I really should go back and see if I can get on yet or not, but oh well), I do recommend the site for anyone interested in Yu-Gi-Oh! Making the cards is fun, and there is some good stuff in the Creative Writing section. Anyway, this was a community-driven project where people on the site would vote on whatever match-up they want out of three or four choices, and could even submit there own fanfiction characters for consideration. This would allow readers to experience matches that we would never otherwise see, in the form of a series of short stories which I would try to make as plausible as possible. It started out as nothing but disjointed stories, but I actually had an idea for something like a storyline. Too bad the fact that I've left the site effectively ended this series as well.

Anyway, there are quite a few match-ups already posted on yugiohcardmaker.net. Because Reaper is going even slower than I thought, I will be posting these here as well to fill any lulls. I don't know what I'll do once these run out. I guess I'll actually have to...*gulp*...try.

This first match is my main character's best friend Tucker against the best friend of the premier Yu-Gi-Oh! main character Yugi Muto, Katsuya Jonouchi (known as Joey Wheeler in the U.S.). Enjoy!

Duel One

Tucker vs. Katsuya Jonouchi, Part One