Fanfic / Dragons and Swarm

When Contessa's Path to Victory tells her Taylor Hebert will be a wrench in their plan and Dinah Alcott confirms it, Cauldron makes the decision to send the bug-controlling parahuman to a different Earth, on the junk island of Satellite. Then, just to be sure, they kill her father, burn her house and wipe her memory clean.

But the Queen Administrator takes poorly to their action, and the Crimson Dragon has taken notice of their action. The two entities strike a deal. Rex Goodwin and the Dark Signers aren't ready for Weaver, nor is Cauldron prepared for a team of angry Crimson Signers...

Dragons and Swarm is a Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds/Worm Crossover by Elia41 where Cauldron gets the "bright" idea of sending Taylor to Satellite to keep her out of their way, only for her to become a Crimson Signer. It won't end well for someone.

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Tropes contained in Dragons and Swarm:

• Achilles' Heel: Psychic duelists have the terrifyingly powerful ability to manifest any card they set. However, to activate their power, they have to set that card. And, to do this, they need a Duel Disk. The moment Yusei puts two and two together, he goes straight for the Arcadians' Disks and later warns Sector Security of the weakness, driving them to use EMP grenades to disable the Disks.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • Carly becomes a Skybound Signer to Huitzilopochtli.
  • While dueling Misty, Crow desperately prays for a way to save her. The Crimson Dragon responds with Majestic Dragon, allowing him to Synchro Summon it and Black-Winged Dragon to form Majestic Black Dragon.
  • Following the battle against Rex Goodwin, Dinah is the new Crimson Eyes Signer.
  • An early discussion between Beelze and Archfiend imply Cassandra of Troy was this, especially since she was the Crimson Eye Signer predecing Dinah. He later expends on the matter: besides being a Seers, Apollo had given his lover Combat Clairvoyance as an apology for temporarily losing her gift. Cassandra made full use of it when she avenged Hector and shot Achilles, then defended Troy's temple of Athena against the Achaeans. It allowed her to match Odysseus in an archery duel, with Apollo and Athena empowering her and her opponent respectively. After the fall of Troy, she joined the Crimson Signers in their adventures during the Bronze Age Collapse.
• Adaptational Early Appearance:
  • Carly Carmine appears way earlier than cannon, being rescued from some thugs by Taylor after the later escapes Kaiba Dome. Crow also appears in the first chapter, requesting Taylor's assistance in driving off Security patrols. Finally Soichi "Kaz" Kazama appears before the Fortune Cup even begins, rather than during Season 2.
  • Black-Winged Dragon appears far earlier than he did in canon because Taylor's swarm could easily find the secret compartment on Crow's bike.
• Adaptational Late Appearance: In canon, Leo and Luna appeared soon after Yusei escaped the Facility. Here, they don't appear until the Fortune Cup.
• Adaptational Villainy: As Greiger didn't become a Dark Signer, Chacu Challhua picked Lazar instead.
• Alliterative Name: along with Adaptation Name Change and Named by the Adaptation, Lazar's son Kaoru (in Japanese) is instead called Elijah Ehrlich.
• The Atoner: Beelze once got power-mad and turned against the other Signer Dragons before being sealed. Becoming Taylor's partner is his chance to make up for his past misdeeds, and he outright tells her he is on probation. When Synchro Summoning him, Taylor calls him the Atoner of Darkness. After the Dark Signers Crisis, her Synchro Chant calls him the Forgiven One.
• Attack Hello: The very first person Ryushi Fudo meets upon exiting the Underworld is Roman Goodwin. After politely greeting the now-Skybound Signer, the professor knocks him on his rear.
• Badass Normal: Unlike his sister, Leo is a perfectly normal twelve-year-old. As Dvoran and Devack learned the hard way, he can very much prove a challenge if he has to.
• Badass Preacher: Before becoming a Dark Signer, Devack was a pujari, a Hindu priest who performs rituals. The first thing he did after Cusillu brought him back was kill the terrorists who had massacred him and his fellow worshippers.
• Bad Boss:
  • Goodwin and Lazar are openly disdainful of Mina and shoot her down when she voices her concerns about their plans. Goodwin actually slaps her for it once they are alone, causing Mina to wonder why she's still working for them. Then she remembers that it's because she's crushing on Jack.
  • Cusillu forces his followers to act as meat shields and cannon fodder, consuming their souls when they fall.
• Bargain with Heaven: The means by which Taylor became a Signer. The Crimson Dragon and the Queen Administrator have a standing agreement of mutual assistance and Taylor receiving the Crimson Heart is its rubber-stamping, along with receiving Beelze.

  • New Life in Another World Bonus: And a rather literal one at that. Taylor's ability to give Monster Spirits the ability to physically manifest is an added bonus from the Crimson Dragon to the Queen Administrator.

  • The bond between a Skybound Immortal and their Signer is also a bargain, with Huitzilopochtli mentioning fine print and Misty and Hine-Korako agreeing to discuss details at a later date. But, first, both sides must agree to work together, and both must gain something from the partnership. Carly gains Huitzilopochtli as a partner, which means she has the power and accumen of a war deity. Hine-Korako, meanwhile, restores Misty from her Undead state as her very first action.
• Baritone of Strength: Red Dragon Archfiend has the deepest voice of all Signer Dragons, described by Taylor as "a deep bass-baritone" and "like a rumbling hearth", and his speech is in bold and italic to reinforce the effect. He is, with Black Rose Dragon, the most destructive of the group.
• Batman Gambit: How Dinah seals Chacu Challhua. Knowing Earthbound Immortals need a Field Spell to be summoned, she Sets her own, then lets the Immortal manifest. Chacu Challhua, all too happy to come out, doesn't think too much about it, not taking the time to consider why she would do that - and without making sure to replace said Field by one of its own. Big mistake. The moment Dinah gets the right card, she destroys both her Field and one of her opponent's Traps, sealing the Immortal right back and allowing its unwilling Signer to surrender. As Carly says, Chacu Challhua swallowed the bait hook, line and sinker.
• Battle Ballgown: The outfit Taylor makes for Misty looks like a white and green armored evening gown, with Polynesian markings and the skirt's chitin plates cut and painted to mimic scales. Misty loves it.
• Bavarian Fire Drill: Pulled twice in the same chapter. To infiltrate the Arcadia building, Carly disguises herself as a pizza deliverer, then a janitor. Downplayed with Mina who, meanwhile, uses the fact Goodwin didn't fire her to get in the Security building and sneak Weaver and Dragon inside to ruin Goodwin's day.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Professor Frank wanted to find out "what laid behind Weaver's walls". He found the Shardspace and the Queen Administrator and lost his mind.
• Because You Were Nice to Me:
  • The reason Taylor cares for Yusei even after her memories return is that he has been the one person consistently nice to her in a long time, taking care of her and teaching her the ways of Earth Yota.
  • This is why Carly lets Taylor live with her. Not only did she get her away from some thugs, she also made sure she got home safely. This is enough for Carly to trust the other girl.
• Berserk Button:
  • The Crimson Dragon doesn't like it when Signers fight without a valid reason and will manifest to break up the fight, as They did during Yusei and Jack's duel.
  • Jack absolutely cannot tolerate sexual abuse. He agrees to rescue Akiza after he learns Sayer abuses her and she is powerless to stop him, and seeing Kalin forcefully kiss Yusei turns him into an Implacable Man who delivers a ruthless Curb-Stomp Battle against the Dark Signer.
• Big Ball of Violence: Beelze and Stardust's second confrontation devolves into that, down to being a tangle of limbs and kicking a lot of dust.
• Big Brother Instinct: Jack goes straight into a Tranquil Fury when Kalin gives Yusei a Forceful Kiss.
