Chapter Fourteen
Seto's patience was just about at an end as Toon Dark Magician Girl continued to laugh. "If anyone thinks I'm going to take being shown up by one of Pegasus's pathetic Toon monsters, they have another thing coming," he growled. "I found ways to defeat them before and I will again . . . especially if Yami Bakura will help me by making cards real." He looked to the former thief.
"I will most certainly try," Yami Bakura grunted. "I am not particularly fond of Toon monsters either."
"Really?" Tristan raised an eyebrow. "I thought you'd be all for cute things being demented."
"Oh, I love demented things, especially if it's something you wouldn't expect," Yami Bakura sneered. "But with their dismissal of the laws of physics, the Toons seem to make a mockery out of being demented like they do everything else."
"In some ways, I wonder if that isn't scarier than your serious Zombies and Fiends," Tristan said.
"Yeah! It's kinda like Happy Tree Friends or somethin'." Joey shuddered. "That thing is sick in a way that nothing else is because the things look cute and don't act cute!"
Atem was frowning, only half-listening to the strange conversation. "We know the Orichalcos is part of this madness," he said at last. "What if it's controlling the Toon Dark Magician Girl as well as any other Toons who are participating in this scheme?"
"That makes sense to me," Téa said. "Pegasus's cards were actually helpful to us when Anubis was trying to destroy everything!"
"Yes, but is this Toon Dark Magician Girl the one that belongs to Pegasus?" Yami Bakura pointed out.
Johnson nodded. "Gansley had a theory that there's a separate Duel Monster spirit for every copy of a card that exists. Maybe there's even more than the number of cards, since that would mean there are only four real Blue Eyes White Dragons."
"Well, in any case, we must find a way to defeat her and determine if the Orichalcos is indeed influencing her every move," Atem said.
"And just how are we gonna do that?!" Joey wailed.
"Toons aren't completely indestructible," Seto said. "There's loopholes."
"But you'll have to get through me to try using any of them," Blizzard Princess smirked, "and I promise that isn't going to be easy." She pointed her staff at the group.
Atem stepped out in front of the others. "Everyone without magic or a Duel Monster should get back," he ordered. "We don't want any of you getting hurt if Blizzard Princess attacks!"
"But we want to help too!" Téa protested.
"Try looking for the Orichalcos stash," Yami Bakura suggested. "Perhaps they have built their castle around it."
"Oh, like that wouldn't have a ton of security around it," Joey scowled.
Dartz looked from them back to the two masterminds. "You both surely know that I am not in agreement with your plans," he said. "Even if some of your underlings are unaware."
"Of course," Toon Dark Magician Girl said flippantly. "And we knew you'd eventually come here. We always planned that we'd use the Orichalcos on you once you got here, so you would fall under its spell again."
"No!" Chris screamed in horror.
Dartz took a step back. ". . . Is that why we kept finding Orichalcos stones in the strangest of places?"
"Well, if you'd gotten possessed by one, it sure would have helped our cause," Toon Dark Magician Girl giggled.
"Are you so sure?" Dartz retorted. "I don't recall wanting to spare the Toon Duel Monsters on my reign of terror."
"This particular strain of the Orichalcos loves us," Toon Dark Magician Girl said. "We're the ones who will remake the world in our image!"
"And I guess you're possessed by the Orichalcos too or you wouldn't be going along with this nutjob?" Crump said to Blizzard Princess. "I mean, you're perfect right now! Why the heck would you wanna be a Toon?!"
Blizzard Princess giggled. "The Orichalcos showed me it's a great idea. I'll be my best self!"
"And that's what the corrupted Vorse Raiders think about themselves?" Seto snorted. "I can't believe they want to be Toons!"
"Well . . . no," Toon Dark Magician Girl admitted. "The Orichalcos didn't tell them that would be their fate in the new world, only that they would be able to cause a lot of destruction."
"And instead of standing around talking about it, I want to get on with defeating all of you!" Blizzard Princess's staff started to glow.
Without warning she was blasted off her feet and to the floor. The staff flew out of her hands, spinning across the icy surface.
Mokuba darted out, grabbing the staff before she could recover. "You are not getting this back!" he snapped.
Magician's Valkyria glowered at the dazed Blizzard Princess, her own staff glowing from her attack. "Quick! We have to find that Orichalcos stone and get it away from her!" she exclaimed.
Toon Dark Magician Girl just looked amused. "Did you ever hear of an Orichalcos corruption that could be solved that easily?"
"No, actually," Dartz frowned. "That's been bothering me all along. It just hasn't been adding up, because in every other way the stones do act like the Orichalcos."
"But . . . I was corrupted and then saved," Magician's Valkyria protested.
