More Thank You's

Hello once again readers! I honestly didn't think I would be making another one of these update chapters so soon after the last one, but I have received so many more contributions, that it felt wrong to not take a moment to thank you all once again. There are just SO MANY characters that you all have submitted, and it gives me immense joy to get to know them, write about them, and make plans for them. To put the hearts of many of you at ease, know that there is not a single character any of you have submitted that has been rejected. ALL of the characters submitted thus far WILL be included in "Signs of Renewal." To this I give a sincere and heartfelt HIP HIP HOORAY! More on some of your frequently asked questions/concerns at the end of this update, but first, let's get into the acknowledgements. (Names of contributors will be listed in alphabetical order, so sorry, Zzelmo Zzippo, you will always be listed last.)

AngeLight952: Thank you very much for the very detailed and creative deck. I have taken the liberty of creating a very special character for the deck. PM me if you would like some information on Adeel Haddad. Until then, thank you very much for reading, liking, following, and reviewing my work. It's a true pleasure to get to know you.

CorinnetheAnime: Where do I begin? You my friend deserve an entire chapter devoted to the amazing work you do for me, and all of it entirely volunteer work for that matter! Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart of proofreading my chapters. I have learned a lot from you and have seen significant improvement in my writing thanks to you. As for the character you sent me, I appreciate the level of trust it shows when you are willing to risk me using a character from one of your own wonderful original works. To everyone reading this chapter, once you are finished here, READ CORINNETHEANIME'S "VOICE OF FREEDOM!" (Okay her story's not in caps-lock, it's just "Voice of Freedom.") Seriously everyone! This story is GREAT! And this is not the only wonderful story she has created! If you ever want to see two "Signs of Renewal" characters duke it out in a duel, check out "Arc V Duels Who Would Win?" and send her a request. She really does an amazing job. And this is not counting the many, many, many amazing one-shots she does! Like her, follow her, read her stories, and send her a multitude of GLOWING reviews! To all you Phoenix Guards, THAT'S AN ORDER! To all you Earthbound Disciples, DO IT OR DIE! To all you Academia Soldiers, GLORIA ON THE ACADEMIA AND CORINNETHEANIME! Thank you very much Corinne.

Epsilon Tarantula: I absolutely love your characters. I love them all to death. They are so diverse, creative, spunky, conniving… I don't even know how to continue! Rest assured, they will be given justice! I may not know all the series you are referencing, but I will do my best to do a little research, look some things up, and represent your characters and your decks as accurately as possible! Stay tuned and don't fret. The Phoenix Guard will NOT fall so easily to the Dark Signers.

FanOfKings: Once again, thank you very much for the upgrades to Yugo's deck. And I am loving the character you sent me. You sent me that character just in time for me to incorporate him into this last chapter. I was thrilled to find another fan that was an avid lover of the Crash Town arc from Yu-Gi-Oh 5 D's. For all of you wondering about the original Kyosuke Kiryu, there will be more information given about him in upcoming chapters! Believe me, he plays an important role in the history and lore of "Signs of Renewal." As for Kyosuke Kiryu II, give this guy your support. He may not be the original Kyosuke Kiryu, but believe me, the one guy who is most keenly aware of this fact is Kyosuke Kiryu II. He's got big shoes to fill, and not a whole lot of time to do it!

Ghost83: I sincerely hope you are not tortured from the wait. Believe me, the person who is most agitated by the long wait time for the appearance of your character is myself. It frustrates me that I have to tell you to keep waiting, probably for months, but trust me, I TRULY love your character AND his deck! (Okay spoiler alert everyone, the character is male, PM Ghost83 if you want any more spoilers). I have put a lot of thought into how he will factor into the story, and trust me, he will play a MAJOR role in the events to come. Until them, I truly hope you continue enjoying the chapters. Stay patient and stay awesome my friend.

