(applauds)

I am proud of you. You are taking this seriously, accepting your own limitations and working hard to rework the story to get around them. You will be able to complete this now, if you work hard at it, don't let yourself get distracted, and don't give up (not to mention the fact that we now have a bet riding on the completion of this story). You will do this story justice, and you will make yourself proud in the process.

Now let's go play with the Lego.

Okay, I'll give it to everyone straight. Cathy showing up wasn't really a surprise to me because Craig told me about her a while ago.

Anyway, this chapter seemed mostly exhibition, although I did like how Hebi-Na and Tsubasa are being portrayed. (Yeah, "just for show", just like the ones every attractive non-mammal female in fiction has. It doesn't make sense, but then, fantasy rarely does.) Skeleton Knight... He made Truman retreat in all of five minutes? Okay, this guy is bad news.

And of course, the rather large part with the Library staff was a treat.

Anyway, this story is getting much better. I see less of the errors I used to, and far more attention to detail than ever. I just hope you can put all the different parts of the plot (and there are many) together soon.

Zombie apocalypse next chapter? Sure, why not? (Just try to avoid any of the stuff that doesn't make sense, like the assumption that a gun works on a zombie if you aim for the head and destroy the brain. Zombies are walking corpses; a gun isn't going to work no matter WHERE you shoot it.)

Until next time...

*Sniffle* WAAAAHHH! I-I'm sorry, but it's a little gut wrenching seeing Devi and Achan's back and forth considering what happened in Backwater Encount-OW! *Gets a brick chucked at my head by Scarlet Weather* Okay okay I won't spoil anything. ANYWAY, while this newest chapter played out more like a side story then a direct continuation of the current plot aside from the cliffhanger and one or two scenes sprinkled throughout, that failed to take away any of it's enjoyment and was well worth the wait. We not only see the debut of Lysander, who already has the emotional gravity of another major player, but the single weirdest yet inexplicably appropriate twisting of the show's canon to fit this universe I've ever seen.

While it makes an astounding amount of sense that Cathy would be related to Adrian, I would have NEVER considered it in a million years myself, and unlike some of the more suspension of disbelief straining explanations as to why the Shadowchasers did or did not intervene during a major event (the Orichalcos incident being the most glaring to this day I my opinion) Cathy's origins are just vague enough for her to be snugly re-written into Adrian's oddball family. Also if that was the same Doctor I think you meant, all I can say is YOU DAMN WELL BETTER DO A CROSSOVER BUSTER! *Shakes you back and forth by the lapels before I notice everyone staring, grins sheepishly and dusts you off* Ah-heh, sorry, fangirls might be formidable but you shouldn't underestimate fanboys either.

The duel was short but sweet, I've seen enough Psychic decks that Phoenixia's strategy was more efficient then dynamic, but it's nothing to scoff at to summon two HPB's in the same turn, all that was missing was Trap Booster and Assault Mode Activate along with maybe someone FINALLY using Ultimate Axon Kicker instead of letting that beautiful beast gather dust. Lysander's deck was much more unusual in both it's style of self destruct/Burn and the multiple attributes he ran. It was especially interesting because I haven't seen any of the GX episodes in so long, I had completely forgotten Genghis Ghan actually HAD an effect, let alone one so powerful. All I can say is, if this guy gets ahold of Supply Unit anybody who duels him is SCREWED.

Tsubasa's scene with Hebi Na was...was...ahem *dabs at my nose as I start to develop a nosebleed* V-very provocative to be sure, n-not that the allusions to Tsubasa's heart condition wasn't significant b-but I seem to have had a hard time focusing so much on that as, well...everything else *blushes fiercely* MOVING ON NOW!

The twist of having the Skeleton Knight revive fallen Shadowchasers was a bold move, one we haven't seen since Lux Nero's story 'Risen Nemesis' and unfortunately, I get the feeling these guys won't be as benign as Siegfried was. I cannot wait for your next update, but all the same don't let haste squander the quality of your work, this is a tale worth getting right the first time.

(pokes) What is the point of having me as your beta, if you don't send me the chapters to proof read BEFORE you post them? Bad boyfriend.