"Or they wanted you to think that," Dartz countered. "I don't believe any of these stones are Orichalcos stones. I think they cast a spell on anyone who picks them up so that they think they're Orichalcos stones." He looked to their enemies. "You couldn't get hold of the real Orichalcos because it's gone, so you used sorcery and trickery to do what would be the next best thing for you. Rebellious Duel Monsters such as Vorse Raiders and Duel Monsters who want to live in peace would fall under the spell and then align with you and your goals, whereas otherwise they wouldn't have been interested in the least."
Toon Dark Magician Girl laughed. "It's awfully clever of you to put it all together like that. I guess we should have expected it of you, Dartz."
"So he's right?!" Joey exclaimed. "There is no Orichalcos?!"
"Well . . . that's a good thing, right?" Valon drawled.
"Maybe, but it would take a powerful spell to make everyone believe the stones are Orichalcos," Makarios said. "I think we've just wandered into a lot more trouble."
Critias snarled. "This is repugnant! The Orichalcos is one of the most evil forces in the world. And you want everyone to think you have it?!"
Toon Dark Magician Girl still looked entertained. "You know, it's pretty ironic. Toons like me are treated like a joke, but I'm the one who created the spell. None of this would be possible if not for me!"
"It's not something to be proud of," Téa shot back in disgust.
"And did you also put everyone at the palace in an enchanted sleep?!" Magician's Valkyria demanded.
"Well, something had to be done with them, and for some reason the stone Dark Magician Girl handled wasn't corrupting her," Toon Dark Magician Girl said. "That just seemed like the best solution for keeping them out of the way."
"Not that it's not great it didn't work, but I wonder why it didn't corrupt her," Crump said. "That's pretty weird, isn't it?"
"Maybe she has more protection, being the leader?" Tristan suggested.
"I suppose that's possible," Gansley said.
"I certainly didn't have such protection," Dartz grunted.
"Well, maybe it's a deliberate spell she cast because she remembered what happened to you and she didn't want to risk the same thing happening to her," Téa said.
"I really don't care," Toon Dark Magician Girl flippantly said.
Mokuba was still clutching Blizzard Princess's staff—which was likely the reason why Toon Dark Magician Girl continued to taunt instead of acting, just in case the staff would activate even though Mokuba couldn't manipulate its power. He frowned, pondering on the problem. "All you really want is to be accepted, though, right?" he said at last. "I mean, if the other Duel Monsters didn't shun you or snub you, you wouldn't wanna turn them all into Toons or make them all think they're being taken over by the Orichalcos. . . ."
"They never will!" she spat. "The only way any Duel Monsters will ever respect me is if they're Toons too!"
Téa looked to where Blizzard Princess was stumbling to her feet. "Did even she not accept you until you used a stone on her?"
Blizzard Princess looked away. "No. . . . I was just pretending before; I'm not corrupted by the stones. . . . I just felt bad for my friend. . . . No one ever gave her or the other Toons a fair chance. . . ."
"Well, if you could be more open-minded, others could too," Téa insisted. "This isn't the way!"
"Did you ever think maybe the problem goes both ways?" Joey spoke up. "Okay, so maybe the other Duel Monsters don't really like Toons, but did you ever really think about why? I mean, if all the Toons do is play pranks on everyone else, and that isn't how other Duel Monsters communicate, they probably think all the Toons hate them. It's not a great way to endear yourself to somebody."
"They're just having fun," Blizzard Princess said.
"It's only fun if everybody understands and likes it," Joey said. "If somebody doesn't like it and isn't having fun, they're probably gonna see it like bullying or cruelty and not harmless teasing, especially if they don't already know what you're really like and that you don't mean any harm."
Johnson looked impressed. Joey was smarter than he seemed sometimes. And right now, he was speaking entirely from his heart.
He also seemed to feel more generous than Lector felt like being at the moment. The man's eyes flashed as he looked from Toon Dark Magician Girl to Blizzard Princess. "I can't believe how selfish this whole plan is!" he snarled. "You go through all of this because you don't like being snubbed by the other Duel Monsters?! You could have killed Nesbitt when you corrupted Magician's Valkyria with that stone! He's only alive because she fought against it enough to turn her spell into an enchanted death!"
"He's right," Gansley growled.
Toon Dark Magician Girl looked away, glaring at the wall. "It wasn't supposed to happen like that."
"You never considered that maybe it would?!" Lector retorted. He clenched his fists. "I know my friends and I have done some terrible, very selfish things in our lives, things that could have completely ruined innocent people. We all regret those things now. But if people had died in your scheme, would you have regretted that?!"
". . . I don't know," Toon Dark Magician Girl admitted. "We just didn't plan for anything like that happening. . . ."