Greninja: Let your heart be at ease Greninja. Every single one of your characters has been accepted and WILL play a role in "Signs of Renewal." I hope you enjoyed the brief introduction to Gin Tami. Believe me, she will be playing a much bigger role in the chapters to come. She has A LOT of motivation to do so. I admit I have not seen "Fullmetal Alchemist," (which might be considered heresy in the Anime community,) but I have looked up Jean Havoc and I will be trying my best to accurately depict the personalities of each of your characters. Thank you once again for all of your contribution and for accurately following the submission format. It makes my work much easier and more enjoyable. Stay tuned for more of your characters to make an appearance VERY soon.

kaploblast: Thank you very much for the amazing deck you sent me. There are TONS of wonderful cards for me to work with. I have taken the liberty of creating the original character for this deck. PM me if you want some information on Semal Haddad. (Yes, he is Adeel Haddad's brother). And one more question to you and Shimmering-Sky. Is it okay if I ship your two characters together? You'll see why I'm wanting to do this when they come out and their individual decks are revealed, but I wanted to get you guys' thoughts on this. Until then, kaploblast, thank you very much for your submission. In particular, your submission will help me expand upon a little bit of Yu-Gi-Oh Arc V Reira-related history which is woefully unexplored.

Kurogane Fang: Once again, thank you very much for your detailed submissions. Like Ghost83, I have to ask for your patience when waiting for these characters to appear. But trust me, BOTH of them WILL appear and play major roles in the story, especially a particular Academia character. Thank you for your creative work and your dedication to making your submissions as neat, clear, and detailed as possible. I appreciate it when I can easily process a person's submission. Stay awesome and stay tuned for more epic chapters from "Signs of Renewal."

Nox Descious: It's always fun to read your posts. I love being able to joke around and laugh with you between chapters and updates. And look, I know you want to see giant Jibakushin rampaging through the city, but this is "Signs of Renewal," not "Godzilla." The Earthbound Gods will appear… in time… when it's right. Until then, stay tuned for the appearance of your amazing character! Not going to spoil anything for you, but in not too many chapters, we will be seeing the debut of some VERY intriguing Academia Agents.

Shimmering-Sky: I love Natsumi. I love her to death. I love her so much. I REALLY want to write about Natsumi, and her sister, Miku! Her deck is awesome, her character is awesome! SHE IS JUST AWESOME! As for your concern about creating a Mary Sue, don't worry! This character can't be anything OTHER than well-rounded, adorable, fun-loving, AMAZING, and someone I think EVERY fan can root for. Stay tuned everyone, this character will be making her debut very soon.

Solphage: The wait time for your character won't be quite as long as either Ghost83's wait time or KuroganeFangs, but it will be a little while. Please be rest assured that this is NOT because I don't absolutely adore the character NOR because I do not think your idea for a video game deck was absolute GENIUS! Also, a similar question for you and Greninja. Is it okay if I ship Solphage's character with Gin Tami? One thing you all will learn about me is that I am crazy when it comes to shipping characters together and writing about sincere friendly and intimate (not necessarily in the sexual sense, but in the sense of just being very emotionally close) relationships.

Once again, if I have missed ANYONE in this list, PLEASE let me know! I appreciate ALL of you guys' contributions to this story!

Now onto addressing some frequently asked questions and concerns. I want to make this Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon clear, if the debut of some characters comes before the debut of other characters, it DOES NOT mean that I like those characters MORE than others, NOR that I like those characters LESS than others. As far as when characters make their debut, I simply weave them into points in the plot where it would make the most sense for that character to appear, based on the background info of the character. Some characters, unfortunately, make more sense to appear later on in the story than others. FanOfKings's character, for example, was submitted just in time for me to incorporate him into a duel where it would certainly have made the most sense for this character to appear, AND where it would have contributed greatly to the character development of both Kiryu and Rin. (You guys will see why next chapter). Ghost83's character, on the other hand, simply needs to wait for certain events to transpire before he can be in the right place at the right time to make his debut. Nevertheless, I am itching, just itching, to write about ALL of your characters, and to create duels with those characters, etc. It's aggravating knowing that I can't just stop time and devote my existence to typing the entire series in one afternoon, but know that I remain absolutely stoked to use all of your characters in the story.

