John

John is a character from Legendhiro's Yu-Gi-Oh! DF. John is very clearly the main character. He is often the character that the others turn to, and he defeats a greater share of the enemies than anyone else. John is kind, heroic and responsible, but you might not realize it at first. John can also be immature and a joker. This is mostly because if he were to allow himself to stop laughing, he would become a cynic. John is in love with fellow Duel Force member Karen.

Personality/Mannerisms
John goofs off. A lot. But he's smart. He knows when not to goof off, and when he's needed, he can step up like no one else. He's a great leader because he's good at making decisions. He's brave and honorable. His only real negative qualities are his pride, and his inability to acknowledge his emotions. These may not seem like serious flaws, but in reality, there are few that are worse.

Story
John is often the focal point of the story. The books are almost entirely told by him, and he plays a bigger part in events than any other individual character.

Gather the Duel Force
In the first story arch, John is randomly selected to select three others and form a Team Duel team to compete against Team Beatdown; the team assembled by the regional champion Christopher Johnson in an exhibition match celebrating the opening of the local Industrial Illusions Game Center. Against all odds, John and his team win their duel, catching the eye of Game Center sponsor Maxamillion J. Pegasus. Pegasus invites John and his team, consisting himself, his sister Sarah, his cousin Jen, and his best friend Tucker, to Duelist Kingdom to test their skills. The four think that it is a game and agree to go. But as the tests draw near, John wonders if Pegasus' warnings of impending doom might be true.

On the island Duelist Kingdom, Pegasus pits John and his team against a skilled Duel Robot, equipped with four decks based on the four decks used by the finalists in the Duelist Kingdom tournament. John faces off against a "Balance Deck" based on Yugi Motou's deck. He defeats the Duel Robot in using a move that Pegasus says compares even to the ones used by the King of Games. After the tests, Pegasus informs John and his team of the legend of the Forgotten Duelist and the Duelist's Souls, informing them that it is there destiny to release the Twelve Souls from their tomb in the Burial of the Souls so that, when the dark side of the Forgotten Duelist appears, the Souls can be used to restore the Duelist to life, so that he can meet his dark side, Blackheart, in battle. He also informs them of another group who wants the Souls; the Duelists of the Order of the Divine Cards. He knows that three members of this organization has been sent to take the Souls before the Duel Force can.

Funded by Pegasus, John and his team make there way to Egypt. Before they even board their plane, the Duel Force is met by three members of the Order; Karen, the task force leader, Lawrence, the muscle, and Monty, the brains. The Duel Force is defeated. The Order members warn the members of the Duel Force that if they continue to search for the Burial of the Souls, they will be attacked again, and that the next time will be fatal. But this only serves to strengthen the Duel Force's resolve.

In Egypt, John duels Odion Ishtar, winning him as a guide. Later, John and Tucker also go hunting for new cards for the Duel Force's decks, winning several. Each member increases the power of their deck considerably.

Odion leads the Duel Force to the Burial of the Souls. The four manage to unlock the Burial, but before they can enter, they are attacked again by the Order. But this time, with some help of their destined Souls John and his team-mates defeat the Order. They go into the Burial and release the other eight Souls into the world to find their bearers. John also meats a spirit who claims to be a guardian of the Burial who lives in John's Soul of Darkness. John agrees to let this spirit share his body, and in exchange the spirit, called Hiro, will assist John in his task of uniting the twelve Soul Bearers.

Reign of the Reaper
A mysterious Duelist named Max appears, using his powerful Spirit Reaper deck to steal Jen and Tucker's strongest cards. John and Sarah duel Max to get the cards back, betting their Duelist's Souls of Darkness and Water. John, however, is barely able to fight. He and Sarah barely defeat Max, and Max retreats for the time being. Soon after, John saves a Duelist named Rocky from some thugs sent by the Order. Rocky is discovered as the bearer of the Soul of Earth. Between Jen, the bearer of the Soul of Nature, Tucker, the Bearer of the Soul of Fire, John, Sarah, Rocky, and John's youngest cousin, Amanda, bearer of the Soul of Wind, the Duel Force is now six strong.

