Chapter 45: The Evolution of the Game

Adrian was alone in his dorm room, typing on his laptop. 'I have to admit. I wasn't expecting them to go that far.' He thought. 'Send a student to be killed by Damian in a Shadow Duel so that Sheppard would expel him. Looks like Scott and Ghassan are more ruthless than I thought.'

Adrian inserted a flash drive into his laptop. 'Still, I can't let Damian get expelled. Not after he opened up the window for me to take down the Light of Destruction.'

Adrian opened up a file from the flash drive. He was glad that he managed to hack into Duel Academy's database after his duel with Alexis. 'The records of the missing students. These can be used to blackmail Sheppard into letting Damian stay. But I can't do that directly. For starters, Sheppard will be asking how I even got that info. And worst case scenario, Ghassan, Scott, and The Light of Destruction will find out. No. If I want Damian to stay enrolled at Duel Academy, I'll need those files to be sent by someone else.'

Adrian sat in silence for a while. Eventually, he got out a cell phone and dialed a number. "This is Adrian. I need you to send some files to Sheppard with a message under a disposable email address."


"You've violated our agreement." Sheppard told Damian. He, Chazz, Alexis, Bastion, Scott, Ghassan, Conklin, and the head of security were in Sheppard's office. They were all gathered there after Damian's duel with Topher. "Not only that, but you killed a student at Duel Academy in a Shadow Duel."

"Damian...I can't believe-" Bastion began to say.

"I told you, he attacked me first." Damian responded.

"I find it hard to believe that you would need to resort to lethal means to defend yourself from two ordinary duelists." Bastion said.

"They weren't ordinary duelists anymore. Topher was able to summon monsters as if they were real."

"It's true." Chazz said. "Damian was acting in self-defense."

Sheppard turned to Conklin. "Would you care to give your side of the story?"

"Well, me and Topher were just walking at night, and then Damian challenges us to a duel. Topher accepted, and then suddenly, the damage was real." Conklin lied.

"You were the ones who challenged me." Damian said. "I tried to walk away, but then Topher attacked me, pretty much forcing me to duel him."

"That's a lie!"

"I saw the whole thing, Conklin!" Chazz shot back.

"You sure you're not just trying to cover for him?" Scott asked Chazz.

Chazz turned to Scott. "What are you talking about?"

"Chazz, you've been defensive about matters with Damian all month. It's not unrealistic that you'd try to cover for him." Ghassan said.

"Are you kidding me?!"

"Fighting with each other won't solve anything. What stands is, we have two different sides of the story." Sheppard said.

Alexis turned to Bastion. "How will we know who's telling the truth?"

"Chazz, perhaps D.D Survivor could answer?" Bastion suggested.

"Sure, if I knew where the hell he was. He left as soon as Damian beat the Shadow Riders." Chazz held up Abidos' circlet. "He won't be coming back here until Duel Monsters' Spirit Day."

"Hmm. Then it'll be hard to confirm if Damian initiated the duel, or if Topher did."

"This is insane! Sheppard, you can't tell me that you believe them!" Conklin protested. "How would we have even got those weird powers anyway?!"

"With all the supernatural stuff that happened this semester, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a give-away." Chazz said.

Sheppard sighed. "If Chazz confirms Damian's claim that he was acting in self defense, than I can't simply expel Damian immediately."

"Are you serious?!" Ghassan yelled.

"Sheppard, with all due respect, you can't just turn a blind eye on this!" The head of security protested. "One of our students has been killed! Whether it was in self defense or not, we need to let the students-"

"We can't cause furhter panick amongst our students. Not when we still have the Shadow Riders and the Invader of Darkness' forces to deal with!" Sheppard countered.

'Well, the Invader of Darkness' forces anyway.' Damian thought. He was the only one in the room to know that as of now, all of the Shadow Riders were dealt with. Even Ghassan and Scott didn't know about Adrian's murder of Kagemaru for his Shadow Charm.

Alexis gave a suspicious look at Ghassan. "Why are you so insistent that your own brother started this?"

"Because, unlike Chazz, I know not to let this blind me."

"Why you-?!" Chazz yelled.

Sheppard slammed his hands against the desk. "Enough!" The chancellor yelled. "Damian, you'll be confined to your dorm room like usual. Conklin, until we get the story cleared up, you'll be placed under house arrest as well."

"Oh, that's bullshit!" Conklin protested.

"What's important now is that we secured a Shadow Charm. When the Invader of Darkness attacks our school, we'll be able to destroy it. And hopefully free Damian's mind."

