XxxXxxX

Shinjuku, Tokyo/December 4, 2012/?

(Cue Neon Genesis Evangelion OST - Marking Time, Waiting for Death)

Takato opened his eyes and found himself standing in the middle of his hometown.

Except, he didn't think he was. What should've been his home was desolate ruins caused by an untold force. He frantically glanced around for his friends and fellow heroes. He tried looking for Guilmon, Suzaku, and even his girlfriend Rika. He was alone.

"Guys? Henry? Terriermon? Renamon? Jeri? Kazu? Kenta? Guilmon? Suzaku? Rika? Everyone! Where are you?!" Takato screamed for anyone to hear his pleas. He only heard his voice echoing over the endless barren wasteland where Tokyo once stood. Then, he heard a familiar whimper and turned to see Guilmon. "Buddy?"

"Takato, I'm right here."

"Of course, you made me worried! C'mon, let's go find everyone else and figure out what happened here!" Takato called out to his partner. Just as he reached Guilmon, the red dinosaur melted into red goo and his remains spilled all over the ground. As his face contorted with horror, Takato was left aghast. "GUILMON!" He dove to recover the remains of his friend.

"Hey, goggles!"

His ears picked up on his soon-to-be bride's tone and he glanced behind him. Rika undid her sleeveless vest and stretched his arms out, beckoning him into her muscular arms.

"Let's get the hell out of here, Takato. This place is a dump."

"But, Guilmon… he just…"

"Just what? He went back to the Digital World. It's just us now."

"And Renamon? Terriermon? Inumon? Henry? Jeri? And all of our friends?"

Rika scoffed. "Who cares about them? And who gives a shit about Renamon?" Her lips twisted into a conniving grin, which Takato could already discern she wasn't who she claimed to be.

"Liar. Rika would never disparage Renamon! You imposter!" Takato berated 'Rika' as her familiar form's skin melted away into goo, leaving her a puddle of putrid goo. "Alright! Quit playing games with me! Who are you?!"

Then, as the entire desolate landscape vanished and became engulfed by darkness. Takato heard a distorted sinister voice speaking to him.

"This is just a look into your possible future. You and your friends are NOT prepared for what's to come!"

"What do you mean?!"

"Heheh, YOU will find out soon enough, Romosmos."

"Who is this 'Romosmos'? You've got the wrong person! SHOW YOURSELF, YOU COWARD!" Takato screamed as a dark hole opened up under him as he was dropped into an endless pit to the point of no return.

(End theme)

XxxXxxX

Shinjuku, Tokyo/Nonaka Residence/7:30 AM

Letting out a deep gasp, Takato awoke with widened eyes and a sweat drenched face as if he had run a hundred laps. He saw Rika already awake and tending to him.

"Takato, are you ok?!" Rika cried out, holding him gently. "Breath. Take a few deep breaths." After calming him down, she came back with bottled water for him to drink. "Here. Can you drink?"

"Yeah, thanks," Takato deeply breathed and drank the bottle. "I needed that."

"Bad dream?"

"More like horrible."

"What happened?" Rika asked, getting no response. "That bad? You want to talk about it?"

"You and Guilmon were in it?"

"Oh yeah? Something bad must've happened to us for you to freak out the way you did."

"Bad is an understatement."

Rika blinked. "Oh damn."

"The way you both died was like something out of a horror movie."

"Were they quick deaths or…"

"Rika, I don't wanna describe what happened to y'all!"

She nodded. "That's fine. I'll admit I was kinda morbidly curious."

Takato rolled his eyes. "Kinda, you say?"

(Cue Neon Genesis Evangelion OST - Waking up in the morning)

As Rika lay back in her bed, Takato leaned next to her. Pulling the blanket over themselves, they were in each other's warm embrace and kissed. Under their sheets, Takato was on top of his larger girlfriend, who could now easily toss him around and benchpress him. No matter how much Rika had changed on the outside, she was the same woman he had fallen in love with. As he mounted on Rika, they held hands and kissed.

"So, you still don't want to tell me how I died?"

"No, because it was super nasty."

Rika kissed him. "C'mon, I'm not a lightweight with gore like you."

"What? C'mon, I, too, can handle gore!"

"Please, you freaked at those gore scenes from those horror movies I showed you! You begged me to stop!"

Takato whimpered. "Yeah, well, they looked realistic."

"They're called special effects. Anyway, how did Guilmon and I die? Tell me."

Takato sighed as he gave in to his girlfriend. "You both melted."

"M-Melted? That's it? Did fire burn us or something?'

"No, you just melted and turned into goo puddles."

Rika scoffed. "Man, that's disappointing. Was it quick or slow?'

"Quick."

"Even more disappointing."

"Rika!"

She chuckled. "Sorry. So what else happened?"

"I heard a voice. A dark voice I'm not familiar with. Tokyo was reduced into a wasteland in my dream."

Furrowing her brows, Rika replied. "Now, you got me curious."

"Yeah, and he called me Romosmos. Whatever the hell that means."

Rika quietly mulled over what Takato told her. She felt Takato accidentally poking her under the sheets. "Ow, hey! Be careful where you stick it!"

"Oh, sorry!"

"It's ok."

"Besides, we already covered all the bases last night," Takato tried his next sensual joke, which got him an eye roll from his girlfriend.

"Just say we had good fucking sex last night, Takato. Ok?"

"Yeah, but I wanted to be funny."

"And it wasn't a good joke," Rika chuckled.

"Ah, but you laughed just now. So, it had to be funny."

"Right. Anyway, this evil voice called you Romosmos. I don't know what to tell you."

"Don't worry. I'm trying to figure out what it means anyway," Takato shrugged as he watched Rika getting up and putting on an azure kimono. "Maybe Suzaku would know?"

Just then, Suzaku's voice telepathy inside Takato's mind. "I'm sorry, Takato. Even I cannot discern what this nightmare you had and what it entails, but if it is a possible future, we cannot allow it to pass."

"Looks like even Suzaku is in the dark."

"I just asked Seiryuu and she doesn't know either," Rika replied as she walked into her family shrine's garden. "I don't know what to tell you, gogglehead."

"Suzaku did say what I saw might've been a possible future. I hope it's caused by the fight with the Defiants."

"We have to beat these Defiants if we want to get married, huh?" Rika wondered.

"Of course, we will and we'll stop this dark future my dream seemed to allude to."

"You got that right, Takato," Rika smirked. As Takato put on his kimono, he joined her in the garden and put his arms around her. She turned and passionately kissed his lips. "We'll worry about the future later. We have the Defiants to think about. Are we still having that meeting with our friends later?"

"Supposedly. Henry would let us know when he gets off work," Takato replied. "But, it's looking likely our Tamers meeting is still on."

"Good. Are you going to tell them about your dream?"

Takato nodded. "Not right now. Besides, that dream was too vague. And you're right, we should focus on the Defiants now."

"Yeah, that's for the best. So, you want to get some cocoa?"

"Sure."

"And you're buying."

Takato sighed. "You suckered me into that one."

"Hey, I bought us hot cocoa last time."

"Fair enough. We'll get our usual," Takato said as Rika kissed him a big one.

"Thanks, goggles."

As he watched Rika walk past him, Takato gave an innocent smile. "I can't believe I'm gonna be marrying my dream girl. All we have to do is get past this Defiant obstacle."

(End theme)

XxxXxxX

Tokyo, Japan/Domino City/KaibaCorp/1:35 PM

(Cue Yu-Gi-Oh! The Unreleased Score - Mystery)

With the Defiants becoming problematic for his company's image, Seto called for a meeting to amp up his security. While doing this, the Duelists arrive to warn Seto about the Duel Monster Defiants that will present an impending threat to them.

Yugi, Joey, Tea, Tristan, Duke, Mai, Bakura, Miho, and Vivian were invited to a briefing room. Amid their conversations, they also discussed last night's Hikawa Shrine incident. As they waited for KaibaCorp's CEO, Lyn, Mokuba, and Lydia provided them food and drinks to keep them appeased.

"We're sorry, guys, that he's keeping you waiting. Seto's been busy securing this place," Lyn apologized on her husband's behalf.

"It's ok, Lyn. We understand, but we hope he was prepared for these Duel Monster Defiants," Yugi said.

"So, Pluto and her group discovered this group of Defiants called The Collective stealing Digimon and Duel Monster powers?" Mokuba asked.

"It does sound like they've found their own Spirit Fusion to fight us with," Tristan said.

"Fighting fire with fire. Man, things just couldn't get worse for us," Joey scoffed.

"Well, we haven't fought them yet, but from the sounds of it, Pluto and her group had a hard time beating one of their leaders," Vivian said.

"If the Outer Senshi had trouble, I don't know how Vivian and I would fare," Miho said.

"Hey, don't sell yourselves short, you two!" A voice belonging to one of the Kuiper Senshi chimed in. It was Tyra Vanderbilt, aka Sailor Varuna, who walked in with her girlfriend Helena Souza, aka Sailor Quaoar. "Kuiper Senshi don't keel over to enemies. We kick their ass!"

Helena nodded. "That's right. We met our enemies head-on." She turned over to Lydia and smiled. "Sorry we're late."

"No, you're good. Dad… I mean Mokuba and I were just talking about the future," Lydia replied.

"It's ok. You can call Mokuba dad because he is technically your father," Helena replied, reminding Lydia of her actual birth.

"I still can't believe what happened to Hikawa Shrine. I'm glad Rei and her family made it out," Tyra said. "Well, except their grandfather and Yuuichirou."

"We just moved into our own place not too long ago. I remember all the times we spent at the shrine. It was beautiful. How could Rei's father do such an unspeakable act?" Helena asked.

"Because it was that Yami Houou thing that controlled him," Yugi said. "I still can't believe a fragment of that evil entity survived this whole time and latched on Rei's father."

"I'm glad Rei and the others are ok and found safe places. I can only imagine how horrible it's been for them," Lyn said with sadness. "I can't imagine losing your home in such a horrific manner. I'm so relieved that future Koori is staying at Sam's place. She can stay with my brother as long as she wants."

"Dad? When's uncle Seto coming?" Lydia asked Mokuba.

"He should be here…"

"I'm here," Seto interjected as he walked into the room carrying a steel briefcase.

"Oh, look who finally showed up?" Tyra sardonically acknowledged his presence.

"You kept us waiting for over an hour, Kaiba!" Joey spat out.

"Heh, maybe I should leave and keep you waiting three hours? Or maybe five?" Seto shrugged off Joey.

"Ahem," Lyn cleared her throat. "Honey." Her firm tone made Seto humble himself before her.

"Sorry, everyone," Seto bowed.

"Wow, he actually apologized," Mai was left taken aback.

"Lyn, you really domesticated him," Tea said.

"Nah, I just need to remind him where he needs to learn his place."

"And that's why Lyn hired me to be one of Seto's bodyguards. So, I'm around to keep Seto from crossing any lines," Tyra said.

"No wonder Kaiba has gotten softer," Bakura said.

"Anyway, so I heard we have Defiant problems? And they can access Duel Monster forms like we have?" Seto addressed the Duelists.

"That's right, Kaiba. Well, we haven't seen these Duel Monster Defiants yet, but we've had second hand accounts from Sailor Pluto and her group. We've also heard from Jaden, too. He's been investigating the happenings in the Digital World," Yugi revealed as he explained what Jaden had told him.

"I see. Yeah, I actually had visitors from the Digital World see me," Seto revealed. He opened the door behind him to bring in several Duel Monster guests.

(Cue Yu-Gi-Oh! The Unreleased Score - The Pharaoh)

The Duelists and their friends were taken aback when they saw them. Yugi was the most surprised as he saw two of his many deck monsters: Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl.

"No way! That's…!" Joey exclaimed.

"Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl?!" Tea cried out.

"They came as representatives of Witchenly and came with items that could help us fight these Duel Monster Defiants," Seto said.

"Good day, everyone. We apologize if our appearance here comes as a surprise," Dark Magician said. "I come as co-leader of Witchenly and this is assistant."

Dark Magician Girl bowed. "I hope you're all well."

"You two are.." Yugi approached the two magician monsters. "I shouldn't be surprised, but I heard Witchenly's leader is a Dark Magician."

"Yes, and I'm well aware of the special Dark Magician in your deck, Yugi Muto," he said.

"And likewise, I know you and Tea Gardner are using my card!" Dark Magician Girl added.

"I'm just happy to see…" Yugi was at a loss for words.

"He can't even finish speaking. I don't blame him," Tristan smiled.

"I understand this is a special moment, Yugi, but let's get down to business," Lyn said.

"I'm sorry. Please, tell us what you came here for," Yugi nodded.

"It's ok. Now, as you've probably already been made aware, the Digital World has been under siege by Defiants disguised as Duel Monsters and they're being led by The Collective," Dark Magician explained.

"So, who is this Collective?" Yugi queried.

"They are the highest elites of these specific Defiants. We've lost many of our colleagues to these monsters," Dark Magician Girl said.

"We've learned that you and friends have already accessed the power of an Egyptian artifact that lets you fuse with your Duel Monsters," Dark Magician said.

"Yeah, we call it Spirit Fusion. Maximilian Pegasus gave us those powers through the Staff of Apophis," Lyn replied.

"Yes, well we've also brought something that may prove useful when dealing with these powerful Defiants," Dark Magician said as he glanced at the door behind them.

The third guest walked in carrying a royal purple and dark gold box. It was a Silent Magician child, who put the box on a table.

"In this box, you'll find some Polymerization Stones that will help yourself with more than just one monster," Silent Magician said as she opened the box, revealing these mystic stones.

"Wait, I've seen and even used a Polymerization Stone!" Yugi exclaimed, recalling using one when he helped the Sailor Senshi and Spirit Detectives fight the Blood Senshi.

"You have? My adoptive mother and I discovered them one day during our travels. We found out they can merge two or more components together," Silent Magician said.

"Silent Magician's adoptive mother is an Amazoness Queen, who brought us the stones and asked us to take her daughter in," Dark Magician said.

"Oh, and as it turns out. I found out I'm not really a boy? But a girl? It was a surprise to me to learn of this!" Silent Magician revealed.

"Silent Magician still uses masculine titles, but her gender is female," Dark Magician Girl said.

"The Amazoness Queen already told Silent Magician and later us about this fact," Dark Magician said. "Silent Magician has shown us incredible potential as a mage and currently resides in our academy."

"You don't say?" Yugi nodded. "Well, I hope I can add your card to my collection."

"I'd be honored if you do, Yugi Muto! You are a folk hero among us mage monsters!" Silent Magician exclaimed.

Joey whispered to Mai. "Heh, for a Silent Magician, she sure loves to talk a lot."

"She talks almost as much as you do, Joey."

Glancing over the PolymerizationStones, Seto picked one up. "And will these stones help turn the tide against these frauds?"

"They should," Dark Magician said. "If you do not wish to use them, we'll gladly take them back with us."

"We'd be honored to use them," Yugi said as he turned toward his friends. "Right, guys? Each of us takes one stone?"

"That sounds like a plan to me," Tristan said.

"Hey, shouldn't we leave a few for Jaden and his friends?" Duke asked.

"We already gave Jaden Yuki several on our way here," Dark Magician Girl answered.

"He assured us he would distribute some to his friends," Dark Magician said.

"Well, that takes care of that. So, will you show us how to use these stones?" Mokuba asked

"As much as we'd like, we must return to Witchenly and protect our dominion," Dark Magician replied.

"It's fine. Out of us here, I'm the one who's used them once and I think I can teach you all," Yugi said.

"Perhaps you'd like some assistance?" Silent Magician offered.

"That's great and all, but shouldn't you be going with these two?" Joey asked Silent Magician

"Well, my masters here want to keep me out of the war against these Defiants. That's why I wanted to know if it's ok that I stay with you Duelists and help teach you to use these Polymerization Stones?" Silent Magician asked.

"We'd be honored, Silent Magician. We'll promise you security among us," Yugi accepted. "You and I can assess the potential of these Polymerization Stones together."

"I hope she won't be too much of an inconvenience," Dark Magician said.

"Not at all," Yugi said.

"Then, we'll take our leave then. Master Wisemon awaits us," Dark Magician Girl said. "Please use the stones well."

"Yug Muto, it is an honor to meet the master that wields the original Dark Magician Mahad," Dark Magician said. "While I am not Mahad, I hope that I've honored his legacy."

"Likewise with I honoring the original Dark Magician Girl Mana."

"You have," Yugi said, showing them his Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl cards. "I consider you extensions of their storied legacy."

Hearing this, the magician duo used their magical staffs and magically teleported back to Witchenly.

As she picked up an extra stone, Tyra examined it. "You don't suppose this could fuse me with Helena or Lyn, could it?"

"Or me with Vivian," Miho pointed out.

"Now, that would be an interesting outcome," Vivian said.

"We won't know, but I think it's only effective between a human and a Duel Monster," Yugi said.

"Hmm, I think it's possible for humans to fuse with each other with these stones, but I wouldn't know," Silent Magician said.

"Well, let's just stick with us fusing with more of our Duel Monsters," Joey said.

"We could also use these stones to seriously power-up the Polymerization cards," Tristan suggested.

"Well, I'm sorta new to the Spirit Fusion thing, but I think I can handle this," Bakura said.

"Don't worry, Bakura. We got you covered," Yugi said.

"Seto, we need to keep our stones secured," Mokuba suggested to his brother.

"I'll study mine before I use them," Seto said. "If these Defiants somehow find ways to fuse with more than one monster, then we need to do the same."

"Yeah, we can't take any chances with these Collective members," Lyn reminded them of their biggest threats.

"You can stay with Tea and I, Silent Magician. We have room for one more," Yugi offered her.

"Really? Thank you, and I hope my talking so much won't be a bother."

Tea giggled. "I think you'll livin our place a bit since it gets quiet."

"Alright then, starting tomorrow let's all meet somewhere, preferably somewhere private to start training," Yugi said.

"Well, some of us have work," Mai said. "Joey and I still run the arcade."

"Oh, right, some of us do have schedules," Yugi remembered.

"That's fine. Why don't we use one of Seto's labs to start our stone training? I'll give each of you all access keys for you to come in and use our facilities anytime you want. Just show security and let them know I gave you permission to come," Lyn suggested.

"That's even better for us. Thanks, Lyn!" Joey said.

"Heh, looks like the facilities are going to be pretty occupied unless you want to share space, bro?" Mokuba chuckled.

Seto scoffed. "I'll wait and pick my time. Besides, I'd rather study these stones first."

"Well, either way we have plenty to experiment with," Yugi said as he examined his Polymerization Stone. "We must strike these Collective members and Duel Monster Defiants before they get an advantage over us."

(End theme)

XxxXxxX

Azabu-Juuban, Tokyo/Makoto's Florist Shop/3:30 PM

(Cue Sailor Moon English OST (DiC) - A Normal Day)

One day removed after Yami Houou Hiroaki's heinous attack, the Senshi re-established connections to give Rei and her family their support.

This prompted Makoto to help innocent civilians from Defiant abuse. After successfully finding someone to help run her florist shop, Sailor Jupiter resumed hero duties. Just on her first active day, Jupiter stopped a few Defiants from causing property damage and saved civilians.

(Cue Sailor Moon English OST (DiC) - Jupiter Attack)

On her way home, Makoto heard a commotion happen in a back alley. She ran over to find a group of thugs posing as Defiants throwing bottles at two young women. Makoto paused as she saw these women wearing revealing warrior clothing. One is a redhead with short hair with bright yellow revealing clothing. The other has light green short hair and light green revealing clothing.

"Hey, leave those two alone!" Makoto shouted as she beat up and made short work of the thugs. After picking up and throwing a thug at his friends, she scared them off.

"Thank you, but we had him!" The redhead girl shouted.

"Yeah, we were just about to fight back," the light green-haired girl added.

(End theme)

"Oh, sorry. Hey, aren't you two Amazons?" Makoto asked, recognizing their clothing.

"Wait, how do you know we're Amazons?" The redhead asked.

"Because your clothes are a dead giveaway. I know Queen Athenamon and Swordswoman. Oh, and I also know the Amazoness Queen," Makoto said.

"We come from Queen's tribe and we're on good terms with Lady Athenamon & Swordswoman," the green-haired Amazon replied.

"But, you haven't explained how you know them," the redhead said, gazing at Makoto suspiciously.

"Well, I guess I can trust y'all to keep my secret identity a secret," Makoto said as she looked around and saw the coat was clear. Then, she transformed into Sailor Jupiter. "Ta-da! I know your queens because they know me!"

"Oh! You're one of the Sailor Senshi!" The two Amazons exclaimed in awe.

"Please apologize for our cautiousness! We had no idea!" The green-haired Amazon apologetically said.

"Ever since we arrived here, we've been met with hostility from certain humans."

"Yeah, we've been dealing with some Defiants lately," Jupiter said.

"Defiants? Yes, there have been Defiants causing problems for us in our world. That's why we came. We've been searching for allies to help our tribes!" The redhead said. "By the way, we're Amazoness Scouts."

The green-haired Amazon nodded. "Since you're allies with our queens, we'd like your help dealing with an invading Defiant army, who've been attacking us lately."

"Even our strongest warriors have been captured. I believe you can turn the tide in our favor!" The red-haired Amazon said.

"Hmm, I really should ask the other Senshi…"

"There's no time. We're not sure how long our sisters will last," the green-haired girl said.

"Whoa, this sounds serious. Do you really have confidence in my power alone?" Jupiter asked.

"If you helped save Lady Athenamon and Swordswoman's kingdom before, then yes!" They said openly pleading to her. "Please, Miss Jupiter!"

Realizing time was limited for them, Sailor Jupiter couldn't afford to turn her back on allies in need.

Taking out her flip phone, Jupiter called Mako. "Honey, I might be delayed. Something's come up. Make sure to feed little Umi. Tell Future Umi and Ryuuhi to help with our new hire and close the shop before they head out for training."

"Sure, honey. Is everything ok?"

"Just helping a few friends out in need. See you later. Tell our baby girl I said mommy loves her."

"I will. Be careful, Makoto. Love you."

"Love you, too," Jupiter blew a kiss as she closed her phone. "Ok, you two. I'm ready."

"Thank you, Miss Jupiter." With that, the Amazoness Scouts opened a portal for them to cross over into the Digital World and straight into their tribe's location.

XxxXxxX

Digital World/Southern Realm/Queen's Amazon Village

(Cue Avatar: The Last Airbender OST - The Kyoshi Warriors)

As they arrived near Amazoness Queen's village, Sailor Jupiter and the Amazoness Scouts met with the Queen to discuss Jupiter's involvement in the latest skirmish against a Defiant invading force. Relieved that they were receiving help from a Sailor Senshi.

"I'm happy we're receiving aid from one of you, but how come your other colleagues haven't come?" Amazoness Queen asked Jupiter.

"I'm afraid a lot of us have personal conflicts going on and I was the only one available these two could find. I'm volunteering for this," Jupiter bluntly answered.

Nodding, Queen stood up from her throne. "Fair enough. I also see the Permafusion Stone's effects have worked for you and your Amazon counterpart. Her strength has become yours. Because of that, just one of you should be enough. After all, Athenamon and Swordswoman fully endorse you and your colleagues since you saved their village. I should know I was there to witness you turn the tide against those alien invaders."

"And now, I'll help fend off these Defiants. So, I hear many of your tribe sisters have been taken captive?"

"Captured and others have been killed."

"Then, let's go beat these Defiants and save your sisters," Jupiter openly stated.

"Thank you," Queen replied as she and her elite guard escorted Jupiter into a meeting room to plan their next strategic attack on the Defiants.

Later, Jupiter and the Amazons arrived on the battlefield. They faced a greater number of Defiant opposition. The Defiant Duel Monsters consisted of Gene-Warped Warwolves, Cran Turtles, Phantom Beast Rock-Lizards, and Scab Scar-Knights. Three Digihybrids appeared in front of them. The trio consisted of Hi-Commandramon, Landramon, and Gyuukimon.

"Is that them?" Jupiter asked.

"Indeed, and they've already decimated a lot of our territory and many of our sisters," Queen said, biting her bottom lip while giving a steely gaze at the Defiants.

"Why haven't you called Athenamon and Swordswoman's kingdom? You're all on good terms now, right?"

Queen nodded. "They're in the middle of their own campaign against other Defiants. Some Dra-Warriors, Royal Knights, and Witchenly members are aiding them. The Defiants they're facing have at least several Collective members leading them."

"Collective?"

"Powerful elite Defiants whose strength are beyond the Neo-Rajita. They're ones you don't want to cross, Sailor Jupiter."

"Are any of these guys Collective members?"

Queen answered. "I don't think so, but their strength shouldn't be underestimated."

(End theme)

(Cue Sailor Moon English OST (DiC) - Sailor Scouts Transform)

"Alrighty then I'll give it my all," Jupiter said, punching her right fist inside her left palm. "Hey, I heard you've been giving these slides problems, you jerks! Well, you're about to feel some real pain now! If you won't leave now, I'll leave you with regret, I'll leave you numb!""

Hearing Jupiter's speech, the Defiants laughed together. Hi-Commandramon fired the first shot, launching projectiles from a multi-grenade launcher. Seeing the attack coming, Jupiter jumped high into the air and crossed her arms.

(End theme)

(Cue Sailor Moon (1992 anime) OST - Battle Theme)

"You wanna play rough?! Take this!" Jupiter declared, gathering electricity from her tiara that shaped into a massive dragon. "Supreme Thunder Dragon!" Upon launching her electric dragon, Hi-Commandramon charged and nullified Jupiter's attack with his attack shield. "Damn, this isn't gonna be a cakewalk. Fine." She landed beside Queen.

"Looks like you'll need assistance, Jupiter."

"Thanks, Queen," Jupiter said.

"Onward, men! They may have acquired a powerful new ally, but it's just one and we've already whittled down these savage women's numbers! Their territory is ours for the taking!" Hi-Commandramon declared.

With that, the Defiant Duel Monsters, being led by Hi-Commandramon, charged at Jupiter and the Amazons. Amid the clash, Landramon turned into sand and vanished into the ground. Gyuukimon was on stand-by and guarded its vicinity.

As Queen and her sisters fended off the Defiant Duel Monsters, Jupiter targeted Commandramon first. Forming an electrical ball in her hand, Jupiter swerved around Hi-Commandramon and tossed it.

"Sparkling Wide Pressure!" Jupiter blasted Hi-Commandramon's blind spot, causing him to drop to a knee. "Nice, I'll take out that shield next!" However, before she blasted the shield, a sand pit formed under her feet, which started pulling her in.

"Desert Abyss!" The humanoid Landramon called out, dragging Jupiter into his sand pit. "Hehe, there's no escape for you!"

"Damn, you sneaky bastard!" Jupiter exclaimed.

Just then, Queen lunged forward and slashed Landramon's forehead, causing him to lose control of his sand pit. Queen immediately pulled Jupiter out of the pit.

"Thanks a bunch, Queen."

"Stay on your toes, Jupiter," Queen advised, readying her scimitar as Landramon extended retractable claws out of the ground that targeted Queen and Jupiter.

"Terra Spike!"

"I'll repay the favor! Jupiter Coconut Cyclone!" Jupiter yelled out, firing a crackling electrical ball that pulverized Landramon's claws and blasted him away. "That'll show you!" When she turned, she dodged attacks from several Gene-Warped Warwolves and Phantom Beast Rock-Lizards. She imbued electricity through her fingers creating cat claws that she used to slash and electrocute her enemies.

"Wow, she's so cool!" The Amazoness Scouts cheered Jupiter on.

"Pay attention to your surroundings! We are at war now!" Queen chided her two Scouts.

"Yes, our Queen!"

As she took to the air, Jupiter unleashed a torrent of leaf-shaped blasts. "Jupiter Oak Evolution!" She helped strike and neutralize numerous Defiant Duel Monsters, causing many to turn back into normal humans. Amid the attacks, Jupiter also got on all fours as a lightning cheetah cloak enveloped her. Cheetah ears shaped like thunder bolts adorned her head and a long tail protruded from her back. She charged up her claws once again and swiftly attacked more Defiants, delivering lightning fast slashes. "Jupiter Lightning Strikes!"

After clearing an entire field full of Defiants, Jupiter allowed Amazons to gain ground and handle the remnants.

"Damn it, she's already taken most of our men down!" Hi-Commandramon exclaimed. "Gyuukimon, you're up! Don't you disappoint me!"

Letting out a ferocious bellow, Gyuukimon headed straight for Sailor Jupiter. Facing the behemoth, Jupiter stood her ground against the half-ox and half-spider demon giant.

"Ok, looks like I'm gonna have to pull out the stops against this big guy," Jupiter said, powering up into her Eternal Sailor form. "Your move!"

"Yatsuka Senbaku!" Gyuukimon expelled a spider threat from the mouth of its lower body, aiming to ensnare Jupiter.

Seeing the attack coming, Jupiter flew around, evading the thread. However, poisonous smoke seeped from its mouth, enshrouding Jupiter and blinding her.

"Oh crap, it's poison!" Jupiter covered her mouth.

"Jupiter, here!" Queen tossed a tribal gas mask, which Jupiter used to shield herself from the demon's toxins.

"Whew, you're a lifesaver, Queen. Alright, now I'm mad!" Jupiter yelled as she flew at Gyuukimon. Aiming to punch its head, the behemoth tossed a cylinder from its back filled with poisonous gas. "That doesn't look good!" She caught the cylinder in mid-air and tossed it far away.

"C'mon, Gyuukimon! Are you having trouble with just one?!" Hi-Commandramon was distraught with what's happening.

Hefting its weapon on its left arm, Gyuukimon launched an attack from it that knocked Jupiter away.

(End theme)

"Senho Tsuchigumo!" Gyuukimon swiftly brought down Jupiter with its cannon attack.

"Jupiter!" Queen and her followers called out in horror.

"Looks like your savior wasn't all that. Do you surrender or does Gyuukimon finish you with his toxic gas?" Hi-Commandramon asked.

(Cue Sailor Jupiter Theme - Kissing in the Starlight by Emi Shinohara)

Just then, a giant bolt of lightning erupted from the spot where Jupiter fell. Quickly turning around, Gyuukimon saw Sailor emerge fully equipped in her Dai-Valkyrie armor and once again shrouded in her lightning cheetah aura. Seething, Gyuukimon charged another beam from its cannon. However, Jupiter swiftly moved out of harm's way and flew forward at blinding speed.

Delivering a quick and powerful kick to Gyuukimon's face, Jupiter brought the ox-spider behemoth down and knocked the beast unconscious.

"I-It can't be?!" Hi-Commandramon gaped in shock.

"Yes, victory is close at hand, my sisters! And it's all thanks to Sailor Jupiter!" Queen declared as she and her tribe immediately turned the tide against the Defiant army.

"Hear that? Your campaign is over, I'm afraid," Dai-Valkyrie Jupiter confronted Hi-Commandramon. "Now, it's down to you and me. Besides, I've got a family I need to return to."

"Grr, you won't be seeing anyone when the Defiants are through with you!" Hi-Commandramon fired projectiles at Jupiter, who quickly evaded his barrage of blasts. When Hi-Commandramon tried a special warhead, Jupiter elbowed him his chest so hard she sent him flying back.

"Like I said, your campaign is over," Jupiter scoffed.

"This battle has been won! We have reclaimed our territory!" Queen openly declared to the cheers of her tribal sisters.

"You were awesome out there, Jupiter! You were large and in charge!" The red-haired Scout approached Jupiter with newfound admiration.

"And to think we only needed just one of you. The rest of your team must be strong!" the green-haired Scout said with awe.

"Yeah, there's others stronger than me, but I'm glad I can help. So, what now? We go and save your captured sisters?" Jupiter asked.

"Yes, it's imperative we head for their prison bases. We'll find them there. Jupiter, we'd be honored if you join us," Queen smiled fully satisfied.

Turning around, Dai-Valkyrie Jupiter gave a thumbs up.

(End theme)

Suddenly, Jupiter's eyes widened as a blast from out of nowhere crashed into the vicinity. Before she could get out a warning yell, it was too late. The blast, coming from another unexpected Defiant attack, crashed and caused an explosion. This explosion quickly blew away and wiped out a lot of the Digimon and Duel Monsters from both sides. Queen and the Scouts were last seen blown away. Jupiter, who got caught in the explosion, was blown far back from where she used to stand. The last thing she saw was the explosion fading in the background and a mushroom-like cloud forming.

Barely surviving the explosion, Jupiter fell and hit the back of her head against a tree branch, knocking her unconscious. She crash landed and fell deep into a forested area.

XxxXxxX

A few hours after the attack, Makoto was lying still unconscious from her fall. Fortunately, no Defiants were able to track her location. However, others did find her lying. A band of Amazoness Duel Monsters found the unconscious woman and carried her off.

XxxXxxX

Later when she awoke, Makoto found herself forcibly kneeling in front of some throne. It wasn't Amazoness Queen's. Moreover, there was someone else sitting on this throne. When Makoto moved, several Amazoness women were around keeping Makoto in chest.

When Makoto's blurry vision clarified, she was a larger figure than either Amazoness Queen and Swordswoman. This woman's appearance is tall, toned with impressive muscle, and legs crossed as she looked down on Makoto with a stern gaze. Her long thick whitish hair fell down her shoulders and has tribal markings embellished on her face and body. Bandages surrounded this large woman's arms and legs with her fingers and toes exposed. She had an outfit similar consisting of a revealing green two-piece outfit coupled with a tattered cloth covering her waist and most of her legs, some dark golden elbow and shin guards, and brown sandals. She wore skulls of various animals with one atop her left shoulder, as a belt buckle around her waist, a bigger one atop the crown of her head, as an embellishment that kept her crop top tied together, and as a necklace.

She was completely unrecognizable by Makoto. In fact when she awoke, she scanned her surroundings, finding a lot of unrecognizable faces, including Amazoness she's never seen before and there were even non-Amazoness female monsters present, including some female knights, succubi, and harpies.

"Good day, intruder."

"Where…?" Makoto responded, looking around confusedly.

"You were found by several of my colleagues," the royal Amazoness spoke from her seated place.

(Cue Yu Gi Oh! Forbidden Memories OST - Metropolis 2)

Makoto noted two Amazoness guards standing on opposite sides of this one's throne. Both were armed with spears.

"If you're looking to escape, don't bother. You have to answer my questions. One, where did you come from?"

"I… I…" Makoto paused as she tried hard to think, but her mind drew a complete blank. She didn't even remember what happened before she awoke. "I don't know."

"Don't lie."

"I'm not lying. I don't know! I don't remember anything! My mind is drawing blanks!" Makoto retorted.

Narrowing her golden eyes, the Amazoness scoffed. "If you wish to play games, then we can play. Maybe being our prisoner should jog your memories." With a finger snap, she beckoned several Amazoness and female monsters to pick her up.

"Hey, let me go!" Makoto yelled, quickly seizing a Harpie Lady and tossing her aside. Then, she turned and instinctively judo tossed a tall green-haired Amazoness, slamming her to down with extreme force. Then, the Amazoness leader's guards ran up to prod her with their spears. Makoto ferociously yelled as she pulled one spear woman forward, kneeing her in the gut and laying her out. She then spun around and roundhouse kicked the other spear woman.

A Command Knight, a Ruin - the Queen of Oblivion, a D.D. Assailant, a Penumbral Soldier Lady, and a Harpie Dancer surrounded Makoto, who was still raring to go. An Amazoness Blowpiper readied a poisonous sleeping dart to knock Makoto out.

Upon realizing how her body instinctively reacted to the threat, Makoto was left confused. "Wait, how did I do all of that?"

Witnessing Makoto make short work of several of her tribe women, the Amazoness leader raised a brow and stood from her throne. "Stand down, everyone." As her subjects complied, Makoto faced her. "What is your name, warrior?"

"Well, I don't think I'm a warrior, but my name is…" Makoto paused, unable to remember even her name. "...I don't remember? Do I have one?"

"She's amnesic. Hmm, this sounds interesting," muttered the Amazoness leader. "My apologies if my subjects troubled you and for giving you the tough questions, but understand we're a sanctuary under siege from outside threats."

"What kind of threats?" Makoto asked.

"Defiants. They've been most troublesome for us and we've lost countless to them."

"That's terrible. I don't know these Defiants, but they sound like trouble."

"You've shown impressive martial arts for someone who claims not to be a warrior. I won't ask who trained you because you may not remember, but your body certainly retained muscle memory."

Makoto stared at her hands with a confused look. "But, who am I?"

"For now, why don't I give you a name? How does Lita sound?"

"L-Lita? Hmm, I kinda like it."

"It'll be your name until you regain your memories."

"And what's your name?"

"I am Amazoness Empress, queen of this specific tribe. Since you have no place to call home for now, why don't you stay among us? It's dangerous for you to be out there alone."

"I… I don't know what to say?"

"Please, your talents will be wasted if not put to good use. Stay and train with us, Lita. With your skills, you'd make a good asset for us. You shall be trained into a proper member of our tribe. Besides, I sense you have an Amazon's spirit dwelling inside you," Amazoness Queen saw Zey's spirit resonating within Makoto. "We'll draw that potential out, but you shall be trained under our terms." With a finger snap, she summoned a small Amazoness who looked like a prepubescent version of Empress. "Amazoness Princess, take our guest 'Lita' to her quarters and present her with clothes fitting for her new place within our tribe."

"Yes, my queen," Princess bowed as she took Lita's hand and escorted her out of her quarters.

"Everyone, you are to treat our newest recruit well and don't take it out on her. Her strength will be most valuable to us," Empress ordered her subjects as some who got their butts kicked by Makoto/Lita licked their wounded prides. "I'm counting on you all to train her well."

(Cue Yu Gi Oh! Forbidden Memories OST - Forest Shrine)

As Princess escorted Lita to one of the guest huts, she opened the door.

"Welcome, you're lucky because you impressed Lady Empress so much you bypassed the prerequisite exams," Princess smiled as Lita looked around inside her new dwelling place. "I know it's not so homely compared to where you might've lived, but you'll get fresh air from these windows!"

"Should I be here if I don't remember who I am?"

"Huh? Well, it's better here and wandering out there. Trust me, those Defiants will capture anyone these days! You're safe among us, Lita!"

Listening to Princess ramble on, Lita found a mirror and saw her reflection. Even gazing at herself, she still couldn't recall anything about her true self.

"Since you're one of us now, here are your tribal clothes, Lita," Princess presented her with a torn leather fur two-piece outfit that trainees were seen wearing, which showed off plenty of their skin. Lita grabbed the pair of brown and green fur leather clothes. When Lita proceeded to put on her new tribal clothing, she was given bandages to tape up her fists, shins, and ankles. Given no footwear, she stayed barefooted. When she saw herself in the mirror, Lita blushed at how much skin her new outfit showed off, including her already impressive six-pack abdominals.

"Wow, you look great, Lita! It fits you so well!"

"How can y'all handle wearing outfits like these?"

"You get used to 'em. Ok, are you ready for some basic training?" Princess asked.

"Oh, right now?"

"Yeah, Empress wants to see you train hard so you're strong enough to defend our sanctuary! C'mon!" Princess grabbed Lita's hand and escorted her through the village toward a small battle arena.

Along the way, Lita saw several other Amazoness women. If she had her memories, she would've recognized some, including a Chain Master, a Trainee, Archers, and several Scouts. She saw several she wouldn't have recognized before, including a masked, blonde-haired Amazoness wielding a whip and a masked, silver-haired Amazoness wielding a sword. She also saw an Amazoness resembling a sorceress.

"There's so many of you here."

"Yet not very many because we lost so many in this war," Princess said, bringing Lita inside the battle arena. Several female knights donned in armor were seen within the arena guarding it. The ring was rather spacious with tribal markings embellished in the center.

"So, I'm supposed to train here?" Lita asked Princess.

"Yep! I dunno against who, but you're starting at the bottom. See, all those Amazons we just passed by? Even the weakest among them are stronger than you now. They've been trained either in physical combat or magic. They got more experience over you. You only caught some of my sisters by surprise, but in a serious duel, you're not up to par with us."

"Even you?"

"Uh huh. Don't underestimate me just 'cause I'm young," Princess said.

"Alright, so I gotta refine my skills more. I got it," Lita nodded.

"Here, you might need this," Princess said as she picked up and gave Lita a spear.

Just then, one of the Amazoness that Lita took down earlier entered the ring. It was the red-haired Amazoness spearwoman.

"Hey, you only bested me by taking me off my guard, but you're facing me in actual combat! So get up here!" The red-haired warrior fiercely called out.

"Ooo, she looks pretty mad," Princess sweatdropped. "You gonna let her talk to you like that?"

"No way," Lita frowned as she twirled her spear, which came naturally to her. Upon entering the ring, Lita confronted the red-haired spearwoman. Lita saw that Amazoness Empress and an older-looking Amazoness sat in the front row to witness her duel. "I better not let them down."

"Well, what are you waiting for?!" The red-haired spearwoman goaded Lita.

"Here I come!" Lita rushed her opponent. Both combatants clashed repeatedly, thrusting their spears and swinging them around.

"Surely you can do better than this, rookie?!" The spearwoman yelled out.

"Go Lita!" Princess cheered her on.

(Cue Yu Gi Oh! Forbidden Memories OST - Desert Shrine)

Amid the duel, Lita found herself yelling out fiercely like a proud Amazon warrior. While she missed a few thrusts and nearly stumbled a few times, Lita found that this was becoming second nature to her. As soon as their spears broke against one another, Lita and the spearwoman resorted to using their fists.

"Good, now let's see how good a fighter you are!" The spearwoman snarled, throwing jabs at Lita, who dodged every blow. Lita immediately fought back, successfully landing a few quick jabs into her opponent's chest and torso. When she went for a straight jab, the spearwoman sidestepped Lita, causing her to lose her footing. Then, the spearwoman kicked the back of Lita's shoulders, causing her to fall over.

The spearwoman then kicked Lita over and placed a foot on top of her chest.

"Hn, you still got a lot to learn, rookie," the redhead scoffed as Princess checked on Lita.

Witnessing Lita's first loss, Empress scoffed. "She does need to refine her skills better, but there's potential."

XxxXxxX

An hour later, Lita was given a special healing water that restored her strength. She was told she would fight another opponent. Upon entering the ring, the next fighter was an Amazoness Trainee. Equipped with chains, both combatants tossed their chains at one another. Trainee showed more finesse being the more experienced one, but Lita was starting to catch on with weapons usage.

Once they disarmed each other, they went into physical combat. Being the quicker of the two, Trainee used acrobatics to avoid Lita's brawling style and completely outpaced her. Despite her efforts, Lita found herself tied up in Trainee's chains.

"Aww, this sucks, but I see you're getting better, Lita!" Princess cheered her on.

"Just a little more," Empress insisted, not giving up on her new prospect.

XxxXxxX

Lita's next opponent was Amazoness Blowpiper. Instead of using her blowdart, Blowpiper equipped herself with a bo staff and gave Lita one too. The two combatants attacked each other with their staff. Princess saw Lita adjusting in these various combat styles.

Empress watched with bated breath. She saw Lita jumping over Blowpiper's strikes. Spinning her staff around, Lita struck Blowpiper's face, dazing the Amazon. Then, when Blowpiper stumbled near a ring corner, Lita rushed her with her staff and attempted to push her out. Blowpiper used Lita's own momentum and swerved behind Lita. Using her staff, Blowpiper clipped the back of Lita's left leg and knocked her out of the ring.

"Ring-out!" A female knight declared.

"Geez, are ya going to win a match or what?" Princess sighed, noting Lita's 0-3 win-loss record.

"More," Empress muttered, gnashing her teeth as she wondered if Lita's warrior skills were just a fluke.

XxxXxxX

Lita's next opponent was the golden-haired whip Amazoness.

"I'm Amazoness Golden Whip Master, let us have a good duel," she bowed as Lita was given a whip.

The two combatants proceeded to attack the other with their whips. Avoiding getting struck by her opponent's whip, Lita rolled away and swung her whip, ensnaring Golden Whip Master's left foot. As she pulled, Lita brought Whip Master down. Amid the duel, Lita felt Zey's spiritual presence granting her renewed strength. Lita quickly seized Golden Whip Master and tossed her out of the ring, granting her her first victory.

"Alright, finally! That's the way!" Princess cheered Lita.

As her scowl faded, a small smirk adorned Empress' features. "That's a turnaround I like to see, but not yet. Next opponent."

XxxXxxX

Lita faced the sorceress-like Amazoness.

"I'm Amazoness Spiritualist, have you ever used magic before?"

"I…" Lita paused, trying to recall her memories as Sailor Jupiter, but nothing came to her. "I'm afraid not. I'll just resort to martial arts."

"Very well. Do your best then," Spiritualist acknowledged.

With that, the fight between warrior and mage began. Relying on her physicality and fighting skills, she backed Spiritualist into a corner. Then, when she pulled on Spiritualist's staff, the Amazoness mage's weapon fired a magical beam that knocked Lita back. Recovering to her feet, Lita growled fiercely and clenched her fists. She rushed Spiritualist, who cast barriers that nullified all of Lita's blows. Then, Spiritualist cast a spell on Lita, freezing her in place.

"While many Amazoness are proficient physical fighters, some of us are powerful magic users. If you don't have a defense against magic like mine, you're bound to lose," Spiritualist cast another spell that effortlessly controlled Lita's body, making her step out of the ring. "See how easy that was?"

"Don't worry we'll teach ya how to counter magic!" Princess called out.

"It's fine. Spiritualist was a different kind of opponent than the others. Get the next combatant."

XxxXxxX

The next opponent was the silver-haired Amazoness sword wielder. Lita was equipped with a sword to fight with.

"I am Amazoness Silver Sword Master. Are you ready to duel?"

"I am. Let's go!"

With that, the warriors quickly clashed blades. For a few moments, they traded sword strikes and evaded each other's blade thrusts. Seeing that her life depended on it, Lita relied on Zey's inner presence to fill her body with strength. During the duel, Lita saw her body gaining noticeable muscle growth at a short rate.

With neither warrior ready to give up, they fought to their heart's content. In the end, Lita surprised everyone by knocking Silver Sword Master's sword out of her hand. Pointing her blade at the Amazoness, Silver Sword Master surrendered.

"Well fought, warrior," Silver Sword Master acknowledged Lita's potential growth.

"Yes! You're catching up!" Princess cheered.

"Princess, you're up next!" Empress announced.

"Uh, what?"

"Fight Lita now and show her why you're my primed successor."

Sighing, Princess entered the ring and took on a fighting stance.

Lita asked Empress confusedly. "We're really doing this now? No rest?"

"No rest for the weary. We Amazoness rely on high stamina for better performances. This will push you further to becoming one of us," Empress said.

"Fine, I'm game," Lita complied as she and Princess faced one another.

As the two circled one another, Princess tossed a few kicks and punches. Lita effortlessly was able to block them. Unlike her other opponents, Lita could tell Princess wasn't giving it her all.

"What are you doing?"

"Fighting you!" Princess shouted.

Lita frowned. "And you're supposed to be her successor?"

"What?! Of course, I am! I won't let my queen down!" Princess screeched as she ran and performed a flying kick at Lita.

Blocking and catching Princess' foot, Lita tossed her around. As she threw her across the ring, Lita ran over and tried pushing her out of bounds. Princess somersaulted over Lita and put a sleeper hold on Lita. Also folding her legs around Lita's waist, Princess bound Lita and tried to make her submit.

"Go to sleep! Please go to sleep!" Princess begged.

"You're not going to win this way, kid," Lita scoffed as she grabbed the back of Princess' head and flipped her over, slamming her on the ground. As Princess sprang up, she screamed furiously and rushed at her opponent. Clenching her fists, Lita seemingly felt something like an electrical spark from her fingers. When Princess attacked her head-on, Lita instinctively reacted to the danger and fired an electric blast that shocked Princess, leaving her laying with her eyes spinning and glazed over.

Gazing in shock at the electrical power she used, Lita was left befuddled. "What the hell was that? I did this?" Realizing she had shocked Princess, Lita frantically checked on her. "Oh crap, I'm so sorry! That just came out of nowhere!"

"Did you see that?" The elder Amazoness whispered to Queen.

Upon witnessing Lita's comeback performance and her sudden usage of her Sailor Jupiter magic, Empress felt her grin widen.

"Yes, I knew there was something special about this one. We can't let her go," Empress smirked. "Not only is she a physical fighter but she can cast magical spells. Might and magic in one package. With more polish, she'll become one of our strongest warriors."

"Hey, are you ok? Speak to me!" Lita shook Princess, who shook her head.

"Whoa, what was that? That was your hidden power, Lita?"

"I guess? Are you going to be fine?"

"I'll heal after I drink our mystical water," Princess said as Lita picked her up.

"We could both use some healing after that."

"Well done, Lita! While you still have areas to work on, you've shown me great potential. Splendid first impressions. Now, go clean up at one of our bathhouses."

Nodding, Lita carried Princess away to get washed up.

"Uh, question. Where is the bathhouse?"

Princess giggled. "I'll point the way."

(End theme)

XxxXxX

Entering one of the few bathhouses available, Lita and Princess got in an Amazoness Hot Spring to wash up. Lita noticed her wounds were being healed by the bath water and felt her energies being replenished.

"Wow, I'm feeling good as new!" Lita was awestruck by her quick recovery.

"It's how we Amazons constantly train and get stronger."

"Is training all you do?"

"Yes, but we also have recreational activities. We even have classes. There's classes for archery, martial arts, wrestling, magic, cooking, gardening, weapon making, and even prayer. It's not all combat, but all of us had some kind of combat training. It's required since we are a warrior race that must defend our doman from outsiders."

"Hmm, I have this sudden urge to want to cook."

"We have excellent chefs who can teach you!" Princess said.

"Anyway, are you going to need someone like me to fight these Defiants?"

Princess nodded. "Yes, and you've impressed Lady Empress. So, you passed."

"Even though I lost the first few duels?"

"They're learning experiences, Lita, and in time you'll blow them away in rematches!" Princess encouraged Lita while washing and massaging her new friend's back. "Wow, I also noticed you got buffer, too."

"I noticed that, too. Might it be because of the training?"

"Probably. Everyone's bodies are different."

"Hey, is there room?" The red-haired spearwoman stepped into the hot spring along with Trainee, Blowpiper, Golden Whip Master, Spiritualist, and Silver Sword Master.

Lita saw it was all of her arena opponents and frowned. "Guess y'all don't think I'm qualified?"

"What? Just 'cause a few of us kicked your ass today? Don't sweat it, we all started the same way," the spearwoman said.

"Yep, and we got all stronger and better for it!" Trainee happily chimed in.

"By the way, that was magic you cast. You wield impressive power. Perhaps, you'd like to take some of my classes so you can better harness and control it?" Spiritualist offered Lita.

"Thanks, I'll take you up on that."

"And you wield a sword quite well. You will do just fine as one of the sisterhood, Lita," Silver Sword Master said.

"Just remember why you're here: serve loyalty to our Empress and protect the sisterhood from outsiders," Golden Whip Master advised Lita.

