Karen (Yu-Gi-Oh! DF)

Karen is a character from Legendhiro's Yu-Gi-Oh! DF. She is one of the more important characters, often portrayed as the most important character next to central character John, and portrayed as being just as strong, if not stronger. Any weaknesses in Karen's ability to duel come from a combination of guilt over having been used against John and the Duel Force by Yami, and from the fact that she has grown bored with playing Duel Monsters. She instead wishes to design the cards that future Duelists will one day use.
Karen's Spirit Monster and favorite monster is Dark Magician Girl and its Toon counterpart.
==Personality/Mannerisms==
Karen is an overall good person. She cares more about others than herself. This is evidenced in the fact that she cares little about her outward appearence, and the fact that, while she was under Yami's control, she fought hard to break it, even though it meant she might die. Karen is usually quiet and sweet, but she can become very serious, or even use her natural charms to manipulate others if the need arises. Karen is often overly emotional. She is very creative.
Karen has a unique skill. She can, unaided by magic, accurately predict the moves of her opponent by profiling them based on their mannerisms.
==Before the Duel Force==
When Karen was young, her parents died in a tragic accident. Like many other orphaned young Duelists, she was taken in and trained in the ways of Duel Monsters by Maxamillion J. Pegasus. She was given a set of Toon cards by Pegasus, who taught her how to use his own style. This was an honor afforded only to her. Shortly after this, however, she left for unknown reasons and joined the Duelists of the Order, where she, Monty, and Lawrence were made mind controlled minions at the same time. This created a bridge between their three minds, allowing the good parts of their personalities that were supressed through Yami's powers to converse and become close friends. As a brainwashed Order member, she was sent along with Monty and Lawrence to stop John and the Duel Force from obtaining the Souls, and later simply to retrieve the Souls, once the Duel Force was successful in retrieving the Souls for themselves. She, Monty and Lawrence failed, and they were released from Yami's control. Yami then attacked them, meaning to convert them, body and soul, into raw energy that he could feed upon. Karen, Monty and Lawrence were saved by John. This is when Karen began to feel attracted to him.
==Story==
Karen's original role was that of John's rival. Later, after she becomes his ally, her role was that of his love interest and unofficial second in command.
===Gather the Duel Force===
In the first story arch, Karen leads a team consisting of herself, Monty and Lawrence, all still under Yami's control, to defeat John and his team and gain possession of the Duelist's Souls. She and her allies first attack John, Sarah, Jen and Tucker before they board their plane to Egypt, seemingly trying to convince the Duel Force to back off. They use some magic borrowed from Yami to cause John and his team physical pain during the duel. They defeat the Duel Force, but this only reinforces the Duel Force's resolve. Later on Karen and her team face off against John and his team again after they have opened the Burial of the Souls, obviously meaning to kill them and take the Souls for their master.
It becomes apparent that the true goal of Karen and her team when attacking the Duel Force earlier was to increase the Duel Force's resolve so that they would continue forward and reach the Burial. Karen claims that only the Duel Force could open the Burial, but that, now that it was open, anyone could enter and take the Souls for themselves. Their plain backfires, however, when John and his team mates manage to access the power of their Souls and defeat Karen and her team mates.
===Reign of the Reaper===
In the second story arch, Reign of the Reaper, Karen, Lawrence and Monty engage the Duel Force yet again. They face new Duel Force members Amanda, Rocky and Kimi respectively, and they are defeated again. After this second defeat, they are released from Yami's control immediately before they are attacked by Yami in the form of a Shadow Apparition. John saves them, and Karen reveals that they were unwilling pawns of Yami. She also reveals that during the most recent duel, she and her allies were mentally restraining their own power so that the Duel Force would win and Yami woul release them. She knew that Yami would attack soon after, and she relied on John to save them. Soon afterwards, Karen, Monty and Lawrence join up with the Duel Force and recive the Souls of Imagination, Knowledge and Power. Minutes later, Yami appears in a much more powerful, but still shadow-based form and attacks Karen. She and John team up to repell him yet again.