• Big Damn Kiss: Following Sayer's defeat and his narrow survival of Taking the Bullet for Carly, Jack shares a loving kiss with her.
  "Carly, meanwhile, had removed her glasses to wipe her tears. He wiped one from her cheek and held her face. Carly smiled. So did he. Their lips met. They stayed together for a long time."
• Big "WHAT?!": The reaction of the Bet refugees to learning that they'd just been cured of being a Manchurian Agent group for the Simurgh.
• Blind Without 'Em: When Carly removes her glasses to help infiltrate Neo Arcadia, she has to have one of her Monster spirits guide her because her eyesight is so bad she'd be unable to find anything on her own.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: the Shards - and the Queen Administrator - have a logical yet really peculiar mindset. Taylor, Yusei, Carly and Crow find it off-putting, Yusei even disapproving of it.
• Bond Creatures:
  • Signer Dragons form such bonds with their respective Signer. Because Beelze is partially insectile, his bond with Taylor is true and genuine Telepathy while Stardust's bond with Yusei is at the very least empathic. The other Signer Dragons haven't displayed mental links with their partners, but all of them are caring and protective.
  • Chris (Kid Win) finds a partner in Scrap Worm, who had recently been found by Taylor. She gladly hands him its card and helps him look for the rest of the Scrap archetype, effectively making them this to the Tinker.
• Broad Strokes: While the English names and terminology for the anime are used, the Japanese summoning chants are used instead.
• Bullying a Dragon: Pun aside, Dragon's addendum to Dinah's file notes that Crimson and Skybound Signers all pretty much consider each other family - and some actually are. They are also either powerful Differently Powered Individual or possess powerful partners, four of which are actually Earth Yota's Endbringers, only benevolent. Her last words are that targetting the Signers is a really bad idea and discussion is much safer.
• Can't Hold His Liquor: As his drink of choice is milk, Stardust Dragon has a lower alcoholic threshold compared to his siblings. A bottle of vodka is enough to make him queasy while Beelze and Red Dragon Archfiend need a vat of their favorite drink to get a buzz.
• Cartesian Karma: Discussed after some of the Earthbound Immortals are made Skybound once more, but have to live with their actions when corrupted, one mentioning how on Taylor's old world Master victims are not considered at fault for what they were made to do.
• The Cassandra: Beelze's first partner was the Trope Namer, and at least part of what happened back then because her warnings were ignored, with Taylor noting that ignoring a precog is a dumb move, and she warns her sucessor Dinah not to repeat her mistakes.
• Central Theme: Trust. Taylor is naturally wary, and not without reason, but it makes her suspicious of most people and unwilling to share her knowledge. Yusei has the opposite problem end, but he is aware of it and counts on Taylor to balance him. At the same time, he is the only one Taylor genuinely trusts and is thus her confident and moral compass, and he and Crow instantly accept Carly as a friend because Taylor trusts her, something she doesn't do easily. Finally, Jack and Akiza are both Signers and against the pair because they trust the wrong people (Goodwin and Sayer respectively), and are unknowingly manipulated by them.
• Cephalothorax: Beelze has no proper "head". Instead, his torso has the shape of an insectile head while his two real heads are bound to long necks tied to his shoulder blades and depending whether his chest counts, Beelze has either two or three heads.
• Cold Equation: The reason Goodwin keeps Satellite a dump? So nobody wants to live there and the people who do (who are forbidden from leaving) end up as sacrifice for the Earthbound Immortals. Better they manifest in Satellite than in Neo Domino ! ...Taylor, Yusei and Crow strenuously disagree.
• Color-Coded Speech: When speaking with the Crimson Dragon or the Queen Administrator, the various characters each have their own color of speech. Taylor's is grey while Yusei's is a much more distinct white. The Crimson Dragon, naturally, has a crimson color while the Queen Administrator has narration-shaded white.
• Combat by Champion: Since Luna is incapacitated, Leo challenges Devack as her champion. Devack, at first doesn't think much of the boy and calls one of his Monster Spirits to duel in his stead. One Curb-Stomp Battle later, the Dark Signer realizes his mistake and agrees to fight Leo head-on.
• Compensating for Something: during his and Greiger's pre-duel Trash Talk, Yusei teases his opponent about the sheer size of his Runner. Greiger embarrassedly answers it isn't compensation but counterweight. Yusei retorts that, despite having no curves, Weaver still got bigger balls.
• The Corrupter: The Crimson Devil is the one who corrupted the Skybound Immortals into the Earthbound ones we know and hate after it was split and sealed inside them.
• Crapsack World: Earth Bet was already pretty bad in Worm alone, but in-story, we have the slum island of Satellite to compare... and everyone agrees it is better than Brockton Bay. To say how bad the place is.
• Cry into Chest: after learning her father is dead, Taylor breaks down in Yusei's arms. During the Fortune Cup, when a discussion with Jack causes him to remember Kalin, Yusei is the one who falls apart in Taylor's.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Even when it comes to card Dueling, Taylor retains her cannon ruthlessness. Lenny the Bully was trounced by Beelze and her duel against Bruce the Bouncer saw her make his attacks backfire twice and ending with more Life Points than she started with! And, of course, there was her Roaring Rampage of Rescue after Armstrong beat Yusei to an inch of his life.
  • Yusei delivers a Tranquil Fury-fueled one to Jack during the finale of the Fortune Cup, mercilessly defeating his traitorous friend while remaining eerily quiet.
  • Jack himself, his Big Brother Instinct roused by Kalin giving Yusei a Forceful Kiss, utterly decimated the Dark Signer, ultimately turning his own Earthbound Immortal's effect against him for the finishing blow.
  • Faced with Dvoran the Voltic Kong, Leo gives his opponent exactly one turn. Then he ahilihates him with a whooping 10 300 direct damage.
  • Akiza and Misty Vs Sayer. Caught between the hammer and anvil, Sayer couldn't touch their life points even once.
  • Taylor against Trudge during her Turbo Exam. While Trudge manages a few good moves with Broken Blocker and Wiretap, Taylor is simply a different league and counters everything he throws at her, even using a Speed Spell to steal Goyo Guardian as payback for his usual methods and summoning Skybound Immortal Anansi.
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: When Akiza goes on about her powers are a curse, Weaver points out several ways that she could use them constructively, like using Spell Cards with Healing Hands effects in hospitals. After Carly's recording of the conversation gets out, several Psychic Duelists start taking her advice and applying to companies about using their powers to make legitimate money.
• Dance Party Ending: The epilogue to the Dark Signers arc ends with all of Satellite throwing a massive party to celebrate, with everyone feasting, singing, dancing and Duelling.
• Death by Adaptation:
  • Unlike canon, Danny is killed in the prologue by Contessa. When Dragon finally tells Taylor, she is devastated.
  • Because Skitter wasn't there during Worm's major events, the death toll was sadly higher. Dauntless, Velocity, Gallant, Aegis and Browbeat died fighting Leviathan, Assault and Battery were killed by the Slaughterhouse Nine and Triumph was killed by Contessa when he tried to recover Dinah, leaving only Defiant (Armsmaster), Miss Militia, Vista, Kid Win and Clockblocker as the surviving members of Protectorate ENE. The same way, New Wave was killed one after the other (body-twisted for Glory Girl and Birdcaged for Panacea), until only Laserdream remained.
  • Out of the Slaughterhouse Nine, Jack Slash, Bonesaw, and Cherish survived in some form or another. Here, Echidna made sure the whole gang was wiped out.
  • Rather than every Dark Signer being resurected by the Crimson Dragon, Lazar, Sayer and the Goodwin brothers died and moved on rather than coming back to life.
