A Closed Fist to an Open Palm
is an on-going Yu-Gi-Oh! GX fanfiction. After experiencing another defeat in an ever-growing losing streak, Jasmine (full name Jasmine Makurada) decides to quit dueling. But before she could dump her deck into a lake and leave Duel Academy forever, she meets Zenn Goto; A Duelist who practices a martial art called 'Gendai Reiki.' After a duel, the two teens make a promise to each other, creating an unbreakable bond in the face of the living remanents of a long-gone emperor forgotten by time: The Makai.
Unlike other Fics, A Closed Fist to An Open Palm has its own story, with canon events from the TV Series taking place in the background. It primarily puts focus on side-characters and develops them further, giving them fleshed-out backstories and personalities.
This fanfic contains the following tropes:
- Adaptation Expansion:
- Jasmine and Mindy went from side characters to main characters. With Jasmine being arguably the main protagonist.
- In the original TV Series, Brier only appears once (barring a small cameo in the last episode), here, he's part of the main cast.
- Blair is introduced near the start of the story as one of the main characters, instead of being reserved late into the series.
- Adaptation Personality Change:
- Jasmine's Fangirl personality in the series is completely gone. Here she's a Hot-Blooded Tsundere with a Hair-Trigger Temper.
- Mindy only partially retains her fangirl attitude. She's more of a The Gadfly here, with hints of Cool Big Sis to Brier and Blair.
- Brier has a lot more insecurities concerning his appearance and Height Angst to go with his stage fright.
- Most of Jasmine and Mindy's fangirling has transitioned to Blair instead, with her being a lot more obsessive with Jaden.
- Adaptational Badass: Many characters get this treatment.
- Jasmine uses a Harpie Lady deck but also supports it with Simorgh.
- While her deck wasn't fully shown in the Series, Mindy here uses Performapals.
- Blair uses a Parshath deck instead of her Maiden-in-Love deck.
- Brier has a collection of different decks instead of only using one, with his first known deck being Dart Striker.
- Adaptational Dumbass:
- The show explained that Blair's grades were high enough to advance to Ra Yellow in a few days. Here, she mostly copies off of Brier to get by in classwork.
- Adaptational Villainy: Averted with Jaden. He's not actively malicious, but his joking and carefree attitude are portrayed as inappropriate most of the time, earning the ire of others and have actual consequences.
- The Ace: Zenn, both as a Martial Artist and as a Duelist.
- Adapted Out: Averted with Brier's friend Beauregard, it's revealed in Chapter 12 he got expelled over the Duel Giant incident because of Jaden accidentally blurting it out one time in class.
- Adults Are Useless: A Little less so compared to canon, as they're ultimately Locked Out of the Loop about the Makai and Chancellor Sheppard is too busy with the Shadow Riders.
- Ancient Tradition: The disbanded Monks of Gendai Reiki.
- Anime Hair: Zenn's hair is overly long, reaching down to his waist.
- Appeal to Familial Wisdom: Zenn's way of giving advice is to recite a quote from his master.It's usefulness varies.
- The Big Guy: Blair. This is mostly because her deck consists of high ATK Boss monsters.
- Butt-Monkey: Adaptational Badass withstanding, Jasmine's ill-temper tends to make her a prime target of Mindy's teasing.
- Classical Anti-Hero: The Makai Busters are this. What cements them as True Companions is that they help each other overcome each other flaws and insecurities.
- Zenn is composed and calm, but he has No Social Skills. Because of this, He tends not to share any information. whether or not this information can affect the well-being of others.
- Jasmine is passionate and determined, but she has no sense of emotional control. It only needs the smallest of slights for her Jerkass traits to come out.
- Mindy is The Heart, but she tends to think the worse out of everyone. Giving her a Holier Than Thou attitude and possessing little trust in others to do the right thing.
- Brier's intellect and courage is completely marred by his low self-esteem, which, in turn, breeds an intense desire for approval.
- Blair is loyal, but her lack of maturity and impulsiveness can make her greedy, mean-spirited, and uncaring of other's feelings.
- Demoted to Extra:
- Most of the main characters from the original series are instead relegated to either cameos or sporadic speaking roles.
- The Sacred Beasts were the Big Bad in the TV Series, here they're Trilojig's Minions.
- Demonic Possession: The Makai do this. They corrupt people at their most vulnerable, turning them into an Eldritch Abomination whose sole purpose is to spur hatred in others.
- Emotion Eater: The Makai feasts upon the five sins of Gendai Reiki: Hatred, Fear, Despair, Envy, and Gluttony. The more negativity they consume, the stronger they become. The closer they become to resurrecting Trilojig.
- Flanderization: A in-universe example, once a Makai possesses someone, their negative traits become exaggerated, like Jasmine going from a Jerk with a Heart of Gold to The Bully, or Brier becoming a Green-Eyed Monster.
- Hard Work Hardly Works: Averted for the most part with Zenn. His life consists mostly of rigorous training, and he's The Ace of the story.
- Played straight with Jasmine though, after gaining back her confidence, Jasmine is shown to be a naturally talented duelist.
- Also played straight with Mindy. She's a capable duelist but it's revealed that she only dueled once in the first three months of the school year, that being the entrance exam.
- Hopeless Suitor: Brier is deeply in love with Blair, unfortunately for him, Blair has eyes for Jaden alone. His swelling jealousy makes him a prime target for The Makai.
- He Is Not My Boyfriend: Jasmine constantly insists that Zenn is not her boyfriend, despite harboring obvious feelings for him.
- In-Series Nickname: Everyone of Jasmine's friends, except for Zenn, call her "Jazz."
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Jasmine is this in spades, while nice to her friends, her ill-temper makes her abrasive and rude to others.
- Knight of Cerebus: The first servant of Makai; Ozumaji is this. He is introduced by possessing/kidnapping Jasmine, almost beating Zenn in a shadow duel, and his defeat only serving as a sign for more to come.
- Made of Evil: The Makai is mindless amalgamations of negative energy, born from Trilojig's spilled blood when he was defeated centuries ago.
- No Name Given: The Herald of the Makai has no name so far. In the story, he is mostly referred to as "The Herald," "The Speaker," or "The Worshipper."
- No Social Skills: Because of his upbringing and his Friendless Background, Zenn tends to be awkward when it comes to social interaction, usually resorting to quotes from his master to get by in a conversation.
- Oblivious to Love: Blair is obsessed with Jaden Yuki, but has yet to realize that her best friend Brier is in love with her.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Ironically, the Obelisk Blue Jasmine is the Red to Slifer Red Zenn's Blue. Jasmine is passionate, abrasive, and headstrong, while Zenn is calm, composed, and reserved.
- Secret Art: Gendai Reiki, a spiritual martial art that venerates the five Gokai, a set of virtues that if a user embodies, can allow them to create new cards out of their own will. So far, however, this is mostly an Informed Ability. As the only practitioner that's present in the story is Zenn, who is still learning.
