Stephanie's Crystal Beasts: Duelist Kingdom

by Princess Luka Vocalzal

Au. Lars' return is shattered when Stephanie returns home to find her family gone and an invitation to Duelist Kingdom in their place. Teaming up with a healed Jasper, a remorseful Bismuth and a reluctant Peridot and Lapis, Stephanie must keep her gem a secret as she climbs through the tournament to save her family, whilst aiding a new group of friends.

29. Chapter 29

Now I know I sound like a broken record, but I digress: I do not own Steven Universe or any of its original characters nor do I own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of its original characters, I can say, however, that I do own Stephanie, her yami, Primrose, and all OCs I chose to make, including original Crystal Beasts, i.e. Bismuth Beaver, Crystal Myths, i.e: Garnet Mother Time, and other original cards. If I did own Steven Universe, trust me, things would've been a lot different and if I own Yu-Gi-Oh there would've been a way for Atem to stay and have all his memories.

foxchick1: You must admit, grandmother and granddaughter share quite the surprising amount of quirks and the like in common despite never meeting for almost a decade and a half. As for the figure, well, that would be telling, now wouldn't it? ;P!

Derik Davis: For my unofficial polls, you just type in your chosen vote in your review, like picking a God Card for Stephanie. An official poll is usually up at the top of my author page. By the way, what's megalovania? Haven't heard of it, is it suppose to be some kind of dramatic sound effect?

frostlash: Quite the pacific though quite hilarious punishment, lol. Hope you like what I have in mind.

Screwball6580: I'm glad you like the chapter, was afraid it was a little lengthy and you're welcome for the shout-outs, I always did enjoy this particular part of chapters, almost feels like conversations outside of PMs. As for Diamond cards well...that would be telling, now wouldn't it?

Lady Twilight Prime: Its true, those two are easily the most adorable in the entire group, bar none. Did anyone ever tell you, you can be a bit scary in text format? Yeeeeesh! By any chance are you a Saw fan, ya know, the Jigsaw series? Just something about that part with Keith just struck me wit Saw-vibes.

Anywho, let's get on with the chapter!

---

"What's wrong, champ?" Joey asked tauntingly with a silly smirk on his face, "Don't tell me a pro like you is loosin' yer cool over an amateur like me?"

"Please," Bandit Keith scoffed trying to keep his composure, "This duel ain't even half over yet, and your already counting the prize money," Bandit Keith grinted his teeth in frustration, 'If don't wipe out all those monsters out quick, I'm going to be ruined!'

"Careful Joey!" Stephanie called out in warning, "Don't get cocky!"

"I got this Steph," Joey reassured her, "Don't worry."

"Why do I suddenly feel worried?" Stephanie questioned mostly to herself, making Star giggle. "Seems to me you might have the Diaz paranoia," Her grandmother smirked at her grandfather, who rolled his eyes as Pegasus snickered into his wine.

"This has got to be the closest match-up I've ever seen!" Tristan said with wide eyes as everyone kept their eyes on the duel. "Its defiantly what one would call 'nail-biting'," Peridot replied almost punching holes in the rail with how tightly she was gripping it.

"And with only fifty points separating their scores this really is anyone's game," Bakura added. "Talk about anxiety-wrecking," Yugi attempted to joke.

"Come on Joey!" Tea said, "It just comes down to these last few turns!"

"Don't give up now Joey!" Mokuba and Leon added. "You got this!" Lapis and Bismuth added.

"Your sister's counting on ya, make her proud!" Tristan added as well. "No prob," Joey replied with a thumbs up.

'The Peridot is right, this duel has turned into quite the nail-biter; Joey, a virtual unknown going card for card with the Intercontinental Champion, I wonder what's responsible for such stellar performances,' Pegasus thought to himself, glancing warily towards Marco and Star, whose eyes were almost glued to the duel, 'Perhaps my Millennium Eye can show me the answer.'

What he didn't realize was that Marco noticed the faint golden glow of magic of his Millennium Item and narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

Pegasus looked into Bandit Keith's mind and his amusement only grew once he found the reason Bandit Keith had entered in the first place, 'Ah yes, of course, Keith has been wading through a never-ending pool of misery since that defeat a handed him and now he seeks his revenge,' However his amusement instantly died as he uncovered the additional motive, 'I'm really hoping Joey wins...wait, is that girl nine or six?' As his rage bubbled his grip on his armrest and glass, until his glass broke in his hand, catching everyone off guard.

'Happy thoughts, happy thoughts, happy thoughts; kittens, kuribohs, toons!' Pegasus quickly thought trying to reign his temper, only way he can use any magic without the wand was bribe Glossyrick with pudding to give him temporary access to magic, but now wasn't the time to tip Star and Marco off that he had the book, no matter how much he wanted to Midnight Shriek the blonde monster into oblivion, like Eclipsa or anyone else would blame him.

He took a deep breath as he thought back to happier days...

(Flashback 1)

A 12-year-old Maximillion J. Pegasus sighed in boredom as he looked through his history book, dressed in a maroon button-up and dark navy pants. When a 12-year-old Cecilia 'Nimbusia' Angela Diaz-Butterfly burst into the den he was in, wearing a blue frilly sundress that had a pink sash tied around her waist.

"Maxi come on!" Cecilia said as she ran over and pulled him out of his seat. "Hey!" Maximillion yelped in surprise as the nearby maid looked over, startled, "What's going on Cecilia? I gotta study!"

"You're always studying!" Cecilia said as she pulled him out of the room and down the hall, "You're gonna hurt your head soon if you don't stop," She then opened the door she stopped at and pulled him in, spreading her arms open with a loud, "TA-DA!" Maximillion looked around and gasped.

All around the t.v. was a bunch of is favorite snacks; caramel corn, potato chips, black and red licorice, there were even two liter bottles of sodas, and the opening of Funny Bunny was playing on the screen.

Maximillion could only stare, mouth open, stunned, as Cecilia only watched his reaction excitedly, looking like she was about to blow as he managed to say, "Wha...?"

"I know how much you missed junk food ever since your dad got it in his head you need to lose weight and that you really love Funny Bunny and haven't been able to watch it lately," Cecilia explained bubbly, literally bouncing around him in circles as he watched, her tridents glowing with her pent up energy and happiness, "So, I set this up."

Maximillion was stunned to say the least, looking at her in awe, cheeks pinking, "You...you did this for me?"

She finally stopped bouncing, hair flying with the halt, blue eyes shining with sincerity, "Of course I did, silly! I hate seeing you so sad!"

Maximillion gasped softly in surprise, flushing darker, but smiled in gratitude, gently taking her hand, "Thanks Ceci..."

"Anytime!" She smiled back, brighter then the sun, before pulling him towards her set up, adding, "And I told you, when we're alone, just call me Nimbusia or Nimbi!"

He couldn't help smiling more openly as he allowed himself to be pulled along this time, "Okay, Nimbi..."

(Flashback 2)

Thirteen-year-old Maximillion J. Pegasus tensed from where he laid in the garden as a shadow loomed. He quickly tried to hide his sketchbook as he turned to see a sixteen-year-old Gregorio 'Greg' 'Shadow' Comet Diaz-Butterfly standing there, wand open and leaning on one shoulder like most wound a normal parasol. Waist-long dark brown hair fell in a thick, messy braid down his back and equally dark brown eyes smiled friendly down at him in greeting, "Hey, whatcha got there?"

Maximillion blushed darkly and looked away in shame as he tried to keep his sketchbook hidden, able to trust his voice, even as his light came back as Greg moved out of the way and now sat next to him. "Hey now, I won't bite, I know I throw a mean Crystal Barrage, but..." Greg tried to make light conversation, but Maximillion shuffled away a bit, still silent, but it gave Greg a glimpse of the page, a portrait of him. It wasn't complete, a rough draft, but it was pretty good. It had him in a spell-casting pose, one arm raised up, hair-billowing behind him, wand extended out and the canopy open, all from a subtle side-angle.

"Hey, is that me?" Greg asked making Maximillion a bit nervous, "That looks really amazing!"

Maximillion looked away again, still not daring to breath a word and it made Greg sigh, having a pretty good guess what was making the normally blunt and bold boy so reserved and skittish. It was times like this, despite his business brilliance, Greg really disliked Harold B. Pegasus, pacifically his idea of parenting.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to tell him," Greg reassured sincerely, making Maximillion glance up shyly, "Your dad, I mean," Greg sighed, setting the wand down and drew his knees to his chest with a reserved smile, "I get it, you hide what really makes you happy because you're scared no one's going to take you seriously or they'll get so upset at you," Maximillion's expression opened up with surprised-awe, "Guess that's one thing we have in common."

Maximillion relaxed a little and looked at his sketchbook forlornly.

"I've always loved music, ever since I was younger then you," Greg told him to Maximillion's furthered surprise, but the prince's eyes were on the sky, particularly a crescent-moon shaped cloud and a cloud shaped like a cactus, "Ever since I was little my Abuelo and Abuela loved teaching me all sorts of songs and tunes to play on the guitar, Papi and Mami have their own to share, but...its just not the same, you know?"

In way, Maximillion did know, in his father's absence, he had grown close to his late mother, who actually introduced and encouraged him into the word of art, particularly his interests in sketching and painting. While Harold had his own taste in the arts, Tanisha was much more open-minded. It was times like this he dearly missed her and the times they would spend just sitting out here in the garden, drawing whatever caught their eyes.

"Do..." Maximillion shifted and pushed his sketchbook towards him, catching Greg by surprise, "Do you want to see?"

Greg instantly smiled, wide and excited, "Yes, please!" Maximillion couldn't help smiling back in response as the sole Butterfly Prince began to carefully flip through his sketchbook.

(Flashback 3)

A still thirteen-year-old Maximillion limped into his room, body littered with bruises that made his entire being scream and ache in protest to so much as breathing. No sooner did he get a few steps into the room did his rapier hit the ground near his trembling feet as he shakily tried to get to his bed as his vision started to swim.