Later on, Karen accompany's the rest of the Duel Force (save Amanda, who stays home) to the abandoned construction site where John and Max will fight their final battle.
===The Dark Duel Force===
Karen takes command of the Duel Force while John is comatose. She organizes them against the Dark Duel Force, and fights in the last wave alongside Max, against Archfiend Ruler. However, her overly emotional nature coupled with her subconscious guilt over her past actions limits her effectiveness, and she is defeated.
===Terror of Blackheart===
Karen is the first to sense that John is in trouble as Blackheart emerges in possession of John's body. She is the first member of the Duel Force to face Blackheart in battle, facing off against Sky Dragon of Osiris (Slifer the Sky Dragon). She does a very good job of feeling out Osiris' strengths, and given time she definitely would have defeated it. But Blackheart proves to be too ruthless. He defeats Karen, knocking her out, cracking her Soul, and draining its power. The process is interrupted, however, and she retains some of her power.
Later, Karen organizes the team into pairs in an effort to seek out Blackheart and slow him down until she can put her true plan into action. This plan backfires initially when several members of the Duel Force are defeated, their Soul powers stolen. Karen's true plan, however, was to meet up with Pegasus and learn what he knows of Blackheart's powers and how to defeat him. She travels to Duelist Kingdom, accompanied by Tucker, Amanda, Kimi, and Jen. There, shortly after learning what they can from Pegasus, the Duel Force is confronted by the Dark Duel Force, knowing the Duel Force to be in a desperate and, overall, weakened state. Karen, who just recently recieved the Toon monsters missing from her deck from Pegasus, defeats Archfiend Ruler. The Dark Duel Force, defeated again, is forced to relinquish their Shadow Items. Karen absorbs the magic from the five items into her Soul, restoring it to full power.
Back home, after meeting with Pegasus, Karen is approached by Hiro. She already knows him, and she helps the others to trust him. She is also the only member of the team to come to the realization that he is withholding information from them, convincing him to reveal the truth; that he is not a living remnant of the Duelist's power, but what remains of the Duelist himself. Karen, along with many other Duel Force members, adds her power to Hiro's Soul of Chaos to restore him to what he once was so that he, as the Legendary Duelist, can face Blackheart one final time.
===Kaiba Corp Invitational Tournament===
Karen has already decided at this point that she wants to design cards, not duel. Her hesitation leads to her defeat at the hands of Max in the tournament's first round. Later on, Karen is the only member of the team to realize that John will have to kill the dangerous villain Exodus in order to preserve lives.
===Special #2: The Looming Threat===
Karen goes on a date with John, during which John falls comatose yet again. She again takes command of the team, organizing the others. She stays with John in his hospital room, and she is able to sense that he is fighting within his own mind. Her feelings for him are so strong that she is able to transfer her spirit into John's mind in order to help him fight the Dark Divine Dragon. She is also partially responsible for holding back Dark Divine Dragon's real world form until John can arrive to defeat it.
===The Great Duel Force Tournament===
Karen competes in the tournament despite the fact that she no longer wishes to become a Duelist. She does so because she realizes that John wants one more real duel with her before she gives dueling up. She revamps her deck with powerful new cards that represent her true style, instead of borrowing Pegasus'. She and John duel in the first round, their duel coming down to a single draw. Later, Karen agrees to go with John to Duel Academy, where she plans to join the card design department.
==The Soul of Imagination==
Soul Quality: Inspiration
Soul Monster: Allure Queen
The Soul of Imagination has the power to grant the wielder's wishes in moments of great inspiration. Normally, it is actually weaker than the others. But at times when its power is at full, its magic rivals even the Soul of Chaos and its power to control any force greater than itself, including fate.
==Deck==
Karen's deck has always been a form of field control deck that encorporates the Toon monsters and "Sacrifice" cards given to her by Pegasus.