As an analogy for what wait times might feel like, I would think of this series as like your typical abridged series in terms of length. Some abridgers are faster than others, but just about everyone will agree that one has to stay with a channel for a long time before they see the end of the series. "Signs of Renewal" is going to be epic, both in terms of awesomeness and length. I would say that with just about 9 chapters under the belt, we are about 10% finished with the story. So there is A LOT to come. Lots of character development, duels, etc. If there ever comes a time when I can't accept any of your contributions, I WILL LET YOU KNOW! I will send a PM to your account OR a Special Update in case you are are a guest who I can't PM, giving detailed info on why the character and/or deck cannot be used. I have NOT ever had to do this yet, nor do I hope I will EVER have to do this!

On another related note, I wish to give a fair warning to my readers. Because of the nature of the conflict of "Signs of Renewal," expect for there to be character deaths. I think most of you knew this was coming, so I wish to address a few concerns. For one, if one of your wonderful characters suffers a death or injury in "Signs of Renewal," please understand, this DOES NOT mean I don't LOVE your character. Honestly it brings me to tears sometimes thinking that some of these characters will die or get severely injured. Whatever happens to any of these characters, please know that I respect your contributions. Each and every one of you have shown me an immense level of trust when you willingly gave me your own ideas for me to use in the story. It would be blatantly cruel and ethically wrong for me to treat your contributions callously by not giving them the respect they deserve! So I make you this promise! Each and every one of your characters will be given the justice they deserve! If you submit to me a heroic character, I will make that character heroic! If you submit to me a scumbag character, by golly I will make that character a disreputable scumbag! Let there be no confusion or misunderstanding, I love and appreciate you guys' contributions as much as I appreciate YOU! And that is a lot of appreciation! If I could, I would speak to each of you face-to-face (hopefully not in a creepy way) and thank you for your trust and support! Since I realistically cannot, I hope that this update and thank-you chapter has clearly expressed my gratitude for all of your support. And to all of you readers who haven't submitted a character, know that I ABSOLUTELY appreciate you just for reading my story! If you don't submit anything for the story, that DOESN'T mean I don't appreciate all of your support. It is my sincere hope that EVERYONE who reads "Signs of Renewal" will be thoroughly entertained, whether by reading about and seeing your AWESOME character in action, or just by reading and enjoying each chapter. THANK YOU EVERYONE! One more time. THANK YOU EVERYONE! You all make writing this fanfiction well worth the effort.

Sneak Peek of next chapter:

Part 1: Chapter 10 – Not Prepared to Handle This

Shinji had been silent for the rest of the time after Mita had spoken briefly with him. As they walked towards the forboding elevator entrance leading to the depths of the underground, Shinji contemplated what the officer had said to him.

"If you really want to help the Commons, you will come with us."

What had she meant by that? Why was Security of all people interested in helping the Commons? They were the ones who were oppressing the Commons under the orders of the Tops. Was this some weird psychological trick? Just a way to cleverly manipulate him into being quiet and submissive?

Together, they entered the small elevator before the male officer, Santiago, pressed the button to go down. Once the doors had closed and they began the slow descent, the two officers looked at each other before nodding their heads. Letting go of Shinji, Shinji was surprised to see the dimly lit elevator suddenly become illuminated with white light, before a small heron-shaped mark materialized in the air in front of them.

Gasping with shock, Shinji jumped back against the wall of the elevator. "What the heck's going on here!" he shouted at the officers.

The officers turned their backs to him and began removing their helmets. Blazing through their heavy armor, Shinji saw the same white heron mark glowing against their backs.

Until next time, this is Donjusticia wishing he knew how to animate so he could create a mini-cartoon series featuring these characters!