He made the stupidest mistake of being late to his fencing lessons, having lost all sense of time as he tried to capture a butterfly he had seen in his sketchbook, wanting to get it copied so he could color it and show Cecilia. She had said she had never seen a monarch butterfly before, so he wanted to capture one for her in his own unique way.

He also made the stupidest mistake of somehow putting his book in his bag and his father had seen it. Needless to say, Harold was not pleased.

Maximillion gasped in pain as his legs finally caved, but someone, two long-lithe, but strong arms, caught him before he could hit the ground. Despite is blurry vision and the ringing in his ears, he could clearly hear the soft, "Levitato." And can somewhat see the green shimmering aura of magic encase his bed and pull the sheets and comforter back as he was lifted like a infant.

He couldn't help the whimper of pain as he was set on the bed, wanting to pass out, but willed himself to look up, his vision continued to swim, but he could just vaguely make out the glowing green teardrops on his savoir's cheeks as she gently carded one hand through his hair and kept the other on his stomach, softly reciting something he couldn't make out as more green and gold lights flowed.

Soon sweet refill began to filter through his body and he couldn't help smiling, repeating mindlessly, "Thank you..."

The unknown young woman, who couldn't have been older then eighteen, just smiled, blue eyes gleaming softly in her magic's light against her dark curls, "Anytime, Hermanito*..." Before leaning to press a gently, familial kiss to the slumbering boy's forehead.

(Flashbacks End)

With one last breath, Pegasus opened his eyes and shook his head. He refused to lose his composure, not now. Especially not over someone so foul.

He then looked over to Joey, focusing back on his task, 'As for Joey...' Pegasus couldn't help a tiny smile as he saw Joey's deep love and devotion to his sister, as well as the developing bond between him and Stephanie during their time in the tournament, 'His sister and Stephanie, my, my...so while one is driven by bitter vengeance and dark lust, the other is motivated by love and friendship; why it's quite literally a battle of good vs evil; deal nor no, this duel only has one conclusion.'

Marco and Star looked at the man they had watched grow up along side their own children with concern, before sharing a look. Star sighed and gave a helpless shrug.

"Come on, let's continue this duel, dweeb," Bandit Keith said pulling the King and Queen back to the duel, "I've got plenty more machine monsters geared up and ready to steamroll your life-points," Joey furrowed his brows, but said nothing and let Keith keep going, "You're nothing but a speed bump on my way to facing Pegasus, and the same goes to your dweeb and puny friends of yours, Yugi and Stephanie." Both Marco and Star, as well as Pearl and the other Gems all tensed and frowned at the obvious aim at Stephanie.

Joey, however, let his shoulders relax as an amused smile spread across his face.

"Yeah right Keith," Joey scoffed. "What you say?" Bandit Keith demanded grinting his teeth.

"I got news for you pal, even if you beat me," Joey said stressing the 'if', "Which ya won't, if Yugi doesn't cream ya, Stephanie will, 'n' even if ya somehow by some miracle ya beat either of 'em, ya still have tah beat Rex or Kaiba," He then held up a finger, "One of whom is a National Championship runner-up," He then held up a second finger, "'N' the other's a World Champion, so good luck with that."

Stephanie and Yugi flushed pleasantly at the faith Joey showed in their skills, while Rex and Seto both blinked, clearly not expecting the sudden acknowledgement of their accomplishments, but smirked, seeing the intended intimidation had seemed to work a bit, judging from Keith's sudden paling at the reminder. Lapis smirked as Joey verbally defended himself and attacked Keith at the same time.

"Ya wanna why?" Joey continued, on a roll, "Because creepy, disgustin' old perverts who don't deserve the air they breath like you never win!"

"Perverts?" Everyone echoed aloud as Bandit Keith paled and Stephanie tensed. "Oi, watch who you're callin' old!" Bandit Keith shouted in annoyance, trying to draw attention away from the 'pervert' comment. "Joey!" Stephanie called.

"Stephanie, I know better than anyone else here save maybe Kaiba just how strong ya really are!" Joey countered giving her a pointed look, "You didn't bat an eye lid or give Panik any help or second chances after Jasper beat him, why give him a free pass?" Yugi and Co cringed at the reminder, while the others all looked confused and Jasper just looked indifferent, despite that small dots of teal that formed along her brow as she narrowed her eyes at the memory.

Stephanie looked down in response, unable to find the proper words to answer. Truth being, that moment where she purposely turned away from a life in need of help, it disturbed her; how she felt nothing at that exact moment; not fear, not concern, not even the littlest shred of sorrow of the life lost or a flutter of happiness that a psychotic, sadistic tormentor could no longer prey on anyone again, just nothing. Hell, even now, she still didn't feel as much remorse as she thought she would and it still scared her. That somehow she was falling prey to the dormant instincts that her mother somehow fought and ignored for millennia and slowly becoming the emotionless soldier Homeworld Quartzes were originally meant to be.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, the idea of her mother being like Jasper once and the chance she could become that had always been something of a hidden, however improbable, fear that started haunting her more the more she thought about her mother's decisions. It was the main reason she refused to let Primrose take action. If she could show so little care, what would her 'darker' half do?

"Stephanie?" Star questioned confused, but Stephanie didn't dare glance up.

"Joey?" Yugi questioned lost, but blinked when Yami suddenly growled, he glanced at his spiritual counterpart and almost flinched at the utterly murderous and down-right hate-filled glare Yami was giving Bandit Keith, recoiling slightly as wine-red hues darkened into a crimson reminiscent of fresh blood with unbridled rage as the Eye of Horus formed on Yami's forehead. A quick glance at the ground confirmed Yami's powers spiking with his anger as the shadows under everyone moved and lashed unnaturally and was glad everyone was so focused on the duel.

"You're cheap, low-blow, dirty, twisted tricks might get ya so far!" Joey continued his momentarily contorted with anger before he tried to calm down, jabbing a thumb to his chest, "But that's before someone with the right intentions show up! Like me 'n' like Yugi 'n' Stephanie too!"

"Oh yeah, we'll see about that," Bandit Keith said not looking too pleased with Joey's speech, "One card face-down, and I attack with this!" Bandit Keith summoned a new monster that sent a brief shiver down the Gems' spines, "My Barrel Dragon!"

It was clearly a mechanized dragon, all sleek, sharp black and dark grey armor with some indigo in the joints, armed with three, long, sleek cannons, one on each shoulder and the third replacing its upper-face. The cannons all glowed with an almost rainbow-light effect from its multiple colors.

Barrel Dragon. Attribute: DARK. Tribe: MACHINE/EFFECT. Lv: 7. ATK/DEF: 2600/2200

"Ya see with its triple-fire laser discharge system, it has three attacks, not just one," Bandit Keith explained his dragon's more unique ability. "Three attacks...but with twenty-six hundred attack points..." Peridot said aloud, eyes dilating in alarmed-realization, "That means-!"

"Say buh-bye to Wheeler's entire line of defense!" Bandit Keith grinned as Barrel Dragon charged its cannons, "Barrel Dragon, Proton Blast!" His dragon then blasted Garoozis and Axe Raider with brilliant green energy blasts from its cannons, destroying the both of them.

"Both...in just one shot..." Tristan said in shock as he, Tea, Bakura and Yugi watched in stunned-silence. The others in the balcony weren't all that stunned, as they had seen monsters like Barrel Dragon before and the Gems, Peridot and Jasper especially, had already seen weaponry that could hit multiple targets at once, this was simply the first time they've seen it on something that was technically, and arguably, sentient.

"Completely totaled them both..." Joey said in shock as his life points dropped.

Joey LPs: 850

"No wonder the clod was acting so confident!" Bismuth exclaimed, "Just look at the weaponry on that thing!"

"Joey really has his work cut out for him now," Tea said in worry. "I wouldn't be too sure of that," Maisie said noting Joey didn't look entirely too worried himself.

(Beach City, Sun Incinerator)

"Hey guys, what are the chances of beating that thing?" Kiki asked nervously as she stared at Barrel Dragon. "Depends on what monsters Wheeler has and what supports he has," Her sister answered.

"Supports?" Peedee asked. "Spells and Trap cards," Buck explained, "They're just as complex as Effect Monsters in their powers."

Kevin nodded in agreement, adding, "Some can increase your monsters power or decrease your opponents, be it temporarily or permanently, it depends on the card."

"And others can destroy monsters or send attacks right back to where they came from," Jamie put in, "Some even bring monsters back after they've been destroyed; its a complex game." The adults all nodded in agreement, already feeling a headache as they thought about it.

Lars hummed, a thought-full expression on his face, which Sadie caught, prompting her to ask, "Something wrong, Lars?"

"Just thinking..." Lars admitted in a soft, but steely tone that had Buck, Jenny, Kevin and Jamie tensing for a moment, especially after catching the furrowed-browed, dark-glint expression on the captain's face, "What did Wheeler mean when he called Keith a pervert?" He then added in thought, pupils flickering between the normal circular shape and a four-pointed one, the shadow of his chair flickering unnaturally without notice, 'And why do I get the feeling like I'm going to kill someone once I find out?'

(Duelist Kingdom)

Bandit Keith suddenly shivered and sneezed, prompting many to say, more or less out of politeness (guess who), "Bless you."

'Why do I get the feeling I just royally pissed off someone I really shouldn't have?' Bandit Keith wondered to himself, glancing around confused, but shrugged it off.

"Are ya done yet, Keith?" Joey questioned after drawing, "Cause I already know how tah beat yer toy blaster," Everyone gasped in surprise as Joey summoned a familiar animated clock-wizard, "Meet the master of the past 'n' future!"

"Time Magic!" Time Wizard chirped with a dramatic twirl of his staff, immediately reminding Star and Marco of Skywenne.

'The Time Wizard...' Bandit Keith thought, recognizing the creature. "You just had to create something time related, didn't you?" This time, it was Star who questioned Pegasus, who smiled innocently.