"Yeah. 'Free'." Damian said.

"Don't misunderstand me. I don't intend for this to go ignored. When and if we find out which side is telling the truth, the other side will be punished immediately." Sheppard turned to Chazz. "And if it turns out you lied in order to protect Damian, you'll be punished as well."

Chazz clenched his fist. "Fine."

"Now please, all of you. Leave my office. I have a discussion with North and West Academy coming up."

Nobody liked it, but all of the students left the office, security escorting both Damian and Conklin to their own seperate dorms.

Sheppard sighed. 'Normally I WOULD have expelled and had Damian arrested immediately. Ghassan and Scott make a good point that Chazz isn't the most trust worthy defense for Damian. But that email.' Sheppard looked at his computer. It was a screenshot that detailed how Duel Academy's been keeping hidden the truth behind the missing students. 'If I acted against Damian, this would have been leaked. But who sent this? And why do they want Damian to remain enrolled?'


Jaden was panting in exhaustion, a duel disk activated. On his field was a muscular white alien-like figure with red lines over his body and a blue gem in the center of his chest. Elemental Hero Neos (2500/2000) the field spell Skyscraper, and the continuous trap card Shadow Spell.

On the other side of were Chaos Rider Gustaph, and a blue anthropomorphic dolphin-like alien, the former also having an activated duel disk. The dolphin alien seemed to be observing. On Gustaph's field was a serpentine dragon with futuristic blue armor and shining crystal marks on it's tail and body and a slightly smaller dragon with shining crystal armor. Chains were wrapped around the smaller dragon due to being targeted by Shadow Spell.

All of them were standing on a beach shore, Jupiter looking eerily close in the night sky. Dolphina, a planet within the spirit dimension, Neo-Space. (Jaden 500/Gustaph 1100) "It's over kid! Crystal Clear Wing Synchro Dragon (3000/2500) destroy his Neos!" Gustaph commanded. The dragon flew towards Neos.

"Skyscraper's effect activates! When an Elemental Hero Monster battles a monster with higher attack points, my Hero's attack points increase by 1000!" Jaden yelled. (Elemental Hero Neos 2500-3500/2000)

Gustaph smiled. "Guess you didn't know. Crystal Clear Wing being able to negate and destroy spell and traps? That still applies for when you activate the effect of one that's on the field!"

Jaden gasped in shock as Crystal Clear Wing Synchro Dragon shined a bright light. Soon, it fired a laser at Jaden's field spell, causing the city to crumble. (Elemental Hero Neos 3500-2500/2000)

The dragon slashed through Neos, causing an explosion that blasted Jaden to the ground. (Jaden 500-0)

"That marks nine losses in a row for you Jaden." Aqua Dolphin said as the holograms on the field disappeared. "And you've still yet to completely master our power."

"Doesn't help that your friend Damian has this exact Speedroid deck. If you can't beat me, there's no way you'll be able to stop those three." Gustaph added.

Jaden brought himself up. "Cut me some slack. I beat the three previous decks you used with a deck Aqua Dolphin just gave me. But there's something tricky about that Crystal Wing monster."

"Crystal Clear Wing." Gustaph corrected. "Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon (3000/2500) was the other one I had on the field."

"Why are their names nearly the same? It kinda gets confusing, especially since they have the same attack and defense points."

Gustaph shrugged.

"Still, both monster's are tough to deal with on their own, let alone at the same time. I can't use spell or trap cards because Crystal Clear Wing negates them, I can't destroy Clear Wing by battle because it gains my monster's attack points, and I can't use monster effects because your dragons can either make themselves unaffected or negate it entirely, not to mention both would gain their attack points."

"It's far from an unsolvable dilemma." Aqua Dolphin told Jaden. "You simply need to get used to using Contact Fusion."

"Not to mention getting used to the kinds of summoning methods you're not used to. Accel Synchro, Pendulum, Rank-Up Xyz monsters."

All of these were such strange concepts to Jaden. He was told about Damian's Pendulum monsters from Chazz and Alexis after the Camula incident, and that was still hard to understand. Now he also needs to learn about Xyz Monsters using themselves as material for other Xyz monsters, and Synchro monsters that doubled as tuner monsters. It was almost as if he was back in school. "So, Scott, Ghassan, and Damian have all those types of monsters too?" Jaden asked.

"Scott and Damian anyway. That Ghassan guy isn't too much of a threat to you dueling wise." Gustaph said. "They haven't used them from what the boss has saw. But yeah. There's still layers to their world's summoning methods that you don't know about. And if you want to save your world, you'll need to know."

