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

Armed with new knowledge about his family's past, and with a new sense of purpose that has come with it, John returns to confront the mystery Duelist and discover who, exactly, he is. Their Duel begins, and it becomes clear that what Depre said about the two of them being equals could not be more true.

This is the chapter where we actually discover the mystery Duelist's motivations. I wanted them to make sense, but in a way that comes off as overly obsessive, and riddled with broken logic. Someone let me know how I did.

Chapter Thirty-One

The Foe's True Intentions

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

John's confrontation with the mystery Duelist finally begins. We don't learn his motivations yet in this chapter, but I will say that they are pretty familiar at this point, but that his reasoning is based on a line of reasoning that doesn't really make sense to John, because there is this history between the two young men that only one of them knows about. The mystery man has been fuming for years, blaming John for his misfortunes, all while John didn't even know that the young man existed.

What we do get in this chapter specifically is a couple of big bombshells about John's family. If you go back and look, the clues to these things being true have been woven into the story since Reign of the Reaper. Earlier than that, actually, since the first mention of John's first deck was all the way back in Gather the Duel Force. I've even included clues as to who the mysterious uncle mentioned in this chapter actually is. Yes, we've met him before.

I have included a Card of the Day this chapter, even though the duel between John and the mystery man doesn't start until next chapter.

Chapter Thirty

Different Perspectives

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

Finally, the last of the Card Professors is dealt with. Unlike in Yu-Gi-Oh! R, Depre is the number one Card Professor instead of Richie, only because he managed to defeat Richie very recently, off screen. I don't say it anywhere in this book, but Depre only defeated Richie and took the title of number one by getting lucky. Normally, Richie is pretty definitively Depre's superior. That's why John's duel with Depre seems so much easier than Karen's duel with Richie. Could I have drawn out this duel? Could I have injected it with filler turns to make it more dramatic, and stretch it out over two chapters? Yeah, I could have. But that isn't the point of this chapter.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

John vs. Depre Scott;

A Battle Among the Stars

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

There was a duel in R between the other Yugi and a Card Professor named Maico Kato, who hid her monsters in the forest to give them an advantage. It may be that I took some inspiration from that duel when creating Karen's new signature card. I hope that, despite how quickly this duel goes by in part two, I did a good enough job of showing how Forest Clearing is useful. Not only that, but I hope I did a good enough showing off how seriously Karen has decided to take placement on the field as well. By forcing the opponent to think about where the monster they're attacking is on the field, Karen can actually use some of their moves against them.

I also hope I made clear enough just how big a gap there is between Karen and Richie here. Richie is strong, and he's actually prepared enough that he can bypass the limits placed upon him by Karen's field Spell, but Karen never stood even a chance of losing this duel.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Sibling Rivalry;

A Shootout in the Forest

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

Back when I was developing this story, and I made the decision to connect Karen with Pegasus, I was surprised to see that the writer of Yu-Gi-Oh! R, Akira Ito, had a similar idea, and gave Pegasus an entire group of adopted children that he raised as protegees. At first I was discouraged, since my idea was clashing with canon (as tentatively as R is canon), but after some thought, I realized that this actually helped me. I clash with canon all the time already, and after really working out my story's timeline compared to the original series timeline, I realized that Karen would have left at least a year before even the flashback scenes in R, so her being a part of that group of children wouldn't contradict anything that was shown.

So I worked out a rough idea for how I thought Karen would have related to the others. I decided that she would have looked up to the Tenma brothers, but that Richie Merced and Depre Scott would have had similar issues with her that they did with Gekko Tenma. I never planned to explore this, just keep it in mind as a potentially defining aspect of her character backstory. Then I decided to pit the Card Professors against my Duel Force, and I was glad to have that backstory worked out. It gave me the leverage I needed to force Karen to finally confront Pegasus and force him to admit to some of the horrible stuff he'd done. And that gave me leverage to allow Karen to come to terms with her past as a brainwashed member of the Duelists of the Order. It came together so perfectly that it was almost too good to be true.

