Dueling Unlimited
is an Original Character Yu-Gi-Oh! GX AU fanfic. The setting is a GX AU meant to bridge the gap between the original series and 5D's. The main character is Shawn, an intelligent and well meaning teen who after a slight misunderstanding ends up going to the University of Dueling. While there he meets plenty of friends, and gains plenty of rivals and enemies as well. Jewels is the main reason he ends up going and seems to be his main love interest. Tanner, a blatant but amusing pervert who is often getting punished by Melinda for his actions. Sandra is a powerful duelist but a little off, and Dean who is very dedicated to his grandmother. And finally we have Sandra's Perky Goth roommate Cassie. Eventually joining the group is Haseo a famous actor and Voltaire, a mysterious member of the Relinquished Dorm.
This fanfic provides examples of:
- Aborted Arc: Pluto's group of followers were originally planned to be a bigger threat but the author dummied this out when he decided to get into the deeper plot sooner.
- Ambiguously Gay: Yuu Akimoto seems a bit obsessed with Haseo.
- Animal Motif: Kirimaru is a shark themed duelist.
- Four of the antiheros have this as well. Dove, Boa, Raven, and Bat who have Harpies, Venom, Blackwings, and Vampires respectively.
- Affectionate Parody: Not the story itself, but there are definitely a few parts that qualify as this. Namely the Power Rangers shout out.
- Big Damn Heroes: Chapter 43 features Dove, Boa, Raven, and Bat acting completely heroically for once.
- Black Knight: Haruka's deck has this for a theme.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Tanner. He loves the ladies, but he's really still a likable guy and will stand up for his female friends.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: During the Christmas Special Santa Claus shows up to curbstomp the villain
- Dark Is Not Evil:
- The entire theme behind Voltaire's character and deck.
- Haseo's as well, kind of. And Cassie's for that matter. This comes up a lot actually.
- Enemy Mine: The main character ends up on the same team as his enemy during the Trinity Tournament
- Expy: Griever is based on General Grievous.
- Groin Attack: Used occasionally in earlier chapters.
- Good is Not Nice: The mentioned animal trio obviously think they're doing the right thing and for a while they were friends with the main group but things got pretty bad after they met Tanner...
- Incredibly Lame Pun: Haseo's acting terms and jokes can get a little annoying after a while. For the record, even his Hot Shounen Mom is getting tired of it.
- Killed Off for Real: Tanner. They never found the body.
- Living Shadow:
- The Shadow Templar archetype all have living shadows.
- Haseo's Heartless, one of which is the basic Heartless type Shadow.
- Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: Shimakaru the lazy ninja is said to be one of Tanner's favorite fictional characters.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Celena is this because of Wise, Haseo's evil ex-manager.
- Love Triangle: Type 5. Melinda loves Tanner, who loves Sandra, who is oblivious.
- Master of Illusion: Akashini's deck revolves around manipulating the opponent with his illusions.
- Mind Screw: Pretty much the whole point of Akashini's deck, and Akashini's favorite hobby.
- Monster Clown: One shows up in Chapter 42.
- Ninja: The main character, Shawn, has training as a ninja, with a deck full of them too!
- Orphaned Series: The author has confirmed on their profile that the story is cancelled.
- Rescue Arc: Two at once. Haseo and Voltaire both leave the main cast to go rescue their love interests
- Rule of Three: The Trinity Tournament is a series of duels between three schools. Each team has three members.
- Sentai: The villains in Chapter 43 have this theme.
- Shout-Out: Haseo uses a Kingdom Hearts themed deck. Another character uses a Disgaea themed card.
- Superpowered Evil Side: As of chapter 49 it seems the main character may have this
- Theme Naming: Boa, Dove, Raven, and Bat are all from the same village.
- Tournament Arc: In a bit of a subversion, the Trinity Tournament doesn't play by the normal rules. It's double elimination with teams.
