Yu-Gi-Oh! Reading Order

Because there is a lot of Yu-Gi-Oh! DF stuff on here now, including the one-shot spinoffs and specials, I decided that it would be a good idea to post the reading order for these stories, 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.

Yu-Gi-Oh! DE/DA Crossover Special!: A Threat To Us All - Chapter Twelve

And finally the end is upon us. We see the battle come to an end, there is a twist ending, which I did allude to earlier. We also get to see not just some of John's dark power, but some of the personality of the thing that has formed from that power, though not really because here John was trying to hold that personality back, so what we have here is more like a mix of John's mind and Dark John's mind, kind of like when John and Hiro would merge minds.

And yes, Dark John will get a follow up later on where the plot thread of its existence, which has been ongoing since the first book, will finally be resolved.

Now that this is over, I will be moving on to my final "character study" spinoff, about Max, called Yu-Gi-Oh! Reaper. This is going to be a hard one to write, as its not my usual style. Updates will not come every day. It'll be more like once a week, really. Then after that, the Duel Force will reunite for one more adventure! Aside from specials and stuff. And maybe one more book down the line, I'm not sure.



Chapter Twelve

The Heart of Darkness

Yu-Gi-Oh! DE/DA Crossover Special!: A Threat To Us All - Chapter Eleven

And now Prof shows up, too! I love writing for Prof. He's eccentric and smart and makes no sense, and I love it. He's also strong, and this is the first time that I think it comes across just how strong he is. He could give any Yu-Gi-Oh! character, canon or not, a run for their money. There is also a secret backstory to Prof that I've never revealed, and that I don't think that I ever will, so I'm just going to say it here, now. In the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series, there is an American prize hunter called "Bandit" Keith Howard who competes in the Duelist Kingdom Tournament, is beaten by Joey, and then killed by Pegasus in self defense, only to resurrected by the Card Professors Guild later in Yu-Gi-Oh! R. I think, and I could be wrong, but I think that the author of R named this group of prize hunters after Keith, as he is once called "The Card Professor" in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist Volume 4.

Prof's full name is Roger Howard. He is a younger cousin of Keith's who knew him growing up, and took the name "The Dueling Professor" when he joined the Elite to mock his ambiguously evil relative's "silly stage name", and to play up his intelligence. I even tried to make Prof look a little like Keith, with him being tall and scruffy and whatnot, but no one ever picked up on that.



Chapter Eleven

And Then There Was One

Yu-Gi-Oh! DE/DA Crossover Special!: A Threat To Us All - Chapter Ten

Hurray! Dark Marco! I like Dark Marco. I think I did a good job showing the contrast between Marco and his dark side as well here. Marco sees no point in talking to the shadow beings, but Dark Marco loves to hear himself talk, and uses the presence of these enemies as an excuse. We also get to see Karen's Soul magic fully manifest here for the first time. I try to limit her power when I can. The idea is that she draws power from inspiration. She creates things, sometimes from other things.

Because Duel Monsters inspires her, her powers manifest as creatures and characters from Duel Monsters more easily than, say, characters from Star Wars, or military weapons, or anything like that. And when she is inspired to the point of an epiphany, she can grant wishes, like when she came to the realization that she would do anything, even brave the pain of her past, to save John and her other friends from Blackheart, and she was able to destroy the Dark Duel Force's Shadow Items and heal her Soul. In the right situation, Karen is the most powerful character that I've ever written.



Chapter Ten

The Last Defender

Yu-Gi-Oh! DE/DA Crossover Special!: A Threat To Us All - Chapter Nine

The battle continues to rage, and characters continue to be knocked out of the battle. We also get to see some of the upward limits of the main creature here. In true Shonen fashion, John, the main hero, uses what would, anywhere else, be finishing moves, and the enemy recovers easily. I tried to make the duel seem genuinely tense. I'm not sure if I succeeded or not.



Chapter Nine

Declining Hopes

Yu-Gi-Oh! DE/DA Crossover Special!: A Threat To Us All - Chapter Eight

Not much to say here, either. We see more of John's new "Supremacy Sun" in action (he actually played it two chapters back, but I forgot to mention it). Since this story takes place in the universe of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! and its spinoff anime series, and the spinoff mangas take place in an entirely different continuity, I decided to give "Sun" and the other "Legendary Planets", from the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX manga, a role in my story. Before the adventures of the Duel Force end completely, we will see each of them as least once, either in a duel, or in passing. We've already seen Shannon use "The Splendid Venus", and Hiro use "The Big Saturn", and now John has "The Supremacy Sun". Only seven more to go!



Chapter Eight

Continuing Struggles

Yu-Gi-Oh! DE/DA Crossover Special!: A Threat To Us All - Chapter Seven

Not much to say here. John acts kinda like an arrogant ass, but that's pretty normal. We also get to see some of the upward limits of the shadow beings, and they're pretty impressive.



Chapter Seven

Things Actually Get Worse

Yu-Gi-Oh! DE/DA Crossover Special!: A Threat To Us All - Chapter Six

Turns out that the monster of this story is a bit smarter than the characters thought. Who knew? Well, I mean, I knew. I write this after all. Either way, we get the start of the battle here, finally, only halfway through the special. I wanted it to feel almost epic in scale, but with card games, like something out of Lord of the Rings, with heroes fighting against overwhelming odds with almost no support, in pursuit of a nearly impossible victory. But with card games.