"Of course, and until I regain my memories, I'll stay here as long as I can," Lita said, leaning back as she let out a relaxed sigh. "Y'know this just might be the life for me." As she said that, Lita embraced her new Amazoness status.

"That's the spirit, Lita!" Princess energetically cheered for her.

While the ladies enjoyed their bath together, Amazoness Empress and the elder woman quietly observed them from afar.

"She's adapted quickly, but that's no surprise since she harbors an Amazon's spirit within her. That's how she was able to rebound during the latter fights," Empress said.

"As you said with more polish, she could be one of our perfect warriors."

Folding her arms, Empress smiled darkly. "We'll give her a few more days. We have other subjects to integrate in our army. Now, Amazoness Spellcaster, 'prep the ritual'. We shall mold Lita and our other subjects into our beautiful images. Lita thinks the Defiants are our enemies, but after she receives the ritual treatment and fully becomes one of us, she'll learn and accept our true purpose."

Bowing, Spellcaster replied. "As you wish, Empress."

Observing Lita playfully splashing water on her new Amazon friends, Empress chortled. "Oh yes, I've found you. My 'Amazoness Fighter'."

XxxXxxX

Southern Digital Realm

"What do you have to report, Mee-Nai?" Nagah asked the serpentine Neo-Rajita.

"Well, my lady, they've holding captive Digimon and Duel Monsters in bases. Also, here's something you should know. As we've seen, there are Defiants taking the form of Digimon and Duel Monsters. There's some that are luring and capturing humans for experimental purposes," Mee-Nai verified. "They are extracting data from Digimon and Duel Monster subjects that they're incorporating into these human test subjects."

"So, they're adopting our method of incorporating Rajita DNA and combining them with Digimon subjects. You three and Ztreko-Li can attest to that," Nagah said as Ztreko-Li's loyal trio nodded. "Except, now these Defiants are using human subjects. I would say it astounds me that humans find pleasure in experimenting on each other, but that would make us Rajita sound hypocritical since we've already produced mutants using human subjects."

"And we still don't have any leads on Lady Ztreko-Li's location," Castillo scowled with irritation.

"Those bastards better not have done anything to her!" Minessa snarled.

Nagah sighed. "We're not giving up until we find her." Just then, she stepped on an object and noticed a dagger-like instrument sticking out. "What's this?" When she picked the dagger and a transformation stick, she examined and recognized Jupiter's symbol on it. "These belong to Sailor Jupiter. What are they doing here?"

"Why would one of them be here?" Minessa scoffed at the objects.

"Could she have been captured by our enemy, too?" Mee-Nai surmised.

"Put those down!" A voice yelled out as the Rajita ladies turned and saw the Amazoness Queen limping forward. "They belong to Sailor Jupiter! What have you done to her, Rajita scum?!"

Castillo growled. "Hey, I remember you turned against us!"

Nagah calmly addressed Queen. "We found these and we wanted to ask what happened?"

"We were attacked and an explosion separated us. Most of my sisters are gone, and the few remaining of us have been searching for Jupiter," Queen said.

"So, Jupiter has gone missing and we can't confirm if she perished if she didn't leave a body behind," Nagah said. "Then, why don't you go back and show these to Jupiter's colleagues? I'm sorry but my colleagues here and I are on a search and rescue mission. One of our people was captured." As she handed Jupiter's objects to Queen, the Amazon cautiously took them.

"Yes, I'll do that," Queen said, carefully holding Jupiter's transformation stick and dagger.

"Good. I'll leave that responsibility to you then," Nagah said. "As much as I'd like to help them find Jupiter, I can't make these three wait to find their general. I wish you luck."

As Nagah and her cohorts departed, Queen rested against a tree and sighed. "...wherever you are, Jupiter, we'll find you."

XxxXxxX

Shibuya, Tokyo/Local Idol Event/5:30 PM

(Cue Sailor Venus Theme - Route Venus by Rica Fukami)

"Great form, Minako! Go, that'll be enough practice for today!" A coach praised Minako, who stood on stage sweating from all of the dance routines.

"Thanks, I made sure to put my all into it!" Minako said as she headed to the back. With Rei and their family's unfortunate situation still fresh on her mind, Minako did her best to keep them in her prayers. "I hope you, Cammy, and the others will pull through this, Rei. I just know you all will." On her way, she saw her husband, Rio, their child Ai, Future Ai, and Artemis awaiting them.

"We came to see you perform together, mom," Future Ai said. "You were great out there!"

As she kissed Rio, Minako picked up little Ai. "I'm glad you all came." She nudged their daughter's little nose.

"Of course, we came, Mina. Your event is coming up," Artemis said.

"And we're all totally going to be there! I even invited Adam to come with us!" Future Ai said.

"Shouldn't we get your things first before we head out?" Rio asked Minako, who nodded.

(End theme)

As they headed to Minako's dressing room, they walked in and saw a message written in dark purple lipstick all over Minako's mirror. Gasping out of dismay, Minako read the message. The others walked in and saw the same message.

(Cue Black Lagoon OST - 66 Steps)

Sailor Venus, I heard you might be planning to retire. If you are, why not grant your old protege one last duel? Do the right thing and pass the torch to me after I beat you into retirement.

-Sincerely yours or not,

Sailor O, the Sailor Senshi of Obscurity

"Oh my god, this is Christina. She was here?!" Minako exclaimed.

"I didn't know nor did I sense her presence here," Artemis said.

"Neither did I. She might've used her dark powers to slip past us," Rio added.

"Mom, you're not going to take this, are you?!" Future Ai said.

"Karin and the others told us Christina went into full vigilante mode and shed her Sailor Orcus persona. She's become Sailor O. Pretty much she's become an anti-Sailor V figure," Minako said, trying to wipe the purple lipstick on the mirror. "And she abandoned her team. It's an unfortunate situation for them, but Christina wants to come and project her problems onto me? Well, she's just asking for it."

"So, what will you do, Minako?" Rio asked her.

"What else? I'll take her up on her challenge? I won't ever back down from a fight," Minako declared. "Christina wants Sailor V?" Putting her hand out, her red mask appeared, which she placed over her face. "Then, Sailor V will teach her some humility."

Outside of the public facility, Sailor O solitarily sat on a roof and darkly smirked. She sensed Minako's energy resonating with her anger.

"Looks like you got the message, Minako-sensei. I'll see you when you're ready," the Senshi of Obscurity chuckled as she vanished behind a veil of darkness.

Meanwhile, Minako immediately called Karin and frantically paced around.

"Hi, Minako. What's going on?"

"Karin, sweetie. Guess who came and left a lovely note on my dressing mirror with red lipstick?"

"One of your adoring fans?"

Minako scoffed. "Very cute, but no, it's your old friend Christina."

There was immediate silence on the other line.

"Judging by the silent treatment you're giving me, you're surprised."

"Did you see her?"

"No, she was gone when I got to my dressing room. All she left me was a note and a challenge. She wants to fight me. I don't know why, but you and the Kuipers have to try and find her."

"She's kept hidden so well thanks to her darkness cloaking abilities. It's been impossible for us to find her. We know she's been hitting her dad's company and taken out a lot of his goons."

Minako sighed. "Look, I just don't want her getting my family involved. Now she hasn't done that and I'm thankful, but I just want to take precautions. She either deals with me or you guys."

"Alright, we'll look for her. Maybe we'll get lucky this time. We've been worried about her."

"And if she wants to challenge me? Sailor V is ready to throw down," Minako firmly stated as she shut off her phone. Gazing up at the tallest buildings near me, she deeply breathed. "Ok, Minako, you're deciding whether you're ready to retire, but there's still things left to do. Squash this issue with Sailor Orcus and then retire. Maybe going back to being Sailor V will do me better. Fans do miss V. It'll be just like old times."

"Is everything ok, honey?" Rio interjected as he, Artemis, and both Ais checked in with her.

"We were wondering who you were talking to?" Artemis queried.

"Just Karin. I asked her and her team to find Christina. When they do, I'll be the one that tracks down Sailor Orcus and confronts her myself," Minako said, clenching her cellphone. "So, don't you worry. I'll handle Sailor O. She'll be answering to Sailor V!"

(End theme)

XxxXxxX

Shinjuku, Tokyo/Matsuda Residence/Takato's Room/5:45 PM

(Cue Neon Genesis Evangelion OST - A Moment When Tension Breaks)

Gathering his friends at his place for a meeting, Takato invited Henry, Rika, Himura, Jeri, Kazu, Kenta, Philippe, Kotori, and their Digimon. Yes, even Adora was brought along under extreme supervision. Takato, Rika, and Kotori especially had their eyes on Adora, who was now Kenta's responsibility.

The Tamers discussed various topics, including their personal lives and the latest Defiant occurrences.

Besides Rika, some of the other Tamers' appearances changed. Henry came dressed in a professional dress consisting of his work suit, dress pants, and wore refined glasses. Himura came depressed in a long-sleeved dark blue shirt, black jeans, and grew out his hair, which he tied into a ponytail. Jeri, too, let her hair grow down to her back as she wore a long-sleeve light green winter shirt, a long light gray dress, and wearing a flower hair pendant. Kazu wore his usual black band t-shirts and blue jeans. Kenta wore a long-sleeved dark gray dress shirt with a white tee under it and blue jeans. Philippe had on a long-sleeved dress shirt, black pants, and had his hair grown to his shoulders. Wearing just a black jacket with a dark blue shirt and blue jeans, Kotori saw little changes to her appearance outside of letting hair grow out past her shoulders. Adora arrived wearing a white dress and a dark green jacket.

"It's getting dangerous out there, guys. Defiant activities have only been surging. Ever since that assassination attempt on Marty and Sailor Moon's public appearance attracted those crazies, we're lucky Yamaki and his crew have all provided us with security," Henry reminded them.

"Yes, but as a result, we've been restricted to going out anywhere," Jeri said.

"At least you got me and Himura as your security detail, Jeri," Kotori smirked.

"I made sure that us two are the only security you need, sweetie," Himura said to his girlfriend.

"Thank you, Himura. You and Kotori have gone to great lengths to provide me security, especially since I go to a primary school for work."

"You'rre downplaying the craziness that's been happening, Henry. Did you forget about Hikawa Shrine that got wiped off the map?" Kenta reminded him about last night's horrific incident.

"I tried calling Rei, but she hasn't answered. I was worried until Suzaku reassured me after talking with the Houou. Rei and most of her family are safe, but that sucks. I can't believe Rei's grandpa and Yuuichirou are gone," Takato said.

"I'm glad their kids are safe," Guilmon said.

"You and I both, buddy."

Rika deeply sighed. "She needs time to process, Takato. The shrine she grew up on was destroyed by her dad of all people and she has kids to worry about. She's thankful her kids and sister are ok, but it'll take time for her to bounce back like that. I know if my dad came, destroyed my home, and nearly killed my mom, grandma, and Renamon.. I… no, my dad would never do that."

"To be fair, it wasn't Rei's dad who did that. It was that Yami Houou remnant that controlled him," Takato added. "I doubt her dad would ever want to commit such an unspeakable act."

"Speaking of, since Suzaku is a firebird and all, won't Rei's dad be targeting you next, Takato?" Kenta asked his long-time friend.

"That's what I was thinking and Suzaku said he'd let me know if the Yami Houou is closing on us. Now, I've got to watch my back. As if regular Defiants weren't enough already!" Takato said with frustration.

"Aww, poor you," Adora sardonically muttered, causing Rika and Kotori to give her deathly glares. She instantly backed off. "Geez, take a joke."

"Jokes are supposed to be funny, Adora," Kenta sighed, finding himself in the worst position of supervising Adora.

"Aww, but Kenta. You're the only one who understands me!" Adora prodded his chest while caressing his face.

"I understand enough you still don't need to get clingy with me. If you had your full powers back somehow, you'd roast me like a pig and eat me, wouldn't you?'

Adora feigned tears. "That's horrible. I'd never do that. After all the time we've been together now."

Kotori sighed. "Kenta, I don't envy you babysitting that thing."

Kazu sighed. "I'm so glad Kiyoko is so sweet with me."

"Anyway back on topic about the Defiants," Henry cut in, sighing and adjusting his glasses.

"Oh, I forgot!" Jeri gasped as she opened up a big plastic bag. "Takato's parents lent us some of their day-old bread for us to eat! It'd be a waste not to eat them! And look…" She then took out the still popular Guilmon-shaped bread.

"Yay, my favorite bread!" Guilmon cheered as she grabbed the Guilmon faced bread.

"There's plenty for you all to eat!" Jeri said, handing out bread to everyone.

"Don't mind if I have some, too?" Felinismon asked for one, but received two. She handed her second to Leomon, who accepted it.

Looking at the Guilmon-faced bread, Leomon smiled amusedly and bit into his.

"Mmm, I've been craving some pastries," Terriermon munched on a cream-filled donut.

"Are there any croissants?" Inumon asked as Himura gave him one. "Nice!"

"By the way, I wish to congratulate Takato and Rika on their marriage coming," Jeri reminded everyone.

"Hell yeah, man! If we somehow beat these Defiant creeps, it's wedding bells and blues!" Kazu hollered.

Takato chuckled modestly while their friends cheered them on. "Oh you guys. Stop, but thanks.

"Of course we're getting married after we kick Defiant ass!" Rika declared. "I'll be damned if those wedding crashers ruin our big day."

"You tell 'em, swole Rika!" Terriermon exclaimed.

"Rika is so jacked, those Defiants will be running for the hills," Inumon remarked.

"Stop you two," Rika scoffed while being reminded of the fact she put on more muscle mass to her physique.

"Don't be afraid to flaunt it, Rika," Jeri stared at her with admiration.

"You tell her, Jeri. Us muscle ladies need to stick together," Kotori said as she patted Rika's shoulder. "Though you are a little bigger than me now, I admit."

Rika smiled. "Thanks, I guess."

Takato leaned over and kissed Rika's cheek. "You're beautiful either way, Rika." He saw her blush a bit.

"Oh, Takato. Stop," she mumbled, failing to hide her affection for her fiance.

After everyone got their bread to eat, Henry continued on.

"So, do we have any idea how we can counteract these Defiants? Remember as much we dislike them, they're still humans," Henry said.

"Don't forget that we've now just learned Defiants have access to Digimon and Duel Monsters. So, we got them wielding power to fight us with," Philippe said while feeding Jaguarmon some bread.

"That's going to make things more troublesome than they're worth," Himura chimed in.

"If they're now wielding Digimon and Duel Monster forms, we've got our work cut out for us," Rika said.

"How despicable for these hypocrites to steal Digimon power when they stand against those who wield superpowers," Renamon said. "And how disparaging they use Digimon power to harm innocents."

"I don't know what game Cain is playing here, but he has to know he's got to control these power made freaks. Otherwise, this is all on him," Henry said.

"They've already been attacking various areas of the Digital World. Many Digimon and Duel Monsters have been captured and had their data extracted for these Defiants' nefarious purposes," Inumon said. "Betamon and I have been in contact with some Digimon locals through network feeds. They said it's getting out there. The Sovereigns have had to increase their security barriers to prevent Defiants from breaching their realms."

Betamon added. "On top of that, numerous sanctuaries, including the Dra-Warrior headquarters have been hit hard. The Royal Knights have been fighting their hardest against these Digihybrid Defiants. Guilmon, I'm surprised you aren't fighting with them."

Guilmon answered. "They asked me to stay behind and defend Takato."

"That makes sense," Betamon said.

"And apparently there's this Defiant lite group called The Collective, who've been the ones leading the attacks on Digimon and Duel Monster communities. They have to be the ones commanding these operations," Takato said. "Ryo knows more about it."

"But, of course, he's not here," Rika scoffed.

"Probably because he's in the Digital World investigating on our behalf," Renamon said.

"And if they're attacking all over the Digital World, my queens have to be involved in the conflicts. I still haven't heard back from them," Jaguarmon said.

"Yeah, I'm getting worried about them, too, Jaguarmon," Philippe said, patting his Digimon's head.

"Speaking of Duel Monsters, our Duel Monster Spirits have been acting erratic lately. Not that I blame them," Kazu said.

"The Charmers especially have been in contact with Witchenly and their people seem to be at war with these Defiant creeps," Kenta said.

"The same goes for the fairies," Philippe referred to his Moon Fairy Trio, who all instantly appeared in the same room. Trista the LaMoon, Celeste the Maiden of the Moonlight, and Lunar Queen Elzaim.

"The situation has gotten rather dire in many places within the Digital World," Elzaim regretfully revealed.

"Leaders such as Omegamon, Imperialdramon, Athenamon, Wisemon, and Dark Magician can only do so much!" Trista said.

"Yeah, unless they get more help from outside sources, they're gonna be pushed to the brink," Celeste sadly sighed.

Wynn the Wind Charmer also appeared in the room, sitting beside Philippe. "So, I contacted Lord Wisemon and he told me and my friends to stay behind with you and the Victory Tamers."

At the same time Wynn appeared, Aussa the Earth Charmer appeared right next to Kazu. Hiita appeared beside Jeri and snatched some bread from the woman's bag. Lyna the Light Charmer and Dharc the Dark Charmer appeared with Kenta. As a result, the Charmer duo nearly butted heads with Adora.

"Don't you cause any trouble, Adora," Lyna warned her.

"Kenta might go easy on you, but we won't," Dharc scoffed, suspiciously eyeing Adora. Then, MarineAngemon flew off Kenta's shoulder and blew a bubble at Adora, who scowled and popped it.

"If the little guy doesn't trust her, then don't either," Felinismon said. "You cross our line, Adora, and I'll claw your face."

Leomon fiercely growled at Adora without a single word.

"Sheesh, look I'm on my best behavior!" Adora scowled.

Philippe nodded. "Well, at least you're here to help us when we need it."

Jaguarmon added. "That works out better for us just in case you and I need to fuse again, Wynn."

"And that fusion between y'all two was enough to knock me around while I was still under that bastard Necromon's control," Kotori recalled Jaguarmon and Wynn's powerful merger. "I doubt any Defiant wants to mess with that."

"And of course, what Defiant jerk wants to mess with a Valkyrie like you, Kotori," Betamon said.

"Hell yeah you got that right, Betamon," Kotori replied.

"Now, get this. Based on Pluto and Volodramon's warnings, there might be Collective members on this side of reality," Inumon informed them.

"So, we've been told, but those chickens haven't dared to show their faces to us yet!" Terriermon said.

"If just one Collective member gave Pluto, Volodramon, and their friends a tough fight, then I wouldn't be calling them chickens," Henry said.

"Until we know where they'll strike next, we have to be ready for them!" Takato declared, and as soon as he said that, an unexpected newcomer landed on Takato's open window.

(Cue Dragon Ball Z: Ocean Dub Soundtrack - The Arrival of Raditz (1:38 - 4:15))

The Tamers and their Digimon immediately faced their guest. They saw a bright red-haired young man dressed in combat gear and grinning mischievously.

"Yo, how's it hanging? Tell me, are you the famed Tamers?" The newcomer asked, getting cautious glares from them. "Hmm, what? Oh, sorry. Maybe I should've used the door."

"Who are you?!" Himura demanded as he and Kotori stepped up to him.

"We didn't send you an invite!" Kotori yelled.

"Oh, so sorry, but I have a VIP pass so I can meet you all. Don't ya know? VIP members always get special treatment," the red-haired man calmly replied.

"As if! You must be one of those Defiants, right?!" Rika said as she cracked her knuckles. "Out with it!"

"My, my, such hostility. All I wanted was an autograph!"He feigned innocence while channeling fractal code in his right hand.

"You can cut the crap," Takato scoffed.

"But, I'm a big fan of yours. C'mon, just a little moment of your time…!" Before he could finish, Takato and Guilmon sensed the man's data energy. They both reacted just in time and blasted him with combined fire power.

It all happened so fast and the Defiant was sent flying out of the window. He then used the data he wielded to keep himself floating in mid-air.

"Aww, c'mon! That was a cheapshot!" He yelled out.

Stepping out of his window, Takato gave him an irked glare. "You came to hurt me and my friends. Your crew have been causing problems for the Digital World. I can't forgive you for that!"

"Yeah, you're being mean to Digimon and taking their energy for your evil purposes!" Guilmon berated the Defiant.

Deeply sighing, the Defiant shrugged. "Oh well, it can't be helped. And if you're wondering how I haven't fallen to the ground? Well, that's one of the many perks wielding Digimon data. I've been blessed with superhuman feats and capabilities." He exposed the fractal code swirling in his right hand. "And with this, I'll demonstrate what we are capable of."

"Are you one of those Collective we've heard about?!" Takato asked him.

"Indeed, and wow how quickly our name has spread. We've been doing a bang-up job if our name is getting exposure!" The Defiant laughed. "Where are my manners? My name is Soujiro, but my Digihybrid form is…" With that, the fractal code turned into bright light that enveloped his whole body, transforming him into a smaller variation of a Royal Knight Guilmon had been before. "I am Gankoomon X! How do you like it?"

As his eyes turned feral, Guilmon growled. "You stole Gankoomon's data?!"

"Well, not me, but my Collective brothers and sisters defeated him and extracted his data for one of their Defiant subjects. I just happened to be that subject and thus I was able to join The Collective!" Soujiro boasted. "And now look at me, I'm far superior to that Royal Knight!"

"You're just a pretender! Takato, let's take him down!" Guilmon exclaimed.

"You and I both, buddy!" Takato declared as Suzaku's flames enveloped him, turning him into Suzakato. Using his D-Ark, Suzakato helped Guilmon digivolve.

"Guilmon Mega Shinka! Gallantmon!" The Royal Knight roared as he pointed his lance Gram and indiscriminately fired a powerful blast. "Lightning Joust!"

At the same time, Suzakato unleashed a fiery blast that combined with Gallantmon's attack. The combined force blasted Soujiro far away from Takato's home and toward the sky. Suzakato and Gallantmon pursued their Defiant enemy.

Looking on from the window, the Tamers witnessed a fight about to go all-out.

"It's getting cramped in here," Kenta said as he made sure Adora stayed close to him.

"Let's follow them," Rika suggested. "And just in case he needs back-up!"

(Cue Dragon Ball Z: Ocean Dub Soundtrack - The World's Strongest Team)

With that, the Tamers and their partners headed off to follow Suzakato and Gallantmon's way.

Popping his neck, Soujiro groaned. "Man, all I wanted was an autograph."

"You can cut the fanboy routine. We know you came to collect our Digimon and probably use us as your guinea pig subjects!" Suzakato retorted.

"You're not getting off stealing Royal Knight's power for your own!" Gallantmon said.

"And what of you two? Aren't you using a Royal Knight's power, too?" Soujio asked Suzakato.

"That's because we've had a bond that's lasted us a long time. We trust each other. You and your crew are taking Digimon away and stealing power for your greedy selves. In the name of what? Some kind of justice?"

"Exactly! In order to pursue superpowered beings from this world, we become the very same monsters! Our Collective leader and Cain will ensure a new world order is established!" Soujio boasted in the name of his superiors' visions.

"Yeah, you're a lost cause. Gallantmon, remember to destroy the monster not the guy himself," Suzakato said.

Nodding, Gallantmon readied his lance. "Don't worry. I've learned self control."

Wasting no time, Suzakato and Gallantmon flew toward Soujiro. Soujiro unleashed a surging golden aura that surrounded him. Clenching his fists, Soujiro unleashed a flurry of powerful strikes at his opponents.

"Now, have a taste of my Tekken Seisai!" Soujio hollered as his strikes collided with Suzaku's fiery barrier and Gallantmon's Aegis Shield. Then, he raised his arms and summoned a fiery aura that took the form of a dragon Digimon. "Hinukamuy, go forth and punish them with your will!"

Heeding his master's command, the fiery dragon unleashed fire and lightning elements that combined into a ferocious attack.

"Quake! Blast! Fire! Father!" The Defiant roared as Hinukamuy attacked with heaven's punishment on the duo.

"Get behind me, Takato!" Gallantmon ordered as he got in front of his Tamer and immensely charged up his shield. "Shield of the Just!" He sent his beam to collide with Hinukamuy's attack and stopped it in time.

"You're really going to make me go all-out. Fine! Have at it!" Soujiro declared as his fiery aura expanded. He quickly launched himself into Gallantmon and punched his shield.

Struggling to hold off the Gankoomon X's blows, Suzaku aided and launched a flamethrower-like blast. "Firepalm Blast!" Successfully burning Soujiro's back, he got the Defiant's attention. "If you keep this up, you're going to burn yourself out!"

"What?! You lie! I possess incredible power using this Digimon's data!"

Gallantmon called him out. "But, how long have you adapted to that Digimon's power? I bet your friends needed time to adjust their bodies with the Digimon power they acquired."

Soujiro gritted his teeth. "I did train! I've had military training and was part of Japan's SDF! Don't lecture me on how a human body works!"

"But, one that has Digimon's power integrated into it? My friends and I have way more experience in that field," Suzakato said. "And that's not counting some of us wielding spirit beast power. You're an amateur compared to us."

"You boast all that power you have, but how long is it gonna last you? You came rushing here without any plans!" Gallantmon asked.

"Silence! It won't matter after I put you two down on the ground!" Soujio screamed with frustration. Channeling power into his right hand, he surprised and delivered an uppercut into Gallantmon's jaw. "Ultimate Sengi Tengyouken!" After he sent Gallantmon flying back, he quickly punched Suzakato's gut and kicked him into Shinjuku Park's lake.

"Takato!" Gallantmon called out as he dove into Soujiro and kept their fight in mid-air, avoiding having to take their battle near civilians.

The Tamers, their Digimon, and the Moon Fairies & Charmers arrived at Shinjuku Park and saw Suzakato flying out of the lake.

"Takato!" Rika and Jeri called out to him.

"Look! Gallantmon's got that other guy!" Inumon pointed up.

"Yeah! Give that jerk a beating he deserves!" Terriermon said while shadow boxing.

"This Defiant's already burning out his power. The longer this fight goes," Renamon assessed Soujiro's situation.

"He'll be done for, but Takato and Gallantmon still should not lower their guards," Henry said.

As Suzakato rejoined the battle, he saw Soujiro pounding Gallantmon with fiery punches.

"Who's losing now?! You! Not me!" Soujiro cackled while pummeling Gallantmon.

"Leave him alone!" Suzakato roared, gliding forward as a fire cloak enveloped him, granting him a fiery phoenix form. He briefly accessed his Beast form and collided with Soujiro's back, knocking him back.

"How about I pluck those feathers off ya?!" Soujiro snarled as he punched Suzakato.

Forging a fire barrier, Suzakato protected himself from Soujiro's powerful blows. Suzakato tried gliding away, but Soujiro grabbed and threw him into mid-air, Rocketing forward like a fiery comet, Soujiro tried his best to finish the fight as quickly as possible. Gallantmon once again intervened, cutting Soujiro off from hurting Takato.

"Spiral Saber!" Gallantmon spun upward in a short tornado, surrounding himself in a fire tornado. He caught Soujiro and then fired a lightning bolt from Gram. "Lightning Charge!"

After blasting Soujiro, Gallantmon and Suzaku regrouped. They saw Soujiro forming an energy circle with a cross-shaped symbol on the front.

"I can't waste any time! Time to steal some of your power to fulfill The Collective's purpose! You two will help produce new powerful subjects!" Soujiro declared, initiating his last effort mission.

Nearly getting their energy stolen, Suzakato and Gallantmon performed their Beast Biomerger.

"Gallantmon! Beast Biomerge to! BlazeGallantmon!" The combined Suzakato and Gallantmon declared, powering up their lance as they discharged a mighty fiery wave that burned through Soujiro's seal. "Phoenix Shot!" After effortlessly destroying Soujiro's seal, the Digihybrid took the full force of their attack and was soundly defeated.

(End theme)

Realizing that utilizing the seal burned up his power, the Digihybrid fell into defeat. Soujiro witnessed his Gankoomon X form get burned into cinders. Kotori quickly jumped up and caught Soujiro. After putting him down, Kotori tied some rope to hold Soujiro.

"Yo, nicely done, Takato! You kicked his butt!" Kazu cheered him on.

"That's our Takato," Kenta nodded in approval.

"Oh, please he's not that impressive. That Defiant was just an arrogant blowhard who overhyped his power," Adora scoffed.

"Either way, this guy is going to prison for his crimes," Kotori said, pulling Soujiro up.

"And you'll be telling us a lot more about this Collective," Himura pointed to Soujiro, who scoffed.

"I ain't tellin' you shit," Soujiro turned away.

"Good job, you two. Knew you'd beat that jerk," Rika said to BlazeGallantmon, who turned back into Takato and Guilmon.

"He was pretty tough, but he burned himself out too quickly. That was his downfall," Takato said.

"But, I doubt these other Digihybrids, especially these Collective members, will be as easy," Henry said. "I hope Yugi and his crew are prepared for what's coming."

"It's going to be an all-out war, huh? At least, it's being confined here and not a global war," Takato said. "No matter what, we're gonna beat these freaks and send a message to Cain that his Defiant plans are fatal flaws to them. Right, Guilmon? Let's kick some more Defiant butt!" he and Guilmon slapped hands together.

"I'm ready for anything, Takato!" Guilmon nodded.

(Cue Digimon Tamers OST - Digital Field)

As the Tamers carried on their conversation, two figures watched from afar. One is a youthful man with a moderate build, shoulder-length long straight brown hair, sharp reddish brown eyes, and a fair complexion. He has on an azure-colored shirt underneath a dark brown jacket, deep blue jeans, and black shorts.. Around his neck is a necklace with a hyena's face on a locket and on his left wrist is a black spiked bracelet.

On the man's right is a young woman with a moderate build, she has long black hair tied in a high ponytail, bright blue eyes, and a fair complexion. She has on light makeup and light pink lipstick. She is wearing a full black bodysuit, covering most of her upper body, legs, and thighs, sans her hands, and also has on a red waistcloth. Her choice footwear are black low-cut karate shoes.

"Well, what do you make of them?" The young man asked the woman.

"They're just as our boss described. Cain said they're able to combine with their Digimon," the woman replied, having seen the Beast Biomerger happen.

"That was also one of the Collective who was just defeated. Too bad he got caught."

"Don't worry, they won't get anything out of him. Cain has made sure of that," the dark-haired woman said, shifting her gaze from the main Tamers toward Kenta. "Hmm. Why does he look familiar?"

Moving his sights from Takato, the young man saw Kotori. "And look who nabbed poor Soujiro. Heh, well, well, it's been a long while, huh, Kotori?"

"Listen, I didn't join the Defiants for the thrills and for power. I have a debt I have to pay," she said. "If you want to pursue this Kotori, that's on you, but I suggest we wait until the bossman gives us our next orders. If we're instructed to handle the Tamers, then we'll do as told, Hamada."

"Right, so you want to go report what we just watched, Kimiko?" he asked.

"We might as well," she said as they both left.

(End theme)

XxxXxxX

Shinjuku, Tokyo/CainCorp/Cain's Office/6:40 PM

As he waited for his colleagues for a meeting, Cain reflected on the first and only time he met that unknown messenger who showed him the raw footage of the alternate timeline. Every moment from the footage burned into his mind, giving him more motivation to prevent such a future from ever happening.

XxxXxxX

Flashback/Cain's Office

The disguised, faceless Zeed X had just finished showing him the alternate reality's Defiant War. Cain witnessed both sides losing countless. He saw Grace take a bullet and sacrifice herself for his alternate self. However, it was the deaths of one of the leaders, Takuya, that drove the heroes' leaders to go into war with Cain and the Defiants. This escalated into a global war that ultimately led to Cain's demise and the leaders becoming autocratic dictators called the Divine Enforcers.

"I cannot let this future ever materialize. I must not let it happen!" Cain declared. "I'll defy this fate!"

XxxXxxX

CainCorp/Cain's Office/6:49 PM

Clenching his fists, Cain gritted. "I've already seen a future where your heroics turn our society into an autocracy. I can't even tell you who this source truly is, but I must thank him. He's allowed me to get a heads up on you, heroes. I intend to not only play this game, but I will win and restore order to this already chaotic world."

"Mr. Bearer, they're here," Grace announced.

"Let them in."

(Cue Yu-Gi-Oh! The Unreleased Score - The Big Five)

With that, Grace opened the office doors, letting their guests in. The first group to arrive was Neuromancer, Buzz, and the Rogues. The Rogues, formerly The West Coasters' rivals, walked in wearing mind control collars. Following them were a few other Metas, including a group of five called The Elementalists, and a solitary fire-wielder named Inferno.

The next set of guests walked in. First, the former Paradais Knights, Zealoss, Grapplo, and Dragoon, who since joining Cain have renamed themselves into the Defiant Knights. After them, Bandit Keith, Weevil Underwood, and Rex Raptor walked in.

The final guests were Psyren, who appeared with recently enhanced cybernetics after her grueling defeat by Kensuke's hand, Hamada, and Kimiko.

"I'm sure you know why you're all here and that we have a common enemy," Cain addressed his benefactors.

"I'm only here because we still have two of the Jewels of Eternity," Neuromancer said. "I still have the Reality Jewel."

Cain smirked. "I'm letting you hold onto it for me until I need it from you, Dirk. And yes, I still have the Power Jewel. We'll worry about the other Jewels later." He turned toward the Rogues, the Elementalists, and Inferno, who all wore the same collars. "And since I can't beat Metas without Metas, you'll all benefit as my tools and nothing more." He then chuckled under his breath. What he didn't tell them is that he placed a 'kill switch' on all of his captive Metas to force them into submission if the mind control wears off. "And we'll have more Metas collected and working under me. I'll have enough to deal with those so-called heroes."

"Whew, I'm lucky I ain't wearing one of those collars," Buzz said.

"That's because you're a groveling fool who sold out his own friends here," Neuromancer reminded Buzz of leaving the Rogues to get captured by SOUJA units.

"Hey, I hope you guys don't take it personally," Buzz waved to the mind-controlled Rogues, who didn't flinch and answer back. As he waved in front of them, he chuckled. "Heh, they're empty-headed like dolls now."

"I could always turn off the mind control so they can remember you, dear Buzz," Cain smirked connivingly.

"Nah, let's not do that, bossman!"

"Anyway, I see my science team augmented you, Psyren." Cain eyed the enhanced assassin.

"I feel much stronger. Strong enough that I'll make the one who did this to me pay, and I also can't wait to get revenge on Mai Valentine and her friends!" Psyren said, crushing and bending a metal pipe.

Overhearing Psyren, Bandit Keith chuckled in a different tone than before. "Heh, you mean those dweebs associated with Joey Wheeler? Lady, you and I are gonna get along well."

"Heheh, another chance to defeat Yugi Muto, too? Ooo, I look forward to showing him my upgraded insect deck," Weevil snickered a different sniveling and sinister tone.

"And we've got loads of surprises for them that they won't expect. They better be ready to keep an eye on the birdy," Rex Raptor said in a different sounding tone.

"We just got back from monitoring Seto Kaiba and his friends," Zealoss spoke on the Defiant Knights' behalf.

"And we've returned observing those Tamers," Hamada said.

"They unfortunately defeated one of your latest Duel Monster Defiants," Kimiko verified.

"It seems my partner in the Duel Monster and Digihybrid Defiant project, Shaun Darkheart, needs to start cutting out the weak links. I'll leave him to that since he's not with us now" Cain said. "Now, my Defiants since we're all here, let's discuss our next strategic moves before December 21, the day when the Defiant War shall commence."

(End theme)

XxxXxxX

Digital World/?

"I see. So, Soujiro has fallen and been taken captive," a deep masculine voice addressed their latest Collective member's failure. "Hn, no matter. They won't get anything they want out of him. Mr. Bearer's fail-safes will do their work." The Collective figurehead stood from his royally-embellished throne and eyed his assorted elite members that crowded their pocket dimension. "Moreover, Hans met his end, too. Our enemies have begun to cross our paths."

(Cue Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War OST - Yhwach Theme)

Standing beside the figurehead are two Duel Monster Defiants. On the man's right is a Xiangke Magician and on his left is a Crimson Knight Vampire Bram.

"Lord Darkheart, we're prepared to send troops and Collective members to deal with the Digital World's defenders," the Xiangke Magician reported.

Shaun Darkheart, whose face revealed a young man with long dark brown hair and golden yellow eyes, responded with a dark grin. "Yes, I see Omegamon and his allies aren't wasting any time."

"And we've managed to not only decimate, but have collected enough of their warriors so we can begin extracting their energies, sir," Bram addressed the Collective leader.

"By taking their warriors, they'll only help us grow our forces by assimilating their powers. In no time, our forces will greatly outnumber theirs," Shaun chortled as he walked forward, revealing a white military-styled wear and a black cloak that hung behind him like a cape. Pausing for a moment, he pulled out a pentagram pendant from out of his pocket. "My Collective brethren, our mission to claim the Digital World is far from over and there's much work to be done. Beyond Omegamon, Imperialdramon, Athenamon, and the like, there's still the Sovereigns. Once we've sealed their domains, extracting their powers will enable us, The Collective, to gain unmatched authority. We shall become a divine Collective. Not even those heroes, including Earth's Tamers and Duelists will stand a chance. We have the ability to reshape the Digital World into our Collective dominion!"

The other Collective members roared in unison, pledging their loyalty to Shaun Darkheart. Among them are a mix of various Duel Monsters and Digihybrids.

(End theme)

XxxXxxX

Digital World/Outside Royal Knight Headquarters

"Lord Omegamon, we've searched and neutralized a few Defiant bases, but there's still missing Digimon and Duel Monsters yet to be accounted for," Magnamon reported to him.

"Thank you for your report, Magnamon. Yes, and I've just received a message from Takato and Guilmon. They've verified that they defeated a Defiant using Gankoomon's data. How dare these heretics steal data from not just a Digimon, but one of the Royal Knights."

Imperialdramon Fighter Mode and Athenamon both approached Omegamon.

"Have you found Gankoomon yet, my friend?" Imperialdramon asked Omegamon.

"No, but these Defiants have been on the move and we've barely found any captives."

Athenamon reported. "Omegamon, my love, you'll be happy to hear that one village was saved and a group led by Volodramon and Sailor Pluto defeated a Defiant."

"And what of that Defiant?"

Athenamon sighed. "No body was found. Several Digimon witnessed him obliterate himself."

"Just great," Omegamon said. "We must act now or we let the Collective take the Digital World. I will not allow that to happen."

"Lord Omegamon, we have news and you'll be happy to hear Ryo Akiyama has returned," Buster Blader announced. "He has brought the two Chosen you wanted."

"So, they've come?"Omegamon asked him.

"Yes, sir. They'll be arriving here shortly."

Sighing with relief, Omegamon couldn't be much happier to hear this. "That means, yes. With you two by my side, we can possibly turn the tide against The Collective and their leader. Tai and Matt, we must defeat them together."

"That's wonderful news, my love," Athenamon smiled for her husband.

"Just Tai and Matt are coming?" Imperialdramon asked them. "No Davis and Ken?"

"Let us prepare to meet them, you two," Omegamon said, turning around to head out of the headquarters.

XxxXxxX

Minato, Tokyo/6:35 PM

Several underground workers checked a broken pipeline. There were also reports of black mist coming from these pipes. Upon inspection, the workers resolved the broken pipes, but the black mist continued to seep from an unknown source.

The further they tried finding this dark mist, the workers claimed to have seen shadowy figures with grisly red eyes. When they returned to find these shadows, the mysterious entities were gone.

Then, the workers mysteriously vanished. What they last saw was a dark entity holding an instrument that looked like the Staff of Apophis.

After spiriting away these workers, the entity holding this Staff of Apophis-like instrument darkly grumbled in a distorted tone. "Infinite… unlimited… Leviathan… Behemoth… Ziz… Remaos. REMAOS. REMAOS, we await your coming."

XxxXxxX

Seattle, Washington/Stronghold/10:20 AM (PST)

Upon returning to West Coaster's hidden base Stronghold, Marty and Andrea informed Lance and the other West Coasters about their in-person account of the failed assassination.

"Damn that was a close call, Marty. Maybe you should stick to being underground like the rest of us," Lance said.

"Being a public figure comes with a lot of risks and that includes assassination attempts," Scott stated.

"Yeah, man. Just stay out of the spotlight for now," Penny concurred.

"We were so worried about you, Marty!" Playdate cried out.

"We don't wanna lose ya, dude!" Nick said.

"Any luck finding that Meta you and Marty were pursuing over there?" Lance asked Andrea.

She nodded. "Nah, we couldn't find him. My guess is that he got caught by Cain's people before we could."

"Since you and Andrea are back, we should start freeing captive Metas," Lance reminded them of their mission.

"We do know for a fact Cain has captive Metas in his facilities," Andrea said.

"And it's scary how quickly so many have been captured," Scott said.

"These upgraded SOUJA tin cans have been a huge pain in the ass," Penny remarked.

"Yeah, and while you two have been out, we've found some Metas who were captured overseas," Scott pointed out.

"And locked inside capsules like caged animals. It's horrible," Carmen said with sadness in her tone.

"What's the closest we'll find captured Metas now?" Marty asked Lance.

"Up north across the Canadian border," Lance informed him.

XxxXxxX

British Columbia, Canada/8:30 PM

(Cue X-Men '97 OST - What Have You Done?)

As the West Coasters bypassed the border through Scott's Wormhole, they located and freed Metas from an enclosed Meta facility. After freeing a few of these Metas, the West Coasters managed to fight off a few SOUJA units.

Fortunately, these SOUJA units were outdated models and easily dealt with. Lance's Pharaohmon crushed a few SOUJA units. Between Nick's waterbending abilities and Penny's Coinshot technique, the Banks siblings took a few SOUJA units. Playdate utilized her technopathy to take over a SOUJA unit and sent it to attack another one. Playdate's partner, Rover, aided her by protecting her from SOUJA blasts. Andrea used her Psyclones to distract the remaining SOUJA, allowing them to escape being captured.

"Whew, that was close," Penny wiped her brow. "Either my Coinshot has gotten stronger or these walking toasters are losing their luster."

"Be glad we're not fighting the upgraded ones from Japan," Scott said.

"I hope we can get one so I can extract parts to upgrade my precious Rover," Playdate added as she looked at her mechanical guard dog, which she created based on old SOUJA parts and noted the damage he's taken from the skirmish.

"I'm kinda nervous about facing those, my dude," Nick replied.

Lance turned over to Marty and approached him. "Hey, at least we managed to free those Metas."

"True, but I can't believe they've managed to capture so many in such a short alarming rate," Marty Stonebagel remarked.

"We're been so lucky not to have been captured by now. My clones won't be holding their attention for long. We better keep moving," Andrea added. "Ugh…!"

"Andrea! What's wrong?" asked a concerned Marty.

"I need to rest. I'm going to need time to myself…" she vaguely answered.

After distancing themselves from the facility, the West Coasters returned to Stronghold using Scott's Wormhole.

XxxXxxX

Seattle, Washington/Stronghold/11:45 PM

Upon returning to their base, Andrea went into isolation somewhere. A subtle black aura enveloped the West Coaster. This unknown source seemingly started to manipulate Andrea's actions.

"I see… that's what you want…" Andrea eerily whispered. She raised her face. The color in her eyes became dull and lifeless.

(End theme)

XxxXxxX

End of Part 5

XxxXxxX

(PREVIEW)

Takato: What are these weird visions I've been getting? Who are Romosmos and Remaos?

Rika: Try not to dwell on it, Takato. We have these Collective freaks to worry about.

Yugi: These Duel Monster Defiants will be problematic if we leave them unchecked.

Seto: We're going to get to the bottom of them.

Takato: Now, we have Metas who were thought to have been locked away now working with the Defiants. Did Cain do something to influence them?

Yusuke: Besides these Metas, there's Anti-Demon crazies making things rough for demons.

(Out of the Anti-Demon Fanatics, five significant figures appear. Four of them have similar appearances to the four Spirit Detectives.)

Dark blonde-haired individual: Allow me to introduce myself, Yusuke Urameshi. My name is Jericho. These four are my colleagues, Eugene, Alfred, Dennis, and Vincent. If you don't show yourselves, then we will destroy the Spirit World!

Kuwabara: Damn, now we've got these wannabe lookalikes who wanna fight us!

Kurama: Hiei is still with Rei and refuses to budge until he feels she's secured enough.

Hiei: Rei, are you sure about this?

Usagi: You don't have to…

Rei: Believe me, I hate to do this, but to make sure Cammy, my kids and you're all safe… I'll comply with what the Yami Houou and my father want. Go on to Spirit World, Hiei. I'll be fine.

Hiroaki/Yami Houou: I'm glad you're here, dearest Rei. Now, will YOU come with US and join YOUR father's dinner party? I'm sure the press would love to see the politician's daughter in public?

Rei (grits her teeth): Let's just get this over with. Just don't lay a damn finger on my family.

Hiroaki/Yami Houou (evilly chuckles): Just remember, if you mess this up, I'll finish off the rest of your friends and family.

Cammy: This is wrong. I can't believe you're bending a knee to him.

Kotori: What the hell happened with our suspect?!

Himura: He… suddenly collapsed and died?!

Shaun: Welcome, Collective members. You understand why you're all here. With the loss of a few of our members, we must hasten our movement and capture the Digital World. Ensure that Defiants are spread far and wide. Nothing will stand in our way!

Omegamon: Tai. Matt. I'm glad you two have come.

Tai (YYGDM-01): So, we've got The Collective to deal with, huh? Sounds like we've got a big conflict on our hands.

Matt (YYGDM-01): So, you're Shaun Darkheart, huh? You don't look that dangerous.

Shaun: I'm more than you can imagine.

(Omegamon, Imperialdramon, and Athenamon end up fighting Shaun, leading into an intense struggle.)

Tai and Matt (YYGDM-01): No, c'mon, Omegamon!

Minako: Sailor Venus can take a backseat for now. Now you've brought back Sailor V, Christina.

Sailor O: The world only cares for Christina Denton, the famed international idol. They don't give a fuck about Sailor Orcus. At least I get paid for singing and performances. I don't get shit for saving civilians and being goody-goody. The Defiant stuff is just proof of that.

Sailor Sedna: Please, Orcus. You don't want to continue going down this path. It's not you.

Sailor O: OPEN YOUR EYES, KARIN! THERE'S PEOPLE WHO THINK WE'RE DANGEROUS, AND OUR ACTIONS ARE BECOMING IRRESPONSIBLE!

Sailor V: That's enough of this woe is me crap, Christina! Your fight is with me!

Sailor O: Well, well, Sailor V, the first hero of justice, meets Sailor O, the latest hero to defy justice... this is a long time coming. What do you think of your student now, sensei?!

(Sailor V briefly fights Sailor O.)

Sailor O: No, was the path I took the wrong one? No! This can't be! I don't want to fall back in line and return to being lost in the shuffle! And becoming irrelevant!

Ami: Makoto has gone missing?!

Mako: We need to find my wife!

Amaya: Let's go find your mom, Umi!

Amazoness Queen: I'll take you to her. I think I may have leads.

Nagah: This is bad. There's Defiants manipulating and luring people into their facilities? Turning them into Duel Monsters and Digimon Defiants? This is some nasty work the Collective are performing.

Yugi: This Polymerization Stone training is working out well.

Joey: Yeah, Yug. Check it out, I'm learning to combine several Duel Monsters attributes into myself!

Lyn: I just hope it's enough to defeat these Defiant Duel Monsters and Collective members.

Tea: Silent Magician, would you like to see my Dark Magicians?

Bandit Keith: Heheh, these punks are in for a big surprise when we show 'em our big guns.

(Bandit Keith, Weevil, and Rex Raptor snicker together.)

Cain: SOUJA-Prime, what are you trying to tell me? Is the war drawing close?

Sailor Mercury: Makoto! We've found you!

Lita: Who is Makoto? I am Lita, one of Amazoness Empress' newest vassals!

Umi: Mom, remember who you are! I'm your future daughter!

(Lita is given her Jupiter henshin wand and her Valkyrie Dagger.)

Lita (gasps): Why do these feel familiar? Am I really…?

Amazoness Empress: Initiate the ritual now!

Sailor Mercury: JUPITER!

Marty: We've arrived in Tokyo, guys.

Carmen: Andrea, are you ok?

Lance: You need to tell us what's wrong.

Andrea (shakes her head): No… I'm fine… (a dark aura surrounds her unbeknownst to her friends)

Takato: Why am I getting bad vibes?

Usagi: With my friends getting separated from me… I don't like where our future is going.

Neo Moon: Mom, why are you calling me back?

Cain: The Defiant War shall commence on December 19, 2012.

Henry: Next time on The Wrath of the Defiants.

Fracturing Public Trust! The Road to a Defiant War!

XxxXxxX

Allfather-Ford's A/N/Defiants Chapter 1 Review: This is the first chapter of Wrath of the Defiants, in which here are my final A/Ns. So these are my responses (after revising/proofreading/and leaving all things uncut and unfilter to finally let out) to this first chapter of Defiants as the long-awaited true series finale after a long pause of YYGDM-01 going on hiatus.

It is finally here, after two decades of development hell, YuYuGiDigiMoon: Wrath of the Defiants, the series finale of a long-running mega crossover shonen franchise, and the final fandom story in Kanius's life ever, is finally posted in December 2024 and the final update of the year. Unlike many previous first chapters, this monumental and mammoth of a first chapter (being split into parts when upload) for YYGDM-01's long-awaited return is by far the longest Vegeta:Over 9000 100K words ever.

The prologue with Cain, which its the Un-Reboot return of the mainstream YYGDM-01 version with his paranoia comic book personality, Lex Luthor's theme in the 1978 film (and from Superman The Animated Series), and original 'high-pitch' voice actor (Richard Doyle), a book end that his first dialogue back in WoP Redux ended with an exclamation mark, here in the series finale starts the same way. Even after the YYGDM-01 heroes defeated the Paradais duo, Cain still cannot get over his loss and already decides to go against superpowered beings with the Defiants. Man, even in Mei's funeral, Michael Denton showing up of all people makes fun of Cain just to make him so unhinged mad at the Hate Sink. One dialogue I find relatable for the YYGDM-01 version is "I should have listen to you father!", which quite honestly relates us of what choices we make in real-life.

Back to the present, it has been months since the Triad heroes ended Zeed X's existence. Try as they might by the skin of their teeth, the YYGDM-01 heroes have mental scars and PTSD with Zeed X getting the last laugh now that YYGDM-01 becomes the Apex Dimension. The effects even tremendously affect YYGDM-01 society of being stuck in 'nostalgia stasis' of the 1990s and early 2000s, like it can never be restored ever. It's like what Generic Reviewer said, "Zeed X permatrapping the YYDGM world into perpetual 'everything wrong with the millennial good old days' sounds like a special hell. Zeed X really won, by making a dragged out and dated battle shonen world an unevolving nostalgia hell forever. I can finally give him the gold medal. He's gonna have to share it with Charon though." Even Atlus of all people does not exist in YYGDM-01, sad bro (to YYGDM-01's AU restrictions).

