The Numbershots are a series of Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL stories written by Taylor Gorrell. All stories and related media can be found here
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The story is basically Taylor's version of the Number Hunt, with different Numbers, more characters getting the limelight, and tons of romance.
This fanfic series provides examples of:
- Adaptational Badass: Kotori, hands down. Not only is she a capable duelist with her deck and own number, she gains her very own astral spirit in the form of Mia, allowing her to access her own ZEXAL form and Chaos Number.
- Adaptation Name Change: III and IV’s real names are Keegan and Marcus instead of Michael and Thomas respectively.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Characters like Kaito and Shark have their more abrasive personality and rivalry traits toned down and more act like a part of Yuma's team than in the original series.
- Adaptational Weapon Swap: A few duelists' decks are quite different between this fanfic and the anime's canon, due to the fic having started while ZEXAL was on-going and certain characters hadn't revealed what their deck's archetype/specialization was at the time these stories were published.
- Kotori is the most obvious example, due to her Adaptational Badass treatment. She uses a Winged-Beast deck throughout the series, which fits her name's bird motif, instead of the Fairy-type deck that she'd use later in canon and spin-off video games (her first dueling appearance in the fanfic predates her first duel in the anime).
- In the anime, V/Chris Arclight uses a space-themed deck that compliments his Signature Mon, Number 9: Dyson Sphere. Numbershot 38 shows that V uses a Lightray deck since Dyson Sphere doesn't exist as a Number in this continuity. The same story sees Tron/Byron Arclight using a Toon-monster card type deck like Maximillion Pegasus, albeit under a completely different archetype, instead of the Medallion/Heraldry deck in canon.
- Instead of an ice-themed deck, Rio uses the Mermail archetype.
- Ryoga himself also gets this treatment, utilizing Sea Serpents alongside some of his fish-related cards.
- When Dr. Faker duels in Numbershot 99, he doesn't use a Garbage/Heart-eartH Deck, but rather the fanfic exclusive archetype, Baryon, which includes his own Galaxy-Eyes themed Number, Number 99: Galaxy-Eyes Baryon Dragon.
- Adaptational Wimp: Downplayed, but some Numbers from original anime/card game either end up not appearing or show up elsewhere in the continuity as Xyz monsters excluded from the archetype (eg. Number 9: Dyson Sphere and Number 91: Thunder Spark Dragon). While this change doesn't affect their monster effects, they do lose their ability of only being able to be destroyed in battle by another Number monster. It's downplayed due to this effect for the Number cards only existing in the anime and not the card game proper (with some exceptions), along with the fact that a Number monster will lose this immunity if their effects are negated.
- Age Lift: Kaito is 16, Rio is 17, while Droite and Gauche are 32 and 33 respectively.
- Alternate Continuity: Anything that happened after episode 49 in the anime didn’t happen here.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Two of them:
- The Number Distributor and the Barian Vector are eventually revealed to be the ones who drive the conflict of the story and responsible for the Numbers corrupting people.
- Number 96 and Number 88, who are essentially Evil Counterparts of both Astral and Yuma respectively.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: People borrow Yuma's "Kattobingu" catchphrase whenever they're about to win a duel or need to psyche themselves up.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Spade does this a lot.
- Canon Character All Along:
- In Numbershot 63, Shark starts training with an old dueling master named Hyakun. When Shark finishes his training, Hyakun reveals his true identity: An eldery Zane Truesdale.
- Numbershot 85 introduces a villain known as Cube Mask, who takes on Akari and Spade in a duel that employs several traps and weapons to kill them both. After Cube Mask's defeat, they are able to reveal who was possessed by the Number: Charlie McCoy, a Number user that Yuma had fought before, Akari's past love, and Spade's cousin, who had been forced against his will to do so.
- The fanfic's Big Bad, the Number Distributor, has his true identity finally revealed in Numbershot 99, being an important character who existed in ZEXAL's canon. The Number Distributor is in fact Yuma's father, whose body was sent to the Barian World, and was resurrected by Vector with a different soul to become his servant. The Number Distributor also reveals that "Photon Future Destroyer", the upgraded form of "Photon Numbers Destroyer", is Yuma's mother sealed into the card.
- Cast Herd: The fanfics at times will sometimes have the characters in distinct groups and whoever is the focus of the story will usually be accompanied by whoever they are closest to.
- Yuma and his friends are rarely seen without the other, with Yuma and Kotori sticking together the most. Astral and eventually Mia are also seen quite often with them. The "Keys to the Solution" fanfic miniseries pairs Yuma, Kotori, Astral and Mia together away from Heartland, albeit this time joined by III/Keegan to assist them on a globetrotting journey.
- Kaito, Haruto, and later Jenaveve form their own tight-knit group, with Kaito and Jenaveve usually appearing together in a story so Kaito can use his Photon Hand alongside Jenaveve's power.
- Ariel has this in two fronts. Whenever she's in a story, it's either because her boyfriend Shark or the Terminal Gang (her other group of friends) are involved.
