Whoo…my regular update schedule's gone out the window! Ahem. Yes. Well, I've updated now, haven't I? *sighs* Sorry.

Don't have very much to say at the moment, so I'll just move right on to the reviewers...

Emily10: The thing about this fic is that Pegasus is kind of out of character...but not. It's more like, he's in character for the sort of person he'd be if Cecelia was still alive. Make sense?

Oh,  and what are your stories about? If I find I have some spare time on my hands...excuse me...*leaves room and laughs hysterically* *half an hour later* ...I'll take a look.

Shurimon: Do you mean the part where Yami Bakura makes his first appearance? I've covered it, but not in that much detail. You'll see in a later update.

Flaming Tigress Mage: Whaddya mean, you never reviewed "Blaze"?! Get over there and review it right now!

Menardi: Don't worry, she's only joking. I'm sure she's glad you've started reviewing "Alternate Reality" instead.

Vyctori: *sighs* Yes, and I'm glad you liked "Blaze." Thanks for the compliments!

Bunnychu: ^_^ Thank you! And I'm planning on continuing!

Ssilence: What, you think having the two of us bouncing around would be frightening? *grins* Whatever makes you think that...? Anyway, I can understand how you'd be busy, so I don't mind. And I like writing "what if" fics. If I ever have loads of time on my hands *laughs hysterically at the thought* I'm going to be writing a Golden Sun "what if" story that is going to be...strange. Even more than this. ^_^

Yoshimi Takahashi: All is forgiven, because you reviewed! And liked the chapter! You're right that I don't like Weevil. He hasn't precisely given me any reason to do so, now, has he? # Stupid Exodia incident.... And funny, people seem to be worried about Menardi and I being on a sugar high. *looks innocent* I wonder why...

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Wow, six reviews this time! Excellent! Thanks to all who reviewed! *coughs*

Anyway, more fluff in this update, and a little rectification for a certain event involving a certain idiot that took place during a certain time in Duellist Kingdom! Have fun reading it!

~ * * * ~

The day passed in a flurry of duels, of glorious victory and overwhelming defeat. Already, at least three duellists--not including Weevil--had been eliminated from the tournament. I tried to give them some words of comfort, but I knew little would assuage the pains of downfall.

That evening, I had the servants set the table with five extra spaces for Yugi and his friends. Right at six o'clock, they arrived, rather out of breath from the long climb. I mentally reminded myself to install that elevator.

"Hiya, Max!" Joey greeted me. "We're here, like we said!"

I raised an eyebrow at the diminutive of my name but let it go. I shuddered to think how Joey would mutilate the syllables of my full name.

Instead, I smiled and asked, "Where's Yugi?"

"Right here, sir." The shorter boy, hidden by his crowd of friends, stepped forwards.

I blinked in confusion. Surely this couldn't be the duellist I saw this morning! Not only was he shorter, with somewhat higher-pitched voice, but his face was more round and was filled with a trusting innocence that hadn't been present earlier. However, since the boy's friends referred to both as "Yugi", I decided not to make a scene.  I made a note to ask Yugi about his change in private, later on.

"You're here!" Helena zoomed into the room. She skidded to a halt in front of the group and greeted them solemnly. "I'm Helena Pegasus, and this is my daddy, Maximillion. We're very pleased to meet you." Then she burst into her usual excited chatter. "You got rid of Evil Underpants! That's great! You must be a good duellist, Yugi! Do you have ten starchips yet?"

Yugi beamed at her. "No, not yet. I didn't get to duel anybody else today."

I was about to open my mouth to correct Helena about Weevil's proper name, but instead sighed with a fond shake of my head. Flower could be so incorrigible at times. "Supper is ready if you'd all like to come this way," I commented instead, motioning at the dining room.

"Yeah! Food!" Tristan and Joey chorused and raced flat out to the table.

Téa slapped her forehead. "Joey! Tristan! Where are your manners? You're going to make Maximillion think you were born in a barn! They probably were..." she muttered darkly.

Yugi, Helena, and I simply laughed and we followed the over-enthusiastic boys into the next room.

Supper was quite enjoyable. Although Tristan and Joey were usually too busy cramming their mouths to talk, the conversation between the rest of us was exceedingly enjoyable.

As the servants were removing the dishes, I spoke directly to Yugi. "I heard your Exodia cards went missing in a not-so-mysterious manner."

"Um, yeah." Yugi looked sorrowful. "But they're gone, so there's really no point in moping over them. At least Joey managed to save a couple."

"You did? I was under the impression that Weevil threw them overboard. It would have been fairly difficult to pick them out of the air." I turned to Joey for an explanation.

"Yeah..." Joey seemed rather sheepish. "I kinda jumped offa da ship ta get 'em."

"And he nearly drowned himself in the process." Yugi regarded his friend with a mixture of exasperation and affection. "No cards are worth losing a friend."