"The Time Wizard!" Tea and Lapis exclaimed. "That could work," Dorothy said with wide, surprised eyes. "Yeah, if that Time Roulette lands in the right place then Bandit Keith's dragon will rust and corrode," Rex said eyes narrowing at the very monster that handed Joey his victory against him, "Just like how it turned mine into a fossil."

(Beach City, Sun Incinerator)

"Holy shit," Buck said in shock. "So he has one those cards, huh?" Jenny remarked looking torn between amusement and concern. "This just got interesting," Lars mused with a smirk.

"What?" Lars' mother asked in confusion, "What's so unique about this card?"

"Time Wizard is known as one of biggest gamble monsters in the game," Jamie explained in the captain's place, "It all depends on where the hour lands, hence the term 'Time Roulette', if it lands on those red icons; Wheeler's monsters get stronger, while his opponent's gets weaker, but if it lands on a skull; it destroys itself and Wheeler's other monsters and he takes damage."

"But he can't take that much more damage," Connie said in concern.

(Duelist Kingdom)

"'N' I'm not done yet Keith," Joey continued as he summoned a dragon of his own, "I play the Baby Dragon in attack mode!"

His dragon was just as the name suggested, a clear juvenile, roughly the size of Leon or Mokuba, covered in orange scales with a creamy colored chest and neck, the classic bat-like wings and four digit claws and three digit clawed-feet with a distinctive almost dragon-like quality to its appearance and to finish its classic dragon look was a pair of horns on its head, matching the tiny spikes running down its neck to the tip of its tail. Its eyes were were a dark blue that shone with life as he gave a heartfelt war-cry.

Baby Dragon. Attribute: WIND. Tribe: DRAGON/NORMAL. Lv: 3. ATK/DEF: 1200/700

"Aaaah!" Star and Stephanie cooed with starry eyes, "So cute!" Making Baby Dragon face-fault, cheeks reddening in embarrassment with a tiny whine, making Barrel Dragon and Time Wizard chuckle in amusement, which in turn got Baby Dragon a little irritated at them, huffing with a pout.

"Now you got somethin' tah worry 'bout Keith," Joey continued, "That blaster of yers rustin' up 'n' this little guy growin' up!" He then called to his spellcaster, "Let's do this, go Time Roulette!" The arrow on his wizard's staff started to spin on the command and everyone watched intently.

"Of course, should that arrow land on a skull, then Wheeler has a lot more then that dragon to worry about," Seto commented, "Not only will his wizard destroy itself, but so will his own dragon and he'll be completely at Keith's mercy."

"Come on Joey!" Moukba and Leon cheered in turn, Lion yowling along trying to be supportive. "Guess it's all in Fates' hands now," Bakura remarked as Lapis put her hands together in prayer. "Stars, I know I don't do this or every really ask for much, but if you can just give Joey this one spin, I'd be eternally grateful!" Lapis said mostly to herself, gemstone feeling heavier then usual.

"We're all here for you!" Tea and Tristan called. 'Come on Time Wizard...' Joey thought. 'Don't land on a skull...' Yugi and Stephanie thought, dread building in their hearts as the roulette started to slow down. "Its slowing down!" Tea said in anxious-alarm.

'How exciting!' Star thought gently gripping her granddaughter's hand in comfort. 'Sure now how to make cards heart-pounding Maxi,' Marco remarked to himself eyes on the spinner as it slow slide past the skulls.

Everyone sighed in relief as it landed on one of the red time machines, Joey grinned, "Alright! Go Time Roulette!"

"Time Magic!" Time Wizard obeyed rising its staff up high and began to alter the field, creating a time warp to speed up time.

"Look! Keith's dragon is rusting up!" Tristan exclaimed as Barrel Dragon's sleek armor turned brown as it rusted from the amount of time that accelerated on the field, "It's losing power!'

Barrel Dragon. ATK/DEF: 1800/1400

"While Joey's dragon is gaining power as it evolves!" Tea added as Baby Dragon took a new form.

He aged straight from a juvenile dragon to an elderly one. His scales darken in hue till they turned a distinct brownish color, the cream darkening into a pinkish color as his body got bigger with age. He grew a goatee that was the same brownish color as his scales and his wings grew in size to match his new body.

Thousand Dragon. Attribute: WIND. Tribe: DRAGON/FUSION. ATK/DEF: 2400/2000

"Wow..." Was all Pearl, Marco and Star could say.

"Nice work Joey!" Yugi called with a grin. "The stage is set perfectly!" Stephanie added.

"Got it!" Joey replied before ordering, "Now Thousand Dragon, attack!" His dragon breathed a heavy gust of ash and hot air, destroying the ruined dragon, "Yer dragon's history!"

"But history repeats itself," Bandit Keith said cryptically with a chuckle, much to Joey's confusion, "Which is what happens when you face a deck loaded with all sorts of machine cards," He then revealed his face-down, "Like this trap for example."

Lapis and Joey's eyes widened, "A trap card."

"Say hello to my Time Machine," Bandit Keith said as a large black camber with a clock above the futuristic sliding doors appeared on the field. "You mean..." Joey said in alarm.

"That's right, my Time Machine has to the power to go back in time one full turn," Bandit Keith explained as steam clouds seeped out of the doors, "To bring back a monster you just destroyed." As the doors opened, Barrel Dragon stepped out, looking like Time Wizard never happened, not a sign of rust anywhere and back to full power.

"It looks brand spanking new!" Dorothy said with wide eyes. "Like nothing ever happened..." Jasper said also stunned.

"That's the power of time," Maisie said, "Its not elusive to just spellcasters."

"Go Proton Blast!" Bandit Keith ordered and with another green blast, Thousand Dragon was blasted to pieces.

"He's gone," Joey said in shock, "My dragon's gone..."

"And he's going to stay gone too, unless you got a Time Machine stashed away to bring him back," Bandit Keith chuckled, smirking, "But then he'd be coming back a baby dragon, now wouldn't he?"

"Huh?" Joey blinked before realizing what the older blonde male meant. "That's right, because the Time Machine can only bring back a monster back the way it was one turn before," Peridot remembered. "And because Barrel Dragon only rusted this turn, it came back how it was last turn," Yugi said frowning, "Completely unfazed by Joey's Time Wizard."

"This isn't good," Mako said in concern. "No, it isn't," Bismuth agreed.

"Punk, I knew you'd play that card," Bandit Keith gloated, "I saw you use it when you dueled Bonz in the graveyard, remember?"

"A duel is more then just about the cards ya use," Joey remarked. "Yeah, they're about backbone too," Bandit Keith retorted smugly with a smirk, "Which, judging from the look on your face when my dragon returned, you don't even have one."

"I'll play a monster in defense mode," Joey said placing a card face-down after drawing, "And that's it."

"That's it is right, cause my machines are going to keep on coming!" Bandit Keith grinned playing a new card, "Like this one, Slot Machine in attack mode!"

Keith's monster was exactly as the name suggested, a large yellow slot machine with yellow armored limbs with sharp, metal appendages that almost looked like claws and a blue dome for a head. Its classic three wheel-slots were all set with big red question marks.

Slot Machine. Attribute: DARK. Tribe: MACHINE. Lv: 7. ATK/DEF: 2000/2300

"Now Barrel Dragon, attack!" Bandit Keith ordered and his metallic dragon complied, shooting down Joey's defense monster, blasting it to pieces.

(Beach City, Sun Incinerator)

"This isn't looking good for Mr. Wheeler," Mr. Smiley remarked. "Understatement, I bet the only reason Bandit Keith summoned that Slot Machine was to lure Wheeler into summoning a monster in attack mode to destroy it, just to turn around and destroy that monster with his Barrel Dragon," Connie hypothesized frowning.

"Is there anyway for Joey to turn this around?" Peedee asked in concern. "No way for us to say," Buck answered. "He's a new face to the pro-circuit, remember?" Jamie reminded curtly, "This is literally his debut, we have no idea what kind of monsters he has, much less magic or trap cards he can support them with."

"But you must admit," Lars mused with a tiny smile, "It will be interesting to see how Wheeler conquers this..." Connie cringed and looked uncomfortable at the use of the word 'conquers', immediately thinking of the Diamonds and the colony she had seen from the Jungle Moon incident.

(Duelist Kingdom)

"Poor Joey," Tea said in concern. "He's in a real tight spot right now," Tristan said. "Any ideas how Goldie Locks is going to get out of this one?" Jasper asked glancing over the group for an answer. "None whatsoever," Mako answered. "I can think of one combination of cards that could stand a chance," Rex remarked thoughtfully, but didn't look very hopeful of the fact, "But Wheeler doesn't have one of the cards to pull it off."

'Joey...you can do it...!' Stephanie thought with conviction, fists tightening in the pillow she was holding.

"Joey, believe in your cards!" Yugi called out supportively, "You're going to need them if you're going to beat that thing!"

"One card face down," Joey said, but then held up another, "And..." He then summoned his ace, "The Red Eyes Black Dragon in attack mode!" Red light and black electricity raced across Joey's field, making Barrel Dragon and Slot Machine recoil, as if afraid of getting electrocuted, before Joey's black-scaled dragon appeared in all its dark and fierce glory with a roar that shook the arena.

Marco and Star gasped in awe, but Star's eyes were wide in shocked-recognition as she thought, 'I know that beast!'

(Flashback)

A thirty-year-old Star sighed irritably as she trekked down the halls of restored and refurbished of what would one day be the First Castle Butterfly. Echo Creek had been generous in restoring her family's old home, but at times, it felt more like a crypt or a historical prison then a home. It came to a heading that for the sake of comprimse, especially with the more traditionalists of the Mewmans and the Monsters that just felt more comfortable with a Monarch, the Butterflies would continue to remain royalty with Eclipsa and Globgor as the figure heads for the Monster Faction, and Moon and River leading the Mewmans all over again. But now, the newly adult-once-again Meteora took her mother's place as one of the two Queens just as Star herself did for her mother with Marco as her king once Moon deemed ready to step down a little after her granddaughter's eighth birthday.