Rika (Yes, not Ruki in Shin-YYGDM)'s appearance in the series finale is quite an adjustment of fighting these Defiants, the YYGDM-01 version embraces the full out AU appearance of herself such as being muscular and taller than gogglehead here while both are planning their long awaited marriage. Just then, they and the other superheroes are receiving a call to fight a giant rogue SOUJA in the city.

And so, the battle of superheroes and SOUJA shows the long awaited return of these characters like X-Men 97's first episode (and back in the animated series's first episode 3 decades back) fighting Sentinels. It's the return of Calling out Attacks, and the return of the 4Kids dub names/personalities of the Yugioh characters (such as Joey Wheeler instead of Jonouchi in Shin-YYGDM). Oh, I notice a unique interaction of Sailor Venus and Kurama (and even the mention of Rio, so yeah, refresher of the return to the original YYGDM-01 pairing for Minako), heh, who would have thought that Chapter 1 is written 2 years after Shin-YYGDM's conclusion, since the Shin-YYGDM versions are a couple/married. Yugi and Jaden (Yes, Jaden who the mainstream version return back to a supporting character, not Judai from Shin-YYGDM as a main character) even uses Duel Monsters cards that in real-life, these cards have been released after Shin-YYGDM's completion (and knowing about the Amazon subplot in Defiants, it's not surprising that these new Amazon Duel Monsters (conceptualized after Shin-YYGDM's completion in real-life such as War Chief, Golden Whip Master, Silver Sword Master, and Spiritualist) appear as well) (Likewise, new Duel Monsters such as that retrained Two-Headed King Rex are being put for Rex and Weevil). Oh look, Angemon X and Brunhilde arrive as well. So Kotori's personality and how she's originally written in character is not just being mature, but remembering the retraux of Kotori's personality back when she's first written in the 2000s (and no Kill la Kill personality inspired that Kanius is clearly toning down this inspiration) (All the Kill la Kill references (especially back in VA in looking back is YYGDM-01's 'attempt' to stay relevant with its fanfic tie-ins) are removed, returning Kotori/Brunhilde (YYGDM-01) (especially she was created in the early 2000s before Ryuko Matoi came to existence) and her mannerism back to her original roots in real-life pre-2010s (such as when she was first written back in Rajita in the 2000s) and no fan tie-ins. This is another major part of Kotori (YYGDM-01)'s culmination as a character since the Underworld Saga and in real-life being created in the early 2000s.) (Kanius's response: While I'm generally ok with secondary and tertiary characters having their voices retrauxed (and I'm fine with Mist's voice being changed), but Kotori/Brunhilde (YYGDM-01) should keep hers (Erica Mendez) since she's one of the YYGDM-01 Founders/Leaders and has been an important OC (and one of the few YYGDM-01 OCs who readers have cared enough about). If anything I'll greatly tone down the Kill la Kill-isms and her anger tone won't be as over the top. I'm just honestly surprised you're suggesting to 'retraux' other characters' voices since I thought this would only apply to the Blood Senshi, Bizarro Kuipers, and minor characters. Heck, the Planetary Sailor Senshi (YYGDM-01) are keeping their Viz English voices, but that can be passed since despite being a redub, it's still the 90's anime. This might be one of the few times I disagree.). Both Takato and Moon deliver the finishing blows to the SOUJA.

I see the recaps of Prelude of the Defiants, Sins of the Father, the CG aftermath with the Neo Senshi's completed roster and Ford's crying. There is the debate with Seto Kaiba (Yeah, his dialogue saying 'hocus pocus' is a return back to the 4Kids English dub personality of Kaiba for YYGDM-01 to remember dialogue accuracy for the YYGDM-01 version) and Maximillion Pegusus (Not Pegasus Crawford from Shin-YYGDM) against Cain about the safety of Duel Monsters, alongside Cain being interested in Kaiba's company. Defiant skirmishes are everywhere in capturing superpowered beings like the Rajita, Brimstone and Mizuno. The Collective are an interesting bunch, with the mention of their leader Shaun Darkheart, and I also help out Gankoomon X (Originally, Kanius would had put simply Gankoomon, till I help out of adding the X since that Digimon was introduced in real-life 2019 in allow the opportunity to be put in a mainstream Un-Reboot YYGDM-01 setting after he first appeared in Shin-YYGDM' reboot setting).

The Meta assassin (aka Buzz as revealed in the outline) attempting to assassinate Marty Stonebagel is thwarted. Unlike with Digimon (and Taichi) back in Shin-YYGDM, this is about Metas in YYGDM-01. Turns out saving Marty prevents the Defiant War from going global (as what happened in Summer Diaries in an alternate bad future), and is confined to only Japan, but knowing someone else will take its place for the global apocalypse: Yami Ghidorah.

Yui interacts with Kagura in her dream of the greater evils of the present (Yami Ghidorah) and the far future (Of course it's Arago, Yui.).

Oh shit, Rei's father/Yami Houou symbiote burns down Rei/Cammy's house, Yuuichirou and Rei's grandfather are even killed. This makes it personal for Rei at the Yami Houou.

There's that dream of Takato learning of the dark force (Yami Ghidorah), alongside the mention of Romosmos (Oh gogglehead, the outline shows what we have in store for you). Likewise, the dark force with the Staff of Apophis mentions Remaos (Yami Ghidorah).

Meanwhile, Makoto is involved with another group of Amazonesses. Another Defiant skirmish occurs in causing an explosion. Makoto wakes up with no memories, and is entranced by an Amazoness village led by Empress. Makoto is given the name Lita (which is from the Sailor Moon DiC dub).

The last scene has Andrea being possessed by this dark force (Yami Ghidorah).

This feels like a timeskip 4 years later after the author posted the final Gaiden in 2020 and after Valkyrie Advent beforehand. 21 years have passed since YYGDM-01 first came to existence back in November 2003 with the original Wrath of Pharaohmon (though it passed 2023's 20th anniversary), and here we are in December 2024 for the sun to finally rise. After years of hiatus with outside projects (both official and pseudo official/legacy stories) like the debut novel (and drafts of subsequent books), Persona Vein/Urban Legends, Akane no Mai, Shin-YuYuGiDigiMoon, Akane no Guilty Crown, and Digimon Fusion Ascendancy's return; it is the Un-Reboot to the original YuYuGiDigiMoon (YYGDM-01) continuity and a true proper outright Un-Reboot of a return to long term fanfiction writing. For some people don't know what an Un-Reboot is, and I find that word/term interesting/intriguing/unique when I learn about it, it's a new work that is set back to an old continuity after a previous work was set in a new/rebooted continuity (Major example is after the mixed-receptive DmC: Devil May Cry reboot, the much better Devil May Cry 5 returns back to the old continuity. Another example is after Rob Zombie's Halloween reboot films, Halloween (2018)/Halloween Kills/Halloween Ends returns back to being sequels of the original film in the old continuity.). Examples of how YYGDM-01's series finale feels like an 'Un-Reboot' besides after completing Shin-YYGDM as a reboot marks a return to the old continuity, are the return of 'xxxxx' which are revise to become 'XxxXxxX' relating to the 7-number theme seen in YYGDM (and Triad crossovers) alongside being styled like a crown of being the 'end all be all' of the fanfic omniverse, the writing style is a retraux of making it feel like it was when YYGDM was first written back in the early 2000s (and relating to the author's younger self) instead of the improved writing style in DoC/WoP Redux onward that YYGDM returns back to how it was originally portrayed in its natural state in the first place instead of being tie-in improvement of its attempts to follow trends, the music being use are old school/retro instead of modernized scores (and the author responded, "Jesus, you really are wanting this thing to be a time capsule of itself.", I actually laugh out loud at the compliment. Also following up with the author saying "You're not making it easy for me. I get why though, Defiants is supposed to be retro. So using modernized scores wouldn't befitting for it."), and the permanent return of 'Calling Out Attacks'.

Kanius's interesting commentary on the meaning of Un-Reboot, such as with the Halloween franchise, Cobra Kai, Devil May Cry 5 (as one of the better decisions from Capcom that make many fans and gaming community happy, that the game is very positive and a success), Ghostbusters: Afterlife, X-Men '97 and the Child's Play TV series: The Un-Reboot has been becoming a trend as of late. This is especially in response to audiences' disinterest/dislike toward reboots and remakes. We've seen it happen with some of the titles you've mentioned. Going back to the roots of original stories has become the popular way to revive franchises. We've seen some cases of success (i.e. Devil May Cry 5, Halloween (though that one has been met with mixed responses with the 2018 film and negativity with Kills), Cobra Kai, Ghostbusters:Afterlife, and the Chucky TV series). And as we've seen with Shin-YYGDM, a few selective readers (annoyingly so) hope/want us to revive YYGDM-01 and finish the YYGDM-01 Defiant story.

This relates to YuYuGiDigiMoon going for so long in 20 plus years without an actual conclusion. Me, Kanius, and LazerWulf discuss life changes and nothing is the same anymore on email when I send a group email about it before 2020 and our discussions in February 2020. With Cross Generations already over, there are life changes and YuYuGiDigiMoon's future status is put to outright question. Even realizing the consequences of writing fanfics for too long, and real-life affecting and changing us. By this point, Shin-YuYuGiDigiMoon and Akane no Guilty Crown are already complete. Akane no Mai is in its final book.

Relating to the veracity truth of Ford's crying scene of why it's meaningful is related to the first paragraph above. I'm also cut and paste conversations with Kanius's thoughts. So these A/Ns, alongside Kanius's A/Ns, are not going to have any sugarcoating tones in it. While looking back of Ford's crying is years have passed, it's still an emotional effect of though it relates to the creative disagreements, it expands the actual real causes of life/real-life itself affecting (and especially remembering selective toxic people that stood out in our real-lives) and screwing us with all its hardships, of what made us come to the internet and destined to meet.

Here's how I first met Kanius back then which I remember back in my middle school years (2005-06ish) of while searching upon random Digimon Tamers fanfictions, I stumble upon the original Digimon Fusion's D-Reaper Saga, and took a peak of reading what is a crossover of Digimon and Dragon Ball Z. It caught my interest in seeing a D-Reaper playing the role of Majin Buu, Taichi is Goku, Yamato is Vegeta, and so forth of how these Digimon characters playing the roles of Dragon Ball. I look at the past fanfics of Digimon Fusion such as with Burizalor and Virus, and up to the final arc that was the Millenniummon Saga that excited me of how it concludes back in the day. I recall back when I was young in that same middle school and high school years of reading bits of the early YuYuGiDigiMoon stories, including seeing Belletiger's artwork of the Beast Tamers, and at times feel confused of Kaiser Ghidorah of whether he's like an OC or based on the actual character with the same name. I believe I remember a faint memory of I recall sending an introduction message to the author in my Yahoo email, but again, I was too young to recall, because 2011 (at the time I'm going to graduate from high school) is when I finally properly introduced myself to Kanius, taking the first slow steps in talking about future stories, ideas/suggestions, transition our conversations to email, my personality develops over the years, and years later allowed to use Google Docs.

Digimon Fusion Kai representing the recreational years is what properly inspires me to have the chance to read the story and join Kanius's team, and I remember first helping out the Virus Saga of DFKai. YuYuGiDigiMoon took me a while for me to finally get invested and helping out the franchise (It's also to remind us that it's a huge mega crossover with its sheer length and other obvious factors (such as the tighter AU restrictions, while recent works like Akane no Mai and Shin-YYGDM grew out of these and embrace the prominent canon elements) that makes it more harder for new (and even general/casual) readers (only a few like myself and a user named Darth Necron are able to look at the original YYGDM) to read the mainstream original YYGDM). And I remember Across Dimensions is what finally has Kanius crossover with DFKai and YYGDM alongside Chaosblazer's Accel Stream with crossover events. I remember Guilty Crown: The Lost Kingdoms (as an AU crossover with YYGDM set in the alternate future) wanting to gain more of YYGDM's trust, alongside the Cornerverse events that led to the final product of Cross Generations. I remember first interacting with LazerWulf back around 2012 and that includes email chats. It's an interesting, yet also weird and critical/harsh experience such as when I remember first mentioning him about the first developments of Cross Generations, and I was young/naive at that time. I remember the positives of critical thinking and the concepts that Lazer brings in helping story qualities such as the major roles of the Metas and Norse Mythology, the Duel Monsters and how he help out the duels, and the Kuiper Belts. Outside of fanfics, he's a great person to talk to in discussing other things like literature (he's a fan of The Dresden Files that I remember reading), films like the Marvel Cinematic Universe (that I remember doing group emails of recapping the past movies up till Captain Marvel and Avengers Endgame), anime, and video gaming like Pokémon. Looking back, one of the things I like from Lazer is that he's fully honest of his thoughts of what he likes.

While LazerWulf is a good person despite being a harsh critic, one of the main negative experiences is he once (as in formerly) has fixations on a fanfic mega crossover (YuYuGiDigiMoon) that has a 'pie in the sky reputation' in the long run (I even remember Kanius mentions that Lazer's fixation over YYGDM has caused the author to lose interest in the franchise on several occasions) and thought he's outright rude in terms of first impressions, even though he did say to me he never intend to act like an asshole and explain something at the start of 2017 of why his social skills are deficient. So Kanius is right to remind that LazerWulf is forgiving, to remind there are some selective people in real-life that are just outright callous without signs of regret/heel realization. It's one of the first steps of looking back at our past selves.

The biggest example (being the turning breaking point for the group) for LazerWulf back in 2016 is Kanius mentioned creative differences in Valkyrie Advent's final chapter, but this time, I'm telling the truth of why uncensored both good and bad. About Helgi, he's actually a last minute character that felt imposed without warning, Lazer would have told Kanius about Alec/Helgi sooner instead of keeping it a secret until Chapter 5's production which is one of the big examples of poor communication. Though overtime, me and Kanius have warmed up to Alec and feel at least he's honestly lenient, even we have plans on making Alec an official character in Kanius's novels, and even him being Vindicated by History shows that a version of Alec appears in Shin-YYGDM. Another is the Skogul/Gondul pairing of Wulf-Edda back in Urban Legends/Akane no Mai (alongside Shin-YYGDM with a husband added as a threesome), it was originally from Lazer and originally for YYGDM (yet in the last minute during Ch. 5's production without Lazer aware of outside sources outside of YYGDM such as Cross Generations that was uploaded before VA's release) before it's scrapped and properly use in Urban Legends/Akane no Mai/Wulf-Edda yet their different characters and are despicable, alongside being use again in Shin-YYGDM as heroic figures. Then these two Intermission chapters are thought off by Lazer as a way to bring the story together, causing the author to have a nervous breakdown and seeing how these feel like repetitive origin stories like Spider-Man movies, the Ragnarok one was honestly better than the Brunhilde & Siegfried one. Wulf-Edda being the redeeming and inspired from these creative differences (and last minute changes without warning), such as making the origin stories based on the Intermissions enjoyable and redeemable, and Kriemhild being the better villain than Adora Frost/Mist (pre-redemption arc, though Lazer should have thought of it sooner instead of the last minute, again, poor communication). We also remember at one point, Lazer once thought of something related to the Brunhilde and Siegfried Intermission called 'Something Stupid', where the YYGDM characters play the roles of the Norse characters such as Larry is Odin, Rika is Otr, Garmen is Hreidmarr, and Takato is Loki, 'Something Stupid' is not written further and is already abandoned.

So it's Wulf-Edda's Norse supplanting YYGDM-01's Norse and me as the game changing contributor sat on the Game of Thrones chair to stand up against the competitive world; but looking back at this sentence makes me feel wrong and honestly wonder if it's worth it?

There are 'what could have been' chapters of Gaiden that are not shown: One is a mini-arc of the Duelists and the Sailor Senshi teaming up to face a Game Lord that I remember Kanius once told me on email years back, which looking back felt like an anime filler arc. I remember back in the A/Ns of Dawn of Chaos Ch. 61 of seeing Gaiden ideas of characters' times in other dimensions like the Justice League, but they already felt too much. Another set is seeing expanded storylines of the Neo Senshi, I remember Kanius mentioned that on email and I recall once sent Panty and Stocking OST for these supposed chapters. Another is Lazer's proposal of expanding Kuwabara's involvement in his construction job, but with the final Gaiden chapter already out, Lazer and the author are okay in no longer doing that former Gaiden chapter.

Another major what could have been is I remember back in WoP Redux's Ch. 30 uploaded back around late 2013 for YYGDM's tenth anniversary that the author thought of a detailed summary of an alternate Dawn of Chaos (the same alternate future that future Sailor Charon is sealed by the Senshi only to be freed by Professor Frank) and would have been posted as a separate Gaiden chapter, but it didn't happen, so I wonder will it be mentioned in the author's A/Ns as part of the behind the scenes of revealing the long awaited answer.

Another What Could Have Been Gaiden is back in April 5, 2014 on email when Kanius once told me which I copy paste from Discord: Kanius_Takeru_Cage 's words say "So, a couple of months back JeffEros1022 proposed a plot bunny to me about pitting the Inner Senshi and Duelists in some side story together. He says we haven't seen the Senshi and Duelists really hang out as friends (just as comrades in conflicts). He's right about that. Not counting Makoto (who's with Mako T), Tyra (Lyn's best friend), Miho, Vivian, and the Neo Senshi (friends with the Signers now), we don't see duelists hanging out with any Senshi group"

Kanius_Takeru_Cage 's words "This one will likely have this set before DoC. It starts with the Inners (possibly with Hotaru and Chibiusa tagging along) and the Duelists meeting at a convenient setting (I'm thinking the arcade place Yugi and Joey run). Both groups acknowledge they don't 'hang out' as much as they should to build a stronger working relationship. Enter, a duelist that turns into a monster who is down on his luck decides to set them up in a type of death battle situation. I came up with them getting trapped in some duel monsters game. Think of this as a redux of that Rajita arcade chapter. Unlike that Rajita nutcase, this guy, who I've named the Game Lord, is much more devious and is an expy of the Arcade character from the Marvel Universe."

"He divides them up into groups across different sections in this virtual game. I have them divided into these following groups:

Moon, Tuxedo, Yugi

Mars, Seto, Lyn

Mercury, Duke, Tea

Jupiter, Joey, Mako

Venus, Mai, Serenity

Saturn, Neo Moon, Tristan, Bakura.

This way the Senshi/Duelist teams can get a better understanding of each other, I guess. In any case, this situation is more advantageous for the Duelists since they've been thrown into virtual worlds before. The Senshi don't have that luxury, although they have fought Duel Monsters before. If anything, it's traps and spells laid by GL and monsters that would give the Senshi problems."

Originally, the major cast of Guilty Crown: The Lost Kingdoms would have appeared as guest appearances for Wrath of the Defiants, like I remember back in GCLK that it was set years after the alternate Defiants event in which Lost Christmas occured and killed most of Japan's heroes, and would have come a coincidence full circle. But with ideas/concepts changed for Defiants, their appearances are now scrapped. However, I'm letting out a surprise of a summarized event of what happens to them below.

I'm also copy/paste my previous A/N from Shinnen:New Year's final chapter in recapping my younger self back in Jan 7 2016 to help more of coming a long way for the final fandom story status: I decide to look back at my memory lane growing up in real-life up till today. Oh boy, this is going to be long. I was born in November 1992, around the last decade of the 20 th century and the last era of the second millennium. Lucky isn't it? This is before the third millennium that where we are at. Like many destined fans that enjoyed various medias of popular culture, I remember some of the first I see are Disney (around the time of the Disney Renaissance), Pixar with Toy Story and A Bug's Life , Cartoon Network ( Dexter's Lab , Ed Edd n Eddy , and Powerpuff Girls ), Nickelodeon , Foxkids (my first exposure to Transformers was Beast Wars/Machines , and yep I remember a lot of memories of Digimon Adventure/02/Tamers ) , and Toonami (yep with Dragonball Z (before I know Goku's name, I thought of it as 'Jack' as a kid.), Sailor Moon and Gundam ), not to mention mix with old things as well with Scooby Doo (and also the movies back in the 1990s like Zombie Island ), Looney Tunes , and Tom & Jerry . Let's not forget about movies like Jurassic Park , Star Wars and Lord of the Rings . I usually don't say this, but I admit that being a 90s kid is special, though I'll hear similar speeches to people born in different generations/decades. The first video game system I brought was a Nintendo 64 and the very first game was Pokemon Snap . I remember the first Final Fantasy game I get was Final Fantasy IX . Around 2000-2001 was the era where I am expose to the wonders of the internet for the first time. It was AOL , Cartoon Network's official website (one honorable mention is Cartoon Orbit back then. I remember playing their old web games.), an old Powerpuff Girls website called Rowdyruff dot net (A fansite from 2001 - 2010 for people tributing the Rowdyruff Boys with their OC Avatars, fanart and fanfics. They succeeded in having the official creators to bring them back around 2003. Though the website is defunct, it is accessible in the Wayback Machine site). To think I go back to meet my childish kid self again. I remember looking at Yugioh , Dragonball Z (I use to go to Pojo dot com a lot) Kingdom Hearts , and Digimon old announcements and know more of the Japanese works than my casual fans. March 11 th , 2007, this is where I became a new member of this website (and March 14 th , 2007 when I first came to DeviantArt ). Before that important event, I read a lot of fanfics back then and not caring whether they are good nor amateurish (some examples: Digimon , Dragonball , Yugioh , these Know Your Stars fics, I recall reading a humorous Rurouni Kenshin/YuYu Hakusho one); some are enjoyable to this day (like that epic story crossovering Rurouni Kenshin and Lord of the Rings ), others are weird/out of character (like characters saying 'baka' and so)/bad upon looking back today. I recall reading this Digimon Tamers fic called Not Real by Toxic Shade where Gallantmon fought J-Reaper to rescue Jeri and becomes this fan-made form called BiLeomon before sacrificing himself, kinda dark. I obviously tell that my first stories are crap before I deleted those such as a Zatch Bell one-shot and a Cartoon Network crossover that the story parodies Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children , the Powerpuffs as the main heroes, and the CN villains becoming dragons. Why am I looking back at this? Up from 2007 to early 2011 that I rarely take part of contribute something on this website. Back in the day, some of the things I remember liking/use to like are Transformers Animated , Ben 10 (before Omniverse ), Total Drama Island (before I dropped it during Action ), and Marvel animated cartoons (such as Spectacular Spider-Man and Wolverine and the X-Men ). Between that time, I remember I use to hang out with specific people and also use to naivety admire in contributing on DeviantArt , but now I left them for personal reasons (such as some people hating canon couples, there are drama arguments that I usually never get involve, some of these people never 'truly change' if you know what I mean, and believe that their OCs are superior (but have little flavor)). It's like meeting different people online is always similar to real-life as different social statuses. I understand that my middle and high school years (late 2000s - 2011) to connect these online experiences are the Dork Age. I was also a transfer back in tenth grade with very mixed results (such as the anime club mentioned in Ch. 2), long story (even though there are good memories such as senior prom and all night graduation, alongside some respectful acquaintances/friends). It is in 2011 that before and during the time my high school graduation happened and going to college (well I started off in a community college before transferring to a 4-year school in 2013), while I finally have the opportunity to contribute with one of my inspirers since I read his fanfics around middle school: SSJ4Takeru (now as Kanius ). I think I once send a past email back when I use a Yahoo account, but didn't contact again until 2011 when Digimon Fusion Kai is at its second season. To demonstrate my trust over the years and making a difference, I want to see myself as the second coming of Kanius and being the youngest member of his group, while desiring to improve more of my writing skills/personality. I once thought of putting concept ideas of both Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Guilty Crown (this looking back compares to Kanius' first use of Digimon Tamers (of both this and Puella have deconstructed themes) and Frontier (both this and GC are so okay average, yet we make them better) that shaped his first fics) to his series (also start of with elements of Final Fantasy XIII , God of War , Transformers Prime , and so), but wait as on hold till that comes, meaning I made an AU fic that crossovers both anime and set in YYGDM called Guilty Crown: The Lost Kingdoms (besides GC and Puella , Sword Art Online is added later on. I remember around 2012 when SAO and AoT were not prominent since the former had an ongoing airing in Japan, comes 2015 that both became much noticeable.). Not to mention Kanius hasn't seen much of Guilty Crown until early 2014 when I was brainstorming my AU. Sometimes on PMs we take things slowly of what ideas we can use before I explore more sophisticated concepts. No wonder why 2010s in my young adult years have become better than my teenage years. This is the chance to do some things I never had the opportunity to do back then, 2011 - 2015 also meant the slow recovery age for me to develop more of my mindset and atone from the past mistakes slash sins in the 2000s. Though there are still private problems that affect me much further, and that I can understand as the real world becomes prominent (still find the 2010s better than my teenish 2000s). I learn/remind at an early age of both the deconstructions and reconstructions of being a fanfic writer. I'm just simply a contributor nothing more, but glad that my contemporary ideas help out as practice for real-life. I remember how overtime, my reviews to K's fanfics become insightful and expressing more emotion. Feeling almost like a reset button, my previous fanfics feel like a 'renaissance' of Kanius' stories. Across Fantasmic , which is a parody of Disney's Fantasmic! In Disney parks even though I put some original content, tributes the original D-Fusion fics (in the early 2000s) like The Conceptual Years , alongside a deleted one-shot of Imperfect Virus. Dawn of Ghidorah tributes YYGDM's ongoing, Naruto fics, and a Sailor Moon fanfic called Galaxy Stars of symbolizing The Dark Years (late 2000s), alongside two deleted stories of a one-shot of HiSuzakumon and the Red DD Girl and an attempted redux of Across Fantasmic (it kinda tributes that Kanius once attempt to do an Ultimate Uncut edition of his D-Fusion fics before they were deleted). Looking back makes me cringed, but I felt I like Across Fantasmic more than Ghidorah . Now, how do I first got into Guilty Crown itself? The anime that inspired my previous AU fic, House of Madoka , and Shinnen . Before that, I saw some promotional pictures (the first one I saw is a group pic consist of Inori, Fyu-Neru, Gai, Ayase, Argo, Oogumo, Shibungi and Tsugumi) of the anime is done by the same people that did Code Geass and Death Note . I watch the first two episodes around October 2011 when it aired in Japan. I go like it was okay though the song of Bios is awesome when I first listen to it. The visuals and character designs are really nice. At some point, I catch up with all the rest of the episodes and wow. I felt when I first saw it in Japanese, its okay, but Shu is shown to be whiny and annoying at times. For starters, Gai is my most favorite out of all the three (to be honest, when I use to dislike Shu between 2011-13, I imagine replacing him as a better character while admiring Gai). The plot made little sense and the ending… unlike most animes I enjoyed and have good closure (such as Code Geass , Gundam 00 , and Gurren Lagann ) to be remembered, Guilty Crown leaves many questions unanswered like what happen to the other characters and most of all, where is Da'ath's status (Yes I know there are animes and shows that have unanswered questions, but Guilty Crown really takes the cake). Then comes 2013, where Guilty Crown is having the English dub, courtesy of Funimation . I was actually enjoying the voices while rewatching the show and love the English dub more than the Japanese (I saw the first 12 episodes again, and have time to see the remaining ones at the end of 2013). I begin to like Shu more than his Japanese version for seeing a totally new perspective of him, thank you Austin Tindle. (Granted I'd say people find better perspectives when they saw YYH and Cowboy Bebop in English dub since they flesh out their voices more, and that both the Japanese/English versions of Digimon series are good in their own rights that fans combine both elements) This is actually one of the main reasons why I decide to get back into the seldom fandom for real and to do Guilty Crown: The Lost Kingdoms as mention above around 2014 (It's another renaissance tribute to The Recreational Years era (2010 - 2015) of Kanius getting back to D-Fusion as Digimon Fusion Kai and renewing YYGDM with Dawn of Chaos and a revision of Wrath of Pharaohmon ), as to show a reminded real example of what an anime crossover done right (alongside giving the anime more notice, just like Vindicated by History in TV Tropes). It is the first Guilty Crown fanfic crossover to be completed in history, that unlike many retellings I look, I abridged GCLK with nine chapters almost like a movie fic with various changes. And then, we get to the kicker. The foundation of Kanius Production Abridged . It started off as two character omakes/segments by Kanius and Chaosblazer with their Siege of GranDracmon and Yagami's Second Coming fics. (What also started this concept is trace back in Ch. 13 of Digimon Fusion Kai of this omake with Yamato & Babimon (alongside Vegeta & Nappa) around 2010.) I first suggest of having the Puella Magical Girls in 2013 to invite the heroes, and the villains to their party in New York in tributing Disney's House of Mouse . During the House of Madoka me and Kanius co-authored in 2014 (after Dawn of Chaos is finished for him to be free first), we were just starting to transition this to a special story that we didn't bring any sophisticated and expanded ideas (It is also somewhat like a Halloween special for GCLK). Think of it as Meet Your Early Installment Weirdness and so (almost like when LittleKuriboh and TeamFourStar first do their abridged series before becoming more original over the years), but we finished it just fine and plan the outline of Shinnen (that like most fics, we thought of many drafts before obviously glad to have the final version). Between that and the story's release, I did a few one-shots on my own such as a GC/Attack on Titan , GC/SAO set in my GCLK fic, and GC/FFXV (though it's incomplete even though its finish because I find it much hard to do). Their okay to kill time. And then we get back to Shinnen:New Year's release, its progress, and completion in 2015. This is what I imagine for the renaissance a prophecy of what The Final Years (2016 - 19/20(?)) are like to Kanius' fanfics such as the official series finales in what Shinnen's elements will bring to and come full circle. Anyway for Shinnen , with the biggest character roster and number of franchises, it is the culmination of all the fan-writing experiences I've done to pure professional levels (though like most stories, there are some mistakes and of course there are scenes that are too much to handle). Unlike GCLK , this serves as a continuation of the canon Guilty Crown anime as our special 23 rd episode in allowing me to have much enjoyable freedom. Meet the alpha (House of Madoka) and the omega (Shinnen), almost like Battle of Gods and Resurrection F (while Cross Generations/Defiants is the Super ). Though it is a series finale to our Cornerverse series with elements of past works, we did try our best in making it stand alone for new readers. All those plot twists leading to the end paid off. By the time I finish my final fanficion, Shinnen:New Year leads to the 5 th Anniversary of Guilty Crown in 2016 (alongside Madoka Magica. There are many other specific anniversaries that I can't stir my excitement.).

I imagine an alternate universe of what if I didn't appear in the author and his contributors' lives, this means Cross Generations won't have a full final product, no Cornerverse, no Persona Vein/Urban Legends/Akane no Mai, Kanius would remain writing YYGDM (even imagine The Crystal Age as a GT/Boruto spinoff) without a chance to expand more opportunities such as official works, LazerWulf would have not received actual character development, Kensuke would never had his reputation destroyed and a Karma Houdini in Cross Generations, etc. in remain restricted without a chance to finally escape from that stagnant blackhole. This is what Kanius responded to this paragraph written in early 2020: "I can only imagine this 'what-if' scenario. A lot of things would be different. CG would not exist as it is in its current form. No Cornerverse means no chance to explore other fandoms and characters outside YYGDM and DFK. DFK would end a lot sooner with CG possibly being some kind of GT/Super hybrid with no dimension crossing arcs. With DFK done sooner, I'd still be stuck writing YYGDM like it were some long running shonen story. And possibly no chance to expand and take a risk like writing an official novel.)" Yes, even Lazer should think about this had I not existed in his life of how valuable I am to the group.

I know it's irrelevant for this paragraph, but just leaving this past conversation at the start of 2020 of Akane no Mai being a second chance outside of YYGDM with Kanius's response of the developments (and relating to the previous paragraph above): I've already scanned over your Ch. 18 UL review and sense the sincerity from your words. I got the sense you don't want to feel ostracized after writing PV. With UL halfway over, you realize it was time to revamp everything to present a professional novelization based on what we've written for PV and UL. The writing, editing, and revising process will help prep me while I'm writing my first professional novel. I feel good things will come with starting over refreshed for AnM. We have another chance to revise a 'draft' that we never would've done with any YYGDM story. I'll have a second go with these characters and create personal stories for them I didn't get a chance to with UL. While I didn't cry, I feel for you. I can tell you're ready to move on from YYGDM and other fanfic related things. I can understand being done with writing for the same story for a long time. UL has been a refreshing course for me. AnM will now be twice that.

Even I remember how my past admirations of YYGDM-01 in the early 2010s as an attempt to renew the creativity of good storytelling (after my past experiences with a former admirer and friend I knew back in the late 2000s on Deviantart and me wanting to redeem from my experiences with him (alongside witness experiences of immature users). He's one of the main sources of the era I refer to before the Recreational Years called The Dark Years. I mean, it does relate to how Deviantart besides being a not-so-good website upon looking back (it's not just Eclipse) like I've seen the toxic sides of places like Twitter, but Deviantart is the OG (original generation) that started all of this personally. Ah Deviantart, what an amateurish site that I used to do a lot of amateurish drawings back in the day (with extremely selective exceptions that stood out when I look back such as a sketch of Arceus (Pokemon) vs. Shinryu (Final Fantasy)), like I was the same guy that once did a fanart of Total Drama Island matching their respective Tarot Cards, another I recall was Regene Regetta (Gundam 00, looking back it's still a great Gundam show that changed my life and one of the good things that came out in the Dark Years) being Ghostfreak (Ben 10, a former fan of the franchise, much like Kanius was a former fan of Naruto). The very first fanart I posted back in Deviantart was Brago and Zofis from Zatch Bell as a T. rex and a Spinosaurus respectively. I did remember one of my first major friends named Thunderstarwarp, I remember we once originally had a rocky history before eventually became life-long friends (especially remember our discussions on Cartoon Network, Bleedman's works like Powerpuff Girls Doujinshi, Transformers, Jurassic Park, Resident Evil, and Metal Gear, I remember Thunderstarwarp was the one that introduced me to No More Heroes) and one of those that stay in touch on email to this day as we grew and mature as people.

Anyway, I finally let out that person's name because I'm confronting the past and not running away, which his name is Sharidaken (known as David and he's a few years older than me). I remember back around 2008 when I first met him in Deviantart of seeing his Misc Couples of crossover characters. Before I left him and him consumed by hate, Sharidaken was not originally like this that he was nice and someone I used to admire. I remember he once talked about his issues in real-life, one of which is he dealt with severe bullying and had zero friends in school that he dropped out of school and was doing his GED at the time (which he already passed). Sharidaken was those that first exposed to the online community world as one of the escapisms of his real-life, making friends and once viewed as a second family to him while imagining his world of 'Fanfiction' with all the OCs, self-inserts, crossover characters existing together. I remember the setting of his Fanfiction has three layers as in Fanfiction, Fantasy, and Reality. I remember his self insert partnered with the dragon Arokh from this old game called Drakan alongside Pikachu. I remember I used to do a lot of drawings based on his work for him before they were sadly all deleted relating to his fallouts with specific people. Other people on DeviantArt I remember interacting and spend time often are Priscilla (known as Lacasadreams of her old account and ElenaMegan of her new account) (I remember one of our first interactions was back when she did this Dissidia X-Over Trailer of an unreleased fanfic parody of Dissidia Final Fantasy), Tom (known as Papa-T-41), StrangerDenB4, Slyboyseth, NoLimit5 (granted, I haven't interacted with this person as much), Kira (known as Hylian Maiden), Chibi-Skitty, Alter Shead, Riderman16, and Madai-Talmai. I remember Sharidaken had once done a mega crossover fanfiction (till it's canceled) based on Final Fantasy VII (Yeah, ironic isn't it? This relates to Kanius and his friends as huge fans of the game) with various crossover characters playing the roles (alongside many 'author sign-ups' from his friends/former friends (Which looking back, it is clearly hard to follow with so many characters and story structure doesn't feel sense. And now in real-life, we already have the FFVII Remake release.) entitled Final Fiction VII. I remember his self-insert played the role as Cloud, Layla Hamilton from Kaleido Star played the role as Tifa, Téa Gardner played the role as Aerith, a villain OC named Darigan (which the name is based on a Neopets character) played the role as Sephiroth, Jet Black from Cowboy Bebop played the role as Barret, SaberLeomon play the role as Red XIII, Shinobu of Ninja Nonsense as Yuffie, Meowth as Cait Sith, Vash the Stampede as Vincent, and Major Avery J Johnson from Halo as Cid. There were supposed to be canceled sequels based on Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus. I remember there were once a Final Fiction VIII based on Final Fantasy VIII planned with Alter Shead's self insert played the lead role as Squall, and I think I recall that Queen Myrrah of Gears of War would have played the role as Ultimecia; but one past talk from Sharidaken I recall is that the returning self inserts of his alongside other author sign ups would have also appear, looking back raises my suspicions of seeing too many characters in a failed unreleased mega crossover project that makes no sense. I also did remember there was once a parody of Code Geass entitled Code Fiction with Sharidaken's self-insert would have played as Lelouch, Konan from Naruto being CC, the Britannia Empire would have been played by Disney characters (relating to how Disney being 'the Empire' like in real-life, even today for obvious reasons) such as Mickey Mouse of all people being Charles zi Britannia (Oh god, I remember I once did a drawing of that, like that is just wrong lol), Maleficent being Cornelia li Britannia, and Gaston being Clovis la Britannia. I did remember Sharidaken and the others once did a mega crossover one-shot (with OCs and crossover characters like Haruhi Suzumiya, Ed Edd n Eddy, the Joker (Nolanverse), and even the Cloverfield monster) that bashed and killing off characters from High School Musical in 2008, and quite honestly, it's one of the few genuine fun things I remember reading. I also remember Sharidaken and his close friends (includes former) once had their personal Deviantart group called the SOS Fanfic Brigade (which the name is based on the SOS Brigade from Haruhi Suzumiya), it was one of the inspirations of me once formed the Fanfic Meisters (one inspiration of the name were the Gundam Meisters of Gundam 00, and I remember I once showed Sharidaken that anime) Deviantart group (which was now shutdown, but the inspiration eventually created the Akane no Mai Discord server that me and Kanius reside).

Sadly, there was once a lot of troubled drama and fallouts from users/former friends/flamers/haters/other idiot users of Sharidaken and others that happened during the late 2000s of DeviantArt. One of these infamous users/flamers was named Neros Urameshi (known as Morty340 on Deviantart till his old account was deleted (he now has a new current account going by DisneyEquestrian2012 and still hasn't change), this is one of the major bad people that Kanius and the others have to avoid and not interacting with him), not telling the full story, but let's just say that he was a huge discord that causes drama, I too once interacted with him but thankfully not involve in his dramas with others and blocked Neros afterwards, all I remember is that Neros and Sharidaken as former friends actually knew each other in real-life. And I'm leaving that. Another major ongoing issue at that time was back when Priscilla once dealt with a lot of hackers/flamers, around that time, Priscilla once did a huge (yet looking back was a difficult undertaking) sign up amateurish Kingdom Hearts The World Tournament fanfic with many crossover characters and author avatars. Most people feel back for Priscilla's issues to the point she once left DeviantArt in 2010 before coming back after a year, but sadly, Priscilla was Sharidaken's former friend, who Sharidaken began to feel tired of her pointless drama that he listened to a statement (or whatever accusation) from one of Priscilla's former friends in unquestionably believe that he turned against her. After experiencing unresolved drama/grievances and some people like Priscilla that Sharidaken thinks she gained more special attention than he does, alongside a lot of ongoing issues (especially family) in Sharidaken's real-life, Sharidaken allowed his hate to become prominent and consume him in life. Even he once had fallouts with Riderman16 and Madai Talmai, alongside a young girl named Maria33. Though I once kept a low profile and once remained on Sharidaken's good side, unaware of more issues that followed. I did remember the part that Sharidaken and the others would have completed (that was originally written and ongoing in the early 2010s till it was canceled and deleted) what could have been a 'series finale fanfiction' called Fanfiction: The Ultimate Movie with the main final villain would have been an OC named Neo Escuridante. That's what reflects what The Dark Years was, just before I eventually had that luck and opportunity to meet Kanius and his team.

Then, during my first days as part of Kanius and his team, around 2012, I did see the more issues that followed relating to Sharidaken. Somehow, I stumble onto his Facebook page and too my surprise, he hasn't let go off his petty hatred that I saw his posts relating to Priscilla saying things like people (even me) follow that "retarded Indonesian girl" (what he said to Priscilla) and wished that Priscilla doesn't appear in people's lives again, alongside another of his posts saying he officially lost respect to DeviantArt and related people like myself. Because of this sour revelation of why I quietly deleted all of my amateurish artwork dedicated to him, and fearing his irrational hatred will strike me next, I flat out blocked him. It's just in my heavy heart why I did it… Sharidaken and Kanius when I compare them honestly, both have similar stories relating to mega crossovers, both have aspiring dreams in becoming novelists (Yes, Sharidaken would have done a novel (which I hear he's writing) he thought for a long while, but due to the troubled drama and are overboard, I'm uncertain because it also reflects him being a human being), both were once bullied in the past, both are also horror fans, and both even have short tempered problems, but, their lives (alongside their skills and choices as content creators) completely differ and completely contrast from how they are as role models and people (and Sharidaken is like a Shadow Archetype of Kanius). Unlike Kanius's initial distrust in the past before meeting with the right people and actually the right online people (before meeting me) when first discovered the internet, Sharidaken (he's years older than me, but years younger than Kanius)'s distrust and the ongoing issues of his drama took the opposite direction gradually evolved into full out hatred. Hell, I would have imagined that 'what could have been' that I would have introduced Sharidaken to Kanius, that way two content creators would have had that special crossover interactions, had it not been the issues of Sharidaken being prominent.

I remember during 2012-14 when me and Priscilla once attempted to do a failed remake of Kingdom Hearts The World Tournament going by Kingdom Hearts Ethereal War Tournament (The title with 'ethereal' in it, this was where inspirations of the Ethereal War of Urban Legends and what to expect for Akane no Mai - Book III came from/first originated, from an unfinished fanwork now inspired and retool to give the presentation deserve for Akane no Mai). It was meant to have three parts: one with the schools with SeeD of Final Fantasy VIII, two for the tournament, and the final part dealing with Sin of Final Fantasy X as the main threat. At the time, we had some experiences since the huge undertaking project as an AU was set after Dream Drop Distance and before Kingdom Hearts III. However, once Kingdom Hearts III was first officially announced back in E3 2013, cracks and doubts began to form, we were young at the time and experienced real amateurish creative differences that led to a fallout in May 2014. Because Priscilla was in college at that time, something she should have done in case that happens that this failed project should have been put into adoption, allowing a trustworthy content creator to adopt this and write/finish the story. In the long run when I look back, it felt how the long term impact of Sharidaken's looming shadow of hate affected me of him (relating to his past petty grudge with Priscilla) wanting to 'see my friendship with Priscilla' destroyed. Another of which was my younger obsession with YYGDM-01 and related fanfics since I left Sharidaken, because of that influence from him without the mature teachings and himself, I was left stunt in my mature growth and relating to the deconstructed fixations of why I desire specific good fanfics finish to be relieve, and allowing actual maturity from my own even if they come from experiencing this type of fallout in a harsh matter. Even so, had I have more positive experiences with Sharidaken on good terms and less drama witness, then I am less likely to have rare drama/fallouts (and the fallout with Priscilla would have not happened, as if Sharidaken's negativity presence secretly wanted that to happen) on my own.) of feeling guilty (especially I didn't say congrats to her graduation on time is one of the biggest regrets). Thankfully me and Priscilla both reconciled (with me giving congrats to her graduation late) and myself taking responsibility from my actions.

A few years later in 2017, and a year after my college graduation in 2016, I finally properly called out to Sharidaken of his problems, alongside telling him to apologize to Priscilla. Sharidaken finally confesses that he's officially guilty of his past deeds and tried to let go of his hate (Him tried to let go but not outright explicitly letting go of his hate, it's like I see Sharidaken as like a real-life Bojack Horseman (ironic, consider I hear he saw that cartoon), like Bojack tried to be better only that his toxic attitude relapses and especially the final season relating to how his life is just open-ended of whether he changes/relapses like a vicious abusive cycle failed to truly break his curse.), even flat out stated late that he writes fanfictions for fun. He said that he owed Priscilla an apology of the accusations and is going to do it, but also saying that he does not ask for her forgiveness nor becoming her friend again because in his words that "I'm sure as hell don't deserve it". Then once said that he doesn't hold against me, but as I read along his long explanations and his life story, he accused me of not caring about his shortcomings and saying that I rub my success (and 'talk big') to his face (even accusing me that I don't change, reality check, I and everyone else do change and mature as people all along and I'm no longer viewed as a 'kid admirer' to him), showing that he actually secretly holds against me all along and any other former friends of his being successful without his toxicity. This shows that Sharidaken remains bitter instead of outright letting go of the hate and flat out saying congrats in being positive to people and working out his problems right away. The message ended remain on sour terms, and honestly confessed that Sharidaken is worse than typical bullies. In December 2017, I actually saw a journal of his (before it was deleted, which I find it cowardly of him not outright stand up to his own petty mistakes) on DeviantArt saying 10 years of Deviantart of remember his past self and the guilt of the bad things he did to people, in realize that he wants to make up and apologize. I also learned that Sharidaken also has some kind of a learning disability (but didn't reveal what it is), another part of his personality issues and hatred. And as of now, the only real old friend that is still around in Sharidaken's life standing out is Chibi-Skitty, there are very few other friends, but all the rest left him.

Overall, because had Sharidaken would have been more mature than being a manchild at times in causing (and involve in) a lot of drama to old acquaintances I knew, alongside he would have taught me better lessons for a better influence, I would have actually been more mature sooner, even being as critical (though remain as nice and more lenient) as Lazer in sharing interests sooner and me and Lazer getting to know better much sooner.), at times feel alienated and conflicts with some people in dismissive towards YYGDM-01 due to obvious reasons. Heh, if I have Lazer to be the beta of Sharidaken, knowing imagine if my admirer won't change his immature ways, I have no hesitation in having Lazer teaching him a strict humility lesson with his criticism, in other words, I will have no problem of Lazer kicking his ass. Yes, I'm sass much. But in all seriousness, I wonder if Sharidaken changed his ways. Of will I forgive him, and will I renew my faith in trusting him again? (So far, this section is already long as it is in this story, but I am planning on repeating again alongside more details/memories relating to this and outside to expand in a future more appropriate story/anthology outside of YYGDM)

I imagine alternate endings relating to Doctor Strange's million outcomes, such as those that have bad endings (creative differences of Defiants of falling outs, me admitting and confesses that my planned Defiant reviews are going to scathe YYGDM's reputation that realizing this that I decide no longer reviewing (Though there is some chance that I might only review the specific chapters that the author is clearly out-and-out excited to do, such as the fight against Cain and the final battles, alongside the ending/epilogue), and one of them is the true ending. At the same time, I am as conflicted (and cannot bring myself to truly turn against it and cannot bring myself to outright hate it) because I still remember love reading YYGDM in inspire many things in redeeming good fanfic storytelling, and miss the series despite its recent issues (Alongside how many readers no longer review the series and left/move on to do other things), and finally learning the reminder of student loans. That true ending is going to take many many years (and years of growing up and trials) to reach a certain event (And preventing these alternate bad endings from ever happening) if Defiants will be completed to finally end the YYGDM saga (and fanfictions as a whole) and permanently no longer wanting YYGDM to haunt us for the rest of our lives. Pretty much shows outright that Defiants' developments before and during its production as a fanfic mega crossover series finale will be ten times harder and excruciating even more than CG, VA, AnM, and even official works/novels. This is what Kanius had to say to me and we discuss about these related topics before back in early 2020: "I know in recent times, you've grown a little sour toward YYGDM-01 for these reasons. I understand your gripes and concerns. But, isn't the sourness a little over the top? I also don't think it's fair to say all the characters would want to stay and live in a stagnant bubble. I do get taking a long break from writing the final YYGDM-01 arc. It has been a long time since I've been writing it. As far as Defiants go, I've had thoughts of shortening it and just summarizing most of the non-important stuff. Going back and glancing over some of the old YYGDM-01 stories, and yeah they did get long on the tooth, especially Rajita and DoC. I'm curious if you had gotten on board with DoC during its production, what you would've changed/omitted?"

Respond to his question of Dawn of Chaos above, and I already told these to Kanius and Lazer before on email months ago. Had I gotten involved in DoC much sooner since the beginning and making things easier, I would have help and suggest of things like less to no filler, less double length chapters in reducing a lot of stress, reducing the number of irrelevant OCs, having Millenniummon just as equally important and an actual Complete Monster like Charon, having the events of 5D's and GX set after their respective shows ended instead of in the middle of their shows, having the events of Bonds Beyond Time canon to YYGDM (which we would have use Malefic monsters), having Professor Frank (and even the Paradais Knights, which will happen in Defiants) gain a Duel Monster form (Ido the Supreme Magical Force), no Duels in saving time since even Kanius remind us he's not good at duels and mostly needed help from Lazer/Chaos/Ninetalesuk; more dimensions added like Rebuild of Evangelion (besides the original), Samurai Jack, Ed Edd n Eddy, Dexter's Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls (1998 Series), Codename: Kids Next Door, Megas XLR, Teen Titans, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Danny Phantom, Ben 10 (around the Alien Force/Ultimate Alien timeframe), Transformers Animated, Generator Rex, Gargoyles, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who, Firefly (since it was one of LazerWulf's favorites when we discuss in a MCU email thread), Star Wars, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Super Smash Bros., Persona (being set after P4 and before P5. I would have imagined showing Kanius the walkthroughs of Persona 3 and Persona 4.), Gundam SEED, Gundam 00, Marvel vs. Capcom, Bayonetta, Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XII, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (being set after the first Avengers).

Me and Kanius further discussed in early 2020 what could have been for DoC besides myself would have been on board during DoC's production: "I would've combined segments (based on a specific group) and divided them into their own arcs instead of spreading them out. Agreed, I would've given Millenniummon equal time and be an equal partner to Charon. Because I did build up the 'Prophet' to be a Big Bad since Wrath of Pharaohmon. Out of all the arcs in DoC, the Demon Priest/Arago story was the most straightforward one. I'd still have done 60ish chapters, but the chapter lengths would be shorter than what they turned out to be. Also Valmarmon and Granasmon's concepts in hindsight have become somewhat dated, that by DoC Valmarmon was displaced as the potential Big Bad in favor of the Paradais duo. Also, Professor Frank probably wasn't the ideal villain to oppose the Duelists, but at the time, 5D's wasn't finished and Z-One was not yet introduced. Rex Goodwin/Godwin was gone by that point. So, me and Lazer only had little to work with. I don't know if I would've given the Planetary Senshi their Dai-Valkyrie forms sooner than I did, because they were originally meant to remain as Ninja Senshi until midway into DoC (allowing them to fight smarter than harder with guerilla-like tactics) by Day 4 or 5 where they gain their Dai-Valkyrie armors to fight the Neo-Rajita generals with and then fight Gamera & the Paradais Duo like planned. In hindsight, I would've cut back on most of the Neo-Rajita flunkies."