• Depraved Homosexual: As a Dark Signer, Kalin isn't shy to Roman and Uru about wanting "satisfaction" from his former lover Yusei before killing him. Later he gives Yusei a Forceful Kiss, which rattles Yusei and enrages Jack.
• Didn't See That Coming: Roman Goodwin is completely blindsided by the Crimson Signers evacuating Satellite through a portal to Earth Bet. As he tells Kalin, it takes absolute idiocy or an Outside-Context Problem to achieve the feat and alternate Earths are definitely the later.
• Didn't Think This Through: Lampshaded about Goodwin's plan to summon the Crimson Dragon by gathering the Signers and getting them to fight... not considering that the Crimson Dragon doesn't like when Signers fight if it can be avoided, and that it would happen if a stadium full of spectators, when the brief manifestation during Jack and Yusei's duel caused damage to the Kaiba Dome and a blackout.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: The Signers do this anytime they defeat an Earthbound Immortal. However, a noteworthy example is Danny Hebert punching his way out of Chacu Challhua when it threatens Taylor.
• Discard and Draw: Following the battle against Rex Goodwin, Taylor bestows the Crimson Heart to Leo, instead becoming Anansi's new Skybound Signer. She keeps Beelze as her partner though, with Dinah gaining a new Signer Dragon as their partner.
• Diving Save: When Lazar blows up the bridge he and Yusei were dueling, Yusei falls in the chasm, causing Taylor to jump after him in an attempt to catch him. It lands both of them in the Underworld.
• Doomed Hometown: Brockton Bay was already in a piteous state by the time the Slaughterhouse Nine was driven off. However, without Skitter to hold off Leviathan, keep the gangs in check and coordinate the counterattack against S9, things ended being much worse when Jack Slash killed Trickster and roused Echidna. The casualties of the fight, coupled with Leviathan's damage, was so bad Brockton Bay was made an exclusion zone.
• Double Weapon: During the climatic battle above Neo Domino City, Rex Goodwin wields a double-ended macana, namely a Chaska chuqui, or "star-spear", with one end being a spear and the other a mace.
• Dragon Rider: Since their dragon partners can physically manifest, the Crimson Signers occasionally use them for transport. Notably, because of his physique, Taylor finds Beelze uncomfortable to ride.
• Drink-Based Characterization: Being an insectile dragon, Beelze has a fondness for the honey-based mead. After the tag-duel against Uru's Shadow Drones, when Stardust suggest they find a bar, he requests that said bar serves it because he misses it. Stardust, as the leader and Big Good of the Signer Dragons, prefers sweetened milk and Can't Hold His Liquor while the partially avian Black-Winged Dragon enjoys grain-based alcohol. Black Rose Dragon loves blood, but if she can't get any she'll take mixed drinks. According to Stardust, Power Tool Dragon prefers vodka, palm wine and their kind while Ancient Fairy Dragon favors fruit-based alcohols.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Rex Goodwin downs multiple bottles of bourbon while seeing the Crimson Signers derail his plan overnight, because of how many things they pulled that he had never seen coming.
• Duels Decide Everything: Played Straight, mostly, for most of the story. Averted between Taylor and Rex Goodwin who, after seeing the Dark Signers fail to defeat the Crimson Signers through Dueling, decides to challenge her to a more classical ranged battle, with their Monsters as troops.
• Dueling Hackers: Yusei clashes with Saint over Dragon's fate. Yusei wins, undoing some of Dragon's restrictions and disabling Ascalon.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Alright, Cauldron is still lurking out there and some Earthbound Immortals weren't purified. But, after Rex Goodwin is defeated, the Signers in general and Taylor and Dinah in particular earned their happiness, with Dinah becoming the new Crimson Eye Signer and being permanently out of Cauldron's reach, while Taylor succeeded Roman as Anansi's Signer, got her father back, sort of, and is going to be adopted by Ryushi, effectively legally making her Yusei's sister. Their futures look considerably brighter.
• Eldritch Location: the Shardspace, where the Queen Administrator dwells. Taylor outright warns her friends that going there without the Crimson Dragon's protection would drive them insane.
• 11th-Hour Superpower: Before the battle against Rex Goodwin, the other Crimson Signers pray to the Crimson Dragon, who grants Taylor Their full Mark and allows Beelze to become Beelzeus, Majesty of the Demonic Dragons... who is none other than Beelze in his prime, before his imprisonment, with his former partner forcefully fused to him as punishment for encouraging his actions.
• The Empath: Luna's heart-listening power isn't just limited to Monster Spirits. She can also sense regular people's hearts if she focuses, something she demonstrates on Weaver.
• Enemy Mine:
  • When Sector Security butts in the fight between Weaver, Yusei and the Arcadians, the two Signers quickly agree to a truce while they deal with the psychic duelists, and respect it after they're done giving them their testimony.
  • While Misty and Akiza know that as Crimson and Dark Signer, they'll have to duel, Carly revealing that Sayer, not Akiza, killed Misty's brother leads to a temporary alliance to defeat him first due to having wronged both of them.
• Ephebophile: Dropped by name by Violet Witch regarding Sayer, who molests and even sexually abuses Akiza, who is only sixteen and cannot refuse due to his influence over her mind, while he has an estranged son about ten years old, and is twice her age according to Yusei. When they learn this, Yusei has to fight the urge to gag and Weaver is livid.
• Expy: Taylor's partner, Beelze the Demonic Dragon, is a clear one of Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons, albeit with a different design, different summoning conditions and a less Game-Breaker effect.
• Extra Parent Conception: The original intent behind Honest helping the Mackenzies conceive. Since they had trouble having children, his intervention would have allowed the couple to have a child, who would be a Half-Spirit Hybrid. However, rather than one child, the Mackenzies ended having twins, Leo and Luna. While the pair share the same mother, they have different fathers, with Lincoln Mackenzie being Leo's while Honest is Luna's. It explains while Leo is perfectly normal while his sister isn't.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Roman and Uru tell Kalin that he can kill Yusei so long as he keeps his planned "satisfaction" outside of the public eye, saying that they still have standards.
  • Rex Goodwin might be a bad boss, but he had no intention of Armstrong's interrogation method when he asked for information on Weaver's identity. Notably, after Taylor utterly thrashed Armstrong, Goodwin felt like Cement Shoes would be involved in Armstrong's ultimate fate.
• Eye Scream: Ryushi lost his right eye during Zero Reverse and is still missing it when he reunites with Yusei and Taylor. His bangs actually cover it.
• Fallen Hero: The Earthbound Immortals were once the Skybound Immortals, eight beings empowered by the Crimson Dragon to protect Earth. The eighth Immortal, Ryujin, was killed when Mu sank during the first conflict with the Crimson Devil. The other seven were later corrupted by the Devil into the Earthbound Immortals.
• Family of Choice: Taylor more or less considers Yusei her brother. Eventually, she calls him that during their duel and Yusei calls her his sister in turn.
• Fear Is the Appropriate Response: The sight of an allied force nearly as big as that of the Terminus Wars and led by the Signer Dragons is enough for Dvoran to admit that yes, now is the perfect time for the Ape Army to freak the fuck out. He proceeds to do just that.
• Flying Brick and Firepower: in her Addendum to Weaver and White Star's files, Dragon warns about Monster Spirits and notably the Signer Dragons. Her preliminary ratings for Beelze and Stardust are Brute 7, Mover 7, Blaster 8, with a warning that both are protective of their respective partner.
• Forceful Kiss: Kalin forcefully kisses Yusei after offering him to join the Dark Signers. Yusei retaliates by biting his lips and punching him in the face.
• Forgiven, but Not Forgotten:
  • Yusei is willing to acknowledge Roman's Heel–Face Turn as a Skybound Signer. He isn't, however, going to forget he caused his father's death and Zero Reverse. Roman accepts it and adds that anyone who suffered from the incident has a right to hate him.