===Gather the Duel Force - Terror of Blackheart chapt. 7===
Karen's deck, Imaginative Power, is shown here in its earliest and weakest incarnation. She uses the same deck throughout the first three story archs, and through the first half of the fourth. Even so, this deck's power rivals John's and Max's power. Its power is only limited by Karen's personal failings.
===Terror of Blackheart chapt. 7 - Kaiba Corp Invitational Tournament===
This is the first version of Karen's advanced Imaginative Power deck, which uses the cards given to her by Pegasus, from his own deck. During the fourth story arch, Terror of Blackheart, Karen was holding John's The Fiend Megacyber, and, therefore, her deck contained it as well.
===Special #2: The Looming Threat===
Karen never duels in this arch. All that we see of her deck comes from when she used cards in battle outside of a normal duel. It can be assumed, however, that her deck contains her usual signature cards, as well as Des Kangaroo, Big Koala, and Polymerization in addition to the cards listed here.
===The Great Duel Force Tournament===
This is the first appearance of Karen's more personalized Toon/Allure Queen deck, Creative Control.
==Yu-Gi-Oh! DA==
After the conclusion of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Force, John and Karen move on to the newly opened Duel Academy in the spinoff book Yu-Gi-Oh! DA (Duel Academy). John has been made overconfident by his victory over Hiro and by how easily he seems to outshine his fellow students. Karen seems tolerant of his behavior, but her words and actions suggest that this will not remain the case. In fact John's overconfidence and its impact on his newly formed relationship with Karen is a major source of conflict throughout the book.
===Part I: The Card Takers===
John and Karen witness a teenage duelist crush his test opponent during the Duel Academy entrance exam dueling portion and are very impressed. John later meets this Duelist, named Thomas, in one of his classes while Karen is in a design class. Thomas tells John about a group of Duelists calling themselves the Card Takers who are seeking challenges by challenging fellow students to duels with their favorite cards as ante. When John goes to face the Card Takers, Karen accompanies him. She seems to think facing them is a bad idea, but she never comes right out and says it. When John is defeated and loses The Fiend Megacyber, Karen does her best to comfort him, but there is little she can do. Karen is the one who tells John that Thomas has challenged the Card Takers, and she is present when he finally defeats them.
===Part II: The Shadow===
John, now more serious about his life, and Karen meet a fangirl of John's, Gloria "Ria" Hernandez, at the quarterly Dueling Exams. Ria has a very obvious and flamboyant crush on John. She initially challenges Karen for John's affections, even when John reveals that he has no real interest in her. It isn't long before it is revealed that Karen and Ria have been paired off to duel. They agree to place stakes on the duel. If Karen wins, Ria must back off, but if Ria wins, she can sontinue to pursue John. Ria is defeated, and John invites her to join his circle of friends ("Try being my friend, not my fan"), which Karen reluctantly supports. Ria declines, but is later shown as part of John's group alongside Karen and Thomas. She also continues to pursue John, which often causes friction between her and Karen. Karen originally thought that Ria only hit on John while she was around, as a way of getting under Karen's skin, but Karen learns from Thomas that Ria hits on John much more often than that.
Meanwhile a mysterious force latches itself to a book and tricks two Duel Academy students into summoning it into our dimension. It begins absorbing/consuming Blue Dorm students in secret for their Duel Energy in order to increase its physical pressence in this dimension. Karen is about to give John a card she made for him when the creature becomes strong enough that she and John take notice. Karen and John move to confront the creature and discover that it has attacked Thomas and Ria and that only Thomas escaped. Because the creature has put up a barrier of shadows, only John is able to continue forward, taking with him his gift from Karen; a card made by her specifically for his deck. During the duel, Karen waits with Thomas.
Sheppard appears during the duel and explains to Karen and Thomas that the Professors had expected that the large collection of Duel Energy among students at Duel Academy might attract an evil force, though he assures her that they never expected anything as powerful as the Shadow. Sheppard also explains the nature of Duel Energy to a limited extent, Karen supplimenting her own knowledge of the subject to create a clearer picture.