"Amen to that." I rose. "Yugi, everyone, if you'd like to follow me, I have something I think you'd like to see."

I led them through the multitude of halls that made up my castle. Joey and Tristan visibly gawked. Téa and Yugi were more discreet, but I could still tell they were impressed. Finally, we arrived in a darkened room.

"What is this place?" Tristan wondered.

"Welcome to every duellist's dream." With a dramatic flourish, I flipped the light switch. The electricity caused light to glimmer, shine, and gleam off rows and rows of glass cases. Contained within were...

"Whoa! Lookit all da cards!" Joey exclaimed in amazement.

The group seemed awestruck. They began to slowly wander about, staring in amazement.

"Look! It's Gate Guardian!" Yugi cried, pointing at one case.

"And da Great Moth!" Joey pressed his face against the glass. "Dere must be every card ever made in dis room!"

"That's right, Joey. I always keep a copy of the cards I design." I moved over to one special case and reached into my pockets for the keys. Idly, I asked, "Which parts of Exodia did you recover, anyway, Joey?"

"Right Arm and da head," he replied, never ungluing his eyes from a shelf containing a copy of Wingweaver. If I didn't know better, I would suspect the boy of drooling.

I quietly unlocked the case and removed three cards. Then I motioned to Helena--who was wandering about, rather bored; she had seen the room multiple times--handed them to her and whispered in her ear. She trotted off to where Yugi was examining another container.

"Yugi? My daddy wants you to have these." She shyly handed them to him.

"Thank you, Helena." Yugi accepted the cards politely. Then he got a good look at exactly which ones they were. "Wh-What? Exodia?"

"No way!" Joey looked away long enough to stare at the valuable cards in Yugi's hands. "Yer kiddin'!"

"Mr. Pegasus--I-I can't..." Yugi began to protest.

I cut him off. "One of my invitees destroyed your cards. If you hadn't come to my tournament, you never would have lost them. I feel responsible. And I said not to call me Mr. Pegasus, please."

Téa elbowed Yugi hard. "Say thank you, Yugi."

"I was going to!" Yugi protested. He looked to me once more. "Thank you from the very bottom of my heart, Mr.—Maximillion. This means so much to me. I won't forget what you did for me."

I shrugged, rather uncomfortable from the fervency of the small duellist's gratitude. "Think nothing of it. I'm just glad I was able to help. Now you all scoot off to bed. You've got another day of duelling ahead. Which reminds me...do you want to stay at the castle? I have numerous guest suites available."

"No thank you, Maximillion," Yugi politely refused.

"Yeah, we wanna be down wit' da action!" Joey added. "...No offence."

I nodded. "None taken. Goodnight, everyone."

"Night, nighty night-night!" Helena bounced on the spot, her stuffed Kuriboh bobbing at every spring.

"Goodnight!" the group of friends chorused, grinning at Helena.

As I locked up the cases, I mused, What a wonderful group of young adults. People always talk about how obnoxious teenagers are, but they're certainly wrong in this case. All of them are quite nice people. I should invite them and others up here more often.

"Ready to go to bed, Flower?" I hoisted Helena onto my shoulders.

"Yup! Me and Weebo too!" Helena had been letting Weebo dangle. However, in one exuberant swipe, she swung it up to grab it in her arms, inadvertently smacking me on the side of my head. "Whoops! Sorry, Daddy!"

I laughed. "No problem! Now let's get you tucked in nice and snug. Tomorrow's another day of duelling!"

And we headed off to our respective bedrooms, both of us anticipating another big day.

~ * * * ~

Vyctori: Well, this was a rather brief chapter, but... *shrugs* at least it's an update.

Menardi: You're such a lazy bum! Ever since you started this fic, you've been doing nothing but fiddling around with those useless bits of paper! You should be writing!

Vyctori: Menaaarrrrdi! I'm sure you wouldn't call my Duel Monsters cards "useless bits of paper" if you actually knew how to play the game. *slyly* You're just insulting them because you know I would totally annihilate you if we duelled.

Menardi: WHAT?! ## Okay, that's it! I challenge you to a duel!

Vyctori: With what? You don't have any "useless bits of paper" of your own!

Menardi: One moment! *storms outside and returns fifteen minutes later* Okay, I've borrowed Mai's deck! Let's see how well you stand up to it!

Vyctori: *grinning* Bring it on!

Menardi: Before I so completely wipe out the author, why don't you review? Otherwise, I'll have to come and crush you in a humiliating defeat if you don't!

Vyctori: *shuffling her deck* I'm sure that threat must have them quaking in their boots, considering this is your first duel. You're losing your touch with your threats.

Menardi: Who said the "crushing" had anything to do with Duel Monsters?

Vyctori: 0_o;;;

Menardi: Now let's get a move on! I'm going to WIN this!

Vyctori: Riiight.