Yu-Gi-Oh! DF Book Six: The Great Duel Force Tournament - Chapter Nineteen

And thus the story of the Duel Force comes to an end, at least for now. There will be one three more DF books down the line, and I have a sequel planned, but for the time being, things are going to change. Next up there will be three books each focusing on only one or two of my DF characters, and introducing new ones: Yu-Gi-Oh! DE, about Rocky, Yu-Gi-Oh! DA, about John and Karen, and Yu-Gi-Oh! Reaper, about Max, with a special featuring Sarah's Duel Force in their first adventure sprinkled in there. There will be at least one more special later on, but we'll get to that when we get to it.

As for this chapter, yeah this whole "going their own separate ways" thing is pretty cliche, but with everything that I needed to set up, I felt it was important to show. There were a couple of ideas here which I planned to expand on more than I did. I tossed around the idea of Tucker at college as a setting, but that got thrown out instantly. I also toyed with a whole book with Jen as career woman Pro Duelist, but it didn't pan out to anything worth writing a whole book, or even a special, about, so the concepts for it got reallocated to Books Seven and Eight.



Chapter Nineteen

The Parting of the Ways

Yu-Gi-Oh! DF Book Six: The Great Duel Force Tournament - Chapter Eighteen

It's over six thousaaaaaand!

...

Sorry, I couldn't help it. Anyway, I think it's poetic (or something) that John beats Hiro with a monster whose full power they once brought out together, using basically the same strategy. Granted that the duel in this episode is basically just one turn, but I still feel that this was an important cliffhanger moment, and deserved it's own chapter, along with the plethora of exposition later on. Realize that I actually had readers for this on yugiohcardmaker.net, and so I felt that it was important to deliver on the drama, and to explain things which they might have been wondering about, such as whether the characters would keep the Souls, and where the story was going next.

Also, yay, John and Karen are (basically) an official couple now!

No Card of the Day this chapter, as the obvious star of the chapter is "Gren Maju", who has already been Card of the Day once before.  

 
Chapter Eighteen

The Victor, and the Proposal

Yu-Gi-Oh! DF Book Six: The Great Duel Force Tournament - Chapter Seventeen

 Here we see Hiro summon one of the Planets Series from the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX manga. They were kinda like the God Cards of that manga, and my reasoning for using them here, aside from them being cool, is that the GX manga clearly takes place in a different continuity from the main Yu-Gi-Oh! narrative continuity, so they were fair game.

We also have confirmation that the Planet Series is a known thing in this universe, as John mentions it in relation to Hiro's monster, and Shannon's "Splendid Venus". I hadn't decided yet at this point if they would ever be important to the story, and I guess I still haven't

"Big Saturn" is framed here as being Hiro's most powerful monster, despite the sheer number of ridiculously powerful cards that he has at his disposal. Is this true in terms of the card game? Probably not. But rule of drama makes it true here.

Chapter Seventeen

Final Round!
Hiro’s Last Stand, The Big Saturn!

Yu-Gi-Oh! DF Book Six: The Great Duel Force Tournament - Chapter Sixteen

Is this the first time that John calls "Garzett" his "Soul", as in his Duelist's Soul? Yeah, that was a thing in terms of conceptualizing this series, but the exposition regarding it never really fit into the narrative anywhere, so it was never mentioned. Basically each Soul-powered character has a card which was destined to be theirs because it was somehow representative of their Soul's intended trait. John has "Garzett", Rocky has "Exxod", etc. Maybe I'll come up with a way to exposit this in the future, but it isn't super important to the story anyway.

I like this chapter. John and Hiro trade blows, and it seems that neither has an edge, until it becomes clear that Hiro's confidence isn't because he's overconfident, but because he's been in control of the situation all along. Freakin' scarey strong, seriously.

 
Chapter Sixteen

Final Round!
A Supreme Pair, Tualatin and Van’Dalgyon!

Yu-Gi-Oh! DF Book Six: The Great Duel Force Tournament - Chapter Fifteen

 I implied pretty heavily from the beginning that Hiro was more than just some lingering piece of the Forgotten Duelist's power, as he claimed. I call him a shadow in this chapter, through John's inner dialogue. The intention was to show that John was misinterpreting Hiro's explanation for what he was. In Egyptian myth, the shadow is a part of the soul, so Hiro really meant that, since turning into the Duelist to fight Blackheart, he'd realized that he was the part of the Duelist's spirit which still left an imprint on the world (i.e. his shadow). Still, Hiro isn't sure if he constitutes a real, complete person, and he's anxious to find out. I think a part of him likes who he's become, but another part of him wants to be his old complete self again.

Basically he's having the ancient Egyptian supernatural equivalent of an identity crisis, and John doesn't understand enough to actually help.

We also, in this chapter, get to see how this scenario with Hiro appearing as a physical person was achieved, and it's important going forward with the overall story. Finally, we learn that Hiro's deck pretty specifically counters a large portion of John's deck. And the scarey thing is that, as was evident from Hiro's other duels, it wasn't built specifically to do this, it just does. Hiro's deck just counters everything.



Chapter Fifteen

Final Round!
Wrath of the Adjudicator

Yu-Gi-Oh! DF Book Six: The Great Duel Force Tournament - Chapter Fourteen

Once again I attribute power to "The Fiend Megacyber" that the card simply doesn't have in real life. On one hand, word of me says that this is John's best monster, but on the other hand the nature of this chapter has Tucker having serious trouble fighting what is effectively a Normal Monster.