  • The Crimson Dragon may have forgiven Beelze after he and Taylor defeated Rex Goodwin, but They have not forgotten his rampage and, though Beelze is free, They still choose to create a new Signer Dragon to replace him.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: The other Signer Dragons have not forgiven Beelze for his rampage three thousand years ago. Black-Winged Dragon is terrified of him and Stardust asks Taylor to personally stop him if he goes overboard, to which Taylor agrees. Beelze is aware of it and endeavors to make amends.
• Give Him a Normal Life: Honest (Luna's Spirit parent) erased most of Luna's memories of her time in the world of Monster Spirits so she could have some semblance of a normal childhood before needing to fulfill her duty as a Signer. Unfortunately, the Earthbound Immortals awakened earlier than he'd hoped.
• Godzilla Threshold:
  • "Let impure blood water the black rose once more." The Trigger Phrase was devised by Violet Witch as a way to erase every phrase Sayer put on Akiza's mind... including those restraining her powers. She instructs Weaver and Yusei to use it only if they really have no other choice, as the process with be brutal both to Akiza's mind and the surroundings as her powers come unbound. Upon finding herself face to face with Sayer and Misty, Carly uses it as a distraction, running for her life while Akiza's powers come unbound and catch them in the blast radius.
  • Evacuating Satellite's people to Earth Bet is considered this by Dragon and the Crimson Signers. Earth Bet may be an even bigger Crapsack World than Earth Yota but, at least, the survival of Satellite's people is a bigger certainty than if they stayed. It also forces Taylor to cross her own threshold: revealing her identity to Mina, Trudge and Kazama.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: Professor Franks tries to use his duel to get information on Weaver. He ended up in the Shardspace realm and went insane from being exposed to the Queen Administrator. When they arrive back on Earth Yota, he's been rendered catatonic by the experience.
• Gondor Calls for Aid: The Pojar and Naturia Forests need help distracting the Ape Army in Dun Scaith. At Honest's request, the HEROes and Neo-Spacians join them. Then the Stardust Clan and Synchron-Warriors join them. Then the Archfiend Clan join them. Then the Rose clan and Black Rose Dragon's people join them. Then the Blackwing Army joins them. Then Beelze's Swarm joins them. For Dun Scaith, Fear Is the Appropriate Response.
• Good is Not Nice: even though he is a Signer Dragon, Red Dragon Archfiend has no problem storming castles and killing everyone inside with his partner. He also fully approves of Taylor's actions and praises the ferocity with which she defends her loved ones.
• Good Parents:
  • Ryushi is this to Yusei and Taylor. He insists toward Dragon and Defiant that the Terrible Trio pay for what they've gone to Taylor and, when Yusei goes home drunk one evening, he simply notes that his University parties used to be wilder and asks his son if the lesson was learned.
  • Jack and Carly are also this toward Dinah. Jack reminds his daughter she isn't allowed to cheat using her power, but his reason for dueling Heitmann was because he tried to expel her on a flimsy excuse. Carly, meanwhile, does her best to learn how to cook so Dinah doesn't have to do it all the time (she and Jack are somewhere between Cordon Bleugh Chef and Lethal Chef).
• Great Big Library of Everything: Anansi's domain is the Infinite Library, a library where every story devised by mankind can be found, be it written or spoken. Taylor said her mother would have loved the place, and borrows The Iliad to learn more about Cassandra.
• Groin Attack: After hearing that he molests Akiza, Weaver wants to have brown recluses use their necrosis-inducing venom on their crotch, aka: give him the Lung treatment. Yusei agreeing shows just how despicable he finds Sayer's actions.
• Had to Be Sharp: Beyond dueling, one of the reasons Taylor, Yusei, Crow and - to an extent - Jack are so strong is that they grew in pretty rough neighborhoods. Yusei, Jack and Crow grew up on the dumpster island of Satellite and regularly beat duel gangs. Taylor, meanwhile, was a non-powered Bully Magnet teenager in a town where the drug dealers had superpowers. The bullying got so bad it gave her powers of her own. For those in the know, it is no surprise Taylor and Yusei are so dangerous: they had to be.
• Half-Human Hybrid:
  • Rather than just being a Spirit Duelist, Luna is outright half-Spirit, to everyone's bafflement. According to Stardust, the only way for Monster Spirits to have children, as immaterial entities, is to possess someone during the deed. Leo is fully human though despite them being Half-Identical Twins. Honest later explains the reason and mechanisms behind it.
  • Four of the Bronze Age Collapse Era-Crimson Signers were half monsters. Philoxenos (Head) was half Gorgon, the twins Pyridion and Pyrcaia (Heart and Front Claw respectively) were half Cyclops of the Hesiodian kind and Andreia (Read Claw) was half Centaur. None of the other three (Cassandra, Orestes and Telemachus) were Demigods, something Beelze attributes to the culling caused by the Trojan War.
  • Aster Phoenix and Jaden Yuki were also half-Spirit like Luna, their parent being Destiny HERO Plasma and Kuriboh respectively. However, not knowing choosing both sides was an option, they chose Human instead of Spirit. Honest recalls how physically and mentally painful losing their Spirit half was.
• Handicapped Badass: Even though she is missing both hands in human form, Skybound Immortal Sedna remains a Physical God and Big Good of Earth Yota - and the handicap vanishes in her true, maritime form.
• Happily Adopted:
  • After leaving Brockton Bay, Hannah obtained legal guardianship of Chris, Dennis and Missy, just like Brian is his sister's legal guardian. In fact, Miss Militia admits the latter's efforts is what inspired her.
  • Ryushi discusses it with Dragon and Defiant in regard to Taylor. Though Zero Reverse cut short his dreams of having a family, Taylor remains a (technical) orphan and she and Yusei are Like Brother and Sister, so he might as well make them so for real. Yusei strongly supports the idea. Eventually, he goes through with it and signs the adoption papers during the victory celebration.
  • Jack and Carly adopted Dinah the moment their situation allowed it, with Dinah taking Atlas as her last name.
  • Downplayed with Sedna and Elijah. Magdalena disowned her son when he refused to break his bond with the Skybound Immortal, so Sedna became her Signer's legal guardian instead. It isn't ideal, but the two are happy together at least.
• Heel–Face Turn:
  • Grue was brought in the Protectorate after being caught during the bank heist. By the time the story happens, he is a Hero called Nightshroud and one of Miss Militia's coworkers in Minneapolis, with Aisha among the Wards as Impish.
  • After Greiger chooses to talk to Yusei and Weaver instead of attacking Goodwin, Stardust helps him realize Goodwin wasn't responsible for his village's destruction, causing him to side with the pair and assist them instead of getting arrested by Sector Security, which would have led to him becoming a Dark Signer.
  • Roman Goodwin becomes a Skybound Signer after the Crimson Dragon purifies Uru back to Anansi. He decides to assist the Crimson Signers, both because the Dark Signers are a threat and to atone for causing Zero Reverse and orphaning Yusei.
  • Luna convinces Zeman and Devack to turn on Cusillu, either to purify him back to Hanuman or to destroy him if they believe Hanuman is truly gone.
  • Any Earthbound Immortal purified back to Skybound becomes this by default. They were the original Big Good of Earth Yota and, now they are themselves again, it's back to business.
• Hell Is That Noise: Chacu Challhua's Life Point-decreasing effect is a sonic attack that sounds particularly nightmarish, to the point of almost causing physical injuries. The first time Yusei suffers it, his brain needs to reboot his body.