Chapter Six

Everything Goes Wrong

Yu-Gi-Oh! DE/DA Crossover Special!: A Threat To Us All - Chapter Five

I kinda feel like I miss an opportunity in this chapter of the special to have Rachel and Ria meet and clash. You know they would. And then they'd make up. Maybe hug a little. And then their eyes would meet, and their aggression would reveal itself to be something else, and they...wait, wait, that's a different idea that I had.

Sorry.

But in all seriousness, I could have had them duke it out a bit, but what could I have done? I could make them fight, like martial arts fight, but I already did that with Rachel and Rocky. I could make them duel, but I already did that with Rachel and Rocky, and Rachel and Kimi, so I don't really see the point. This chapter is long enough anyway, with all kinds of exposition, some of which is pretty redundant if you read the source stories. I simply can't bring myself to pad it out any further.



Chapter Five

Coming Together

Yu-Gi-Oh! DE/DA Crossover Special!: A Threat To Us All - Chapter Four

And only one third of the way through the entire special, the two casts come together...kinda. They really come together in the next chapter. Hmm, maybe I took this story a little too slow.



Chapter Four

The Minds of Darkness

Yu-Gi-Oh! DE/DA Crossover Special!: A Threat To Us All - Chapter Three

Okay, so I've done this whole "two characters are jealous of each other and kinda competing over another character during a duel" thing before between Karen and Ria, but I just feel that it was appropriate here. Even though I'm pretty sure that Rocky is too boy-scout-ish to see it himself, there is all manners of sexual tension between him and Rachel, and Kimi is having none of that. Also I really wanted these two to fight, and its my story, so yeah.

Chapter Three

Cat Fight

Yu-Gi-Oh! DE/DA Crossover Special!: A Threat To Us All - Chapter Two

We interrupt this Yu-Gi-Oh! story to bring you cute domestic stuff! I guess the first chapter was a little bit like that, too, but here, with Rocky and Kimi, it just seems more obvious to me. Maybe it's because they're in their apartment, or maybe its just that I love writing these characters as a couple and find it adorable, but either way, it is what it is. And there is the creepy stuff in the second half of the chapter to make up for it.

Chapter Two

Scary Stories

Yu-Gi-Oh! DE/DA Crossover Special!: A Threat To Us All - Chapter One

And here it is, the crossover special that I mentioned in an earlier post, between my DA and DE casts. Yeah they are my own characters, so it possibly isn't really a crossover, but just another story, but I like to think of it as a crossover. It sounds more exciting. Also it clearly isn't a Duel Force story, it is a story of these two spinoffs. After all the only characters who appear are from those spinoffs, so I think "crossover" fits. Comment below and let me know what you think of it!

Chapter One

The Appearance

Yu-Gi-Oh! DA: The Phantom Seal - Chapter Thirty

And Yu-Gi-Oh! DA is over, and I think it turned out pretty well. It has a lot of time jumps in it, some Out of Character Is Serious Business moments, and it's story would collapse if the writers of the GX anime would bother to offer any backstory for the school, at all, but I like it. I also love writing Pegasus into my stories, and now I have an excuse to do just that as much as I want. I also like that Pegasus is one of my favorite Yu-Gi-Oh! characters, and yet I really can't see John liking him at all. I just think that's funny, which is why he mentions in his narration that he doesn't like Pegasus every time they meet.

This story means a change for these characters. John, from this point forward, is officially a Pro Duelist. He has a career now. It won't always impact future stories and specials, but it is something that should be kept in mind for the next full book, especially the ending. Also Karen is now a card designer. By the time of the upcoming DF sequel, she will be high up in Industrial Illusions. This will be important once the sequel begins, but it won't really mean much until then.

What's important, however, is that these characters are no longer members of, or associated with, the Duel Force, and yet they have not done a good job of hiding their nature as magic users, so people will still lump them with the other magic users in the Duel Force. This will get in the way of their desired futures, and they will have to do something about it. Also there is a very good chance that they might have to fight the Duel Force at some point.



Chapter Thirty

Looking Forward

Yu-Gi-Oh! DA: The Phantom Seal - Chapter Twenty-Nine

Pegasus giving unfair tests to other characters? No way, he's never done that before. This is totally out of character!

Sarcasm mode disengage.



Chapter Twenty-Nine

A Clash of Wills!
Battle of the Ultimate Cards

Yu-Gi-Oh! DA: The Phantom Seal - Chapter Twenty-Eight

W-wow, Thomas is really good!



Chapter Twenty-Eight

The Spirit’s Fire

Yu-Gi-Oh! DA: The Phantom Seal - Chapter Twenty-Seven

One part allusion to John's dark nature plus one part time jump, mixed with a dash of a duel that has been alluded to since the first chapter, and you have a recipe for win!



Chapter Twenty-Seven

Aftermath

Yu-Gi-Oh! DA: The Phantom Seal - Chapter Twenty-Six

So this isn't the first time that I've used this excuse to bring everyone back to life, but seriously it's a staple of Yu-Gi-Oh! since Duelist Kingdom that beating the guy who defeated all of the other characters in a Shadow Game saves those characters, even if it hasn't always been automatic as this is.



Chapter Twenty-Six

The Enemy’s True Form;
The Chaos Phantom!

Yu-Gi-Oh! DA: The Phantom Seal - Chapter Twenty-Five

John vs the Sacred Beasts? Huzzah!



Chapter Twenty-Five

John vs. The Demon of Flames

Yu-Gi-Oh! DA: The Phantom Seal - Chapter Twenty-Four

It's possible that I decided to extend the duel between the Beasts and Shepperd and Ria a bit, and abused cinematic time to get away with it, but you probably won't notice unless I tell you.



Chapter Twenty-Four

The Beasts Attack!
Retaliation