She had just finished nursing her baby boy, when an out-of-breath Mariposa had burst into the room, exclaiming that her daughter had once again disappeared. Star honestly hadn't been entirely surprised. That was her girl after all, and Winny had always preferred being at the Diaz's household then in the castle.

Unfortunately, as close as they were, Mari never could fine all of Winny's hiding places nor could she ever get used to the castle halls. Marco was still in a meeting with Tom and other Kings for some thing or other. And she knew Meteora didn't have the patience for Winny's games at that moment.

Thus, Star found herself searching for her now nine-year-old firstborn. Following well-hidden, meaningful little clues in the form of colorful sticky notes with a moon that had been shaded in to make a waxing crescent with a little message written on the back:

'Try to find me'

And to be honest, she was getting tired and frustrated. She knew her daughter was good a hiding, but usually it wasn't at her expanse, and Star knew when Winona Janna Diaz didn't want to be found, she wasn't.

The twenty-ninth sticky-note was usually the first clue to that.

There was a reason she and Eclipsa got along as well as they did.

But a glow of light caught her attention just as she passing a corridor and she looked back around the corner to see a door open. She lifted her skirts to hurry over, especially when she realized which door it was.

Sure enough, when she looked in, there was her little girl, standing before one of the many different tapestries that had been made over the years the Butterfly Family had been in power; the ones of the past from before Skywenne, Queen of Hours. The hall was long, long enough to hold the many tapestries and still have room for more. It was all lit up eeriely with silver candle holders, the kind mounted up high on the walls, casting a type of light and shadow that made the tapestries look older than they were.

And looking up at one in particular was a little nine-year-old girl with Latina-tanned skin and short, chocolate-brown curls that ghosted her shoulders with Star's round cheeks. She had a mole similar to Marco and Mariposa, and her eyes were the same dark brown, framed with thick, long, curly lashes and filled with a child-like wonder and curiosity as she looked up at the illustration woven into the decorative cloth. Dressed in a simple, but cute dark indigo dress with little bell-sleeves with a violet ribbon around her waist, she was well-deserving of her Butterfly name, for she almost blended in and vanished into the heavy shadows and dark blues of the room; would've too if it hadn't been for the candle-light.

"Winny, there you are," Star breathed in relief as she walked further into the room to retrieve her eldest, "What have Papi** and I say about venturing this far into the castle without someone?"

"Sorry Mami***," Little Winny apologized softly, eyes still on the tapestry before her, before asking, "Who she? And what is she riding?"

Star looked at the queen in questioned and felt her stomach tighten. This particular queen reminded her a bit of Eclipsa in her choice of color in her fashion, being predominantly black with grey and white. She honestly reminded Star of Earth's Victorian-era English women with her buisness-woman-like attire, despite being a Queen from an older era then even Solaria and Skywenne. She was dressed in a white buttoned-up blouse with a black necktie under a long black trench coat that was open and slipped a little off one shoulder and a black pencil skirt that was long enough given the era, reaching past her knees, but had a slit that traveled up the front of her left leg with a pair of charcoal grey leggings and a pair of black, four-inch-skinny-heeled leather boots with skull-shaped buckles made of silver, matching her fingerless gloves, her extensive nails were painted black.

She had a set of unique scars; one across one side of her face just above one of her cheek marks and another across her neck, as if her assailant tried to both disfigure her and slit her throat.

Her cheek marks were a snow-white pair of skulls. Outlined by a thick black border to separate the marks from her porcelain skin.

Her long hair was a silvery-grey color, reaching down her back just a bit past her waist. A single, thin braid hung over one shoulder.

Her face was set in a silly grin despite the fiery light in her chartreuse greenish-yellow eyes. Clearly having enjoyed her battle.

Her wand...it sent a chill like no other down Star's spine.

Her wand was a scythe. A scythe made from a skeleton.

The spine and lower backbone made the handle, making it taller than the Queen herself. The rib-cage sat near the top, wrapped in thorny vines, within it, embedded into the spine, was the crystal; a pear-cut diamond. The skull sat at the top-end, its empty sockets filled with fully-bloomed black roses, the delicate, rare-colored blossoms protruded from the holes, framed by dark emerald leaves, and the silvery blade gleamed from where it protruded from the back of the skull.

She stood atop a creature that could only exist in one's nightmare, the way the tapestry framed the Queen and Beast among-st a landscape of hellfire. The tapestry was a zoomed up shot of the queen standing proud and ready for battle atop the creature's head, but even that gave way to how big it must've been in real-life. A dragon.

Unlike Nachos. This was a true, one of a kind, pure-bred dragon of legend. Something out of an Earth story book or fantasy movie. Of sleek scales black as night with eyes red as freshly spilled blood. Maw open in what surely would've been a ground-razing roar or shriek.

Star didn't need to look down to known who it was.

It was a Queen that Star both respected and feared.

Someone she prayed to her daughter would never learn about:

"Her name was Asteria**** the Grim Reaper*****."

(Flashback End)

Star covered her mouth in shock, even if the tapestry had only been a head-shot of the dragon itself, there was no denying it. That was Asteria Butterfly's Dragon of Darkness, her acer, her one and true partner in battle. And somehow, Pegasus turned it into a card.

"Red Eyes..." Rex breathed as he looked up at his former dragon.

Red Eyes heard him and looked over at his previous master, its face appeared to soften a little, a gently croon filtered through the arena speakers. Before it turned back to its new opponents and its expression molded back into a determined one, patiently awaiting orders, growling menacingly.

"That Red Eyes maybe the best thing you got in your entire deck, dweeb," Bandit Keith grinned smugly, "But its still no match for my Barrel Dragon," The dragon in questioned leveled its cannons, aiming for Red Eyes, who shrieked as if daring it to attack, "Say adios to your best monster, punk!" He then ordered, "Proton Blast!"

Joey smirked as Barrel Dragon fired, "Not so fast Keith."

"What?" Bandit Keith asked startled. "If ya hadn't been so quick tah attack, ya would've noticed the trap I set fer ya," Joey quipped with a smile.

"A trap?" Bandit Keith said in shock as Joey revealed a card depicting what looked like a jester holding a glowing mirror in front of its face in one hand and its free hand was spread open, revealing the open eye on the palm.

"It's a little somethin' called Copycat," Joey explained as Bandit Keith stared in alarm, "It lets me copy one card that you've used and I choose to copy Metalmorph!" With the chosen card copied, Red Eyes began to change, "Now my Red Eyes Black Dragon is a Red Eyes Black Metal Dragon."

Red Eyes' scaled elongated oh so slightly, turning even sleeker and looking even sharper as they turned to metal. Its entire body seemed to gleam under the light, eyes glowing with bloodlust as it released a new roar, flaring its wings and lashing its tail in a show of power.

Red Eyes Black Metal Dragon. Attribute: DARK. Tribe: MACHINE/EFFECT. Lv: 8. ATK/DEF: 2800/2400

"Making him strong enough to withstand yer attack!" Joey exclaimed as the Proton Blast harmlessly bounced off Red Eyes, who growled.

"Now Keith's dragon is the one that's weaker!" Mokuba cheered. "Yah!" Leon cheered as well. "Now Keith's the one in trouble!" Yugi grinned as well as Lapis punped a fist into the air in glee.

"Red Eyes, counter attack!" Joey ordered as a glow of red and black filled his dragon's mouth, "Flash Flare Blast!" Red Eyes tilted his head back as he opened his jaws, creating a large red sphere of fire-like energy that cackled with black electricity, throwing his head forward, Red Eyes launched, obliterating Barrel Dragon. Bandit Keith gritted his teeth as his life points dropped once more.

Bandit Keith LPs: 900

"How do ya like that Keith?" Joey taunted, "Your triple blaster is now a pile of scrap metal," He then thought, 'And with my sister's sight on the line, I plan tah get even tougher on ya!'

"Check it out, with Keith's Barrel Dragon gone, Joey's Red Eyes is the toughest card on the block!" Tristan exclaimed. "Don't go counting your chickens until they hatch, Taylor," Maisie remarked much to the group's surprise. "Don't forget, Bandit Keith still has his Slot Machine," Mokuba added in the AI's defense, "I might not be a great duelist, but I know he didn't summon that thing without a reason."

Mokuba was proven right when Keith started to chuckle, then outright laugh before saying, "I knew you were an amateur, now I'm going to show you how come!"

"Huh?" Joey asked looking very lost, "Amateur? Correct me if I'm wrong, but...didn't I just blast yer best monster tah bits?"

"Keep talking tough guy," Bandit Keith said making his move, "I play this card face-down and switch my Slot Machine to defense mode." His yellow machine knelt down and crossed its metal arms in acceptance of the switch.

'He must be losing it, that thing can't take a blast from Red Eyes no matter which mode he's in,' Joey thought scratching his head, trying to figure out what Keith might have planned, but then shrugged, 'Ah well, guess he'll learn the hard way 'n' in retrospect, it'll just get me closer tah gettin' justice, so, who am I tah complain?' Out loud, he ordered, "First I'll play a card face down and now, Red Eyes will attack, Flash Flare Blast!"

With a screech, Red Eyes launched another attack at Slot Machine, but Bandit Keith smirked, "Told you, you were an amateur," He then flipped his face-down, callling out, "Go Seven-Completed!" The middle slot on Slot Machine's chest suddenly spun, like someone had pulled its lever, before slowing down and stopping on a big red seven.

Everyone, save Seto and Rex, gasped in surprise, Tea being the one to ask, "Why did that slot just switch to a seven?"

When the attack hit, the dust settled to reveal Slot Machine still standing without so much as a scratch or a dent, the slot still on a seven.

"That's because my Seven-Completed card raises either the defense or attack power of my Slot Machine by seven hundred points," Bandit Keith explained with a smug smirk, "I choose to raise my Slot Machine defense to three thousand."

Slot Machine. ATK/DEF: 2000/3000

"And my attack is lower then its defense," Joey said in horrified-realization, "I lose life points."

Joey LPs: 450

"Damn it!" Yugi cursed frowning, "And that Flash Flare Blast is the strongest attack Joey has too!"

"This isn't looking good," Jasper admitted. "Hey wait a minute!" Rex suddenly shouted getting everyone's attention, as he pointed at Yugi, "Muto just cursed and I don't see any shoes getting thrown at him!"

Stephanie titled her head in confusion, "I didn't hear any cursing," She turned to her grandparents, "Grandma?"

"I didn't hear any," Star answered instantly. "Grandpa?" Stephanie asked. Marco wrung out his ear, "Sorry."

"Seriously!" Rex shouted leaning on the rail dramatically, only to slip and nearly fall with a startled yell, making everyone else shout as Mako quickly grabbed the Dino Duelist and pulled him back to safety. "Perhaps it would best to calm down before someone actually hurts themselves?" Bakura suggested with a sweatdrop.

"Man this stinks!" Tristan said pounding a fist against the rail. Bismuth, confused, took a sniff in the air, before saying, "I don't smell anything bad." Making all the humans sigh.

"Want to know what else I got?" Bandit Keith asked Joey rhetorically, "Two more Seven-Completed cards in my deck; both able to raise my Slot Machine's attack or defense by another seven hundred points each."

"Yeah, well, just cause ya have 'em doesn't mean ya'll draw 'em, Keith!" Joey retorted snarkily. 'Wanna bet, punk?' Bandit Keith thought with a smirk as he drew his next card before discreetly slipping out a card from under his wristband.

"Hmm?" Pegasus and Marco both glanced over at the movement, but neither male said anything for different reasons.

"Well, well, lookie here," Bandit Keith smirked as he revealed a second Seven-Completed, "I think I'll take it for a spin; this time for my attack power."

The slot on the left spun like the first one did, slowly stopping on another seven and boosted Slot Machine's attack.

Slot Machine. ATK/DEF: 2700/3000

"One more of those Seven-Completed cards and that thing will be stronger then Joey's dragon!" Yugi said in alarm. "And any other monster Joey tries to throw at it!" Bakura added. "Is there any card Joey might have that can beat that thing?" Lapis asked in concern.

Stephanie instinctively clutched at her skirt, having a horrible feeling in her chest and a heavy feeling growing in the pit of her stomach, 'Joey...'

'Oh man, I gotta do somethin' quick or my life points will be wiped out,' Joey thought in worry. "Next I'll play Blast Sphere," Bandit Keith continued summoning his smallest monster thus far.

It was more or less a red sphere with a blue knob or button, resembling a bomb of sorts, and had five, spider-like, blade-hook legs.

Blast Sphere. Attribute: DARK. Tribe: MACHINE/EFFECT. Lv: 4. ATK/DEF: 1400/1400

"Now attack yourself to Joey's dragon," Bandit Keith ordered and Blast Sphere shot forward, wrapping its blade-like legs around its torso, startling Red Eyes as it tried to scratch Blast Sphere off, to no success.

Pearl had a good idea what it did as a familiar ticking sound started to fill the arena.

"Blast Sphere?" Joey asked in confusion. "Any ideas?" Tristan asked his school-mates. "Never heard of it," Tea replied.

"Once I end my turn, it'll self-destruct and deal twenty-nine-hundred points of damage to your dragon!" Bandit Keith smirked widely, glancing over at Stephanie, who looked very worried and down-right horrified by his words as she stared up at Red Eyes with alarm and concern, 'I'm going to enjoy this win!'

Everyone up in the balcony gasped in alarm as Joey cried out in shocked-horror, "Self-Destruct!"

"Alright, dweeb, I'm ending my turn right now," Bandit Keith smirked making Joey grit his teeth before quickly flipping his face down, not that Keith noticed as Blast Sphere went off, "Say bye-bye to your dragon!" Bandit Keith chuckled, only to be stunned when the smoke cleared to reveal Red Eyes was completely unharmed without so much as a scratch, claws gaining a metallic sheen.

"What the...this can't be real!" Bandit Keith exclaimed in shock. "Oh its real alright," Joey said revealing his face-down, "Thanks to my handy Dragon Nails' card; it increases my dragon's attack by six hundred points, making it stronger than yer Barrel Dragon."

Red Eyes Metal Dragon. ATK/DEF: 3400/2400

"So that means..." Bismuth grinned. "The blast got deflected!" Tristan finished for her, fist pumping at the turn around.

"You dweeb!" Bandit Keith snarled, "Now my life points go down!"

Bandit Keith LPs: 400

"Aww, yer gonna make me cry!" Joey said sarcastically, making Stephanie, Dorothy, Tea, Star, Mokuba, Leon, Lapis and Peridot giggle, while Bismuth outright cackled.

Even Pearl cracked a grin of amusement, which made Bakura flush upon noticing how it seemed to light up her face. Ryou couldn't bring himself to look away, almost completely forgetting about the duel as he focused on the elegant beauty of the pale Gem, eyes getting glazed and unfocused.

Tea noticed and gave the white-blonde a tiny poke, asking hesitantly, "Ugh...you okay Bakura?"

The spirit of the ring almost didn't notice it, but thankfully he did, and quickly snapped his lighter half out of it with a spiritual slap upside the head and a mental shout of, "RA DAMN IT ALL!" Which caused Ryou to nearly face-plant right into rail had he not caught himself.

Though, Yugi and Stephanie both jumped in surprise and looked around confused. Even Yami and Primrose looked perplexed.

'Now that's odd, I could've sworn I heard someone else up here,' Yugi thought confused. 'Weird, I could've sworn I heard someone curse,' Stephanie thought also confused as both petite teens scratched their heads in confoundment.

Their dark halves weren't much better, "I could've sworn I heard that thief..."

Akifa paled and quickly retreated back into the ring, but not before sparing one last longing glance towards Pearl.

Ryou rubbed the back of his head, smiling sheepishly at Tea, reassuring her, "Find, just fine!"

'Oh, I'll make you cry alright...' Bandit Keith thought darkly as he drew, pulling another card from his wristband like before, "Well, well, what do you know," He revealed another Seven-Completed, "I think I'll give it another spin; this time for my attack power!" The third and final slot spun and landed on another seven.

Slot Machine. ATK/DEF: 3400/3000

"Now both their monsters are equally matched in strength!" Bakura said anxiously. "It's a stalemate!" Bismuth exclaimed.

"But Joey has more life points," Leon pointed out. "Yeah, well, tides can turn," Mokuba replied as Lion purred thoughtfully.

"This next turn could decide the whole duel," Yugi said in worry as Joey looked to his hand for ideas to see his Shield and Sword magic card, the card that helped him bet Bonz.

'The Shield and Sword card, if I played this it would swap both monster's attack and defense points,' Joey thought out his options, 'But that would just help Keith out.' Joey then drew his next card and his eyes narrowed slightly at it, which the entire Royal Family noticed with interest as he set it down on the console face-down rather than add it to his hand.

"Come on, no card you play is going to save you, just end your turn," Bandit Keith told the younger blonde, who begrudgingly nodded to signal the end of his turn, "Thanks," Joey looked confused, "Now then, I think I'll end this duel with one magic card," He held up a spell card with the picture of a thief on it, "The Pillager."

Seto, Rex, Dorothy and Mako's eyes widened in surprise at the card and after a moment of recognition, so did Yugi, Ryou and Stephanie's eyes.

"The what?" Joey said confused. "The Pillager lets me look at your hand and steal one card from it," Bandit Keith explained much to Joey's shock. "Say what!" Joey shouted.

"Its like Exchange," Yugi and Stephanie murmured thoughtfully.

"C'mon, show 'em," Bandit Keith said. "Aw man," Joey groaned as he laid his cards down on certain panels on the console, showing them to Keith.

Bandit Keith looked over the presented cards carefully, eyes lighting up behind his sunglasses in recognition to a certain spell card, "The Shield and Sword card, perfect," He picked up his choice, "I think I'll take this one."

When the cards returned to Joey, the younger blonde growled as he realized which card the older duelist took.

"Go Shield and Sword!" Bandit Keith called playing the stolen card, "Swap attack points with defense points!" Stephanie and Lapis gasped in horror as the holograms of both monsters began to fizzle and blur with the effects of the card, the two's states flipping.

Red Eyes Metal Dragon. ATK/DEF: 2400/3400

Slot Machine. ATK/DEF: 3000/34000

(Beach City, Sun Incinerator)

"Oh no!" Connie and Peedee gasped in alarm. "If Bandit Keith's attack hits Wheeler's done for!" Kevin exclaimed. "By his own spell card, no less!" Jamie added in surprised-alarm.

"I predict the duel is about to draw to an alarming finish!" Padparascha yelped hands on her cheeks from her place at Lar's left. "What can he do?" Rhodonite asked in a panicky tone, eyes wide.

Lars remained silent, hands gripping his arm-rests tight.

(Duelist Kingdom)

"Now Slot Machine destroy his Red Eyes with Plasma Laser Cannon!" Bandit Keith ordered prompting his machine to raise its arms and charge with energy, preparing to attack as Red Eyes growled threateningly, 'Looks like she's mine!'

Joey quickly flipped his face-down while yelling, "Activate trap!"

But Bandit Keith either didn't hear or care, "Attack!" His machine fired, the attack made Red Eyes screech as clouds of dust were kicked up and Bandit Keith laughed wickedly, "I win!" But gasped in shock as a small figure was vaguely visible through the smoke, "No...way..."

Creepy laughter broke through as the smoke cleared to reveal a little, floating imp or creeper-fiend creature, it almost looked like a doll or puppet, with clammy-looking, bluish-tinted-grey skin, wearing what resembled a traditional green undertaker outfit, complete with a long hat that hid its eyes. A pickaxe, shovel and even a tombstone was strapped to its back. Clutched in its gloved hands was Bandit Keith's Time Machine card.

'The dweeb had a Graverobber card?' Bandit Keith though recoiling from the shock, 'And he used it to bring back my Time Machine trap!'