- Continuity Cameo: As a nod to the manga version of the series, Numbershot 1 has some of the tournament roster be filled out by characters that originated from that continuity. These include Luna, Thunder Spark, Cologne (in the fic itself, she's entered as Koron-chan), and Kyoji Yagumo.
- Childhood Friend Romance: A common theme in the series:
- Kaito's girlfriend, Jenaveve, used to play with Kaito and Haruto when they were younger.
- Yuma and Kotori, like in canon.
- Droite and Gauche, as revealed in Numbershot 53: Family Reunion.
- Creator Cameo:
- Taylor Gorrel as himself in Deckshibition Chapter 10, as an Armor Monster duelist, where he duels Yuma.
- Yin-Yang Yoh (the original creator of Mia) appears in Chapter 3 of Numbershot 1, as a competitor of the tournament with an Alien Deck, where he duels Yamoto.
- Crossover:
- With previous series, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, and Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds, in Yu-Gi-Oh! 4D Love Surpassing Time.
- With his other series, Yu-Gi-Oh! GSTART, although ironically having the antagonist of 4D, Zaman, as the protagonist, in Numbershot 64.
- Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Yamato was left at an orphanage because his parents could no longer support him.
- A Day in the Limelight: Several of the Numbershots have let many of the minor characters be the stars fighting the Numbers.
- The Deckshibition series is dedicated to giving side characters some time in the limelight in lower-stakes stories.
- Defeating the Undefeatable: A couple of times throughout the fanfic's continuity:
- Deckshibition Chapter 3 introduces a duelist known as Captain White-Eye, a pirate-themed pro duelist who in-universe had a 200+ winning streak, and had never lost before. His first loss is handed to him in this chapter by Takashi Todoroki.
- Numbershot 1 has this in two varieties:
- The first one is the defeat of Marizu. The entire storyline had built her up by having her win all of her duels without losing a single life point, making this trope's "undefeated opponent" status being exaggerated by her Parody Sue traits. Her hot streak comes to an end when she squares off against Yuma in the finals.
- The second one comes in the final opponent after winning the tournament, Ace, the host of the tournament. Prior to the events of the story, Ace had scored plenty of championship wins, and wanted to find the perfect opponent, so he decided to host his own tournament. Much like Marizu, his defeat comes at the hands of Yuma.
- Discard and Draw:
- After Numbershot 53, Droite switches from her Butterspy/Papilloperative deck (which she used until the end of the original show) to a Prophecy/Spellbook deck, which is described in-universe as her "true" deck.
- The main villain of the series, the Number Distributor, uses no less than three different deck types throughout the series. He has used a Fairy-Fiend, Dragon, Crystal-Spell/Traps, and a Photon-themed deck in the duels he has participated in. These decks however are based around the character's Signature Mon, Photon Numbers Destroyer, and its upgraded form, Photon Future Destroyer. These decks also revolve around a "Chaos" archetype/theme, which traditionally uses both LIGHT and DARK Attribute monsters.
- The villain of Numbershot 85, Cube Mask, has this with his true identity. Near the end of the fic, it's revealed Cube Mask was a possessed Charlie McCoy. In the anime, Charlie had used a deck relying on dice rolls that supported his Number, Numbers 7: Lucky Stripe. He then gave it to his niece Mayumi before Yuma and Astral claimed it. At some unknown point in time, he was then possessed by Number 85: Crazy Box, building a new deck that had a series of trap and spell cards that turned the card into a Puzzle Boss.
- Dramatic Irony: This series was started and is currently still on-going, even after ZEXAL itself has ended.
- Vector being one of the big bads of Numbershot series, when the bigger bad Don Thousand is still buried in the Barian World.
- Vector is also only villain from the Barian World that gets involved in the Numbershots, when there is an entire group of villains he is a part of, the Seven Barian Emperors. Two of these emperors are actually Ryoga and Rio Kamishiro, who are Nasch and Merag respectively, with both currently living on Earth. This is given a nod/subtle piece of foreshadowing from Vector himself in the One-Shot story "You Can't Win".
- Duels Decide Everything: It's a Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfic, so it's a staple.
- The crossover fanfic Yu-Gi-Oh! 4D Love Surpassing Time subverts it briefly in Chapter 3: Zaman tricks Yuma into accepting a Duel, then speeds himself up, knocks Yuma down, and kidnaps Kotori without following through with the challenge. The conflict is eventually played straight by Zaman dueling all four protagonists in order to get their kidnapped girlfriends back.
- Played straight in Deckshibition Chapters 5, 6, and 9. Chapter 5 has has Fuya Okudaira dueling network producer Laurent Perrier over the continuation of Star Robin. Chapter 6 sees Takashi Todoroki dueling Sedo Kuran over who would become the 8th grade President after they are tied equally in votes. Chapter 9 has Tetsuo Takeda dueling arrogant skater Rad for control of the skate park.
