Shadowchasers is a Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds fanfiction written by Cyber Commander.Taking place simultaneously with the events of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds, Ember (real name Eiko Michiko) is a young secretary whom suddenly finds herself attacked by an ophidia. Yet before she is killed, a man named Shichiro comes to her aid and challenges the ophidia to a duel. After winning, the man takes Ember to a restaurant and explains what happened: all the creatures and things that are of myth and legend are real. These are called Shadows, and they are hidden by a veil that most humans, or Mundane, cannot see past. Thus, in order to protect the humans, the Shadowchasers were created and led by Jalal Stormbringer as a sort of police force to enforce the Great Treaty. That's where dueling comes into play: whenever a Shadow and a Shadowchaser get into a disagreement, the resulting conflict must be fair. Since Ember obviously has the gift of being able to see Shadows, Shichiro invites her to join the Shadowchasers.The series has several other entries as well. Shadowchasers: Power Primordial is a direct sequel to Shadowchasers. Something big is happening in Neo Domino, and it's up to the Neo Domino Shadowchasers to find out who is behind it.Shadowchasers: Torment features a different team of Shadowchasers. A green elf-like person has amnesia, and is desperately seeking answers, as a mysterious cult seeks their dark master.Shadowchasers: Soulscape is a short story compared to the rest. Jalal Stormbringer goes inside one's soul to cure the uncurable.Shadowchasers: Ascension moves on to the Boston team of Shadowchasers. By Shadowchasers standards, Boston has always been a quiet town. Yet as evil comes to their door, the Boston team must fight to find the answers.Shadowchasers: Tournament of Shadows is a joint project between Cyber Commander, Lux-Nero, and MultiplePersonas, using characters from several different Shadowchaser stories. In it, information mogul Jean-Claude convinces Jalal to host a tournament for charity in order to get the Shadowchasers some positive PR. So, fifty Shadowchasers and fifty Pro duelists head out to Duelist Kingdom (yes, that Duelist Kingdom) to duel.Cyber Commander allows other authors to write stories in the Shadowchasers universe as long as they get his approval. Notable fics by other authors include:Shadowchasers: Risen Nemesis by Lux-Nero, where the Shadowchasers of Las Vegas face a citywide conspiracy. There is also the sequel, Shadowchasers: Dark City Chronicles, which is currently in progress and features the Shadowchasers of New York City.Shadowchasers: City of Angels by MichaelDJ54 features the Shadowchasers of Los Angeles as they oppose a violent and incredibly dangerous enemy. The fic is currently on hiatus, but reports are that it will continue soon.Shadowchasers: Danse Macabre by Metal Overlord 2.0 is a fic with a Gothic Horror feel, featuring a lone Shadowchaser facing an ancient evil.Shadowchasers: Miscellaneous Files by MultiplePersonas is an anthology series with each chapter featuring a different Shadowchaser.Shadowchasers: Twice-Told Tales by 7th Librarian is also an anthology, but the stories are all bound by a common thread. Each character featured in each chapter will all be part of the same team in an upcoming fic called Shadowchasers: Backwater by the same author.See also Yu Gi Oh The Thousand Year Door and Yu Gi Oh Dark Messiah, two other stories written by Cyber Commander. (The former also being established as part of the Shadowchaser universe.) And for the author's own Troper Page, look here.Please check out the Cards and Shadowchasers character pages. Both need More Love.
Aborted Arc: Not truly aborted, more like one that was simply not put to writing. At the end of Power Primordial, Jalal instructs the Neo Domino Shadowchasers to enter the WRGP, knowing that Yliaster is one of its biggest sponsors and concerned about what will happen. (The Writers Guidelines provided by Cyber Commander to authors give a brief explanation of their role in that event, which should be considered canon.)
There is also Trueman's fate by the end of Power Primordial. He is last seen taking a plane wearing casual clothing with the intention of laying low and living among civilization, due to having lost most of his power, with the only thing left being his Dark Archetype card. He wonders himself if the world has seen the last of the messenger of darkness, which even he does not know the answer. Cyber Commander leaves this plotline unfinished to allow other authors to continue it themselves if they want to.
Hebi-Na's state by the end of Power Primordial was this, until Soulscape was written and fully resolved it.
Adaptation: Torment was based on Planescape: Torment, at least as far as the basic plot is concerned. Several liberties were taken for the plot, giving it another setting, giving the main character a more definite enemy to face, and outlining his past more thoroughly. The storyline follows a path in the fic that is very different, however, as is the supporting cast.
A Father to His Men: Jalal looks after every member of the Shadowchasers in a paternal kind of way.
Action Girl: Pretty much every female Shadowchaser.
Always Female: Inverted, in Ascension, where we find out that gorgons, commonly depicted as a female-only monster in the media, do indeed have males. They are simply incredibly rare. They do not have the snakes for hair or the ability to turn people to stone that the females do, but have very lethal venom.
Ambiguous Ending: At the end of Torment, Leorin attacks the Dread Emperor, and it is up for the readers to decide what the outcome of the battle was. It doesn’t matter to Leorin; if he defeats the Dread Emperor, he’ll rid the world of one of its most brutal serial killers, and if he is killed, he will finally be able to pass on to his final reward.
Amoral Attorney: Obligatum XXV, a platonic, one of a race of sentient mechanical beings who enforce the fundamental laws of the universe. In the original fix, it determines that the Dark Signers must be aided in freeing the Earthbound Gods, because their original summoners broke the contract that was made with them. It fails to realize the great danger that its actions would cause, and also does not realize that its view has been cause by a the lingering evil aura caused by the actual Earthbound Gods, which have caused it to become a misguided platonic (an incredibly dangerous thing, according to Gears). Unlike most members of this trope, it hardly a slouch in a fight, more than a match for most mortal beings.
Anti-Villain: Anthony Draco, Ember's former employer, he is a githyanki and now the CEO of a very large company who has been on Earth for several centuries. He is an ally of DePen, but only because Sonja is blackmailing him. He expresses regret at having to hold Ember hostage initially, and his final act before he apparently dies is open a portal that helps her escape from place where the duel with Sonja had occurred, which is about to sink into the ocean.
Arch-Enemy: Hebi-Na was formerly one for Ember. (Lampshaded by Ember herself at one point when it appears they're both going to die; she sarcastically says she wishes she could have had a better arch-enemy.)
Armor Is Useless: Averted to a point. The Dread Emperor's armor is enchanted with several enchantments to negate the weight of such heavy armor, but those enchantments become useless when he accidentally creates a dead zone.
Ascended Extra: Hebi-Na who was just a minor criminal in the original fic, has a lot more relevance in Power Primordial and Soulscape.
Penelope who only had a minor role in Torment, has a slightly larger role in Ascension.
Jalal to an extent in Soulscape. While he has a prominent role in every Shadowchaser story (although it is only limited to a supporting role), Soulscape is the 1st story with him taking up a central role.
A non-character example would some certain Deck archetypes themselves, usually if they were used by a one-time character in a fic then later used by a main character in the next. Some examples include the Amazoness, Ice Barrier, and Gishki archtype.
Asshole Victims: Prior her attempt on Earth, Sonja had drowned at least five worlds whose inhabitants were less than pleasant.
Other evil villains in the franchise who are murdered are Louis DaPen in the original series and Ravel Darkquill in Torment.
The Atoner: Hebi-Na in Soulscape. Red Feather might also qualify, although her crime happened well before her first appearance.
In Torment, Leorin fills this role in a big way. Many centuries ago, he was a general in an army that fought the minions of Sertrous, but panicked and deserted his men when the demon actually appeared; this cowardly act caused his men and the town he was defending to be slaughtered. Convinced that what he did would cause his soul to be damned even if he spent his whole life repenting, he sought Ravel Darkquill to gain immortality, hoping for more time to repent.
Back from the Dead: Panik and Geise the Spirit Hunter. Also, Yami Marik, who made a deal with Hape in Torment.