So here it is, the culmination of Karen's story. She went from a confident, manipulative enemy, to a perfectly competent ally who was afraid to cut loose and utilize the skills that being manipulated by Yami had brought out in her, to rejecting her Duelist side, to someone who could only show her full potential when someone she loves is threatened, to someone who has come to terms with her past, and is capable of balancing the positives and negatives about herself to unleash her full abilities. This is symbolized in the fact that Karen looses her deck, and is forced to rebuild it from scratch. It parallels the fact that she had to rebuild herself from scratch after realizing that it is possible to use the dark aspects of yourself to build a better person.

The question here is, will she be able to set her emotions aside and duel Richie objectively, or will her animosity for him cause her to loose her cool and fall victim to Richie's quick, ferocious style? Karen, at her best, is my most powerful character, but Karen has also shown that being emotionally compromised puts her at a disadvantage. And considering that we've moved past the filler duels at this point, this thing can go either way.

Wooow, that got wordy.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Sibling Rivalry;

Karen vs. Richie Merced

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

You know, I give Nate a lot of crap. And sure, a lot of it is deserved. He's a grade a douchenozzle. But that can't all be real. It's not possible for a person to be that self-centered and still function. In the first chapter told from Nate's point of view, we get some pretty definite cues to suggest that a part of his outward persona is false. Not all of it. He's definitely a narcissist. He's just not as bad as he pretends to be.

It's also implied here that Nate went on some kind of personal journey of self-discovery at some point after he lost to Jen back in DF2. And I bet you're wondering if I'm going to go back and reveal the details of that journey. Well, buckle up, because I'm definitely not. Yeah, a little anti-climatic, but I don't really care. I want this series to have a couple of unexplored major noodle incidents.

In this chapter, Nate fights the number six Card Professor, Willa Mette, who uses dragons who share their abilities with each other, and steal power from their opponents. His strategy is, conceptually speaking, very similar to Nate's. It's actually the entire reason why I paired these two up.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Nate vs. Number Six

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

Hey, guys! It's another Amanda duel! To be fair, she comes closer to losing here than she has to any other Duelist (who isn't Jen), but that doesn't prevent her from being her typical kinda pompous, overconfident self. I think even Amanda has realized by now that she isn't allowed to lose to anyone who isn't the story's main villain (or again, Jen).

Before the duel happens, though, we get some dialogue between Max and Reiko, and, surprisingly enough, spending time with someone who Max might be romantically attracted to, who isn't just as damaged as he is may have sparked a desire in him to change his ways for the better. Who'd'a guessed?

Chapter Twenty-Five

Amanda vs. Number Five

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

Finally Max gets to duel in this book. He's as sharp as ever, but the events of Reaper are definitely getting to him, more than he's willing to admit to himself. Max needs to move on, and maybe make some changes in his life, and the way that he does things. Maybe something will happen this chapter that will inspire him to do that!

Chapter Twenty-Four

Max vs. Number Nine

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

Jen finally fights James, who has accused her of being undeserving of what she's earned. It turns out that he isn't the only one, either, and that Jen plans to use this opportunity to reassure herself that none of that matters, because all that matters is what she thinks about herself. Also, despite how awful James has been to her, she still tries to help him improve.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Rival Match!
Jen vs. James

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

I totally make Mendo Cino an absolute asshole in this chapter. True, he wasn't this much of an asshole in the R Manga, but he wasn't really characterized well in the Manga, and if any of the Card Professors seemed like an unrepentant slimy jerk, it was him. So I made him a straight up villain instead of just as antagonist.

I only just realize, but Tucker only really has, like, three winning moves, doesn't he?

Yep, totally not going to acknowledge the fact that it's been almost a full year since I posted one of these chapters...

Chapter Twenty-Two

Tucker and Frost vs. The Deadliest Insect