Jaden sighed. After being brought into Neo Space, Gustaph and Aqua Dolphin filled Jaden in on the Light of Destruction. And the power that Jaden held, the Gentle Darkness. Jaden didn't want to believe it. He considered those three his friends from the start. But after the Triangle Duel and then Ghassan's duel with Camula, he couldn't help but be suspicious of them. The training with Gustaph was fun, but they just kept reminding Jaden of the feeling of betrayal.

Then all that stuff about him being a reincarnation of someone called the Supreme King. All the atrocities Jaden saw the other him commit. If he wasn't careful, Jaden himself could walk down that path as well.

"Hey kid. You ready for another round?" Gustaph asked.

Jaden snapped back to reality before smirking. Sulking wasn't gonna solve anything. If Jaden wanted to stop The Light and defeat his former friends, he had to learn the ins and outs of their techniques. "Definitely. Get your game on!"


"Can't Sheppard be incompetent in OUR favor for once?" Ghassan asked. He and Scott were currently in Ghassan's dorm room.

"At the very least, we got Damian to kill a student. Even if Sheppard keeps him at the school, Alexis and Bastion will be WAY less willing to side with Damian." Scott said.

"Bastion maybe. But didn't you notice Alexis at the meeting? She didn't have any protest about Chazz's defense, and she looked pretty suspicious of me when I spoke up."

"Weird. Before, she was the only one of the other key keepers who DIDN'T want to side with Damian." Scott said. "I guess something changed her mind. Maybe Chazz and Jaden talked with her after the vote or something?"

Ghassan scratched his chin for a bit before widening his eyes. "Oh shit."

"What's up?"

"Dude, you have to dress up as Titan and kill Alexis ASAP. Chazz too probably"

Scott raised an eyebrow. "I mean, sure, but why do-" Scott suddenly realized what his friend was thinking. "Hold on a second. Do you mean-?"

Ghassan nodded. "I can't say this for sure, and I don't know how she'd find out, but I think they knows the truth about The Light."

"Oh shit. Oh, this is bad."

"If they know the truth about you, then kill them. Like Ghassan said, Scott can dress up as Titan and challenge them to a Shadow Duel. They're already expecting a Shadow Rider." The Light said in Scott and Ghassan's heads.

"It's not that simple." Scott said. "What if all the other Key Keepers are there, and I'm the only one missing? That would just make me look even more suspicious."

"Damnit, you're right. What about Conklin? He's still under The Light's control. Can't we have him kill Alexis and Chazz for us?" Ghassan suggested.

"What if he fails to win? Then not only will we accomplish nothing, but that just solidifies Chazz's defense for Damian."

"Ugh. Yeah, that's true too. But damnit, we have to kill them soon or else they'll tell the others the truth."

"Wait a second.

Ghassan thought it over for a while before snapping his fingers. "Wait a minute. Duel Monsters Spirit Day!"

"What about it?"

"That's when The Invader of Darkness will attack Duel Academy, right? Well, there's already going to be a bunch of chaos and confusion there. I highly doubt all the Key Keepers will be organized enough to gather in one place at the sight of a Shadow Rider."

Scott smiled. "I get it. On Duel Monsters Spirit Day, I'll dress up as Titan and duel Alexis or Chazz while the school's distracted. Kill them, and slip back out without a trace."

Ghassan took a breath of relief. As he and Scott talked it over, he started to calm down. The situation wasn't quite as bad as it could be for them now that they reasoned that Chazz and Alexis are the only ones who know. "Man. Duel Monsters Spirit Day is what, three weeks from now? It's gonna be a huge day."

"I hear that." Scott agreed. "Taking down Invader of Darkness to get Damian back to normal, killing Alexis and Chazz. And when Jaden gets back here, we can finally steal his Gentle Darkness."

Ghassan turned to the window. "It's been a crazy few months. But if things go right, we'll be able to go home."

"And hopefully, you'll have Industrial Illusions in your control." The Light said.

"What?" Scott and Ghassan reacted.

"Kaiba is falling more and more under my influence. He's having a duel right now that will be beneficial to us, and possibly give us another powerful ally. He's not in our pocket just yet, but he's already proving his worth."

"But...what does that have to do with Industrial Illusions?" Scott asked.

"Who do you think he's dueling?"