Baleful Polymorph: Lorelei's prefered method of dealing with victims; she turns them into cats. Her first known victim was her own father (who appears in Torment) and it is implied that several former lovers have met the same fate. She does this to Nichole too after besting her in a duel, but Leorin breaks the curse before it becomes permanent. At the end of Torment, after Lorelei is apprehended, this curse is put upon HER as well, as she accepts it as part of a plea bargain to avoid the death penalty.
Barbarian Hero: Trymus the Conqueror. Ironic because he is a Wind Attribute monster.
Battle In The Center Of The Soul: The entire plot of Soulscape revolves around this, as Jalal enters Hebi-Na's mind in an attempt to save her from the cruel curse she was inflicted with in "Power Primordial".
The reason the gods locked Tarizdun up instead of killing him, despite the danger he posed, was because he was a pawn of the Great Old Ones, who were worse, and they would have regained the power they invested in him if he had died. To this day, Tharizdun acts as a "cosmic lynchpin" to prevent an even more destructive force.
The Devil himself qualifies, according to Unity-Of-Rings. As bad as Lucifer is, he is actually the best choice for Overlord of Hell. Despite being the tempter of mortals and a power of Evil, he is still a power of Law, and under his rule, the devils wage the Blood War against the demons of the Abyss. If he was replaced by someone who didn't care to do this, such as Mephistopheles, the demons' population would grow to unearthly numbers, they would slaughter the devils, then destroy the upper planes, then the mortal worlds, and once they ran out of places to destroy, would turn on themselves, and that would be the end of everything.
BFG: Jalal's magical M16A2 assult rifle. While not as large as other BFGs, it was capable of killing Count Nyleth, the (ex)ruler of the Nightmare Court. He has used it once so far, after the Demon Guardian murdered Taramanda in cold blood. (The creature fled rather than try to fight him.) Jalal keeps the gun in his vault so he wont be tempted to overuse it. (It is hinted in the series that magical firearms are rare, and that the more modern the weapon, the harder - and more expensive - it is to enchant.)
Big Bad Wannabe: Taramanda, the ophidia empress from Power Primordial. She believes she is the one opposing the Shadowchasers, but has no idea that she is being used as a pawn the whole time by the true Big Bad, who has no respect at all for her title OR the goddess she worships.
In the original fic, Sonja ultimately answers to the Light of Ruin.
In Power Primordial, the aboleth's ultimate goal is to free an imprisoned being called Pandorym, who mastered the Power Primordial better than almost any other being, and used it to challenge the Hebdomad, but lost.
Tharizdun fills this role in both "Torment" and "Ascension".
The whole franchise might even have something that qualifies as a "Biggest Bad", more or less, seeing as It is suggested in Ascention that the Great Old Ones of the Cthulhu Mythos were the ones who originally corrupted Tharizdun and seek the destruction of everything.
Big Good: Jalal Stormbringer in every single Shadowchaser story.
Black Knight: The Dread Emperor (actually a wizard, but looks very much like a knight). If his name and frightening looking plate armor weren't enough to convince you that he was evil, four mind controlled children are chained to his belt by their necks (the reason for this is unknown, but obviously not good). Willing to destroy a whole city block if one person in it angers him, he only bothers to duel the protagonist of Torment because a freak occurrence makes him unable to use his magic.
Blow You Away: Trymus the Conqueror, Rary the Paragon of Wind, Dante's Armed Dragon Deck, and any duelist with a Wind-based Deck.
Break the Haughty: Ben takes the receiving end of this when he loses his duel with Roxy because of his over-confidence.
Brown Note: The Bells of Baphoment. A curse that causes its victim to constantly hear a set of fiendish bells wherever he/she goes. No matter where they were or what kind of protection they try to use, the bells would constantly ring in their heads which would drive them to madness. Unfortunately there is no known cure to this curse, and the only solution would be for the victim to go in to a magically-induced sleep (and again that's still just a temporary solution). The aboleth inflicts this curse on Hebi-Na towards the end of Power Primordial which causes Wilhelm to put her to sleep with a spell. She stays like this until the end of Soulscape, wherein not only does she recover, but destroys the curse forever by killing its fiendish assassin.
Cat Girl: "Ascension" introduces an Always Female species called Cat-Women, shapeshifting Shadowkind that suffer from a terrible curse. They are very attractive women that can transform into hybrids of cats and humans, but if one ever falls in love with a man long enough to become intimate with him, the throes of passion almost always cause the Cat-Woman to transform involuntarily and kill her lover. Even worse, if a child is concieved and it is a girl, there is a chance that the curse will be passed to her. (Oddly enough, one of this species is a member of the Shadowchasers in Lux-Nero's story "Dark City Saga".)
Call Back: In the original story, Ember is held hostage by Draco and the rest of the Neo Domino Shadowchasers go out of their way to rescue her., in Power Primordial, The three of them are defeated and captured, leaving it to her to rescue them. Ember herself even acknowledges this.
Chekhov's Gunman: Red Feather and Jalie Squarefoot were first mentioned in Shadowchaser Files (that appear at the end of a chapter in the original fic and Power Primordial) before appearing officially in Ascension. Other characters that make smaller appearances after being mentioned in the Files are Kesto Brighteyes (in Torment) and Jemorille the Exile (again, in Ascension.)
Clear My Name: Jetta the Bronze Hearted. She is granted a form of probation by agreeing to work with Ember and released from an intergalactic prison, but hopes that it will expose the ones who framed her for what they are. (She later says that she was powerful enough to have freed herself at any time, but as Shichiro says, contrary to what you see in movies and television, running from the law is most often an admission of guilt.)
Co-Dragons: This is the case is Ascension, where Jalie has three top enforcers, Malanus, Xon, and Novolar (it is hinted that he favors Novolar the most, as she is his oldest surviving servant and was his consort before he became a lich). The three of them clearly hate each other, which is how Jalie likes it (it is stated that, in the politics of Hell, nobles prefer to have their most powerful minions hate each other to lesson the chances that they will cooperate long enough to successfully betray them).
The Commissioner Gordon: Apparently, every local group of Shadowchasers has at least one government contact that helps them, due to the fact that regular law enforcement cannot hope to handle Shadow-related crimes on their own. For the Neo Domino group, it's Jeagar (and Shichiro clearly does NOT like working with him).
Continuity Cameo: In the original, Mukuro Enjo, Takasu, and Jeagar. Divine also makes a very brief appearance; he is shown to be an unoffical ally of the Neo Domino Shadowchasers at first, but they quickly condemn his actions when his true nature is revealed.
Cool Sword: Every Shadowchaser is given a sword for instances where in dueling will not work. Not all of them use the swords, however. Dugan in Torment uses an enchanted blunderbuss for a weapon, while Red Feather's weapon of choice seems to be a bow and arrows.
Crazy-Prepared: Dante. He has six decks, one of each attribute.
Jalie also has bouts of this. To protect his Hellfire Sentinel's emergency off switch, he placed a brimstone golem with the soul of rival devil Belphagon in it. However, Belphagon's deck is rigged: Once it detects what deck his opponent is using, he magically changes his deck into the perfect counter deck.
In one of their duels, Edmund uses an anti-machine deck to counter Gears knowing that Gears would be expecting his Worm Deck.
Anthony Draco might qualify, in another way. He keeps a database on his laptop (that can only be accessed with a code) with extensive files on every resident of Neo Domino that might be a threat to him, in degrees of potential severity. Included are the Neo Domino Shadowchasers, the Signers, the current Dark Signers, and even Rex Godwin (despite the fact that the chapter where this is revealed occurs at a time when most people do not believe Godwin has any uncouth intentions, AND the fact that Draco's company is collaborating with Godwin in at least one project.)
Crisis Crossover: Tournament of Shadows, which features characters from different Shadowchaser fics in one storyline is starting to look like this.
Dark Messiah: Lareth the Beautiful, a prophesied chosen one of Tharizdun who is believed to be needed for any successful attempt to free him from his prison. This assumption is later revealed to be wrong, and the Triad fully intends to betray him when they put their true plan into action; Tharizdun himself, however, shows more gratitude towards him.