I always enjoy reading the Library (and thank you very much for including my suggestions). Good job with Lysander - I know you were worried about characterising him, but in my opinion he comes off as mysterious rather than boring, so don't worry about that. Achan I adore as always, but I'm wondering what kind of character arc will be in play here. I'm also curious as to how this chapter fits into the overall plot of Knightfall. Be careful not to send this branch too far from the tree.

You do good work love - even if the work does have typos.

Interesting. Very interesting. I kinda expected Lyrius' story to overlap with the events of Backwater but making it a standalone story might probably be the better idea.

My biggest question though is if the Melissa in the trailer is the Shadow Spawn one or a different Melissa altogether. If it's all right with you, can I ask which one it is?

As for the delays in Knightfall. Don't worry about it. As much as I'm dying to know what happens next, I understand that real life matters are more important. Good luck with what you need to do and see you around next time.

Why aren't the descriptions of Magical Blueprint and Stitches original card present? I know he's dead now, but what if someone wanted to use him and their fic predates the events of knightfall? You established he's challenged by a fair share of rookies enough that Tsubasa know's his original effect. Please do not over look these details.

I'm running out of things to say that I don't already tell you after reading. Though as your beta, I feel it necessary to remind you again that you have GOT to learn the difference between using a hyphen to double-barrel words, and a hyphen that is used to interject a sentence with a point - if you look closely at my self demonstrating article here, you will see that one has spaces around it, and the other does not. I hate to nag, but I am your beta for a reason, and I'm starting to think that telling you this in public might be the best way to drill it into your head.

Kenshin is adorable, but I'm actually keen to see more of Gurren in the future - all of the Shadowchasers seem slated to get some kind of character development in this story, which is good, but Gurren seems to be one of the most well rounded characters in the group (certainly out of the men at least). I can see the paths for people like Kenshin, Tsubasa and Tsuki quite easily, but Gurren is such a well balanced character already that I'm curious as to what you can do to make him more so. But even if you do have something planned, I already know you're not going to tell me, because you're obnoxious like that.

Can't wait for more!

Honestly, I really like this chapter, most notably for addressing Kenshin's powers and relative strength, at least compared to someone like Gurren. The ability to copy any power from popular media characters seemed a bit overpowered and, dare I say, Sue-ish, at first, or at least in the context of the Yugioh/Shadowchasers universe, not helped by the fact that she had such a close relationship with Yugi and Pegasus (that usually raises a flag or two in my book). I like that we see that there are in fact limits born from both the powers themselves and the individual using them, allowing great character growth. Though I'd advise you tread lightly concerning what was in that golden box, because if what's in there is what I think is in there, well, let's just say I have confidence in your character writing and hope you can work around a few literary land mines.

The Dark Magician archetype growth is appreciated, though I'd like to see a few more traditional support cards to even out the superpowered nature of your additions. One problem I must address though is the lack of hesitation in Rayearth's gutting the Solex clone upon her arrival. It's already been established that hurting Solex has negative repercussions on his kingdom and that's why the Shadowchasers grant him diplomatic immunity, so why is Rayearth so quick to disregard this and try to turn him into plant food, especially after calling out Fayte on breaking the treaty to save Kastle? I get that she probably knew it wasn't the real Solex and the bloodlust rush threw her into the fight, but it's still jarring to the reader when they first see this happen and then are told it's just a body double. A little clarity for the audience is well appreciated.

Another is the bastardization of Solex this early in the game. As stated before, his fisher king health ties to his kingdom grant him immunity from the law, so I found his arrogant jerkass persona well fitting and appropriate. But to go for the certifiably insane motif this soon? Here's a question: if his state of being and health affect his kingdom, why wouldn't his sanity slipping affect the state of his kingdom and deteriorate it into a city of mad nightmares or something? And if it did, why would Jalal allow such a hell on earth (no offense to Tsuki or possibly Tsubasa, what with his absurdly mixed mess of a gene pool) to exist under the tirade of a mad king in the first place? I just feel that we may have jumped the gun to soon and missed a great opportunity. Solex could have secretly been trying to hinder the Backwater team's efforts in stopping the dark cards via his social connections and apparent reserve of clones, hiring duel mercenaries and constructing incredible decks to use the dark cards he would collect against the heroes. And as the defeats piled on and the dark cards' influence through his use of them grew stronger, his sanity could slip further and further away. Right now, all I'm seeing is a Joker ripoff with Lex Luthor's status and resources, and I just don't seeing them being used well. But I digress.

Final statements: Good character development, nice that we're addressing Kastleneid's background and potential, but recommend reshaping Solex a bit character wise and explain a bit more in the future. Thank you and good night.

Aww, a whole duel focusing on a villain named Monarch and not a single Venture Brothers joke? Ah well you can't have everything in life, so I guess I'll just have to settle for another damn good chapter. It's hard to say whether this counted as filler or part of a plot arc to be honest, as a lot of the chapter seemed to, again, focus more on how everyone on the Backwater Team interacts and the fallout of Kastleneid's conversion to a vampire.

The discussion between Maria, Rayearth and Tsuki over said topic was very interesting as I'd never really considered how outside the traditional views of magic the process can actually be viewed, most of the time vampires and how they make more of themselves is usually hand-waved as a be all end all method in itself, but a lot of how Rayearth and Tsuki viewed it makes sense, so kudos on that.

Kenshin's scene gets points just for the potential giving her a new deck has considering how powerful the Adventurers were in action, hell I was honestly surprised you were 'retiring' the set this quickly as we've only seen them used twice, once against Gozoboro and then against Jimmy the Lock. Between that and the mystery of how close she seems to have been to Yugi, along with her usual level of genki girl antics, any scene that focuses on Kenshin usually ends up one of my favorites for the chapter.

In fact the only thing that really threw me was how quickly we suddenly switched gears to the lead-up to Rayearth's duel with Monarch. It's never really explained why she suddenly decided to leave for the forest, was she going on patrol as per her usual routine? Or was Monarch giving off an aura unique enough for an Incantifier or whatever methods the Backwater Team have to monitor potential threats to notice? It's a small nitpick, but it did take me a little while after that to get back into the ebb and flow of what was going on.

Monarch was an interesting One-Shot, in fact he reminded me strongly of the monsters from the movie 'Mimic', one of my personal favorites in which a species of cockroach mutated to the point they could disguise themselves (albeit in very poor light and from a distance) as human enough to ambush their prey. The idea of such a creature constantly evolving into a more dangerous form (and even using the Fair Fight Clause to buy time to power up further) was a very cool idea, and I think the possibility for a race of Insect Shadows with a similar nature is worth exploring.

In regards to the duel, this was the first time since TTT that we got to see Rayearth duel, one of the reasons I've been on pins and needles for an update, and this was well worth the wait. It's interesting to see that so far, her deck seems to be almost a dark reflection of Yugi's original deck with an overall Spellcaster theme for splash able support.

Master Summoning Scroll and Apprentice's Familiar were extremely novel in how they enable Rayearth to summon the more exotic monsters at her disposal without requiring cards that are otherwise either extremely rare, or one of a kind, and the resulting Fusions using them and the Magician cards really are fantastic in both design and effects. After a while you can start to tell if a writer had fun designing a card and I can tell quite clearly you loved every second of designing Rayearth's deck.

I also felt a similar sense of pride in how much work you put into Monarch's deck, which takes Insect Queen (A monster who would have been far less of a case of Awesome but Impractical were her ability a more direct adaptation from the Manga, as originally she gained 400 attack per Insect instead of 200 and required no Tribute to attack) and makes her the centerpiece of a brutal Swarm strategy with impressive synergy between Monarch's Empress and Hive cards. I'd love to see the Hive cards show up again somewhere, or even combined with Lux Nero's Bee cards in Risen Nemesis for the ultimate Insect Royalty deck!