And here we are reminded of the official end of TeamFourStar's Dragon Ball Z Abridged. It shows how I vent of comparing how TeamFourStar has that camaraderie in ending their series and thanking the fans for supporting them, while YYGDM's future in question is the opposite. Lazer did briefly give two constructive criticisms to the Wulf-Edda stuff for the Akane no Mai versions, but he hasn't read that far and realistically can't get into it despite being ironically a huge Norse fan, showing another deconstruction. By this point, LazerWulf finally has a burnout like ourselves after 15 years of YYGDM without closure. Showing the deconstructions of his past fixated behavior of why he really acted this way and realizing the consequences of his actions, leading to him deciding to finally quit being a beta reader, though he will still help YYGDM's series finale one last time. And then in a wham moment, me and Kanius learned that LazerWulf still has unpaid student loans from a degree he never actually finished (I thought he already graduated from college back then at first). To be honest, I was shocked and saddened upon learning this. This is the true nail meets coffin of the problem that still lingers and explains more of why LazerWulf's past behavior is justified. This is student loans I am talking about, I remember using them in my final year as an undergrad and have already paid all of my undergrad loans. It is a big burden and traumatic experience for every college graduate that uses them, even those that attended competitive/selective/elite/Ivy League ones that are much worse off. Believe me, it is just harrowing that we can understand the relation that the three of us come to remind of focusing more on real-life that there's more to it than fanfiction. Like I felt I defeated YuYuGiDigiMoon, but is the pyrrhic victory worth it?

I guess in the long run, Lazer does have a point in telling us that he's not cut off helping out projects outside of YYGDM, especially official ones. Sure, he did help the basics for Kanius's debut novel. He once intended to be much harder on these than a fanfic. But after a lot of life changes over the years, he decided on calling it quits, especially realizing in becoming labor for his well-being. While me and Kanius are deeply saddened (especially seeing potential of whether he likes to be involved in official works due to his constructive criticism) in knowing we'll officially cut ties in creative works as an End of an Era (Outside of fanfics and stuff in normal conversations on various topics, we remain life-long friends to this day), in the long run, we will be glad that he makes that decision. Because involving in that different environment and not feeling open to these popular/famous content creators that me and Kanius desire to interact, especially with his current issues and stress/sanity in not getting used to these, would be too much for Lazer (especially the disagreements that'll be much worse off). Truth is, I do miss his constructive criticism. So we still save his life and his mental health. Around 2023 is when Lazer did return to college and graduated.

This paragraph and dialogue were written in early 2020. Even we agree with his major review of the final Gaiden saying, "Well said, my friend (though I disagree with you about One Piece being too long). I think this series grew far beyond our expectations of it, to a point where just keeping track of everything going on was a lot of work. I'm glad it's still getting the send-off it deserves, even if it has to be scaled back from the original plan." This means the three of us have lost control of YYGDM-01 being the apex dimension and the in-universe cast remain resilient of refusing to move forward and frankly don't really care about our lives in real-life, hence another reason why we have the 'Omniversal Disclaimer:' on top of the A/Ns of YYGDM's attempts to remain relevant and the god (more like a concept) of all mega crossover fanfics. Kanius' response to these statements: "And I must agree to disagree with you, Lazer. YuYuGiDigiMoon and One Piece both have several traits in common: They are both being too long (and I'm shocked you'd consider YYGDM too long but not OP, I sense bias and of course you'd have disagree with me over something), they both have a large cast of characters that can be hard to keep track of, both have a tight continuity, and most of all both rely on massive worldbuilding (YYGDM maybe not as highly detailed but it's nothing to scoff at either). One Piece has been running longer. Oda deserves as much criticism as any other writer (myself included since you like nitpicking anything I write). No one and nothing's perfect. Not One Piece. Not YYGDM. As for you Ford, yes, in some cases we have lost control, but you're still going on about the in-universe cast being stubborn about moving forward. Well, how was I supposed to write them? All depressed and downbeat with no ounce of hope left? Maybe they don't care about our RL lives, or maybe they do. That depends on your perspective, but I can't change your mind now. You've decided to label them as an 'end all be all' like Zeed X described them."

I remember the mentions of specific people (such as Titan Thanos, Dark Qiviut, Haruhi, and Lycosyncer) that used to review YYGDM often back in the day, now sadly they're not around much relating to ghosting without warning. Looking back, they're some of the positive factors in supporting Kanius's stories (and his life) before I showed up. With Defiants/YYGDM-01 finally posted after development hell, it also makes us wonder if they still pay attention to Kanius's future real official works outside of fanfictions.

To Haruhi Suzumiya s0s: Hey Haruhi, by the time you're seeing this before favoriting Defiants, it has been once again a long time since I left this message and remembering your cheery reviews that support Kanius's positivity. Well, Defiants is finally here after so long with delays. I know you always talk to Kanius, but still to remind of reconnecting with other people like myself, LazerWulf, Belle, Jeff, and even Chaos of relating the old good memories and not making it a waste. Knowing how the real world is harsh and cynical, it's your positive reviews of re-reading that warms people's hearts and the human light in keeping the author going. If you're still out there, I hope you are alright and looking back at the growth just like the anime shows you experienced (And the anime shows that crossovers YYGDM and other stories).

To Lycosyncer: Heya Anthony, I remember well that you were once active in DeviantArt and did these Marvel Cinematic Universe reviews up to Spider-Man Far From Home that I remember loving and reviewing. I remember you were the main inspiration for suggesting Cain Bearer to appear in YYGDM in the first place since the late 2000s. After two decades of development hell, the series finale of the original mainstream YYGDM-01 continuity has arrived, and this time counts as the final fandom story. Before you fave this story, I just want you to reflect and look back, for all the support of Kanius (And wonder what are you doing this for? Of where are you since you ghost out and didn't give feedback of Cain (unlike LazerWulf who remains an active player)?), just like what I told Haruhi, it's also to remind that you should have been grateful/appreciate other people like LazerWulf and myself due to our hard labor work in helping the author (and a real human being) and how about talking to Kanius more of many topics and real-life stuff outside of fanfictions. It's understandable since with all the real-life changes and stress, it's looking back on our growth as people since our younger years and why we came to the internet in the first place. I just cannot bring myself to be harsh, because seeing Defiants finally arriving and the author is also writing official novels, it relates to more of the old reviewers growing up with Kanius to come back to reading the final fandom story. After so much struggle and pain, it's not too late to bring the best of you and everyone else.

Around the time of 'the Dark Years' that is set before 'the Recreational Years' (long before joining Kanius's group), I remember I once had a mixed reception towards my high school's anime club and the cringey insecurities, which I know that there are other anime fans that have a similar boat of mistreatment (and ostracism/ghosting) from their high school (and even college) anime clubs as myself. Though I do remember not everyone is a mean-spirited person in the club, a few are genuinely nice. I also remember two people that stand out in that era: One who was the Korean anime officer who's the same grade as me and being the main thorn of misery, the other was a comic book artist I admired that graduated in 2009 (and ironically friends with that Korean, though of course the artist is at least nicer).

The high school anime club's Korean anime leader: I'm pretty much copied and pasted my past review (Because of saving time of not writing something new relating to this) of Akane no Mai/Book II's semi final chapter in recapping (Which in that story, I based on an OC named Hoyeon on that awful real-life classmate) "And now for Hoyeon himself. In past stories, there hasn't been a fictional OC that is based on a real-life person that Kanius and his group (even myself) personally knew, not even Cain and any other human antagonists in Defiants/YYGDM-01 even though they're base on real-life political figures (and abusive parents for Michael Denton (Sailor Orcus's father)'s case) in general (but not personal). Hoyeon's debut is not even hinted/foreshadowed/speculated by readers guesses unlike Juzo Mido, so his wham character appearance is a huge surprise. Hoyeon, despite only has limited dialogue (but it feels more real-life than any other fictional Hate Sink characters of what makes him stand out)/scenes and is not playing any major roles whatsoever, he's actually based on a real-life high school Korean classmate I personally knew as the leader of my high school's anime club as the same grade/age as me. He's one of the main sources of inspiration and hatred in the weird amateurish Dark Years around the late 2000s, long before I first met Kanius and his friends. However, the Korean classmate actually wasn't always like this prominently, because in reality, it's not just his bad attitude that was the problem, it's also my teenage naive immaturity as well, so it's also that both sides have troubled issues that I'm reflecting in the next part. It's been 15 years since I first transferred to my new high school back in September 2008 just like Shujin Academy (and I compare myself to Ren when I first played Persona 5), 15 years since I first interacted with that high school's anime club (or as I also remembered their past name as the Big Kendo Pants) and its classmates (even old friends), and 15 years since I first interacted him (that Korean). When the Korean first became the anime club's leader in my junior year (September 2009 - June 2010), it wasn't as bad at first as his leadership skills in running the place I remember is actually good. However, one small foreshadowing I remembered that unlike the previous club's officers (Class of 2009) back in my sophomore year (and transfer student) that at least bring introductions to new folks (like allowing them and returning folks of their names and such) in the club's first day, the Korean actually doesn't do that in giving foreshadowing of made the club felt more mean spirited as months passed. I was naive at the time and I remember how the Korean is easily annoyed in general with a temper (even remembering some of my friends when we reunited back in 2017 of mentioned that he's a difficult person to talk too) and mainly gets along with friends of his inner circle, though we did get along at times in trying to warm up to our presence. Another negativity from him is that he hates Transformers Animated and even referred that version of Optimus as a pussy, newsflash, TFA is a good cartoon (One of the better things that happen in the Dark Years, looking back in retrospective is obviously better than Bayformers) with dark elements later down the line and was one of the main inspirations of the creation of Transformers Prime (that was part of the kickstarted Recreational Years) with similar inspired character designs of the Transformers. Another slight good thing from him is that at least in the club before going to Anime Boston in 2010 was that he brings genuine preparations and being good convention goers in not being jerks to the conventions staff. Near the end of junior year, the anime club's mean spiritedness remains unchanged, to the point that one of my friends of the club actually left that not just because he's busy, but mentioned on Facebook that the club began losing its allure. Even I remember him signing my yearbook in junior year, unlike most people that wrote good and neutral comments, his wrote "Good luck, motherfucker", looking back as a responsible adult now, it was a bad sign. Next, I remember when a freshman (and an old friend, another of the few of the club that was genuinely nice) of the Class of 2013 requested him to take a picture, unlike most people requested that smile or neutral expressions, the Korean gave him a frown, which he could have just cooled down and be civil to the youngster that did his best in looking up to the anime club. Before the fallout from the Korean happened, ironically, we and our families bump each other in theaters around Father's Day of seeing Toy Story 3 and in separate theater seats, that was the last time we were genuinely nice to one another, but harsher in hindsight that the movie was part of growing up into adulthood. The following day, the Korean flat out confessed to me on Facebook that he still barely knew me even though two years have passed in my new high school. I didn't take it well, accusing him of not caring and even let out saying that by the time of high school graduation it would be too late (Which looking back now has a point relating to specific friends drifting apart in real-life, and it still fucking hurts to many people and even me to this day), not to mentioned that he could have made me to a club officer due to much potential in me in could have been supportive. And so we didn't interact with each other much and there was a newfound hostile presence from the Korean, even blocking me on Facebook when we originally added each other. I already left the anime club afterwards before senior year (Heck, the Korean didn't even acknowledged the other classmates/friends in the club of what happen to me, which only specific friends/classmates personally bring concerns to me about it which I eventually revealed on emails). Looking back, the older classmen around the Korean was what kept his positivity around in at least bring the best of him, as these old friends of his graduated school, every month passed that the true negativity (and annoyed anger) from the Korean became slowly more prominent. This newfound experience of how it stands out makes it honestly worse (officially named the group as Prime Sources of Hatred, specific people that have greater negativity than others and equivalent of Complete Monsters, but while Complete Monsters are unambiguously evil and fictional, Prime Sources of Hate are gray on gray morality that besides actual real-life monsters (Yes, that includes real-life abusive/hateful/narcissistic parents out there, which we're not surprise if these children created fictional characters based on these real-life Hate Sinks) there are those that are not outright evil yet still show more prominent hatred than others) than dealing with typically school bullies/teasers, like I experience that yes, there are anime fans that are just as toxic if not worse than typical bullies/teasers. Luckily, there was no actual outright fighting, and thankfully he's not around in my senior year classes, and once high school graduation occurred in June 2011, I'm free to move to the next stage in college. As for the Korean, the last time I heard at the time was that he attended New York University. Being the 'Greater Scope Villain' (what makes the real-life hatred feel and remain real compare to Zeed X of Cross Generations and Kaiser Ghidorah of YYGDM-01) even after high school graduation (and even after post college graduation, and even during professional careers/jobs), the Korean's influences and inspirations bring many things to me in my life of what roads to take. It's one of the final choices in eventually first getting acquainted and becoming friends with Kanius and his group (such as Chaosblazer and LazerWulf), being involved in these good fanfictions that eventually I grew as a content creator in expanding a lot more stuff. It's one of the inspirations of how I first created the Fanfic Meisters (then later the CrossGenerations group) group on DeviantArt, of something I wanted to get even of becoming the leader of my own group, something I never gotten the chance in my high school's anime club. Of course because now DeviantArt was less active and not the same, the Akane no Mai Discord server is the main successor follow up of my Deviantart groups, so these all trace back to the Korean's negativity still. Even the inspiration of Kanius's novel writing, one of which is still traced to that Korean classmate's presence, of why that one negative person makes a big difference. I remember I did reconnect with various friends/classmates/acquaintances of the anime club, there are those that mellowed out and remain on civil good terms, those that are neutral, and sadly there are very selective percentages that are still mean-spirited (One of the few that hasn't change while the rest of the anime club of my class (except some still mean-spirited ones) mellow out as adults and doing their separate lives). The Korean is the only on that felt outright negative above the mean-spiritedness, because I remember around 2016 I called out to his past behavior (despite I also apologize of my past teenage behavior as well), but didn't respond without a single word (unlike the rest), and instead send a pointless LinkedIn request to me, which he should have known that he should have remember the serious past issues and talk things out like normal adults in taking it like a man instead of being a chickenshit. I remember I was furious in sending another email to him about this, still no response from him and his reaction, even though I took it back I was still wary and remained frustrated and left the scene remain currently bitterly unresolved. So yeah, the Korean's negativity in high school was bad, but I imagine in post-college even though he has a career (Every year I can imagine, no, more like every nano-second that the Korean grows stronger in success of assholes thriving while nice guys finish last of playing catch up, of despite all that novel writing training, there are people like him would still view Kanius as weak and not seeing real potential of him as a human being.), his annoyed anger worsens in adulthood and with only specific friends of his that are still around in his egoist life. Unlike dealing with typical negative people that rank 4 or 5 out of 5 in terms of 'threat level', this Korean is surprisingly a 6 out of 5.

-My words to the picture portrait of that Korean (and Hoyeon who he's based on) reminiscent of Sora's seething anger towards Terra-Xehanort's portrait back in Kingdom Hearts II: You…You FUCKING STARTED ALL OF THIS. Because of you…What things could have been different had the Korean been more receptive in high school, of imagine the upper social class co-exist with the low social class without prejudice. Like he would have personally introduced me more to the Persona franchise as one major thing. Meaning (and had the club been more receptive in bringing more knowledge to me sooner) I would have helped Kanius's Dawn of Chaos/YYGDM-01's dimension cameos of having the Persona dimension with Persona 4 appearing. I would have added SEES (Persona 3) and the Investigation Team (Persona 4) in helping the characters against Da'ath in Shinnen. Me and Kanius would have had cameos of the previous Persona cast (especially Persona 1 with Maki) in the last Cornerverse event of wishing them luck to the Persona 5 cast for Urban Legends. The improved writing training experience that I'm helping Kanius that began in Urban Legends, turns out that we could have (come to that hypothetical conclusion) actually got it (these related experiences/knowledge) sooner (instead of 'delayed' maturity/experience) had the 'upper class' would have helped the gifted potential people that were originally part of the 'lower class'. So the improving novel writing craft in helping Kanius, it's not just helping his official works, it's actually more complex outside the box in how to be a good human being in society of what contributions to bring to the table in being good role models, this, is the real reason why I help and support Kanius's growth all along. Relating to the new triad: Shin-YYGDM breaks the fanfic curse first, second AnGC had the chance to complete an actual stand alone story besides being the series fauxnale, and here we are in AnM's long term developments of returning back to the present (after AnGC's future timeline, like after Batman Beyond finished airing it returns to the present timeline of showcasing the events of the Justice League/Unlimited) in dealing with the current society situations (Both the fictional setting of AnM in still relating to Persona 5's main themes of society and the masses and still applies/references back in the real-life universe that me, Kanius, and the others endured). That's why obviously, I left the Korean nameless in not mentioning his name and link locations in not raising further drama suspicions. People wanted me to forget about him and move on, but, I can't, we cannot, because without these related memories in looking back of what the motivations of helping future purposes. The Korean remains one of the main motivations/purposes of keeps me going to surpass him in proving his ignorant mind dead wrong. Me, Kanius, and other good-hearted content creators do our best in life in growing as receptive human beings in still learning new things; and don't want the people of negativity like the Korean classmate view (look down on) us as lower class weaklings and one trick ponies."

The high school anime club's comic book artist: I also remember back then that I once thought of doing an art major in the first year of college till I change my major and help out in the long run, so I'm mentioning it relating to growth. And also includes an indirect fallout (there's no heated drama/fallout, but looking back is emotionally hurtful to the point I haven't even slept for a day. Whenever I think about it, it does cause me emotional pain.) from an old friend as a artist/comic artist that I haven't talk to and saw him in-person for many years (Like I tried reaching out myself, even attempting to tell his girlfriend about it (okay I know and admit it's inappropriate when I did that) since its taking too long, but think about, this is someone I admired that we haven't talk and see in-person for a long time, and he didn't tell his girlfriend of knowing more about me as a person and how I'm a nice person of seeing my side of the story), I have a lot to say to reveal with a lot of venting (And one of the real reasons related to Ford's crying that it's not really of YYGDM's current reputation and no longer Kanius/Lazer's disagreements, but something related to the true antagonist being real-life (and thinking about that comic book artist that was originally a friend cut off makes it more hurtful than YYGDM's reputation) itself outside of it), but it will give big contrast of how me and yourself/Lazer warm up to each other over time in clearly eventually seeing each other as equals/true companions while this artist I know that I use to admire and friends with that I know back in high school haven't spoke to each other and are distant (while he only cares of his best friends of his zone that he know since childhood, but haven't talk to other old friends outside of his circle for a while (One of which is a former girlfriend he had back in high school (thankfully break up amicably though on friendly/normal terms), that she's now already having a master's degree from Boston University and is working in a health department in Tennessee. On the other hand though, she doesn't reconnect with him recently of didn't at least check in once in a while (of showing my secret concerns) in ponder of not showing concerns of the artist's current well-being of feeling she's no longer part of his life. So besides this topic talks about the comic book artist, his ex-girlfriend is also somewhat being brought up of both sides drift apart in life and not just one side)), alongside being more apathetic in lack of actual concerns outside of 'art/webcomics'. Alongside relating to the insecurities from Kanius and Lazer as all three of us have struggles and at times feel ostracized and being looked down in the real world (Such as have you guys reconnect with old friends and acquaintances, especially wanting to see a second chance by the time Kanius publishes his debut novel. And encourage you to do the special commentaries in all of Defiants' A/Ns).)

-The fallout happened back in late 2019 ironically before COVID-19 and the 2020 protests struck. He may have genuinely taught me to know about competition post-college graduate and not to be in my comfort zone (alongside learning of true discipline), but, he (and even himself) neglected and did not tell me about the emotional friendship breakups (While I rationally asked him about it before the indirect fallout such as reflecting the past and concerns of the future (Like seriously, we're not in the 2000s anymore (of Naruto being dominant, and I remember my old friend was a huge fan of the franchise) of myself no longer being a naive teenager that my old mentor is short sighted to see), while he has yet to answer something harshly, I decided to just stop the conversation in not having a heated fallout because of fearing the answer is hurtful more than reasonable. I did leave a last sentence of at least suggest to my old friend to give a positive note due to outside of real-life that we both endure, but he didn't say anything positive.).

-One of the biggest recent doubts before the indirect fallout is why that comic book artist didn't share the post and no mentions of how he feels of Stan Lee's death back in 2018 unlike me, Kanius, and LazerWulf. Is my old friend apathetic? Not even in his twitter page does he share it. I mean, Stan Lee is one of THE most important figures in human history that he changed the shape of comic books and popular culture in a big way that inspires everyone (such as myself, Kanius, LazerWulf, Chaosblazer, Belletiger, Jeffrey, and others) and will eventually inspire our reincarnations/descendants and other sentient races in other planets in the future of them looking at Stan Lee's legacy.

-That also includes another famous actor passed away back in 2020, Keiji Fujiwara, a lot of the fans like me and Kanius gave our condolences and shared the news on twitter, but that artist doesn't even do that even though he's a fan of FFVII to begin with.

-And another actor passed away in 2020 was Chadwick Boseman, the person that portrayed Black Panther. LittleKuriboh (ironically he followed that comic book artist), KaiserNeko, Geekdom101, YongYea, one of my acquaintances/friends who's a professional anime reviewer, and the artist's old girlfriend back in high school (again, the same one graduated from Boston University) show their condolences. Actually for once, the artist did share that major sad event on Twitter in understanding how a big deal it is, though technically didn't say something himself (still makes me wonder if he feels blunt to himself) that he only shares Zelda Williams' tweet saying "Please be understanding and respectful of the privacy Chadwick clearly cultivated in life now that he is gone, allow it to pass on to those he loved. Please, do not reward any invasion into their privacy, or profiteering off spying on their mourning. Please, give them peace.", this is something I would have called out that at least personally give condolences outright or at least tweet with similar meanings like other people/content creators like myself and Kanius.

-Another actor passed away in 2020 was Kirby Morrow. Most of the content creators gave their condolences on Twitter, not surprisingly, that comic book artist didn't express it.

-Another example of not express condolences is Shunsuke Kikuchi.

-In another aversion, he did tweet in giving condolences to Kentaro Miura's death due to how influential the creator of Berserk has to the manga and anime community.

-Another aversion, he actually did tweet in giving condolences and saying rest in peace to Chris Ayres, understanding why the voice actor means a lot to the Dragon Ball and the voice acting community.

-Another is that I believe I saw some tweets of his opinion on My Hero Academia, one of the most popular anime of the 2010s that me, Kanius, and Lazer are fans of. The artist mentions that the series would have been 'better' if Deku is unique without a Quirk. I don't recall where the tweet status is and I know mentioning this is trivial, but this feels off from him.

-While I have recent disparage experiences with YYGDM-01 (And have genuine reasons why), the fact that the comic book artist recently shows a hidden disparage towards me and those outside of his 'friend circle zone' (even some that are from high school have graduated with master degrees, and bachelor degrees that are not equal to the comic book artist's degree) is shown to be more real and hurtful (And didn't show reasons why other than 'ghosting'). I did remember back in 2011, when I briefly showed him Kanius's fanfiction profile and I mention he's one of the well-known fanfiction authors that writes good fanfics/crossovers, that artist doesn't seem to be impress about it (foreshadowing me and him becoming distant due to our growing differences), unaware of that same fanfic author (Kanius) is clearly striving to improve in going to become a novelist and expand things outside of his comfort zone (of knowing there's more to life than fanfics as Kanius said, while the artist has his comic books and artwork as a priority without opening to many other options).

-Even comparing many differences between him and Lazer of my interactions over the years. The comic book artist goes from admired to distant, while Lazer is the reverse from being rough and harsh to slowly warm up over the years. Examples are: Lazer shows his condolences to Stan Lee's passing, while that artist doesn't and doesn't show it by tweeting. Lazer did respond to my experiences in my vacation in Tokyo, while that comic book artist doesn't whenever I attempted to tell him that at the end of 2017 (that's two years before the indirect fallout). Lazer saw Gravity Falls, while when I told that comic book artist if he saws the cartoon he didn't answer. Lazer gives his Nintendo Switch code, while when I at least ask him on email before the indirect fallout that he didn't answer. At least Lazer did mention to me and Kanius of his student loans, while the comic book artist outright didn't tell me that. When I mention to Lazer of the reminder of emotional intelligence (EQ) and seeing each other as equals, this is now harsher in hindsight to compare to the comic book artist and my high school's anime club in general. I come to realize that of all the experiences of Lazer's interactions both good and bad, it turns out Lazer is actually the nicer person than the comic book artist.

-I did remember back in my naive immature years at times, he did teach me a lesson of I "reap what you sow". I know I did take it to heart, but what about the artist himself of doing the same thing and wondering? Especially relating to some people drifting apart in real-life.

-I did remember when I mention an old friend of mine in real-life about this, he consoles and gives his thoughts: As for the personal issues: i understand trying to rekindle old friendships and all that. Some people develop shallow personalities overtime to be where they are and success does come with a price. My heart goes off to you because i've tried to do the same when i came back to Rhode Island and some friends were happy to see me while others were less than happy. Even i had to cut off a couple friends because they were causing me more harm than help. Just know that you did nothing wrong and that the other person is probably just selfishly finding a way to success. That or maybe find his next paycheck haha.

-Note that he's not a jerkass, and he's not a bad person. He's clearly a nice guy (And I'll never forget the good memories we had back in the day including the teachings even though I'm not a proficient artist, and I remember he's genuinely funny that made people like me laugh), but the recent tolls and other circumstances as a comic book artist alongside other factors with not reconnecting with other people outside his best friends makes the situation and recent social class differences complex. And I did remember the comic book artist's encouraging motivational words in not giving up hope back in the horrible November 2016 presidential elections to show (even though real-life and my recent issues relating to my old friend happened few years after of wonder of being backpedaled outside (being separate from the elections) of the motivational words), of at least not to end this section relating to my old admirer on a sour note, but instead ending something positive: What's done is done. We did what we could, and what we thought was best. Please remember to take care of yourselves and your loved ones. Watch each other's backs, keep trying to be the best people you can be. We roll with the punches. We keep fighting. We survive. I know a lot of you are disappointed, scared, and angry, but I also know we can make it through hard times. Don't give up. Stay strong together. Keep fighting for what your beliefs. I can't really say I ever believed in politicians, but I believe in all of you. I'm not going to ask who you voted for or why you voted for them. All I ask is, if you do see someone in the line of fire, treat them well. Stand up for them. Don't stand for someone enduring treatment you yourself wouldn't want for you or your loved ones. Also, most of this was caused by anger and fear ruling unchecked. We can't let ours do the same. We need to be better than that. Otherwise this is all just going to repeat. The most disappointing part of all of this for me is seeing how people are reacting to the election results. Blame slinging and name calling are definitely going to help us unify and protect one another against something Man of us are uncomfortable with or scared about. The people of this nation were badly divided far before this election, even within minority groups. The election results just highlight it. I'm not saying you shouldn't be scared, or that you shouldn't be upset or even angry. But telling people to fuck off, unfriend you, never talk to you, or jump off a bridge, or calling them disappointments and failures for honestly voting in a way they believed in isn't going to help them see things from your point of view. We're all in this together for the next 4 years. And the more divided we are, the harder it is going to be to get through it. Again, It's okay to be scared and angry. Just don't let that control you. Don't let this mess repeat itself after the next 4 years pass. Make more friends. Don't make more enemies. And it turned out on January 2021, I peered into that comic book artist's twitter page and he posted a realization comic page of being depressed and realized his lectures causes some people in his life (including me) leave him, some of these people mention in dialogue referring him as selfish and assholish. Of a my god what I have done moment from him of wonder if he wants to be the best of himself and rekindle things. I realize that I did fail him, I did fail myself of this unresolved cardinal sin. That was one of the major last times I realized what I have done as well, because he once attempted to help me to bring the best out of me as well, and it did in the long run relating to why I appear in Kanius and his friend's lives. At the same time, because of the drifting apart fear of taking different career paths. I just wonder will I eventually come back to talk to him again in allowing time to heal first in years, I can't promise anything in keeping expectations low until the time comes and just leave it open air because of how cruel real-life is to both of us (He actually has a point of boundaries (word is use more often lately like in twitter statuses), not just that, but everyone else across the world) and anyone else.

There are still things that me and the author that'll make Defiants at least readable for the specifics to actually look forward to. Kanius even supports this one statement, "Nah, only review the chapters you feel you need to give commentary on. Probably on the good parts that I mentioned: mine and your stuff."

1.)The main themes of the series finale are humans being the superheroes' most personal and final enemies they'll face, alongside the superheroes themselves refusing to move forward from their stagnant nostalgia. This is something realistic and the most grounded, because up until now, the superheroes fought other super-powered adversaries and reached up to Zeed X. Fighting mankind as a new kind of enemy is going to be a different level of being much more challenging than Zeed X. While Christina experience torture from Zeed X, one human being (aka her father) exposing his daughter (of being caught off guard)'s secret identity to the public take it to a bigger level of destroying Christina's life and becoming a hateful vigilante as Sailor O, meaning one simple human even in real-life can tarnish someone's reputation that's damaging like seeing what many humans can do in real-life. Writing about the conflict against mankind remains complicated to do, as authors like Kanius require maturity and experiences to have the chance to write this since it does feel different than past conflicts (Of course Kanius has experienced Defiants early in Shin-YYGDM back in 2021, so we wonder how it is going to fare in a mainstream YYGDM continuity that's a full AU concept this time instead of canon concepts in Shin-YYGDM). The heroes' depression is also being focused on, as this type of depression reaches a whole new level of wanting to see. This also meant that the series finale is for long-time YYGDM readers as older mature audiences, as in us growing up with the fanfic franchise.

2.)Kanius did mention to me back in early 2020 saying, "As for Defiants, the only main things I look forward to is the Houou/Hino family resolvement, the Orcus angle, and the battle against Cain.", alongside the final battles after Cain but the author is keeping these secret until the story reaches these.

3.)The special commentaries shown in all the chapters relating to non-fanfic content in allowing the author to express topics and behind-the-scenes. He already did special commentaries of Mythology and Literature in Shin-YYGDM, alongside Digimon and Dragon Ball in Ascendancy; which I'm recapping them in Kanius's A/Ns. The next special commentaries for this first Defiants chapter is how the author first met and having experiences/interactions with LazerWulf, Belletiger, Chaosblazer, and myself in full history from the beginning to here we are today.

4.)With the spoiler outline already out of Defiants since Shin-YYGDM's completion, we're indeed going to see the return of Kaiser Ghidorah (YYGDM-01) as Yami Ghidorah with his final defeat, the global depower with the Silent Millennium, and the Crystal Age with Isan and related.

Even I remember back at Wrath of Pharaohmon Redux's Ch. 1 A/Ns before the story started had the author mention this, "I've come to grow attached to the casts in this series and would be saddened when I have to write the inevitable series finale." This finale is finally here after 15 plus years, by the ending chapters and the epilogue chapter (The Crystal Age), the author and us will indeed feel sad and it's okay for him (and Lazer) to cry (Even letting out the A/Ns of crying once the finale reaches these ending chapters, especially the epilogue chapter to see how it's written).

Here's what the author also told me back in 2019 in leaving this as another reconstruction of YYGDM and his partnership with Lazer, "Despite any grievances I may have with YYGDM, I owe to it for helping me become a better writer and explore concepts I never would've considered. Without it, I (and with Lazer's input) wouldn't have created the West Coasters/Valkyrie Advent and pretty much lay the foundations for my Advent Novel. Without it, I wouldn't have come up with interesting and unique crossover interactions and pairings. Sailor Mars/Hiei is still my personal favorite crossover pairing. I would also say Pluto/Volodramon, but Volodramon is an OC based on existing characters. I'm talking strictly existing characters. So, I'm thankful Mars/Hiei is still a thing in Shin-YYGDM."

Even I'm proud that after 15 plus years and the disagreements/creative differences, Kanius and LazerWulf's partnership still stands without a huge fallout like other mature and professional content creators compare to one of my former groups (and my former admirer) that had a lot of drama/fallouts without resolution (and some never had the chance to reconcile). It is a special accomplishment. Seeing Lazer mentioned to Kanius back in Feb 2020 that he's always here and ready to advise for the series finale is another example of Lazer took more levels of kindness.

Not only that, but we want to see LazerWulf's parents (They sadly passed away back in 2021, so please give their respects, that they're in heaven) being proud of their son's accomplishments of helping Kanius (and being part of his life) to become the man he is today. Being softened up (especially since the tragic events from Lazer) and years have passed since Valkyrie Advent in reflecting all the developments, contributions, and disagreements. Wrath of the Defiants/YYGDM-01 being the final swan song for Kanius and LazerWulf's partnership relates to the final atonement before moving forward once YYGDM-01 will eventually conclude.

Even back in Cross Gen Ch 29 A/N back in 2018 of what Kanius said copied/paste and having YYGDM readers (especially from Lazer and Lycosyncer) to look at, "Having glanced over Ford1114's final A/N, he provided a detailed backstory of his past partnerships. He's met people coming from all walks in life and a few fractured relationships along the way. I understand he's had some trust issues with people in the past. That's pretty much evidenced by who's given Ford a hard time and betrayed him. Thankfully, I seem to be the one who's consistently not let him down and gave him an open platform to show me his ideas. For the last few years, we've collaborated on projects, shared ideas, he's helped with write scenes, and he's one of the reasons I'm finally getting my novel off the ground. Without him, I don't know where I'd be fanfic-wise. Maybe still writing YYGDM and with no chance of expanding my creative horizons. I can safely say his friendship with me, LazerWulf, and Chaosblazer is much more stable. Us three (and Lazer) might've had our creative differences and putting up with each other's tendencies, but there wasn't much intense drama that caused falling outs and broken friendships. The last thing I want to see are friendships destroyed over creative differences. And thankfully we haven't shared and argued over personal politics (that's a can of worms I don't ever want to open. Ever.)."

Let's not forget about the author's experiences with the Digimon franchise, we can all agree that the personal canon of Digimon Fusion/Digimon Fusion Kai as another reconstruction is enjoyable as these are more of tributing our love for the Dragon Ball franchise (Starting with Z/Kai and into Super) more than what the canon Digimon Adventure did in recent works (and even the Zero Two epilogue many years before it) such as Adventure tri. (I remember when I was first excited about it, by the time of the last film however, yeah….) and Last Evolution Kizuna movies are given a mixed/controversial reception (Yes, even Belletiger I talk on Discord back in 2020 doesn't find Last Evolution interesting and is more excited of the Adventure reboot) with still major questions/concepts left unresolved in the original continuity (Like, where is evil Gennai? Where is Maki Himekawa? Dark Ocean as another obvious one. A continuity error telling the Digivices became weaker when the Digidestined reached adulthood, where back in the Zero Two epilogue doesn't even show and established that idea that the adult Digidestined in that epilogue still used their Digivices/Digimon strong and well.). Even I remember mentioning to the author how the Super Broly movie was more enjoyable and had awesome fight scenes than all the Adventure tri. movies combined. However, when we wrote and complete Shin-YYGDM, the experiences has vindicated the original Digimon Adventure/02 continuity altogether in rebuilding Yagami Taichi's character and rebuilding Digimon Adventure as a whole, in filling the gaps between Last Evolution Kizuna and the Crystal Tokyo/Adventure 02 epilogue. (Plan to leave my comment of the new Adventure reboot)

We have one last journey in raising hopes again. Knowing I will still help out YYGDM's series finale one last time.

After Defiants' proper completion (outside of the spoiler outline) in the future, it's over. Me, Kanius, Lazer, and others are finally moving forward to new paths ahead in real-life. Coming to terms with our identities as fans in pop culture.

Even Kanius said this to Chaosblazer in an email back in November 2018, and for Chaos to not forget this time: And because of how it's been lately, I'm just ready to cut our collab ties and am ready to move onto other ventures. I want to get my novel off the ground and expand my horizons. Creating more 'great stories' with our Trinity isn't going to help me grow as a content creator and allow me to get out of that stagnant bubble. You might be ok with partnering for more Trinity fics, but I'm not. That's also why when I'm continuing DFK via Ascendancy, I'd like to do it without Kensuke, Karin, and Dimitri. Going forward with DFK's future, I'd like to go back to the simpler days before the crossover and Trinity insanity. The Defiants finale will be the last time team-up involving our characters. After that, it's over. And while I appreciate you writing scenes for me, I don't need them for Defiants. Ford isn't even going to write many scenes for me for my Urban Legends fic I'm planning to work on soon. Going forward, I have to write on my own, fix as many of my own mistakes, and work with an editor that can improve my story.

Knowing even we feel ostracized in real-life like remembering our younger lives of school of wanting to get accepted. I want my name to be recognized in finally becoming relevant and to exist again, in not being forgotten and permanently ostracized, and don't want to go back to the same troubled past lives like before (like specifically the same old naive and at times immature me like I was in embarrassment). We don't want to go back to being stuck and stunted as the same people forever doing the same old stuff we did for a long time over 20 years, because we want to move forward to show something and give us a second chance. We want our friends, classmates, and acquaintances to reconnect in real-life to give us a second chance.

Despite the deconstructions and especially that we're not popular unlike Teamfourstar, there is the reconstructions of how we and Lazer grow as people and fans in various pop culture in showing how we are destined in becoming friends. I mean, Lazer is the only one that is lucky in going San Diego Comic Con that amazes us, that was around the time when the first Iron Man movie was announced that kickstarted the whole MCU.

We know full well that once Sailor Moon becomes Cosmos the final time and will be gone, YYGDM-01 will finally realize themselves properly and finally genuinely care (and added when it's officially too late). Kanius said back in early 2020, "And yes, Usagi mentioning she only has two turns to become Cosmos hints to her inevitable passing. Her sacrifice will be necessary to enforce change and moving forward." It will show us the reminder of going to miss YYGDM-01 and becoming vindicated of myself wanting to forgive them (only when it's finally too late for YYGDM-01 after Moon's inevitable passing), regretting my recent sour attitude towards them, and making amends in good terms in the end before we move forward.

Phila-Del-Phia!

Allfather-Ford's A/N concerning the fate of Guilty Crown: The Lost Kingdoms: Some people wonder about that AU mega crossover retelling that was set in an alternate YYGDM-01 timeline? Cross Generations was the GCLK characters' final official on-screen appearances (and remembering R. Homura's involvement that she originally came from the alternate ending summarized story called Guilty Crown: The Lost Rebellion), and they had a one-shot offscreen passing mention in Chapter 71 of Digimon Fusion Ascendancy of those that stayed in DF-616. They are not going to appear in Defiants/YYGDM-01 as guests, because there's a reason for it that they have their own sequel series finale event in their home AU dimension that is fully summarized (and no written scenes) as I'm writing here in the A/N (instead of a separate story, because you guys already know that I'm already moving forward in keeping my word, and not going back to do something amateurish again).

The name of this event is called Guilty Crown: The Lost Kingdoms - Eutopia, taking place 3 years (2026 - 2029) after Cross Generations and Sword Art Online Alicization/Moon Cradle/Unital Ring. This makes an Un-Reboot to an old Guilty Crown fan-verse after Akane no Guilty Crown's completion. The blunt reason is giving GCLK proper closure as in a proper series finale outside of their crossover involvement back in Cross Generations, and after an open ended (that's more sequel hook tone (especially remember setting up SAO's first arc with the character cameos) than a proper tie up loose ends ending like AnGC eventually did) unresolved tone back in GCLK's final chapter that would then led to a sequel hook for CG (alongside few one-shot stories before this like Online Cafe (a one-shot of the GCLK cast meeting the SAO cast) and YYGDM-01/Valkyrie Advent's dimension cameos). With 2024 being Defiants/YYGDM-01's release, serves as a 10 year anniversary for my first serious fanfic that is GCLK in me returning back to the past to come to terms with my younger amateurish self, how it all started with Madoka Magica crossover with an AU Guilty Crown/YYGDM verse (And even before that, Madoka Kaname would have had early concepts back in Cross Generations' first developments as originally a full out DBGT story before GCLK, and eventually before CG became its final version as the dimension missions/DB Super story today), way before the Growing the Beard stories that is Shinnen:New Year and Akane no Guilty Crown.

Imagine the Un-Reboot music would have been used in fully embracing the AU reliances, with only 3 Guilty Crown related music is heard (One of which is Bios) compared to GCLK. The whole majority of the OST are Madoka Magica (and especially if OST of -Walpurgisnacht: Rising- is used), Sword Art Online (with Ordinal Scale (such as Delete (sung by Yuna) and The Place We Should Have Reached), Alternative Gun Gale Online and Alicization music added, Sword Art Online Memory Defrag OST - Lisbeth's Smith Shop is use for Lisbeth's theme.), Samurai Jack's final season (as a callback of the OST being amateurishly used in Gaiden), Attack on Titan's final season, Batman Beyond, Digimon (Survive, Re:Digitize, and Cyber Sleuth), and Sailor Moon (especially for Neo-Crystal Tokyo scenes). A lot of Kalafina songs are used in taking it up to eleven than GCLK with many song names are: Red Moon (Theme of the Wings of Magius, setting the tone of the series finale summarized event. (A What Could Have Been Fact back in my 2011 mindset: This song was originally going to be used in the scrapped Shadow Dramons arc that set the darker tone of Cross Generations before retooled into the Dimension Missions/Super story.)), Magia (No brainer that this makes its obvious return for our returning (and new for the Magia Record cast) magical girls.), Oblivious, Lacrimosa, Aria, Storia, Hikari No Senritsu, Fairytale, Heavenly Blue (battle theme), To the Beginning, Believe, Yami No Uta (Fighting the Yami villains), Mata Kaze Ga Tsuyokunatta (Fighting the Wings of Magius), Misterioso (The magical girls battle theme (A What Could Have Been fact: This song could have been used in Shinnen of fighting Homulilly and Eon till it's replaced by Thomas Bergersen - Starvation)), Eden (Ultimate Madoka's arrival in the climax. (A What Could Have Been fact back in my 2011 mindset: This song was originally going to be used for The Dark Ending (the early title name of Fiction's Closure) of the scrapped idea of Omega X raising his hands for the Life Bomb with Ultimate Madoka's help in confronting Zeed X before scrapped.)), and Hikariful. Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld Ending Full『LiSA - unlasting』is used. The Urge - It's My Time To Fly and Titan AE - Cosmic Castaway are used for themes of Isan such as his mannerisms and action scenes.

It is Spring of 2029 (Serving as a 20 year anniversary of the clusterfuck event that was Dawn of Chaos, alongside meta the year served as the event of December's Lost Christmas back in the canon Guilty Crown/AnGC). The event began with the characters having their daily lives since the events of Cross Generations, while the Guilty Crown and Sword Art Online cast (the Alternative Gun Gale Online cast make cameos (such as Karen Kohiruimaki / LLENN), alongside Alice Zuberg and Eugeo's spirit make guest appearances, Rika "Lisbeth" Shinozaki pairs up with an unnamed AU twin brother of the late Andrei Rowan (based on Lisbeth/Rowan pairing back in Shinnen/Cornerverse that makes it to canon in some form) named Sergei Rowan. It is revealed that Klein and Skuld (Alfheim Online) became a couple, a pairing back in Shinnen/Cornerverse makes it to canon.) are mainly guests/minor characters this time (and SAO's involvement are more like audiences watching the battles), the majority of the main cast that are given main focus are the Madoka Magica focused characters (such as the Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story characters make their debuts) and the Neo Heroes (like Neo Moon and RJ Urameshi). Helio and Arisa are married and reside in the Kaiba Manor. Taiyou and his Digidestined team make their return. Surprisingly, the Neo Heroes cloned a character from Takato's DNA (that is actually collected before Takato's death back in Lost Christmas) named Isan, who is partnered with Guilmon X and can fuse with him to become Guisanmon. Sailor Blue Mars becomes the wielder of the Houou after the phoenix was the previous host of Inori/Mana back in GCLK, thus she can become Blue Houou Mars. It is revealed that Mami Tomoe is trained by the spirit of Guan Yu, as Mami senses a darkness approaching. Likewise, Sailor Neo Moon (alongside Sailors Pluto and Sedna in remembering being the Senshi survivors back in GCLK) have a mental link discussion with Sailor Cosmos, concerning of Neo-Crystal Tokyo approaching once this darkness is dealt with. It is revealed that Guilmon X is the same MedievalGallantmon back in GCLK's final chapter when he made a cameo. The Puella Magia Record cast and Isan & Guilmon X fight and kill starter enemies/monsters in the streets that are seven medium-sized hybrid dinosaur sharks that are splice from Dryptosaurus and Deltadromeus with elements of scaly raptors from Hollywood called Dryptodromeusharks (each one is shaped like a different shark species: Great white shark (the alpha leader), Mako shark, Hammerhead shark, Tiger shark, Bull shark, Thresher shark, and Goblin shark), unaware that these monsters were sent and created by three magical girls (revealed to be the Wings of Magius).

New spirit prehistoric partners are used for the Magia Record characters, the species names remain not italicized to retain/embrace the AU amateurish fanfic writing like YYGDM-01. Iroha Tamaki - Discordia the Hesperornis and Concordia the Pelagornis. Tsuruno Yui - Tanycolagreus (A loose nod to being used as a hologram back in AnGC's extinct zoo in the final chapter). Yachiyo Nanami - Orthacanthus. Sana Futaba - Aerotitan. Momoko Togame - Dracoraptor. Kaede Akino - European cave lion. Felicia Mitsuki - Chalicotherium. The Amane Sisters - Prionosuchus and Sarcosuchus. Rena Minami - Thalassiodracon.

The heroes are confronting adversaries: The main Big Bad trio in the first half are the same Magia Record characters as the Wings of Magius: Alina Gray, Touka Satomi, and Nemu Hiiragi. It is a different feeling of fighting Witches like Kriemhild and her minions since they're fully Puella magical girls and are outright antagonistic. The three even have spirit prehistoric partners that are sauropods (a first time since they're not used back in GCLK when looking back, in terms of size, they are obviously clearly the biggest animal spirit partners in YYGDM related stories, showing a huge threat level more than Yuu and Kriemhild's spirit partners of these sauropod spirits viewed more like deities, the three heads/neck in synch can loosely relate to the three-headed dragon that is Ghidorah that ties to the Wings of Magius being manipulated by Yami Ghidorah): Touka's is a Dreadnoughtus named Deos. Alina's is a Paralititan named Enosichthon. Nemu's is an Argentinosaurus named Aidoneus. The Wings of Magius declared humanity's destiny of extinction as the darkness (revealed to be Yami Ghidorah of GCLK-1113, the Wings of Magius are unaware that Ghidorah is using them) is coming to destroy the world.

To start off the conflict, the Wings of Magius summoned Yami versions of Apophis (note that the JOEs relating to their connections with the serpent don't exist in GCLK-113, since its to keep the pre-Apophis Trilogy/YYGDM-01 concept), Surtur (this version has no family connections with Mist to keep the pre-VA/YYGDM-01 concept to prevent similarities, also Surtur (GCLK-1113) was the one that ended Ragnarok and not Skuld (YYGDM-01) in keeping the pre-VA/YYGDM-01 concept), and a mechanical chimera Kaijuu called Yami Mecha Valmerago with the souls of Valmarmon, Gamera, and Arago being captured by the same darkness (Yami Ghidorah) upon their deaths in place to this mechanical monster (Note that the Mecha Valmerago concept, I originally thought of a Mecha Valmarmon for the mainstream Defiants/YYGDM-01 years back, but it feel it didn't go nowhere, till this idea is finally place in this summarized event). Battles occur. The Puellas become their Puella Valkyrie forms again as a callback when they first used them back in Chapter 3 of GCLK. Yami Apophis and Yami Surtur (with the help of the Valkyries returning since Chapter 3 of GCLK) are defeated. Yami Mecha Valmerago's mechanical body is destroyed, allowing the Neo Heroes to destroy Arago and Gamera's spirits in cease to exist. However, Valmarmon refuses to be defeated as he regresses back to his primal form (seen back in Cross Generations), till Granasmon's spirit steps in that both AU Digimon gods finally cease to exist. The Wings of Magius's sauropod partners can combine into a three headed/necked, 12 legged, three tailed deity beast named Typhoeus. The Puella Magical Girls fight the Wings of Magius and afterwards, they defeat the Wings of Magius and urge them to surrender and reason with them.

Then, Yami Ghidorah (GCLK-1113) appears in person as the true mastermind, and that's the reason why he's not used for Defiants/YYGDM-01, oh and this version while powerful is much weaker (and not being Remaos's reincarnation unlike the mainstream version) than Zeed X and mainstream Yami Ghidorah (YYGDM-01). The Wings of Magius are angered that Ghidorah is using them and are about to strike, but Yami Ghidorah callously and cruelly kills and burns the three Wings of Magius to nothingness; something that shocks and angers the Puella Magical Girls and their allies. Suddenly; Celesta X (while her brother is at YYGDM-01), Madoka, Homura, Shu, Inori, Gai, and Mana arrive at their home dimension from DF-616 (like the Ascendants, Burizalor, Warlord did in Defiants/YYGDM-01) as reinforcements. Yami Ghidorah calls forth Walpurgisnacht as a Yami and given a sentient humanoid appearance, being revived again since she originally appeared back in GCLK's final chapter. Not only that, but Yami Ghidorah created a Yami clone of Huanglongmon Ruin Mode (inspired from Digimon Survive); and revive Daikalor (surprisingly from DF-616 as the same one since he appears in Taito's Ascension (so it's like a loose what if if Burizalor really did become a Yami and failed to resist), and he can transform into his fourth/true form like King Cold in DB Multiverse (and then going further to a sixth four-armed Xenomorph-like form), it's unsure if he would have appear in Defiants/YYGDM-01 since the outline was written before you posted Taito's Ascension in AO3, as imagine if Daikalor would have confront his grandson Burizalor), Perfect Virus XP (the perfect complete form of Virus XP that is an expy of Cell Max, which Celesta X/BanchoLeomon and their friends fought and killed), Bionicmon (DF-616/XLR-8), CyberBoltmon (DF-616/XLR-8), Vectormon (DF-616/XLR-8), Gyrogmon (from an alternate DF-616 dimension), and an army of Metal Mutaliors (from an alternate DF-616 dimension) as Yami versions.