Deal with the Devil: Both Ulysses Tiberius and Lorelei DeLuc agree to work for Jalie in Ascension, certain that they have nothing left to lose. As it turns out they do, and both turn against him when they learn of his true plan, willing to die for their true master (Tharizdun) rather than live serving someone else.
Another, averted example in Ascension: When Jalie defeats Ophelia and Jeb and takes them prisoner, he offers Dante an actual Faustian Pact, promising to release his two partners if he signs it. Dante refuses, assuming - rightfully - that Jalie is offering it to him because he is unsure of his ability to win a third duel in a row.
Death Is Not Permanent: The protagonist of Torment is cursed, and can never know actual death. If he dies, he is reborn in another place. There seems to be hope however, because he is no longer forgetting what happened before he dies each time, and his rebirths happen relatively close to where the deaths occur.
Demoted to Extra: From the looks of it, Shichiro, Jinx, Gears, and Dugan in Tournament of Shadows.
Mistle, who was a fairly prominent recuring character in the original fic only appears in one chapter in Power Primordial.
Dishing Out Dirt: Jinx and her X-Sabers, Shanalla the Fierce, Soth the Paragon of Earth, Dante's Armor Deck, and any duelist with an Earth-based Deck.
Divine Intervention: In Torment, Ben's duel disk (see Wild Card, below) is actually the Mace of St. Cuthbert, a holy relic associated with the god he once worshipped. St. Cuthbert lends it to him, both to see if he is worthy of redemption and to aid him in breaking his curse if he is.
Another example occurs in Ascension, when Odin, Thor, and Loki give Dante a deck with copies of their cards in order for him to defeat Jalie. The lesson to be learned from this battle (which Jalie clearly refuses to learn) is one that is repeated several times over the course of the fic: Jalie is not even close to being in the same league as the beings he is trying to challenge, and he is a fool for trying to do so.
The Don: Louis DaPen; despite the fact that he operates in Japan, he resembles a Western mobster and really cannot be considered a Yakuza.
Other examples include Taka Kyodai, the Shadowkind crimelord of Chicago who appears in ‘’Torment’’ (who is actually an ally of the Shadowchasers) and Cattivo Fanciullo, a boss in the European underworld who makes a brief appearance in ‘’Torment’’. (His henchman, Drago, plays a bigger role.) A crime boss who is mentioned, but who was defeated in the past and is now in prison, is Madison Vance.
The Dragon: Edmund for Louis DaPen, Trueman for the Aboleth.
Dying Race: The vampires. Borrowed heavily from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, the cause of this dates back a few centuries ago when some leaders of the vampire race believed that they could live alongside humans peacefully without having to hide behind the same veil that most Shadowkind did. It worked for a while, but then something happened - exactly what was not known - that made both races hate each other. A war between the two races started, and the vampires clearly lost, reduced to near-extinction on Earth. The Shadowchasers regard this as one of the greatest tragedies in their history, but point to it as proof that the veil that hides Shadowkind from most humans must never be lifted again, lest a similar disaster occur.
Eldritch Abomination: In the original fic, Sonja ultimately answers to the Light of Ruin.
In Ascension, it is revealed that Tharizdun used to be a heavenly god of goodness and light, but was corrupted and driven mad by the Great Old Ones of Cthulhu Mythos. The reason the other gods imprisoned Tharizdun instead of killing him is because the Great Old Ones invested so much of their power in Tharizdun, and if he dies, they will gain it back, creating an even worse threat.
Embarrassing First Name: Gears HATES his first name "Maurice" that not even Jalal uses it. In Power Primordial, he reveals it to a duelist who also has an embarrassing name in order to make him feel better.
Empathic Card: The card Jalal the Dragonborn and its later version Dragonprince Jalal have a hidden effect that activates only if it is used by a someone not authorized to use it or a Shadowchaser who has lost favor that ensures that the user will lose.
Enigmatic Minion: Madam Xane, an old crone who works for the Doomdreamers, but who doesn’t seem to care for them at all. Xane is a follower of St. Cuthbert, and only works for the Doomdreamers because she knew than Leorin would eventually oppose them.
Even Evil Has Standards: As stated, Tharizdun and his worshippers are so despicable that even other evil organizations and beings do not associate with them, even some of the most evil entities in the cosmos (maybe especially so, because they can remember the original war where he tried to destroy all of existence). To give an example, after Lareth defeats Minerva, he shoves her into an enchanted chair that is meant to hold sacrifices for the demon lord Demogorgon. Minerva survives long enough to be freed from it, because Demogorgon refuses to accept an offering made by a Doomdreamer.
Despite this, there are even some things that Doomdreamers find abhorent. While Tiberius is in prison, another prisoner implies that he burned books, and he angrily replied that he never did that, saying that he was "no Nazi".
Evil Counterpart: The Hellgear, evil versions of the Alies of Justice. The Hellgear specialize in fighting Water attribute monsters.
In their last stand against the Neo Domino Shadowchasers, the Four Paragons use the defeated spirits of the Earthbound Gods who have taken the form of the appropriate Signer Dragon that defeated them.
Evil Cripple: The Aboleth in Power Primordial is an aquatic being, and cannot breathe air or even move easily on land without technological aid. According to Jalal, a member of this species that suffocates due to being out of water will not die, but will enter a comatose state called "Long Dreaming", which they consider a Fate Worse Than Death.
Evil Tower of Ominousness: The Temple of All-Consumption, a Doomdreamer stronghold located off the shore of Lake Michigan. A dark, forboding, sinister-looking tower, it is an essential part of their plan in Torment. It usually remains hidden below the water's surface, but they purposely reveal it in an attempt to lure the Chicago Shadowchasers to their doom (which turns out to be a very bad idea as the Triad informs them later).
Possibly the most disturbing thing about the Temple is, as frightening as it is, it clearly is not the most important stronghold the Doomdreamers have as an organization, and they clearly have an even more important headquarters (or possibly even more than one) elsewhere. It was not the Triad's base of operations, and they fully intended to abandon it once the ritual it was necessary for was complete.
Evil Twin: In Torment, Hape, whose true form looks exactly like Leorin, is the embodiment of Leorin's mortality, stripped from Leorin by Ravel, and the reason he cannot die. Hape also cannot die, but unlike Leorin, he does not view it as a curse. However, if either one of them were to die permanently, so would the other. Thus, Hape has arranged for Leorin's death countless times over the centuries, as doing so makes Leorin forget each life and lowers the risk that he will learn the truth. Events in the fic stop Leorin from forgetting, forcing Hape to take a more active role.
The concept is even lampshaded by Hape himself, saying that he isn't a clone, an evil twin, or his alternate self.
Fantastic Racism: Some Shadowkind accuse Jalal and the Shadowchasers as this. Jalal is attacked mercilessly by Shadow-exclusive supermarket tabloids on this and other issues, and has claimed that such slander has been directed against him since written periodicals first became popular.
Fantasy Kitchen Sink: If it's fantasy related, there is a good chance it's here.
Fate Worse Than Death: The Bells of Baphomet, the cruel curse inflicted upon Hebi-Na in "Power Primordial". A victim of this demonic curse is tortured by the sound of horrible bells that only he can hear which prevent sleep and usually cause madness. Only magically inflicted sleep can protect the victim, so long as he never wakes up. The victim does eventually die, hunted down and torn to pieces by a mysterious assassin called the Demon of the Bells, but some believe that this is not the end of the curse, and that the victim's soul is then enslaved by the demon lord who granted the power to cast it. Until "Soulscape", which centers around Jalal trying to cure Hebi-Na this is believed to be incurable (the traditional "cure" among Shadowkind is Mercy Killing).
Faux Affably Evil: Malanus in Ascnesion, one of Jalie's advisors initially acts nice and polite to Ophelia during their duel, but it is only a facade and he later drops the act once Ophelia starts getting the upper hand.
The Gambler: Jinx in the original fic uses cards which involve coin flips or dice rolls. She later stops using them after almost dying due to bad luck.
Gargle Blaster: Reptilian Shadowkind like the ophidia drink something called viperwine, a whiskey made from the venom of the Indian viper. This is actually lethal to any non-reptile who drinks it without taking an antidote. Shadowkind who sell liquor require a special license to sell it, which the Shadowchasers are in charge of issuing.
