Legacy of the Duelist: Prologue
Oct. 7th, 2011 09:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mancalledtrueI've had a long enough break. Time to get back to work. Without any special build-up, let's get to it. This is the prologue to Yu-Gi-Oh Jr.: Legacy of the Duelist.
Out of fairness to Mr. Corvello, we'll use the revised version he currently has on Fanfiction.net, since this is the version he presumably wants people to read. Here's his author's note.
By popular demand, I am putting my three Yu-Gi-Oh Junior stories back on Fanfic, and in a new format.
But I should warn new readers, these three stories are still crude, and this one and the next one uses Duelist Kingdom rules. I wrote them long ago, when my knowledge of the game and the anime was not too good.
Warning accepted. I'll try to take it easier on you.
Oh, who am I kidding. I'm going to ream you.
So... here it is.
We begin with what would become a Brian Corvello standard... the really, really long opening spiel.
It is thirty years into the future. Yugi Muto has conquered all of his demons, real and imagined. No challenges remain for him; no dangers are left. And there comes a time in a man's life when one must put away his toys and embrace manhood.
I remind you this line is written by a man in his thirties who spends the vast majority of his time writing fanfiction based on children's cartoons. I'm in glass houses, but I'm actively trying to change that. By all accounts, he isn't.
Incidentally, it's hard to say for certain what age Yugi Muto would be thirty years after canon, but it's somewhere between 35 and 44.
But the legacy of this great champion of Duel Monsters has not retired. Muto has entrusted his cards, as well as his precious Millennium Puzzle, to his only son: Yugi Muto Junior.
As far as I've managed to work out, the Japanese don't do the whole "[insert name] Junior" thing. If you're named after your dad, you just have your dad's name (probably with different kanji).
WE ALL LIVE IN AMERICA: 1
An aspiring Duel Monsters player himself, young Yugi Jr., like his father, is a firm believer that the cards are more than a simple game, and that the Heart of the Cards exists within every duelist. Despite the fact that his father has vanquished the forces of darkness for the time being, he knows that he must remain ever vigilant lest the Shadow Games threaten to somehow return.
I was never fond of the "Heart of the Cards" theme throughout Yu-Gi-Oh. It's not overdone persay in canon (despite what LittleKuriboh might have you think), but the fans have beaten it into the ground. The idea of there being some magical force that's far more important than skill is insulting to me, and it's used very, very badly by most writers, who have their character make speeches that amount to little more than "My Heart's bigger than your Heart, nyah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah!"
Guess how well Brian will use it?
Although the fourteen-year-old bears the powerful magical device that his father used for guidance all those years ago, no trace of the Puzzle's powerful Spirit has crept into his soul – at least not yet. In young Yugi Jr.'s lucky deck are several of his father's favorite cards, but he has worked hard to establish a collection of his own, trying to make himself an independent duelist and not a clone of his sire.
Meaning that when he starts dueling, he'll use a carbon copy of canon!Yugi's deck.
It seems that fate has decreed that the legacy of the older Yugi and that of his best friend are to remain intertwined. Since he was five years old, Yugi Jr. has been close to the pigtailed, rosy-cheeked, Mary Wheeler, daughter of Joseph Wheeler (no longer known as "Joey").
Even Brian's fans eventually started referring to Mary as "Mary Sue Wheeler". That description should tell you all you really need to know about her.
No stranger to Duel Monsters herself, Mary, like Yugi Jr., has many of her father's cards intertwined in her deck, but also bears many surprises of her own.
And again, when she starts dueling, she'll be using a carbon copy of her father's deck.
As far as the game itself, its copyright remains in the hands of Pegasus – but not the same one. The creator of Duel Monsters, Maximillion Pegasus is long dead, the cause of his death a mystery.
We suspect comma poisoning.
The island where he and Yugi Senior long ago had their epic duel has been destroyed, also via a mysterious means.
"Saxton Hale has denied all knowledge of the accident."
However, before leaving the mortal world, he too left an heir to his mighty gaming empire – his daughter, the now thirty-year old Anastasia Pegasus.
Brian Corvello's stance on morality has come up before: anyone connected to a hero is a hero, anyone connected to a villain is a villain. So, any bets on who the Big Bad is?
Known by some as the "Lady of the Night," this attractive, platinum-blonde woman is never seen in daylight, and always seen wearing expensive Italian suits and sunglasses.
They used to call her "the Lady of the Evening" until she had the last guy shot.
Those who know the atrocities committed by her father have spread similar rumors about her, but all of them are unproven.
Especially that one about the duct tape.
Few have ever seen her skill at the game, but rumors state that she has never once lost since she started playing at age ten.
Here we have standard YGO practice - set up a villain's skill for the hero to knock down. We can let this one slide.
But there exists a much fierier rumor about Anastasia that has taken the gaming community by storm over the past few months.
It involves... tangerines.
Some say that her company has spent the past several years constructing a new Duel Monsters theme park, of even grander scope than the one that the senior Yugi explored all those years ago.
And this is standard Brian Corvello practice. "YOU SEE?!? YOU SEE?!? MINE'S BIGGER! BIGGER!"
Nearing completion, the rumor says that as a grand opening, she plans to hold an invitation-only tournament on this strange fortress (whose location is a well-kept secret).
Classic bad sentence construction. The way this sentence is written implies that the rumor is nearing completion, even though the intent of the sentence is that the theme park is nearing completion.
But until such rumors are proven, we join Yugi Muto Junior and his cheering section (led by ever-present Mary) in Manhattan, where the final round of the annual Big Apple Tournament is underway…
Hoo boy. We're only at the close of the prologue and already the only girl in the group is being relegated to cheering section. This doesn't bode well.
So... In the prologue, we've established that our hero's a clone of a canon character, his sidekick/obvious love interest is a clone of a canon character, their villain's a clone of a canon character, and they'll be competing in a Xerox of a canon setting. If it weren't obvious this was Brian's first YGO fanfic before, it is now.
Out of fairness to Mr. Corvello, we'll use the revised version he currently has on Fanfiction.net, since this is the version he presumably wants people to read. Here's his author's note.
By popular demand, I am putting my three Yu-Gi-Oh Junior stories back on Fanfic, and in a new format.
But I should warn new readers, these three stories are still crude, and this one and the next one uses Duelist Kingdom rules. I wrote them long ago, when my knowledge of the game and the anime was not too good.
Warning accepted. I'll try to take it easier on you.
Oh, who am I kidding. I'm going to ream you.
So... here it is.
We begin with what would become a Brian Corvello standard... the really, really long opening spiel.
It is thirty years into the future. Yugi Muto has conquered all of his demons, real and imagined. No challenges remain for him; no dangers are left. And there comes a time in a man's life when one must put away his toys and embrace manhood.
I remind you this line is written by a man in his thirties who spends the vast majority of his time writing fanfiction based on children's cartoons. I'm in glass houses, but I'm actively trying to change that. By all accounts, he isn't.
Incidentally, it's hard to say for certain what age Yugi Muto would be thirty years after canon, but it's somewhere between 35 and 44.
But the legacy of this great champion of Duel Monsters has not retired. Muto has entrusted his cards, as well as his precious Millennium Puzzle, to his only son: Yugi Muto Junior.
As far as I've managed to work out, the Japanese don't do the whole "[insert name] Junior" thing. If you're named after your dad, you just have your dad's name (probably with different kanji).
WE ALL LIVE IN AMERICA: 1
An aspiring Duel Monsters player himself, young Yugi Jr., like his father, is a firm believer that the cards are more than a simple game, and that the Heart of the Cards exists within every duelist. Despite the fact that his father has vanquished the forces of darkness for the time being, he knows that he must remain ever vigilant lest the Shadow Games threaten to somehow return.