Pegasus and Kaiba were standing at two seperate podiums at the ends of a dueling arena inside Pegasus Castle. On the sidelines were Mokuba, Roland, and two young men. One had long pink hair, while the other had shorter dark purple hair, part of it tied back. They were Zigfried and Leon von Schroeder, the president and vice president of Schroeder Corp.

"Pegasus, this is insane!" Leon protested.

"You don't need to agree to Kaiba's duel! Schroeder Corp is capable of replicating KaibaCorp's hologram technology!" Zigfried yelled.

"True, but more than ten times the amount of duelists use my Duel Disks than your Battle Boxes. More affordable, and it's portability allows for more practical usage. And I was smart enough to take a patent on it, so enjoy being sued to oblivion if you try to replicate them." Kaiba smirked.

Zigfried growled in frustration.

Pegasus placed his deck on his podium. "Rather childish of you Kaiba. Threatening to recall and permanently deactivate all Duel Disks if I don't agree to this duel. I never made plans to make more Blue Eyes copies you know."

"And I'll make sure you never will when I take control of this company."

Mokuba clenched his fist. He couldn't believe his brother. Using the happiness of children as a hostage for business? Seto crossed lines before, but this was too much for Mokuba to believe.

Kaiba placed his deck on his podium. Soon, the podiums Kaiba and Pegasus were standing on extended . "Let's duel!" They both said. (Kaiba 4000/Pegasus 4000)

"I'll make the first move." Pegasus drew a card. "I remove the top 3 cards from my deck in order to activate the field spell Toon Kingdom!" A large book appeared on the field. It then opened itself up, a cartoonish castle popping out of it. "As a reminder, I made a few updates to Toon Kingdom's effect. It's still considered as being the same as Toon World while it's on the field. But now you can't target my Toon monsters with card effects. And if a Toon monster would be destroyed by battle or card effect, I can remove from play the top card of my deck instead."

"Next I summon Toon Goblin Attack Force (2300/0) in attack mode!" A squad of cartoonish green goblins wearing armor and wielding clubs appeared on Pegasus' side of the field. "I set a card facedown and end my turn."

Kaiba drew. "I activate Graceful Charity." Kaiba drew three cards from his deck and then discarded two. "Next I activate Foolish Burial to send a monster from my deck to the graveyard. I choose The White Stone of Legends."

"And with it sent to the graveyard, you can add a Blue-Eyes White Dragon to your hand." Pegasus said.

Kaiba added a copy of the iconic monster to his hand. "Now I activate Polymerization to fuse the two Blue-Eyes White Dragons in my hand. Come forth, Blue-Eyes Twin Burst Dragon!" (3000/2500) A twin-heaed version of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon descended onto the field.

"Even if Kaiba won't be able to destroy Pegasus' toon monsters, Twin Burst can banish them after attacking." Mokuba said.

"Sorry Kaiba boy. I activate my continuous trap card, Dragon Capture Jar!" Pegasus yelled. A small vase with the face of a dragon carved into it materialized. Immediately, Kaiba's dragon wrapped it's wings around it's body, switching to a more defensive stance. "All Dragon-Type monsters on the field are switched to defense position."

"Hmph. Don't think that this will stop me for long Pegasus. I set a card face down and end my turn." Kaiba said. Immediately afterwards, a Blue-Eyes White Dragon (3000/2500) appeared on Kaiba's side of the field.

"When did he-?" Leon began to ask.

"The White Stone of Ancients was one of the cards I discarded through Graceful Charity." Kaiba said. "During the end phase of the turn it's sent to the graveyard, I can special summon a Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my deck."

Pegasus drew a card. "I activate Toon Rollback. Another card I made updates to it's effect. Rather than only giving a Toon Monster a second chance if it's attack gets negated, now it allows a Toon monster I control to attack twice during the battle phase. And as I'm sure you know, if you control no Toon monsters while I control Toon World, or Toon Kingdom in this case, my Toon monsters can attack you directly."

Leon smiled. "That means Pegasus can end things this turn."

"Still, I doubt that Kaiba will go down this easily." Zigfried said.

"Toon Goblin Attack Force, attack directly!" The squad of cartoonish goblins all got into multiple miniature cannons, preparing to launch themselves at Kaiba.

"I activate my trap card, Threatening Roar." The sound of a beastly roar shot out from the card. The Goblins all widened their eyes in fear, one of them comically falling out of the cannon. "This prevents you from declaring an attack this turn."