It is revealed in "Ascension" that devils cannot become drunk by drinking regular alcohol, and thus have several incredible potent beverages that they use to become intoxicated. These drinks tend to far more potent to humans. Gughalaki is one example, which is like strong ale to them, and high-ranking devils like Jalie drink Demon's Blood (which is Exactly What It Says on the Tin and is savored by devils like fine wine.)
God of Evil: Torment revolved around a cult of Tharizdun, an insane god that was so evil and so destructive that eons ago, all other gods, good and evil alike, joined forces to defeat him and cast him into a dark prison. In Ascension, Jalie's goal is to kill Tharizdun, as he is certain no other gods would try to stop him, and absorb his power, thus becoming a god himself.
Go-Go Enslavement: An unintentional example happens in the original fic. When Jalal and the rest of the Neo Domino Shadowchasers confront Draco and try to rescue Ember, they find out that Draco bound her to a lamp that forces her to obey him. To top it all off, the lamp forces her to wear a revealing harem girl's outfit. (Draco insisted that he did NOT know that would happen.) She eventually gets free from the lamp though. Jinx even makes a snide remark that she'd rather be tied up than wear something like that.
Go Mad from the Revelation: Awareness Madness, a case wherein an newly-awakened Aware's eyes open to the truth, but his/her mind cannot grasp the new things he/she is seeing, and as a result snaps and can possibly become dangerous. (According to Shichiro, this most happens when a human becomes Aware at an older age than usual.)
Gorgeous Gorgon: If Gloria is any indication, they really aren't ugly at all (so long as you can look past the snakes for hair).
Goth: Ophelia from Ascension dresses mostly in dark clothing.
Grand Theft Me: Edmund attempts this on Ember after he is reduced to just a soul inhabiting a Magic Jar. Unfortunately for him, Flamvell Urquizas destroys his Magic Jar killing him permanently.
The Aboleth does this to his Dark Highlander monster card during his duel with Ember in order to obtain a strong body to go with his strong mind.
Green Thumb: Mistle who runs a greenhouse and uses a Plant Deck. Minerva's Naturia Deck also has a good amount of plant monsters.
Half-Human Hybrid: The series has LOTS of these. The most well-known one is Jalal, who is half-human, half-dragon. Others of note include Ophelia, who is half-human, half-shadar-kai, Penelope (half-human, half-elf), and Lorelei (half-human, half-demon, also referred to as a cambion). The Shadowchaser's official term for anyone with one human parent and one Shadowkind parent is "Shadow-Touched".
Half the Woman She Used To Be: In Power Primordial, Taramanda meets her end when the Demon Guardian attacks her with his weapon, cutting her in half.
Heel Face Turn: Hebi-Na as of Soulscape who is now a negotiator for the ophidia appointed by Jalal in the hopes that there could be better relations between humans and the ophidia.
Hero Worshipper: Karen Taft in Ascension idolizes the Shadowchasers and wishes to join them when she gets older. As a result she tends to get herself involved in various dangerous situations in hopes of proving herself much to the Boston Shadowchasers' (especially Ophelia's) dismay. She eventually proves herself later on by defeating Dybbuk in a duel, which results in Center-Of-All giving the Boston Shadowchasers the location of Jalie's fortress. At the end of the fic, Dante even says that Jalal might have no other choice but to let her join when she's eighteen otherwise a group that doesn't like them might try to recruit her instead.
Hoist By Her Own Petard: In one of her duels with Ember, Iggwiliv, summons Gears' Il Mathman and later sacrifices it order to activate an effect, only for Ember to use a card that Minerva gave her to summon Il Mathman to her field and promptly finish Iggwiliv off. Ember even lampshades that Iggwiliv did one of the "classical dumb mistakes villains make".
Higher Tech Species: The Incantifers. Technically, they are a race of sorcerers whose powers are supernatural, not technological, but they are still far more powerful and intelligent than most Shadowkind. To give an example of how powerful they are, one of them, Maskent, co-drafted and co-signed the Great Treaty, and is the Shadowkind representive for all matters concerning it. Fortunately for humans, most Incantifers are benign (one notable exception is the most powerful currently-living Doomdreamer, who is called The First).
Horny Devils: Dante actually encounters two of these in Ascension.
The first is Castalla an erinyes (which is like a succubus, only a devil, not a demon) who is sent as part of a three-devil strike force by Jalie Squarefoot. Her attempts to charm Dante are largely ineffective, but her dueling skills are much better, mainly because she uses The Wicked Avatar.
Dante later meets Castalla's mother, a far more powerful temptress named Novolar who is one of Jalie's most trusted servants. Her attempt to seduce him nearly succeeds, but he manages to realize what is happening before it is too late.
One of Jalie's Outcast Devils, Malarea has the ability to "seduce" the opponent's monster to joining her side of the field. She attacks directly by kissing the opponent square on the lips.
An Ice Person: Karl from Torment runs an Ice Barrier Deck.
Identical Stranger: Ember looks exactly like the monster card "Rose, Warrior of Revenge". Shichiro eventually gives her the card and he and a few others comment on the resemblance.
Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The chapters of each fic (except for Torment, Soulscape, and Ascension) are each named after a card in the game, a tradition started in Cyber Commander's previous work, Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Messiah.
In Soulscape, each chapter is named after an episode of Code Lyoko.
I Gave My Word: When Lareth confronts Minerva, he offers to return the Celestial Configuration, a holy artifact that the Doomdreamers took from the Knights of Domiel centuries ago, if she duels him, regardless of who wins. (He really needs the elemental energy from a powerful monster she uses.) He wins the duel, but keeps his end of the baragin; however, he does physically restrain her and leave her to starve in the isolated cave where the duel took place. Minerva is eventually found by other Knights of Domiel before that happens, and she believes that him returning it is a sign that the Doomdreamers are very close to their goal. (If Tharizdun is freed, the Configuration could hardly help them.)
Immortality: Jalal is immortal, and is currently slightly older than a thousand years old. He can be hurt, and there are a few things that could kill him, but it is incredibly difficult. It is not known if he could literally regenerate From a Single Cell, but some have stated that his body could reform from even a small piece of flesh or from burnt ashes.
Invisible to Normals: Mundanes cannot see or hear many supernatural phenomenon, and perceive Shadowkind as humans. Ironically, many Awares cannot see or hear Duel Spirits, and a person able to perceive Duel Spirits is often not Aware. Shichiro wanted to recruit Yusei Fudo into the Shadowchasers due to his incredible talent and connection to Duel Spirits, but alas, Yusei is not Aware.
Ironic Echo: Happens a few times, mostly with deck choice.
In Power Primordial, Hebi-na uses the (almost) exact deck Sonja used against Ember.
In Soulscape, Vucarik's deck is the same deck Hebi-na used in Chapter 4 of Shadowchasers, with some improvements.
In Power Primordial, Shichiro imagines what might happen if someone would ever combine the Djinns of Ritual monsters with Demise, King of Armageddon and shudders at the thought. Fast forward to Ascension, and Ophelia (who is one of the protagonists thought) does exactly that.
Ironic Name: Lareth the Beautiful. His title was fitting in the past, but a fight horribly scarred his face, and from that point on, he was no longer beautiful at all. Even more ironic once Lareth becomes Tharizdun's avatar.
Irony: Although Edmund is mostly Gears' arch-nemesis, he meets his end at the hands of Ember instead. Although his Worm Deck survives, which meets its end (used by another duelist) to Gears in Power Primordial.
I Should Write a Book About This: Jeb writes a book that's inspired by his team's ordeal with Jalie Squarefoot at the end of Ascension.
Light Is Not Good: Edmund's Worm Deck in the first Shadowchasers. Belphagon's Photon deck in Ascension. Also, in the original, Sonja uses Andro Sphinx and Sphinx Telia, representations of her parents.
Sarah Blaze may also qualify, as she is an aasimar, a human with an angel or other celestial being somewhere in her ancestry. Dante says that, regretfully, aasimar charlatans and con artists are more common than one may think, because people tend to very willing to trust an aasimar.