"Guess you should've paid more attention to my last turn Keith," Joey remarked, "Maybe then ya would've notice the little trap I set for ya."

"And since the Time Machine can bring back a monster from the previous turn..." Bandit Keith began as Lapis started to cackle along with Rex, Peridot, Bismuth, Jasper and, surprisingly, Ryou, Star and Marco, the blonde's eyes widened behind in glasses in horrified-realization, "That means-!"

"Bingo," Joey grinned widely as the Time Machine appeared on his field, "My dragon's back...!" The doors slowly opened, spilling out more fog across the field as two gleaming red eyes shone from within the dark chamber, "And his attack is higher then your defense, so good luck blockin' this!" Red Eyes released a guttural, vicious growl as it stepped out of the machine, stats back to how it was before Shield and Sword was used.

"Yeah!" Stephanie cheered leaping to her feet, fists above her head in elated-glee, much to her family's amusement. "Finish him!" Jasper and Bismuth called.

"Red Eyes counter-attack!" Joey ordered, "Flash Flare Blast!" His dragon unleashed its attack, destroying Slot Machine easily.

"He beat me..." Bandit Keith almost whispered in shock, dropping his remaining cards as his life points dropped for the final time, "He actually won..."

Bandit Keith LPs: 0

"Joey Wheeler!" Croquet announced, "You are the victor!"

"Hey, alright!" Joey grinned in victory. "He did it!" Lapis cheered loudly in glee, grabbing an equally elated Leon and started spinning around with him, making Leon laugh despite almost dropping his banner had Lion and Mokuba not grabbed it in time. "Joey!" Tea, Dorothy and Peridot cheered as everyone else smiled, even Jasper, Seto and Rex cracked little ones. "Yeah, you lose!" Tristan grinned jumping onto the rail in elation, only to nearly fall with a yell, making Bismuth, Ryou and Yugi yell as they rushed to grab him and pull him back.

(Beach City, Sun Incinerator)

"He did it!" Connie and Peedee cheered hugging each other in glee as the adults all sighed in relief. "Boo-yeah!" Kiki cheered.

"Now that was a heart-racing match," Jenny sighed hand over her rapidly beating heart. "Hair-raising is the term I'd use," Kevin chuckled along, hand on his chest as well. "More like blood-pumping," Jamie giggled.

"Same Sour Cream had to miss that," Buck sighed missing his blonde companion, "Where did he go anyways?"

"Said something about an appointment he can't miss," Kevin shrugged.

"What a twist!" The Right Rutile exclaimed, both grinning. "I never saw it coming!" The Left Rutile added.

Rhodonite let out of a groan of relieved-tension before fainting right out of her chair, prompting a chirp from Padparascha, "Someone catach Rhodonite, she's going to faint!"

Lars chuckled, softly patting his Sapphire's head, "A few seconds late, Paddy, but getting there." Making the orange Sapphire beam.

Lars then smiled knowingly towards the screen, 'Wonder what she thought.'

(Duelist Kingdom)

'Remarkable, Keith's rampage for revenge was halted by Joey's quest for a loved one,' Pegasus thought with a fond smile. 'He won...he actually won...' Pearl thought in pleasant surprise.

Meanwhile, up in the rafters above the arena, sitting casually on one of the beams was the cloaked figure from the hall, cloak now hanging back, reveal it to be a young woman in a brown, ankle-long, A-line skirt that was held in place with a simple black belt with a silver buckle and a white, long-sleeved, button-up blouse, a pair of white stockings and black dress shoes. With her hood still up, her face was still heavily shadowed, especially with the dark arena she was seated, short dark curls fell peeked out the folds.

The woman gave a tiny smile before it fell back into a tight frown before turning her head to her left to see Glossaryck floating nearby.

"Am I to assume this means your going through with it?" Glossaryck asked her arching a brow questioningly.

The woman huffed in response returning her attention to the arena below as a loud thud was heard from Bandit Keith slamming his on the console before shouting, "This duel doesn't count!"

Everyone looked to the older blonde confused and a bit exasperated.

"Doesn't count?" The Gems all repeated in confused-disbelief. "Seriously?" Mokuba asked in disbelief. "What now?" Rex asked unamused.

"Keith just doesn't know how to give up," Tristan remarked.

"The entry card Wheeler used isn't even his!" Bandit Keith stated matter-of-factly, causing the entire Butterfly family to arch a brow, "Therefore the duel shouldn't count, so he should be disqualified right here!"

(Beach City, Sun Incinerator)

"What a sore loser," Jenny muttered in disdain. "Wait...how would he know that?" Connie questioned as Rhodonite sat back into her chair.

(Duelist Kingdom)

"He ain't wrong," Joey admitted holding up his entry card, "I couldn't find my card anywhere, even with Lapis and Maisie's help."

"You nearly smothered me with a comforter!" Maisie reminded making many sweat-drop. "Maisie...how many times to do I have to remind you that you're a AI?" Seto questioned pinching the bridge of his nose, "You don't breath period."

"So Mai gave me hers," Joey continued before glaring at Bandit Keith, "So, tell me Keith, how could you have known this wasn't my card?" Bandit Keith gulped nervously, realizing he just put himself into worser corner, "Well, I'm all ears; after all, the only ones in that hallway besides me 'n' Mai was Lapis and Maisie."

"Yeah, how could Bandit Keith know that wasn't Joey's card?" Peridot asked suspiciously. "He was at the arena the entire time, he never left once," Bakura added hands on his hips. "The only way Keith could know that and be so sure Wheeler would never find is if..." Seto said as realization started to dawn on him and the other Finalists.

"Exactly, Kaiba-boy, Keith stole Joey's card," Pegasus revealed, "Its how he was so sure Joey would never be able to find it before the timer ran out."

"You snake, I knew you wouldn't make a bet like that without some kinda trick up yer slimey sleeve!" Joey yelled furiously, gaining everyone's confused-interest, even Stephanie and Glossaryck looked lost, while Bandit Keith paled even further. "Bet?" Tea questioned, "What bet?"

"Is that what they were talking about before all this started?" Bismuth wondered looking to Jasper, who shrugged.

"I don't know what your talkin' about!" Bandit Keith tried to back-track and deny. "Don't even try it!" Joey snapped furiously, "I might've failed Steph back at the Graveyard but time I-!" Joey cut himself off with a gasp and wide eyes as something finally clicked in his head.

He thought back to the Graveyard duel, particularly how close Bandit Keith had been to her and how from his position in the arena, he couldn't see Bandit Keith's hands very well. He then remembered Stephanie's teary and stressed out expression, and how upset she was even after Yami rescued her.

Without warning, Joey's eyes started to bleed red as he slammed his hands down in utter rage onto the console, making even Pegasus, Pearl, Bismuth and Jasper jump, startled as he almost screamed in fury, "I'M GOIN' TAH KILL YOU!" Bandit Keith recoiled nervously as everyone else gasped in shock, having never seen this sort of behavior from the normally laid-back blonde, even Seto was a bit put-off.

The only one who wasn't entirely stunned or put-off was Tristan, who turned a suspicious glare at Keith. The last time Joey acted like this was when some slime-ball teacher at Serenity's school was arrested for abuse of his students and Serenity had admitted to being physically abused, but thankfully nothing past a slap or being dragged by the hair. It wasn't until a doctor looked at her that Joey was able to cool his blood-lust.

"YOU TOUCHED HER THEN TOO, DIDN'T YOU!" Joey roared his accusation and a sharp chill filled the air as the weight of it settled into the minds of everyone else and Stephanie looked stunned and about to cry.

"WHAAAAAAT?!" Was the united scream of everyone else present, save for a very confused and lost Leon, who was too young and innocent to understand the gravity of the situation, Mokuba only understood because Seto was paranoid and wanted his brother prepared since being a Kaiba put a big fat target on the boy's back. The figure above next to Glossaryck jaw-dropped in shock, before a murderous green aura surrounded her as she ground her teeth together, and Lion snarled angrily.

"Joey, I-" Stephanie tried to talk. "BUT NOTHIN' STEPHANIE!" Joey interrupted, "IF I DIDN'T SHOW UP HE WOULD'VE RAPED YOU!"

"WHAT?" Everyone screamed again, now glaring furiously at Keith, who shrunk back as both royals stood up. But Star immediately turned to her granddaughter and hugged her as tears ran down the girl's cheeks, "Why didn't you-?"

"I...I didn't...want...t-to look...weak..." Stephanie admitted softly, the sound pulled at her grandparents and Pegasus' chests and made Pearl's gemstone feel like it was going to crack, "I'm not...I'm not suppose to be weak! I-I..." Stephanie whimpered into her grandmother's hold and hugged her back as she sobbed, the trauma of the experience finally taking its toll. Star's heart broke as she held her granddaughter tight, gently rubbed her back.

Tea and Dorothy had their mouths covered in shocked-horror as understanding and horror past through everyone on the balcony, save Leon who was still confused. Anger, however, quickly filled the males as well as the Gems very quickly.

"How did no one notice...?" Tristan questioned himself. "Her skirt...!" Peridot realized, making them look to her, "He must've used her dress' skirt and the angle they were sitting at to hide his hand."

Ryou glowered uncharacteristically that surprised his dark half because it was all Ryou, "How much you want to bet he was touching her last night too during dinner?"

Everyone fell silent, until Mako admitted, "That would explain why she was so tense..."

A crunching made everyone looked over at Yugi only to recoil in shock to see he had actually dug holes into the marble rail with his fingers. Tristan looked to Yugi's face and instantly recoiled, clamping a hand over his mouth to suppress his sound of shocked-alarm.

Yugi's face was contorted into the ugliest, most furious and vicious snarl Tristan had ever seen. The brunette didn't even know the petite male was capable of frowning, much less snarling. But what sent a shiver down Tristan's spine was his eyes. His little friends innocent eyes were no longer purple nor were they red like Yami's, no, they were a brilliant golden yellow, the pupils slit narrowly, like a cat's or lizard's and they were filled with a murderous rage.

