Yu-Gi-Oh! Forever

''Yu-Gi-Oh! Forever is a Continuation Next Gen Fic created by troper Justice Reaper on Fanfiction.net, posted under his username there, Neon Majestic (and written when his username at the time was neomage''). It is set over a decade after the end of the first Yu-Gi-Oh! series, and also treats Yu-Gi-Oh! GX as canon (albeit with some minor changes in the time-line).

The story chronicles the adventures of Yugo, the son of legendary duelist Yugi Muto, following his first meeting with Seta, son of business mogul Seto Kaiba. The Kaibas have just returned to Domino City after several years of being absent from there, and Seta is assigned to Yugo's school. The two quickly develop a rivalry for their shared passion, the famous Duel Monsters card game, and also discover that they're really Not So Different.

From there, the two engage in several tournaments and other adventures alongside three of their schoolmates, meeting famous duelists from around the world and forging new relationships and rivalries in the process. Along the way, however, they are bound to discover that their pasts are intertwined and about to catch up with both of them...

Forever is notable on the site for being 321 chapters in length and having (as of this update) 1,498 reviews and still counting. It is also known for having Loads and Loads of Characters and several Continuity Nod moments, and for adhering to the rules of the real-world Yu-Gi-Oh Card Game as opposed to the card game rules in the anime.

It can be found here.

A sequel story titled ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Eternal'' was also created, but has since been discontinued. That story can be found here.

