Welcome, fellower bloggers and blog readers [/genericblogopeninglinebecauseicantthinkofanyotherwaytobeginsosuemeforbeingunoriginalandmakingthisjokelongerthanitshouldbeidontcare]! Today I'd like to announce an awesome new story idea I've been planning for a while now. It's going to be so awesome it will be blow your mind to the fourth and half dimension!

Or maybe it won't. I could care less either way just as long as I get some kind of reaction out of you.

Anyway, I know what you're probably thinking from the title alone. "A YGO fanfic?" you may be thinking in horror as you lean back in your comfortable leather chair as your fancy laptop computer that probably costs more than mine. "A fanfic about a bunch of teenagers obsessed with a children's trading card game? How could that be interesting even in the slightest?"

You are half-wrong there, my friend. Yes, it is technically a YGO fanfic (which I freely admit to, BTW), but it will not focus on any of the canon characters from any of the three YGO anime or magna series (so no Yugi, Jaden, or Yusei or anyone else, either).

Instead, it will be a "Monster fic," which is a term I have seen used on the Internet to describe a fanfic that focuses on a world where the monsters themselves are real, breathing creatures with their own cultures, beliefs, personalities, and so forth, usually either vaguely connected to Earth or not connected at all (The Beginning of the End fits the latter, BTW).

That is essentially what The Beginning of the End - and its sequels - are going to be. The story will take place in the world of Atem (yes I know Atem is the real name of Yami Yugi, but most of the names of people, locations, and so on are based off characters from the YGO animes, so expect to see more names like that later on) during a war between the four most powerful tribes of that world. Here's a summary I wrote of the general plot:

Dark Magician and Buster Blader are sent on a quest to find the legendary "Envoy of the Beginning," for it is believed that only the Envoy of the Beginning will be able to help the Warrior and Spellcaster tribes win their war against the Fiends and Dragons. None of them realize that perhaps the end is closer than they believe . . .

I know that the summary makes the story sound a little bit generic. After all, it appears that the Warriors and Spellcasters are Obviously Good while the Dragons and Fiends are Unmistakably Evil and that Dark Magician and Buster Blader are the Inevitably Heroic heroes who will end up saving the world, and so on and so forth.

In some ways, it is a little bit like that. The actual story, however, will be far more deep and complex than that. The Warriors and Spellcasters won't be shown as being %100 good and righteous and holy and stuff all the time, while the Dragons and Fiends won't be portrayed as Undeniably Evil and cruel at every opportunity, either. (In fact, I can tell you right now that the Spellcasters were the ones who started this war in the first place, if that reveals anything about them.)

Instead, the vast majority of characters - with a few very rare and unusual exceptions - will be portrayed as real, complex people who can do both good and bad and have both positive and negative personality traits (yes, that includes non-humans such as Dragons, too ). By no means will this fic be completely gray, morality-wise, but it won't necessarily be that one side is goning to be shown Always Good and the other side as Always Bad. Those kinds of stories are fun to write, IMO, if a bit challenging at times.

It will be somewhat similar to BIONICLE, which I have drawn a lot of influence and inspiration from. That means that TBotE will feature loads of mysteries regarding the world Atem, its prehistory, the true origins of the Atemian people, the so-called "Envoy of the Beginning," and much, much more. In fact, I'd say anyone who likes mysteries such as the kind found in BIONICLE, Kingdom Hearts, Harry Potter, and many other stories will probably enjoy TBotE quite a bit. Lots of mysteries to solve, which is part of the reason it's probably going to be longer than just one fic.

And, of course, many card archetypes will be featured, such as the Element Heroes, the Ancient Gears, the Dark Scorpions, and my personal favorite, the seven Monarchs. But I wouldn't say that all card archetypes or all cards in general will be featured, but most of the important and well-known cards (such as Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Dark Magician, for example) will make appearances, as well as some lesser known ones (such as Endymion the Master Magician and Dark Valkyria). Most of the cards that appear will have roles to play in the story, although I admit a few I chose because simply they were some of my favorites. But even my favorites will have some kind of role to play, so they won't just be there to look cool .

Admittedly, the story idea itself sounds almost as strange as teenagers obsessed with a children's trading card game battling the supernatural forces of evil, if not more so, considering this will be a world where nearly-sapient machines and intelligent, talking dragons are seen are relatively normal. However, if you are a writer or have a writer-like mind, then you'd understand how some ideas just grab you and won't let you forget about them until you finally sat down and written them down, no matter how crazy they may sound at first. That is the main reason why I want to write it someday.

I don't have a release date for it just yet, but I will probably begin writing it after I finish Dimension Hoppers, which I figure will be sometime later this year. I'm thinking it will be my NaNoWriMo "novel" this year, depending on when I finish DiH and if any other writing projects come up between now and then that I may want to write more. It will likely be longer than just one epic, maybe a trilogy, possibly longer considering what I have planned for it already. We'll see.

Comments, constructive criticism, questions, cookies ( ), etc. are all welcomed . Especially the cookies XD.

-TNTOS-