- Numbershot 31 reveals that Number 88 must now win a duel in order to claim someone's body.
- Fan-Created Offspring:
- In the stories that take place after the Numbershots, there is Yuma and Kotori's kid: Yuko Tsukumo. She uses an Antimaterion deck, along with her own Number: Numbers 100: Ascending Prince - Future. The Number itself is the son of the signature Number cards of Yuma and Kotori, Number 39 and Number 13. Since the two numbers are a Sword and Sorcerer duo, Number 100 inherits both of these aspects to be a Magic Knight.
- Tryga Kamishiro is the son of Shark and Ariel, though is only given a mention in the future fic, "Glimpse of the Future".
- Moyen "Yamoto" Kazamuki, is revealed to be the son of Droite and Gauche, due to the latter two's age lift in this fanfic's continuity.
- Flash Forward Fic: A few stories take place after the events of the Numbershots canon, such as "Look Who's Back", "Two New Arrivals", and "Glimpse of the Future" which show an older Yuma and Kotori, along with their children.
- Gratuitous Japanese: All over the place, used mostly during duels and gameplay, with the card names and summon chants also utilizing this.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Yuma sacrifices himself to save Kotori in Numbershot C13. Thankfully, the Gate recognizes this noble sacrifice and gives Kotori the power of Zexal to revive him.
- Internal Homage: Kaaran, a character first introduced in Deckshibition chapter 4, is one to Pandora of the Ghouls/Rare Hunters from the original Yu-Gi-Oh!'s Battle City arc.
- Like Pandora, he is a specialist in an archetype used by the main character (Kaaran and Yuma use Gagaga monsters, while Pandora and Yugi have decks that support the Dark Magician), their Signature Mon is an Evil Counterpart of the main character's ace card (Gagaga Magician for Kaaran and Yuma, Dark Magician for Pandora and Yugi), and Kaaran's name is a Significant Anagram of Pandora's name in the English dub, Arkana.
- Kaaran's defeat in his Deckshibition chapter debut sees Yuma's Gagaga Girl (the apprentice of Gagaga Magician, and was dismissed by Kaaran) being powered up by the Gagaga monsters that Kaaran sacrificed without care to his graveyard alongside Yuma's. This is exactly how Pandora lost his duel against Yugi, where Yugi's Dark Magician Girl (a card the former didn't even know about despite it being the apprentice of the Dark Magician) got a boost in power due to the Dark Magicians that were in both players' graveyards (that Pandora also sacrificed without remorse).
- Man of Kryptonite: The Number Distributor's ace card, Photon Numbers Destroyer, is specifically designed to destroy Number cards, with its "official" card game variant also being a hard counter to Xyz monsters, negating their effects.
- Mythology Gag:
- Numbershot 85 reveals that Akari used to be a duelist before she became a journalist. The deck she uses turns out to be a Fairy-type deck, which was used by Kotori in the original canon and video game spin-offs. Spade even lampshades that he thought Kotori would be someone who used them, before winking at the audience about it.
- Numbershot 31 shows Mia being able to produce a laser blade from her arm, which she uses to try attacking Number 88. This ability is from the fanfic series she originated from, the My Maiden series.
- Official Couple: A lot of them, but these are the most prominent pairings in the fanfic continuity:
- Yuma and Kotori
- Shark/Ryoga Kamishiro and Ariel
- Kaito Tenjo and Jenaveve
- Droite and Gauche
- Parody Sue: Marizu from Numbershot 1.
- The Power of Love: Kotori's undying love for Yuma is what allowed her to gain her own Number.
- Relationship Upgrade: Yuma and Kotori get together in the first story before the Numbershots, and way earlier than in canon.
- Rescue Romance: Ryoga first meets Ariel after he saves her from being hit by a car. From there, the two would have a blossoming romance before she became his girlfriend.
- Ship Tease: A lot of these as well, if they're not already a couple.
- Super-Empowering: Some of the Numbers grant ordinary people with super human abilities, like electric powers or super speed.
- Tournament Arc: Numbershot 1, where Yuma, Shark, Kaito, and several other characters fight for a chance to face off against Ace, the host of the tournament. Moreover, Ace is in possession of the Number 1 card, which incentivizes the three to participate. Yuma is ultimately the winner of the tournament, with him also going on to defeat Ace in the final chapter.
- Wham Episode: Numbershot 99. Faker is killed by the true mastermind, Vector, and a horrible truth is revealed: The Number Distributor is in fact Yuma's father, who was resurrected by Vector to become his servant. The Number Distributor also reveals that he had turned Yuma's mother into "Photon Future Destroyer", after debuting the first "Rank-Up-Magic" in this series.
- Yandere: Cathy becomes one when she's possessed by Number 90 in 39 & 13 Equals Love.
- Your Heart's Desire: How the Numbers work: They are attracted to people who desire something and twist it in a dark way to possess them. However, if a person has a selfless desire (or little darkness in their heart, like Kotori), they are not corrupted.
