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

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

John defeats his opponent! Will he arrive in time to save his friends? No, no he won't.



Chapter Twenty-Three

The Beasts Attack!
Sacrifices

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

What is there to say about this chapter. Shepperd, Thomas and Ria do okay. Oh, and Dark Simourgh is featured. I like Dark Simourgh.



Chapter Twenty-Two

The Beasts Attack!
Arrival of a Demon

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

There is a lot to say about these following chapters. We get a lot of exposition, a couple of duels, and what is effectively my own fanon regarding how the Sacred Beast cards ended up in the vault beneath Duel Academy in the time of GX. Because so much goes on, I'm just going to comment on most of it after this arch is over. Here, though, I want to mention that yes, I'm Worf-ing my minor characters, and no, I don't think that it's an overused trope.



Chapter Twenty-One

The Beasts Attack!
Into Their Trap

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

Another time jump? Hurray! What was I thinking...



Chapter Twenty

No Rest for the Weary

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

This chapter is important because, for the second time since she destroyed the DDF's Shadow Items to heal her Soul, we get to see Karen's power to grant wishes. Well, we saw it in Special #2 when she wished that she could help John and then joined him on the mental plane, but I wasn't very clear at the time what was happening, so I don't generally count it.



Chapter Nineteen

The Unexpected Deck;
The Ultimate Warrior!

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

We saw a tribute to Jun Manjoume in the form of the girl who used Ojamas, and a tribute to Sho Marufuji in the form of the Vehicroid kid who battled John at the exams, and now we get a tribute to Judai in the form of the Shadow's second, more powerful deck. Looks like that covers everyone...



Chapter Eighteen

An Unexpected Deck;
The Ultimate Demon!

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

It was obviously the purpose of the Shadow to set up for the confrontation between John and Karen so that I could force a big progression of their relationship. Here we finally get to see the other reason for it's existence. That's right, so that John can get a Big Damn Hero moment!



Chapter Seventeen

The Darkness Returns

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

And now we have a chapter that includes a time jump! Wow, me, you are good at this whole writing thing.



Chapter Sixteen

What Happened Next

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

Hurray, domestic stuff! And yelling! And characters acting out of character out of anger!



Chapter Fifteen

Confrontations

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

Oh, so that's the real source of conflict here...hmm.

Whenever I go back and re read this chapter to check for needed corrections and the like, I feel like I'm being mean to my characters. I let John achieve a big, dramatic victory with a card that Karen made for him at his side, and give Karen an active role in the fight through that card, cementing their relationship, and then I throw a wrench in my own efforts. But I feel I needed to. I wanted these characters to at the very least acknowledge the flaws in their relationship: that John is lackadaisical, and that Karen is too afraid of hurting people to speak about how much this bothers her. This event forces them to address these things, and they end up stronger for it in the end.



Chapter Fourteen

Omegacyber

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

We get to meet the villain properly now. It's powerful, and has hostages, but still we don't really ever get the impression that John will lose against it, so what is going to be the real source of conflict here?



Chapter Thirteen

The Shadow

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

And finally we have something resembling a villain in this book. The Card Takers were jerks, but not really bad guys. This thing is obviously malicious in intention. Also we get some foreshadowing that John is going to be saved by a card that Karen made for him. With her being into card design, I think it's really about time.



Chapter Twelve

The Poltergeist

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

Hey look, a chapter where none of my main characters play a major part. Fantastic!



Chapter Eleven

Advancing Darkness