• Hijacking Cthulhu: Weaver's reason for dueling Roman Goodwin was so she could use Queen Administrator to take control of Earthbound Immortal Uru. While it didn't quite go as planned, the Crimson Dragon was able to act through it to purify the Earthbound Immortal into his original form, Skybound Immortal Anansi.
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • Armstrong's strategy of burning away Weaver's Life Points with his Iron Chain Repairman / Blaster combo is usually not a bad idea if the opponent is playing defensive and you don't have monsters with enough ATK. It is less so when you are fighting Beelze, whose ATK grows higher through damage-dealing card effect. Weaver pointedly avoids telling Armstrong about it and lets him dig his own grave.
  • Kalin Kessler is killed by Jack's Trap, Crimson Fire, turning Ccapac Apu's damage-dealing effect right back at him and causing the Immortal to accidentally backhand him.
  • During the duel with Dinah, Chacu Challhua uses her Field Spell to manifest, so when she destroys it later with a Trap they're forcibly kicked off the field and sealed, with their unwilling duelist losing as a result.
• Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: The Zero Reverse and the seals being weakened on the Earthbound Immortals happened on the Day of the Dead.
• Human Sacrifice:
  • Satellite was kept as an island-sized slum so its population had nowhere to go when the Earthbound Immortals came to devour their souls, thus sparing the citizens of Neo Domino. Fortunately, while some were caught by the Miasma, most of the island was able to escape to Earth Bet before being sacrificed.
  • The centaurs sacrificed the female, human children they had to Cronus shortly after birth.
• I Have Many Names: As the Top God of the solar system, the Crimson Dragon has about as many names as there are civilizations. Beelze mentions Quetzalcoatl, of course, but also Zirnitra, the Dragon-God of Magic and Nüwa, the Creator of Mankind.
• I'm a Humanitarian: Beelze teases Armstrong, Lazar and Goodwin about it, noting that the warden is rather chunky but a bit too big for one person. Maybe, if Stardust were to share... Lazar freaks out and Stardust angrily retorts that Black Rose Dragon is the one who enjoys human blood. It later turns out that he was joking... but not about Black Rose Dragon.
• Immune to Fate:
  • The Crimson Dragon and his Signers are immune to Contessa's Path to Victory. Dinah and Lisa's powers can get a bead on them, but the Crimson Dragon is working with them, preventing Cauldron from gaining the advantage over Taylor and her allies.
  • The Simurgh is seemingly unable to foresee the Skybound Immortals or their Signers.
• I Need a Freaking Drink:
  • After Goodwin lets Weaver, Yusei, Tanner, Yanagi and Alex go, he and Lazar hit the bottle, and Mina similarly needs something to drink after witnessing the swarm.
  • Trudge and Kazama both need something strong after Uru used them as People Puppets. Yusei, Stardust and Beelze also have a drink but Weaver, who's underage, opts for something non-alcoholic.
• In-Universe Catharsis: Stardust finally thrashing Beelze when Weaver and Yusei duel feels particularly satisfying to him, as he got to pay his former brethren back for beating the other Signer dragons three thousand years ago.
• It's Personal:
  • When Stardust Dragon tells Yusei, Weaver and Greiger about Zero Reverse, he also tells them the role Roman Goodwin played in it. Yusei is livid that the Dark Signer caused his father's death and swears retribution.
  • Lisa and Dinah are both working to foil Cauldron's plans after being forced to work at gunpoint and, in Dinah's case, to make Contessa pay for murdering Triumph.
  • Rex Goodwin is so incensed at Taylor upending his plans that he decides that they won't have a duel, instead opting for a massive battle between their armies of monsters.
• Jail Bait Wait: Kaz has a thing for Taylor in spite of her plain looks and frightening powers. He still shuts those feelings hard because she's still a minor and, as an officer, this is the last path he wants to thread.
• Lap Pillow: Yusei is shown to have his lap used by both Taylor and Akiza, each sharing a thigh as they sleep or read. Ryushi and Sedna call him lucky.
• Let Us Never Speak of This Again: The events of Episode 76 are glossed over as a very embarassing incident everyone agrees to never mention, ever again, out of respect for Jack.
• Logical Weakness:
  • Besides the aforementioned need to have a working Duel Disk as a conduit to use their powers, psychic duelists are limited to the number of cards that they can fit on said Duel Disks, so they can only have up to five Monsters and five Spell/Trap cards active at once.
  • When fighting Uru, Taylor quickly realizes that while Uru is immune to Spell and Trap effects, Roman is not, and uses this to force Roman to end his turn before he can even attack.
• Lovable Lizard Folk: Hine-Korako's true form is a titan-sized lizard lady who can turn into an iguana. She is also a Skybound Immortal whose domains are Water and Life, and her appearance remains attractive.
• Love at First Sight: The first time Dennis sees Taylor, after she passes her Turbo Exam and rejoins the group, he is completely smitten, with the narative sounding like a Crush Filter complete with Sexophone (one of Missy's alarms).
• Magically-Binding Contract: Played With. Duels are inherently magical in nature courtesy of Pegasus imbuing the Millennium's magic in the cards' creation. It results in Monsters Spirits being bound to the rules of the duel and forced to play accordingly to their card - even if, outside of a duel, they would be considerably stronger. It takes massive amounts of Heroic Willpower for them to break free, as Stardust demonstrated the first time Yusei and Jack fought, and considerably diminishes the amount of collateral damage they would cause through a "regular" fight. Part of why the Earthbound Immortals are so dangerous is that they're so powerful that they can't be fully restrained by a duel, and they will physically manifest at the minimum, leading to lost of physical damage.
• Major Injury Underreaction: Taylor barely showed any reaction when her attempt to hijack Earthbound Immortal Uru wound up blinding her.
• Making a Splash: As the Tide's Warden, Hine-Korako can control water, as she demonstrates with the Crimson Signers.
• Manchurian Agent: As it turns out, Hannah and the Wards had been affected by the Simurgh's Song without their knowledge in a ploy to kill the Signers. Luckily, Dinah catches on and they're able to remove the brainwashing.
• The Medic: Since her domains are Water and Life, Hine-korako is the best healers among the Skybound Immortals and watches over Taylor during her growth spurt.
• Mirror Character: Yusei and Taylor share many traits, especially in regard to their backstory. Both shared a sibling-like bond with someone of the same gender who happened to be better than they were (Jack/Emma) and ended turning on them due to outside influence (Goodwin/Sophia), to nearly-lethal effect (Yusei nearly drowned saving Rally, Taylor nearly died in the locker). Both are smart, superpowered brunettes and Signers, and care deeply for the other's physical/mental wellbeing.
• Misplaced Retribution: narrowly Averted. Greiger mistakenly believed Rex Goodwin was responsible for his village's destruction and joined the Fortune Cup to kill him. During his discussion with Yusei and Weaver, however, it comes to light that Goodwin couldn't have caused the event. Greiger's village was destroyed on the day of Zero Reverse and, at this time, Rex Goodwin was receiving the four Signer Dragon cards from Ryushi Fudo. Since he couldn't be in two places at once and Stardust Dragon vividly remembers that day, it means Rex Goodwin is innocent, and that someone else manipulated things so both events would happen at the same time.
• Mistaken for Romance: Jack starts to think Yusei and Weaver are dating after Mina points out they are much closer than Just Friends. Turns out he's wrong. They are Like Brother and Sister.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: After Goodwin hits her for arguing against his plan of rounding up criminals, Mina turns on him and plans to steal Sector Security's files, then wipe the databanks clean. Taylor, who heard about the round-ups and wanted to investigate, decides to assist her with Dragon.