Loads and Loads of Characters: There's at least 30 or more named characters (main or minor) in one story. Combine that with the rest of Cyber Commander's Shadowchaser stories and the other spin-off stories from other authors and, well you get the idea.
Losing Your Head: The Neo Domino Shadowchasers have a housekeeper named Boris who is a talking, floating skull who can levitate gloves and use them for hands. What he is, exactly, is never explained (even they don't know) but he knows over three-hundred recipies, so they don't dwell on it.
The Lost Lenore: A variation of this occurs in "Torment". In his first life, Leorin had a lover named Rowen who also worshipped St. Cuthbert. When he left to find Ravel in hopes of gaining a longer life to repent, she prayed daily to St. Cuthbert for his return, and when he didn't, she prayed for his soul every day for the rest of her life. St. Cuthbert took notice, and spent centuries trying to find him, eventually succeeding in the present time, and giving him the Mace of St. Cutherbert (disguised as a Duel Disk) as a test of redemption. When Leorin's true deck appears in it, it contains several cards in Rowen's likeness, and his memory of her is the final step towards truly breaking the curse.
There is another variation in Tiberius' background. The only woman he ever loved (or even cared about) was an Air Force medic named Yolanda; his vow of celebacy as a priest kept him from any real relationship or even admitting his feelings, and it contributed to his descent into madness. (It is never revealed what eventually became of her.) Even as a Doomdreamer, his deck contains a copy of Counselor Lily which he uses to remember her. In his final appearance, where he duels Red Feather in mortal combat and loses, he briefly becomes sane before he dies, and has a vision of Yolanda one last time.
In Torment, Lareth the Beautiful has this trait after he becomes the Avatar of Tharizdun. Dugan shoots him with his magical bluderbuss at its highest setting and fails to even make him flinch.
Ember qualifies for this too in her Shadow Duel with Edmund, in which she took a 6,500-point direct attack from his Worm Victory, and survived. When Edmund asked how that could be possible, she had no idea, but sarcastically said, “Maybe you just stink at creating Shadow Duels.” Later, she takes a direct attack from Sonja's Theinen the Great Sphinx and survives.
Taken to extreme levels towards the end of Power Primordial where in the span of four consecutive duels, she survives various attacks: Being shot at, stabbed, burned, chilled, and lastly squashed by Ccapac Apu's fist.
Magical Seventh Son: Shichiro, who has six older brothers and his father also has six older brothers. He attributes this to be the reason he is an Aware.
Making a Splash: Il Mathman the Artifacer, Menzoberra the Paragon of Water, the Aboleth, Dante's Frog Deck, Ophelia's Gishki Deck, and any duelist with a Water-based Deck.
Averted with Sonja who is a sorceress who specializes in water-based spells and wants to cast the Deluge but does not run a Water Deck.
In the original story, it is Sonja, the spawn of Athentia, who now seeks revenge against Jalal.
In Torment, it is the Triad, three incredible powerful and terrible Doomdreamers who direct the actions of the rest of the cult from a secret place.
In Ascension it is Mephistopheles, the ruler of the Eighth Hell; averted, actually, as Jalie's scheme is being done without his permission, and Jalie is ultimately punished for it.
Manipulative Bastard: In Ascension, Jalie sends Dante to destroy the Hellfire Sentinel knowing full well that there won't be any way for Dante to escape once he finishes in which he would die from the impending explosion.
Mark of Shame: Taramanda gives Hebi-Na the Mark of the Disgraced (reducing her status to little more than a slave) after rescuing her from prison due to her losing to Ember while using a deck with Vennominaga. She removes it later though.
The Hellgears are this as well. The anti-Water ones are named after powerful devils, while the Hellgear that focus on swarming are named after diabolic infantry.
Mecha-Mooks: Oddly enough, the good guys use these at one point. When Jalie loses control of the Hellfire Sentinel Jalal unleashes an army of "Warforged", robots created using both technology and magic, in an attempt to slow it down. (Technically, this is a subversion, as the Warforged are designed to be elite and efficient fighting machines, not expendable Mooks; however, seeing as this is the Hellfire Sentinel, they might as well be. In fact, using robots against the thing was a smart move on Jalal's part, since he likely knew sending human soldiers against it would result in them being slaughtered, in effect forming a Red Shirt Armyon purpose, something he wouldn't dream of doing.)
The Men in Black: The Knights of Domiel, a secret organization that seems to be allied with Jalal in some way. They are known to be followers of a powerful celestial being named Domiel (possibly an archangel) and are dedicated to opposing assassins and other criminals who kill for profit. Due to a mysterious bargain that they made with Jalal, no hired gun ever manages to successfully target a Shadowchaser; a Knight of Domiel always gets to the assassin before he can try. (Jalal himself is not covered by this bargain for some reason, but all attempts on his life - and there have been many - have failed.) Only one member of this organization - Minerva - has been named.
Mirror Match: Jinx's first duel with the boggart that's taking her appearance uses a Gamble Deck similar to hers.
Mistaken Nationality: Although most humans use the terms "demon" and "devil" interchangably, they are actually two completely different races of beings, and seeing as they are sworn enemies, each does not like to be mistaken for the other, as one points out to Nichole in "Torment". Their are many differences, but the biggest one is simply that devils are beings of Law that are native to Hell, while demons are beings of Chaos that are native to the Abyss.
The various races of Yokai are often called demons too, which they do not like.
Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Many of the monsters in Jalie's Outcast Devil Deck, especially the most powerful ones, like Azazel, Geryon, and Moloch. (In fact, Jalie implies that the last one truly is the Moloch, as in the notorious devil that children were once sacrificed to in blasphemous rituals. Jalie does not mind telling Dante that even as outcast, Moloch is more powerful than he is. Not to mention that the card scares even him.)
Nice Hat: Dante, who wears a fedora to go with his equally-nice suit.
No Name Given: The protagonist of Torment has amnesia, and does not know his name until late into the story. His allies simply call him "Ben". He later discovers that his real name is Leorin.
Louis DePen actually has no name, because members of his species identify each other by psychic imprint.
Minos, the judge that sentenced Jetta (and grants her probation) is also a member of a race that does not use names. "Minos" is what other beings call him.
The Aboleth claims its name is unpronoucable by "lesser beings".
More than likely, every native of the Lower Planes encountered in the series (except for Huszi, the devil encountered in one chapter of Ascension) was using a pseudonym when encountered. The reason for this is given in the chapter where Huszi appears: Such creatures must keep their real names secret, because they are needed for various powerful magical spells that can be used against them.
Noble Demon: Rule-of-Three may be a literal example of this - sort of. He isn't very honorable (he tries to convince Lorelei to help him cheat and has no intention of keeping his word to Ophelia) but he is very polite, even to Red Feather and Penelope while acting as their jailer. He even asks Ophelia to leave before making any threats, rather than demanding it. Rule-of-Three himself claims that other demons regard him as very eccentric.
Noodle Incident: In Power Primordial, Jalal mentions a battle in the past with a villain he refers to as "The Lord of the Nightmare Court", who was so powerful he had to resort to his enchanted assault rifle, something he uses as an absolute last resort. No further details of this villain or the battle were revealed.
Obviously Evil: The Aboleth, from Power Primordial. You could probably tell just by looking at this creature that it isn't very pleasant. During the course of the story, it is discovered that it has murdered the entire populations of planets to achieve its incredibly selfish goals. As further proof of its absolute evil, it inflicts a horrible and supposedly irreversible curse on Hebi-Na for little reason other than to prove it can.
Jalie reeks of this, as do most other natives of the Lower Planes.
Old Shame: Shichiro in the original fic shows regrets on pursuing an unauthorized project that would attempt to make a Sensitive into an Aware, because it led to a fallout with his old apprentice Yusei Fudo and blames himself for the tragic events that happened to Yusei and the rest of Team Satisfaction. Eventually, he realizes that it wasn't his fault and even makes peace with Yusei at the end of the fic.