Yami Ghidorah declares the end has come for this universe as the final battles commences, with the Neo Heroes like Isan/Guisanmon, Neo Moon, and Blue Houou Mars (as the main three like Guilkatomon, Moon/Cosmos, and Houou Mars in YYGDM-01) handle Yami Ghidorah. Ultimate Madoka, Devil Homura, Iroha, Sayaka, Kyoko, Mami, and Nagisa handle Walpurgisnacht. Iroha (Being the main character of Magia Record) gains a goddess form like Madoka and Homura (Iroha's is like 'twilight' compare to Madoka's 'holy' and Homura's 'dark'), and as for the three sauropod partners, since the deaths of their masters (Wings of Magius), the spirit partners are now being used by Iroha (similar to how the death of R. Homura causes her Void swords to pass over to Madoka and Homura, so now she has four spirit partners, and her two bird partners fusing with the sauropod's combined form can sprout feathered earthly wings on its back). The TMNT Rajita (the same ones that were seen in Funeral Parlor back in GCLK and Gaiden) make their return and help the heroes against Yami Ghidorah's forces, alongside a surprising twist that these TMNT Rajita are the reincarnations of four turtle gods when their world was destroyed by Gyaos (a tidbit from Cornerverse's House of Madoka). During the fight against Huanglongmon Ruin Mode, the Yami clone can split itself into four Yami clones of Azulongmon Ruin Mode, Zhuqiaomon Ruin Mode, Baihumon Ruin Mode, and Ebonwumon Ruin Mode; then reform back to Huanglongmon Ruin Mode before the Yami clone is obliterated. As Yamis Daikalor, Perfect Virus XP, SuperBionicmon, Gyrogmon, and the Metal Mutalior army are defeated; only Ghidorah and Walpurgisnacht remain. During the fight against Yami Ghidorah, Guisanmon (and hearing Will Friedle's voice for this) taunts the Rajita Warlord by doing a Return of Joker Terry speech on the Joker to make him furious (So after first hearing this ever since it was first used back in Shinnen, then Urban Legends (and eventually for AnM/Book III), and AnGC; this concept is finally use to where it all started for GCLK). Neo Moon receives a connection from Cosmos of granting the offer to become Cosmos like her late mother, but, because Sailor Moon became Cosmos once the first time back in Dawn of Chaos, Neo Moon becoming one will be the second time as two more times due to its connected inheritance. While concerned at first, Neo Moon has no choice but to finally become Neo Cosmos in turning the tide. With the power up effects from Neo Cosmos turns the tide for the heroes. Madoka and her group finally destroy Walpurgisnacht. And after an epic battle for Neo Cosmos and her group, they finally defeat Yami Ghidorah and make him and his soul cease to exist.

Celebrations occur, however, because of the effects of Yami Ghidorah that cause an effect of the universe, they have to restore it when the time comes for Neo-Crystal Tokyo to rise. Shu, Inori, Gai, and Mana give their farewells again in return to DF-616.

(Cue Yuki Kajiura - A Tender Feeling)

Rika (SAO)/Sergei are married (and sharing a kiss) for people to see. This is a loose tribute to Takato/Rika (Digimon) marriage in YYGDM-01.

(End theme)

(Cue Justice League unlimited - 07 - The World Needs Batman)

In-between the coming event. Isan and Madoka surprisingly visits the DCAU universe (The same one involved in YYGDM-01's Dawn of Chaos and Cross Generations's events of Sailor Spirit/Specter and the Omniversal War), now decades have passed till the timeframe is in the events of Batman Beyond/Justice League Unlimited's Epilogue episode, visiting and briefly interacting with Terry of how legacies connected and related to their home dimensions, before Isan returns back to GCLK-1113. This scene is a tribute to back in Defiants/YYGDM-01's celebrations before the global depower, Takato (YYGDM-01) visits the canon Digimon Tamers dimension and meets his canon self. It is also giving proper closure ever since Kanius commonly used DCAU concepts/inspirations throughout his fanstories, now after years of using Justice League, Batman Beyond has finally made it into a canon story event.

(End theme)

(Cue Yuki Kajiura - Sagitta Luminis)

The time has come, everyone is encased in crystal as Neo Moon, Madoka, and Homura use their powers in allowing centuries to flow to the 30th century for the rise of Neo-Crystal Tokyo. The utopia has happened.

(End theme)

(Cue Kalafina - Hikariful)

Chibi Usa and RJ become rulers of Neo Crystal Tokyo and bore a child. Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's characters make cameos, with Helio and Arisa watching the duels (Reference Helio and Ayaka of Shin-YYGDM watching the Link Summon and Rush Duels, that the inspiration is used in an Un-Reboot work). Accel World characters make cameos. The Taiyoukai War still happens, except with Arago ceasing to exist back then, Long takes over as the main villain and fuses with the Hadean Taiyoukai as Akadean Long before finally defeated). Then, the Sailor Wars happens for the final confrontation with Chaos, except this time Ultimate Madoka and Devil Homura are examples in helping the Senshi-related characters, and this time Neo Moon is the one to pass away after becoming Neo Cosmos the final time and with her spirit finally reuniting with her late parents.

(End theme)

Last scene shows Madoka and Homura visiting the graves of fallen heroes (similar to Isan and Sin visiting the gravesite in Defiants/YYGDM-01's final chapter), and especially those like Takato and Sailor Moon fell victim to December 2012's Lost Christmas, and remembering R. Homura's death as well back in CG. Rika and Sergei also visit the place, in which the couple have a son (to the point Rika/Sergei and their son are loosely reminiscent of Madoka's parents and little brother), and reminisce about the past events of Sword Art Online. Madoka and Homura also senses that the YYGDM-01 dimension have defeated their Yami Ghidorah (YYGDM-01) and does their Global Depower/Silent Millennium (meaning the GCLK summarized event finale in Neo-Crystal Tokyo's ending section is actually chronologically set before YYGDM-01's global depower/Silent Millennium in transition to their own Crystal Age and their final curtain for the heroes). Madoka and Homura then share an on-screen kiss for the first time (similar to Isan and Sin doing that in YYGDM-01/Defiants) and reminiscing about all of their past adventures/stories, thus giving an epilogue closure for Guilty Crown: The Lost Kingdoms.

Sailor Moon (YYGDM-01)'s A/N: That Guilty Crown: TLK - Eutopia thing looks crazy! While we have the Defiants situation in our time, that AU timeline of ours are going to be dealing with a ton of bad guys. Oh, hi, Kanius.

Kanius's Uncut/Uncensored/Honest A/N (Third part of my redemption arc): Hi, Sailor Moon. I hope you and your friends are ready for an uphill battle against Defiants and bleakness coming your way.

Sailor Moon (YYGDM-01): Hn! Thanks a lot for nothing, K.

Kanius's Uncut/Uncensored/Honest A/N: My pleasure, but look at it like this. You'll end up coming out of it better and stronger than before. That's up to you though and especially it's up to your friends.

Sailor Moon (YYGDM-01): I'm worried about our future. Ami is feeling down. Rei lost her grandpa and Yuuichirou, and her home! Makoto lost her memories and got lured by a weird Amazon group. Minako is unsure about her future and is being targeted by Sailor Orcus! Pluto nearly got killed by that Collective member. The Kuipers are still hurting without Orcus! What else can happen? Zeed X has really messed our reality up!

Kanius's Uncut/Uncensored/Honest A/N: I guess you'll have to find out in chapter 2.

Sailor Moon (YYGDM-01): I kinda already know what happens next and later to me.

Kanius's Uncut/Uncensored/Honest A/N: Then, let's not complain too much and no spoilers. 'Kay, bunhead?

Sailor Moon (YYGDM-01) (gives an unnerved smile): Only Mamo calls me that, but I'll let this slide since you're the author.

Kanius's Uncut/Uncensored/Honest A/N: Don't worry. We're both going to go through many obstacles and changes in these coming years. Now onto more commentary. Oh boy, this is gonna be fun.

Aftermath of Cross Generations and the consequences of Zeed X's actions:

-Shortly after defeating Zeed X by the skin of their teeth and saving the omniverse, the YYGDM-01 heroes return home but not without physical and mental battle scars. They may have beaten Zeed X in the battle, but Zeed X got the last laugh in the psychological war. He managed to kill most of their teams (who're quickly revived after the battle) and he lays some earth-shattering and realistic truths about their status as an 'apex' dimension that glorifies itself too much without facing humility. By tampering with the Galaxy Cauldron, Zeed X altered YYGDM-01's dimension, cursing it to become an 'Apex Dimension' that stands above all other dimensions and gradually detaches itself from the other worlds. So much so that eventually its two allied dimensions, DF-616 (Digimon Fusion Kai/Ascendancy) and XLR-8 (Digimon Accel Stream) will be closed off completely from it.

-As shown in exploring more setting depth in Defiants/YYGDM-01's first chapter, not only is the YYGDM-01 dimension being affected and turned into an apex dimension by Zeed X, but also the setting/technology of the dimension changes and regresses into a restricted bubble 'medieval stasis' feel of the 1990s-2000s. Zeed X affecting the YYGDM-01 dimension makes a lot of drastic regressions of making the AU history/culture reach its peak/zenith for the series finale (despite retaining the year 2012) alongside it can never be restored (and especially with Yami Ghidorah successfully tampering the Source prevents that, which the 'retro stasis' is retained in Neo-Crystal Tokyo). It's a meta book end relating to the permanent closure of fanfictions, the first major fanfiction was the original D-Fusion (Digimon Fusion) written in the early 2000s (while the original WoP was also written in that timeframe), the final fanfiction will be WotD to be like the same feeling as the early 2000s. One prominent example is despite the current year being 2012 and for Defiants taking place, there are no iPhones/iPads/smartphones (originally used before Zeed X's dimensional/temporal tampering) that people still (and regress to) use old-fashioned mobile phones of the 1990s and 2000s and that includes flip-flop phones. Myspace, American Online, and Yahoo emails are still used more prominently than Facebook and Google. Forums still feel like old-school forums of the 1990s/2000s. Windows XP is still prominently used, no Vista/Windows 7/other new versions. TV shows/movies/video games' settings/CGI/graphic art styles/etc are still restricted to the feel of the 1990s/2000s, and no hi-definition-related progression/evolution. Discord and Twitter do not exist in the YYGDM-01 dimension. Instead of the Amazing Spider-Man, YYGDM-01 (post-CG Zeed X affected) actually has Spider-Man 4 of the Raimi films that became the second coming of Batman & Robin (and reflecting that with no superhero films in YYGDM-01's 2012 (post-Zeed X affecting the dimension) relates to the end of superheroes in the Defiant War). Tony Stark is played by Tom Cruise in the first Iron Man film in YYGDM-01 (post-CG Zeed X affected, meaning the mentions of the Thor film in the Wolf and the Moon Goddess Gaiden have been sadly retconned out thanks to Zeed X). Nolan Batman trilogy does not exist (Without Nolan Batman's inspirations, then the inspirations of the MCU would not happen in the affected YYGDM-01 post-CG), instead, YYGDM-01 (post-CG Zeed X affected) has the sequel of Batman & Robin with Harley Quinn appearing as Joker's daughter actually released. The Rebuild of Evangelion films do not exist in YYGDM-01 (post-CG Zeed X affected), leaving the Evangelion franchise restricted to only the original TV series/End of Evangelion and its endings remain on a Gainax/confusing/controversial note. Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball, and Dragon Ball GT are fully dubbed by the Ocean Dub all the way through (instead of up to the Namek Saga (Pre-Ginyu Saga) in its initial running in America) instead of Funimation; meaning the viewers are sadly stuck with the experiences of its dubbing like 'being sent to the next dimension' instead of the growth from Funimation's dubbing. TeamFourStar does not exist, meaning no DBZ Abridged in YYGDM-01. Dragon Ball Z Kai does not exist either. The Death Battle show does not exist in YYGDM-01. The Megami Tensei/Persona franchises (and also all the rest of Atlus's games/franchises and cultural inspirations, to the point that the company Atlus itself does not exist in YYGDM-01) don't exist in YYGDM-01 (alongside alluding to the fact that these franchises are not mentioned in pop culture references of past YYGDM-01 stories, including Summer Diaries, relating to the AU personal canon before you properly first got into the Persona franchise with P5 in 2018).

Generic Reviewer's comment: To be fair FUNi Z's dub is pretty damn jank outside Buu. There's a reason why "ally to good, nightmare to you" and "Sad for you" are memes. That said Ocean dub at Cell and Buu are pretty fucked too. My personal biases aside, Zeed X permatrapping the YYDGM world into perpetual 'everything wrong with the millennial good old days' sounds like a special hell. Zeed X really won, by making a dragged out and dated battle shonen world an unevolving nostalgia hell forever. I can finally give him the gold medal. He's gonna have to share it with Charon though. What is this cursed hell? Some shows listed are better off not existing, but this fucked up finale feels like some kinda weird commentary on people mad at X media/dubs.

-Microsoft Encarta encyclopedia is still used instead of Wikipedia (Which does not exist in YYGDM-01).

-Instead of Jurassic World, a Jurassic Park IV did happen: /jurassic-park-4-movie-spielberg-plans-before-world/amp/

-Many post 2006 shows like Gurren Lagann, Gundam 00, Gundam Unicorn anime, Young Justice, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (leaving the anime stuck with only the 2003 version), Baccano!, Durarara!, Guilty Crown, and Madoka Magica do not exist. Likewise with manga/light novels like Sword Art Online and Attack on Titan do not exist. Remembering AU Madoka Magica and Guilty Crown characters crossovering with YYGDM-01, since Lost Kingdoms is no longer involved following Cross Gen, it's restoring back to YYGDM-01's old school anime roots pre-2010s without the need of 2010s anime. With Gundam 00 don't exist, the Gundam SEED movie was changed to another season named Gundam SEED Brotherhood with yet another load of ridiculous stock footage and became a bigger franchise killer than Destiny. Hunter x Hunter (2011 series) and JoJo Bizarre Adventure (2012 series) don't exist, leaving only the 1999 series and OVA series respectively exist in YYGDM-01. Continuing more info of the dimension's pop culture affected such as Christopher Nolan (and his Dark Knight Trilogy) and the MCU not existing, and things like a Batman 5 with Harley as Joker's daughter and a Raimi Spider Man 4 exists as franchise killers. Both Kevin Feige and Robert Downey Jr. *do not even exist* (Kanius's reply: I'm not so sure about the idea of RDJ not existing even with Zeed X's meddling of the timeline. Maybe RDJ still exists but he doesn't make the cut for Iron Man and that results in no MCU since Iron Man with Tom Cruise wouldn't perform as well. RDJ goes on to make Academy movies and unique films similar to Tropic Thunder and Zodiac.). Since the outline mentions Tom Cruise being Tony Stark in YYGDM-01's failed Iron Man film. To clarify that Marvel company going beyond bankrupt that it's permanently gone by these franchise killers. By the time years later and in the timeframe of Defiants, the Marvel brand and their IP characters *are completely owned by Merrill Lynch, this is just dystopic in a darkest timeline... Hiromu Arakawa to clarify actually *does not exist* meaning no FMA manga and Brotherhood adaptation. Instead, the darker FMA 2003 anime is an anime only product with that bittersweet ending. Hidetaka Miyazaki (the creator of the Soulsborne genre) *does not exist* as another example of certain gamings not existing besides Persona/Megami Tensei/Atlus company does not exist. More examples of pop culture affection: the Kingdom Hearts franchise overall does not exist (and an outside personal view, Kanius actually didn't get into KH proper until around 2005 as I recall a faint memory from his old profile, so it gives the personal canon AU meta feeling for the original WoP being written pre-2005). Squaresoft and Enix are still separate companies (and another factor why the Final Fantasy franchise didn't evolve into HD games onward like 13) instead of merged to Square Enix. The two companies Cygames (that did Granblue Fantasy) and MiHoYo (that did Honkai and Genshin) do not even exist in YYGDM-01.

-Even after his fall, Zeed X's actions still have very lasting effects, including planting the seeds of the coming Defiant conflict.

-The atmosphere within the YYGDM-01 world, especially in Japan, is more somber and less zealous. This is another side effect of Zeed X tampering with the Galaxy Cauldron.

-Zeed X's influence also helped kickstart the forthcoming Defiant War into a higher gear than ever before.

Weevil is voiced by Brian Drummond, Rex is voiced by Jason Gray-Stanford, and Keith is voiced by Michael Dobson.

-Hamada's voice actor - Andrew Francis

-Kimiko's voice actor - Grey DeLisle

-Adora (YYGDM-01) is given a new (retrauxed) voice actor for Defiants: Eliza Dushku (Faith (Buffy)'s actor, and helps amplify Adora (YYGDM-01)'s 'Buffy speak' relating to her abrasive personality and being the 'Spike' (though Adora (YYGDM-01) has no character development unlike Spike) of the Valkyries 'Scooby Gang'. I also remember Jeff's review of comparing Mist to Faith, so that becomes hilarious in hindsight here.)

-Other Valkyries (YYGDM-01) are given retrauxed voice actors for Defiants.

-Sigrun (YYGDM-01): Carol-Anne Day (Allenby (G Gundam)'s voice actor)

-Skuld (YYGDM-01): Megan Hollingshead (Hrist (first Valkyrie Profile game)'s voice actor)

-Gondul (YYGDM-01): Roxanne Beckford (Tea (Gargoyles)'s voice actor)

-Skogul (YYGDM-01): Irene Bedard (Pocahontas' voice actor)

-Originally when Igasu and the Blood Senshi first appeared in DoC and Sins of Father Gaiden, they were voiced by the same Viz dub actors of the Sailor Senshi. However, months pass and by the time the main conflict of Defiants/YYGDM-01 takes place, their voices actors have been rebooted that are exclusive to the YYGDM-01 versions: Igasu the Blood Moon - Linda Ballantyne, Blood Mercury - Liza Balkan, Blood Mars - Emilie-Claire Barlow, Blood Jupiter - Susan Roman, Blood Venus - Emilie-Claire Barlow, Blood Pluto - Sabrina Grdevich, Blood Uranus - Sarah Lafleur, Blood Neptune - Barbara Radecki, and Blood Saturn - Jen Gould. Their Shin-YYGDM versions do not have these voice changes.

-Likewise by the time of Defiants, the Bizarro Senshi (YYGDM-01)'s voices have rebooted to be exclusive to the YYGDM-01 versions: Andes - Loretta Jafelice (Looking back, Andes originally first appeared in Across Dimensions/Siege of GranDracmon has the same voice actor as Sedna's, but her voice changes in Defiants of months pass after CG), Anurav - Sara Sahr, Raoauq - Naomi Emmerson, Sucro - Catherine Disher, Sire - Julie Lemieux, and Noixi - Kim Bubbs. Michael Denton himself is voiced by Jeff Lumby. Meanwhile, the Bizarro Senshi (YYGDM-01)'s Shin-YYGDM selves do not have these and retain the same voices as the Kuipers.

-Amazonesses Spiritualist (voice by Loretta Jafelice), Golden Whip Master (voice by Julie Lemieux), and Silver Sword Master (voice by Lisa Dalbello)

-Amazoness Princess (YYGDM-01)'s voice actor (to differentiate from Shin-YYGDM's Ashleigh Ball) is Stephanie Beard (the Cloverway Inc. voice actor of Chibiusa)

-Amazoness Spellcaster (her voice actor is Pauline Newstone, the Ocean dub voice of Freeza)

-Amazoness Empress is voice by C.L. Jones

-Shaun Darkhart's voice actor: Gerald Matthews (Sigma from Mega Man X)

I remember the DF-616 versions of Tai and Matt/Yamato as they grew older voice by Sean Schemmel and Richard Ian Cox respectively. When Tai/Matt (YYGDM-01) make their return for Defiants, their voices are retraux in fully embracing the AU fanfic dated setting (Different from DF-616's case and heck even Shin-YYGDM's Taichi/Yamato that retain their canon voice actors): Tai (YYGDM-01) - Mark Gatha (Mega Man X and Domon Kasshu) and Matt (YYGDM-01) - Lucas Gilbertson (Zero from Mega Man X) (and being enemy counterparts to Shaun's Sigma voice)

-I even put more past A/Ns written by you in Defiants Chapter 1 (one of which is Chapter 1 of the original D-Fusion's Digital Invaders saga, another are the A/Ns of both the first and final chapters of Dawn of Chaos). More gathering will help have the past memories up to today flashing and coming back to you as another major example of Continuity Cavalcade.

-Speaking of memories, looking back on all of your past fanfiction writing experiences, it is reminding of how you write the canon characters in-character alongside having good memories of remembering many events/scenes/related of the shows/anime/movies/video games/etc you watch/experience in your life. Like in YYGDM-01 and DFKai of how you made it this far in the past two decades since both are long term multi-chapter stories (and YYGDM-01 having the much harder difficulty experience). The DFKai cast's personalities are obviously AU DBZ based and not the proper canon Digimon personalities (even though the Kai cast retain the core canon personality basics from the canon Digimon anime, yet didn't go in-depth like a proper Digimon fanfic that has the canon Digidestined and not DFKai versions) (which would have you rewatch the canon animes often). Likewise of ponder of requiring any rewatches of Sailor Moon (especially the 1990s anime), YYH, Yugioh in relating to YYGDM-01 (being a mega crossover franchise) or whether you retain a good memory that carries on in life. Digimon Tamers as a main example are some of the main cast in YYGDM-01 and carries on within two decades since 2003 (and even back in 2001 in original D-Fusion), and wonder how you retain the memories of writing these characters in-character, like the basics of their personalities and such (such as their roles are set after the canon Tamers) are retained that it's lucky since YYGDM-01 (and Shin-YYGDM) is set in a crossover (mega crossover) setting, but it doesn't go in-depth proper relating to a 'stand alone setting' (and relate to its official head writer Chiaki J. Konaka) such as fanfic writers that wrote stand alone (non-crossover) sequels of Tamers if you know what I mean (Because one realistic question to ask you is when was the last time (of what year) you last rewatched Digimon Tamers proper? (K's Digimon response: I last watched Japanese Digimon Tamers in 2016; likewise with Adventure, 02, Frontier, Savers, and Xros Wars. Yes, there's no doubt the Tamers are the most in-character Digimon cast I've written even with the AU and crossover elements in the mix.) (K's addendum: That said, I am looking forward to revisiting the Digimon Movies since those have a new faithful dub, the Japanese version, and the old meme dub. And I still have my Adventure (sub) Blu-Ray from Discotek to watch.) Since I remembered I last rewatched Tamers in Japanese back in 2015, and that's almost 10 years going to 2025, and yet, I remember the memories of the story/characters, I still feel the in-character personalities of the characters in YYGDM-01 (Though Takato (YYGDM-01)'s depression arc is a recurring theme is a 'YYGDM-01 AU addition' to this version of the character till it's real closure in Defiants's canon ending) yet don't feel more details due to being in a crossover and not stand alone.). Also lucky that Digimon Adventure is allowed to continue in Shin-YYGDM (thanks to me helping you) set after tri/Last Evolution when it was first wrote in giving closure and showing the Adventure 02 epilogue, but that's because realistically it's set in a crossover setting in feeling/remembering the basics of the canon characters' personalities (and even DFKai/Ascendancy since it's DBZ/Super and not stand alone Digimon), because had it been set in a stand alone setting you would have not been interested (in response to your reception of the tri movies/Last Evolution's squandered potential (even continue the trend since Adventure 02 of 'unanswered questions/unresolve concept') and 'adults not having Digimon partners' (Which in Digimon Savers (and newsflash to the Last Evolution director :P), adults can have Digimon partners :P)) relating to yourself no longer being the biggest Digimon fanatic as you use too. Sailor Moon the last time you rewatched the 1990s anime was around 2021 (K's addendum: Not counting revisiting some episodes on Toonami Rewind, that is correct). YuYu Hakusho rewatched again in 2023 (K's addendum: Yep for the Halloween season in 2023. I am also rewatching it with my stepbrother since he's never seen it and we're at the start of Chapter Black. But, our watch-a-longs have been stalled for months since he comes and goes every few months.). That makes me wonder/ponder, when did you last rewatch Yugioh (original, GX, 5Ds) (Since I remember the last time I rewatched these three in Japanese was in 2019) as in full series (2022 you did rewatched the movies in response to Kazuki Takahashi (Yes, properly mention his death in Defiants, especially relates to how you got into the Yugioh franchise in special commentary)'s passing)? (K's Yu-Gi-Oh! Response: I last watched Duel Monsters, GX, and 5Ds together in 2018. I even tried Zexal and finished watching it but did not see every episode.) Usually most fanfic writers feel the need to rewatch/re-experience certain pop culture stuff (as in many times, lest they would lose interest resulting in leaving fandoms/dead fics) to get the feeling of writing stuff in-character/canon (or obviously seeing AU OOC characters), with honestly mixed results relating to the 'amateurish nature of fanfictions'. You are one of the few exceptions (especially those fanfic writers that succeed in completing their fanfics/fanfic series with closure and moving forward in their lives) that manage to retain being consistent in making it through up to the final fandom story (Defiants), of reflecting yourself, how did you manage to survive (of how did you remember/retain the memories and stuff) whether it's luck or determination. Now it makes sense that Dragon Ball/Sailor Moon/YYH are the top franchises with more rewatches you experience in your life, Yugioh falls in the middle, while Digimon is now in low place (Old meme dub, thank Generic Reviewer for that :P). (K's comments: It's interesting you say Digimon is a low place for me because I used to rewatch it as much as Dragon Ball whether it's on TV and from my old VHS recordings. I rewatched the heck out of Adventure, 02, and Tamers. I was lucky Frontier was available to me and watched that, but not nearly as much as the first three. I saw Savers the least amount of times and watched that fully in Japanese. It was Digimon fanfic writing and fandoms that kept me engaged with the series during those drought periods. I don't want to make you think I don't care for Digimon anymore, because I still enjoy it and want the best out of it. YYH did knock Digimon off my top favorites after watching enough of it. Yugioh being in the middle sounds right, though I did rewatch Duelist Kingdom and Battle City arcs the most. Here's an interesting note, Sailor Moon was in a low place for me especially after it went into licensing limbo, but watching the Japanese version lifted it out of the bottom.)

-9/9/2024 AD: RIP James Earl Jones (Suzaku's original voice actor) (Definitely mention this in Defiants Chapter 1). This makes Shin-YYGDM Arc III Legacy of Across Dimensions the final time his voice was heard in headcanon mind (Knowing this event is recap in Defiants Chapter 1, James Earl Jones's voice in this recap event is kept/retained as archive voice footage and no dialogue alterations). I do remember mentioned before two years back (2022) of in case of his passing that Suzaku will get a new voice actor for Defiants/YYGDM-01 that is Phil LaMarr.

First Special Commentary (Mythology): I first got into mythology in school through English literature readings discussing the Greek Mythologies. From there, I looked into books to learn more about them. My only experience with Greek Mythology before literature was the Clash of the Titans (1981 film), which introduced me to Perseus and his memorable battles against Medusa and the Kraken. I was already familiar with names like Zeus, Hercules, Athena, and Poseidon, but it was the literature that opened me to the realm of Greek Mythology. That's when I learned about Hades, Artemis, Hermes, Demeter, the Titans, and many others. It wouldn't be long until Disney's Hercules exposed fans to the Greek Mythology world, helping further integrate the Greek myths into pop culture (for better and worse). Then, I would watch shows such as Xena: The Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.

It wouldn't help long when I discovered other ancient mythologies. As I became more interested in world history, I learned about ancient Egyptian lore. I became familiarized with Anubis, Ra, Apophis, Osiris, Horus, Bastet, and countless others. It wasn't until high school and college when I delved further into ancient Egyptian history and mythological lore. That love for Egyptian Mythology carried over into Yu-Gi-Oh!: Duel Monsters and later in the original YuYuGiDigiMoon where I was able to integrate Apophis as a villain in Apophis Rising and introduce the Jewels of Eternity (JOEs for YYGDM-01). I even used Egyptian Myth lore to create a backstory for Sailor Galaxia, who at one point was the goddess Ma'at (and Neith in Shin-YYGDM). Even though I have no plans for an Apophis in Shin-YYGDM, there is an Apep to take his place. The JOEs, which are akin to the Infinity Stones, inspired the creation of Shin-YYGDM's Auspicious Beasts to complement the Hōō.

My experiences with Japanese and Norse Mythologies came much later with Norse being more recent around the time of Thor (2011 film)'s release. Although, I was already familiar with Thor, Loki, Odin, and Valkyries before that movie's release. Thanks to my friend Belletiger, she introduced me to the Valkyrie lore. Her experiences with Valkyrie Profile led me to look into and play those games. Through VP and Marvel, Norse Mythology quickly rose to be a favorite of mine. I really dug the dark and grimy vibes that the original stories told. Although, I didn't mind Marvel's cleaner image of the Norse Myths. It was through Norse Mythology that helped me integrate the lore into YYGDM's Valkyrie Advent. So much so that the Norse Myths have influenced my fanfic writings through YuYuGiDigiMoon and eventually my professional novels. During my original YuYuGiDigiMoon run, I had a beta reader, LazerWulf, help out as he used his free time to help edit and improve my works. A great critic he is, he was also brutally honest. So much so we had our creative differences, especially during Valkyrie Advent's development process. There was a point he threw a wrench into what I had planned and wanted to use his character Alec (Helgi's reincarnation at the time), which put me off initially. I remember venting my grievances (more like frustrations) saying he should've told me sooner about introducing an integral character at the last minute because he was intended to be a lover for one of the Valkyries in the story. Despite our differences, we managed to hash our conflicts out and made the new plot elemental work. Though, I can say Lazer was a good hand as he was a Norse specialist and helped enhance some of the Norse elements. He even gave me a Norse book for my birthday one year and introduced me to the concept of Skogul/Gondul as a couple.

As far as Japanese Mythology is concerned, most of my experience was through anime, manga, and video games. Manga such as Yu Yu Hakusho, Inuyasha, and Naruto introduced me to the Nine-Tailed Fox, Yokai, oni, and certain Japanese Mythology concepts. Eventually, games like Onimusha and Nioh expanded on the Japanese myth lore, introducing me to characters such as Otakemaru, and Shuten-doji.

Dare I say Norse Mythology is my favorite? Well, I can't verify that because I still enjoy Greek, Japanese, and Egyptian myths.

It has been five years (2016-2021) since Valkyrie Advent's release and this arc kind of serves as a big love letter to experiences with mythology. Advent of Mythology couldn't be told in just one part, thus two parts were necessary.

Before I go, there's a short story my friend, LazerWulf, wrote back during Valkyrie Advent's initial production. I'm posting his unfinished story to show you a more 'humorous' take on the Norse tales. The title is called Something Stupid.

Greetings! We interrupt your regularly scheduled nonsense for some nonsense of a different kind! Just as Valkyrie Advent is taking a brief intermission between acts to tell the version of the story that's canonical to the YYGDM-verse, we thought we'd take a moment to tell you how it really went down.

I'm LazerWulf, and I will be your author, host, and narrator for this chapter.

ahem*

And now, the YuYuGiDigiMoon Players present:

Actual* Norse Mythology!

for the most part

xxxxx

Act I: Odin and Brynhild

Once upon a time, in the merry old land of Asgard, Odin was bored.

Larry walks in, wearing an eye patch, dressed in a nondescript brown robe and wide-brimmed hat, and using his bo staff as a walking stick .

"Heyo!"

Larry plops down on a couch and starts flipping through the channels on a flat-screen TV.

"Why does Asgard have a television?"

So you can see what's going on down in Midgard.

"But isn't this taking place hundreds of years ago?"

It's magic. Shut up. Anyway, he sees that there's a war going on between two kings. Which two kings aren't important, so we'll just call them King A and King B.

On the TV, there is a wrestling match going on between two similar-looking guys in crowns. Instead of faces, one has an 'A', and the other has a 'B'. The two are pretty evenly matched, and neither one is able to pin the other for more than a 2-count.

"This is taking forever! Isn't there any way to speed it up?"

Of course there is. You're Odin. Call for your Valkyries.

"Oh, good point. Brunhilde!"

Kotori walks in, dressed in her Valkyrie armor.

"It's Brynhild, actually," Kotori answers, dryly.

"What? I thought you were supposed to by Brunhilde!"

"Didn't you get the memo? We're supposed to be using the Norse names for this story. Brunhilde is her German name. And why do you get to be Odin?"

"Because I'm LazerWulf's favorite. Anyway, I want you to go down to this fight and make sure King A wins. He's the older, more established one with the bigger fanbase, so everyone will be happy to see him win."

"Isn't that cheating?"

"Yeah. So what? I'm a god. I can do what I want."

"Oh, good point."

Kotori disappears from Asgard and reappears on the TV screen, now dressed as a WWE Diva, in a halter-top and hot pants. She looks down at her new outfit, then glares angrily at the sky.

"Seriously?!"

Look, it's a metaphor. You gotta look the part. Quit complaining.

"Whatever."

Kotori enters the ring and charges King B. However, as she passes King A, she grabs his head from behind and slams him to the mat in a perfect RKO out of nowhere. King B takes advantage of the situation and finally gets a 3-count pin on King A.

Back in Asgard, Odin was not pleased with this outcome.

"Yeah, you can say that again!" Larry muttered.

Back in Asgard, Odin was not pleased with this outcome.

"I didn't mean literally!"

Sorry.

"S'okay. Now, where were we?"

Back in Asgard, Odin was not pleased with this outcome.

"Oh, right. BRYNHILD!"

Kotori disappears from the wrestling match and reappears in Asgard, once again wearing her Valkyrie armor.

"Yes, my liege?"

"This is not what I told you to do!"

"Oh, come on! King B was totally the underdog! Everyone loves it when the underdog triumphs!"

"The underdog can't win by being sneaky! He's the one who has to overcome the sneakiness! That's it, go to your room! You're grounded, missy!"

"What?"

Larry snaps his fingers and Kotori is no longer wearing her magical Valkyrie armor, but simple chainmail.

"And by room I mean this castle on top of a mountain. And by grounded I mean forced to live out the rest of your life as a mortal, married to whomever can rescue you."

"That sucks! So I gotta marry the first guy to come along? What if he's some kind of jerk?"

"Hmm… you've got a point. Alright, how about this? I'll set the mountain on fire, so only someone truly brave can make it through. That sound fair?"

"That sucks even worse! Who the hell is going to climb a mountain that's on fire? I'll be stuck up there forever!"

"Don't worry! I have a plan for that, too!"

And so Odin enchants Brynhild's armor to shrink. Not enough to kill her or anything, but it restricts her breathing enough to put her into a magical sleep.

"Oh, gods dammit!" Kotori muttered, before succumbing to unconsciousness.

xxxxx

Act II: Loki and Andvari

An undisclosed amount of time later, Loki was walking through the forest.

Takato walks down a forest path, dressed in green leather armor with gold embroidery. He is also wearing a golden helmet with two long, curved horns emerging from the front.

Umm… why are you dressed as the Loki from the Marvel Universe?

"It was all I could find on short notice!" Takato answered. "Besides, you know this is what they're going to be picturing anyway."

Fair enough. Anyway… Loki comes across an otter playing in the stream.

Rika walks in wearing otter onesie pajamas.

"Um, Rika?" Takato asks, trepidatiously. "Why are you dressed like an extra in a Taylor Swift music video?"

Rika shoots him an evil eye. "Because I was told that my part wouldn't take long." She lifts her eyes to the sky. "Can we get on with this already?"

What? Oh, right. Sorry. Little did Loki know that this otter was actually the dwarf Otr, who was able to take the form of an otter. Had he known, he probably wouldn't have done what he did next, which was to kill the otter and skin it for its beautiful pelt.

"I DO WHAT?!" Takato shouts.

"It's fine," Rika mutters calmly, then walks offstage.

A minute or so later the otter pajamas come flying through the air and hit Takato in the face. They fall into Takato's outstretched hands, and he just stares at them, blushing.

"Wait, are you naked right now?"

A steely voice can be heard from offstage. "Think about it, goggle-head. Do you really want me to answer that?"

"Um… no," Takato gulped. "I guess not."

Later that evening, Loki comes across the castle of Hreidmarr, King of the Dwarves.

Takato walks up to a large, imposing castle door and knocks loudly. The door opens and the large, imposing figure of Garman, dressed to the hilt as a viking warrior king, walks out.

"What do you want?"

Takato gulped. "You're the dwarf king?"

"You got a problem with that?" Garman glared.

"No! Not at all!" Takato blurted, a little too quickly. "

Act : Sigurd and Fafnir

Act : Sigurd and Brynhild

Cast:

Sigurd - Himura
Brynhild - Kotori

Gudrun - Adora
Gunnar - Kenta
Grimhild - Saya

Loki - Takato
Odin - Larry

Hreidmarr - Garman
Fafnir - Kazu
Regin - Henry
Otr - Rika
Andvari - Philippe

Bird - Yui

A/N: And there you have it, Lazer's comical side story of the Norse tales. It's unfinished but what he had was alright for what it was. Though, I think it was silly for my tastes. I do like the idea of Kotori/Brunhilde dressed like a WWE Diva and interfering in the Kings' war like it was a wrestling show, and Rika in otter PJs interacting with Takato/Loki. There are no plans to continue this parody series. Sorry.

Second Special Commentary (Literature, Fanfic Pride, Fanfic Curse):

I've been humble about keeping and gaining new readers for my fanfics, especially the YuYuGiDigiMoon series. I can't thank those enough who have left me comments and showed support for YYGDM, and my other fics.

Now, here's what I've been waiting to do and get off my chest. This is where I set aside pleasantries. No more regrets. There have been issues during the past few years I've been meaning to get off my chest. This section will be part self-analysis, reflection, and a rant over my long fanfic writing tenure. Anyone reading this can read along. For newcomers, you'll get to know me better. For long-time readers, you'll hopefully come to better understand and appreciate me outside of just being a humble fanfic writer. I call this my redemption arc after I've overcome my arrogant and selfish persona. I've been running away from speaking out about my behind the scenes. So, I'm letting it all out here.

(Ford's reply of looking back: I remember back in the end of 2021, relating to Kanius's temper flaws (It's like comparing to the late DMajorBoss's personality when general people like myself interacted with him (of having a bigger fanbase than Kanius such as he was once a writer of Bleedman's Sugar Bits (as in an official non-fan web comic)) that he had a zen even tempered personality like Mufasa from The Lion King, while Kanius is like Simba (relating to being DMajorBoss's successor one day, just like Simba succeeding his father's throne) of learning real responsibility in being his own man) and his initial hesitancy of specific people in the Akane no Mai server. To the point of his status quo personality felt stay the same back then, I felt so angry at being spat in the face and being treated as a child, this was what finally caused Kanius to bring this heartfelt response. Knowing this will be full-out expanded in the future special commentary of bullying many years later.) I do have a temper to work on. And to answer that personal question: Do you really have a social life? Outside of some acquaintances and old friends, I don't have much of a social life offline, and I realize I don't make an effort to form social connections online. It stems from my childhood when kids cruelly teased me and called me names while I was growing up. I've even had a few 'so-called friends' betray me and join the bully ranks. So, don't blame me if I've developed distrust in human beings nowadays, and it's a lot worse with social media. I get social anxiety when I'm faced with new people offline and online because the past distrust continues to haunt me. Can you just imagine if I was growing up through social media and faced online bullying and persecution? I wouldn't be able to mentally handle it. I'd want to kill myself if there weren't a segment of people I trust in my life. That mistrust in others is the result of why you'd think I'm being singled out. I don't open up dialogue and tell people what type of person I am and tell them about my backstory. I keep things bottled up unless I'm forced to, which is what I'm doing now. And I even tried giving the Discord a chance and it was good in the beginning. It wasn't until Darth started rubbing me the wrong way. I go out of my way to defend my stories. Yes, I can freely say that I do consider my fanfics to be friends of mine. They're stupid and silly friends of mine. That's where the core of my fanfic pride comes from. They helped me cope with stressful and terrible situations. No, I won't make excuses for my temper (although, some of it is justified toward you know who and sometimes towards Chaos). I admit to my arrogant flaws and I can be selfish with ideas and respect (which has to be earned through humility). Oh, and speaking of humility, don't take this the wrong way, but you can't assess my full character. You don't know the full me. Just because I may not show a lot of humility online, does not mean I'm not humble with some things in my life. I'm not running away anymore because I am telling you all of this now from my heart. This is just the beginning of my redemption arc, and a sample of what to expect when I write my self-reflection commentary and close the door on my fanfic curse, which I'm ready to put out of its misery like Old Yeller.

For starters, has Shin-YYGDM been worth it in the long run? My answer is sort of. It allowed me to write a new YYGDM story from scratch that has no prior connecting tissue with the original YYGDM (until the Legacy of Across Dimensions and even that was just a one-shot, which had no overall effect on the Shin-YYGDM). It also allowed me to create a legacy story dedicated to the YuYuGiDigiMoon series and crossover fanfic writing. It may not be the best YYGDM saga but it has a lot of good moments to reflect on. It has allowed me to play with new concepts and characters, which I never had an opportunity to use for the original. Shin-YYGDM allowed me to utilize canon concepts instead of full-on AU concepts that the original YYGDM was infamously known for (to an egregious degree I might add). More than ever, Shin-YYGDM allowed me this opportunity to write a Defiants story and write an actual A/N full outline of the Wrath of the Defiants story for the original YYGDM. I've been holding back on this outline for years and until now I'm going to reveal the full spoilers for the Wrath of the Defiants story here. This way there are no more regrets in case I don't ever get to write it.

Before I delve into the Wrath of the Defiants full outline, I wish to pay my respects to the artists (actors (live and voice) especially) that have passed away over the past year. First off, I pay my respects and tribute to Chris Ayres, the voice of several anime characters, including his most famous and beloved voice role for Freeza. Though a seasoned voice actor once he started the Freeza role, he made that character his own. He started great in Dragon Ball Z Kai and later on became a stand-out phenomenal performer through Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F, Dragon Ball Super, and Dragon Ball Super: Broly. As good as the other English voice actors for Freeza were, Chris Ayres was one of a kind and he was a superbly great guy based on what I heard. Personally, I only met him from a glance at a convention and we shared a hello exchange. My only regret was not getting his autograph and a small chat with him, but this was before I seriously wanted to get autographs from voice actors.

RIP to Christoper Ayres. "Love and laughter, always."

Most importantly, RIP to all the famed actors and cultural figures who've passed away, including Betty White (who did become 100 if you count leap years), Bob Saget, Louie Anderson, Gilbert Gottfried, Sidney Poitier, Peter Robbins (the original voice for Charlie Brown), William Hurt, Scott Hall (formerly WWE's Razor Ramon), Estelle Harris, Taylor Hawkins (of the Foo Fighters) Emilio Delgado, Ivan Reitman, and even a few recent ones who died before they turned 40, which is always unfortunate since they never lived full lives. Their performances and illustrious careers won't be forgotten.

Speaking of AU reliances, as part of the Shin-YYGDM saga, we crossed over the Shin continuity with the original YYGDM cast as a way to celebrate the 10th anniversary of a fanfic called Across Dimensions, which another fanfic writer named Chaosblazer and I collaborated on. Reflecting on that story, it was a fun experience that led to an online companionship that's lasted to this very day. We are still friends. However, as time went on, I felt continuing the crossover adventures with the 'Triad' (the three-way fanfic continuity name for YuYuGiDigiMoon/Digimon Fusion Kai/Accel Stream) was becoming stale and I had no room to grow as a writer. I wanted an out but I didn't dare to tell Chaos that. He assumed I was along for the ride. Then, I was allowed to stretch my creative wings by taking on a new fandom experience through the Persona franchise, starting with Persona 5 and I helped Allfather-Ford write a new crossover series called Akane no Mai, which was originally a two-part rough draft story called Persona Vein Urban Legends, which crossed P5 over with Code Vein and to some extent Kakegurui and Nioh. It became a refreshing fanfic experience for me. On the side, I was in the process of writing my first novel draft. Between AnM and my novel draft, I was refining my writer's craft and leaving behind the multi-crossover Triad world. I was relieved to put anything to do with YYGDM and Accel Stream behind me. I was ready to progress.

However, Chaos asked me if I could revise Across Dimensions to celebrate the 10th anniversary because he had some ideas for it. However, I declined because I felt doing so would be regressing to handling a story that not a lot of general readers are going to read and reflect on. Besides, I saw this move as me going backward and not forwards. I saw more incentive in writing my novel draft than refining a 10 old multi-crossover story. Personally, I saw this as Chaos badgering me to continue the Triad series as if he's trying not to allow me to progress as a writer and moving forward, and this is even after YYGDM-01 Wrath of the Defiants concludes one day. It came to a point several years ago (circa. 2016-2017) that he spammed me with continuous emails and messages that hindered and delayed my novel writing progress and goals.

Another reason I didn't want to continue writing Triad stories anymore is because of Chaos' obsession with his Kensuke Rainer character. The constant shoving of Kensuke down my throat was partly the last straw for me. Even when we have conversations, he almost always has to bring up Kensuke. It grew tiring. It came to a point that if I were to write anything to do with my own OCs (Dimitri, Karin, and Athena) on their own stories, I fear Chaos will ask if Kensuke will be with them. That's how burned out I was including and shoehorning his character in stories that have nothing to do with him. And I feel if Kensuke continued to stick, my aforementioned OCs would never grow anymore as individual characters. It's already happened with a few stories where Kensuke was never meant to be in it, but because 'Ken' needed to fight someone because Chaos didn't like that particular character (i.e. Beerusmon and Sailor Charon). I should've told him I was growing tired of Ken, but I didn't want to be a jerk and hurt his feelings. Well now, because of that I've become disinterested in writing anything about Ken.

I also didn't like how out of the three universes, Accel Stream had to have the highest god authority and won't allow anyone to beat Kensuke convincingly (and even if that happens, Ken is not down for the count too long without getting his payback). I've developed god systems in my YYGDM and Digimon Fusion Kai stories that feel should be the higher-tier authority. Hell, I even created a character based on Marvel's One Above All named the Overseer, who is the one who governs the multiverse of our fanfic worlds alongside pre-existing canon universes, which I've called the Nexus. But Chaos doesn't think that's good enough and he wanted his god-tier watchers (the Young Guns) to intervene against the most dangerous villain Ford and I made to make him look insignificant, and become some kind of ultimate authority figures for the Triad. I felt I just couldn't be trusted handling the big villain of the story that he felt the need to send his guys to beat up Ford and I's ultimate bad guy. Thankfully, things got resolved. However, I want Chaos to know this: I didn't want to stick with the Triad, Accel Stream, and Kensuke after Cross Generations. Not only do I have a future writing career to realize and think about but I have my own health to consider. I want to realize my dream of becoming a professional writer before anything happens to me. Most of all, I don't want any fucking regrets if something (tragic even) happened to me before my first book gets published. I also hope if that happens you'll tell your family that you're friends with a professional writer and you (and they) can experience what I accomplished. In the end, we decided to part ways with pursuing any more Accel Stream collaborations and moved on into new directions. Chaosblazer feels content continuing to try writing a few final Accel Stream stories to give some closure for his character and I've ventured into writing my first novel draft and writing fanfics for new fandoms (Persona and Code Vein).

I don't just want to write as a hobby anymore. As much as I enjoy writing as a hobby, I hope to make it a career and an arena to expand my creativity outside the restrictions of a multi-crossover fanfic series that didn't allow me to grow more than I should. If there's anything I've learned as a fanfic writer, we're the most selfless people ever when we write so much and don't get paid for our work. We write fanfics out of the labor of love. That's a lesson I've learned and will take with me for the rest of my life. Fanfic writing has also helped improve me as a writer.

By the way, Chaosblazer. I say this all with a heavy heart and also being your friend. I don't want to have any regrets about holding back my suppressed emotions. These ventings are based on past grievances and not currently. You needed to hear it from me. I hope this gives us closure on our future as writing collaborators for Accel Stream and Kensuke. As far as Kensuke is concerned, the only thing left for us is what happens in Wrath of the Defiants. The Triad era is over but we can reflect on all the good that came out of our collaborations.

Another person I want to address is the person responsible for allowing me to speak my mind through this lengthy A/N. Allfather-Ford, I'd like to thank you for giving me this chance to speak my mind and vent my frustrations. Much like Chaosblazer, you've been a good friend and collaborator. You started as a fan of my fanfic stories and now you've become more than a collaborator but also a meditator. Without you, I wouldn't have been convinced to follow and realize my dream as a professional writer. I've been making the first few steps and have been successful so far. Not only am I setting aside a long-time hindrance (YYGDM-01), I'm nearly done with my first novel draft and am a step closer to finding an editor and hopefully seeking a publisher. However, for all the good you've done for me, I wish you would settle down with the long detailed outlines that sometimes become difficult to follow, too many parenthesized sentences, and stop trying to make decisions for me when I have free will to make my own decisions. Moreover, no more 'special pseudo-novel projects' like Shin-YYGDM and Akane no Guilty Crown since they've slightly delayed my novel writing progress. Going forward, can you lighten up the load and don't overwork beyond my limits? Please. Seriously, I shouldn't be asked to spend extended periods writing long essays and commentaries such as these.

Another thing: In regards to Defiants/YYGDM-01, the battles and the climax with Yami Ghidorah's and the war in the Crystal Age epilogue, I'm not going to hold back my grievances and frustrations with how overly dragged out and annoyingly grandiose these final YYGDM-01 battles will be than the battles in Cross Generations, including that story's final Zeed X conflict. I always tell myself Defiants might not be as difficult as Dawn of Chaos, but it turns out that since it is the series finale, it'll be harder than Cross Generations, Shin-YuYuGiDigiMoon, Akane no Mai, and Akane no Guilty Crown. I'm letting this out since I know you want me to speak honestly about my feelings while writing Defiants.

Since I'm discussing creative writing, how did I get into literature? Well, truthfully, I once had some issues reading. While I wasn't entirely dyslexic, I couldn't read non-pictured books well. My introduction to literature was Dr. Seuss, The Berenstain Bears, and dinosaur-related books. I could read whatever dialogue was there in pictured and comic books, though I couldn't understand some of the expanded vocabularies for me at the time. It wasn't until I was in fourth grade that I was pushed to read more books. Among the first books I read were a few of the American literature classics (including H.G. Wells' The Time Machine and Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol) and at the time I read a lot of the Goosebump books. The first published adult novel I read was John Crichton's Jurassic Park, which I read not long after the movie came out. It was mind-boggling to see what was changed from the book. Reading a lot helped me improve my grades, especially in my Reading and English courses. Now I could better analyze the reading material. English classes became less problematic through elementary and junior high. By late junior high, I was introduced to terms such as syntax, diction, paraphrasing, prose, etc., which was a challenge to learn. That wasn't as challenging as utilizing these literary tools to analyze English papers and documents. The books I've had to read in junior high and high school included but were not limited to Of Mice and Men, The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Outsiders, The Catcher in the Rye, The Lord of the Flies, Macbeth & other Arthurian-based works, and the tales from Greek Mythology. In college, I've read a few of the same books, but of the new books I've read for my English and Writing courses, I was introduced to 1984 and various works from poets.

All the teachers that helped me were my 11th grade English teacher Mr. White and later on, my English & Writing professor Mr. Lawrence. While I didn't make too many friends with classmates, there were a few I connected with thanks to my siblings and they became my closest friends. I value having a few close friends over a large following of acquaintances.

Outside of school, reading became a hobby of mine. I've read plenty of books written by Stephen King. Among my favorite King novels are The Shining (and I enjoy the Stanley Kubrick film over the TV Movie series that King seemingly preferred), In the Mouth of Madness, It, Misery, Carrie, The Green Mile, Pet Sematary, and The Stand. And I've enjoyed most of the film adaptations based on King's novels. Since we're on the subject of my redemption arc, The Shawshank Redemption is one of my favorite (if not might be my favorite Stephen King film adaptation) King films as it relates to me finally getting out of YYGDM's shackles.

