I'm doing what I can to update more frequently. Hopefully I can keep this up.

Chapter Eleven: Playing Around

They looked to see the speaker was a teenage girl. Though they were in a warm area, she wore a long-sleeved, dark red jacket and blue jeans. The jacket was open in the front, revealing a white shirt under it, and her shoes were black. Her brown hair barely reached her shoulders, and her green eyes glared at them suspiciously.

Leigh responded first. "What do you mean?"

"I heard a racket loud enough to wake the dead!" the girl exclaimed. "Someone was screaming like they were being mutilated! So I want to know what happened."

The group glanced at each other uneasily before Lance spoke. "We met a woman who challenged her-" He pointed at Courtney. "-to a duel. She was so furious at losing that she threw a fit before logging out. You showed up immediately afterwards."

"Really." She did not phrase it as a question, instead challenging them to prove their statement.

Courtney was not about to tell her what had really happened though. "Really. So there's nothing to worry about."

Glancing at Angela, the girl said, "That's not the only suspicious thing about your lot. How is a young girl like her in Teknisk Wereld? There are age limits, you know."

"I'm the-" Angela's words turned into muffled protests when Leigh covered her mouth.

"She's testing a device that lets children visit Teknisk Wereld safely," Chasity stated. "I'm sure you've heard of that experiment before."

The girl crossed her arms. "I have, but I still doubt your claims. You're hiding something, aren't you?"

"Why would we be?" Shane asked.

"It didn't sound like someone losing a duel," she said. "More like someone was being bloodily murdered."

"That's ridiculous. People can't die in Teknisk Wereld," Courtney said.

"Yes, they can," the girl said scornfully. "I take it you never read a certain series of books by Hope Driger?"

Kurtis, who had been growing more annoyed with every comment she made, finally snapped at this. "Of course we read about our parents!"

This caught her completely off guard. "Huh?"

Leigh sighed, knowing it was useless to try and talk around what Kurtis had said. "My name is Leigh Driger, and that's my brother, Kurtis Driger. We're the children of Hope and Max Driger. She's Courtney Driger, but the daughter of Brandi and Matt Driger. That's Lance Drayfall, the son of Draken and Kisara Drayfall. She's Chasity Driger, our aunt. So that's what Kurtis was referring to."

The girl looked at them skeptically before nodding. "You don't seem to be lying about that. However…" She indicated to Lance. "He's the son of Draken and Kisara? The two masters of dragons had… this, as a son? He doesn't look nearly strong enough to be their child."

Dennis flew into her face, furious at what she had said. "He is their son! Why wouldn't he be? If you don't believe me, I'll fight you over it! Bring it on!" He stuck up his clawed fists in a fighter's stance.

Rather than being threatened, the girl burst out laughing. Lance covered his face with a hand while waiting for her to get her breath back. Gasping for air, she said, "A Baby Dragon? That's your Soul Monster?"

"I'm afraid so," Lance muttered barely loud enough for her to hear.

"And you expect me to believe you are their son? Even my Soul Monster is better than that shrimp!" She took out a card, causing a towering dragon to appear. Its scales shone red and black, and its claws were silver. Its black wings stretched out, revealing their lengthy size. Three silver horns crowned its face. Blank, white eyes stared directly at the group as it snarled.

"Holy crackers!" Jin exclaimed. "What is that thing?"

"My Soul Monster is a Death Vorstagalph. He's pretty strong, but I expected a Drayfall to have a better dragon than him." The girl smirked. "Looks like I was wrong."

Lance was able to hide his annoyance at her words, but Dennis did not even try. He flew up to the Death Vorstagalph and began punching at his face. "Oh, you want to fight? Try it, big guy! Gimme your best shot!"

The Soul Monster responded by slowly lifting an arm and gently swatting at Dennis. It sent him tumbling through the air with a yelp.

"I almost feel sorry for him," Kurtis remarked as Dennis sailed past them.

"Almost," Leigh agreed, still keeping her hand over Angela's mouth.

The girl snorted at Dennis' antics. "Brave, but foolish. Think things through before making empty threats."

