Yu-Gi-Oh! DF Extended, Yu-Gi-Oh! DA/DE Crossover Special COMPLETED! + News of Stuff to Come *UPDATED 12/21/13*!

[Stigma_Horrizone]

About that comic thing.... I've actually came out with my own image of John and drew him with his aces in my imagination, hopefully this doesn't bother you when you see it. and I know I somehow screwed up John's design

 

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[legendhiro]

About that comic thing.... I've actually came out with my own image of John and drew him with his aces in my imagination, hopefully this doesn't bother you when you see it. and I know I somehow screwed up John's design

 

[spoiler=Artwork]

[/spoiler]

It doesn't bother me at all, in fact I really like it. Thanks.

[legendhiro]

After a long wait, due to several re-writes, chapter three of the crossover special, titled "Cat Fight", is posted with the first two chapters a few posts up. Please let me know what you think! I love this chapter, particularly. This is a great duel, between two great, strong female characters, both of them keep their heads, even though they both had an emotional involvement in the conflict. Both fully display their styles, which are representative of their personalities, and the chapter also manages to advance the plot of the special. This duel is certainly one of my favorites that I've ever written. I actually based these three characters on a principle from the series "Avatar: the Last Airbender" (I don't know if this is a principle of real martial arts or not), the principal of Positive, Neutral, and Negative Jing, or Energy. Kimi is Negative Jing, always retreating to find the most advantageous position. Rachel is Positive Jing, always advancing, displaying her full power and aggression. Rocky is Neutral Jing, waiting, listening, and reacting quickly and effectively when most appropriate. I know Rocky doesn't duel in this chapter, but I think this aspect of both Rachel's and Kimi's characters come across particularly well here, and this aspect of Rocky's character has shown up well in pretty much every duel he's ever played, and every fight he's ever been in.


Next Chapter The Minds of Darkness

John and Karen confront the entity that Rachel claims is a threat to the entire world, and the two groups finally come together.

[legendhiro]

There's another new chapter up, hopefully showing that I do genuinely intend to get back to this. The title of this latest chapter, "The Minds of Darkness", is relevant on a couple of levels. It refers not only to the multiple minds of the monster that attacks the characters on the ship, but to the dark mind living in the heart of our hero, which makes a brief appearance here. I think this was one of my better non-duel action-oriented chapters. Usually when I write non-duel action scenes, my characters are punching or sword fighting or something, and way more competent than they probably should be. Here, like in the fight between Sarah and Mask in the third special,we see a little bit of desperation. We also get to see Karen's Soul of Imagination finally, after so many years, manifest its out-of-game power fully. It isn't apparent here, but because Karen's power is theoretically to create whatever she can imagine, she has trouble focussing. There are just too many possibilities. So she associates what she wants to happen with something she knows, mainly Duel Monsters. She wants to protect someone, and her Soul creates Millennium Shield. If she wanted to destroy something, she might conjure up something like a Blue-Eyes. Of course, in moments of pure inspiration, she becomes even stronger, able to just wish for things and have them happen, but at least now we know that, normally, she's basically like a Green Lantern limited to Duel Monsters in terms of her constructs.

And finally, after three and a half chapters, our two groups come together. I had two ways that I could have done this: I could take my time, or just throw everyone together at once. Believe me, I really wanted to do the latter, but taking my time the way I did here just makes for a better narrative. Waiting until some individual development has been done to bring the two groups together gives the crossover more weight, and also allows me to build up the two individual continuities a bit before the really long climax begins in chapter six. The final battle is going to be huge, bigger than anything else I've ever done. It will escalate into a true climax where John will finally have to face something about himself that he's been avoiding dealing with for a long time. There's a pretty good twist, too, but what would a DE story be without a pretty good twist?


Next Chapter Coming Together

Exactly what is says on the tin.