Harry Potter was a series I followed. I read the books once, though the movies were what drew my interest first. Just like Jurassic Park, I picked up on the differences between the storytelling mediums for film and novel writing. While I did follow HP, I never attended any events related to the franchise. I understand the series' popularity and it becoming a gateway series into literature for young readers. Nowadays, although I still enjoy aspects of Harry Potter, I'm not too keen on J.K. Rowling these days for reasons I will not discuss here (i.e. disliking her stance on the transgender community). Just remember: Never meet your heroes. I will just say I can somewhat relate to her when it comes to the depression she endured while writing her first HP book before its publication. As I've been writing my first novel draft, I've had to endure some depression and some health issues that caused me to delay my writing process. And then there were the fanfic projects I was still writing that got in my way. As of this writing, I'm almost done with the novel draft, and I hope to see the first publication within 5-7 years.

Despite how I and others feel about her recent controversial comments, Rowling helped open the floodgates to youth literature's popularity, allowing others to write stories that draw in young readers. I've read a few of these books. While I didn't follow and read the books in their entirety, I've read at least the first book from Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson, and I look forward to the TV series when it comes out. I hope the show is better than the movies. And while I've hardly read them, I acknowledged the Kane Chronicles series as it was going on.

As the movies were coming out, the Lord of the Rings caught on with many readers of all ages. I was among them. Before Peter Jackson's films, my first experience was the animated Ralph Bakshi films. I enjoyed those movies but didn't know the stories were based on books. Once the Jackson movies came out, I picked up on J.R.R. Tolkien's epic novels. I'll be honest I didn't finish reading them because they initially bored me. I preferred the movies, including the Extended Editions. Sometime after The Return of the King was released, I gave the books another chance to enjoy and appreciate Tolkien's vision. It was one of the instances when I liked the films over the books but the books are a great read. Please read them if you liked the movies. I've read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy but never read The Silmarillion and any of the supplemental material. As far as Tolkien is concerned, I consider him a great visionary who created an epic fantastical world that has managed to be translated into an animated and live-action film. We'll see about the TV series but it looks like it'll be another good adaptation.

Other books series I want to mention: I've had friends mention and recommend The Dresden Files, but I haven't read any of them yet. I do know about its main character Harry Dresden. I've only read the first book of The Chronicles of Narnia series, and most of my experience from that is the films. Although I've watched the films, I've not read The Hunger Games. Even while Game of Thrones was coming out, I hadn't peeked at A Song of Fire and Ice.

I knew I had the talent to write creatively. Writing analytical papers wasn't my forte. Growing up, I relied on my vivid imagination to write a few short stories with not-so-great illustrations. When I entered late-middle school, I discovered the earliest form of fanfiction websites. didn't exist yet. The first fanfics I've read were based on the SatAM-era Sonic the Hedgehog series, Spider-Man, X-Men, and later Spawn. This led to me finding Sailor Moon fanfics and later on Dragon Ball Z and Digimon fics.

As I'm writing this commentary and being a long-time fanfic writer, literature has become a crucial part of my life and the main inspiration for writing, and helped me become a double English/History major. Writing has become an irreplaceable part of my personality. As I've been writing Shin-YYGDM, I'm set to leave behind years of long-term fanfic writing for professional writing. It has somewhat reignited my passion for writing my first novel through the final arc. It's also helped me to overcome my 'fanfic pride' and accept humility when it comes to writing professionally and facing the challenges of coping with criticisms. I've come to accept that not everyone is going to enjoy what I write but some critics should know better than being dishonest and exhibiting bias (subjective vs objective views come to mind). Most of all, this commentary is for me to overcome the 'fanfic curse' that YYGDM had placed over me. It has drawn attention away from other writing necessities that I've put aside for a long time and consumed a lot of my free time over the years. Now, I can finally let go. With it, I can also let go of the tempers and frustrations I've dealt with other people. I'm choosing to prioritize taking a path to become a renewed and better person and blocking out the negative influences. Some people want to see a new me deserving of a second chance.

As I mentioned earlier, many celebrities, including a few voice actors (Chris Ayres sadly being one of them) have passed away due to ailments and old age. I once told myself and a friend, "I often feared if some disease would affect me later in life" on January 28, 2014. In 2013, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and she thankfully made a quick recovery thanks to treatment in 2014. Thank goodness for advanced science and medicine. I've come to accept the aging human body and our needing to have healthier bodies and make healthier choices. I've been committed to exercising in a gym and at home when a gym is not available to me. Exercise has helped me to overcome depression. When I don't exercise (especially when I suddenly fell out of it from 2011-2015), I fall back into depression and poor health choices. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, I still managed to exercise when I could to keep myself in good physical and mental shape. I'm going to have to if I'm going to stay healthy while I'm pursuing a writing career.

The following are long passages that have been cherry-picked from my past dialogues. They're all of my younger self's aspirations and A/N commentaries. This also serves to let me reflect and for you to see my identity and growth as a writer. And this all ties into me stepping away from the fanfic curse and finding my identity as a professional writer. There will also be surprising revelations about my personal experiences. Believe me, this will be a long reflection.

Jun 5, 2003 (DFusion Zero One: Digital Invaders Saga): SSJ4T: Hey all! We're now going to start over to the beginning of the Digimon Fusion series. That's right, it's the unleashed saga that I never had the chance to write. This series is sort of a dedication to Toriyama's hit series Dragonball Z, but I've added the characters of digimon to full in their roles. This will be a rewritten series and I hope this will be better than the original stories I wrote. Tai: So, it's back to the beginning? Any idea what the first saga will be called? SSJ4T: The Digital Invaders Saga! Weren't you paying attention? Tai: No. Max: Don't mind him, dude. This is going to rule. Takato: Ah, shit! I don't get to be in this one! Takuya: Yeah! We're left out! SSJ4T: You two won't even come into the series for a looooooong time. This first series will be based from Digimon 01, the very first season. So, without further ado, enjoy the fic!

Nov 30, 2003 (Chapter 1 of Wrath of Pharaohmon (Original)): SSJ4T: Hey, all! I know you guys are still reading the finale chapters to both the Virus and D-Reaper Sagas. Now, here's that YuGiOh crossover fic you guys have been waiting for! I know this chapter will be short and brief, but bear with me. It will get better. This series takes place after Battle City, so it may contain spoilers. All events that take place after Battle City will be considered nonexistent until the storyline arc in this fic series ends. It also takes place a year after D-Reaper has been defeated in the REAL Tamer time line and six months after Lucemon's defeat. As far as Sailor Moon, it takes place three years after Sailor Galaxia. With Yu Yu Hakusho, it takes place before the Dark Tournament. Without further ado, let's get on with the fic!

Apr 17, 2005 (Final chapter of D Frontier: Millenniumon Saga): It all started during the summer of 2001. I was reading some Dragonball Z/Digimon crossovers online. Some were decent while most were pretty crappy. I wasn't that big of an author then. Hell, I barely even posted at at the time. Back then, I wrote an ALIEN/Digimon crossover that never managed to come out right and I wasn't very pleased with it. Then, I wrote a digimon fic implementing the ideas of Spawn. TK played Spawn while Kari married Davis. No, it was NOT a bash fic! Anyway, this one wasn't very successful either. Soon, I decided to toy around with the ideas of mixing DBZ and Digimon together to see how the elements would work out in a crossover. I was even preparing to write a set of stories based on the Saiyan Saga using the 01 characters. Turns out by the time 9/11 occurred, I was horrified by the tragic events and wasn't in any mood to continue writing. One month after the event, I went about continuing my work. Back then, I wasn't an excellent writer as I am now. It was all in script format and I'm not pleased with the results. I had actually written the Digital Invaders Saga back in 2001, but I never bothered to post it up on That's how bad the fic was. So, came the winter break of 2001. I skipped ahead to write the original version of the Burizalor Saga. It had script format but I had quickly strayed away from that pathetic format. Now, where did I get the term 'Digimon Fusion'? Well, it was all thanks in part to Digimon Tamers. I had watched a video clip of the Japanese version of the Tamers series showing Takato and Guilmon bio-merging into the awesome Dukemon/Gallantmon. I was intrigued and stunned to say the least. Then, it hit me. 'That's it! That's what I'm looking for! Fusion!' So thus Digimon Fusion was born. I liked the concept of Digimon and humans merging into supreme warriors. So, as soon as I reached near the Burizalor Saga end, I had Tai and Agumon merge using elements of Tamers and DBZ. I've always wanted to see how Digimon would work if they fought just like the Z-Warriors. To this very day, the concept lives on without any signs of slowing down. :P As the series rolled on through the Virus and D-Reaper Sagas, I've received a growing fan base. I wasn't sure whether to be stunned or surprised. People like Dark Warrior, Max Acorn, Anthony and AnT were all stunned with my work. I was commended for the idea. Heck, AnT even told me through a review that he wrote his popular Digimon Tribute after reading my D-Tamers season. What do you think, guys? I've managed to influence other authors out there in the Digimon secion of ;) Eventually, I would be the first other than DDOC to use Max Acorn's D3 characters with his permission. Turns out, I've successfully merged his characters into my fic universe. As I finished the original Bebimon Saga, I looked back and said to myself, 'I can write better than this.' So, I went into a major overhaul and started all the way back with my originally intended 'Digital Invaders Saga'. That particular saga received rave reviews and that convinced me to rewrite the whole series from top to bottom. Burizalor, Digimon Kaiser, Artificials, Virus, Tamers Unite, Dark Magimon and D-Reaper. All those were rewritten from June 2003 until mid-December 2003. The rewrites turned out better than I expected. The Digimon Fusion series is the one series that has led me to become a recognized and an elite author of that particular anime section. According to Dark Qiviut, I'm one of the top elites. Thanks again, buddy. :D Coming off the success of this series, I was even confident enough to write a crossover series entitled The Wrath of Pharaohmon. Here I thought it wouldn't be a success, but it turns out it did. This particular has no connection with my D-Fusion series, but once again shows I can write a good crossover when need be. I hope to get this series done this summer at the latest. Enter D-Frontier. This is the final season and I've been complimented for writing a BETTER adaptation to the actual DBGT series, eventually to become intertwined with the Yu Yu Hakusho Sensui storyline arc. Can't say whether to be shocked or not. Oh well. The Black Digicores, Bebimon and Super Artificial turned out great, but I wanted to go out with a big with this final saga. The Millenniumon Saga was indeed a success and has garnered the most reviews out of every one of my D-Fusion Sagas. Only the Burizalor Saga Rewrite comes close to reaching such a high number of review counts. Now, you guys have just witnessed the end of an era. The end of the Digimon Fusion series. It's sad I know, but all good things must come to an end. Hell, I'm saddened, too. ;.; The idea all started in August of 2001, the first story was written in early September 2001 before the tragic events of 9/11, the first posted story was in January of 2002, the rewrite overhaul in June 2003 and the final chapter posted April 17, 2005. Not a bad way to end, eh? Nearly four years!

June-August 2005 (DigiFusion 01 Movie 3: Mutalior's Vengeance): Hello everyone… Normally I would begin on a happy note, but today I'm rather in a depressive mood. I'm sad to report that fellow fic author, Mega Anime Pharaohmon series/D-Fusion series contributor, loyal reviewer, big anime fan, and good friend, Youkai Youko, has died as of this past Friday on July 8th in a terrible accident. I found this out Sunday night a few days laterand it struck me hard. She was a great friend, helped contribute ideas and allowed me to use such wonderful characters as Inumon, Himura, Yui, Athenamon, Basilikmon, Nemesis, etc. Now, she is gone but she is in a much better place. If you will, send your condolences to her, her family andBelletiger. Belletiger, another contributor to this series, is Youko's cousin. From now on, she will help me continue on through this series and the upcoming sequel. Thanks again, Belle. I appreciate it and Youko would be very grateful if we continue this story. She would want every one of us to see this story end on a good note. You always have a special place in my heart, Youko. Thank you for the memories. Hi, guys. First off, I want to say thank you all for giving your condolences to Youko, her family and for her cousin, Belletiger. Belle is very appreciative for your prayers. She is now in a much better place. Thank you for everything, Youko. Well, that's enough of my ranting. We should get back with the story. I'm glad some of you have taken a liking to my Karin character. Belle even pointed out that she reminded her of her cousin, Youko. I have some plans for Karin in future stories, especially involving certain super-powered teenage girls wearing fuku skirts. :P Sailor... Well you get the idea.I just might have her play the role of interlinking my Mega Crossover series and D-Fusion series. What do you think?

Sep 13, 2005 (Final chapter of YuYuGiDigiMoon: The Wrath of Pharaohmon): To tell you the truth, it was all thanks to my Digimon Fusion series success that gave birth to this series. I seriously wanted to try out a true anime crossover. But it would be one that wasn't a disappointment and TRULY lived up to its name. It looks like I've really pulled it off. I first thought about writing this series as soon as I began my D-Fusion Artificial/Virus and D-Tamers: Unite/Dark Magimon/D-Reaper Rewrites. In fact, some of the most notable of the anime heroes in this series made cameo appearances throughout my D-Fusion: D Tamers series. Once I completed my rewrites, I began to write this series. I didn't expect it to start off big and end with a bang. I was like 'Wow, these guys really like it.' Looks like it worked with great success. I hope that my sequel will do just as good if not BETTER than this series. Even with only 28 chapters planned, I will still write the long 18,000 to 25,000 word chapters (Maybe a few close to 30,000 word chapters). Wish me luck and please send me more reviews. I want it to at least beat the number of reviews this series had and you guys can make it all possible. Tell all of your friends and pen pals about this series. It's a crossover, IMO, done RIGHT!

Sep 21, 2005 (Chapter 1 of Invasion of the Rajita): Finally, I can officially declare the dawning of a new era! With the success of The Wrath of Pharaohmon series, I can now begin on my long-awaited sequel. You guys don't know how long I've wanted to end my Pharaohmon series. Now with series one out of the way, we can move on with bigger and much better things in the sequel. I promise this one will host more unpredictable moments and twists. With only 28 chapters planned, don't be surprised if some of these chapters each the 30,000 word mark. Yeah, it's going to be a big read for some of you. :D For those of you new to the series and are starting with this story, I will provide a recap of the important events of The Wrath of Pharaohmon, but I would recommend if you read that story before this one. So, that way you can get a better understanding of the characters involved in this sequel. ;) I've officially entitled the sequel as The Invasion of the Rajita Invasion. An alien armada will be the next main arc villains instead of digimon. Technically, these guys are Sailor Moon-based villains I've created. Bear with me, the leader himself will not reveal himself so soon but his men will show up. In celebration to the start of the sequel, I have declared the title name 'YuGiOhDigimon' to be changed to 'YuYuGiDigiMoon' for my Wrath of Pharaohmon series and will do the same for this series. Thanks to LazerWulf for a weird yet creative new , without further ado, let's move on with this story! I know you're all anxious! Enjoy the recap and the story. :D

2006 (Mazoku Huntress - FictionPress): Hello, this is SSJ4Takeru/Kanius the V. I am author of the Digimon epic series, Digimon Fusion, and the hit anime crossover sagas, YuYuGiDigiMoon: The Wrath of Pharaohmon and the recent Invasion of the Rajita. I welcome you to my first original work that I have written for my advanced writing class and hope to publish this into my own novel one day (perhaps even a manga/graphic novel). ;) All of the characters featured here and later in the story belong to me. I am veteran in fanfic writing but this is my first original work. So, please, don't be too harsh and give any constructive criticism if you wish. Anyway, enjoy the story! :D

2008 (Invasion of the Rajita Chapter 27): Really... I have come a long way since the early D-Fusion days in 2002-2003. For those who have read my Digimon Fusion series and the two YuYuGiDigiMoon stories, tell me. Have I gone a long way and improved? It would mean a lot if you told me how I've done as a fanfic writer. I want to continue as an active fanfic writer for another decade and then after that retire for good. Maybe. (A decade has passed (2008 - 2018) that with CG concluded, it's the end of a phase of ending as a full-time fanfic writer, as you're writing your first novel and the new triad as pseudo canon stories. Defiants/YYGDM-01 (and the alternate ending) will return as that one more long-term fanfic story before permanently retiring for good.)

2008 (YYGDM Gaiden first chapter): That is if I don't exhaust all of my creativity (I'll need it when I write my own novel and start doing art again).

Jan 15, 2010 (Dawn of Chaos Chapter 1): At long last! After years of clawing through the Rajita, the Kuiper Belt Senshi, the Taiyoukai, constant delays, and a laptop crash... we've finally made it to the long-awaited third season! YES! Aren't you excited, Bison? Bison: Yes! Yes! YES! Yeah. This is it. Ever since 2006, I've been planning and made various revisions to my outline to bring you the third season, which is now aptly entitled Dawn of Chaos. I hope you guys have been patient enough as my beta and I have worked hard to take you down a long hard trip through YuYuGiDigiMoon's timeline. Starting with this chapter, I'm going all out and ready to bring you more action than you can ask for. Moreover, there will be new characters, new villains, more epic battles, dramatic scenes, and plenty of big surprises in store for all of you. Digimon, Sailor Moon, YuYu Hakusho, and Yu-Gi-Oh fans alike, get ready for an epic season. This season will be condensed with various story plots. Each team battles their own specific group of enemies. Yes, there won't be just one main group of enemies this time. Oh, you'll find out in this chapter and see what I mean. Think of it like many arcs rolled up into one monster of a saga! For sure, this season will eclipse BOTH The Wrath of Pharaohmon and The Invasion of the Rajita in chapter count. Now, my muses ask this question: Will this be the final season? Well, I had always envisioned this story to be a trio of 'seasons', but who's to say YuYuGiDigiMoon will be finished after this story is done? There might be a few movie fics and separate mini-arcs to go by to tie up any loose ends. And there'll still be the Gaiden series. In any case, it'll be a while before this season is finished. Trust me. I'm not even thinking much about what'll come after this season (if my interest in fanfic writing doesn't falter). Anyway, I'm sure you're bored of me rambling on. But, hey, I've been anticipating this season for a long time! With that, I leave you with a farewell. Enjoy the third season!

May 16, 2010 (Digimon Fusion Kai Chapter 1): You heard of Dragon Ball Kai, or Dragon Ball Z Kai if following the Funimation dub, right? The re-edited, less-fillerish, rehash Japan already broadcasted? Yeah, that one. Well, I came to the decision to create a refreshed Digimon Fusion: the original version. This epic will be taking out needless filler, pointless flashbacks (excluding flashes for unseen moments), correcting plot inconsistencies, better cohesion (and clarity), replacing a few characters, and adding a few, new exclusive chapters that enhance the story. This fic is mostly designated for new fans (and you older fans). For those of you who are lost in the shuffle with my Digimon Fusion series, this should alleviate any fears and deep concerns. This story should run in the exact order as the main series intended to be. How much will Digimon Fusion Kai cover? All the way up to the end of the D-Reaper Saga. Just like the Dragon Ball manga only went up to Buu. Unfortunately, arcs like the Digimon Kaiser Saga will not be in this, but I will give it at least a footnote in a chapter. Oh, and what else? This story will run up to over a hundred chapters. I can't give you an accurate chapter count. The Burizalor fight will be a chore to edit. Digimon like Paildramon, Silphymon, Imperialdramon, etc. will appear before the Artificials do. Moreover, this story will serve to better collaborate with my YuYuGiDigiMoon series (considering Dimitri's role in this series and Karin/Sailor Sedna being somewhat involved). Special Note: Some new stuff will replace old material. A few places will be renamed and re-designated. Some fights will be shortened or extended, depending on which ones. Some characters' roles will be replaced (i.e. Etemon invader will be played by Babimon, Puppetmon & MetalSeadramon appearing in the Invaders arc). This is a complete re-telling of the original storyand a few new additional materials incorporated. This can be a great opportunity to utilize new Digimon that have been introduced over the last few years, including the Royal Knights, the Seven Demon Lords, and the X-Anti Body types. Mind you, these chapters were already copy/pasted material, edited, and cleaned up prior to this initial release. Do keep this in mind. These chapters have been in the can for months. Look at it this way: yes, it's the same crap. Allow me to clarify. It's the same original story, but at the same time, there will be re-imagined scenes. Just go with the flow, my old readers. Before anyone screams 'DBZ rip-off,' no duh. You just missed the memo eight years ago, newbies. This was intended to be based on DBZ. In this case, it's Dragon Ball Kai. That's all. Let's give this experiment a shot, if everything goes well I'll continue. Enjoy the re-telling of my classic fanfic series. ;)

May 30, 2011 (YuYuGiDigiMoon: Wrath of Pharaohmon Redux's first chapter): Well, hello there! If you're reading this, you're likely either a newcomer or a long-time reader that's stuck with this long-running meta mega-crossover. Anyway, let me explain why you're here. For the past seven and a half years (and counting), I started a mega crossover series called YuYuGiDigiMoon. The titular series name itself comprises of acronyms based on part of each title series featuring the anime casts this series covers. Yu represents YuYu Hakusho, the second Yu simultaneously represents BOTH YYH and Yu-Gi-Oh, the Gi naturally just represents Yu-Gi-Oh!, Digi is part of Digimon, and Moon is obviously Sailor Moon. LazerWulf, long-time reader and former beta-reader, came up with that nifty title. Anyway, like I was saying... Since 2003, YuYuGiDigiMoon has been a long-running fanfic franchise I've grown very attached to, probably more so than any story or collection of writings I've ever done (Digimon Fusion being the other). I've come to grow attached to the casts in this series and would be saddened when I have to write the inevitable series finale. For the last seven years, I've written three seasons (all full length, two complete, Season 3 still ongoing), one 'Movie' fic, an OVA written in first-person POV format, one Side Story featuring a subgroup, and a collection of Gaiden shorts, including a 'Special Gaiden' released as a separate story. All of that alone comprised 2 million words and counting of hard work and dedication. And I'm not even done with the series. I'm already halfway through where I want to be. There'll come more stories even after Season 3. With the new generations on the rise, I'm planning a few spin-offs that puts more emphasis on them and less on the veteran casts. Beginning with YuYu Hakusho, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Digimon Tamers, Digimon Frontier, and Sailor Moon, I've expanded the universe by including a vast amount of OCs, who are connected to the main casts. Then, I began delving into the whole 'dimension crossing and time travel' concepts by incorporating the casts from Digimon Adventure/02, Digimon Savers, Yu-Gi-Oh GX, and Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds. That managed to allow me to incorporate all the existing Digimon seasons (sans the current Digimon Xros Wars) into this growing mythos and the two other YGO series. And the YYGDM mythos will only continue to expand further. Digimon Fusion Kai and Digimon Xros Wars may even have a chance to be included. :3 This is my own Marvel anime universe. I'd be kidding myself if I said I hope to see a lot of fan arts and fanfics based off this fanfic mythos. So, why this story? What's the purpose of Redux? Why go back to the beginning? Simply put: to improvise on the original Wrath of Pharaohmon, take out unnecessary 'filler,' and add new exclusive scenes (but none that'll drastically alter the plots of the stories post Pharaohmon). Since 2003, I've evolved as a writer. Back when I wrote this, I was still fresh off watching the Battle City Finals when it aired on Kids WB (now defunct) and YYH was red hot on Toonami (back when Toonami was still alive). Originally, after the success of the original Digimon Fusion, this crossover series was only supposed to be Tamers, Frontier, and YGO. Then, I threw in Sailor Moon as an experimentation. Then, I was going to incorpoate Tenchi Universe, but decided against it and used YYH instead. And with all that comes the curse of becoming a better writer. I look back on YYGDM season 1 and remind myself that there are things I could've improved on. Now, this is my chance. After achieving success with Digimon Fusion Kai (a complete revision of Digimon Fusion based on Dragonball Z Kai), I was convinced by LazerWulf to green light this project. And here we are! With that, this story will be nostalgic to those who've read the originalWrath of Pharaohmon back when it was fresh. And those who haven't jumped aboard on this on-going series, this is your chance to check it the beginning with a new perspective! Along with revised writing, I'll be merging the first chapters and trimming the original 44 chapter count to between 35-38. What else can you look forward to in Redux? Cameos from characters that appear later in the series, but never made it for Wrath of Pharaohmon. A few events and dates might be re-arranged, too. The first chapter alone will have a proper 'prologue' opening and interaction with the Sailor Senshi & Spirit Detectives! How is that? In the original, the Detectives didn't come into play until around Chapter 5. Now, they'll be granted a proper entry into the series! Sounds cool, right? :D Some fights will be extended and others shortened. The duel between Yugi and Felinismon will definitely be improvised by me and LazerWulf. May be if possible, we could throw in an extra duel or two before the Shadow Tournament as a bonus treat. :D Now another inquiry that's begging to be asked: What does this mean for the old Wrath of Pharaohmon entry? Well, this will be a soft reboot, meaning only this season will receive the reboot treatment. For now, stick with reading the original as a reference, but follow Redux, as it will ultimately replace the original as an 'official' part of the long-running YYGDM mythos. I'll keep the old version up as a memento. But, know there will come some changes to differentiate Redux from the original. I've done this with my Kai fic already. Allow the surprises and mysteries to become unveiled to you just as my old-time reader did back in 2003-2005. Once Redux is done, you can immediately jump right into the Invasion of the Rajita and blast forward through the series as I don't plan to revise anything past season 1. Bottom line: I want to give season 1 the same quality of writing I've been giving Dawn of Chaos, Kai, and most recent stories. So, without further ado, it's time to time warp back into 2003 and re-live the renewed classic YYGDM season 1! Old school goodness coming your way! Before DoC, the Rajita, Taiyoukai, Beast Tamers, Valkyries, Kuipers, Neo Senshi, GX, 5Ds, time travel, complex plots, and dimension crossing, there were only five groups that amassed together due to a common goal: to stop the evil Pharaohmon! Enjoy the old school goodness!

Jan 28, 2014: I really did mean to tell you this during our brief chat tonight, but you were on a limited time. Just want to put this out to you. Not sure if you read up on my DoC A/Ns or check my profile, but I said I was going through some personal issues going on in my life. Well, I finally want to clear the air with you. I still work as a volunteer at a museum three times a week and still going through the process of finding work (still waiting to hear back from a school district). If that's not enough, last September (late-Sept), my mother broke the news to me that she was diagnosed with breast cancer (later revealed to be stage II). It affected me hard and thus why I wasn't able to write a single new DoC Chapter until Dec/Jan. I couldn't focus on a lot of stuff in my work and free time causing me to get sick from the amount of stress I've gone through (got sick to the point where I got the usual seasonal flu plus a nasty stomach flu). The only fics I could find any time to do were collabs with Chaosblazer and two Redux chapters. My moods shifted and I was eating very little. By mid-Nov, my mother had major surgery to remove the cancer tumor and had her right breast reconstructed through a mastectomy. She stayed at the hospital for five days/nights until she came home for recovery. I spent all my free time helping care for my mother (she's thankful for what I've done) and take care of a lot of the house responsibilities. Though I was glad she was home, I hadn't recovered from my stress/anxiety and I often feared if some disease would affect me later in life. My doctors told my mother her cancer apparently isn't hereditary but it was a freak accident with her genetics (doesn't help that what we put in our mouth are an overabundance of overly processed foods that can affect our health plus unknown environmental factors). I mostly have to fear diabetes since that runs on both sides of my family. Of course, I didn't do myself any favors by googling Webmd and those other self-diagnosis sites. Big mistake. Don't ever do this. It will NOT help any! It'll make things worse and that's exactly how I ended up pushing my anxiety/stress levels to new heights. Certainly the cold weather and constant weather patterns made me susceptible to the flu (got sick twice over the past two months). It took me a while to finally recover and regain my normal eating patterns. By mid-Dec, my mother was able to finally walk and drive on all on her own. She's been able to go back to work since then but also to take it easy (major stress from work was also a factor that might've caused her cancer to begin with). I couldn't enjoy Christmas much being sick with the seasonal and stomach flu. But, for my Thanksgiving and Christmas wish, I only ever wanted my mother to kick this cancer's butt and recover to live many more years. I prayed for my mother's survival through surgery and to many years of better health. For 2014, we consider a 'New Beginning' for both of us. I look to get a paying job (or two) while I continue my museum volunteer work and to better myself by getting back on my physical exercises while eating more whole foods (and less processed ones) than before. Here I am writing to you now recovered from the mental and physical anguish I've had to endure. My appetite levels are back to where they were several months ago. My stress/anxiety come and goes, but I'm managing them thanks to probiotics (natural pills that help with my stomach nerves) and some exercise. As evidenced with my recent DoC chapters, I can focus on my writing again. My mother is doing great as we speak. She's taking charge of her life again. She won't need any chemo, which I'm truly thankful for. She has to take medications and will be on watch for the next 7-10 years by her doctors. It's her positive thinking and inner strength (and prayers from others) that helped her fight through this and she's looking to win. I believe in her. I'm going to develop more positive thinking. Though, I've been having problems with my step-dad, who's been extremely moody (which I can't blame him for with all my mother had/has to endure) and I don't want his bad moods to affect my journey to a more positive outlook on life. Also, my step sister and brother apparently cut ties off from most of the family, including my mom (not going into details because they're not worth discussing now). I won't let these setbacks push me off course. There you have it. My own personal saga over the past few months and why I've mostly been private or not as interactive from Oct-Dec. If you wish to leave a prayer for me, my mother, and my family (& friends) who's supported us, you may do so. I leave this on a final note: thank you for your time and I'm sorry for not breaking this news sooner (though, I did tell Belle first hand; so she's mostly aware of what's going on). I didn't know how to break this news to begin with. I went through a lot of emotional turmoil and regret not talking to any of you sooner about my problems. Thanks for the time for reading this if you made it this far. Let's make 2014 a better (or if 2013 was good enough for you then make the new year even better) and promising year for us. Cheers and take care. Sometimes people hide their true feelings behind a smile. It can help some get through hard times, but others are not fortunate and allow depression to take a toll on them. I have suffered depression in life, especially during my mother's recovery from Nov-Dec. We do set a lot of goals for ourselves we hope to achieve before our time comes and we pass on. Sometimes we get to accomplish all we can. We just gotta take good care of ourselves and not overachieve. Of course, positive thinking is the right step in any direction you take and good for one's health.

Aug 8, 2014 (Final Chapter of Dawn of Chaos): Yeah, this is it. It took nearly 4 years (alongside delays due to real-life problems, esp. last fall/winter) to finally finish this story; went way longer than expected. It was a long and fun ride with all the insane battles, plot twists, and stuff to make this a fun and ambitious season. It's by far the most difficult fanfic I've had the chance to write, accounting over a million words (and the only one as well). This story is the biggest game changer for events to come. I do recall a few years back around '08 I claimed to have another decade before retiring fanfic writing. But, with these crop of new ideas, I'm not so sure. If anything, I may scale on updates and try finding the perfect balance rotating between fanfic & original story writing. With new ideas, we have new series like Attack on Titan and entertainment as a whole changing (for the better or worse). Most importantly, since this and Digimon Fusion Kai are my biggest fanfics, I may try releasing them on deviantart with deviants like Ford, Chaos, and others to feature them in DA groups (and finding good artists for commissions). Both old and new readers can read these good stories for years to come. So, to those who've stayed in touch with my stories and have stuck with this fic to the very end, thank you. Those who are catching up, no rush. This story won't be going anywhere. You have all the time to read and review. :D Until then, the next big YYGDM fic, Neos Rising, is set for a 2015 release. This is to break off from major YYGDM writings and spread out releases when it's most convenient for me. Thankfully, no upcoming fic will ever reach the ungodly lengths of this story ever. While it seems far off, it'll be here sooner than you think! And with that, this is the end of the YYGDM season trilogy. But, it's not the end of the series. YYGDM is still here to stay! :) I sincerely thank you and hope to see you keeping reading! I have plenty of stories left to tell. See you again soon!

December 23, 2014 (Email): You might be interested to know that The West Coasters won't have the 'call out your attacks' trope. It's an experiment I'm going to try. The trope may be minimized in Neos United. If it works, I may apply it to the future stories, but no guarantees. Nothing can be done for D-Reaper's Fury though. After DoC, the series have more compacted storytelling. I might be going for a more American Action cartoon approach (less 'calling out attack names', shorter chapter counts, less shonen lengths). Though, Defiants might turn into more of a mini-season than a movie. Lazer believes it'll likely become a season, but I told him I'm not going for another long season again (besides D-Reaper's Fury and CG, but the latter is already as short as we can make it). The main reason it could be long is because it'll have the largest roster of heroes in any YYGDM story, especially adding the Valkyrie Maidens, Neo teams, and West Coasters into the mix. (It's a response that Defiants/YYGDM-01 returns back to the Calling Out Attacks)

2016 (Shinnen:New Year final chapter review): I still intend to continue writing fics for a while longer. I'll find ways to balance my eventual novel writing and fic writing. Somehow I'll try and balance them out. (Looking back, it becomes harder than you thought as you get older, especially juggling a lot of stories in 2021)

2016 (D-Reaper's Fury's final chapter): The launch of this story pretty much marked the start of what my friend/collab partner, Ford1114, labeled the 'The Recreational Years'. This fic has pretty much helped to hone my writing skills better. I don't want to toot my own horn, but I think I've hit my peak as a fanfic writer and am looking to venture out to prepare my plans for my own published works (using a few of my own O.C.s and repackaging them). Well, that's my plan. There's still unfinished business with my remaining fanfic works. So while my fanfic writing activity might dwindle (especially if my planned original works somehow pick up), I don't plan to stop until the fics I want to finish get their conclusions. And most importantly as long as my passion is still there (as long as I don't burn myself out like I did with certain parts of Dawn of Chaos and a little of Shinnen). I'll go as however long as I can (I mean, if the likes of Team Four Star can keep going pumping out their content, why should I stop altogether?) I hope this revision allowed me to improve my writing skills. From this point on, I want to do less adaptations (Ress B and what little DB stuff left to adapt notwithstanding) and my own stories (fanfics and original writings). Hopefully, I'll get to do that with most of Cross Generations, Valkyrie Advent, and future fictions.

2016 (Cross Generations first chapter): For those that care, for this to be my final DFK story, it has come full circle. I started my whole Digimon Fusion reboot back in 2010 and it's 2018 now. This decade I've grown as a person and a writer. I'm already transitioning into the real world, and sooner than later I'll be less active in fanfic writing (I'm already in process of writing my first novel!). I've enjoyed my long labors of building the DFK and YYGDM universes. But, now with The West Coasters complete, I'm looking at possibly taking my favorite and best OCs and incorporating them in a universe that's not totally restricted by canon rules. I wish to one day expand on that. I wish to transition to a fictional writer than just being a fanfic one. So, who knows, West Coasters might be a precursor to that career. And with that said, CG will be one of my last major fanfics as I transition into fictional writing and the real world.

2016 (The West Coasters final chapter): Something to get out of the way, The West Coasters proved to be one of the most challenging stories I've ever had to write. That's also why it took long for chapters to be released. Since WC was essentially an original story and does not include any of the canon YYGDM characters, I treated it as if I were writing an original novel. So having done this, TWC may have become a backdoor pilot for an idea of my first novel. I do have ideas in mind and perhaps something I want to do one day.

2016 (Valkyrie Homecoming Segment 7): And by now, it will be half a day before 2017. I hope you all had a safe time on New Years and let's start fresh with a better year, for those who didn't have such a good year. As for me, I'm looking at progress and moving forward (namely finding better work, taking charge of situation, and starting my novel). And hopefully visit another country (or even just another city in the US). Let's all look forward to 2017 and hope for the best despite the challenging road that lie ahead. I'd honestly wish we'd all have the easy road to take, but we know that'll never happen. Anyway, that's enough about me. Take care all and 2017 here we come.

2017 (Valkyrie Homecoming Segment 8): My partner already expressed his views on politics. Personally, I don't wish to delve too far since I've had other personal issues. All I can say, we're entering the era of protests if the violence on Inauguration Day and the Women's March were any indications what to expect during this presidential term. IMO, violence shouldn't be the answer. The Women's March, which I'm in support of, is how you protest with peaceful results. Now whether 'the President' listens remains to be seen. 2016 was a pretty crappy year in politics. The campaigns were laughable. The choices weren't great. For a lot, it was a no-win situation. To be honest, I wasn't even in the country when Election Day happened. So, to say that he won did surprise me. I was not pleased. I come from a family of Republicans, so they of course voted for him. I didn't. So we'll leave it at that. I'm not going to judge who voted for whom. I will say though, health insurance better not be negatively affected for me and especially for my mother, who is a breast cancer survivor. She's in good health and spirits these days, but I hope nothing goes wrong that her health insurance doesn't get too costly for her. If she needs the help, I'll be there for her. For these next four years, simply put: hope for the best but prepare for the worst. I refuse to allow myself to dwell in the negatives. I'll be realistic but hopeful. (Ford's past reply: Because I should mention the presidential election, especially with the inauguration this month, normally we ignore politics, but this, THIS is one of the most controversial events in America history to the point I cannot trust the country we grew up with. I am beyond scared. Of these coming four years, this will affect everything else such as the economy and things. Let's stand united and be safe.) (Recapping due to the response of the November 2024 election sequel's dark plot twist) I'm preparing for the first stages of transitioning into being an official author. Writing is not only the second-part of my double major, but it's become my passion. I feel I've gained sound advice from my collabs/beta-writers and experience to begin writing my first novel. As we speak, I've already started to outline and create my characters, but not without help. Granted, most of these characters are just simple rehashes of my OCs and others are based on my collaborators' OC characters. There will be original characters that'll draw inspiration from real life people I know and even historical figures. My untitled novel may end up a 3-4 book series with a spin-off book or two. This year, I will begin writing that novel without fail. This may decrease my fanfic writing, but it's a small price to pay. I mean, Max Acorn's already started writing his novel, so I figure why not? And I do thank Ford1114 for inspiring me to push forth with this goal. (Ford's reply: I can understand that ever since the author's personal schedule changes in 2016 for me to get use too, there's the upload of chapters that it's no longer as every week all the time (such as one chap release, then wait for one week till another chap is release the other week. In rare cases, there's a 2-3 week delay in October before VA Ch. 3 was release.). As a result, it becomes harder to invest of co-authoring a corner story above and I understand why I was frustrated (At least we are lucky/more time to get through Madoka/Shinnen alongside DoC and DFKai in the past 5 years). And fanfics in general since they are not paid jobs (I should mention last April (including the Champamon idea from Chaos), there was some disagreements when I made that point before we work this out, honestly this was where I got the idea of Pluto/Mnemosyne's conflict from (and is also inspired of various creator differences/disagreements such as Kanius' issues with LazerWulf which see below for detail.). Another reason is that K mention his debut novel, he's working on it during VA/VH's progress added his schedule this year, this contribute what he's said that his fanfic activity begins to wane and remind we'll eventually move on after completing few more final fics. Honestly, we really want to get out of fanfics to start over, to start our careers for real in making us feel relevant again and popular culture/general public to finally take Kanius seriously. A change to obviously make a difference. That's why I don't want him to suffer the same 'fanfic pitfalls' from specific authors like UltraSonic007 (sure he planned on a novel, but I don't know what's the title and where is an official website of himself as a starting author), Darius Almighty (the author of a Kingdom Hearts AU pre-2010 called Trials of the Keyblade), and even the author of Bringer of Death even though they (except Darius) inspired him (at least the co-authors of Bringer of Death are more understanding (and even referenced for Return of Cooler Abridged) that mentioned in Ch. 97 if they no longer have time for their fanfic with longer wait/suspension lasted too long, especially since Super's canon overshadows their fanon, then they will post a comprehensive spoiler chapter full summaries/outline of remaining plans and series finale to be done with.).) I also would like to thank my team of collaborators/beta-writers for helping work with me. Belletiger, you continue to send me the positive spirits and wonderful fanart to keep me going. Despite having moved to a new country, we still have our connections and let our friendship continue on. I also thank Ford1114 and Chaosblazer for their contributions for my stories and just being cool guys in general. Chaosblazer, thanks for helping me crossover YYGDM and Digimon Fusion Kai through your Accel Stream series. Without the Trinity crossovers, it probably wouldn't have been possible. Same with you Ford, you helped to make the Trinity possible, we made progress on Cross Generations, and created the carefree and wonderfully ridiculous Cornerverse series. LazerWulf, I thank him for his editorial/beta-writing work on my YYGDM stories, and for sending me that Jake Jackson's Norse Myths book, which has given me new ideas for VA and my untitled novels. I also thank Lazer for creating the TV Tropes site and the tumblr page for YYGDM. Meanwhile, Ford, you, and me continue to update the YYGDM TV Tropes site. And others who haven't contributed in a long time: I want to thank you all. Ok, now to get things off my best in regards to individuals. I'll start with Chaosblazer. This won't take long. We've already discussed and vented our thoughts through emails, so this just bears repeating. As much great ideas you've shared with me, that's unfortunately resulted in you spamming my gmail. I know it was never your intention and you mean well. I'm just saying the frequent emails have prevented me from catching up on emails from Ford, Lazer, Belle, and others. Yes, I could've simply deleted your emails after I finish reading, but I didn't in case I needed to reference your emails for ideas of yours I might've missed. That's kinda partly my fault. But, for future reference, can you consolidate your emails instead of sending a ton at once? It'd help my patience and sanity. I just want you to understand I can be particularly busy and can't respond to every email. You aren't the only person I need/want to respond to. Also, I know you love using Kensuke a lot and he's an entertaining character, but sometimes it's ok to let him cool down and not get involved with every little conflict in my stories these days. We've already resolved/discussed his involvement in Valkyrie Advent, but the only other stories left he has any stake in are Cross Gen, Defiants, and that Champamon/Universe 6 fic. I just feel he's had plenty of spotlight with his own series that scaling back his involvements shouldn't be an issue. That's all I have to say. Hope you don't take this the hard way. Just be mindful if I'm not able to respond as frequently as I want and maybe let your other characters get more shining moments. I personally would like to see Slade's backstory one day. That would interest me most. Now for LazerWulf, my friend we've known each other for ages. More like 2004, huh? That's been that long. Where has all that time gone? We've had our ups and downs. We've had our agreements and disagreements. Most of which have been civil, but a few occasions we've gotten defensive towards each other. That's to be expected from a team of creative writers and editors. There will always be ideas we spitball on and decide what's best for the story. Thanks to you, I've gotten better as a writer and learned from mistakes (not all but the majority). And actually as harsh as you can be, you're likely more forgiving than paid and professional editors. Anyway, to get to the point, things have gotten hectic in regards what we want best for Valkyrie Advent. This is a fic project I've been anticipating for the longest time. We outlined basic ideas back in 2011 and finally put it out last year. I have my ideas and you have yours. That's led to creative differences and 'executive meddling'. It's also come to the point where you only focus on just YYGDM through our chats and gmail messages. Now, look that's fine if you're just invested in YYGDM. However for me, I can't do that. I'd lose interest that way. That's why I have DFK and Cornerverse to fall back on. Those have allowed me more creative freedom that YYGDM hasn't allowed me to. With the advent of West Coasters and now VA, readership with YYGDM has gotten low. Cross Gen has more reviews/views than TWC and VA. That's expected since OCs are main characters (the Kuipers at least have the benefit being Fanon Senshi), and they'd honestly be better suited in original novels where they have more freedom to develop as characters. You've gone on record for not being bond of Cornerverse, but yet you have your own ideas for Cornerverse? I mean, how does that make sense? I know what you're written are just comical shorts, but that still boggles my mind. You being fixated on just YYGDM has almost made me lose interest in the series on several occasions. I mean, to be honest there hasn't been activity on our YYGDM page besides our little circle. No one outside our group and a few fans only know of YYGDM's existence. As long-running as it's been, it's small potatoes to even the smallest of webcomic series. Besides Houou Mars fanart submission, the other pictures you've posted haven't received a 'like' yet. If we wanted to expand YYGDM via social media, we should do more. Maybe a deviant page? A facebook page? Maybe connect with other fanartists who could draw fanart commissioners for us? I know Ford suggested someone called Kai-Yan, who drew the Houou Mars pic, but I don't think you responded back. Well, very soon I'm going to send her a message and thank her for the commission and am considering her to possibly draw covers for my novels. Speaking of, you haven't even shown interest or asked about my novel plans when I mentioned them in my West Coaster, Apophis Rising and this story's author notes. One day, I'd like to tell you just a few things about it, if you're interested. I even have ideas to somehow fit the West Coasters (with your permission since you created most of them) into it since they can be free from fanfiction restrictions and see the light of day in an official series. Wouldn't it be cool if they were to appear in my novels as official characters? It'd be better than to be forever in the shadow of the YYGDM canon characters. Heck, you suggested books I could read and that can help me get back into reading, which will help with my eventual novel writing. Jake Jackson's Norse Myths has certainly given me a few ideas. You also don't seem to interact with others besides Belle and I. I do wish despite creative differences, you can talk to folks like Ford. He means well (Ford1114's response: Thank you K, I actually immediately deeply cried when you write that and why I put FFXV - Somnus song in our A/Ns). He like you wants what's best for the YYGDM series. Can we try and at least be cooperative and maybe respond to emails he sends you? I'm not suggesting you answer every little thing he sends, because even I don't do that. You're free to agree or disagree like you've done with me. I'm asking as one friend to another. The last thing we (or I) want is any Internet drama. There's enough of that crap online anyway, and another reason why I don't involve myself with online communities. And as for me, I'll try not to get too stressed when we're having creative differences. Because the last time we had one I almost had a nervous breakdown. Mind you, it wasn't severe. I resolved it by next morning. Let's just try and approach each situation with care. Please don't take this too personal. And that's all she wrote. For those I mentioned, don't take this hard. I don't mean to get personal. I want you to know I'm imperfect and can only do/handle so much. Let's go into 2017 with a clean slate and be respectful of each other's time/space/ideas.

2017 (Valkyrie Homecoming Segment 9): I do need to take more self-responsibility. Could it be my own fault for letting too many people influence and try to drive the direction of my fanfics? Possibly. That means I'll really need to be more strict with what goes into my stories. If I don't take more self-responsibility, then I'm letting too many folks walk all over and take advantage of me. That can't happen anymore. It's time I start reevaluating about my writing future. If I wish to pursue a writing career, I'll need to think outside the box and avoid being just a fanfic person. I need to expand my writing horizons. Not to say I'll stop fanfic writing, I still plan to reconstruct and create my own personal canon of my favorite fandoms. I hope to continue fan projects if my writing career does take off, because I consider that part of my identity. Maybe some form of YYGDM will continue, or maybe I'll get involved in a new fandom that inspires new ideas. I wish for my writings to inspire some creative writers to create their own projects or reconstruct their favorite fandoms (much in vein to TeamFourStar). For anyone reading these commentaries, thank you. (Heartwarming in Hindsight foreshadowing: Think outside the box and expand your writing horizons leads to PV/UL and the new triad (AnM/Shin-YYGDM/AnGC) in honing a lot of official writing skills besides almost done writing the debut novel draft. Continue fan projects leads to Ascendancy, Shin-YYGDM and YYGDM-01/Defiants (of being the final overall fanfiction in history and life, alongside its alternate ending storyline) (relating to some form of YYGDM will continue with Shin-YYGDM being a legacy OVA reboot, and Defiants/YYGDM-01 being the series finale of the mainstream continuity), involved in a new fandom that inspires new ideas leads to you getting into the Persona franchise thanks to P5 (remembering what you said that it's something new back in UL's first chapter A/N) alongside others like Code Vein/the crossover characters involvement in final YM event/and all these various crossover works plan to be involved in the fanfic video game. So in a way, all these heartwarming hindsights and life changing experiences are mainly all thanks to me and all the hard work for you with everything paid off and clearly not making this a waste of time/energy.)

2017 (Valkyrie Homecoming Final Segment): This allowed me the freedom I possibly couldn't with Valkyrie Advent. There were no restrictions to hinder my creativity and most of all to have fun writing nonsensical scenarios, which could only happen in the Cornerverse. The chapters weren't anywhere as long and I had help to write most of the battles. Most importantly, this allowed me to write and reveal big unmarked spoiler moments for Valkyrie Advent, which I plan to expound and expand upon. This also helps to spark interest back into writing VA once again after this story is done, and sparks my creative muse to work on my novel. It was fun doing this with Ford. Although I did go far with my two reflections/rants in Ch 8-9, I hoped I could get my message across. To those I've addressed (Chaos and Lazer), I don't want to have any qualms and we can all reach mutual understandings.