• More than Mind Control: Sayer uses Trigger Phrase to control Akiza's mind, but a huge part of her loyalty comes from her gratitude toward him for giving her everything she wanted, at a time where she was the most vulnerable.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: the Queen Administrator's avatar in the Shardspace has over a billion arms and a billion eyes all over her body. She also renders Professor Frank pretty much brain-dead.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: The crux of the conflict among the Apes. Being the children and grandchildren of Cusillu, should they obey the Earthbound Immortal because, even corrupted, he remains their sire? Or should they turn against him either to try and purify him or outright destroy the demon Hanuman has become? Luna convinces Zeman and Devack to do the latter, which leads to their Heel–Face Turn.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Taylor uses an abandoned Kame Game Shop for her weaving projects.
  • There's some theories that, like Misty, Crow was supposed to become a Dark Signer, but he was liked enough that he was made Crimson Signer instead. Here, Wiraqocha Rasca makes him an offer to become their Dark Signer in exchange for sparing his wards and gaining the power to protect them, which he rejects thanks to his previous incarnation Eileen and the Crimson Dragon's interference, gaining the Tail in the process.
  • Taylor going blind and barely reacting after her duel with Uru is a deliberate reference to the incident with Scapegoat in canon.
• Named by the Adaptation: though they have first names in the Japanese anime, Akiza's parents have No Full Name Given in the dub. In the fic, however, they are called Henry and Selena Izinski. Similarly, Yusei's father's full name is given by Stardust Dragon as Ryushi Fudo while Devack's full name is Hanumandas Devack Namaruti Rham. Hanumandas serves as a honorific meaning "servant of Hanuman".
• Nature God: Hine-Korako, as the Tide's Warden is the goddess of both Water and Life, and outright says both are her domains. She uses her powers to restore Misty from her Undead state.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: after Beelze reunites with Archfiend, the later proceeds to beat the former to an inch of his life, including some Metronomic Man Mashing. Being connected to Beelze, Taylor feels some of his pain.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: When Roman realizes that Taylor can take control of Uru's spiders, he immediately decides that Weaver is the deadliest Crimson Signer. The only reason that he doesn't go after her first is that, besides being so plain as to be hard to track, Misty argues that taking out the isolated Akiza would be a better move. Later, even though it horribly backfires, Roman still targets Weaver first to get rid of them as fast as possible.
• Not in Kansas Anymore: Said word for word by Lisa after the Crimson Dragon extracts her and Dinah from Cauldron, both to save them, reward them for their assistance and so they can give Taylor the answers she needs.
• "Not So Different" Remark: When Beelze hears about Kalin's degradation, he notes that it's just like what happened to him in the past that led to him being sealed away.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: Just like Coil, Cauldron recruited Tattletale at gunpoint. She didn't like it anymore than the first time and decided to assist Dinah in screwing up Cauldron with the Crimson Dragon's help. Notably, though the Crimson Dragon made it possible, Dinah lying to Contessa was her idea.
• Official Couple: Jack and Carly cement their relationship after the fight against Sayer and Aslla piscu.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Faultline reacts thusly upon realizing the Fortune Ladies' power to get stronger every turn is akin to Lung getting stronger the longer a fight goes on. Her reaction is justified: Capes with that kind of trait are priority targets during fights - or, if possible, before they start.
  • The Dark Signers get two in close succession. The first is when they see the Queen Administrator in her full eldritch glory. The second is when Weavers starts trying to hijack Uru.
• One-Gender Race: Before they went extinct, centaurs were all male, with any female children they had being human like their mothers.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: One of the signs Dennis genuinely loves Taylor is that he drops his Class Clown and jokester antics to turn into an awkward teen around her. His fellow Wards all tease him about it - and, as proof of how bad he has it, Dennis doesn't snark back.
• Orphean Rescue: Though more thanks to the opportunity showing than any foreplan, Yusei and Taylor do seize the chance to bring back Ryushi Fudo with them when they escape the Underworld. Now, Yusei and Taylor got their father back.
• Outside-Context Problem: Weaver's abilities and origins make her this to both Goodwin and the Earthbound Immortals/Dark Signers. Even Uru the Spider is shocked when Weaver's allies on Earth Bet create a portal to said world in order to evacuate the Satellite residents, lampshading that it takes either being this or a complete moron to throw them off.
• Papa Wolf: Though it had unfortunate consequences, everything Honest did was to protect Luna. Danny, meanwhile, refused a deal with Chacu Challhua because it would end with him hurting Taylor, and later punched his way out of the Immortal when it threatened his daughter.
• Parental Abandonment: Magdelena kicked her son Elijah out of the house when he refused to break his bond with Sedna.
• Parents as People: Honest really meant well when he erased Luna's memories. After all, who wants their children to grow up burdened with being The Chosen One? Sadly, being ignorant of her Spiritual nature has resulted in Luna being frail and sick, and woefully unprepared to her duties as a Signer. Dreamsprite makes it clear she thinks Honest screwed up. Honest finds comfort in knowing Luna at least had a semblance of normalcy growing up.
• Person of Mass Destruction: The battle of Dun Scaith shows the Signer Dragons fight outside of Monster duels. As it turns, Dragon's threat rating is completely justified. Red Dragon Archfiend, Black Rose Dragon and Beelze are killing the apes in droves, Black-Winged Dragon's assaults leaves his oponents easy pickings for the Blackwings and even though Stardust Dragon performs a Heroic Sacrifice, he is back moments later and his demise enraged his people so much they have gone on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
• People Puppets: Rather than overwriting their mind to make them "evil", when Uru turns Trudge and Kazama into Shadow Drones, they are still conscious and forced to watch as the Earthbound Immortal manipulates their body like puppets, their moves even stilted and awkward Marionette Motion. Kazama describes it as a waking nightmare.
• Poke in the Third Eye: A rather "benign" example, but the Crimson Dragon and Their Signers are a blind spot to Contessa's Path to Victory. They aren't, however, immune to Tattletale and Dinah's powers... which makes it a good thing that both girls are working with the Crimson Dragon. Notably, the Crimson Dragon can actively interact with Dinah's power by letting her see a specific set of alternate futures.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner:
  • Jack gives one to Kalin.
  Jack: "There are several things you forgot, Kessler: Yusei is my foster brother, smaller in size and in age. If he cannot defend himself, it is my duty as his elder brother to protect him. Start running. When I catch up to you, you're dead."
  • Dinah later gives one to Chacu Challhua.
  Dinah: "Hey, big whale?" "Yes?" "You know, that Field Spell you need to stay with us..." "...Yes?" "It's actually mine." *plays a Spell that destroys it and a Trap, sealing Chacu Challhua*
• Precision F-Strike:
  • When Yusei learns what kind of place Earth Bet is, he outright calls it a shithole.
  • When Jack gets too nosy about his relationship with Weaver, Yusei tells him to put his nose where it belongs: "in Goodwin's ass!"
• Properly Paranoid: Dragon erased Weaver and White Star's files from her system as soon as they were printed, in case whoever had sent Taylor to Earth Yota would try to get them. Given Saint has access to her systems and is connected to Teacher, this isn't paranoia.
• Psychic Block Defense: When Taylor returns to Earth-Bet, the Crimson Dragon uses one of its powers to make a shield with the same radius as her swarm around her in order to keep her from being detected by Cauldron.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Weaver and Yusei are particularly incensed, on top of their existing dislike of him, when they learn that Sayer molests the sixteen year-old Akiza, who is incapable of refusing him because of his control over her mind. Yusei actually agrees with Weaver saying that he deserves brown recluse bites to the crotch.
• Redemption Earns Life: Being fully aware Misty is Trapped in Villainy and is otherwise a decent person, Crow duels Misty. Before and during the duel, Misty is nothing but kind and appreciative for the Crimson Signers, even praising Taylor's design for the group's armors. So, when Crow heartfully begs the Crimson Dragon to save her, the Crimson Dragon complies, empowering Black-Winged Dragon into Majestic Black Dragon and imbuing Crow with Their light, which allows him to cleanse Ccarayhua - and, through it, Misty herself.
• Redemption Equals Death: Devack, after Zeman convinces him, turns on Cusillu and allows Power Tool and Ancient Fairy Dragon to destroy the Earthbound Immortal. Since his energy was the only thing keeping him alive, he dies soon after, but it doesn't bother him much: dying is how he became a Dark Signer in the first place. He just hopes the Crimson Dragon will grant him a happier next life.
• Reformed Criminal: Following the conflict with the Dark Signers, Lisa was hired by Mina to work in a newly-reformed Sector Security. Lisa muses on how a former Undersider now works for the police.
• Reformed, but Not Tamed: Beelze is genuinely working as The Atoner, but he's still got a bit of a vicious streak towards those he feels deserve it. Case in point, after Taylor tells everyone about the bullying campaign at Winslow, he says that she should have used her powers to seek revenge on the Trio and Make It Look Like an Accident, taking advantage of the fact that she was considered "nerdy and gangly" to get away with it because she'd be considered so Beneath Notice that even with a motive, no one would ever suspect her.
• Religion is Magic: At least, where Hinduism is concerned. Cusillu is restored back to Hanuman through a seven-days-long ritual involving sealing the Earthbound Immortal in a mandala, then having hundreds of millions of people reciting mantras and throwing offerings in sacrificial pyres while seven priests wave lights around the mandala. The Crimson Dragon doesn't interfere once.
• Rescue Romance: Aisha and Chris (Impish and Kid Win) began dating after she rescued him from Manequin when the Slaughterhouse 9 attacked.
• Rhetorical Question Blunder: As a Call-Back to a similar scene during the Fortune Cup, Taylor asks Rex Goodwin if he was drunk when he came up with the idea to battle her outright. Goodwin matter-o-factly answers that yes, being literally dead-drunk is how he met Wiraqocha Rasca.
• Reincarnation: Besides Jack being the reincarnation of the Vileblood King, Crow happens to be the current self of Eileen the Crow. Black-Winged Dragon notes he had noticed the similarities of their soul after the old Huntress saves him from becoming the condor's Dark Signer.
• Related in the Adaptation:
  • In this universe Sly is Sayer's estranged son.
  • Thanks to being half-Spirit in this universe, Luna is the daughter of the Monster Spirit Honest.
  • Jaden is a Half-Spirit who chose to become fully human, and his Monster Spirit Parent is Kuriboh. The same way, Aster's Spirit Parent is Destiny HERO Plasma.
• Relative Button:
  • After the fall of Brockton Bay, Cauldron got their hands on Dinah. Triumph, her cousin, refused to let her go and was shot by Contessa. Dinah is making Cauldron pay by lying about her predictions, with help from the Crimson Dragon.
  • Hearing that Lazar and Chacu Challhua wanted to kill Taylor caused Danny Hebert, soul having already been consumed for not contracting with the Earthbound Immortal, to literally tear his way out of the whale's stomach.
• Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Before they were corrupted into the Earthbound Immortals, the Skybound Immortals were called Anansi (Uru), Ouranos (Ccapac Apu), Sedna (Chacu Challhua), Hanuman (Cusillu), Huitzilopochtli (Aslla piscu), Hine-korako (Ccarayhua) and Achiyalaopa (Wiraqocha Rasca).
• Right Through the Wall: Yusei tells Taylor that after he and Kalin hooked up, they had to find a whole other building to not keep Jack and Crow up all night.
• Roaring Rampage of Rescue:
  • Taylor's original plan was to sneak Yusei out of the Facility. After Armstrong brutalizes him to get Weaver's identity, Taylor decides to drop the kids' gloves and tears the Facility apart with bugs and Monster Spirits.
  • Kohaku, Jack's medieval Japanese self, went on one to rescue his son after he was made a Child Soldier. It turned into a Roaring Rampage of Revenge after he was too late.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The Slaughterhouse Nine killed Trickster. Echidna made sure that the whole gang was wiped out in response.
• Sadistic Choice: A Half-Spirit choosing to be either fully human or fully Spirit is not an easy one, and whichever they choose it's painful, Aster Phoenix and Jaden Yuki both choosing the former and suffering because of it, the latter to the point of pretty much abandoning Dueling altogether.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After they see Weaver's attempt at taking control of Uru and its subsequent purification by the Crimson Dragon, the Dark Signers don't say anything. They just run.
• Sealed Evil in a Six Pack: When the Crimson Devil was defeated, it was sealed away and split into seven pieces, each one contained within a different Skybound Immortal, the intent being to make it so that it was impossible to free the Devil without all seven working together. Unfortunately, the Devil was able to corrupt them into the Earthbound Immortals as a result, and the seal has weakened to the point that unleashing it no longer requires all of them.
• Secret-Keeper: After her assault on the Facility, Taylor decides to entrust Yusei with her true nature as an Earth Bet parahuman. Yusei not only chooses to believe her but also manages to contact Dragon through PHO.
• Shout-Out: Earth Bet Minneapolis has The Riddler, Black Cat, and The Techno Queen as its recurring villains. Miss Militia thinks it's paradise compared to the villains in Brockton Bay.
• Sins of Our Fathers: The reason Chacu Challhua chose Elijah as its Signer is because he is Lazar's son, so he is going to do what his father couldn't and defeat the Crimson Signers, whether he likes it or not. And Elijah very much doesn't want to.
• Shout-Out: In Inuit legends, Sedna is depicted as missing both hands after they were chopped to make her fall in the sea. Skybound Immortal Sedna, Chacu Challhua's uncorrupted form, is missing her hands in human form.
• Sleep-Mode Size: Since his true form is the size of a skyscrapper, Huitzilopochtli transforms into a little Mexican violetear when he doesn't have to fight. Anansi and Hine-Korako similarly stay as a small spider and an ignana most of times.
• Sole Survivor: Word of God says Laserdream is the sole surviving member of New Wave. Her father and brother were killed by Leviathan, her uncle and aunt were killed by Bonesaw when she tried to recruit Panacea, who turned Glory Girl into a wretch and opted for the Birdcage afterward. Finally, her mother died fighting the Slaughterhouse Nine. She is currently in New York and has become Legend's protégé.
• Something We Forgot: Once they discover the true purpose of Satellite, Taylor, Yusei, and the other Signers and their allies are so busy planning the evacuation that they forgot to tell Grieger what was going on. If Weaver hadn't given his monsters the power to manifest, he'd still be in Neo Domino, though given the situation he's understanding.
• So What Do We Do Now?: Taylor points this is what did the Enforcers in. Originally, the four set out to conquer Satellite and break down the Duel Gangs. They did... and found themselves without a purpose. They were unable to find one, and their leader's growing thirst for battles led to the group eventually falling apart, something Beelze points is exactly what happened to him. Yusei is worried that Taylor knows the workings of gangs well-enough to figure it out, even though she never joined one.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Thanks to Weaver awakening her monster spirits and using Akiza's counter-Trigger Phrase at Neo Arcadia, Carly is able to escape from Sayer and Misty without dying and being reborn as a Dark Signer.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Taylor and Carly both pull it on Yusei after his victory against Tanner, vanishing among the crowd the moment he takes his eyes off them. One of the locals tell him this is one of the reasons they compare Taylor to a stick-bug.
• Stock Gods: Anansi calls himself the God of Knowledge, History and Lore when introducing himself. His epithet is the Tale-Spinner. Meanwhile Huitzilopochtli and Hanuman are War God while Hine-korako presides over Water, the Ocean and Life.