"And are all the Toons in on your plan?" Téa asked.
"No," Toon Dark Magician Girl said. "Some of them didn't understand the genius of it. They said it would only turn out with heartbreak for all of us."
"But they weren't about to try to stop you either?" Tristan frowned.
"They just went away to let us try," Blizzard Princess said.
"Most of them," Toon Dark Magician Girl said. "A few of them tried to fight us, but . . . we locked them up in the dungeon for their own good."
"Oh, real nice," Tristan scowled.
"Hey, if our plan worked, it would benefit every Toon!" Toon Dark Magician Girl snapped. "They would have seen that!"
"Maybe not, if they really didn't agree with your methods," Chris said.
"Well, what are you going to do now?" Toon Dark Magician Girl spat. "I'd say we're at a stalemate here, unless you can figure out how to use that staff."
"I was hoping we could resolve this without more fighting," Magician's Valkyria said.
"We can't," Toon Dark Magician Girl retorted. "I'm not interested in not fighting."
"Then what do we do?" Téa worried.
"A Mind Crush might be a really good idea about now," Joey gulped.
Toon Dark Magician Girl just laughed. "I can block your pathetic Mind Crush!"
"Not to mention that I've never tried to Mind Crush a Duel Monster," Atem said. "I don't even know if it would work."
". . . So if it's really a stalemate, does that mean we have to back away and not accomplish anything here?" Serenity said.
"No!" Nesbitt growled. "We can't let them go through with their plan! We have to stop it now!"
Lector looked to him with a start. "Nesbitt!?"
"I'm not going to do something rash," Nesbitt insisted. He grabbed Blizzard Princess's staff from Mokuba. "But if this is what's giving us our advantage, we should figure out how to use it!" He shoved it at Magician's Valkyria. "Here!"
She took it while still holding her own staff in her other hand. Blizzard Princess and Toon Dark Magician Girl began to back up.
"Set everyone free of your spells!" Magician's Valkyria ordered, pointing both staffs at them.
"We can't," Toon Dark Magician Girl protested through clenched teeth. "They'd all immediately turn on us, especially the Vorse Raiders!"
"You'd both be taken into royal custody," Critias retorted, his voice clipped. "We would fend off the Vorse Raiders and anyone else."
"And what are you so worried about anyway, if Toons can't be destroyed?" Mai frowned.
"I'm not a Toon," Blizzard Princess said. "We might not be able to outwit them long enough for both of us to escape safely."
"You should have thought of that before you decided to go through with your idiotic scheme," Seto snapped.
The two culprits looked at each other for a long moment, silently debating with each other on what to do. While they struggled, Nesbitt held out his ring. "Everyone here who has magic can bombard you all at once," he said. "If you were worried about Blizzard Princess's staff, you should also worry about that plus everything else."
The rest of the Big Five and Seto added their rings and Atem and Yami Bakura stepped forward as well, Yami Bakura sneering at the antagonists. "You would be well-advised to listen to us," he said.
"We can immediately teleport to the palace if you undo your spells," Atem said. "Then you won't have to face the bloodthirsty Vorse Raiders outside the doors."
At last Toon Dark Magician Girl scowled. "Fine." She waved her staff. Immediately outside came the sound of cursing and outraged Vorse Raiders.
Atem used the candle-holder to open a new portal in space. "Come on!" he ordered.
Timaeus and Hermos arrested Blizzard Princess and Toon Dark Magician Girl and marched them through the portal. Everyone else swiftly followed, and Atem closed the portal after them.
Everything was still deathly quiet at the palace. Lector tensed as he looked around. "You didn't undo the sleeping spell!" he accused.
"I can't undo that," Toon Dark Magician Girl insisted. "Only true love can do that."
"Fine!" Magician's Valkyria hurried over the grounds until she found Dark Magician Girl still lying in the grass. Kneeling next to her sister, she brushed the lighter blonde hair aside and kissed her cheek. "Please wake up. . . ."
Dark Magician Girl's eyes fluttered and opened. "Sister? . . . What . . . what happened?!" She knelt up in a flash. "I fell asleep at my post?!"
"It wasn't your fault," Magician's Valkyria said softly. All around them, the rest of the Duel Monsters were waking up too. "We have a lot to talk about."
xxxx
The next hours were filled with activity and explanations. Blizzard Princess and Toon Dark Magician Girl were taken to the dungeon while Dark Magician Girl was briefed on everything that had happened since the sleeping spell had been cast. Kuriboh found Gansley and snuggled him with a happy chirp. Mrs. Muto, still overwhelmed by everything, walked around with everyone and listened to the stories and patted Yugi's Duel Monsters, all the while hoping they would be going home soon.