2018 (To Chaosblazer in case to remind, and saying this again in Defiants Ch 1 A/N): On the other hand, that'd be your characters that's going to end up fixing everything, rendering my characters (and the canon ones) to look weak and insignificant in comparison. Let's be honest, Slade and the Young Guns can just curbstomp every bad guy we've seen so far and you wouldn't even need the Triad. I know you'd rather Ken just kick Zeed X's ass by himself without effort, but I'm sure you know that'd be anti-climatic since Zeed X is not just his personal enemy, but is an enemy to all. It'd be better if he was beaten by a jointed effort. Well, I'm not sure you know, but I don't plan to do anymore major Triad-style fanfics. Cross Generations is pretty much it. Any crossover in Defiants is relatively minor since the conflict is in YYGDM's dimension. Moreover, after Cross Generations, the only major stories I have left are Defiants and Ascendancy; the latter is mostly retellings and could be where the new Broly adaptation gets written. I'll be starting on a Persona Vein sequel with Ford soon and that exists in its own world. I'm also planning to transition from fanfic writing to official novel writing. Meaning I'm thinking about my writing future and hope to become a content creator. I'm sorta in a crossroads like TFS is at the moment between DBZA and their original content; the latter original content gives them monetary rewards. I intend to do the same with my future novels. Already, I know a fanfic writer (Maxacorn, who btw the created Max Kamiya, the D3s, and Ascendants to begin with) that will be publishing his debut novel online for sell. So, no I sadly won't have time to make anymore 'great stories' for a reunion of sorts. I'm just about ready to move on from writing anymore Triad crossover stories. I've had time to think about giving my honest thoughts on this. I chose a bad day to send that chapter since I was volunteer working today. To be frank, Chaos, it's nothing personal at all. I have no issues with you, except for the constant emailing habits. And I know this has been an issue for a while. My inbox is proof of that. It's easier for me to navigate when I'm reading through a thread made by one of us (me, Ford, Lazer, etc.) because they all use gmail. While Ford said his piece through his A/N, I haven't even written mine yet. Ford just put templates for me in case I needed to speak out and vent. Now, listen to me. My frustrations stems from the fact you constantly have to shove your character down conversations regarding the stories, and this includes plots where he's not even involved (or supposed to be). I think this whole collab thing we've had the past few years have produced great results and I'm not going to call it a failure. This allowed us to form a friendship. We've passed along good, crazy, and somewhat weird ideas. However, there have been a few headaches that came with it. Sadly, we all have to take the good with the bad, especially in collabs. It was all great until I think the Battle of Digital Gods fanfic. I know I had Kensuke guest star in that along with Dimitri, Karin, Athena celebrating with Future Mimi. For some reason, I just had Ken appear in that just to guest star and come visit Tai and co. after the whole Beerusmon thing blew over. But, for some reason just because you didn't like Beerus and his behavior, so you wanted Ken to confront Beerusmon while putting him in his place (whereas Omega X decisively lost his fight). There was also Ken becoming Ascendant God behind the scenes during the D-Reaper conflict and getting it before Tai did. Then, there's Slade and the Young Guns being higher tier than everyone one of my characters (canon and OC), and there couldn't possibly be anyone good or bad that can be on a higher pedestal than them. There's also situations like with Valkyrie Advent where I've adamantly made it clear this was Kotori and her team's story; meaning she gets to fight and defeat Loki & Mist. If Ken's always around to want to fight every major bad guy in my stories, how are other characters like Kotori supposed to grow on their own? Even in the Cornerverse stuff, we couldn't rib/poke fun at Corner!Ken when a character jokingly called him a 'Gary Stu' (which admittedly, that went too far and in hindsight that was stupid of us to include; there are far worse Mary/Gary-Stu characters out there). Then, when Corner!Ken got killed off with with Omega X and Angemon X, you said Slade and co. would've been there to save him. Ok, fair call, but who's taking time out of his free time writing the stories here? Me. I don't have to write anything with my characters, yours, or Ford's if I don't want to. I could've just stopped, but I kept going because I didn't want to leave unfinished work behind. I've already committed that cardinal sin with my Witchblade Sakura and Galaxy Stars fics. Cross Generations went without so much of a hitch until bit when Ken returned with Slade to be confronted by Metalla X and being accused of (accidentally) killing Tike. That had to be scraped because you didn't take too well to it. I thought it was a well-written scene that created tension between characters. That would've been resolved with Ken's redemption and getting to make right by fighting with the others to stop Zeed X. Then, Tike and Ken would've still have their ice cream thing, leading to them forgiving each other. And quite honestly, I thought Ken killing GranDracmon for the last time would've been good enough to satisfy. I mean, he got to kill his first nemesis (and quite honestly Ken should've had the honor of killing his own main villain in our first collab not Tai & Kari). It was during the last stretch of Cross Generations where your demands for Ken were annoying me. You wanted one thing and I wanted another. We had conflicting interests. I almost didn't want to include Jirenmon and Toppomon because it seemed you were just throwing obstacles in there just to make Ken stronger than the other heroes and it was too early to introduce these two. But, I went along. I couldn't possibly pass by including Jiren and Toppo's expies, because I wasn't sure if I was ever going to be my own interpretation of ToP. I took the gamble and things thankfully paid off. I can honestly say the last stretch of Cross Gen was nowhere near as stressful as DoC. I consider Cross Gen a better finale than DoC. The point is, you offer great ideas, but a lot of them fall back on just your Ken Rainer character. And look, I get it. We have our bias toward our characters. We get overprotective of them. However, when it comes to writing Ken lately, it's just been walking on thin ice for me. There's been a lot of things I've written you've liked what I've done for him, but the very rare instances where you've gotten upset. The last thing I want to do is step on anyone's toes. And because of how it's been lately, I'm just ready to cut our collab ties and am ready to move onto other ventures. I want to get my novel off the ground and expand my horizons. Creating more 'great stories' with our Trinity isn't going to help me grow as a content creator and allow me to get out of that stagnant bubble. You might be ok with partnering for more Trinity fics, but I'm not. That's also why when I'm continuing DFK via Ascendant, I'd like to do it without Kensuke, Karin, and Dimitri. Going forward with DFK's future, I'd like to go back to the simpler days before the crossover and Trinity insanity. The Defiants finale will be the last time team-up involving our characters. After that, it's over. And while I appreciate you writing scenes for me, I don't need them for Defiants. Ford isn't even going to write many scenes for me for my Urban Legends fic I'm planning to work on soon. Going forward, I have to write on my own, fix as many of my own mistakes, and work with an editor that can improve my story.

Cross Generations Chapter 28 A/N (2018): Ok, now the big whoa moment: the End of Time segment. Honestly, writing this made me reflect on how long I've been writing YYGDM. It has been November 2003, hasn't it? Roughly 15 years. A lot has changed in real world time, but YYGDM-01 still remains, outliving numerous trends as countless reboots, remakes, and sequels of franchises. That's amazing, but also sad that the series hasn't grown any more than the least known webcomics. Granted, maybe it's because YYGDM has been exclusively been posted on. I have attempted to post some chapters of YYGDM and DFK on Deviantart, but I'm not a big fan of the formatting there with literary works. There's also ArchiveofOurOwn, so I may try that. Zeed X also illustrates reasonings for rebooting the fictional omniverse: the lack of creativity and countless excess worlds being born from bad ideas. I mean, who's honestly going to miss stuff like Battlefield Earth? Except maybe people who want something to laugh at, riff, and need something 'so bad it's good' movie to kill their boredom. The same goes for bad dubs like 4Kids One Piece. In his own fucked up logical thinking, Zeed X makes a point about bringing balance to an overcrowded omniverse (thinking almost like Thanos's view about the universe in Infinity War, but none of his morals). Plus, Zeed X is right that certain franchises have overstayed their welcome, and I partially agree YYGDM has gone too long. I'm already in the process of writing my first novel and plan to wind down on YYGDM. Wrath of the Defiants will be the series finale.

2018 (Cross Generations final chapter): We decided CG's theme would be a celebration of pop culture across generations. In this case, some of our favorite pop cultures like anime, comic books, ancient mythologies (namely Norse), etc, were showcased and celebrated. This was also meant to cherish our favorite pop culture things while coping with the difficulties of real life. So, this fic became a coping mechanism while I was dealing with some real world and health issues. Zeed X ultimately was meant to symbolize the real world trying to destroy the things we cherish. Tai and Agumon's sacrifices was meant to remind their friends (and us readers) that they won't be around forever to resolve everyone's problems. And this epilogue's intention was to show that future generations can be depended on to continue carrying on our cherished pop cultures. Taiga being the next Omega X was meant to show the Ascendant's legacy will live on. So, with the end of this story, this marks the end of not just an era, but a phase. CG would make a great series ender if it not for the whole Christina/Sailor O and Defiants deals. The next phase will be my transition to novel writing, but also starting on new fandoms to write for (Persona 5/Code Vein/Kakegurui/Nioh respectively through Urban Legends and Akane no Mai), showcasing a few more adventures in Ascendancy, and finishing off tired-out longer-runners (Prelude/Wrath of the Defiants). I'm hopeful my novel and UL/AnM will rekindle my writer's passion. It'll be nice to explore new fandoms and create one of my own.

2018 (Kanius Production Timeline): I see my days of fanfic writing winding down a little, but there's still unfinished business with a few fics left. All the while, I am looking into crafting universes of my own novels. Some O.C.s I've used may have a place in my novels and develop into their own characters without restrictions of canon binding them. Now with the 'Final Years' behind me, my fanfic activities should see a decrease while I dwell and work on my first novel. It's ok though; Urban Legends and Akane no Mai will serve to further enhance my authorship skills once I go professional. By the way, I just looked at UltraSonic007's last chapter of Destiny: Gospel of a New Genesis (An Evangelion/Destiny crossover). In his A/Ns, he states it is indeed his swan song and has retired from fanfiction writing with higher priorities to take care in life. Like me on this site, he's written fics since 2001 until 2018 (roughly 17-18 years with some break periods). I'd like to thank him for especially influencing my writing style after reading his stories. I hope one day we can reconnect and possibly discuss our novel works if he has anything to show. LIkewise, I want to thank Max Acorn for allowing me to utilize his Digimon OC characters and concepts for my stories. He's successfully branched off as a novelist and his first book is available for purchase on Amazon. I plan to buy a copy to show my support for my fellow fic writer and friend.

2019 (Urban Legends first chapter): I'm in the process of writing my first professional novel. It was Ford1114 who helped to push me forward with my dream of writing and one day publishing my novel. He's recognized my talents and remembered a statement I made a long time ago that I hoped to be a novel writer. He thinks UL will provide the best platform for me to transition from fanfic writing to professional novel writing. Unlike the fanfics I've written before, I intend to treat this story as I would a professional novel. This undertaking will be an interesting experiment and creative process.

2019 (Invasion of the Rajita Ao3): Geez, in hindsight, I can't believe I grinded out so many long chapters at these ungodly lengths! I don't know what I was thinking! I either must've had a lot of energy in 2005, or had a lot of free time. Don't worry. I don't write at these lengths anymore like used to. I can only do so much and ever write at these lengths occasionally. As usual, I've been revising chapters as I go. It's time consuming, but I want to put out the best versions of these chapters with the best to my ability. Moreover, I want a completely revised Invasion of the Rajita out since there's a lot I've had to clean up. And there's some cringe worthy dialogue I'm not exactly happy with. In the end, I think it'll be worth the time and investment. You readers deserve that. Again, I'm debating if I should post these on as some kind of 'Redux', but I doubt it. The most I'll probably do is replace original versions with the 2019 AO3 revisions and document the changes in brand new A/Ns. But, a part of me doesn't want to be accused of 'revisionist history'.

2019 (Witchblade Sakura discontinued): Hello, readers. You probably thought this was going to be a new chapter and a Witchblade Sakura revival? It has been 2011 since the last update. I regret to inform you. I'm sorry to say, but this is my official statement: I'm discontinuing this fanfic. I don't do this often since I try to make it a point to finish my fanfics, but this was not to be. I wrote this fanfic at a time when I was still a big Naruto fan. I was keeping up with the manga weekly through scanlations before legal simul manga releases became a thing thanks to Shonen Jump's concentrated efforts. In 2008, I also delved into the Witchblade mythos reading the comics and watching the anime. However, with time, writing fanfics are essentially a hobby. Granted, it's a creative outlet. In fact, writing fanfics has helped me improve my writing craft and I'm still learning while in the process of currently writing an original novel. And other fanfics took priority over WS, leading me to lessen my workload and cutting ties with this story. Moreover, my interest in Naruto began waning in 2011 where the Shippuden anime suffered due to the endless non-canon stuff that became detrimental to the main story. The manga was no better with some of the creative directions that weren't to my liking (none of which has anything to do with Naruto being paired with Hinata; I personally don't mind that shipping). So, something had to give. Once the manga ended in 2014, so many events happened in the series that made it difficult for me to incorporate into a fanfic that stopped in 2011 and has since died. Where's the incentive in me reviving something I have no creative passion for anymore? That would not be fair to you or myself. Sadly, finishing this was not meant to be. This is where I leave the story and I wanted you all to know this. I sincerely apologize for not giving this the attention it deserved. Thank you all who read this while it was being updated in 2008-2011. And thanks to the support and wishes for this story's eventual revival. I don't like crushing people's hopes, but I'm doing what I feel is right for me. Honestly, I should've come clean and declared this a Dead Fic a long time ago. With 2020 and a new decade impending, I might as well put this project to rest and divorce myself from it. I intend to keep this story up. So, if you wish to revisit this, by all means feel free. And please do look for other Naruto stories. There's sure to be plenty better than this. Take care of yourselves and one another. Later.

Digimon Fusion Ascendancy Chapter 69 (2019): Anyway, I couldn't leave you hanging following that last chapter. It has been over a year since these past chapters were written for Cross Generations. It's amazing that even a year removed this was the finale battle. Zeed X truly cut it deep with his speech and disparages the YYGDM-01 dimension, even to the point of cursing them. He's set the YYGDM-01 on the path of isolation from the other dimensions. His speech also had me reflect on the years I've spent writing for YYGDM. It will already be over 15 years and YYGDM still stands, outliving many trends, countless remakes, reboots, and franchise sequels. It's even outlasted all my other fanfics. While that should be a commendable feat of itself, it hasn't even build and reached a fandom beyond that seen from the least known probably doesn't help that this series is not accessible due to its sheer length, the amount of mega crossover events, and only exclusive to this site (granted, I've barely started porting over some of the YYGDM stories at AO3). Zeed X illustrates his reasons for rebooting the fictional omniverse: the lack of creativity and countless excess worlds being born from bad ideas. He probably thinks who's going to miss crap like Battlefield Earth (other than folks who want something 'bad' to laugh at for the lulz) or bad English dubs like 4Kids One Piece. In his own screwed up mind, he thinks he's doing right by getting rid of the bad excess for a balanced omniverse. He also thinks certain franchises like YYGDM have overstayed their welcome. Having written YYGDM for 15 plus years, I reached a burn out point and since the end of CG I haven't written anything new for YYGDM whatsoever. Since then, it's been Ascendancy, Urban Legends, my novel, and the aforementioned secret project. I've decided Wrath of the Defiants will be the YYGDM series finale and canceling the previously planned The Crystal Age (instead that'll be incorporated into Defiants as the epilogue).

Feb 15, 2020 (Final YYGDM-01 Gaiden): Hi, readers. If this brief entry didn't get the message across properly, then let me be the first to say it. For those who've followed this crazy multi-crossover series for the better 15 years, then let me the first to say: it's over… for the most part. I'll get to that in a bit. Over time, I've given YuYuGiDigiMoon a lot of my dedicated free time, which could've been spent on some other leisure things. Granted, that's not to say I haven't committed to other leisure things, but this series has occupied a part of my life. Many of life's obstacles have tried to keep me from seeing this series through to the very end. Perhaps, I created a world too big and dense to oversee, but with the partners that willingly stuck with me and lent me their creative talents, I was able to stay the course and see many of YuYuGiDigiMoon's entries finish. I didn't want to be another one of those fanfic authors who ultimately never finished their stories. I've canceled stories willingly (see Witchblade Sakura and other long deleted stories in the years past). However, YuYuGiDigiMoon is different, because it's stuck with me this long. It became part of my creative identity. And I've wrapped up every story, except the finale yet to be written. Lately, my creative energy for YYGDM dwindled since the end of Cross Generations. My creative muse for YYGDM hasn't been there. Even my former beta reader, LazerWulf, has stepped down due to burnouts and personal matters. None of these disputes have anything to do with us personally. It was a mutual decision. Ironically enough, the last pure YYGDM chapter I've written is the Gaiden chapter preceding this one. Although Cross Generationswas a collaboration between YYGDM, Digimon Fusion Kai/Ascendancy, and other universes, the YYGDM universe still played a big part against the likes of Sailor Specter, the Black Ascendants/Zamasmon, Rebellious Homura, and the final boss Zeed X. What I'm trying to say is after some careful thinking over the past year and with the recent end of long-running fan projects (Team Four Star's Dragon Ball Z Abridged comes to mind), I've spent the last year recovering from creative burnout. That would be my lack of YYGDM-related updates. Well, I'm here to give my official statement: With the exception of the impending series finale Wrath of the Defiants, every other YYGDM entry has been effectively canceled. Having made headway into my first novel (which I'm calling 'Advent' for now) and started on a Persona 5/Code Vein fan project called Akane no Mai, I've fallen out of favor with YYGDM. So much so, I haven't even written anything for Defiants. Zero content over the past year. Defiants was intended for a 2019 release, but as you can surmise nothing was fulfilled. Perhaps having spent time away from YYGDM for over a year changed my perspective. With the recent decision to shift my focus toward original content and a refreshing fan project, I won't have dedicated time to create new YYGDM content. Cross Generations for me, and I'd also make a case for Dawn of Chaos, felt like a finality. I felt that it was a series high that can't be topped. While not every plot point has been resolved, I feel the majority of them have for YYGDM. More importantly, how do you top someone like Zeed X? Zeed X was essentially the apex villain and threatened an omniverse. It took a combination of YYGDM, DFK, and various characters from other worlds to fight him. The YYGDM heroes got their power-ups for the final fight. Zeed X gave the YYGDM cast quite a lecture about being 'an end all be all, grandiose, and perfect universe' that considers itself an elite compared to the other universes. He affected the characters physically and emotionally. With Defiants, it'd be a 'back to basics' and the story becomes more grounded. However, CG's ending felt like a culmination. Anything after it would just be an extended epilogue. And quite frankly, does Defiants deserve to be an epilogue? Who knows? In the end, Defiants may ultimately end up being a few chapters full of summarized events and just a handful of written dialogue scenes. Essentially, you're looking at a few OVA-styled chapters. While I'm not at a 'wits end with creativity' like TFS ultimately did for DBZA, I feel like it's time to close the door on all but one project. I don't want to be burdened with YYGDM forever. I also don't want this to run too long like The Simpsons, One Piece (anime version), Naruto/Boruto, and the ilk already have. YYGDM has been a blessing but a curse at the same time, but I'll fondly look back on it. The old stories will remain on this site and will expand into other sites like AO3. But as far as new stories go: that's it until Defiants is ready to go for closure. And even that may be a long wait. After 15 years, this is the final update until the sun rises for Defiants. I'm happy to have shared these wonderful stories with you and I hope they left y'all with some great memories. For those who've long supported and read my YYGDM series, thank you. To my collaborators who've been on this journey with me, I couldn't have done it without you. This passion project was a great creative endeavor. If anyone new is reading this, you have a wealth of stories to read and reflect back on in this new decade. I hate to disappoint especially with one story arc left, but this has to be done. It's time to say 'farewell for now' to this passion project. Until the light shines again on YYGDM, enjoy the rest of your lives. Take care of yourselves and each other.

Jun 27, 2020 (Chapter 1 of Shin-YYGDM): Hi, readers! If you're reading this, you're likely a newcomer or a long-time follower of my long-running mega anime crossover YuYuGiDigiMoon. If you're of the latter, then I'm so sorry to say this is not a new entry to YuYuGiDigiMoon. Or, let me backtrack: this is not a continuation of the original YuYuGiDigiMoon. This is for all intents and purposes, a complete reboot. Yes, a reboot. This is a completely new experience and will have no ties to the original. This reboot is intended to be a 4-chaptered OVA series and specifically to be accessible for new readers, who have never read YuYuGiDigiMoon. For others who may have lost track or fell out of it ages ago, this is an attempt to recapture those lost readers. Now to summarize what YuYuGiDigiMoon is: Many moons ago, I started a mega crossover series called YuYuGiDigiMoon. The titular series name comprises acronyms based on part of each titular series featuring the anime casts each series covers. Yurepresents YuYu Hakusho, the second Yu simultaneously represents both YYH and Yu-Gi-Oh, the Gi naturally just represents Yu-Gi-Oh!, Digi is part of Digimon, and Moon is obviously Sailor Moon. My friend LazerWulf, who was my beta-reader, came up with this cool title. Since 2003, YuYuGiDigiMoon has been a long-running fanfic franchise that has come and gone with me as time went on. Since then, I've completed a Seasonal Trilogy, one 'Movie' fic, an OVA done in a first-person POV, several side stories, a collection of Gaiden shorts, and mega crossover events based on interdimensional travel - hence called the Triad crossovers. However, as time went on, the series became too complex and overly long for any normal reader to follow. It became increasingly difficult for me since a few of these stories were collaborations and I endured creative differences. I only managed to finish up to the final Triad crossover called Cross Generations. Since then, I posted the final Gaiden chapter that detailed my recent burnout and thus I've placed the original YuYuGiDigiMoonon an indefinite hiatus. This comes at the cost of holding off the final story (Wrath of the Defiants), which would've ended the series. After some time, I've worked on other writing projects, including in the process of writing my first professional novel I hope to publish this decade. Then, another friend, Allfather-Ford, presented a brand new concept for YuYuGiDigiMoon. Instead of a continuation, we could do a reboot with fresh ideas and make full use of canon concepts instead of fully relying on AU ideas and undergoing OC characters. The issues that hurt the original YuYuGiDigiMoon were the sheer lengths the Seasonal Trilogy and some of the Triad crossovers, the overindulgence of forgettable OC characters* (not all but most of them), and the overreliance of AU elements that made the stories less appealing to new readers. All in all, these new readers would be confused. Moreover, I do feel bad for new readers who'll take forever to catch up to where I stopped. * *This only applies to OCs who didn't leave a lasting impression or were one-off characters in the original YuYuGiDigiMoon. Most if not all the OCs presented in this reboot are ones who had significant roles in the original version and thus they qualified to be part of this rebooted series. *Of course, since there's a pandemic now ongoing and people are still less inclined to leave their house, you have time to catch-up. Heheh, but don't pass up this reboot either. Anyway, Allfather-Ford presented the title for this reboot: Shin-YuYuGiDigiMoon. Shin in Japanese means "new". Like Shin Evangelion (Rebuild of Evangelion, Evangelion: New Theatrical Edition) and Shin Godzilla. Those are complete reboots from the original Neon Genesis Evangelion and Godzilla respectively. While they retain characters, core themes, and elements from their original incarnations, the reboots placed a new spin and direction for these characters, settings, and themes. They're also perfectly accessible to new fans, giving them a sampling before inevitably looking into the original material. Other examples for frames of reference: If the original YuYuGiDigiMoon is like the mainstream Marvel comic books, then Shin-YuYuGiDigiMoon would be the Ultimate line and/or the MCU. Shin-YuYuGiDigiMoon should hopefully do a similar job. It's a fresh start and a clean slate. The four-chaptered OVA series serves to be accessible to new readers, a general audience, and maybe attract old readers. You are absolutely not required to read the original YuYuGiDigiMoon stories before or after this one. If you feel fine with just reading Shin-YuYuGiDigiMoon, that's fine. It's your prerogative. So, since this is a reboot, will there be any cast changes? Yes and no. The Digimon Tamers, the Legendary Warriors, and the Spirit Detectives are still in this. Though, the Digiteams are now teenagers instead of elementary kids from the start. However, the central Yu-Gi-Oh cast are Yuki Judai and his friends from Duel Academia. Mutou Yugi and his friends will be a secondary cast. For the Sailor Moon cast, I will be using their manga/Crystal versions and not the 90's variations. The casts of Digimon Savers and Digimon Adventure/02 are brand new additions. While Masaru and Agumon are part of the main cast, the Adventure/02 cast will serve secondary roles. Will we see other groups involved? With time, yes. You can expect the Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds cast to appear in the fourth OVA chapter. Since we're on the subject of OVAs, these four chapters will be told in lengthy formats. So, what you're reading are essentially movie/OVA-style stories. And since these are longer-lengthed, I suggest taking breaks. Lastly, there will be summarized sections spread across these stories. Not every scene will have character dialogue. I just wanted to give you the heads up. So, what else can be expected? Well, nothing else for new readers who've never read the original YuYuGiDigiMoon. But for those familiar with it, I expect older readers to draw comparisons and say which variations they like better. This is going to be no different whenever some form of entertainment media gets a fresh reboot. Many don't like reboots, but others do. I like and don't like certain reboots. However, I believe this is a reboot I'll grow to enjoy with time. It's already helping me craft new ideas to recapture my passion, which I lost overtime after writing the original YuYuGiDigiMoon for so long. I hope Shin-YuYuGiDigiMoon will garner some new fans and not just the same old readers (although I have no issues with older readers getting invested either!). And so in closing, this is a legacy work for a series I've spent the better time of my life on. I'm already in the process of writing a novel and a pseudo-novel series (Akane no Mai, a Persona 5/Code Vein crossover). Once this 4-part OVA story is over, YuYuGiDigiMoon as a whole will largely be retired until I commit to the original series' final arc. Anyway, thank you for your time. Without further ado, here's arc I of Shin-YuYuGiDigiMoon! I hope you enjoy it! :D

Oct 27, 2020 (Urban Legends final chapter): I've had writing experiences outside fanfics and my recent novel progress. I have taken creative writing classes during and after college life. I still have a few of my creative writing projects. I've gotten mixed feedback. Some have enjoyed what I've written. Others were pretty 'critical' with my works, citing being 'anime-like', too long, and at one point my creative writing instructor often cited giving my characters more 'unique voices' (i.e. dialogue, accents and word choices) so they can stand out more. Somehow, I let my fanfic side take over and run wild, so I've had to adjust and revise my creative writing papers. Now, several years since then, I'm having to let go of my fanfic writing tendencies while I'm writing my first novel draft. I plan to take these criticisms to heart and apply them to my novel. Creatively, before Urban Legends was conceptualized, I had no chance of exploring new things outside of YuYuGiDigiMoon and Digimon Fusion Kai. That's when the bug of writing a professional novel struck me in 2017. Before, I had considered writing a book, but personal hurdles got in the way and creative differences involving the production of my previous fanfics dampened my enthusiasm for writing a novel. It finally took Allfather-Ford to convince me to try an official work. That's when I decided enough was enough and it was time to step out of my comfort zone. Unfortunately, unforeseen obstacles, including Chaosblazer's irksome email spamming, prevented me from responding to Ford's 2017 novel-based emails. Once again, I was being dragged down to help write Kensuke and Accel Stream-related scenes, including the Beerusmon/Houou Gaiden. In hindsight, I should've been more open with Chaos and declined helping him since I wanted to focus on kickstarting my novel career path. His constant email badgering and my reluctance to refuse were both responsible for delaying the novel emails for months. I remember telling Ford in our emails about "Life is being an ass." and "It's my damn fault, too, I'm sorry about this. I'm not perfect." After I wrongfully took my frustrations out on Ford, I apologized with a heavy heart to Ford about the delayed emails. Unfortunately, Ford was introduced to my nastier and darker side and since then I've had to keep my temper in check. I've had to come to terms with my inherent flaws including arrogance, selfishness, and fanfic pride. I've had to cope and admit to these flaws that I need to overcome. First off, overcoming my fanfic pride was important if I'm going to become a professional novel writer. In order to transition into professional writing, I couldn't be that arrogant fanfic writer who thinks my crossover stories are the greatest things since sliced bread! I realize that I can't keep writing the same crossover stories for the rest of my life. People change and move on. Even content creators, including other fanfic writers, have moved on and don't remain in the same stagnant bubble. Being stagnant leads to complacency. I ultimately came to terms that I couldn't keep writing multi-crossovers that won't gain a following. It was also time for me to step out of my comfort zone and cross into other creative outlets. I was ready to break that fanfic curse (otherwise known as YYGDM-01 and the Triad) and move on. I was ready to humble myself if need be to move away from the crossovers I once enjoyed writing for 15 years. I was ready to be fucking free and seek a new creative direction in my life with humility. As hard as it is to make changes in your life, they can be necessary. Artists should always strive to change course and find ways to refresh their creativity. I hope becoming a professional novel writer can provide me with that chance to expand my creativity energies. It was time for a creative change. And as of this writing, I'm halfway through my first novel draft. These next few months will give me some time to reflect on how I'm going to save up to hire an artist to do the cover art for my first novel and the marketing (and avoiding scammers who might try to profit off my official work). But, the important thing to do first is complete that damned first draft. With UL done, I can relieve myself from fanfic writing for the rest of 2020.

Oct 27, 2020 (Urban Legends Final Chapter of once again being repeated relating to YYGDM): If I had never taken the opportunity to write Urban Legends, the Cornerverse (especially Shinnen), and the final draft of Cross Generations that contributed to the steps to me becoming a professional writer with Allfather-Ford, I often wondered where I'd be now. I wonder where I'd be if I was stuck writing stories like YuYuGIDigiMoon without any new directions. Here's an excerpt I've reflected on: "I can only imagine this 'what-if' scenario. A lot of things would be different. CG (Cross Generations) would not exist as it is in its current form. No Cornerverse means no chance to explore other fandoms and characters outside YYGDM (YuYuGiDigiMoon) and DFK (Digimon Fusion Kai). DFK would end a lot sooner with CG possibly being some kind of (Dragon Ball)GT/Super hybrid with no dimension crossing arcs. With DFK done sooner, I'd still be stuck writing YYGDM like it was some long running shonen story. And possibly no chance to expand and take a risk like writing an official novel.)" If not for some changes in my writing life, I'd be writing the same fanfic stories without any chance of expanding my horizons and not getting my foot into the door of professional writing.

2021 (Discord): Sometimes I do get a tad overprotective on things I've worked hard on writing and creating. I do take great pride in what I work in and sometimes I know I have to take dirt getting kicked in my face. But, oh well, 'it happens'. Maybe I shouldn't get too passionate over works I'm proud of. I've always known I can't please everyone (and as an upcoming novelist I should know that), but sometimes my pride compels me to protect the stuff I worked hard on the most (or enjoy the most). I've had criticisms on stories I've written. Most of the time, it was no skin off my back, but those few times... yeah… That's about the best we can do. I need to better control myself around those very few harsh reviews and remarks. I'm glad to see another point of view.

2021 (Discord): I'm not being wholly negative, I've accepted that many readers have moved on to other things and that happens a lot with long running stories. If I get any old readers back or new ones for the final YYGDM-01 story, that's great. But I'm at the acceptance stage now.

2021 (Discord): I just feel like I'm the only writer here that gets his stuff criticized for whatever reason (and I already addressed the summarized scenes which I'm not going to readdress again). Like I'm being singled out. That's where my anxiety comes from. I've written stories for a long time. So I should be used to praise and criticism by now. I'll try not to dwell too much on this. Addendum: Sadly, that wasn't the case. I did dwell on this all along and vented my problems on Discord and in private. Two individuals, one of them named Darth Necron, showed little concern for my issues and continued criticizing my works and only my works. I honestly do feel like I'm being singled out and targeted for criticism toward my writing and no one else on the discord ever gets criticized for anything they write, which I feel is bullshit and think there's too much sucking up. I'm sick and tired of being treated like this and being singled out just to be a punching bag.

2021 (Discord): It's no secret that I wanted a break from YYGDM-01. I took a year long break between DoC's end and the start of the Apophis arc. Then, Valkyrie Advent happened and a few creative differences made me sour. Ultimately, I stuck with it and went ahead with Cross Generations. Deciding on a break from YYGDM fanfics after Cross Gen was the best choice I made. The last pure (non-crossover/Triad/Shin reboot) YYGDM chapter I wrote was the final Gaiden chapter and that was in Feb 2020. That was a whole month before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the world to shut down. And going further than that, the last non-Triad YYGDM fanfic I wrote was Valkyrie Advent, and that was finished in mid-2018. Later that same year, Cross Generations ended.

2022 (Akane no Guilty Crown Chapter X): I knew if I'm going to be a professional writer, I endure critical (and harsh) criticisms toward my work. Every writer endures it. It's up to us whether we acknowledge the criticisms or not. So, to those who sent their criticisms: Thank you but I'll decide which ones I'll address. Oftentimes there'll be some 'critics' who'll want to help you write your story and then one uses their ideas, which in the long run would no longer be the author's true vision anymore. Although, I am concerned that no matter what criticisms I address, will those same people even bother checking out and reviewing the later chapters? I don't know about you but that feels like a writer wasted their efforts fixing the issues but those same critics don't bother coming back or even leaving a 'thank you'. For my newer readers, I'm not pointing fingers toward you since we barely know each other. However, I've had a select few long-time readers who've criticized my writings, which is fine and fair, but occasionally at least two of them repay me with snarky-ass and trollish comments that rub me the wrong way and stubborn cynicism that's outright irksome. And recently, I've had certain individuals (not pointing any names) who've been tone deaf when I addressed my anxiety issues/mental health in response to their criticisms. Barely any acknowledgment of my issues, and just singling me out as they continue praising each other's works while leaving me in the dust. Despite their attitudes, I'm not going to let them impede this and any other stories I've crafted. In the end, I'm the one with the fucking pen and I feel like it'd be disingenuous to stop writing this fic since I feel like I owe Allfather-Ford this after all he's done for me.

Apr 13, 2022 (Shin-YYGDM Final Chapter A/N): The first of the new Triad series (the other two being Akane no Mai and Akane no Guilty Crown) is completed and appropriately the first one to be done. Yes, overall, this was an interesting experiment and quite a gamble to reboot a 15-plus-year-old fanfic crossover series. I was getting burned out with YYGDM-01 for a time and wanted to do something new. Ford introduced me to Persona 5 and that led me to read his Persona Vein fic. Then, I helped him write PV's sequel (at the time) Urban Legends, which has spawned into a complete revision called Akane no Mai. Ford asked if I wanted to reboot YuYuGiDigiMoon from scratch. Initially, I wasn't fully invested in the idea because I had just put YYGDM-01 on an extended hiatus several months prior. Did you know this? The last YYGDM-01 chapter I wrote was a single Gaiden chapter in February, a full month before the world shut down due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. I thought about it and I said, "Sure. Why not? Let's try it." I was relieved that these would be an OVA-styled four arc series instead of a long-term commitment. After semi-retiring YYGDM-01, I didn't want to do another long-term series like it. He reassured me I can add new concepts I never had the chance to do with the original and gave me a little more creative freedom. Unlike the original YYGDM-01 which involved a collaboration of multiple fanfic writers and with LazerWulf as a consultant, Shin-YYGDM was only done by Ford and me. The first arc, Wrath of Ghidorah, was a long writing process and took me a full month to finish. It was arduous, but I got it done. It was nice to see some good reviews, but there's of course the criticism of 'not being the original' or that I shouldn't have done summarized scenes. Whatever criticisms I faced, I mostly ignored them and pressed forward. Thankfully, there were periods when I could break between Shin-YYGDM chapters to work on my other projects (AnM, AnGC, and my first novel draft). The criticisms were for the most part not harsh, but I'll be honest there were times I was annoyed when I had people asking when I'm going to revive YYGDM-01 with the Defiants story. Time and time again these remarks from the same people, and I thought. You know what? Since you won't stop badgering, I'll just put up a full spoilered outline in the final Shin-YYGDM chapter. Moreover, I did that in case I'm unable to commit to the YYGDM-01 final story. As time went on, the Shin-YYGDM was less strenuous than the original stories but writing the long bits did get tiring. And it admittedly did take time away from my novel draft commitments. With that and the complaints of the chapters being too long, I opted to split the Shin-YYGDM chapters into parts and give readers time to digest it. Advent of Mythologies became my favorite arc and allowed me to implement more gods & concepts from Japanese Mythology. Legacy of Across Dimensions celebrated the union of the new YYGDM and the old one and became a passing of the torch moment. The Defiant Chaos served as the placeholder for the Wrath of the Defiants story just in case I don't want to commit to YYGDM-01's final story. So, this story can provide me with closure for YYGDM. Then, I can fully commit to things I want to do. But if and when I decide to bring YYGDM-01 back for the last dance, you'll know. It'll be like finishing a reboot show and later on returning to the original for a final go (Halloween, Devil May Cry, '90s X-Men, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, anyone?). Look up Un-Reboot when you have the chance. Until then, I'm ending this long fanfic curse that I've coped with since 2003. Nearly two decades and I'm looking forward to newer avenues. For those who've stuck with me and YuYuGiDigiMoon (original and Shin) this long, allow me to say: "Thank you." After the full Defiants/YYGDM-01 unmark spoiler outline A/N is written in Shin-YYGDM's final chapter, although it's relieving that I'll finally empty and not bottling all of these and reveal everything in the story while not holding back for my future and only a few readers are going to read Defiants/YYGDM-01, at the same time, an armor-piercing question ask/tells me (and others like Lazer and Lycosyncer): Am I really truly happy? This relates to what I said back in the final Gaiden, "YuYuGiDigiMoon is different because it's stuck with me this long. It became part of my creative identity. And I've wrapped up every story, except the finale yet to be written." It's just that had it not been for the burnout and creative differences Defiants/YYGDM-01 could have concluded in 2022 instead of Shin-YYGDM's adaptation. If I'm being honest, I am happy to have been relieved from writing any YYGDM-01 stories for over two years (I'd argue four years if I don't count the aforementioned Gaiden chapter and Triad crossover events such as Cross Generations). Being able to explore other fandoms such as Persona, Code Vein, and Shin Megami Tensei has been a refreshing experience. I've been able to write experimental stories based on Persona 5 and Code Vein, and write a rebooted YYGDM-01 short series. It's allowed me to write my novel and expand on its concepts. Having spent 15 years on YYGDM-01, it was time for a change. Time to explore other creative avenues. A couple of years away from YYGDM-01 will allow me to go back and finish what I started with a refreshed mindset. I'd rather finish YYGDM-01 when I'm ready and willing than if I'm burned out and lacking creativity. With the completion of Shin-YYGDM, I'll be coming back to my long-term crossover series with renewed interest. Unless I become fully committed to writing my future novels or I don't want to willfully commit myself to finish the story, 2023 will be my return to YYGDM-01. I'm not going back to finish YYGDM-01 to please a vocal minority that've been pleading and even annoyingly badgered me. I'll do it because I want to on my terms. Finally, I've said my piece and am ready to move away from long-term fanfics like YuYuGiDigiMoon. I've done all I can with it. Outside of Defiants (if and when it ever comes out on Nov. 30, 2023), it's over. Going forward, I can shift gears with a greater focus on my novel writing without YYGDM-01 hindering me. I'll only have a handful of ongoing fics left and they won't be as time consuming. One of them only has 2 chapters left! So for my YuYuGiDigiMoon readers and followers, until the day Wrath of the Defiants comes out, this is goodbye to the greater YYGDM franchise. And from the bottom of my heart, I humbly say, "Thank you."

2022 (Akane no Guilty Crown Final Chapter): For the record, pardon the month and a half long delay between the previous chapter and this one. I have to be frank about my health conditions since the last update. Shortly before and after the last AnGC update, I suffered a health scare in the middle of work one morning where I nearly fainted. I was fearing the worst. Thankfully no heart problems. Instead, I had endured a panic attack. This stemmed from the personal issues that greatly affected my anxiety. While I've dealt with stress and anxiety throughout most of my life, this greatly affected my mental health. That was roughly the same time I was writing a long outline that revealed spoilers for my final YuYuGiDigiMoon fanfic and wrote a long-ass commentary about it (which I posted in the Shin-YuYuGiDigiMoon story), which included me calling out and butting heads with someone. The pushback did affect my mental health and I hate being on bad terms with people. Writing that outline/commentary exhausted me so much that it took its toll on me. On 4/30, these circumstances led to another panic attack (one worse than the other). I also work as a substitute in special needs classes, and I had overworked myself helping to manage classrooms. Then, I started having self-doubts and had no energy to write anything. Because of that, I took a mental break and delayed the final chapter until I was mentally and physically capable of writing again. During that time, I started drawing again (which I had been putting off for a long time in favor of writing) and relied on relaxation exercises & techniques for stress relief. My advice to anyone from the younger generation reading this story and A/N: don't try to take on too many responsibilities and overwork yourself if you're not capable. Understand your limits, develop self-care, and cut off any negative influences. Self-care will come a long way for your mental and physical health. It's ok to take breaks and cut off unhealthy stressors (be it people, things, and habits). It's not selfish to think about yourself under these circumstances. I'll be taking this advice to heart. And seeking a therapist is also a viable option if you need the help, and I speak from experience when I talked to therapists when I was younger. I also hope Allfather-Ford reads this and plans things better to work around my conditions so this never happens again, but I trust you will, my friend.

2023 (Digimon Fusion Ascendancy Chapter 71): It's 2023 and we're three years into this pandemic. I've taken time to settle down and reflect on my life as a writer and outside of the writing realm. 10 years ago, while the world was somewhat 'normal, I was hit with the harsh news of my mother having cancer before her recovery. Looking back, I've had to take my life more seriously. That's why I doubled down and scaled back on YuYuGiDigiMoon and Digimon Fusion Kai/Ascendancy. Going forward, I intend to treat Ascendancy as a side project until I decide to end it. The former, especially, needed to be put on hold and I've had to nix several stories I wanted to do. This helped me move forward and get my first draft novel done. This novel is something I've been working toward in my novel-writing career. I haven't been an aspiring writer for years. I am a writer. Then, I recall talking to a friend, Alisa Yang, who five years ago gave me critique and advice about my novel concepts. With that, I don't want my writing career to be in vain knowing I've chatted with someone who's given me professional advice. Speaking of writers, one of my long-time friends and fellow fanfic writer, Maxacorn (creator of the D3 series and of the Max Kamiya character), beat me to the punch in completing and publishing a novel. It's called New World by Greg Haynes. I believe you can still get a physical copy on Amazon. Now that I bring him up, and as someone who's just barely finished his first novel draft, I question and wonder if any publishing firm will notice my story. Believe it or not, writing the draft is the easiest process and yet it took me five years to finish (thank you, creative walls) and wonder if I should take a chance going the digital route? I may move copies quicker but I face the risk of getting my orders taken down due to some BS 'copyright notice'. Will I even make back the money I will have sunk into hiring an editor, a book cover illustrator, buying the copyright, and promoting the book? That's hard to say. I just learned my friend went through a difficult situation with getting hit with a 'copyright strike', which is BS and I hope he got that resolved. The absolute last thing I want to see is a friend and a fellow writer having their dreams crushed because of corporate fuckery. Looking at this, I may not bother with Amazon unless it's the absolute last option to digitally publish my book, especially if I can find connections that help me guide the way. I, for sure, will be watching videos about book publishing, book marketing, and being a successful author. During the pandemic, I've had time to collect nearly all of the fanfics I've written and published on FF dot net and there were looming rumors of the website shutting down. Those fears caused me to back up my stories. One of my biggest fears is athazagoraphobia, the fear of being forgotten. This is especially true with anything I've written. I made this post to one of my friends in 2022: I've already backed up most of my stories and downloaded them as PDFs and html. I only need to back-up the original D-Fusion stories and the hentai one-shots. I used the site to do all the work for me. It beats trying to save all of the chapters individually. That method would've taken me a long time to do. This site is a life saver for me. As far as I'm aware and from what I heard, recently renewed their site until 2028. Don't take my word for it. Anyone who sees this, remember whatever you write and post online isn't guaranteed to stay there forever. Please back up your stuff or you'll regret it.

December 2023 (Akane no Mai Book II final chapter): This is the end of Book II and with that, it's the end of a phase for me as a writer. I'll look back and hopefully, I've polished my writing skills. I've been applying said polished skills in my first novel. As of this post, I've finished my first novel draft and will be seeking an editor to glance it over before I consider finding a publisher. My choices are either to find a publisher, turn to self-publishing (already expensive as hell), or digitally publish my book (and with the controversies surrounding AI and copyright abuse, those are other obstacles to overcome). I also know the writing world is competitive and I'll be 'competing' to get my work noticed. Knowing this, I face the harsh reality (Persona 5's Ren reference after his reality's restoration after defeating Maruki) of making or breaking into the writing world. I also realize while I may gain dedicated readers, I understand I'll face 'harsh' (putting it mildly) criticism/scrutiny. Sad but true but we cannot please everyone. Recently, I found a review while I looked up 'Akane no Mai Persona 5' just out of random. I found a review written by someone. It's not long but he does give a lengthy criticism of the story (tbf, it was mostly for the Urban Legends half). At that time, I read it and thought 'am I really a worse writer than Ford?' since I didn't fully write Urban Legend's predecessor Persona Vein. As I sit here, I can say neither Ford nor I are better than the other. Our writing I guess vibes with different people. Akane no Mai Book II's production was slower than I expected but that's what happens when you're busy with life and writing other stories. This is also a sign I'm near the end of long-term fanfiction writing (i.e. multi-chaptered sagas). Beyond finishing side hobby fics (ex. Digimon Fusion Ascendancy), Akane no Mai is the last long-term 'important' fanfic I'll write. Unlike a few previous stories, AnM was determined to have three books so it doesn't overstay its welcome. In the previous chapter, Hoyeon (AKA Citizen Kim) was a subject of discussion and played a significant role in shifting a negative narrative toward the Revenants. All that from a minor antagonist. So, Ford followed up with an extensive commentary about his relationship with the real-life Citizen Kim and let out his passionate rant about that asshole. Yep, asshole. Even though I've never met this guy, just based on Ford's account about this mean-spirited creep, I already can't stand this bastard's guts. And Citizen Kim demeaning people with legitimate mental health issues rubs me the wrong way since I've had mental health difficulties. With how he frames himself to be 'superior' to others, all I see is a chickenshit who's afraid of anyone standing up and ready to kick his ass. This reminds me of the cowardly and manipulative bullies who've always talked behind my back and would hang out with a group. Those bully types never have any courage and hang out with like-minded cliques to make themselves feel self-important. I can't forget the kids who pretended to be my friends, manipulated me, and kicked me to the curb. Those incidents made me hesitant to form friendships through the rest of my late elementary and most of my middle school years. Though during high school and college, I was able to make more acquaintances and a few friendships (which are still active today). That said, most of my friendships nowadays are mostly online (though, I've faced a few online assholes on forums that I wish to forget) and some of them have been my closest friends ever. I have no regrets about the online friends that I still talk to. That said, we face hardships in life. I have considered wanting to find and get back at those jackass bullies who tormented me, but I decided to be the better person and move on from them. The best thing we can do is confront the current issues that trouble me and overcome them.

2024 (Digimon Fusion Ascendancy Chapter 82): Before anything else, I want to pay tribute to the now-late Akira Toriyama. As of this post, it's been two months since we lost a legend and giant in the Japanese manga world. He wasn't just the creator of Dragon Ball. He drew and penned other works such as Dr. Slump, Sand Land, and Jaco the Galactic Patrolman, and helped with character designs for famed JRPGS, Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger, and Blue Dragon. He was an inspiration for many mangaka still working in the manga industry and many of them grew up reading Toriyama's works. His stories didn't just spark inspiration but brought smiles and comfort to a lot of us going through hard times. Whether it's watching DBZ on Toonami back in the day, playing a Dragon Quest game, or reading his works, Toriyama's influence has been integrated into art and pop culture. As I'm writing this, this story and its predecessors (Digimon Fusion/Digimon Fusion Kai) were done as tributes to one of my favorite artists and storytellers ever. I will proudly take inspiration from his works, whether it's through writing or drawing. I intend to continue creating in his honor. Thank you, Akira Toriyama. And your legacy will continue to live through us. Before anything else, I want to pay tribute to the now-late Akira Toriyama. As of this post, it's been two months since we lost a legend and giant in the Japanese manga world. He wasn't just the creator of Dragon Ball. He drew and penned other works such as Dr. Slump, Sand Land, and Jaco the Galactic Patrolman, and helped with character designs for famed JRPGS, Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger, and Blue Dragon. He was an inspiration for many mangaka still working in the manga industry and many of them grew up reading Toriyama's works. His stories didn't just spark inspiration but brought smiles and comfort to a lot of us going through hard times. Whether it's watching DBZ on Toonami back in the day, playing a Dragon Quest game, or reading his works, Toriyama's influence has been integrated into art and pop culture. As I'm writing this, this story and its predecessors (Digimon Fusion/Digimon Fusion Kai) were done as tributes to one of my favorite artists and storytellers ever. I will proudly take inspiration from his works, whether it's through writing or drawing. I intend to continue creating in his honor. Thank you, Akira Toriyama. And your legacy will continue to live through us.

12/19/2023 (YuYuGiDigiMoon: The Wrath of Pharaohmon (Original) Archive of Our Own): This is the original version of my first YuYuGiDigiMoon story, The Wrath of Pharaohmon, which I posted way back on November 30, 2003. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of my longest-running crossover series, this story is being posted to illustrate how far I've come since I seriously committed to long-term storytelling. This is also a chance to reflect on a silly story with cringy dialogue, messy formatting, and bad grammar. To preserve this time capsule of a story, I will purposefully not make any edits to this fic or the outdated formatting. This story is a product of its time while I was in my early anime fandom. Enjoy what I have to show here because you might find something worthwhile.

8/16/2024 (Digimon Fusion Kai Final Chapter Archive of Our Own): Hi, again. It's me from 2024 future! Did you enjoy this long trip of my fanfic nostalgia? I hope you got some entertainment out of my 2000s cringe-style of writing. It's been fun reflecting on this time when I had more free time. Although, looking back at my final A/N, I don't necessarily agree I wrote a better Dragon Ball GT since I don't dislike GT much (though it is severely flawed) and the D-Fronter GT run IMO didn't do much to improve (although I got more fun out of intertwining YYH's Chapter Black arc with the Shadow Dragons and had other fighters contend with the Millenniummon monsters lol) the source material outside of a few elements. Looking back, I may have predicted the final Gurren Lagann battle two whole years before it aired in Japan with that Galactic X vs Zeed battle. Someone even claimed I was some kind of prophet lol. Honestly, I'd give this Digimon Fusion (DF-616) story a 6-7/10 at best (5/10 if I want to be more critical). Sadly, I never had the chance to write that movie fic about Toushinmon and the Digi-Universal Tournament. In hindsight, it's a shame, but I was honestly burned out from writing Digimon Fusion stories after 2005 and attempted a re-versioned DF in 2006-2007 (which I called the Ultimate Edition, lol) until I canceled that. I didn't pick up on renewing DF until Kai in 2010 and the rest is history. To give myself credit, I did write a couple of movie fics after the D-Frontier portion. I'm not sure if I'll post them here since I already cross-posted the revised 'Kai' versions. I believe my writing got better with Digimon Fusion Kai (my version of Dragon Ball Z Kai) starting in 2010. To this day, I'm still learning writing techniques and styles. Speaking of Kai, if you've finished reading this fic, then give yourself a nice break and look at my Digimon Fusion Kai fic. While it'll feel deja vu, many elements and styles set DFKai apart from the original Digimon Fusion (DF-616 Prime). It's the modernized take on this old fic. Ascendancy is my Dragon Ball Super adaptation since I chose not to adapt GT following DFKai. And I'll say this, if you read this, DFKai, and Ascendancy, it'll be worth it in the long run because something very cool happens in Ascendancy that I'm not giving away yet (since I haven't cross-posted all of my Ascendancy chapters). Thank you all for any who've read this far. You've seen where I started and going forward, I'm about to become a fiction novelist. Just need to get my draft out to an editor and then a publisher. Wish me luck. And enough of that, take care, readers!

Third Special Commentary (Digimon and Dragon Ball):

Now to get this off my chest and discuss my long-term connection with the Digimon and Dragon Ball franchises, how I discovered them, and how they've influenced me as a person and a creative:

For starters, I've been a Dragon Ball fan longer than a Digimon one. Both franchises have been part of my creative identity and let me create my Digimon Fusion, Digimon Fusion Kai, and Digimon Fusion Ascendancy series.

For starters, I'll begin with my Digimon fandom history. It all began in 1999 shortly after Digimon Adventure's English premiere on Fox Kids. I might've caught a few episodes of the Etemon arc but I passed it over believing it to be a Pokemon rip-off. Fast forward to a fateful February 2000 and I caught the hype of the Eighth Child arc. It was the episode Out on the Town and everything after that hooked me into the Digimon bandwagon. Angewomon, WarGreymon, and MetalGarurumon ensured I'd stick around. I made sure to get up in time to watch the new episodes and record every episode. If not for the Eigith Child arc, I likely wouldn't have become a Digimon fan until much later on. What made me appreciate Digimon during that time was it was more story-oriented and wasn't afraid to involve more drama than Pokemon's mostly episodic and repetitive format. The Digimon digivolving into bigger and 'cooler' monsters put it above Pokemon's evolutions.