Now thoroughly exasperated, Lance said, "Just who are you?"

"Kaida's my name," she answered.

"All right then," Lance said. "Kaida, did you come here to insult me all day? If you want to prove yourself superior to me for whatever odd reason you have, I'd be happy to duel you."

Kaida shook her head. "Duel? It'd be a waste of time. You aren't half the opponent I would hope to face."

"More like you're scared!" Dennis taunted, returning to Lance's side. "You know we're superior to you and don't want to be embarrassed!"

She flared up at that. "That's not true!"

"Then prove it!" Dennis said.

Their argument was interrupted by a shaking of the ground. The group looked downwards in confusion, while Kaida paled. She hit a button on her Duel Disk and vanished, along with her Soul Monster.

"Hey! You can't run just because of a little tremor!" Dennis protested.

"A little one? I can barely stand!" Leigh said.

The ground split open, and with yells of surprise, the group fell into the chasm. It sealed up once they were gone.

Larka ran to the area and looked around, shaking her head. "Gone… what happened? Are they…" She stopped, remembering an event that she had experienced years ago. "That shouldn't be possible, but if it is… Then they should be all right." She went to hide again, hoping that her theory meant they would return soon.

Angela's shrill voice cut through the shrouds of darkness that surrounded everyone else. "Wow, we've shrunk!"

They opened their eyes to see that they were on a huge book. The text alone was as big as one of them. While they were on the right side, the left had a picture of many buildings. The air around them changed to various colors with no sign of rhyme or reason, giving an eerie feeling to the area.

"Either Angela's right, or we're on the biggest book ever," Leigh said as they examined their surroundings.

"What happened? All I remember is the ground opening…" Lance said.

Dennis snorted at that. "We were about to show Kaida our awesomeness, but she ran like a coward, leaving us to fall down here!"

"There's no use in complaining about her," Ace stated. "Whatever her problem was, she's gone now."

"We have to find a way out. Any ideas?" Shane asked.

Courtney frowned. "This seems familiar… I think I have heard of this area before."

"Really? Where?" Jin said.

Her response was cut off by a gleeful giggling. A small green alligator with an axe leapt out of the left page, and beside him came a girl who looked to be around Angela's age. She was clad in a pink dress that had lace, white tights, white gloves, and shiny black shoes. Her long, brown hair fell to her sides in two pigtails, and her green eyes held a trickster's glint.

"Ah, guests at last! I was afraid I'd never have any again." The girl scowled as she examined them. "But I didn't even get the person I wanted. Drat!"

"The person you wanted?" Leigh inquired.

"I sensed someone familiar, which is why I opened a passage. I must have caught all of you instead." Her grimace turned into a grin. "But that's okay! We can still play!"

"Someone familiar…" Courtney mused.

Everyone else was far more preoccupied by the girl. Lance said, "Who are you?"

"My name's Cally! This is Ally, my friend!" she replied. Ally snickered at their bewildered expressions.

"Cally… I think I recall that name," Shane commented. "Wasn't your realm supposed to be sealed after you lost in a certain duel?"

"It was, but a lady came and said that if I killed a bunch of people, she'd unseal the book!" Cally put her hand to her chin. "I agreed, since she said that instead of killing them, I could instead trap them here forever to have some new friends!" She brightened. "Come to think of it, her description of the people fits all of you!"

"Oh great," Leigh groaned.

"Today's not our lucky day," Ace muttered.

"If you think we're just going to stay here-" Chasity started.

Angela cut her off abruptly by stomping over to Cally and saying, "You're a selfish little brat!"

Cally's eyes widened. "What did you just call me?"

"A selfish little brat! You can't make friends by locking them in a giant book!" Angela ranted. "You have to treat them nicely and respect what they want, or they won't like you! And with how you're acting, nobody would like you!"

"Oh yeah? Well nobody would like you either, you stupid idiot!" Cally retorted.

"I'm not stupid or an idiot! Can you do multiplication yet?" Cally remained silent. "Thought so!"