"Very well. Then I sacrifice the Toon Goblin Attack Force and my Toon Masked Sorcerer in my hand." A transparent image of the latter monster appeared next to Toon Goblin Attack Force. Seconds afterwards, the pop-up book closed itself, swallowed the two monsters up. "By sacrificing Toon monsters from my hand or field whose combined levels equal 8, I can special summon the Toon Black Luster Soldier!" (3000/2500)

Popping out from the book was a chibi knight with flowing red hair and wearing purple and yellow armor and helmet. In one hand was a similarly colored shield while in the other was a chipped, wavy sword. It seemed like the helmet was alive as it had two large cartoonish eyes and a wavy lines resembling a mouth.

"Hmph. Couldn't help but make a mockery out of more monsters, Pegasus?" Kaiba asked.

"I'd say I'm making them more adorable rather than making a mockery out of them. Anyway, I activate Toon Black Luster Soldier's effect. I can target and banish a monster you control at the cost of my monster not being able to attack this turn."

Kaiba clenched his fist in frustration.

"Go my lovable toon!" Pegasus yelled. The helmet opened it's mouth and coughed up a comically large eraser. Toon Black Luster Solider put down his shieled to grab the eraser before jumping towards Blue Eyes Twin Burst Dragon. It then furiously rubbed the eraser on the dragon, causing it to slowly be removed from the field.

"On the turn he uses this effect, my Toon Black Luster Soldier can't attack. Though thanks to your Threatening Roar, that won't matter." Pegasus said. "I must say, it's an amusing turn of events. Your Twin Burst Dragon was your prime counter to my Toon monsters. But not only did I make it unable to attack thanks to Dragon Capture Jar, but I gave it a taste of it's own medicine. I end my turn."

Kaiba drew a card. "How about I make this duel more interesting Pegasus?"

Pegasus raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I'll still beat you and take over Industrial Illusions. But the only monsters I'll summon will involve Blue-Eyes."

Mokuba and the Schroder brothers widened their eyes. "He's limiting his options like that?!" Zigfried asked.

"Kaiba boy. You do know that your Dragon monsters are unable to attack, right?" Pegasus asked.

Kaiba smirked. "I don't have to worry about that. I activate A Wingbeat Of Giant Dragon! By returning a level 5 or higher Dragon monster I control to my hand, all spells and traps on the field are destroyed! I return the Blue-Eyes I control to destroy Toon Kingdom and Dragon Capture Jar!"

Pegasus gritted his teeth. A storm of wind began to build up. The remaining Blue-Eyes White Dragon disappeared in a trail of light, going to Kaiba's hand. Soon afterwards, both Dragon Capture Jar and Toon Kingdom shattered into pieces. "Thankfully, unlike several other Toon Monsters, Toon Black Luster Soldier remains on the field even when Toon World is destroyed."

"Does it? Well it won't be lasting for long. By revealing the Blue-Eyes I added to my hand, I special summon Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon!" (3000/2500) A dragon looking nearly identical to the Blue-Eyes White Dragon appeared, but more sinister and with several glowing light veins visible on it's body. "Once per turn, Alternative White Dragon can target and destroy any monster you control. And now that Toon Kingdom is gone, your monster can't be protected from it!"

Alternative White Dragon built up energy in it's mouth before firing a beam of energy at Toon Black Luster Soldier. The eyes of both the monster and the helmet stretched out in fear before in disintegrated into ash from the monster's blast.

"Luckily for you, Alternative White Dragon can't attack on the turn it uses this effect. I activate Trade-In to discard my Blue-Eyes and draw two cards." Kaiba did exactly that. "Next I activate Graveful Charity." Kaiba drew three cards from his deck. He discarded on that he drew, and one that he already had in his hand. "I set a card and end my turn."

Pegasus drew. "I activate Pot of Greed to draw two cards." Pegasus drew two more cards from his deck, bringing his hand to 3. "Next I activate Toon Bookmark to add a second copy of Toon Kingdom to my hand. And naturally, I activate it!"

The popup book revealing the castle appeared once again, Pegasus banishing the top 3 cards of his deck to activate it.

"That's the biggest weakness of your deck Pegasus. It's too reliant on Toon World." Kaiba said.

"True. But unless you can do anything about it, it won't stop me from getting results. I activate Toon Page Flip! If I control Toon World, I reveal three Toon Monsters with different names from my deck. Then, you randomly pick one of them. The one you pick I can special summon, regardless of summoning conditions while the other two get shuffled into my deck." Pegasus revealed Toon Dark Magician, Red-Eyes Toon Black Dragon and Toon Barrel Dragon. He then turned them around and shuffled them in his hand. "Now, Kaiba boy? