After the Locker Incident, Taylor Hebert chose to become a duelist and join Duel Academia. On the way, she befriends several of her classmates, among them the free-spirited Jaden Yuki, shy yet cute Syrus Truesdale, clever and focused Bastion Misawa and regal yet caring Alexis Rhodes. But Monster Spirits - and notably her partners, the Shaddolls, have their own mysteries...
"Dancing on Shadow Strings
" is a Worm and Yu-Gi-Oh! GX crossover story by Elia41, in which Taylor and Jaden become students together at Duel Academy.
This work contains examples of:
- Adaptational Sexuality: Jaden is explicitly gay in this story.
- Adaptational Superpower Change: Several. For starters, Jaden gains a situational Perception Filter on top of being a Spirit Duelist. Taylor, meanwhile, loses her swarm control to become a Spirit Duelist. More exactly, she can physically manifest and control the Shaddolls. Finally, Bastion becomes a parahuman whose power gives him a people-focused Sherlock Scan.
- Alien Blood: With the Shaddoll Core serving as her heart, Taylor no longer has blood running through her veins but some sort of Creation-infused liquid.
- Apocalypse How: The homeworld of the Shaddolls and Ritual Beasts underwent a Class 6 when it was swallowed by The Great Flood of Light of Destruction. The survivors only managed to escape through portals to Elsewhere, with some ending on Earth.
- Big Sister Mentor: Taylor plays this role for Syrus, in opposition to Zane, when she agrees to help him train and guides them during their duel. Professor Banner notes Syrus made more progress during his one duel with Taylor than in any other class.
- Blessed with Suck: Jaden has a trigger event after being heavily beaten by some jocks, angry that he'd confessed to their friend. Unfortunately, his power can only hide him from others if they look down on him... at first. He upgrades to anonimity-granting Perception Filter after drinking from the Fount of Creation.
- Bond Creature: Like in canon, some Monster Spirits share a strong bond with certain duelists. Taylor's is the entire Shaddoll archetype.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Everyone agrees Shadow Stalker deserves to be punished for the Locker Event getting Taylor killed. Sadly, Brockton Bay is "one murder away from a gang war", and the PRT and Protectorate really need Shadow Stalker, as well as good PR. Arresting her would deprive her of both. Legend makes clear that, as soon as Stalker's immunity is revoked, she will pay for her crimes.
- Combat Pragmatist: Unlike most duelists, Bastion's approach to Duel Monsters is surprisingly practical. Rather than sticking to one archetype, he builds several decks he adapts to the various opponents he faces after analyzing their playstyle. This makes him able to easily counter them while remaining hard to predict. Jaden calls it boring, but Taylor appreciates the tactic.
- Commonality Connection: Taylor and Jaden bond over their past as Bully Magnet. The Academy's staff, meanwhile, suggests Dr Crowler Invokes it with Jaden, being male-to-female transgender himself.
- Cool Big Bro: Michael Crowler/Paladin, Dr Crowler's adoptive elder brother, is certainly one if his sibling is to be trusted. Besides being Legend's second-in-command, he is very supportive of Vellian being transgender and protected him from bullies as children. He was also the first to show Legend his support when he outted himself as homosexual, and instantly agrees to help his younger sibling on investigating Taylor's case.
- Death Course: During his duel against Jaden, Bastion Sets the Traps Anti-Spell Fragrance, Gozen Match and There Can Only Be One to severely limit his opponent's actions. Jaden, much like someone navigating a trap-filled corridor, is forced to play along until he gets a card that lets him destroy them all.
- Feminine Women Can Cook: Downplayed on the feminine part but, unlike the other students, Taylor makes her own food, and Jaden and Syrus both enjoy it. She still had to duel Professor Banner to get the supplies.
- Gayngst: Jaden manages to work up the nerve to confess to his crush after Legend comes out. Unfortunately, said crush's friends take offense to his confession and beat him so hard that he triggers.
- Happily Adopted: Michael is Vellian's foster brother, having been adopted by the Crowlers. Judging by the two siblings' closeness, Michael greatly cares for his family.
- Heart Drive: The Shaddoll Core is the power source of all Shaddolls, and whoever has it controls them. Currently... it serves as Taylor's heart, after her body failed following the Locker Incident, acting both as an actual heart and the source of her powers. Taylor doesn't take the revelation well.
- The Magic Poker Equation: Inverted with Taylor after Emma's betrayal. Her Ritual Beast deck no longer works properly in duels, with results like it giving her all Spell card hands. Played Straight, however, with the Shaddolls. And people have taken notice of it.
- With Jaden, Poison Rose outright confirms that his Monster Spirits can and do influence his draws when he's facing unusually bad odds.
- Marionette Master: The Shaddolls being dolls powered by the Darkness of Creation, Taylor's ability to control them effectively makes her that. However, since each Shaddoll is sentient and relatively independant, she prefers to let them act on their own unless she has to.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Jaden's class clown act is in part because his power only works on someone if they look down on him. The drawback vanishes after he drinks from the Fount of Creation.
- Perception Filter: Jaden's parahuman power allows him to hide from others this way, but only if they look down on him. Hence why he acts like the class clown. Drinking from the Fount of Creation upgrades his power to make him an anomymous face - looks like a Shaddoll among them or a nameless assistant at Fonda Fontaine's side. However, proper focus can pierce the filter.
- Poor Communication Kills: While all Paladin wanted was to talk down Taylor after Shaddoll Beast mauled her agressor, Taylor took him going after her as an arrest attempt and sent Winda and Wendigo to fight him.
- The Power of the Sun: Michael Crowler, also known as he Protectorate Hero Paladin, can absorb ambiant light and manipulate it. More exactly, Winda identifies his power as heliokinesis, the manipulation of sunlight.
- Powerful and Helpless: For all that he is a powerful Hero and Legend's Number Two, Paladin can do nothing but bring Taylor's case to Legend and Chancellor Sheppard, as he himself lacks the influence to challenge Piggot over her covering her Ward. It saddens him to no end.
- The Power of Friendship: A prerequisite for the Ritual Beasts to work, and the reason Taylor can no longer use them. After Emma's betrayal, she found herself alone. It's only after she befriends Jaden and Syrus at Duel Academia that they start to listen again but, even then, her handling of them is still clunky.
- Resign in Protest: Faced with Piggot's stubborn refusal to jail Shadow Stalker for (accidentally) killing Taylor, Paladin threatens to resign if the Ward isn't punished. Piggot and the Quadrumvir choose to keep Shadow Stalker. Paladin quits on the spot and instead takes the job Chancellor Sheppard offers him in Academia.
- Running Gag: Whenever a duel starts, El Shaddoll Construct usually begins to hum. When Taylor faces Bastion, a little prodding makes her outright sing Phil Collins "I Don't Care Anymore".
- The Social Expert: Bastion's parahuman power allows him to read people and is explicitly identified by Winda as Socialize.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Hero, who died at the hands of the Slaughterhouse 9 in 'Worm, is still alive during the story, with the Triumvirate called the Quadrumvir instead.
- Super-Toughness: Bordering on Nigh-Invulnerable, the combination of Wendigo's high DEF and her effect means very little can harm her outside a duel. Paladin is dumbstruck when she takes one of his strongest attacks and shows no injury.
- Yin-Yang Clash: The Sanctuary reveals there are four Forces maintaining the universe. Along with the Darkness of Creation and Light of Destruction, there are also the Light of Stasis and Darkness of Oblivion. All four Forces form a cycle of creation-maintenance-destruction-erasure that drives the universe onward.