Chapter Fourteen

Round Three;
Rival Match! Fiend Megacyber vs. Legendary Flame Lord

Yu-Gi-Oh! DF Book Six: The Great Duel Force Tournament - Chapter Thirteen

Finally, after, like, five and 3/4ths books, John duels Tucker. Just like the John v. Christopher duel in Book Five, I tried to give this one a lot of weight. People on yugiohcardmaker.net actually asked for this match-up. I tell the story from Tucker's POV because, in this part of the story, it is John who is the obstacle to be overcome, and Tucker who is doing the overcoming.



Chapter Thirteen

Round Three;
Rival Match! John vs. Tucker

Yu-Gi-Oh! DF Book Six: The Great Duel Force Tournament - Chapter Twelve

To be fair, Jen came really really close here. Because she's badass.



Chapter Twelve

Round Three;
The Erasing Light

Yu-Gi-Oh! DF Book Six: The Great Duel Force Tournament - Chapter Eleven

Can even Jen defeat the powerhouse that is Hiro? Jen has the advantage of being a badass (of the Badass Bookworm variety), but Hiro is basically a living Deus Ex Machina!



Chapter Eleven

Round Three;
The Forest vs. the Heavens

Yu-Gi-Oh! DF Book Six: The Great Duel Force Tournament - Chapter Ten

Seriously, Hiro is crazy good at this game.



Chapter Ten

Round Two;
Metal vs. Stone, and the Ultimate Angels

Yu-Gi-Oh! DF Book Six: The Great Duel Force Tournament - Chapter Nine

I mentioned in an earlier post on an earlier chapter in an earlier book that the rule with the character of Amanda is that Amanda always wins, balanced out by the fact that she isn't always around when the Duel Force need to fight. This is the chapter where that rule is broken. And that's all I'm gonna say on that subject (though I realize that I kinda just gave the ending of the chapter away, oops. I never do that!).



Chapter Nine

Round Two;
The Forest vs. The Wind

Yu-Gi-Oh! DF Book Six: The Great Duel Force Tournament - Chapter Eight

Can Tucker beat Max? Probably not, but read on to find out!



Chapter Eight

Round Two;
Master of Fear and the Fiery Spirit

Yu-Gi-Oh! DF Book Six: The Great Duel Force Tournament - Chapter Seven

 We don't really get much of Kimi as Shannon's student, aside from brief mentions of the situation. In fact, I think this chapter is really all we ever get, and it's basically a passing of the torch from master to student kind of dealie. I guess I could have structured this subplot better, but I still think it works. We at least get to see what kind of mentor Shannon is, giving Kimi opportunities to show what she's learned without going easy on her. We also get some hints as to their relationship dynamic. It is one of respect more than anything, and the respect runs both ways.

Oh, yeah, and Shannon totally has magic, in case you forgot. She has a pendant, from back in Special #2, and now we have confirmation that her "Splendid Venus" has magic in it, too. Is there, perhaps, something more to this, such as, maybe, a secret past to this character? Eh, it's probably nothing.

 
Chapter Seven

Battle in Heaven

Yu-Gi-Oh! DF Book Six: The Great Duel Force Tournament - Chapter Six

In this chapter, bugs kill robots, Monty is utterly defeated by a young girl, and Hiro is freaking scarey strong. Enjoy!



Chapter Six

Three for One

Yu-Gi-Oh! DF Book Six: The Great Duel Force Tournament - Chapter Five

Fortunately for Tucker he is fighting Lawrence, who I love to humiliate. Unfortunately for Sarah, she is fighting Max, who has the advantage of being Max.

Chapter Five

Round One;
Lawrence vs. Tucker, and Sarah vs. Max

Yu-Gi-Oh! DF Book Six: The Great Duel Force Tournament - Chapter Four

John and Karen finally duel again, and while not as exciting as their last duel, it is pretty neat, I think. Also Rocky duels Christopher and probably loses. I don't remember.



Chapter Four

Round One;
John vs. Karen and Rocky vs. Christopher Johnson

Yu-Gi-Oh! DF Book Six: The Great Duel Force Tournament - Chapter Three

Yeah, John is literally kinda a dick.



Chapter Three

Pairings;
The Mysterious Sixteenth Duelist Revealed!

Yu-Gi-Oh! DF Book Six: The Great Duel Force Tournament - Chapter Two

The is an entire chapter of various characters deciding how they will improve their decks. That's really it. It has some neat things in it, like the first details of what John has planned, but otherwise it is not really my best. Despite this, I think it ends up being necessary for later.



Chapter Two

Arrangements Made

Yu-Gi-Oh! DF Book Six: The Great Duel Force Tournament - Chapter One

So fair warning, this book in not only another tournament story, like the previous full book, but it is also pretty different from my other stories. There is no big supernatural threat, or unsavory characters to show up, it is simply an opportunity for character building and a chance to see my main characters battle each other, and a chance to say goodbye to the Duel Force as it has existed for so long. This is because, after this book, John's Duel Force will break up and the members will go their separate ways. The Duel Force will still exist, but someone else will take the position as leader, and take the team in their own direction. This book is also a goodbye of another kind, as this book marks the last time that we will ever see one of the main characters.



Chapter One

The Last Meeting of the Duel Force