"Master Orion's butler: Just doing my job. (shoots a security guard)"
 * Aborted Arc: Eternal wound up being this.
 * Absurdly High Stakes Game: Most prominently during the JUDAS arc.
 * Action Girl: Most of the females in the cast qualify.
 * Adults Are Useless: The parents don't really do much beyond standing on the sidelines and providing running commentary on the duels. Except for Kaiba and Pegasus, who are both very protective of their kids.
 * Air Vent Passageway: Used by the protagonists during the last part of the Dueltropolis arc, to sneak on board the ARK.
 * Alternate History: The story takes place under the assumption that the Time Skip between the original Yu-Gi-Oh! and Yu-Gi-Oh! GX is between three to five years (the canon time-space is approximately 10 years).
 * Amusement Park of Doom: Dueltropolis becomes this when the Zodiacs get involved.
 * And the Adventure Continues...
 * Artifact of Doom: The Millennium Items. The Shadow Charm Items would have turned out to be this as well, if Eternal had continued.
 * Awesomeness By Analysis: All over the place, but it's prominently displayed in Eternal by Jaden Yuki and Aster Phoenix against their respective sons. In each case, it's justified by both men being former pro-league duelists and having extensive knowledge of their sons' decks (the Elemental Heroes in Jaden/Janus' case and the Destiny Heroes for Aster/Drake).
 * Battle Aura: The Duel Force, during the JUDAS arc.
 * Battle Butler: Master Orion's butler..
 * Big Bad Ensemble: In order of the arcs in Forever:
 * Kaibacorp Challenge Cup: Marcus Ironside, though he's not so much a Big Bad as he is a Jerkass. He experiences Defeat Means Friendship and pulls a sorta-Heel Face Turn, eventually settling on being a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
 * Pre-Intercontinental: Raven and Honey Pegasus, although Raven's really just a Jerkass Rival to Seta while Honey's The Resenter to Yugo. Both get Defeat Means Friendship.
 * Intercontinental Tournament: Malachi Jordan, the first real Big Bad. Again, Defeat Means Friendship is applied, though its effect doesn't come into play till the JUDAS arc.
 * Pre-JUDAS: No Big Bad..
 * JUDAS: Keisuke Odachi.
 * Adventure Monsters: The Five-Headed Dragon in the eponymous game, known in the story by its original Japanese name, Five God Dragon.
 * Dueltropolis: Master Orion.
 * Big No: Played for comedy when Tea nabs the last piece of cheesecake that Tristan and Joey are fighting over; this is their response.
 * Used in a more serious situation by.
 * Bloodless Carnage: Both played straight and subverted.
 * Body Horror: In the Dueltropolis arc, the Big Bad peels back the skin from his face.
 * Book Ends: The story begins with a duel that's just ending, and ends with a duel that's just about to start.
 * Bottomless Magazines: For the most part, duelists’ decks never seem to run out of cards. The trope is deep-sixed in one case, however:.
 * Calling Your Attacks
 * The Cameo: A number of the old-series characters who weren’t regulars, among them Weevil Underwood, Keith Howard and Mako Tsunami.
 * Card Games: You think?
 * Carnival of Killers: JUDAS and the Zodiacs.
 * Character Development: Several characters get it at one point or another. The most notable ones are Yugo, Seta, Miki, Marcus, and Malachi.
 * Chekhov's Gun: Miki's three most precious cards, given to her by her parents and Duke Devlin--Orgoth the Relentless, Kunai with Chain, and Disc Fighter--are mentioned early in the story when the True Companions help her to structure a deck archetype. All three of those cards later get used to full prominent effect during her duel against Yugo in the Dueltropolis quarter-finals..
 * A Day in the Limelight: Seta and Miki have each had at least one of the shorter arcs dedicated to their individual exploits. Raven, Honey, Luke, and David have had their chance to shine, as well.
 * Expy: Several of the originally-created characters in this series have physical descriptions that are shout-outs to characters from the canon series or even from other series altogether. Quick examples include Janus Yuki, the son of Jaden Yuki, having his father's hairstyle but being blond, while Raven Pegasus is basically a black-haired Knives.
 * Fix Fic: Word of God acknowledges that Eternal was geared to be this. Specifically, it would have given more concrete powers to the Shadow Charm Items, as well as a proper creation origin for them where they'd have been created in a ritual similar to the Millennium Items (whereas in GX canon, their powers are vague at best). Also, the case of the missing students at the Abandoned Dorm, which was never resolved in canon, would have been fully resolved here.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters
 * Meaningful Name / Punny Name: Blaze Redman, Wade Ocean, Flora Green, Marcus Ironside. Guess what kind of deck strategies they use.
 * Not Just a Tournament: Dueltropolis proves to be this for both the protagonists and antagonists. The Zodiacs use it as a means to Take Over the World; meanwhile, the Duel Monsters World Tournament Committee utilizes the tournament as a way of stopping the Zodiacs.
 * Drake Phoenix's tournament in Eternal, the Phoenix Herald Crown, is this as well. Besides Drake hosting it to feed his own ego and scout out potential powerful recruits for his House of Cards, it also serves as a means of settling a years-long grudge between himself and Janus.
 * Oh Crap: A frequent reaction from both heroes and villains alike whenever (A) a carefully constructed plan is defeated or (B) an exceptionally powerful monster is summoned.
 * Story Arc: Seven in all--the Kaibacorp Challenge Cup, the Kaiba-Pegasus feud, the Intercontinental tournament, the acquisition of GINA, the JUDAS battle, the Adventure Monsters game, and the Dueltropolis tournament. Throughout the series, there's an underlying Myth Arc that ties several plot threads together and leads right back to several years prior to the start of the main story.
 * Theme Deck: Every. Single. Duelist. No exception.
 * Theme Naming: Goes hand-in-hand with the above trope, especially during Eternal.
 * There Are No Therapists: Apparently so, otherwise the entire JUDAS Arc would never have happened in the first place.
 * Time Skip: In Forever, twelve years pass between Chapters 1 and 2. There’s also a time-skip between Forever and Eternal, although this one only spans nine days at the longest.
 * Tomato Surprise (SPOILER WARNING): has been masterminding nearly all of the villainous activities in the story from as far back as prior to the canon Yu-Gi-Oh! series, making him this story’s ultimate Big Bad. Among the things he’s masterminded: He had a warship, a computer virus,  and  created by his conglomerate under the quiet, formed an underground terrorist organization, and acted briefly as a leader to the JUDAS arc’s Big Bad before he struck out on his own; hence,  is an indirect influence on the events of the JUDAS arc and everything leading up to it, and a direct influence on the events of the Dueltropolis arc and everything that led up to that.
 * Took a Level In Badass: Every character that is a duelist does this with every new arc.
 * Tournament Arc: The Kaiba Corp Challenge Cup, the Intercontinental Arc, and Dueltropolis.
 * True Companions: It's actually a plot point.
 * The Un-Reveal: It’s never fully explained how the Duel Monster holograms, despite being holograms that shouldn’t put lives in danger, are capable of drawing blood or otherwise interacting with one’s physical surroundings. Several theories have been suggested in-universe, but none have been confirmed.
 * Villains Out Shopping: In the midst of sowing chaos and discord, Lassiter and Jan find time to go eat at a fast-food restaurant, in civilian clothing. Zander is an epicure too.
 * Weapon of Mass Destruction: The ARK.
 * Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him: Joey suggests throwing Zander overboard from the Dueltropolis liner and thus letting Seta win their upcoming duel by default. Given what the cast has seen Zander do up to that point, it’s not an entirely implausible suggestion. So how does Yugi respond? With Honor Before Reason.
 * Worthy Opponent: Several of Yugo's rivals consider him this.
 * Would Not Shoot a Civilian: Brutally subverted by the Zodiacs.


 * Writer on Board
 * You Should Know This Already: A LOT of stuff that gets mentioned in this series is stuff that fans who’ve watched the older series would know about by now.