Later, John duels his mother's apprentice, Kimi Hakashi. Kimi reveals that she is the bearer of the Soul of light, and accuses John of having changed his deck for the worst, because he's afraid of the Order. When John loses, he realizes that Kimi is right. He changes his deck again, getting it right, preparing to duel Max one final time. It isn't much later that Rocky, Kimi and Amanda are forced to fight Lawrence, Monty and Karen. When the Duel Force wins again, the leader of the Order, a mysterious figure known as Yami, appears to kill the three Order members. John saves them, and it's revealed that Yami has been manipulating their minds. John invites them to join his team, and Karen, Monty and Lawrence receive the Souls of Imagination, Knowledge and Power.

It isn't long before John discovers that Max his kidnapped his mom. John meets Max in battle to rescue her. After a lengthy battle with Max, John is victorious. Yami appears again, this time meaning to take Max's life. Again John stands up for his enemy, showing Max how to stand up to Yami himself. Yami is repelled again. It is revealed that Max had been an unwilling follower of Yami. Max receives the Soul of Life, which gives him power over fear.

Special #1: The Ancient Cards
John duels a mysterious Duelist named Ned, who possesses a powerful deck of "Ancient" themed cards. Later, he is informed by Pegasus that a specific Duelist and his monster, Ancient Dragon of life will be needed to save the world, and soon. John seeks out this Duelist to warn him of what is to come, and ends up face to face with his rival Christopher. Christopher wants to duel, but the duel is cut short when John and Christopher both are attacked and defeated by the ancient enemy of the Ancient Dragon of Life; the Divine Spirit Dracon.

The Dark Duel Force
John mysteriously falls into a coma. He is pulled into the back of his own mind where he must defeat the mysterious spirit Millennium Keeper, restoring balance to his Soul, unlocking a new power, and waking himself up before his friends can all have their spirits stolen by the Dark Duel Force and sent to Yami. John wakes up just in time to find his friends all defeated, and only the leader of the Dark Duel Force, the terrifying Archfiend Ruler, left standing. John defeats Archfiend Ruler and follows his spirit back to Yami.

Yami's identity is revealed. He is actually the dark side of the Battle City Duelist Marik Ishtar. Yami Marik seeks to use the powers of the Souls to cast an ancient Spell that will give him back his body, while letting him keep all of the frightening power that he accumulated in the Shadow Realm. John discovers the power of the Soul of Chaos, the evolved form of the Soul of Dakness. John uses this power to defeats Yami Marik, even after Marik summon the Egyptian God monster Sky Dragon of Osiris, stolen from Industrial Illusions. John wins the God card, kills Yami Marik, and releases all of the spirits that Marik had accumulated, including those belonging to the Dark Duel Force.

Terror of Blackheart
John is possessed by Blackheart, the dark side of the Forgotten Duelist. He is freed when Karen and the others succeed in reviving the Duelist, who defeats Blackheart once and for all. Because Blackheart had secured the remaining two God cards from their burial place in Yami Marik's former headquarters and added them to his deck, John now possesses them.

Kaiba Corp Invitational Tournament
John competes in the Second Kaiba Corporation Grand Championship. He defeats a powerful Duelist named Evo in the first round. He is later confronted by Dark Duel Force member War Ruler, who reveals himself and fellow Dark Duel Force member Guardian Ruler as Marcus and Raphael. He claims that they are undercover agents of the secret society The Duelists Elite, which fights the Order. Marcus claims that Exodus, and Exodia deck user who beat Marcus in the first round, is a rogue Order member who means to use the power of Exodius, the Ultimate Forbidden God to seize control of the world. John uses the powers of the Soul

of Darkness to read Marcus' mind and confirm that he's telling the truth. John uses the three Gods to defeat Exodus, and then kills him with the power of a Penalty Game.