I was never fond of the "Heart of the Cards" theme throughout Yu-Gi-Oh. It's not overdone persay in canon (despite what LittleKuriboh might have you think), but the fans have beaten it into the ground. The idea of there being some magical force that's far more important than skill is insulting to me, and it's used very, very badly by most writers, who have their character make speeches that amount to little more than "My Heart's bigger than your Heart, nyah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah!"
Guess how well Brian will use it?
Although the fourteen-year-old bears the powerful magical device that his father used for guidance all those years ago, no trace of the Puzzle's powerful Spirit has crept into his soul – at least not yet. In young Yugi Jr.'s lucky deck are several of his father's favorite cards, but he has worked hard to establish a collection of his own, trying to make himself an independent duelist and not a clone of his sire.
Meaning that when he starts dueling, he'll use a carbon copy of canon!Yugi's deck.
It seems that fate has decreed that the legacy of the older Yugi and that of his best friend are to remain intertwined. Since he was five years old, Yugi Jr. has been close to the pigtailed, rosy-cheeked, Mary Wheeler, daughter of Joseph Wheeler (no longer known as "Joey").
Even Brian's fans eventually started referring to Mary as "Mary Sue Wheeler". That description should tell you all you really need to know about her.
No stranger to Duel Monsters herself, Mary, like Yugi Jr., has many of her father's cards intertwined in her deck, but also bears many surprises of her own.
And again, when she starts dueling, she'll be using a carbon copy of her father's deck.
As far as the game itself, its copyright remains in the hands of Pegasus – but not the same one. The creator of Duel Monsters, Maximillion Pegasus is long dead, the cause of his death a mystery.
We suspect comma poisoning.
The island where he and Yugi Senior long ago had their epic duel has been destroyed, also via a mysterious means.
"Saxton Hale has denied all knowledge of the accident."
However, before leaving the mortal world, he too left an heir to his mighty gaming empire – his daughter, the now thirty-year old Anastasia Pegasus.
Brian Corvello's stance on morality has come up before: anyone connected to a hero is a hero, anyone connected to a villain is a villain. So, any bets on who the Big Bad is?
Known by some as the "Lady of the Night," this attractive, platinum-blonde woman is never seen in daylight, and always seen wearing expensive Italian suits and sunglasses.
They used to call her "the Lady of the Evening" until she had the last guy shot.
Those who know the atrocities committed by her father have spread similar rumors about her, but all of them are unproven.
Especially that one about the duct tape.
Few have ever seen her skill at the game, but rumors state that she has never once lost since she started playing at age ten.
Here we have standard YGO practice - set up a villain's skill for the hero to knock down. We can let this one slide.
But there exists a much fierier rumor about Anastasia that has taken the gaming community by storm over the past few months.
It involves... tangerines.
Some say that her company has spent the past several years constructing a new Duel Monsters theme park, of even grander scope than the one that the senior Yugi explored all those years ago.
And this is standard Brian Corvello practice. "YOU SEE?!? YOU SEE?!? MINE'S BIGGER! BIGGER!"
Nearing completion, the rumor says that as a grand opening, she plans to hold an invitation-only tournament on this strange fortress (whose location is a well-kept secret).
Classic bad sentence construction. The way this sentence is written implies that the rumor is nearing completion, even though the intent of the sentence is that the theme park is nearing completion.
But until such rumors are proven, we join Yugi Muto Junior and his cheering section (led by ever-present Mary) in Manhattan, where the final round of the annual Big Apple Tournament is underway…
Hoo boy. We're only at the close of the prologue and already the only girl in the group is being relegated to cheering section. This doesn't bode well.
So... In the prologue, we've established that our hero's a clone of a canon character, his sidekick/obvious love interest is a clone of a canon character, their villain's a clone of a canon character, and they'll be competing in a Xerox of a canon setting. If it weren't obvious this was Brian's first YGO fanfic before, it is now.