[legendhiro]

The next chapter is up in post 69 (heh, 69) above. It's exposition. A LOT of exposition. I tried to repeat as little exposition as possible, but inevitably, to make the discussion between the two groups sound plausible, some of it had to be repeated. Even then, I tried my best to add a new insight to each bit of repeated exposition to keep things fresh-ish, and even if the exposition does dull the chapter up a bit, the majority of it does serve to advance the plot, and I think I succeeded in making the interactions between the members of the two casts realistic and interesting. I also used this chapter to drop the necessary hints that the ending can happen within the setup of this story. If my old friend and faithful reader Senron still frequented this site, I'm sure he could figure out the twist using the clues included here. As always, though, when I'm building toward a twist ending, I'm worried that I made it too obvious. Oh well, if I did, I did. Nothing to be done about it now ;)

*Sigh*

Remember when I barely had anything to say about these? Maybe this means I'm growing more profound (either that, or growing into a better writer :D).


Next Chapter Everything Goes Wrong

Another title that I don't feel needs explained. Really, though, did anyone expect things to go smoothly? Put your hand down back there, you know you didn't.

[legendhiro]

Doing quick updates of all of my threads. I'm going back and deciding to either continue or close each of them. Obviously this is being continued, since I have the rest of the crossover and book seven at least to post here still. In fact, there would be a new chapter of the crossover up already, except that it didn't save and I have to start over.It's a pretty long chapter, too. I'm pouting out of frustration just thinking about it.

[legendhiro]

Blugh, it's taking so much longer to update these than I'd hoped, but really that's just because my computer is so filled with malware that it won't even start up properly, making typing for any length of time very inconvenient. In keeping with my desire to keep potential readers up to date by updating these threads even if I have no new content to post, I want to say sorry, and that I assure you all that if my computer issues cannot be sorted very soon, I will find another acceptible way to post updates.

[legendhiro]

Chapter Six is up in post 69 with the other Crossover chapters. Between still having no proper computer and having no internet at my home for almost a week, updating posed a bit of a problem. I'd hoped to have a second chapter to post today, but no luck. However, my recently new job comes with a lot of down time and access to computers and the internet for non-trainees, and I'm basically through the trainee program, so hopefully updates should start coming very quickly very soon.

Anyway, the chapter...

I really hope I'm not overdoing it with this climax. Many minion-type creatures being defeated in droves by the more skilled heroes is almost Lord of the Rings in theme, which is actually kinda what I'm going for. I wanted this to feel like more of a battle than a Duel. It's long, however, and because the Duels have to be coherent, I can't really cut out big chunks when things start to get repetitive, so I've tried to make things interesting all the way through. There is also the duel between John and the Core Creature to entertain us. I'll spoil a bit by saying that the Core Creature is a match for John, especially considering that John handicapped himself by starting out the duel in arrogant jerk mode. He will have to go to lengths that he's never gone to before to defeat this opponent. Also, I promise that this battle will show us a few things that we've never seen before, and that there is a reason for the creature to have so many aspects, and for the creature in general in the overall plot of the series, so anyone who does feel that the climax is too long, at least understand that it has a purpose.

That said, there is more of the climactic battle coming up. A few more chapters of it, in fact. I really like it myself. I think that I probably put more thought into this than into all of the Duels in any one of my books put together. We will get to see just how strong and resourceful some of these characters actually are, Thomas' Monster Spirit Magic is expanded upon a bit, and Karen's powers are expanded upon a bit. Writing this kind of "Freestyle Duel" also gives me the opportunity to throw in a few unexpected twists that I usually couldn't in a more structured Duel. Anyway, love it or hate it so far, I'd love to hear some thoughts.