John goes on the face his rival Christopher Johnson. The duel comes down to John's favorite card, The Fiend Megacyber, and Christopher's favorite card, Frost and Flame Dragon. John is victorious, going on to the finals to face the King of Games, Yugi Motou. John wins, but only because Yugi's Legendary Dragon cards, which have returned to Earth to fight a great evil, surrender to John's God cards. They know that John will be the one to face this rising evil, and they mean to help. They need Yugi to lose so that they can be passed to John. Because of the unusual circumstances of his victory, John does not take Yugi's title King of Games, even though he is temporarily elevated to World Championship status.

Special #2: The Looming Threat
John is struck comatose yet again, this time on his first date with Karen. This time his must face his own dark half. He defeats his dark side, but he soon finds himself face to face with the most powerful dark creature ever to live; Dark Divine Dragon. Karen throws herself into John's mind and rescues him. The two return to the outside world, the Dark Divine Dragon close behind. John combines the power of the three Gods and the three Legendary Dragons with his Soul Monster Great Maju Garzett, creating a monster with even greater power than Dark Divine Dragon. Dark Divine Dragon is killed.

The Great Duel Force Tournament
John decides to disband the Duel Force, and he agrees to give the team a sendoff by using some of his Grand Championship winnings to book a day at the stadium of the newly opened Kaibaland, Columbus Ohio. His entire team, Christopher, John's apprentice Jenna, John's mom, and Hiro, inhabiting a magically conjured body will all compete in a tournament. John defeats strong rivals including Karen, Rocky and Tucker, and moves on to fight Hiro in the final round. After a lengthy duel, Hiro is defeated. Hiro, who knew that his time was short, disappears. Though it is unknown what happens to him, John believes that Hiro has moved on to the next life.

After the tournament, John is about to confess his love to Karen when he is asked to Seto Kaiba's office. He is invited by both Kaiba and his associate Pegasus to attend the newly completed Duel Academy, as a means of drawing American Duelists to the school, which does not yet have an American branch. He agrees under the condition that Karen can accompany him and enroll in the card design program, since her dream is to work with Pegasus designing cards.

John learns that Tucker's irresponsible father spent Tucker's college fund. He gives his remaining Grand Championship pize, a very large sum of money, to Tucker, allowing Tucker to go to college and move on with his life.

The Soul of Darkness/Chaos
Soul Quality: Balance

Soul Monster: Great Maju Garzett

The Soul of Darkness is normally the most powerful of the Twelve Souls, though its powers can be exceeded by Karen's Soul of Imagination at times. The Soul of Darkness grants its wielder the power to shape and control darkness itself. It also grants its wielder the power to see and travel to anywhere that is touched by darkness, including the hearts and minds of others. It is likely that the wielder of the Soul of Darkness can also control the minds of others. The wielder of the Soul of Darkness can also summon up the Dark Duel Disk, which can separate into a sword and a small shield.

The Soul of Darkness can evolve into the Soul of Chaos when it is in balance with its wielder. The Soul of Chaos grants the additional power to control forces greater than the wielder, even a force like fate itself.

Deck
John uses variations of his original dark deck, supplemented by remove from play cards and Chaos cards.

Gather the Duel Force
John uses several cards here that would be considered weaker than average, but he uses them in very effective ways.

Reign of the Reaper
John uses two different decks in this book. One is an imbalanced deck with many random cards. The other is an early form of his later Different Dimension/Chaos deck.

Special #1: The Ancient Cards
John is not the focus of the special, so not much of his deck is shown here.

The Dark Duel Force
John's deck continues to take shape.

Terror of Blackheart
All that we see of John's deck in Terror of Blackheart is what Blackheart plays against Karen early on in the story. Afterward, Blackheart changes John's deck, making it his own.

Kaiba Corp Invitational Tournament
This version of John's deck is, more or less, the version that he will use from now on. It is the first to feature his "Magnet Monster" combo.

Special #2: The Looming Threat
A limited view of an alternate version of John's deck. He also summons the Egyptian Gods, the three Legendary Dragons, and Great Maju Garzett during the special, but he does so outside of a duel. Still, it can be assumed that these cards are a part of his deck at the time.