"I'm going...to...kill him...!" Yugi growled out, making even Yami a bit nervous as the darkness seemed to grow in his normally positive lighter half, yet it didn't feel like corruptive Shadow Magic, it felt more...natural, like whatever this presence was, it was all Yugi.

"HE MADE A BET WITH ME THAT IF I WON HE'D COME CLEAN AND EVEN REVEAL THE NAMES OF HIS PREVIOUS VICTIMS!" Joey continued making Stephanie gasp, "YOU WEREN'T THE FIRST ONE HE DID THIS TO, STEPH, HE WAS GOIN' TAH BULLY YA INTAH SILENCE JUST LIKE THE REST OF 'EM!"

Stephanie stared in shock before her own anger started to boil as she turned a stern, teary expression towards Keith, her fear starting to disappear.

(Beach City, Sun Incinerator)

"He almost...WHAAAT!" Everyone screamed out in shocked-rage.

"THIS is why I wanted to go!" Jenny yelled angrily as tiny embers started to lick her fingertips, a quick poke from a surprisingly calm Jamie got her to notice and quickly put them out before anyone else could notice. "WHY I OUTTA!" Kevin, to everyone's surprise, looked like he was about to march out and get to Duelist Kingdom, but Buck was quick to grab him, "LET ME AT HIM, LET ME AT HIM! BUCK, GOD DAMIT IT, DON'T HOLD ME BACK! YOU HEARD WHAT WHEELER JUST SAID!"

"How are you two so calm?" Mr. Pizza asked in disbelief, his own anger for the girl who had become his honorary niece very obvious on his face and in his tone. "Because before Steph left I did a little research; guess who married the youngest Butterfly sibling before she past away from pulmonary hypertension******," Jamie retorted.

For a moment everything was silent as the adults mostly processed this, but before long everyone made the connection and immediately freaked out.

Ronaldo was the one to shout, "PEGASUS IS STEPHANIE'S UNCLE?!"

Connie was reeling, but confused, 'Why would her own uncle, blood-related or not, but her through this?'

But Sadie was quick to notice something, "Hey, where did Lars go?" Everyone looked over in surprise to see that Lars was in fact gone and sitting in his seat was none other than Padparascha, who was looking rather confused, like she had no idea how she got in the captain's chair.

(Duelist Kingdom)

"I'M WILLIN' TAH BET STEALIN' MAH CARD WASN'T THE ONLY THING YA DID!" Joey finsihed, still almost screaming.

"On the nose with that statement would be an understatement, Joey-boy," Pegasus spoke up, looking calm, but you could tell how angry he really was by how hard he was gripping his glass and arm-rest and the look in his single eye, "Not only did he steal your entry card, but hid his two extra Seven-Completed cards beneath his wristbands."

"So you noticed too, Maxi," Marco mused eyes glaring down the older blonde duelist, "I suppose with this...cheap strategy allowed Bandit Keith to power up his Slot Machine whenever he deemed fit."

"Just when I thought ya couldn't sink lower..." Joey growled throat starting to hurt from all the yelling, "How's the dirt taste?"

Bandit Keith was tongue-tied for a moment, just when he was about to open his mouth, Stephanie suddenly spoke out, "He threatened Mokuba and Leon."

For a brief moment, it was silent, before Seto screamed so loudly, the bottle in Sheppard's hands actually broke, "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!" Mokuba trembled from shock as he held onto Lion, who purred, trying to calm the boy down. "Why I outta-!" Maisie whirled angrily, camera lights flashing.

"I happened to know some ladies who have quite the number of things to say to you Bandit Keith," Pegasus smirked wickedly, which made Bandit Keith both confused and nervous, thinking he meant the Gems up in the balcony.

The door opened and Keith turned to see it was Ruby, who looked very pissed off and next to her was, from what he had heard in the shower, had to be Amethyst. Her long lavender hair was pulled up into a ponytail, her mauve skin made her stand out the most compared to the other Gems, her muscle shirt and tight pants made her the most causal one out of all of them.

Amethyst summoned her whip and cracked it, making everyone who wasn't used to it jump in fright, before she swung, wrapping it around a startled Keith's legs. Ruby then grabbed Keith by the arms when Amethyst used her whip to pull him closer and with surprising strength the two started carrying him away flailing and screaming as everyone watched.

Clapping made Joey turn to Pegasus, who stood, "Congratulations on your win; you should be very proud of yourself for bringing Bandit Keith's reign of terror to a very efficient end." Joey opened his mouth to reply but startled cries from Ruby and Amethyst made him turn quickly to see Bandit Keith had somehow gotten free and was running back towards the arena.

Startled, Joey shouted, "Keith, wh-!"

But Bandit Keith ignored him, using the arena for momentum as he jumped towards Pegasus with an enraged yell, "Pegasus!"

Everyone gasped in alarm, Marco reacting first when he saw the thug reaching for his son-in-laws, instincts on high, "Max!" He quickly grabbed the startled man's wrist and swung him away, unfortunately turning his back to Keith as the man landed. Marco grunted as his arm was grabbed instead and twisted behind his back before the familiar biting cold steel of a knife was pressed to his neck.

"Marco!" Star cried with wide eyes as everyone else gasped in alarm. "Grandpa!" Stephanie cried horrified.

Hearing how he threatened two little kids and now seeing the King being threatened, the woman's patience snapped. Glossaryck looked up as the woman stood, teeth angrily bared as a dark green light began to shine on her cheeks, magic beginning to form around her hands, only for a hand to suddenly shoot out from the darkness and yank her in, making her yelp in surprise as she disappeared into the shadows.

Glossaryck, as always, was unfazed by what actually happened and just blinked, "Huh, that's new."

"This is a very poor mistake Keith," Pegasus warned angrily as he recovered from being manhandled. "Really, I happened to think this is a smart idea and quite simple," Bandit Keith retorted, "Its either hand over the prize money or the old man gets it."

Stephanie covered her mouth, tears welling a-new as Pearl hesitated, not sure what to do as she still had the collar on.

A chuckle suddenly escaped Marco as a smirk fell across his face, much to Bandit Keith's irritation, "What's so funny?"

"You say this like you assume I'm just an ordinary old man," Marco commented much to Bandit Keith's surprise before Marco sudden used his free arm to grab the hand with the knife and squeezed with all his strength, making Bandit Keith cry in pain and drop the knife and everyone cringed at the tall-tale sound of bone breaking. Marco then headbutted his captor, effectively breaking the man's nose, making him loosen his grip on Marco's arm and step back, allowing the king to turn.

"This is for touching my granddaughter!" Marco hissed before using his now free hand to punch Keith in the face, then used both hands to throw the man like he was a feather or a doll across the room.

Marco then turned when he felt a sudden spike in magic and saw it was coming from his granddaughter, who was clenching her hands tight, her gemstone now visible as her clothes fluttered in a nonexistent wind, strangely, it was glowing orange.

"Stay...away..." Stephanie said tense, "From my...FAMILY!" She screamed the last part as her skin glowed pink, creating a sonic scream of sorts that cracked the stone around her and sent Star, Pegasus and Sheppard flying as the glow intensified, startling everyone.

As the pink glow to her skin receded, Stephanie looked down at her gemstone in bewilderment, "Wh-what's going on...?" She cried out at the warm feeling that spread through out her body before an object was ejected from her gemstone.

Marco and Star gasped at the familiar black and nebula-themed parasol that appeared from the gemstone, Pegasus was dumbfounded and was also slapping himself, 'So that's where he hid it.'

Stephanie stared in shock, having never seen the parasol before before blacking out, making everyone shout in alarm, "Stephanie!"

Star slowly stepped as the parasol floated to the ground before picking it up.

Everyone watched in shocked-awe as the parasol became surrounded in a flurry golden stars and wisps of blue energy, shortening and changing its appearance.

The handle was purple and darker purple diagonal stripes with yellow tip at the end with a heart-shaped, pink crystal. The bell was yellow with a pinkish-red heart on top of it. Its main part was purple and circular with a circular, light blue face-plate that had a pentagon pattern. In the center of the face-plate was a golden star crystal surrounded by small pink hearts and on either side of the wand was a pair of large, soft, white wings that resembled butterfly wings with Persian blue hearts near the top and at the top of the wand was a pair of red devil horns.

Star shivered with a tiny smile at the familiar feeling of wielding the wand again before glaring at Bandit Keith, who looked up as she stepped up to tower over him, wand glowing with power as she levels the wand at him and says in an emotionless voice, "Dreamless Sleep." The wand's crystal emitted a pale purple glow that struck Keith in the head and he instant fell into a deep sleep.

"Is she okay?" Yugi asked as he ran into the balcony, having rushed down the stairs from the other one to get over here to check on Stephanie as Marco lifted her into his arms. "She'll be fine, just a bit drained from using magic for the first time," Marco reassured the boy, who's features were back to normal.

"What did you do to him?" Joey asked Star from his stunned placed at the arena. "It's called a simple little spelling spell, he won't be waking up for a while," Star answered as she stared down at the slumbering man, "Maximillion," Pegasus looked from Stephanie to the Queen, "I was going to let the Japanese authorities handle this, but now, I've changed my mind; he's going into Butterfly custody after this tournament." She turned and gave him a steely look, daring him to disagree or argue with her.

"Of course, Madre," Pegasus complied smirking, knowing Bandit Keith's days as a free man were as good as over, "Whatever you wish."

Amethyst and Ruby showed up and grabbed Keith again, carrying him off by his arms and legs, Pearl went to help, but remembered the collar, she then turned looking like she wanted to run to Stephanie's side, but looked to Pegasus. Who arched a brow at her, as if daring her to do so. Pearl ground her teeth together in frustration.

Croquet cleared his throat, "The next round of the Semi-Finals will begin tomorrow once Princess Butterfly has recovered; Joey Wheeler will advanced to the next round of Block A."