There is also the incident revolving an individual named Vladimir Bloodletter, apparently not only did he and his men murder several Shadowchasers, but he also managed to defeat Jalal in a duel, leaving a blow to Jalal's credibility as a leader and a duelist. While the Shadowchasers were victorious, the incident caused their reputation and credibility to decline in some parts of the Shadowkind community, leading to some attempted revolutions. As a result, Shadowchasers refuse to talk about it and use any of Bloodletter's cards. Tournament of Shadows shows that Jalal does not like being reminded of it. (The full story will hopefully be revealed in a Shadowchaser story called Shadowchasers: City of Angels being written by a different author, which seems to currently be on hiatus.)
Another example does not involve the Shadowchasers, but St. Cuthbert's House, a charity organization that Nichole belongs to, and involves a mistake that St. Cuthbert, the Shadow-exclusive deity that they follow, admits to. According to legend, eons ago, Cuthbert was an advisor to the powers of Law, and he argued vehemently in support of the Pact Primodial, the document that would put Lucifer in charge of punishing sinners in the afterlife. His voice was one of the biggest reasons for the document being approved. However, Cuthbert would regret his decision years later, and forever after, when it became apparent that the Prince of Darkness was exploiting loopholes in the document to encourage evil among mortals and increase his personal power, which he still does to this day. Cuthbert shifted from Lawful Neutral to Lawful Good as a result, and his dogma became one of retribution against evil.
Oddly Small Organization: The Knights of Domiel. People who know about them tend to be frightened of them, thinking that they are a legion of widespread and nearly omniponent Knights Templar. In truth, as the narrative in Torment claims, the group has no more than thirty members at one time, and only one base of operations. (They do not enforce their exaggerated reputation, but on the other hand, they don't discourage it either.)
In fact, the same could be said for the Shadowchasers themselves. There were only six founding members originally (Jalal and five other knights, one of which eventually became a traitor) and Shichiro claims in the first chapter of "Tournament of Shadows" that the entire organization has about five-hundred members currently. That's rather small compared to other international peacekeeping groups. There's also the fact that there are usually no more than five members assigned to one city at a time (although the whole organization is well-connected).
Omnicidal Maniac: No better term can be used to descibe Tharizdun, along with most mortals who worship him. A few philosophers claim that his goal of complete destruction may be a hidden desire to spare mortals from the terrible fate that he suffered at the hands of the Great Old Ones, but this theory is not widely believed.
Only One Name: In Soulscape it is mentioned that ophidia do not use surnames. This might be true for other Shadowkind races where last names are not mentioned.
Open Secret: Judy (nicknamed Steelheart) a teenage half-dragon who is Jalal's ward and presumed heir. He tries very hard to keep her sheltered, but she is the worst-kept secret among the Shadowchasers. Thusfar, Judy has only officially appeared as a cameo role in "Soulscape", but was described more thoroughly in the Shadowchaser Files.
In Power Primordial, Taramanda uses a dark ritual to send Ember's soul to the Venemous Tarns, Seghulerak's home realm, hoping that the horrors there will force her to surrender to the dark goddess. Fortunately, Jetta manages to intervene, and is able to contact Ember's cousin and send him in spiritual form to give her the energy she needs to escape.
In Torment the Chicago Shadowchasers travel to the Grey Waste (a realm where Hades and many other gods of death live) in order to recapture Ravel, who is now a fugitive.
Also in "Torment", the finale involves a Turbo Duel through the topmost layer of the Abyss, the infernal realm where demons originate.
In "Ascension", a pocket dimension that holds a sacred temple called Tabjari is revealed to hold the Key to Tharizdun's prison. Unity of Rings tries (and fails) to protect it from Jalie.
Also in Ascension, the Boston Shadowchasers travel to the Outlands, the symbolic center of the Outer Planes, to seek advice from the enigmatic Center of All.
Our Liches Are Different: Jalie Squarefoot in Ascension. Jalie is, in fact, unusual even for a lich, as he is also a devil.
Pardon My Klingon: Doesn't happen on-camera, but in one scene in "Torment", Jalal has just come back from mediating a negotiation between elves and orcs (which did not go well), incredibly exhausted:
Jalal: Every discussion turned into a round of shouting, threatening, and cursing…
Karl: Well, orcs can be like that...
Jalal: I'll get to the orcs in a minute! (Long sigh) The elven language is so beautiful… Most linguists are shocked when they discover that it actually has expletives in it…
Playing with Fire: Ember who uses a Flamvell/Fire Deck, Jetta the Bronze-Hearted, Iggwiliv the Paragon of Fire, the Hellgear archetype, Dante's Laval Deck, and any other duelist with a Fire-based Deck.
Police Are Useless: Well, not truly. The Shadowchasers often have allies in local police (City of Angels being the best example) and they can be useful sometimes. However, one of the biggest reasons for the Shadowchasers' continued existence is because the police are unable to efficiently handle Shadowkind criminals on their own. (And it hasn't been for lack of trying. Law enforcement agencies have had Aware members who have tried to start progams on their own in the past, but almost none have had any success. The only one that comes close is the Commission for Research into Unexplained Phenomena, which is detailed in one of the Files.)
Power at a Price: According to Jalal, the mortal mind is not made to handle living forever, and anyone who obtains immortality is eventually driven mad by the vast information he accumulates. The reason he founded the Shadowchasers in the first place was to give his life direction and a purpose. He still knows that madness will lurk in his future unless he eventually forfeits his immortality the way his father did; his surrogate daughter Judy has been mentioned as a possible successor, but not confirmed.
Psychic Powers: Louis DePen. Actually, this trait is quite common among his species.
Professional Butt-Kisser: Lime Juice Louie, a lowlife drug dealer who works for Taramanda. Though he seems like nothing more than a common crook, he is actually helps the ophidia capture Ember due to a dirty trick on his part. Louie eventually gets what is comming to him. When it looks like he's about to sing to the other Shadowchasers, Taramanda kills him remotely.
Power Trio: Torment has three primary antagonists, though all of them are Doomdreamers: Ulysses Tiberius, Lorelei DeLuc, and Lareth the Beautiful. Lareth later betrays the other two at the end and is the villain fought by the hero in the final battle, but it would probably be wrong to call him the Big Bad.
Put on a Bus: Karl, done intentionally. At the end of Torment, he is put on reserve status as a Shadowchaser so that he can attend college (which was his stated goal for some time), and a replacement is found for the Chicago team.
Reluctant Hero: Ember, the protagonist and narrator of the first fic. She becomes a member of the team because she realizes that, now that she can see Shadows, she'll never be safe if she goes it alone. (In fact, this is one of the biggest reasons that most Shadowchasers join the team.)
Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Subverted, to a degree. While a lot of reptilian Shadowkind are criminals, a lot are decent folks some examples:
Ophidia are traditionally enemies of humans, but some exceptions exist, and after the events of Power Primodial, there are signs that the relations between them and humans might start to improve.
Glora, a gorgon who owns a liquor store in the original fic, is a decent sort; on the other hand, Alyosha, a male of the species who appears in Ascension and his girlfriend Natasha were both criminals.
The lizard king Scath is clearly evil (lizard kings are at least part-demon) and the blackscale lizard men who work as his enforcers are brutish bullys. However, the shaman Sslinth and his greenscale followers are benign, and allied with the Shadowchasers.
The banderhobb Brother Tion in Ascension is, unlike most members of his species, a nonviolent intellectual type.
Rescue Arc: Happens at least once in a story, mostly when the antagonists briefly gain the upper hand.
The original story has Jalal and the rest of the Neo Domino Shadowchasers rescuing Ember from Anthony Draco.
Power Primordial has two: The Neo Domino Shadowchasers rescuing Ember from the Venomous Tarns and Ember rescuing the Neo Domino Shadowchasers from the Paragons.
Minor example in Torment has Leorin rescuing the Chicago Shadowchasers after they lose to the Doomdreamers.
Ascension has the Boston Shadowchasers rescuing Red Feather and Penelope from being sacrificed.