Karen follows the duel between John and the Shadow from outside, using the feelings she has for John to sense his emotions with her Soul of Imagination. She is the first to realize when the duel ends, and is the first inside once it has. Karen enters the dorm in time to see an injured Ria kiss John. Even though the kiss was unwelcome, it causes Karen's emotions to spin out of control. Karen is enraged, breaking things off with John and stating her plans to be given a seprate schedule from John the following year, as well as an intension to move to the Red Dorm. However, during the confusion presented during the assignment of rooms for the remainder of the first year for all Blue students, John is able to beat Karen to changing his dorm/schedule. He also returns Karen's gift as part of a note explaining his intention to remove himself from Karen's life until he has gotten his life together. He doesn't reveal himself until the following year. It is unclear what he had been doing until then.
During Duel Academy's second year, the Shadow returns, having slowly siphoned small amounts of Duel Energy from the students on the island until strong enough to instigate its full and complete emergence into our dimension. It is met in battle by Karen, Ria (who has reconciled with Karen), and eventual by a fearful and reluctant Thomas. They are unable to defeat the Shadow, and are saved by John, who has recovered the serious side of his personality lost since the end of Yu-Gi-Oh! DF. He again engages the Shadow in a Shadow Game, this time without his gift from Karen. Even from outside of the Shadow Game boundary, Karen can tell that John is losing. In fact, it seems that he will lose until Karen's feelings for John and her connection with him allows The Fiend Omegacyber to join back with his deck. He uses Omegacyber to defeat the Shadow's Neos Wiseman and win the duel.
===Part III: Emergence of the Sacred Beasts===
John and Karen have renewed their relationship. John moves back up to the Blue Dorm, now Obelisk Blue Dorm, to be closer to her. They think things are going well until the beginning of year three when they learn from Sheppard that a new threat is about to appear. Sheppard explains that after Maxamillion J. Pegasus created the God Cards he also created their foils, the Sacred Beasts. But the Beasts threatened to absorb all life from every monster and Duelist around them. A co-worker and friend of Pegasus, Kagemaru, had a unique power to seal the Beasts and offered to keep the Beasts bound in his deck until his death, taking the spirits of the Beasts with him. But Sheppard explains that the governing intelligence of the Beasts, their combined form Armityle, has eroded Kagemaru's control and seized his body and deck. Sheppard enlists Karen, along with John, Thomas and Ria, to help him fight Armityle and his three Sacred Beast forms/cards.
Armityle has not yet reached the point where he can summon himself into a duel, so he forms a plan to protect himself from John and Karen, the biggest threats to his emergence, until after his power has been fully realized. He awakens the dark side of former Card Taker member Shin. Dark Shin cuts John and Karen off from the others. He uses a combination Wind/Dark Deck to defeat Karen and banish her to the Shadows with Armityle's power before he himself is banished by John. Karen is restored along with Shin and Sheppard, Thomas and Ria (who were defeated by Armityle) once John has defeated Armityle and enacted a Penalty Game.
===Part IV: A Duel of Fate===
Karen has very little to do with this final arch of the book. She is given a possition heading a new design department at Industrial Illusions, and she observes the duel between John and Thomas during which they each display their full power. Karen's is actually involved in very little of the Yu-Gi-Oh! DA storyline as a whole. This, however, is understandable seeing how Karen doesn't even consider herself a Duelist any longer.
===Deck (DA)===
==Trivia==
*Karen is based on one of the author's first crushes. He will not reveal who she was.
*The author reveals that Karen, at least in his version of the Yu-Gi-Oh! universe, was the card designer who came up with the idea for Synchro Monsters.
*If Karen, Max, Tucker and John, as they appeared at the end of Yu-Gi-Oh! DF, were to duel against each other, all at once, their power would be equal. The outcome of the duel would be left to chance.
Category:Characters
Category:Females
Category:Fan Fiction