Ahem, but yes, my gushing aside this was an awesome chapter, though I was surprised to see Lunala played a less direct role as antagonist and seems to in fact be opposite of the ruthless scheming manipulator type I envisioned a sibling of Solex being. The final teaser dialogue at the end was enough to raise an eyebrow, and as usual all I can say is, well, the next update can't come soon enough LOL Great job my friend, great job indeed.

Glad to see this back.

Have I ever told you how much I love the fun facts you have? Really gives more life to the fic and lets us know more about your characters. Since you mentioned you have a tracklist, can I ask what are the themes you've picked for your characters? I could always use some new tunes XD

As for the chapter itself, I have to say Tsubasa and Rave make a perfect Red Oni Blue Oni duo. One of these days, I would like to see them have a full duel with one another or a tag team, just to see how their dueling styles would clash.

Not too mention Kenshin continues to be adorable as always. Wonder what that card Yugi gave her was and if it will have any relevance in the future.

And of course, Rayearth being scaringly awesome as always.

If there is one thing I'm a bit disappointed in is that Solex is STILL around. Hopefully that means his just desserts will be extremely satisfying.

Looking forward to the next chapter with Achan. Wonder what she has to do with the main story.

first of all, I'd like to point out that while there is no "Insect Dragon" in the game, I would say a card called Brain Crusher comes kind of close.

Now then, my thoughts on the chapter. The interactions between the backwater team... honestly, it reminds me of a cross between "Gen13" and "Friends". This group couldn't be more mismatched, (Not that its a bad thing.

Now, the antagonists. Monarch was... Well, the term "ham" seems inappropriate. More like "ham and cheese", But given its nature, no surprise.

Lunala clearly has for more common sense than her clearly insane brother has, who is becoming more unlikeable than before. (I mean, seriously, when Placido stole Lucciano's cards, even HE was called out on that by his partners. It seems everything Solex does is to emphasize that he is scum.)

The Dark Magician specific Xyzs are a great find!

I waited a long time for this chapter, and it was worth it. Rayearth is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters, and I hope to see her role expanded.

Of course, I also hope to see the plot come to some sort of head soon, but I know it's likely going to take a while.

Honestly, Kaiba has no luck with crazy computers... Lol, just kidding.

Anyway, obviously, after a rather... dark chapter last time you wanted this one to have a lighter tone, and you succeeded, while keeping the general "deconstruction" tone of the fic we've seen so far. Sure, the whole "computer generates a pseudo-living guardian" thing has been done to death, but they usually tend to be either nasty types, or cold, emotionless types.

This one? Well, whatever reason the computer had for basing him on this, I have no idea, but the portrayal was pretty accurate. (I only wish we could have seen a few more of Jonouchi's cards, maybe Gearfried, Little-Winguard... Ah, the memories.)

I'll make one small comment on Kastleneid for now - seeing as she plans to play more of a role in Skarlet's story. This may be one of the few cases where becoming a vampire actually results in a heartwarming experience, and it's actually being done rather well.

Oh, and a succubus could more be described as the "incarnation of lust" more. (They specialize in temptation, and while that does indeed usually require physical pleasures, not always.)

Until next chapter...

You know, part of me has developed a tiny crush on Kenshin for sounding like in essence the penultimate fan of everything geek-related in a cute feisty techno magical package, but I'd have to wonder if she would be any more willing to pry herself away from a game screen to spend time with a member of the opposite sex then I am...rhetorical question I assure you LOL But yes, I was looking forward to another Kenshin-centric chapter, and as usual, you do not disappoint.

I will admit, the previous review does have a point in how at first glance the Adventurer archetype seems only loosely connected in terms of a coherent strategy. Do they have strong synergy? Certainly. Powerful effects? Absolutely! But aside from Kenshin occasionally taking on the form of her Kill Card of the Day, its hard to say if they have a clear cut style like say, the recycle/destruction loops of the Scrap archetype, or the self milling field presence of Lightsworn. It's not a deal breaker, but it's also not the first time I haven't COMPLETELY been able to wrap my head around the concept of one of your decks. Its possible it will reveal itself in due time like with Rave's Starsteels though, and in the meantime Kenshin's overwhelming enthusiasm smooth out such wrinkles.