Revenge: When Lorelei duels Red Feather in Ascension, she uses a Dark World Deck, while Red Feather uses Elemental Heroes. Lorelei is quick to pick up on the symbolism, and tells Red Feather that the monsters in her deck are likely very excited for a chance to "get even". (Technically, Lorelie is wrong, as Red Feather uses the "nature" Elemental Heroes used by Judai in the manga, not the ones he used in the anime against the Dark World army.)
Riddle for the Ages: The biggest mystery in the franchise is likey the nature of the "mysterious force" that kidnaps Shadowkind from the Homeworld of Shadow and sends them to Earth. The identy of this being (if it is indeed a being), and what its motives are, are completely unknown.
Riddling Sphinx: Jalal's father, a dragon, gained immortality by challenging a sphinx with godlike powers named Athentia to a game of riddles and winning. Later, he was poisoned by a would-be assassin, and Jalal feared that the agony it caused him would never end. His only option was to beg Athentia to take back what she had given him; she told him that the only way that could be done was for him to give it to someone else. Jalal accepted it himself.
Rite of Passage: After clearing four tests, a Shadowchaser apprentice must do his/her Rite of Passage before they can officially call themselves a Shadowchaser, which involves dealing with a Shadow-related threat on their own.
Rule of Three: Rule-Of-Three, naturally. The price for his services changes, but the one thing that remains constant is that he asks for three things.
Unity of Rings, Center of All, and Rule-of-Three are each the extremes of their allignments (Unity of Rings being Lawful Good, Center of All being True Neutral, and Rule-of-Three being Chaotic Evil).
The Outcast Devil Deck can only be used safely at the maximum of three times a week. Any more would have serious repercussions; Jalie's Co-Dragons ominously mention the one devil who ignored this safety tip; apparently, his fate was not pleasant.
Running Gag: In Ascension, Jeb duels devils who use the term "mortal" as a kind of insult much to his dismay.
Saw Star Wars Twenty Seven Times: In Ascension, the Boston team and Karen watch Ophelia's favorite movie, Beetlejuice in one chapter, with Ophelia commenting that she's seen it 18 times. (This may be a Shout Out to the actual movie; there is a famous gag in the film where the title character says he's seen The Exorcist 167 times "and it keeps getting funnier every time I see it!")
Sensible Heroes, Skimpy Villains: This is pretty much the case across the board. The most revealing outfit a female Shadowchaser has worn (at least willingly) is one that fits a Bare Your Midriff Trope. Female villains, on the other hand, tend to lack modesty, constantly dressing in halters, short skirts, and even lingere in one case. Lorelei actually seems to enjoy playing the part of a slut in the scantily-clad costume that appears when she shows her true nature as a cambion. Justified for villains who are Shadowkind that specialize in seducing their victims using their looks.
She Is Not My Girlfriend: Gears repeatedly denies that Mistle is his girlfriend. Of course, none of teammates (and Jalal) believe him.
Ship Tease: There are some instances throughout each story:
Gears and Mistle in the original fic, although Gears denies it.
In Soulscape, Hebi-Na makes a remark on Jalal's looks and mentions she finds him quite handsome.
Shock Jock: Sarah Blaze from Ascension whose ramblings drive the Boston Shadowchasers nuts. Karen is surprisingly a huge fan of hers until it's revealed that Sarah is in cahoots with a group affiliated with Jalie Squarefoot.
A reference to J.K. Rowling is made in the original fic. Apparently, she has very few fans among Shadowkind due to "misconceptions" she has about magic and supernatural beings. To give one example, when Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was released, the Shadowchasers got dozens of letters from pixies who lived in Cornwall claiming that they had been slandered. One thing that Rowling did get right: the tears of a phoenix can heal wounds. Shichiro explains to Ember that Rowling was a Mundane who had no idea the supernatural was real and only had her imagination and research to work with, so she was bound to get so many details wrong.
There was also a brief reference to J. R. R. Tolkien, where it is said that his interpretation of the enimity between elves and orcs was pretty accurate. (Except for his assumption that orcs used to be elves; in truth, both races would be disgusted at the thought that they were even slightly related.)
In the original fic, after Draco's interferance sends Shichiro and Jalal to a pocket dimension, Shichiro remarks that they may have "taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque". (Jalal either doesn't "get" the joke or simply disregards it.)
In Power Primordial, when Shichiro first meets Rary, he finds his resemblance to Sephiroth uncanny.
There is a reference to The Empire Strikes Back in Ascension. At the end of one chapter, when it is obvious that the Shadowchasers are on the way, Baron Dybbuk leaves to apologize to Jalie. At the beginning of the next chapter, Jalie strangles him to death, and then says, nonchalantly, "Apology accepted, Baron Dybbuk." (An almost identical situation happened in the movie when an Imperial officer reported a failure to Darth Vader.)
Jill Chambers from Tournament of Shadows is one to Celty Sturluson.
In Ascension Jalal calls the Temporal Machine Gods "a bunch of creepy Daaleks".
Sinister Minister: Ulysses Tiberius, who was a former Air Force Chaplain who went insane due to the conflicting nature of his position.
Sixth Ranger: Dante's seventh deck acts as this, since his opponent Novolar already knows what most if not all of his other decks are.
Slave Race: The eoshee, who were enslaved by their enemies the unseelie after losing a rigged contest five-hundred years ago, which transformed them into emotion-sapping beings called joystealers. Ever since then, restoring their freedom has been an ongoing project for the Shadowchasers, but since the unseelie have no real leaders, this has to be done one joystealer at a time, a very slow process.
In one chapter of "Torment", Jalal and Karl play chess while waiting for the results of a test being done on Ben. (Jalal wins.)
The Smart Guy: Il Mathman, The Artifacer. Karl from Torment also qualifies; he is a computer expert who designed a portable computer with a very intelligent AI system that he wears like a gauntlet.
Something Only They Would Say: When Taramanda duels Jalal in Shadowchaser HQ by using a golem, she calls him "wyrm-waste" at some point, which only confirms to Jalal that the ophidia are the ones responsible for the Dark Synchros as only their race would use that insult on him.
In the original fic, Gears at one point duels a brainwashed Mistle who calls him Maurice during the duel, this only confirms to Gears that Mistle really is brainwashed because she would not call him that even in their worst arguments.
Soul Jar: The Magic Jar which necromancers can use as a last resort to preserve their souls. Edmund does this after all the worms that form his body were destroyed from his duel with Gears.
Space Police: The Harmnonium, a group mentioned a lot in Power Primordial that enforces the law in another galaxy, although only two members actually appear. According to the Primordial Titans and even one of those two members, the organization if frought with corruption, is not well-liked, and many members can be bought. The Titans agree to help them at the end of the fic only when a promise is made that sweeping reforms will be enacted.
Sphere of Destruction: The Sphere of Annihilation which completely eradicates anything near it. It's also one of the few things actually capable of killing Jalal.
Split Personality Merge: Leorin and Hape become one person again towards the end of Torment.
Steal The Surroundings: In Ascension, Jalie attempts to steal the Key to Tharizdun's Prison by having a massive airship rip the temple it is in out of the ground and carry it to his base. The plan hits a snag when the airship malfunctions and self-destructs, making the temple crash and shatter in the middle of nowhere.
Steampunk: The Shadowchasers use an airship procured by a member of Morgana's Kin that comes from a world with similar technology in their trip to the Outlands, because magic cannot be used for travel there.
Stepford Smiler: In most stories, the Shadowchasers are known to crack jokes every so often even in dangerous situations. According to them, it's mostly to relieve themselves from the danger of their jobs. (The Big Bad in "Power Primordial" says that this is one thing it hs never understood about humans, despite having lived for many millennia.)
Stone Wall: In her first test as an apprentice, Ember has to duel without attacking at all. (And she is not allowed to use the key cards used in the most well-known decks that don't involve attacking, such as Final Countdown and Exodia.)
Stupid Evil: Jalie. His plans usually hit a roadblock because he refuses to understand just how powerful gods tend to be.
He also put his worst enemy in charge of guarding something (the Hellfire Sentinel) very important. Jeb and Ophelia actually lampshade this stupid line of thought.