"How'd we get into this situation?" Jin grumbled.

Naomi hid behind Courtney. "I d-don't like a-arguments…"

"Me either. Especially high-pitched ones," Leigh complained, covering her ears.

"I may not be able to multiply, but I'm an expert card player! You don't even have a deck!" Cally said.

"Oh yeah?" Angela held out her arm, causing a miniature Duel Disk to appear on it with a deck inserted. "Then what'd you call this?"

"No fair!" Cally flung out her arm, causing her Duel Disk to unfold. "Fine then! I'll show you who's superior through a duel!"

"You'd better be ready to lose!" Angela said as hers opened too.

The group watched in disbelief from the sidelines. Ace eventually broke their silence by saying, "She can duel?"

"I wasn't sure if she'd be able to in this state, but it looks like it," Shane said.

"I hope she's as good now as she was before," Courtney said. "When she was an adult, she dueled well. Now…"

"Let us give her a chance," Arcadia suggested. "If she truly is the Guardian of Teknisk Wereld, I do not see why her dueling powers would decrease."

"That's true," Lance agreed. "We'll leave it to her."

Cally whistled. "Ally, get ready to help!" Her alligator jumped next to her, snickering.

"I've got a helper too! Sera, let's go!" Angela said.

"Affirmative." Sera took her place next to Angela, expression blank as usual.

Angela: 8000

Cally: 8000

"You think I'm selfish? Well, you're wrong! And to prove it, you can go first!" Cally said.

"You'll regret it! I summon Birdman (1800/600) and lay a card down!"

Ace raised an eyebrow. "Birdman?"

"She probably didn't change her deck that much," Shane said. "I remember that card from the books."

"We'll know once we see her trump card," Chasity stated.

"Your silly Birdman won't stop me!" Cally swore. "I play Toon Index! It allows me to get a card from my deck with the word 'Toon' in it. I get Toon World and play it!"

Angela gave the book that popped up an unimpressed look. "What's that do?"

"It costs me 1000 Life Points to play."

Angela: 8000

Cally: 7000

Angela stared at her. "…That's it?"

Cally laughed. "It has other benefits, like this! I summon Toon Masked Automan! (900/1400) Toon monsters usually can't attack when I summon them, but Ally lets them attack right away. When I have Toon World out, they can attack directly! So my Toon Masked Automan will go around your Birdman to attack!"

The wacky monster slipped past Angela's defenses to smack her. She yelped at the blow, despite looking unharmed.

Angela: 7100

Cally: 7000

"That's not fair!" Angela said, pouting.

"It totally is fair! If Toon World is destroyed, my monsters go with it, so they aren't cheap! Also, whenever my Toon Masked Automan does damage to you, I get to draw a card." Cally did so. "I'll lay one down and end my turn!"

"I'll still win, even if your monsters are unfair!" Angela said. "I summon Burning Bird (1000/800) and attack Automan with Birdman!"

"You can't hit my Toons that easily!" Cally told her. "I activate a trap, Toon Defense! When you attack a Toon of level four or lower, I can choose to be attacked directly instead!"

Angela blinked. "That's going to hurt you more. Not that I care! Burning Bird attacks too!"

"I'll take that attack directly too!"

Angela: 7100

Cally: 4200

"I'm done then," Angela said.

"You'll regret facing me now! I play Cost Down! By discarding a card-Toon Mermaid this time-all monsters in my hand have their levels lowered by two! That lets me bring out Toon Demon Summon without a sacrifice!" (2500/1200)

"That thing looks stupid," Angela remarked as the cartoonish demon appeared.

"No it doesn't! You're just jealous that my monsters are better than yours!" Cally taunted. "I attack directly with both my Toons!"

The Toon Masked Automan did little damage again, but the Toon Demon Summon's electricity attack was far more damaging. Angela cried out as she was hit, but still stood strong afterwards.