I consumed Digimon throughout that whole spring and summer, so much I was hyped for Digimon 02. My Digimon fandom was at an all-time high than before and I started dabbling in small Digimon fanfics. One was a short Digimon/Spawn crossover where TK was Al Simmons/Spawn, Kari as Wanda, and Davis as Terry. I was a big Taiora (Tai/Sora), Takari (TK/Kari), and Kenyako (Ken/Yolei) fan. I discovered popular Digimon websites such as the Digimon Experience and affiliates such as Pojo. I delved into those sites and interacted with fellow Digimon fans. I went to see the Digimon movie during its weekend premiere with my step bro and we enjoyed it. He, too, got into Digimon. By March 2001, my Digimon fandom was tested once the Christmas episode and 02 finale aired in Japan. Then, there was the infamous epilogue. Witnessing Sora being paired with Matt made a ton of Taiora fans angry and that led to some infamous online wars (and may have been one of the earliest online fandom wars). I admit I was one of those that didn't like the Sorato decision. Others were turned off by the epilogue when most of the popular shipping (except for Kenyako) never materialized. But while many Taiora fans left the fandom for these reasons, I still stuck with Digimon and dabbled in more fanfics that I no longer have access to.

By the fall of 2001, Digimon Tamers premiered in the US and I had my doubts about it until I watched it and got hooked. Tamers was the first Digimon series I fully watched in Japanese and English whereas before I only watched the English dubs for Adventure and 02 (though I did watch the final 02 episodes in Japanese). Not only did it extend my Digimon fandom but washed the bad tastes 02 left. Tamers delved into more serious topics and evolved the franchise whereas Pokemon remained stagnant (this was also around the same time Yu-Gi-Oh also premiered in the US). It was around this time that I conceived the first version of my Digimon Fusion stories. However, what helped influence DF was the introduction of Biomerging and the first time I watched a 30-second clip of Takato and Guilmon biomerge into Dukemon/Gallantmon. Then, I watched out it play out in the show and it was the last push for me to introduce the concept of a Digitally Fused Warrior (before revamping the name into Ascendant later on in DFKai). Tai/Agumon became Omega X and the rest is history.

Once Tamers ended, Fox Kids ceased and Digimon Frontier moved into syndication. I barely followed Frontier in Japanese and stuck with the English dub. Seeing humans turn into Digimon nearly paralleled my Digimon Fusion concept; the big difference was the Digidestined fusing with their Digimon while the Frontier Digidestined used Spirits to Spirit Evolve into Digimon. I followed Frontier mainly in English and finished it. Even as Digimon's original run ended in 2003, I continued running with my Digimon Fusion fanfic stories until its original finale in 2005.

Several Digimon fanfic writers influenced my writing. Among them were Max Acorn, Ultra Sonic 007, DigiDestined of Courage, AnT, and Ninetalesuk. Daneel Rush is one of the top-tier Digimon fanfic writers. Crazyeight is another great one, but I didn't hear about him until much later in the 2010s.

After 2004, I was on and off with the Digimon anime (I did watch Digimon Savers in 2006) and seldom wrote Digimon fanfics. It was until 2010 that I jumpstarted Digimon Fusion Kai, revamping my old Digimon Fusion stories for the 2010s. At that time, Digimon Xros Wars was called 'Digimon Fusion' for international, and it's pretty hilarious in hindsight. They took my fanfic title's name and applied it to Xros Wars English adaptation. I was never mad about it. That said, until Digimon Adventure tri., I mostly watched new Digimon in Japanese. Tri. was quite the experience and I was excited about the return of the DigiDestined. What I got was a mixed-bag series with a lot of squandered potential. Last Evolution Kizuna tried its best to finish the original Digidestined story, except for the ending I wasn't fully on board with (why can't adults have Digimon? That's pretty dumb).

Then, Digimon Adventure was rebooted in 2020 and it was a 'thing'. Digimon Ghost Game introduced more horror elements (as a horror fan I greatly appreciated it) and a greater episodic format than any series before it, but its rushed ending and open ending left a lot to be desired (but hey, more fanfic possibilities for a new generation of Digimon fans. That might be a good thing!). Appmon is one I haven't watched in full but it that had neat concepts. As far as games go, I didn't play too many Digimon games. I played more Pokemon games. The Digimon games I played were the Rumble series, Digimon World 3, and some of Cyber Sleuth. I've watched playthroughs of Cybersleuth, Hacker's Memory, and Digimon Survive. To this day, I'm not the big Digimon fanatic I used to be, but I still have a greater appreciation of the franchise and keep tabs on it. I only engage with anything that looks interesting. Digimon lore remains intriguing and I do like there are backstories behind the Digimon. Nowadays, outside of Digimon Fusion Kai/Ascendancy, my days of Digimon fanfic writing are done. I'll let the new generation write the Tri/Kizuna, Adventure (2020), and Ghost Game stuff.

Now onto Dragon Ball, and my fandom for it goes back way longer than Digimon. 25 years ago, on a fateful November 1998, I watched Toonami frequently. Out of Toonami, at the time, I primarily watched Sailor Moon. Then, my stepbrother showed me an episode where a group of strong martial artists was fighting little green men and a muscled-up bald dude. That was my first exposure to Dragon Ball when the Saiyan arc was being run. And it was that iconic Ocean dub from the late-90s. I still remember most of the funny dialogue and the 'Send you to the next dimension!" Those strong episodes leading to Goku vs. Vegeta's first fight instantly hooked me into the series. I continued to watch until Toonami infamously started over back to Raditz's arrival, which at the time was new for me since I never caught the beginning of Dragon Ball Z. I constantly watched the reruns until the Freeza arc aired on Toonami w/ the debut of the Funimation dub cast, which looking back was… rough. Ngl, that part of the dub now is unwatchable outside of a few funny lines. That said, it was the introduction to the Funimation dub on cable TV and fans. It was also the introduction of the Bruce Faulconer Team score, which gave us memorable pieces of music (for good or worse). Can I forget the goofy-ass dialogue, especially Krillin's 'Mondo Cool' and Freeza's 'Pop goes the weasel.' October 18, 1999, was the U.S. premiere of 'Transformed at Last'. It was the first time I watched Goku go Super Saiyan and whoop Freeza's ass on Toonami. How can I forget the 'I am the hope of the universe!/Ally to good, nightmare to you!'. I used to recite these lines to myself a lot. I knew friends in school who watched DBZ and I recall them and a few others wearing DBZ t-shirts and printing pictures featuring Cell and Buu saga characters that I hadn't been introduced to yet. We had discussions about the show and the awesome fights.

Before the premiere of the Android and Cell arcs, I discovered the Japanese version on a defunct channel then known as the International Channel. That channel introduced me not just to Japanese uncut DBZ but to international cultures/programming I was never familiar with. I caught most of the Android and Cell episodes there before they premiered in English. The year 2000, I consider my peak year of early Dragon Ball engagement. I visited websites (namely Pojo) featuring DBZ content and 30-sec video clips of Japanese DBZ (all RealPlayer video, that takes me back). Just in 2000 alone, I was watching DBZ in English, Japanese, and Spanish. Yes, Spanish, because I had Telemundo and it showed uncut DBZ, and it's where I watched some of the Saiyan, all of Namek, Garlic Jr., and the early parts of the Android arc before they all premiered in English. Even then, I still tuned into the English dub of the whole Cell arc on Toonami. That DBZ run was appointment TV for me. Piccolo vs. Android 17, Goku vs. Cell, and Gohan vs. Cell were all great to watch as they still are now. It all paid off when I watched 'The Unleashing', and was the first time I watched Gohan go Super Saiyan 2. That culminated in the explosive 'Save the World' episode where I witnessed the Father-Son Kamehameha wipe out Cell. I started buying VHS tapes (official dub and Japanese subbed bootlegs) with the uncut footage with my allowances.

By 2001, I had already watched some of the Buu arc in Japanese before the English dub premieres. Even then, I kept tuning in to the Toonami broadcasts and staying engaged with Dragon Ball Z and eventually, I caught the original Dragon Ball. Finally watching Dragon Ball gave me a better context of Goku's adolescence, training for the tournaments, learning humility, and meeting new friends & foes. I enjoyed the OG for its creative fights and comical moments. On the flip side, I was waiting to see how the Z-Warriors would defeat Majin Buu. By 2003, the final DBZ episodes aired on Toonami and I finally got to see Buu's demise by the Spirit Bomb in 'Spirit Bomb Triumphant'.

Through the early-2000s, I maintained that Dragon Ball obsession and watched anything with the 'Dragon Ball' name. Then, I heard about the then 'fabled' and 'infamous' Dragon Ball GT. I lost the International Channel when my family changed cable providers. I was unable to watch most of the Buu arc and nearly all of GT. Thankfully, a friend gave me copies of the GT Japanese subs and watched them. Watching new Dragon Ball without the Z was an interesting experience. I was confused why Goku was a child again and how he became an adult red-furred black-haired Super Saiyan. That was my introduction to Super Saiyan 4. For a while, I enjoyed the Grand Tour. Then, I managed to watch most of the DBZ movies. The first movies I watched were Dead Zone, World's Strongest, and Tree of Might on TV, but the ones after them I watched on DVD and bootlegs. Dead Zone, World's Strongest, Cooler's Revenge, Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan, Bojack Unbound, Fusion Reborn, and Wrath of the Dragon were my favorites of mine. Out of the two TV Specials, I watched the Future Trunks one first through VHS and watched it on Toonami later on. I watched the Bardock special much later on DVD and then on Toonami. In 2003, GT was finally dubbed and we got the infamous 'Step into the Grand Tour!' rap, which I thought was bad then and still terrible now. I'm going to say this: GT, script-wise, had the worst English dub outside of early Funimation's Freeza arc, Garlic Jr., and the Bardock Special. Around this time, I found Kanzentai and Daizenshuu EX (now Kanzenshuu). It was through these websites that my greater appreciation for the Japanese versions increased.

Despite being a Dragon Ball fan for all these years, I've never once posted any DB fanfics. I tried dabbling in some shorts in the early-2000s but never had the time to do it. So, I've only written crossover fanfics featuring DB characters. The closest thing to a DB story I've successfully written has been the Digimon Fusion, Digimon Fusion Kai, and Digimon Ascendancy stories, which all are Digimon fanfics with DB arcs adapted to fit in the Digimon Adventure timeline and the various unique elements. Digimon characters also filled the DB roles (Ex. Tai being Goku, Matt being Vegeta, TK & Kari co-playing Gohan, Leomon/BanchoLeomon as Piccolo, Mimi/Izzy/Yolei as Bulma (spreading Bulma's smarts and beauty attributes across these characters). There were OCs that filled the main villain and side character roles. Dragon Ball mostly played a big influence in my DF/DFKai/DA stories. However, I cannot say I'm the only one who succeeded with this concept. Max Acorn, before he became a professional writer, wrote his D3 stories, which were DBZ-like Digimon stories, and our concepts were near identical. I didn't discover his D3 stories until 2002 and he had already started his stories in early-2001, nearly a whole year before I created my original DF stories. We eventually crossed paths and reviewed each other's stories. We became close followers of each other's works and friends. He even gave me his blessings to utilize his D3 characters in my DF/DFKai stories as long as they stayed in character.

When GT ended on Toonami in 2005, I took a break from Dragon Ball until the Uncut DBZ episodes (redubbed Saiyan and Namek arcs) aired on TV and that maintained my interest until that ended. In June 2006, I tried my hand at 'rebooting' Digimon Fusion with an 'Ultimate Edition', which took cues from Marvel Ultimate Comics. That only lasted for so long and I ceased writing in 2007. It was around this time I discovered the birth of the 'Over 9,000' meme, which I thought was cute. However, my interests shifted from Dragon Ball toward the popular 2000s anime, such as but not limited to Naruto, Bleach, Fullmetal Alchemist, One Piece, Death Note, Code Geass, and Gurren Lagann.

Unlike Digimon, I've played a lot of Dragon Ball games. I hardly dabbled in the old DB games, but I do remember playing Dragon Ball GT Final Bout. It wasn't until I played Dragon Ball Z Budokai that kicked off my love for the Budokai series. That interest continued into the Tenkaichi Budokai trilogy. I recall the fun times I played these games with friends, my stepbrother, and a cousin. The music from both Tenkaichi and BT games is legendary. Of course, not every DB game experience was great. (cough)DragonBallZSagas(cough). After Budokai Tenkaichi 3, I didn't play many of the other games. I've casually played Burst Limit, Raging Blast, and Xenoverse but never went deep with them. I never played the Legacy of Goku games but watching extensive walkthroughs did bring an odd sense of fun nostalgia. I did enjoy Dragon Ball FighterZ for playing like a traditional arcade fighter. As for Dragon Ball Z Kakarott, I watched YT playthroughs of it. With the news of DBZ Tenkaichi Budokai 4's official announcement, my interest in DB gaming is piqued once again.

I've read plenty of DB fanfics since the 2000s. Bringer of Death is a recent example. I've enjoyed a lot of fanmade Dragon Ball stories, even the popular parodies, including content from TeamFourStar and Devil Artemis. Speaking of DBZ Abridged, while it started in 2008, I didn't pay it any mind until 2009 and I thought was the most hilarious parody DB series I've seen (but I do recall Alternate Reality Dragon Ball Z by Gozer). And there was something else that was released in 2009? Some abomination and a crime against nature. I think it was called Dragonball Evolution, or something. Yeah, I don't remember it. Kidding aside, I'm glad I never wasted my time with that in a theater. Nevertheless, Evolution led to Toriyama coming back and I couldn't have been more intrigued.

For a time, DBZ Abridged kept my interest, but it wasn't until 2010 when Dragon Ball Z Kai premiered on Nicktoons in the US that truly revigorated my love for the franchise. It helped that DBZ Kai received a better English dub and I could finally watch a version of the show with better pacing and a renewed, faithful dub. I even rewatched DBZ Kai all over again on Toonami/Adult Swim, which later debuted The Final Chapters (Kai!Buu) on TV. Unfortunately, Nicktoons never showed The Final Chapters and instead aired GT in its place. That was a big 'WTF' moment if I've ever seen one. Since then I primarily stuck with Kai as my English viewing experience for DBZ. Every now and then I'll watch the old DBZ dub through clips and comparison videos, but probably never again as a whole outside of background noise while I'm doing other things. I still like the Team Faulconer score, and honestly, the issue with that music isn't the score itself but the overabundance of it that kills the silent moments. I've seen fanmade DBZ Kai Faulconer episodes where the score is implemented more effectively. You can blame executives for thinking kids are 'dumb and short-attention spanned' that require music ongoing to keep their interest.

Then, Battle of Gods, Resurrection F, Broly, and Super Hero followed. BoG was my first DB theatrical experience and it was a fun experience in the summer of 2014. BoG also introduced, IMO, two of the best characters in the modern DB series: Beerus and Whis. DBS Broly revamped an old movie character into the modern era and came out looking better than he had before. I watched the other films in theaters, too. Broly was my favorite DB movie to experience in a theater setting and I remember the cheers from the crowd during the fights. It felt like I was in an MCU Avengers theater setting with other fans. Compared to the Digimon Adventure tri and Last Evolution Kizuna, DBS Broly is easily better than all of those combined. Throwing in Super Hero would be beyond cruel.

In 2015, Dragon Ball Super was a roller coaster-like experience for me. There were lots of ups and downs. Throughout the show's inception, the lowest points were pretty bad but the highs were memorable for me. As time passes, I've enjoyed the Future Trunks and Tournament of Power arcs. The former had a great villain introduction through Goku Black and the mysteries behind the story's direction kept me guessing, but the bad ending diminished the arc's full potential. That said, I was glad to see Future Trunks again. I enjoyed the Tournament of Power best, especially Episodes 109-110 (Ultra Instinct's introduction) and the final string of episodes leading to the Goku vs Jiren finale. The show was best experienced at the time of its release. It's been 2018 and no official word of a renewed Super or a new DB show has been announced. Time is ticking with the Japanese voice actors getting up there in age. It was because of Super I was introduced to content creators such as Geekdom101, DevilArtemis, Gonzossm, and Totally Not Mark. I was also introduced to the numerous 'What-If' Dragon Ball stories on YouTube, which I believe MasakoX helped kickstart and it has since led to other creatives coming up with new takes and alternate paths with the already existing Dragon Ball arcs, and putting their own spin on the narratives.

Sadly, there was one DB fan that I wished I had a chance to meet. DMajorBoss was mentioned to me by a friend. However, DMajorBoss sadly passed away from cancer in 2013. I was too late to greet him online. I kick myself for not messaging him in time. And since then there have been missed opportunities to meet famous people and creators I wanted to meet that have passed away in the past decade. Taking life for granted is a lesson we should all know and take seriously.

I can't exactly tell how many times I've watched each Dragon Ball show. I know I've seen DBZ the most (also adding DBZ Kai), DB second, DBGT third, and DBS least since that one is still fresh. Recently, I did a complete rewatch of these four series in Japanese from Jan 2021 to May 2021 (DB-Z-GT) and October 2021 to December 2021 (DBS). It was my first rewatch of the Japanese version in a long time. From January 2021 up to recently, I reunited with my stepbrother as we watched Battle Gods, Resurrection F, DBS, Broly, and Super Hero together. Before, he's seen DB, DBZ, and a few of the movies. It was his first time watching the modern Dragon Ball stuff.

(K's status on Discord 1/31/21: I have a relative staying with us and we were both watching DBZ: Battle of Gods. It's his first time watching it.)

-(6/2/201: My stepbrother and I watched Resurrection F a few weeks ago and we're in the middle of the Universe 6/Tournament of Destroyers right now.)

As of this writing, my stepbrother enjoyed Dragon Ball Super, Broly, and Super Hero. I even showed him the last episodes of DBZ (Uub's introduction), which he never recalled watching. Dragon Ball GT is something he's never seen. He knows about Super Saiyan 4 despite never having seen GT. I want to show him GT, but he's a dub-only watcher (exceptions being if certain anime has no dub), and… ugh, do I want to show him that dub? Guess I'll stomach it for him. I'm already showing him other animations he's never seen, including Yu Yu Hakusho, Attack on Titan (he's only seen the first 3 eps before I resumed watching with him), Netflix Castlevania, and Cowboy Bebop. He enjoys Naruto, and while I'm not a fan of that series anymore, I have been watching some Shippuden with him and I'll only make this exception because he's my bro. I'm planning to show him My Hero Academia, Fullmetal Alchemist, Death Note, Demon Slayer, and some movies (i.e. stuff like Summer Wars & other Mamoru Hosoda films, and other Ghibli films since he's seen Princess Mononoke) soon.

And I spoke with a friend who was also rewatching the Dragon Ball franchise in 2021:

-(K's addendum (2021): Congrats for making it far and finishing the entire Cell Saga in Japanese. We're both watching the most consistent version of Dragon Ball Z (and Dragon Ball) in the original language, unlike the English dubs where you had altered dialogue/translations (some for the sake of censorship), the music score alterations, and the voices. Yes, it's true there's at least two generations of fans who've grown up on Dragon Ball in the US: the Toonami generations that watched the original DBZ dubs (Ocean/Funimation) and the 2010s generation that watched DBZ Kai on Nicktoons/CW Network and later on Toonami on Adult Swim. While I do have the nostalgia for the Cartoon Network/Toonami DBZ era, I think the 2010s generation had it better with DBZ Kai being more faithful to the original Japanese vision and losing the padding/filler that dragged the original DBZ. Although, you did mention the DBZ Kai music score being plagiarized, causing the score to be changed twice (the DB/Z Kikuchi scores for Cell and then with a brand new composer for Buu) and the new fans being exposed to some of the movies and GT, which featured Freeza, kid Gohan, Bulma, and a few others with voices being different from the ones in DBZ Kai. I do remember Nicktoons pulled a big gamble showing GT after Kai concluded with the Cell arc (since Buu didn't exist for Kai yet), while I know the younger generations are tech savvy like us to do their research, I doubt everyone knew that an entire arc was skipped between Cell and GT. Yes, I remember that PM when we went back and forth on those laughably corny/bad lines from the original DBZ English dub. Those are things to look back and laugh about.

-I never told you this but I've seen DBZ in other languages, too. Besides English and Japanese, I've watched a fair bit of DBZ in Spanish (Latin America) dub when it aired on a US Spanish channel called Telemundo and I watched a few episodes during family visits in Mexico. The Spanish dub is very faithful to the Japanese version. The original Kikuchi score is retained and the OP/EDs are dubbed into Spanish. There were only a few name/dialogue changes (ex. Chichi in the Spanish dub was renamed 'Milk' because her original name means 'breasts' in the Latin American language. King Kai is actually called 'Kaiosama' in Spanish. Freeza is called 'Freezer' and Freeza's Spanish voice is much deeper almost to the point of sounding masculine). Unlike in the US, they dubbed and aired all of Dragon Ball before transitioning into DBZ and later GT. In Latin America, as I'm sure you might have heard, Dragon Ball Z is the most popular anime besides Saint Seiya. Yes, besides Super's final two episodes being broadcasted to large crowds of people, DB in Latin America inspired a religious movement called the 'Church of Goku'. Latin America has the best consistent Dragon Ball run outside of Japan. I still have some Spanish DBZ episodes taped from the Telemundo broadcast on VHS and they're primarily from the Android Saga up to the start of the Cell Games. In fact, my Cooler's Revenge DVD has the Spanish dub (and sadly the only DB DVD I have with the Spanish dub), and I was almost tempted to watch that with/instead of the Japanese version, but I watched the JP version for consistency's sake with my DBZ rewatch. I've also seen bits of the French, Brazil Portugese, and Korean dubs, but nothing to the extent as ENG, JP, and SP. Anime was better received in Latin America than in the US, but none of them ever reached the popularity of Dragon Ball and Saint Seiya.)

A few interesting and funny tidbits: As I watched Digimon Adventure (2020), there was an episode where WarGreymon fought ZeedMillenniummon (yes, I'm not kidding) and that fight reminded me of something straight out of my DF fanfics. Haha.

Here's what I posted on a friend's Discord:

(Discord 5/31/21: Well, I never thought this day would happen, but one of the show's writers of the new Digimon might've read my Digimon Fusion/Kai fanfics. Why? I'll let this video speak for itself, lol!

Even if just for one episode, my Digimon/DBZ fusion series becomes a reality. I should brag about it, but I won't. Though, I would've handled this fight a tad bit differently. Maybe an Omegamon appearance. Also Millenniummon wouldn't have been just some generic monster if I were writing this.

Sure, but that's not the point. I'm just saying someone on the writing staff must've read my Digimon/DBZ fusion stories and gotten 'influenced' to make Tai & Wargreymon into 'Goku' and using the Spirit Bomb on ZeedMillenniummon. Anyway, I'm just having fun with this.)

Then, as a friend elaborated on a shocking twist from the Digimon Survive game:

(Holy shit, Agumon in Survive can become Huanglongmon. Remembering Agumon (Digimon Fusion Kai)'s connections with Huanglongmon (Digimon Fusion Kai) around the start of Season 2, it becomes Hilarious in Hindsight canon. (Ford on Discord 8/1/22)

Kanius Discord 8/1/22: I saw those and I was taken aback with Huanglongmon. It's certainly a choice. Ford also mentioned Agumon (and Tai) meeting Huanglongmon in my Digimon Fusion Kai story during its 2nd season. What a coincidence.)

He then said:

(I did mention before that Huanglongmon Ruin Mode is hilarious in hindsight to Zeed's final form in the original D-Fusion besides Galactic X vs Zeed happened before the actual Gurren Lagann final battle.)

So, who knows if someone read my fics or there's other people with similar ideas. I'll never know, but it's hilarious to see.

And apparently if you google search there is a Korean boy band in 2021 named Omega X. Yeah, and named after Tai's Ascendant form. What a coincidence. I don't know what to say!

Fourth Special Commentary (How the author first met and became friends with LazerWulf, Belletiger, Chaosblazer, and Allfather-Ford; alongside other people like Youkai Yoko and JNaegi. The author's first exposure to the internet that changed his life and part of his real-life in a lifetime, in relation to your existence of how you change people's lives for better or worse.):

I began my fanfic writing path in the late-90s. What ignited my interest? One day in 1998, I was curiously finding Sonic the Hedgehog stories. What a novel time it was for me to discover other fans writing Sonic stories, especially ones that continued where the Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAm) series left off after it was canceled! Thanks to the internet, I found many kinds of stories that expanded my views of characters I've watched years prior. The first fanfic I recall ever reading was a Sonic vampire story. The 'net also exposed me to many things about the greater world I was never made aware of. I discovered forums and chat rooms. I interacted with fans and even roleplayed as characters. It was also thanks to the Internet that I was exposed to underground culture and how it helped me learn about anime.

Besides Toonami, the Internet exposed me to anime culture. The first anime I ever watched pre-Internet exposure was Vampire Hunter D and later Sailor Moon (the DiC dub). I didn't get into DBZ until 1998 when I was already exposed to early Internet culture but I wasn't a hardcore DB fan yet. Before I got into fanfic writing, my first video game system was the original Nintendo and my favorite game was Super Mario Bros. 3. The first western cartoon I watched might've been He-Man or Looney Tunes. The first literature books I ever recall reading might've been dinosaur books and Dr. Seuss stories. The first live action movie I recall watching could've been The Terminator. The first live action show? That's tough. I think it might've been one of the Nick at Nite shows like Get Smart, I Love Lucy, Mr. Ed, and I Love Lucy. The first comic books I've ever read could've been Calvin & Hobbes or Garfield if we're counting shorts. If not, then it's Ren & Stimpy (nope, I'm not kidding). The first manga I know I got into was Sailor Moon (published by TokyoPop! Takes you back, fellow millennials?). The first music I seriously listened to might've been Nirvana and other alternative music from the 80s-early 90s.

I started using a computer before I turned 13 and only used it for school and research. It wasn't until 1997 when I discovered the Internet and by 1998 I was already learning the basics of HTML. Talk about quick progress! Beyond simple webpage building, I didn't go much further than that. By surfing the web, I found a lot of websites to explore. The earliest webpages I recall looking at were wrestling, NBA, video game, and cartoon websites.

Life before the Internet for me was vastly different. I was spending a lot of time outside like any other active child. I was collecting little critters and putting them in breathable jars. I'd let them go afterwards. I was also an artsy kid (and I still am artsy) with clay, markers, and pencils. I had early dyslexia but that was resolved when I started actively reading. That helped me become a better reader and as a result improved my writing later on. I was an extremely shy kid and faced bullying, which hindered my ability to make friends and build trust in others. If there's anything I could change, it's to build confidence and fight back against those bullies instead of just 'ignoring' them. Believe me when I say that advice is BS and usually never works. Pre-Internet wasn't all sunshine and rainbows.

And so after reading numerous fics, I decided to give writing a try and haha, my first attempts were done on Notepad. What a crappy time for me. I remember writing a few crappy Sonic stories, including a Sonic/Spawn one that never got published. Another I recall writing was Sonic with some DBZish elements that never got published either (and this was before I connected the dots between Sonic and Dragon Ball's parallels). Then, I found Word and was able to correct some of my grammar.

Along my long journey as a fanfic writer, I've met a few noteworthy acquaintances. The first one I became acquainted with was a former fanfic writer named Dark Spawn (now goes by Lighty these days), who was deeply into Sonic the Hedgehog, Aliens, Predator, Spawn, and WWE (at the time WWF). Due to our similar interests, we bonded and I helped him write some Sonic stories and we kickstarted a WWF/Sonic crossover series that lasted a good year and a half before we pulled the plug. He helped me broaden my Sonic interests and I got him into wrestling. We had a mutual parting due to me falling behind school and I needed to improve my grades. Years later, we found each other through FaceBook and got in contact again.

By the turn of the early 2000s, I discovered FFNet and started my SSJ4Takeru account in March 2001. I met more acquaintances who shared my interest in anime, especially Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Sailor Moon, and Yu Yu Hakusho. When I started on my Digimon Fusion stories, I received a lot of positive feedback, but one reviewer stood out to me in particular and that's Maxacorn. He, too, was writing a similar Digimon/DBZ concept as I was. He gave me encouragement and asked me to review his stories. I did, left him feedback, and since then we've allowed our characters into our stories. My characters showed up as guests and his D3 cast became integral elements of my Digimon Fusion series. Once he stopped writing his D3 series, I was left to carry on his character's legacy in my stories. Maxacorn (Grey Haynes) has published a book called New World and I believe you can still purchase it on Amazon. So far, he's just published one book. I am looking to follow that same direction as I'm putting the finishing touches to my novel's second draft (as we speak!).

Once I started YuYuGiDigiMoon, that was when I truly bonded with a great number of acquaintances, who would later become friends to this day. The first of them is Belletiger and her late-cousin Youkai Yoko. Both of them became huge fans of YuYuGiDigiMoon from The early days of The Wrath of Pharaohmon. I remember our first email interactions and it was great getting to know my earliest YYGDM readers. Much like Maxacorn, I was given permission to use some of their characters for YuYuGiDigiMoon. So, characters such as Himura, Inumon, Yui, Kotori, Philippe, Jaguarmon, and Athenamon? They were Belle and Youko's characters from their own stories. By using their characters, I helped give Himura and his friends exposure to readers and they've become the very few standout OCs in YuYuGiDigiMoon. Over the course of 2004-mid-2005, I interacted with these two and passed ideas to each other. It's also thanks to me that I learned more about their Brazilian culture and it was fascinating to learn that their language is Portuguese and not Spanish like the rest of Latin America. I fondly remember our chats on Yahoo Messenger. What good times. Now, why do I say mid-2005 when I talk about my interactions with these two?

Sadly, in July 2005, Youko tragically passed away in an accident. I remember Belle passing the news to me. It was heartbreaking as this was the first time someone I've befriended online passed away. I helped comfort Belle through her loss and said I would continue writing The Wrath of Pharaohmon in her name. Youko's passing also inspired me to create my Sailor Senshi OC Sailor Sedna. By doing so, I felt that I've honored Youko as she gets to experience the rest of YYGDM through the eyes of Karin Osaka/Sailor Sedna. Karin died tragically only to be reborn as a hero in another reality. Despite Youko's passing, my friendship with Belletiger remained strong to this very day and we've been close friends. She continued offering ideas and new characters for YYGDM's growth in the following years. When times were tough, we leaned on each other for support.

LazerWulf was another big YYGDM fan who'd later become a friend. At first, while Belle and Yoko showered me with positive support, Lazer was the earliest known critic of mine. In summer 2004, our paths first crossed. His criticism was made for a Duel Monster battle between Yugi Muto and Felinismon. He was an online Yu-Gi-Oh player and offered me valid criticism of my characters' dueling mechanics. I took his criticism to heart and responded to him. He said that while the duel was flawed, he said he's enjoyed my story. Realizing my weakness in writing Yu-Gi-Oh duels, I took him on as my beta-reader for both my duels and my story. Thanks to YuGiOh Virtual Desktop, he helped polish my duels to make them more logical (as logical as could be) and offered me solutions/suggestions/criticisms for my stories' plot progressions and whatnot. I helped flesh out his ideas. We connected and chatted through Yahoo Messenger (notice the pattern? 2000s social media, I tell ya). He would continue to be my beta-reader through Pharaohmon, The Wrath of the Rajita, The Search for the Kuiper Belt Senshi, Taiyoukai Awakening, Summer Diaries, and the earliest parts of Dawn of Chaos. Now, due to his busy school schedule, that caused delays with chapters and since there were a few update droughts, I decided to revise and release some non-beta-read (but still revised) Rajita & Taiyoukai chapters and the rest of Dawn of Chaos on my own.

Through my partnership with Lazer, he helped create new OCs. The most notable ones were the rest of the Kuiper Belt Senshi. For the Kuiper Belt Senshi fanfic, we (and Belletiger) created character profiles for them. While Sedna is my OC and Sailor Quaoar is Belle's, the others were created by Lazer. I do know his favorite is Tyra/Sailor Varuna. He was also responsible for creating Lyn Stromberg (his OC Kisara reincarnation) and her two brothers. He's also credited for the name Sharon Rivers and building Charon's early foundation that I helped flesh out.

Lazer also helped me create a whole team of 'mutants' called The West Coasters and these overall enhanced humans being called Metas (totally not ripped from DC lol). The West Coasters led by Marty Stonebagel were largely conceptualized by Laser and I helped flesh out their personalities and stories. They were implemented into YuYuGiDigiMoon and given a whole story to explore their origins and character developments. This in turn inspired me to adapt The West Coasters fanfic into my first novel.

While I had a good friendship with Lazer, we did butt heads creatively. We had several ideas that didn't mesh well and that led to creative clashes. After my first laptop crashed in 2006, I lost most of a Rajita chapter I was writing and nearly quit writing. Lazer convinced me not to quit and I instead took a break to write other things I had in my head (those being a separate Sailor Moon fic called Galaxy Stars and a Naruto fic called Land of Darkness). We had rougher clashes, especially when I was overly defensive of my ideas. Hehe, it's kinda funny looking back knowing we both had differing visions for some YYGDM stories.

However, our creative differences hit their peak I think during the Valkyrie Advent story. Now, I credit Lazer for getting me into Norse Mythology. Thanks to me, I learned a lot about Norse Myths I was never made privy to (and Marvel certainly didn't help a lot, but I credit them too for getting me attached to Thor and Loki). He gifted me a Norse Mythology book. That book helped me to learn about Norse characters and craft some of my own. So, with Valkyrie Advent, I was excited to write this story with Lazer and he crafted new Valkyries for us to utilize. Then, along the way, whatever ideas I had didn't align with his. Vice versa. That led to some unflattering arguing but nothing volatile. He introduced a character who I didn't have planned to appear and was going to be a Valkyrie's love interest when I had that Valkyrie (Sigrun to be exact) planned to be paired with another (Gondul). He wanted it to be Gondul and Skogul, which I would've been ok with. I felt this character (Alec) was shoehorned in for a relationship that I wasn't fully on board with. It took time but Alec grew on me. He was set as Helgi's reincarnation and in Norse Mythology, Sigrun and Helgi had quite a relationship, but Lazer wanted a separate relationship between Kara (Sigrun) and Helgi. In the end, it all worked out just fine. Though, that did lead me to create a separate 'parody' story where I got my Gondul/Sigrun pairing and they ended up in a polyamorous relationship with a dude.

After the rest of Valkyrie Advent was posted non-beta-read, we haven't done anything together creatively. Our 'split' wasn't the fault of the other. Lazer wanted to move on and felt beta'ing a long series started as a labor of love to become labor. Moreover, we had his personal IRL issues to deal with and I understood. We occasionally have contact to this day and he wished for my future novelist success.

Chaosblazer was another who started as a fan of my Digimon Fusion AND YuYuGiDigiMoon fics. I remember his earliest reviews came from my YYGDM fics, including Dawn of Chaos. We didn't personally interact until we PMed each other on FFN ). He offered me a chance to crossover our stories. It would be a collaborative project that unites his Digimon: Accel Stream fic with my Digimon Fusion Kai and YuYuGiDigiMoon. He'd let me use his character Kensuke Rainer. To make work easier, we split scenes between each other and were able to produce chapters with it. The first experiment was Across Dimensions. After that was successful, we continued with more stories. We even dubbed this fanfic union the 'Triad' (sometimes the 'Trinity'). Overtime, we became friends and continued to collab until the end of Cross Generations. By this point, I was growing burned out writing more big collab crossovers and just from YYGDM overall. I also wanted a break from writing more of Kensuke's adventures. I was frankly getting tired of writing for a predominant character that wasn't mine. I wanted to write other characters. I wanted to move on. That's when I seriously started writing my novel draft and got into Persona/Atlus. Then, I started writing Persona 5 fics. Well, that sure didn't end my relationship with Chaos because we're both Atlus fans. So, as of this writing, we're still friends, but we don't do big collabs anymore and moved on to other things. But, be on the look out for Defiants. Chaos has ideas that have been finalized that I'm going to show as it regards Kensuke and Sailor Orcus. Beyond that, that'll be it as far as Kensuke's story goes.

Now, Allfather-Ford (formerly Ford1114) came into my life as a fan of my Digimon Fusion stories. I remember the first Hotmail and Yahoo emails/messages to me. He became a fan as a result of the DBZ/Digimon elements crossover. Unlike Belle and Lazer, he was a bigger fan of Digimon Fusion than YuYuGiDigiMoon, but he still appreciated the latter. It wasn't until 2011 when I brought him aboard my crew so to speak. We offered ideas for my Digimon Fusion Kai series that was still running atp. He offered ideas for a new Dragon Ball GT adaptation called Cross Generations and a villain named Zeed X (the evolved form of ZeedMillenniummon). Ultimately, he was my go-to guy for Digimon Fusion/Kai, in a way no different than when Belle and Lazer were my YYGDM go-to people. We hardly had any creative differences, though we could scrap each other's unused ideas when it didn't fit a story's narrative. He helped me get over the Dawn of Chaos drought when updates were getting slower. Thanks to him, I was able to find ways to expand my horizons beyond YYGDM and Digimon Fusion with the parody I mentioned earlier. That parody series was called the Cornerverse, which combined not just Digimon Fusion/Kai, YYGDM, and Chaos' Accel series, but with pop culture series such as Dragon Ball, MCU, DCAU, Star Wars, Attack on Titan, Kill la Kill, Guilty Crown (more on this in a bit), Madoka Magica, Transformers, Hunter x Hunter, My Hero Academia, One Punch Man, etc. Guilty Crown, especially, became a massive proponent of the fanfics that I'd incorporate throughout the 2010s and the early 2020s. Ford was also a fanfic writer, but outside of collabs with me over Cross Generations, Urban Legends, Shin-YuYuGiDigiMoon, Akane no Guilty Crown, and Akane no Mai, he's been retired since 2015.

Ford was a big fan of Guilty Crown so much he helped co-write a YYGDM AU where in an alternate YYGDM future, the Guilty Crown characters and a few others (namely the Madoka cast) take the place of the largely deceased YYGDM characters. That was Guilty Crown: The Lost Kingdoms. Then, the GC: TLK characters were included in the Cornerverse (as parody versions) and later Cross Generations. Of course, their presence would extend into my first Persona fanfic Urban Legends and I even helped realize Ford's vision by writing a newer 'improved' retelling called Akane no Guilty Crown. This was all his effort in helping me improve my novelist skills. Now, I will be frank to say that I'm not the biggest Guilty Crown fan. Yeah, shocked, huh? Le gasp! I'm not a big fan of it. In fact, I don't even like it. The only reason I bother with it is because I like the English dub more and I often enjoy the original Japanese versions of anime as much as a dub. However, I found the Japanese GC dub to be dreadfully sterile and cold (outside of a few VAs) compared to the English dub. So, technically, I only enjoy an adaptation of GC instead of its original purest form. If this English dub never existed, I wouldn't have ever bothered with GC. Now, Ford pretty much shares that opinion. GC is a poor man's Code Geass. There I said it!

Now, there have been other fans of mine that I became acquainted with, especially one who vibes with Sailor Moon as much as I do. Yes, I'm talking about the big Sailor Venus fan and one of my friends JNaegi/JeffEros1022. He's another who started with YuYuGiDigiMoon around 2005 ish and became drawn to it largely due to Sailor Moon, but he was along with the Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Yu Yu Hakusho casts, too! He even supports my crossover couples such as Sailor Mars/Hiei and Kurama/Sailor Venus (from the Shin-YYGDM version). We ultimately got in touch through email and later forms of social media. He, too, is a fanfic writer and I've enjoyed his Sailor Moon crossover works. Sadly, he's not active on them like he used to, but that's IRL I suppose. I know for a fact he's already left reviews for Defiants and he's already worried about the Sailor Senshi's fates and destinies. Yes, dark times are here for our heroes before the brightest dawn.

And of course, there's others I don't want to forget. That includes Ninetalesuk, Haruhi Suzumiya s0s (not the character lol), Thanos of Titan, Lycosyncer, Crimson G, Ultra Sonic 007, Generic Reviewer (yep that's a real name), and others. Ninetalesuk helped contribute with his Digimon OCs, especially Valmarmon and Granasmon, into the old YYGDM Digimon lore before the advent of new official Digimon Gods were introduced. I first met him in 2004 when he was acquainted with Youko Youkai and Belletiger. I got acquainted with Lycosyncer and Haruhi later on in 2009 through reviews. While I only knew Haruhi briefly personally before she disappeared off the web, I didn't know Lycosyncer that well beyond the fact he seemed like a nice guy and he was excited for the Defiants story. He's the one who even suggested Cain be the primary antagonist and a driving force in the Defiants conflict. Lycosyncer if you're reading this somewhere, the Defiants story is finally real and I hope you get to experience it! If not, then be happy others will get to see your vision realized. I'll do the best I can with it.

Now, Ultra Sonic 007 was another prolific fanfic writer whose works I enjoyed, primarily his Digimon Zero 2 and Naruto Legacy stories. He even helped beta-read my first Naruto fanfic. He announced he canceled his old fics and I thought he moved on from fanfic writing after finishing his Evangelion stories. If I recall, he said he'd focus on his original novel. To my surprise, he's returned to active fanfic writing and has already written Persona fics, including a retelling of Persona 5 that have somehow become overabundant as of late. Thankfully, my Persona fics offer something different being a crossover with Code Vein and Kakegurui. While I respect him as a writer and a person, I no longer see myself as an endearing fan. Instead, I view us as equals as writers and people. I do hope we can reconnect one day. I'd like to say thank you for beta-reading my Naruto fic and someone I got to interact with briefly. That said, I'm not closely connected with him like the friends I mentioned above.

Crimson G and others who are still reading this series and I've known since the mid-2000s, thank you. And even those who dropped off such as Haruhi and Thanos, I still thank you for the feedback and support. Thank you all so much!

We fast forward to today. As we speak, our world faces numerous problems and our personal lives will affect us in this decade. The 2020s is proving to be not a great decade for the world and moving at a faster pace. But, as they say, the older we get, the faster the time seems to pass. I've heard that before. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, we've seen outbreaks (with the rising fear of other diseases). There's also the protests against companies fighting for fairer wages and better working conditions. There's a class war forthcoming and it's bound to get uglier out there. That recent CEO assassination is just the beginning. Trump's return as president doesn't make things better. With these problematic issues, we have to learn to take care of ourselves and each other. Our families are getting older and we have our financial situations that need to be sorted. As my 30s have passed, I've hit my 40s and there'll be many life changes I need to prepare for.

It's why it's important that we need each other, my friends. If one of us lost family members, we turn to our closest friends for comfort. We also need to think about our futures and careers. That's why I'm hoping to become a novelist, not only to live my dream as a successful writer but to help support myself financially. I'm just a step closer to sending my second draft to an editor and publisher. I've also gotten back into art so after I improve I can start taking commissions. Perhaps I could even try 'content creating' talking about my favorite history and pop culture topics. A YouTube path in the near feature perhaps? I'm seeking out ways to refresh my life experiences. Life is short.

Speaking of life being short, I've some self reflection. For the longest time, I've only told a few family members and close friends. I identify as bisexual and my pronouns are they/them. I hope you're ok with my coming out here.

Other changes going forward. Gone are the days when I wrote long and bloated chapters like YuYuGiDigiMoon's Season Trilogy (Pharaohmon/Rajita/Dawn of Chaos) and some of Cross Generations. That's why I made the conscious decision to split Defiants Chapter 1 into parts and spread updates across a month. It's easier to digest and gives y'all time to process before the next part. Believe me, none of us have time to read and write long ass chapters any more. Defiants Chapter 1 took me a whole two months to write. While this A/N section is long, 90 percent is just copy and pasted commentary taken from other stories and consolidated here. This fourth special commentary is brand new.

Btw, yes I know this chapter is 82K words long, but that's because one-third of this damn thing is just the story content. The rest is this whole damn A/N lol. So, don't count that against me. (looks at Ford)

I often ask why I even exist? Perhaps I was put here to create art and enrich others' lives and inspire others. If that is my purpose, then I accept those responsibilities.

How LazerWulf first met Kanius by saying this to us back in late 2019 from Lazer's words on email: "Let's start with the origin story, huh? It was around the summer of 2004 (Geez, 15 years ago, can you believe it?) and I had just discovered fanfiction. I was browsing around when chance brought me into the Crossover section, and, right up near the top of the list, as it had just recently updated, was a story called "YuGiOhDigimon: The Wrath of Pharaohmon". Now, YuGiOh and Digimon were a huge part of my childhood (I say childhood, but it was really more of my Jr/Sr High School days), so I decided to give it a shot. I believe the summary at the time also mentioned Sailor Moon, which I was also a big fan of, and Yu Yu Hakusho, which I had never seen at the time. (My parents got rid of cable shortly after the turn of the millennium. I was there for the start of Toonami, but only for about a year.) So I'm reading along and I get to the latest chapter, which included the Yugi vs. Felinismon duel, and the duel just didn't flow at all, and my review for that chapter got a little rant-y (You should look it up, chapter 17 of the original WoP. It's a bit cringe-worthy to read now, but keep in mind that I was only 19 at the time. I even managed to throw in a plug for my own story!) K was extremely gracious in his reply (and I did apologize in the chapter 18 review), and we eventually started chatting back and forth through Yahoo Messenger. He mentioned that he was planning a tournament arc, including more duels, and asked if I would like to help out. I did, and even offered to help plan out the battle tournament, as well, and the rest is history. "Diesel" was a guy who lived down the hall in my dorm that I would play YuGiOh Virtual Desktop with, and so he "helped" me with the duels by actually dueling me with the decks we created in YVD. We were supposed to be roommates starting sophomore year, but he ended up dropping out, and I honestly haven't thought about him in years."

Recapping Lazer's Discord post back in 9/3/2022: "I mean, I can't speak to much about the true origins, but I can start from where I first came along. It was the summer of 2004. I had just discovered . I was really in to Yu-Gi-Oh! at the time and dabbled in a bit of YGO FanFiction myself (same username if you want to look me up), but mostly I was just in it for reading others' stories. I eventually stumbled into the crossovers section of FFnet and came across a little story called YugiohDigimon: The Wrath of Pharaohmon. As I was a fan of both franchises mentioned, I gave it a shot. The description had also mentioned Sailor Moon and YuYuHakusho, the former of which I had watched growing up, the latter of which I had never heard of (Fun fact, it wouldn't be until fall of the following year, 2005, that I would finally get a chance to watch YYH). Anyway, I thought the story was pretty good (though the chapters were a bit longer than most of what you would find on that site), but eventually I got to the Duel between Yugi and Felinismon, and noticed there were some... *inaccuracies, let's say, and I gave a very detailed, hopefully more constructive than scathing, review. Not long after, the author, SSJ4Takeru (as Kanius was known at the time) reached out to me. He was planning a dual Duel Monsters and Battle Tournament for the finale of the story, and asked if I would be interested in helping plan and write the duels. I agreed and we started working together. I also offered to plan and organize the brackets for both of the tournaments, which he happily accepted. Now, at the time, all I had to make the duels with was a GBA Rom of Yu-Gi-Oh! Worldwide Edition: Stairway to the Destined Duel. For battles with the core YGO cast, I just had to build a deck in the game and fight the computer, then record what happens. That was pretty easy, though I had to do it several times to get a duel with the desired outcome, and was also long enough to be interesting. I don't think I always succeeded, but you work with what you got. For the few duels that were between two non-YGO characters, I eventually found a little program called YuGiOh Virtual Desktop and started playing around with it, and eventually was able to essentially duel myself using two different decks. As things progressed, I started beta-reading the chapters for the tournament, and K and I would have numerous late-night chats on MSN Messenger about the story and future plans and all that. I pitched the name "YuYuGiDigiMoon" to him, as it included all the franchises, and once the story was complete, he retro-actively changed the name of the story (and also his pen name), and we started working on Invasion of the Rajita. I pitched some story ideas to him, offered to let him use my OCs Lyn, Max, and Sam (from my story Return of the Priest), and things went from there. K wanted to make new God Cards out of the 4 Sacred Beasts, so I came up with their effects and built decks around them for the Beast Tamers to use. (I was also the first one to portmanteau Suzakato, Seirika, Henbu, and Himakko, names which were used in the story, but I don't think any of the characters in the story called them.) Thanks to YVD, I had a friend help me create the 4 Beast Tamer duels and also the Yui vs Nemesis duel, which I really wanted to use the Yata-Lock on (Essentially, use Chaos Emperor Dragon to wipe out the opponent's field and hand, then direct attack with Yata-Garasu to prevent the opponent from drawing). I was still beta-reading the chapters, at least to start, but towards the end, Kanius' writing speed outpaced my availability to proofread, so the last chapters were eventually posted un-beta'd. Afterwards, we worked together on the Kuiper Belt Senshi and other stories, like Summer Diaries, but that is a story for a different day."

—-(12/24/21): Chaos said to me on Discord of how he first met you saying, "I started messaging him on i believe picked up during Dawn of Chaos. well i did catch onto his work earlier the digital fusion stuff was awesome too." (Your response (12/24/21): Btw, Chaos. I do remember you first messaging me through PMs. But, I do remember you reviewing some of my YYGDM stories before 2010-11.)

-Back in March 2024, Jeff (relating to how you first met him in your POV) even shares me on Discord DM of how he first met you and your team, "On the how I met K, Belle, Lazer and Chaos? It's been about a decade but for K I randomly stumbled on his story and saw it had the Sailor Senshi in it and deided to give it a chance. At the time, I was mostly a fan that liked his writing which inspiried me to try writing. Then due to my love of his interpretation to my girl Sailor Venus, went from there. For Chaos, I noticed they worked together from time to time and reviewed his story and the rest is history. Belle, and Lazur is emails linked to you guys before coming on Discord."

For as long as I've written stories, I've noticed my writing style is different from others. This is true whenever I collab with someone (namely Chaos and Ford) or write other people's characters. While I do my best to stay true to their characters, there will be subtle and notably obvious differences with each interpretation. This of course might cause inconsistencies, but that's a downside to a team of writers handling a long story I suppose. Writing styles are going to differ from one another. I'd like to think these experiences helped enhance my writing style.

Circling back to my past bullying problems, I became hesitant to interact with most people and grew distrustful of others. Thankfully, I did gain friendships during high school. They were also friends with my siblings. So, I still have that circle of friends in my life. However, most of my friendships were made online. Sometimes I do wonder if having creative differences would've caused burned bridges. I'm happy to say that while Lazer has been brutally honest, he's not an outright negative and toxic guy. He's someone I can proudly call a friend. Likewise with someone like Chaos. We might've had creative differences, but we're still on good terms and have been cool to my other friends.

Of course, I know there's going to be a few people I'm not going to vibe with. That comes with life unfortunately. That's fine. I'm going to move on and live my life to its fullest.

That ends this long ass commentary. While I'm glad to have YuYuGiDigiMoon back for a final run to close the book for good, this is my final fandom/long-running fanfic. By the time my other stories are finished, I hope this will be the last one standing so I can effectively end my fanfic writing run (and break this YYGDM 'curse' for good).

Anyway, let's enjoy this final run to its fullest. Chapter 2 will take a while to produce and it'll be split into several parts, too. Until then, whenever the next update comes, I'll see you then, my friends.