Then we have Jono-er, I mean Jimmy, who despite being used as a character almost as often as Yugi, Kaiba or any of the original cast in fanfiction, was probably in the top five best depictions I've seen so far, even if his accent was something I've always been on the fence about in the show (he's actually rather eloquent in his own way in the manga). It's always interesting to see how 'Jimmy' is portrayed in terms of his overall strategy. Some people focus more on the brute force side of his deck, while other make him almost entirely dependent on his Gamble cards. It was nice to see an attempt to show both sides of his deck, though I did find myself wanting to see more of the new Dice support just for a twist.

In either case, the duel was well paced and the finale was both spectacular and a great nod to one of my favorite manga (though it's a bit of a stretch to have Joey play the part of Shinamori Aoshi if I remember who ended up like that after Kenshin's Amakeru-Ryu-No-Hirameki). And as an added bonus, we have the first look at Kastlenaid after being granted what seems to be both free will and personality and all I can say is *ahem* SOOOOOO CUUUUUUUUUTE 3333

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Yes I'm a guy, yes I just made that sound, and yes I might regret doing so in public but dammit I stand by my statement LOL In closing, it was well worth the wait, but that said I'll still be hoping for the next chapter sooner rather then later, either way welcome back my friend.

I felt like some of Kenshin's cards are overly complicated. Wandering Swordsman has no less than four positive and entirely unrelated effects (though from the card text, two might be possessed by all Adventurer Prestige monsters). Climax's Grand Final Locale, besides being preposterously named (though you may have chosen to do that as an affectionate parody), has three effects where a card possessing only its first effect (2 to card advantage whenever it triggers) may be implausibly strong. That said, I stopped playing a while ago so power creep may have gotten to the point where such a card is not abnormal.

On the story side, you seem to have pushed Kastleneid too strongly; she is described as adorable and seen doing adorable things, her abnormally attractive good locks are mentioned whenever she shows up, and she is strongly implied to have multiple inherent powers. That said, she's only been around for two chapters and does not yet have significant interaction with the rest of the cast, so it's probably too early to judge; I mention it here only for the sake of completeness.

I appreciate your skills in characterization; in general your characters are sufficiently more interesting than real people are that the story is interesting without being so implausibly interesting as to violate suspension of disbelief, and the interactions between the characters is effective at portraying a sense of camaraderie between them. Seeing the story arcs of multiple characters develop in each individual chapter is also quite refreshing, and there is enough plot development when each character appears that it does not feel like filler.

Nice to finally see this fic back on track.

I will admit, I laughed so hard when you said that the entire Springweather line is banned from Vegas. God help us if the Backwater team ever decide to go there on vacation. XD

As for the duel, it was alright. But Kenshin is now definitely one of my most favorite among the Backwater team. Then again, I was already a fan of her for a while. The part I love the most would when she puts on those sunglasses mimicking CSI Miami. Jalal's reaction to all these hijinx is also priceless.

Don't forget the epic showdown between the players as their monsters. That was sweet as well.

Another thing. I'm really happy to know Kastleneid is now in better care with the Backwater team. I just finished reading the two chapters of Scarlet's Parallels fic and I'm really liking it so far so I'm looking forward to what you have in store for her in this fic and in Parallels. Also here's to seeing more of this little dysfunctional family of yours now that they have a new member. Just for humor's sake, I gotta ask: If Tsuki and Fayte are the moms and the rest of the team are uncles and aunts, what kind of uncle/aunt would each member be towards her? I REALLY want to know what your answer.

As for seeing Tsuki and Fayte's amazing and hot sex life? Sure why not? :P Especially if you include Rave in there like Tsuki proposed lol. That is if CC allows such things (don't exactly know his guidelines since I'm not planning to write a Shadowchasers fic myself). But only if it's not in the middle of something important. A breather scene when nothing deep is going on yes, but not if it will completely overshadow the important details.

Anyways enough about that. Looking forward to seeing what's next. Solex is either incredibly smart or incredibly STUPID to send someone to attack Rayearth. This will not end well for him, then again he DOES deserve it for what he did to Kastleneid. So later then bye.