Angela: 3700

Cally: 4200

"You're going to regret not destroying my monsters!" Angela declared. "Because I'm going to sacrifice them for Phoenix God of Nephthys!" (2400/1600)

The onlookers watched in wonder as the golden phoenix emerged and gave a piercing shriek. Cally appeared slightly nervous, yet tried to keep a bold front. "So what? It's not strong enough to defeat my Toon Demon Summon!"

"It can destroy your Automan though! Phoenix attacks!"

Cally winced as her Automan was burned away. "I don't like losing him, but I can't afford to take that hit directly."

Angela: 3700

Cally: 2700

"Now it's time for my master plan!" Angela announced. "I play Iron Cage of Nightmares, so that neither of us can attack for two turns! Then I activate my trap card, Destroying Ring! It destroys my Phoenix and does 1000 damage to both of us!"

"What? But that's ridiculous!" Cally was cut off by smoke flowing from the Destroying Ring, causing her to cough.

Angela: 2700

Cally: 1700

"You'll see what I'm doing next turn," Angela said with a grin.

Catching sight of some of the group member's doubtful looks, Shane said, "It was a smart move. Just watch."

"I can't attack, but I'll summon Toon Gemini Elf (1900/900) to increase my forces!"

"It won't save you from this! My Phoenix returns!" As she said that, the beast returned in a flare of flames. It flapped its mighty wings, causing their magic and trap slots to become encased in fire.

"What? How'd that happen?" Cally exclaimed.

"When Phoenix is destroyed by a card effect, it returns on my next standby phase. If that's successful, it destroys all magic and trap cards on the field!" Angela said triumphantly.

"But that means… My monsters!" Cally cried as her Toon Gemini Elf and Toon Demon Summon exploded.

"Without your Toon World, you're defenseless!" Angela said. "And my Iron Cage is gone too, allowing me to attack!"

"There is another benefit," Sera stated, holding her hand out. A fireball emerged from it to hit Cally.

"Ow! What was that for?" Cally demanded.

"For each magic or trap card on my master's field that is destroyed, you lose 500 Life Points," Sera said.

Angela: 2700

Cally: 1200

"Wow… I'll need to make use of that later," Angela said. "For now, Phoenix destroys you!"

"Eek!" Cally covered her face as the Phoenix rained fire upon her. It eventually cleared, leaving Cally to fall to her knees.

Angela: 2700

Cally: 0

"I hope I'm not the only one who's grateful that she won," Courtney said.

"You aren't, trust me," Kurtis assured.

"That'll teach you to mess with us!" Angela said.

To their surprise, instead of Cally arguing back, she burst into tears. "Whaaaaa! You're a big meanie!"

"Huh? No I'm not!" Angela protested, but Cally was not listening.

"I just wanted to have some friends! I've been stuck here forever and ever and Ally's the only one here! So please… don't leave me!" Cally continued to weep, much to the discomfort of everyone present.

Luckily for them, Angela handled it by approaching her and saying, "You have to understand that you can't make friends by trapping them here. But I know what it feels like to be alone."

"You do?" Cally asked.

"Yeah. That's why I'll be your friend. I'll come and play with you whenever I can." Angela held up her index finger. "But only on one condition! You aren't going to try bringing anyone else down here against their will. Okay?"

Cally was speechless for a moment, and then she bounced back up with a huge smile. "Okay! Thank you!"

"Wow, I'm surprised Angela's up for that," Leigh said.

"She's got a lot of energy," Lance replied. "I'm sure they'll be able to keep up with each other."

"Loneliness…" Ace muttered, but he said nothing else.

"So can you help us get out of here?" Angela asked her.

"Sure! I'll look forward to you coming back!" The group began to float upwards without warning. Their last sight was Cally waving to them.

The only sound Zack could hear were his footsteps as he walked around the canyon area. He stopped at a ledge that overlooked the deep chasm and frowned. "It's too quiet here. Max said there were monster attacks… So where would they be?"

A noise, akin to a cannon firing, answered his question. He spun around in time to see a towering creature, but could make out nothing more before he was hit with a blast of energy. The force caused him to begin to fall, until he was out of sight of his assailants.

"One target down, several more to go," the black cloaked man muttered.

To be continued…