Next Chapter Things Actually Get Worse

People start falling, and John's Duel with the Core Creature turns out to be more difficult that our hero imagined (surprise surprise)

[legendhiro]

Two new chapters are up at once this time. There really isn't much to say about them. We finally get to see Ria and Thomas fight in this thing, and all things considered, they're doing pretty well. The serious-in-a-duel Thomas is really well suited for this kind of thing, and Ria is stubborn enough to keep struggling for as long as possible. Meanwhile two really strong Duelists fall, and while its unlikely that these Shadow Creatures, being so completely devoid of personality, have the will to kill their opponents in a Shadow Game, if our heroes lose, there's no telling what could happen. John continues his battle against the Core Creature, hanging on by the skin of his teeth, pulling off what I think are some really cool plays, and I'll say now that things will not really get any better for him all Duel. [b]Next Chapter[/b] Declining Hopes As John continues to lose what little ground he actually has left to the Core Creature, and more of his allies fall, those who are still standing begin to wonder if they can prevail

[legendhiro]

Finally, the site's back! new post hopefully tomorrow.

[legendhiro]

After a minor major rewrite stemming from the very basic fact that I can't count, Chapter Nine: Declining Hopes is up in post #69. Again there isn't a whole lot to say about this chapter, especially not relative to how much actually happens. Several of those who are fighitng to defend John so he can defeat the Core Creature have been defeated. Those who remain continue to fight hard, though, and so far they are doing their job. John and the Core Creature have had their duel to themselves. John is, however, still being overwhelmed. Yes he started poorly, but why is that? John can be arrogant, but he still fights his duels seriously, or at least he has since he learned at Duel Academy what its like to loose because you're overconfident. So why the step backward?

 

Well this chapter gives us a possible reason: the dark side of John has been whispering in the back of his mind. Whether or not John realizes at this point in the story that this is what's happening is up for debate, but clearly that's what's happening. The darkness inside of our hero obviously wants out again. It was let off of its leash a bit earlier in this same special, and, really, it's always wanted out.

 

In case it isn't obvious, my intension here is to imply that the darkness inside of John, the same darkness that he dueled with in DF Special #2, is distracting John, trying to put him into a bad spot so that he'll let the darkness out again to suppliment his power in the duel. I feel it isn't too spoilery to say this, since John eventually figures it out himself, in only a couple chapters.

 

Oh, and speaking of chapters, with the posting of Chapter Nine, there are only three left, the last of which is the wrap-up, which means only two more chapters of having to type up this stupid duel! Huzzah!! Not that I dislike how the duel has turned out, its just that between planning it out, writing up my notes, rewrites, more rewrites, typing, and even more rewrites, I just want it to be over, dangit.

 

Next Chapter The Last Defender

 

John is left nearly defenseless, within his duel with the Core Creature, and without.

[legendhiro]

Chapter Ten is up now in post 69 with the other chapters. We see very little of John in this chapter, and instead we get to see the remaining Duelists defending him fall, except for one. There's a little fakeout, where it seems that "the last defender" named in the chapter title is one person, but it turns out to be someone else. I think readers will be happy with this turn of events, as the alternative cheats a particularly strong character out of getting a chance to fight in this special. I won't spoil here who that character is, but I think you all will enjoy it. I know I enjoyed mapping out this part of the duel. I like to write for this character, and his tactics are fun and unconvensional. Sadly, though, he doesn't actually duel until next chapter, but I promise, it's pretty awesome.

 

Next Chapter And Then There Was One

 

The last defender puts up a great fight, but he understands that he is only buying John more time, and that his own time is effectively up.

[legendhiro]

Chapter eleven is up now in post 69 as well. Only one more to go! This chapter is more about "the last defender" (I'm still refraining from using his name to prevent potential spoilers, and because I'm dramatic!) and his fight than anything else, John featuring in it only briefly. It's pretty awesome, but I suppose it didn't really need to be there from a storytelling standpoint. Still I had fun writing it, and hopefully you will have fun reading it, and it did give this character something to do. anyway, as I said a little further up, there is just one more of these to go, and then I'll finally be free to move on to other story ideas, but we'll get to that once chapter twelve is complete and posted. After all I don't think anyone wants me to get psyched up writing about my next project and then go work on it instead of finishing this ;)

 

Next Chapter The Heart of Darkness

 

John makes a choice.