• Summon Magic: The appropriately-named Knight Summoners are a knightly order who found some of the Millenium's secrets during the Crusades and learned to summon their ka Monster. After the Crusades, some fled the Church's persecutions to Japan, where one of them found Nikko and took him in. As a Knight Summoner, Nikko could summon his own ka Monster, Golden Dragon of the Sun, and retained the ability in each of his subsequent incarnations.
• Take a Third Option: At some point, a half-Spirit child will have to choose between becoming fully human or fully Spirit. Luna, who enjoys the Spirit World but is unwilling to leave Leo behind, decides to remain human and Spirit anyway. The Crimson Dragon approves, forcing Power Tool and Ancient Fairy Dragon to accept her choice while Honest is relieved his daughter won't have to give up a part of herself.
• Take This Job and Shove It: As Mina explains, she demolishing Sector Security's servers with a virus after Dragon recovered the data she wanted is her telling Goodwin she's done with him.
• Taking You with Me: Even though he lost their duel, Lazar still has the last laugh when he detonates the bridge he and Yusei were dueling on, causing both of them - and Taylor, who jumped after Yusei - to plunge in the chasm and land in the Underworld. Unfortunately for him, they found their way out.
• Talking the Monster to Death: How Luna gets Zeman to turn on Cusillu. When she realizes how loyal he is to his father, she convinces him to "save him from himself" if Zeman believes Cusillu is still Hanuman inside, or destroy Cusillu if he believes the two are separate entities. Zeman, understanding her logic, laughes for underestimating her and performs a Heel–Face Turn, bringing Devack along.
• Team Mom: Miss Militia pretty much becomes this when she becomes Vista, Kid Win, and Clockbuster's legal guardian in the aftermath of the destruction of Brockton Bay.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Armsmaster and Tattletale still don't get along, especially after Leviathan. Nonetheless, Defiant allows Lisa and Dinah to tag along against the Dark Signers, especially after Lisa tells Taylor all she needs to know about Cauldron.
• Tempting Fate: when facing Weaver, Akiza confidently declares she can take her on. Unfortunately, the ensuring duel does not go her way.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: While it is specifically noted that, according to the laws of physics, the Blades of Mercy shouldn't be able to stab Ccarayhua, divine intervention makes it work anyway.
• Tranquil Fury:
  • During their Roaring Rampage of Rescue, Weaver keeps her swarm on a tight leash. No one is killed in spite of their anger, although Security as a whole was left with a massive dose of entemophobia.
  • During their entire duel, Yusei is absolutely furious against Jack but remains focused and even-voiced, even while summoning monsters like Junk Berserker and Stardust Dragon. Jack finds it terrifying, and Roman notes it is a trait he shares with his father.
  • Jack is positively livid after Kalin attempts to molest Yusei and proceeds to mercilessly, ruthlessly hound the Dark Signer, boxing him in a corner and eventually killing him by making his own Earthbound Immortal's effect backfire. All the while staying unusually calm.
  • Yusei isn't terribly phased learning that Chacu Challhua wants him dead. Learning that it plans to kill his foster brothers, and especially Taylor, manages to set him off.
  Everyone instantly backed up. They had every reason to. Yusei had suddenly gone stock still, his body standing ramrod straight as his face paled and his gaze focused on the jester. His eyes narrowed. His fingers twitched. His voice came as a whisper.
  "What did you just say?"
• Trapped in Villainy: Even though her grudge is against Sayer, not the Crimson Signers, Misty still made a deal with Ccarayhua that ended with her brother's killer dead. So, like it or not, she must uphold her own end of the deal and duel the Crimson Signers, or be possessed by Ccarayhua to do it anyway.
• Trigger Phrase, as is canon, Sayer uses them to control Akiza's mind. Unlike canon, Violet Witch came up with counter-phrases meant to negate them, with one in particular capable of erasing them all. She gives them to Weaver and Yusei.
• True Companions: Taylor and Yusei are fiercely loyal to each other. Taylor follows Yusei to Neo Domino in order to protect him and, when Sector Security surrounds Kaiba Dome and Yusei is stuck dueling Jack, he gives her Stardust Dragon and yells at her to escape. Taylor complies but eventually storms the Facility to break him out.
• Two Lines, No Waiting: Leo and Luna against Devack is divided into two narrative threads. The first is Leo fighting the Dark Signer while waiting for Luna to return. The second is Luna's quest to free Ancient Fairy Dragon in the Spirit World.
• Underestimating Badassery:
  • Mina actually manages to uncover Dragon's alterations to the hospital security footage and track down Jack after Carly and Taylor bust him out. Both Jack and Taylor are impressed, with Jack even reevaluating his mental assessment of her as a doormat.
  • Leo stands in for his Signer sister Luna against Devack, as she's in the Spirit world to free her Signer Dragon at the time. The Dark Signer, not viewing him as worth his time, sends Dvoran the Voltic Kong to duel him in his stead. Dvoran gets a good hit or two in, but Leo absolutely destroys him, much to the shock of everyone watching.
• Villain Forgot to Level Grind: After spending the past few millennia in the Nazca Lines, Uru is considerably weaker than they once were. It allows Weaver and Yusei to effortlessly defeat their Shadow Drones during their tag duel. Beelze even wonders if the Spider wouldn't be more challenging if they decided to fight in person.
• War God: Skybound Immortal Huitzilopochtli, the true identity of Aslla piscu. His epithet is outright The Feathered War-God and he looks like a massive hummingbird in plate armor, with an obsidian beak and blades for quill feathers.
• We Need a Distraction:
  • When Security goes looking for Weaver and Yusei after his final duel with Jack, Weaver - now back as Taylor - distracts them by acting as a high school flutist and playing a gig for them while the group sneaks by. She ends up with a cupful of coins.
  • Luna, Honest, Regulus and Dreamsprite need an opening to infiltrate Dun Scaith, where Ancient Fairy Dragon is being kept. Honest's answer ? Have the Pojar and Naturia Forests engage the Ape Army while they sneak in. When King Truesdale is reluctant to send his people to what basically amounts to a suicide mission, Honest decides to cash in a favor from Elemental HERO Neos and ask for his assistance. Neos, in turn, suggest the Signer Dragons and their own people join the assault. The allied force is sufficent to devastate the Ape Army.
• Wham Line: Courtesy of Dragon. Remember who lives there...
  Theresa (Dragon): The Simurgh attacked Minneapolis.
• Woman Scorned: Sayer hurt both Misty and Akiza for different reasons. Crimson and Dark Signers decide to make him an Enemy Mine and tag-team him at the Hummingbird Tower. This results in one terminally dead Sayer.
• Would Not Shoot a Civilian: Weaver has this as part of their code. Anyone who would knowingly violate it gets a very pissed off Signer going after them.
• You and What Army?: Taylor's ability to grant physical manifestation to Monster Spirits usually results in this, notably with Yusei, Crow and her own deck. Think they are alone? All three can bring a whole army of supernatural entities in the blink of an eye.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Dragon compares the Clash at Arcadia to an Earth Bet Cape fight. Knowing what Earth Bet is like, Yusei doesn't like it the slightest.
• Your Normal Is Our Taboo: In Earth Yota, Sector Security has no problem abusing Yusei to uncover Weaver's identity. In Earth Bet, as Dragon informs the pair, the very first Unwritten Rule forbids from unmasking a Cape, while the following one warns against targeting a Cape's relatives. Sector Security's actions broke both rules. As far as Dragon is concerned, Taylor assaulting the Facility is completely justified.
• Your Soul Is Mine!: Cusillu has the nasty habit of devouring the souls of his victims, be they his own people or his enemies. But he didn't take the souls of Devack's fellow worshippers after they were murdered, out of respect for his new servant.

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