"You're still going to come back and live with us, aren't you?" Makarios pleaded of Critias.
"Of course," Critias said. "But I wonder if we'll be needed here for a while to take care of the aftermath of this mess. All of the rebels are no doubt confused and many will be angry."
"We'll stay with you for as long as you need to be here," Aegeus said. "We won't leave you again."
Makarios gave a firm nod. "That's right!"
"I hope it won't take too long to set everything right," Dark Magician Girl sighed. "We'll have to gather all the Duel Monsters together and talk to them all at once."
"Oh, and Sister, there's some Toons who were imprisoned in the ice castle because they wouldn't go along with the plot," Magician's Valkyria remembered. "We should get them out."
"You guys and the Toons all really need to have some kind of a heart to heart," Joey said. "Maybe you can sort this whole mess out so that you can all be happy."
Tristan nodded. "There's probably been misunderstandings on both sides."
"No doubt," Gansley grunted.
"I'm going to re-evaluate how I've been handling the Toon situation," Dark Magician Girl agreed. "Maybe I haven't been fair."
"Any who didn't go along with the plan should certainly be accepted, at least," Mai said.
"I agree," Dark Magician Girl said.
"And if our part is done, we should really be getting home," Atem smiled at her.
"Yes, you should." She smiled back. "Thank you so much. . . . All of you. I hope we'll be seeing you again soon, under more peaceful circumstances."
"That would be wonderful," Mako said. "I still hope to see all the things that came to mean so much to my father while he was here. Thank you for preserving his life."
Akio nodded. "We will always be in your debt. And yours," he added, looking to Nesbitt.
Nesbitt went red. "Don't feel like that about it," he grunted, awkward. "I did it because I wanted to protect you."
Atem crafted a portal that would lead back to the Turtle Game Shop. "Let's go, everyone."
They started to troop through in relief. Téa paused, looking back. "What do you think's going to happen to Blizzard Princess and Toon Dark Magician Girl?" she asked.
Dark Magician Girl sighed. "That depends on if they're willing to make recompense. If not, well . . . they'll probably be in the dungeon a long time. But if they are ready to repent, they can join the talks with all the other Toons to try to find a solution."
"Toon Dark Magician Girl still seemed pretty bitter," Téa said. "I'm not sure she's ready."
"Blizzard Princess might listen to reason, though, and she might be able to help her friend," Dark Magician Girl said.
Mokuba smiled a bit. "Friends can really help with stuff like that."
"Yes," Lector said, laying a hand on the boy's shoulder. "They most certainly can."
Mokuba turned and hugged him.
Makarios lingered by the portal. "Thank you so much for reuniting us with Critias, Mokuba," he said. "Speaking of debts, we're all in yours."
"Aww, I just wanted to see brothers get together again," Mokuba smiled. "Brothers should never have to be apart like you guys had to be for so long."
"Still, if there's anything we can ever do for your family, don't hesitate to ask," Critias said.
"I'll remember that," Mokuba said.
It was only after everyone had said their Goodbyes and gone through the portal and Atem had sealed it again that they realized something very important.
"Uh . . . Atem?" Yugi blinked.
"Yes, Yugi?" Atem started to ask. But then he saw. ". . . Oh."
Kuriboh happily bounced in the air with the rest of the Kuriboh Brothers.
"They came over with us," Yugi said with a sheepish grin as he rubbed the back of his neck.
". . . And so did Revival Jam," Marik realized. The blue Duel Monster was weaving back and forth, seeming very pleased with himself.
"Well, it's not the first time they've wanted to visit," Serenity smiled.
"No, but this time the portal is sealed," Atem said. "Last time, it was open constantly so they could move back and forth."
The Kuribohs chirred, while Revival Jam continued to rock.
"I don't think they care," Marik chuckled.
Mrs. Muto blanched. "They're all staying here?!"
Yugi looked awkward. "That's okay, isn't it? Kuriboh's been here before. . . ."
"Yes, but now he brought his whole family!" Mrs. Muto exclaimed.
Yugi rubbed the back of his head. "Well . . . it should be just like having five cats visit."
"Five very long-haired cats," Valon interjected. "You should see the hairballs just one leaves!"
Mrs. Muto looked ready to faint. ". . . They're house-broken, I hope," she groaned. "Otherwise, that portal opens back up right now!"
Now the Kuribohs sounded insulted.
"It's fine," Yugi tried to assure her. "They're really intelligent and they know how to manage."
Mrs. Muto sighed. "If you're sure. . . . I guess we can't really turn them away. . . ."
Yugi smiled. "Thanks, Mom."
Marik smiled as he picked up Revival Jam. "It will be nice to have them back again for a while. And thankfully, we're all here and safe."
Everyone concurred.