Pearl summoned her hologram again and faded out Keith's picture and high-lighted Joey's like she did before with Yugi and Mai, she then made a duplicate picture of Joey and moved to the next block, showing his next opponent to Yugi once the next two duels were over.

'Yugi...' Joey thought with wide eyes turning to look at his best friend, who stood by the King's side, looking back at him. 'Joey...' Yugi thought torn, 'To save my grandfather...I...I have to duel...my best friend...'

(Unknown Location)

The woman stumbled for a moment as she pulled through the shadows into a new location, but easily got her footing once she realized what had happened, she quickly readjusted her hood as the light and magic receded. She turned to who had grabbed her, mouth set into an irritated scowl as she demanded in a heavily accented voice, "What that for?" Her English was choppy, but her grammer was fine.

The person who had grabbed her was dressed similarly in black, but wore a robe over their clothes that was trimmed with dark grey with the hood up, also heavily shadowing their face, save their jaw. But what skin was visible was strangely a dark charcoal grey, almost black as night or ink in hue, but in the dim candle-lit room, it was easier to tell what color it actually was. Around their waist was a thick dark grey belt that kept the robe closed and the robe itself almost resembled a Grim Reaper's appearance, the collar was trimmed with a pale, greyish white, matching the trim of the hem and sleeves.

"You were about to give away your cover, that's what!" The figure replied in a surprisingly young male voice, the woman was older and taller, but she didn't tower over him like Bismuth or Jasper did over most, they were actually close in height, his tone was slightly scolding and held plenty of anger, but was also understanding in her actions, "Its too soon for anyone to know your still on Earth!"

"What you expect me to do?" The woman demanded hands on her hips, "That bastarda*******-!"

"You think I'm not pissed off?" The male retorted in a dark hiss that made the woman recoil as if slapped, especially as the shadows around them started to move unnaturally, "Trust me, if I had my way, I'd be turning that rotten corpse of a human into dust and a puddle of flesh and blood beneath my feet right now; he'd now the true meaning of the phrase 'having the life scared out of you'!" He then took a deep breath, "But I can't, because its too early to give even potential clue to my existence yet!"

"You are too paranoid," The woman scoffed. "That's rich coming from you," The boy snorted leaning back on the desk in the room, arms crossed.

The entire room was an office, the entirety was decorated in a Gothic design, like something out of Jessica Helgerson Interior Design. All dark wood furniture, the bookshelves were filled with thick looking books of a wide variety of subjects; psychology, astronomy, biology, even mythology. An antique lamp at on the desktop, but it wasn't the modern day type of lamp, but an oil-burner one with an attractive shape to the glass that trapped the fire inside. The dark green walls were mounted either with silver-framed landscapes or candles. The desk chair was the most modern thing apart from the books, being made of plush, thick dark brown leather. The floor was hard wood of an even darker color then the furniture and the carpets at the desk and visitor chairs were a medium grey with spots of white made of soft, fuzzy material that felt great on the feet.

Sitting on the desk in front of the the stacks of paper and colored folders was a name plaque made of thick chestnut-wood and silver, which read:

'Blake Diamanto********, Principal'

"Did it ever occur to you what would happen if we were ever discovered?" The young man asked crossing one ankle over the other, she turned her head to show she was listening, "The moment the Crystal Gems get whiff of me, they're going to throw caution to the wind and try to get her here, because that's how badly any one Gem fears me when they so much as suspect I'm still in one piece! And the Butterflies!" He gave a dry, humorless laugh, "They're going to have questions; and who do you think they'll turn to when someone who's suppose be in some far away dimension having in exile is actually here on Earth?"

"Them," She hissed angrily, a ball of acid green magic formed around her hand before gave a furious shriek before throwing the ball at a bust in the shape of a certain scissor-smith-she-demon, blast it to bits and breathed heavily in her anger. The young man didn't appear very fazed by this, more annoyed as he sighed and pressed a button next to the plaque, calling, "Jorie*********, get the broom."

A young girl's voice replied, "Yes, sir."

"I see your starting to see my point," The young man remarked as the woman calmed down, "Forgive me my crassness, but get a grip on that temper or find a new partner."

The woman took a few breaths as the door opened and a young girl entered, carrying a broom, a rather calm and demure posture and expression about her. She was rather pretty, about fourteen-fifteen, with short rust-orange hair cut in a princess-style cut with blunt bangs to cover her forehead, her skin was a warm ivory color and her eyes were doed-shaped and an apricot-orange color.

She wore what appeared to be a traditional Japanese school uniform. The sailor shirt was a bold pitch black like the thread had been dyed in ink, trimmed at the collar and cuffs of the short loose, quarter-sleeves with cloud-grey. The skirt was the same black, but reached her knees in with a pair of ash-grey knee-socks and a pair of black ballet flats. Tied around her neck was a white necktie and pinned to the center of the knot was a shiny black diamond emblem. Atop her head she wore a shiny black beret with several layers of shiny black sheer material that fell partially over her face, almost like a veil.

The girl, Jorie, paused on her trek to the broken pieces of stone to bow respectfully to the young man, setting the broom aside to lift her skirt in a curtsy, "Sir," She then turned to the woman, who glanced over coldly and curtsied again, unfazed, "My Lady." She then started sweeping the broken marble.

The woman tsked, before taking out a pair of scissors, "Pull me here like that again, Black," Jorie paused with a flinch at the callous use of the name, "And she won't have to worry about you being in 'one-piece'." With that said, she used the scissors to slash the air, creating a fiery red portal and stepped through it before it closed.

The man shook his head before walking around the desk to look out the office window. Outside below in the courtyard, hundreds of young adults and teens milled about. All of them were dressed similarly to Jorie, all of them sporting a black diamond emblem. He smirked as the pupils in coal-grey iris eyes turned white and diamond shaped, and the sclera changed from normal white to pitch black.

---

BAH! How's that for a cliffhanger!

Now this has been lengthy, but so worth it, or so I think!

I wanted to get some backstory with not just Pegasus but the Butterflies as well. Might not have been necessary, but I like to think its a certain layer of depth to the character if that makes any sense. And a look into Star and Marco's lives after the Cleaving of Mewni and Echo Ridge is defiantly an interesting concept, especially with how stubborn Mewmans tend to be to keep to their old ways.

Looks like Red Eyes used to belong to a Butterfly, how's that for a twist?

Let me know what you guys think, I'm really looking forward to the next chapter; they're maybe a song or two.

Anyways, I'm going to go on with the *notes, before I forget:

Hermanito*: Is Spanish for 'Little Brother', make of it what you will.

Papi**: Is Spanish for 'Daddy', just seems like something Star would say when addressing her child and adopting the Spanish Language.

Mami***: Is Spanish for 'Mommy', I can see Marco's daughter using the Spanish Language, what can I say?

Asteria****: Is a play on 'Aster', a flower with an interesting back story revolving around a Greek sky goddess and it actually translate to 'star', so it just sounds like a name the Butterfly family would use. Also, since I have no idea about the Queens before Lyric, Skywenne's mother, nor do I know just where Soupina fits in, I'm going to fit Asteria in, obviously before her, so think of Asteria as Lyric's grandmother or something like that, just not that her reign was more than four-hundred years ago, but still within a millennia.

Grim Reaper*****: To be honest, Asteria is actually a genderbent character from another anime who actually is a Grim Reaper, I even made the wand the same as their scythe. Tell me if you can guess who it is and which anime their from. Also, I picked them cause I wanted Eclipsa to not be the only 'Dark' Queen in the Butterfly family, given how long the family history and tree is, I find it weird she's the only one.

Pulmonary hypertension******: Is a deadly disease that involves increased blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs; symptoms include shortness of breath, syncope, tiredness, chest pain, swelling of the legs and a fast heart-beat. Risks to consider are a family history, prior blood clots in the lungs, sickle cell disease, COPD, living in high altitudes, sleep apnea and problems with the mitral valve. There are other risks, but given Cecilia's character history in this AU, I'm not including them, look up the disease if you want to know them. The anime never divulged even the smallest clue what Cecilia died of, just that it was 'devastating', well ain't they all? So I picked one that had a lot of open factors, like the family history, seeing as we don't much about Marco's family outside his parents and sister, or what kind of sicknesses Mewmans could get prior to being Cleaved or any medical history to the Butterflies themselves. So, I think it works out for itself here.

Bastarda********: Is Spanish for 'Bastard', for the record I'm pretty sure several people have call him worse, in and out of a review, just stating a fact.

Blake Diamanto*********: Is a Steven Universe pun, if you really want to know, look both names up if you can't guess.

Jorie**********: Is a Greek name and is also a Steven Universe pun, again, look it up if you can't guess.

Now, with that out of the way, let's get on with the unofficial, as in not at the top of my author page, review-vote only, polls:

Should Yugi remain the King of Games or should Stephanie become the Queen of Games?

King: 8, Queen: 2

Should Stephanie get an Egyptian God Card?

Yes: 5, No: 6

If yes, however temporarily, which one should it be?

Obelisk: 2, Slifer: 1, Ra: 1

Hmm, still no votes, well, again, still some time, so get your votes in now if you want a Queen of Games. Also, I'm stating it right now, I am open to Crystal Myth (i.e: Crystal Beast fusions: Garnet Mother Time) suggestions, but I have one rule: the mythological beast or figure has to originate from a place where the gemstone's real-life counterpart is mined, like Brazil for example or in the cause of Opal, Australia, hence Kunapipi.

Now, as for my official, as in actually at the top of my author's page for anyone to click and vote, poll of Foreign God cards: Greek is still in the lead with 7 votes, Norse and Roman are tied with 6 votes, Mayan note far behind them with 4 and Mesopotamia is still at 2. Poor Mesopotamia doesn't seem to be getting any love ., well, till next time everyone.

Plz review!

AND KEEP IT PG IF YA DON'T MIND PLEASE!

...unless your Twilight or foxchick1, I honestly think so long as you keep it light hearted, you'll both curse no matter what.