The three main antagonists in Torment display this often. (In their defense, they are, like all worshippers of Tharizdun, insane.) They reveal their previously-hidden stronghold in order to lure the Chicago Shadowchasers to their doom, but while they are busy doing this, they are unaware that it has caused a small ‘’army’’ of Shadowchasers to gather around it. Also, when they reveal their plan to the team, it is clear that it would never possibly work, as Dugan is quick to point out. It is then that they discover that it was never ‘’meant’’ to work, and that the Triad has been using them all along in order to enact their true plan.
Suicide by Cop: Hebi-Na attempts this in Power Primordial after having a dangerous irreversible curse inflicted on her by the Aboleth. Doesn't work.
Sunglasses at Night: Gloria, the gorgon owner of a liquor store whom Ember gets information from. (Totally justified, because gorgons have no control over their ability to turn people to stone with their gaze.)
Sympathy for the Devil: In Power Primordial, Jalal and the Neo Domino Shadowchasers start feeling sympathy for Hebi-Na, after finding out how painful her life was, what the Aboleth had made her go through, and being being forced into an eternal sleep for her own safety. Jalal even gives her a full pardon for her crimes at the end of the fic.
Tag Along Kid: Karen in Ascension sometimes gets herself involved in the assignments of the Boston Shadowchasers much to their (especially Ophelia's) dismay.
Tailor-Made Prison: The town of Nulb. Built by Lareth the Beautiful as part of a scheme years ago, when he was defeated by St. Cuthbert's House (which caused his face to be scarred) they sent the town with him in it to the Astral Plane. The Doomdreamers rescue him in Torment with Hape's aid after first convincing him that the the Triad did not abandon him, which is what he at first assumes.
Take That: Several instances throughout the Shadowchaser stories treat the line "Get your game on!" with disdain.
"Hyperdrive" was poked fun of at one point too. Gears is listening to the song on the radio in the garage, when Jinx tells him to “Turn off that ridiculous song and come in.”
When Lorelei says that she assumed Red Feather (an environmentalist) was a member of PETA, Red Feather is outraged and says PETA members are crazy fanatics.
In "Ascension", Unity-of-Rings predicts that when the Numbers truly become a threat, the powers that be will choose a champion to oppose them. He then gets a vision of Yuma and Shark's first duel in Yu Gi Oh Zexal. His responce? "The powers that be have a strange sense of humor."
In Tournament of Shadows, Ember duels against someone who uses an Inzektor Deck, an incredibly powerful deck in the real game which was incredibly overpowered during the March 2012 format (the list Tournament of Shadows uses). Gomi, the sole live spectator of the duel snidely remarks "sportmanship in this game must have died when Pegasus did".
The Worm that Walks: Edmund. (In fact, that is exactly the name for the creature he is.)
Techno Wizard: The series introduces a type of computer hacker called a shadowjack. While not truly skilled in sorcery, a shadowjack can tap supernatural powers to hack computer systems.
Also mentioned - but not yet seen - are techno-mages, actual wizards who can cast spells through the internet. It is suggested that becoming a shadowjack is the first step towards becoming this kind of wizard.
To Serve Man: The very first Shadowkind to appear was Hebi-Na, an ophidia, and this species plays a big part in "Power Primordial". Ophidia are a race of Snake People who traditionally view humans as prey. Law-abiding ones grudgingly accept that they cannot, but there are several instances (like the the case in "Power Primordial" of groups who desire a return to old traditions, making these groups dangerous enemies of the Shadowchasers.
Tome of Eldritch Lore: The Necronomicon (yes, THAT Necronomicon) appears in Ascension. Oddly enough, the Shadowchasers own it.
Threat Backfire: Almost happens in the original fic. When Jinx says "Over my dead body!" to Obligatum XXV (a platonic, a creature in charge of enforcing the laws of the cosmos) it almost takes her literally, and Gears warns her that these creatures "have a hard time understanding figures of speech".
Villainous Crush: Ravel, towards Ben in Torment. A prophecy made long ago stated that she has the potential to rule the Grey Waste as a queen, so long as she finds an equal to rule with her as a consort. Ben is one of only two was able to best her at one of her challenges, and she is certain he is the one. Her initial attempts to win him over fail, and when she cannot force him using her magic, she threatens to use a magical device that will kill everyone present (including herself) if he does not sumbit to her. However, she is killed by Hape before she can do so.
Hebi-Na might qualify in Soulscape, although she really isn't a villain anymore at that point. When Jalal finally meets her, she hints that she might have fallen for him if things had turned out differently in the past.
Virgin Sacrifice: Jalie’s plan for the captured Red Feather and Penelope. Technically, he wanted to give them as gifts to a lustful demon lord named Graz’zt, clearly a Fate Worse Than Death. Since Rule-Of-Three always does things in threes and they were unable to find a third girl to capture, they decide to use Lorelei as the third sacrifice. Rule-Of-Three ruefully notes that Graz'zt will be disappointed because while Lorelei is beautiful, she is no virgin. All three girls are rescued in time.
What If?: Xon, one of Jalie's Co-Dragons, can percieve these Alternate Realities, and being an abomination allied with the forces of Hell, he specializes in studying ones that have bad outcomes. When he confronts Jeb, he conjoles him by explaining that a scenario where Jalal's father had survived the attempt on his life would actually have caused the world to become a Crapsack World.
Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Gears has a fear of Alien monsters, which Edmund tried to exploit during their last duel. Although Gears gets over it eventually.
A lesser example would be that Shichiro hates spiders.
Karl in Torment is deathly afraid of fire due to an incident in the past.
Wild Card: Ben's Duel Disk is unique in that it always changes his deck everytime he duels. it's later revealed that each deck represents a previous life he had.
Wretched Hive: In Chicago, the neighborhood on the South Side that is properly called South Deering has degenerated into this, so much that most residents of Chicago call it the Hive. Some good people still live there, however, as evidenced by the presence of St. Cuthbert's House.
Yin Yang Bomb: Dante's Seventh deck, a Light/Dark Dragon deck.
You Can't Go Home Again: Once an Aware opens his/her eyes to the world behind the veil, they can never go back to how their life was.
The same can be said for Shadowkind, at least those who were not born on Earth. They are native to an unknown Alternate Reality (called simply "The Homeworld of Shadow"), and do not come to Earth willingly. A mysterious force kidnaps them and sends them to Earth with vague memories - at best - of their past. There is no known way for a Shadowkind to return to the Homeworld of Shadow (and many do not wish to go back) so the majority make the most of their new lives.
You Don't Want to Know: In the original, Edmund thinks that Ember is not a worthy enough opponent for him, saying that he's associated with such powerful beings as liches, incubus, and famine spirits. When Ember asks what a famine spirit is, he answers, "Better you didn't know." It isn't known whether she ever learned what it was, but the readers eventually did, when the Shadowchaser Files profiled one named Rudolph von Aubrecker.
You Have Failed Me: Jalie punishes Panik horribly for his failure, turning him in a bestial demon called Nitemare. Oddly enough, this is hardly a punishment, as it makes him far stronger than he ever was as a human. He is last seen falling off of a flying dirigible, but Dante doubts that even that could have killed him.
is a Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds fanfiction written by Cyber Commander.Taking place simultaneously with the events of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds, Ember (real name Eiko Michiko) is a young secretary whom suddenly finds herself attacked by an ophidia. Yet before she is killed, a man named Shichiro comes to her aid and challenges the ophidia to a duel. After winning, the man takes Ember to a restaurant and explains what happened: all the creatures and things that are of myth and legend are real. These are called Shadows, and they are hidden by a veil that most humans, or Mundane, cannot see past. Thus, in order to protect the humans, the Shadowchasers were created and led by Jalal Stormbringer as a sort of police force to enforce the Great Treaty. That's where dueling comes into play: whenever a Shadow and a Shadowchaser get into a disagreement, the resulting conflict must be fair. Since Ember obviously has the gift of being able to see Shadows, Shichiro invites her to join the Shadowchasers.The series has several other entries as well. Shadowchasers: Power Primordial
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