[legendhiro]

Finally, after far too long a time, the crossever between my DE and DA continuities is finished. I do still have more planned for this series, as I'm pretty sure I've said before, but in the nearly a year that I was away from the site I've really refined those plans quite a bit, so I'd like to go over them a bit. Yeah, I could be talking about the final chapter of the crossover, chapter twelve, which is up now in post 69, but anything that I could say about it would risk spoiling the big twist ending, and I don't want to risk it. Instead I do want to confirm that there will be another Duel Force book.
 
That's right, after several years and several sequels, I've decided to send the Duel Force on one more adventure. There are a lot of things about a couple of my characters that I never really got around to telling. I've considered writing a few short stories tying up the loose ends of these characters' stories, but I felt that I didn't really have enough in the case of a couple of them to do the stories justice as standalone stories, and the one big one, about John and Sarah and a secret held by their family, is too big for a short story. So I've decided to hint a bit to John's story while simutaneously allowing the other stories to tell themselves amongst another, full book which will finally force the Duel Force to deal with the consequences of having such great power. This book, Yu-Gi-Oh! DF7: The Greatest Threat of All will wrap up the story of the Duel Force as a whole and put a nice little bow on it. It will also resolve some stuff that I feel has been left up in the air between Karen, Monty, and Lawrence and their three mentors from the real Yu-Gi-Oh! canon.

Yes, you read that right, this book will feature Yugi, Kaiba, and Pegasus.
 

Finally, this book includes probably the most dangerous villain that John has ever faced, not because he's the most powerful, but because he seems to know and understand John, and because, as a gamer, he seems to be John's equal. His magic even seems similar. The difference between them is that the enemy isn't afraid to sacrifice lives to accomplish his selfish ends. He's also human. While John has taken human lives before, he's more reluctant than he is in the case of evil monsters, especially in light of his most recent adventure in the crossover special (but again, I'm not gonna spoil it). When he learns that his enemy seems to have some connection to his past, things get even more difficult.
 

Tying back to the original continuity, to the continuity of the non-canon Yu-Gi-Oh! R manga, and to my own past continuity, this book will be, by far, the biggest story I've ever written, and it will, without a doubt, be the last DF book before I continue on to finish DFR, which I've been working on rewriting to include details from this final installment.

This, however, isn't all that I have in the works. I also have another special planned. Another crossover, you might say, that I wrote purely for fun and laughs, between my Yu-Gi-Oh! fic and my incomplete Digimon fic. Go ahead, laugh, get it out of your system. I'm not sure that I'll be posting it here since, as I said, I never finished posting my Digimon fic, and the crossover would potential spoil details from the final two books of that series, but I'll let you guys know. If I do post it, it'll be all in the span of a couple of days, as I don't expect anyone to read it, and I don't want to waste too much time with it.

Not only that, but I have another spinoff planned, the long-talked-about Yu-Gi-Oh! Reaper, starring the most awkward and damaged of my characters, Max. This story has been in planning for a while, and so I have the ideas pretty much mapped out, but they still need to be organized and put to paper. Needless to say, this story isn't ready to post yet, where DF7 technically is. However Max's motivations in DF7 hinge partially on the events of Reaper. While I think the story would work without Reaper to draw on, I still plan to finish and post Reaper first. Hopefully I'll be able to get that going and start posting it by February or March 2014 at the latest, finshing by April, at which point I'll post the final book. If I decide to post the Yugimon crossover it'll be after that, as it takes place after the two series have concluded.

 

Finally, sometime way way in the future, there will be a DF prequel which tells the story of John and Sarah's family, so look forward to that. I'm looking forward to it too, seeing how I haven't really decided what's going to happen yet beyond the few details which relate directly to the backstories of those characters.

 

Well, that pretty much sums it up. As you can see, I've got a lot in the works. In the mean time I do have stuff planned for Epic Battles. Actually I hope to get something up in that thread by week after next, as next week is the week of the Christmas holiday. Please let me know what you think of the news, the crossover, or pretty much anything. I'm back to the site, and I don't plan on going anywhere for a while. Either way, I want to wish all of you all of my (platonic) love, and a very merry Christmas and happy holidays.

 

~Legendhiro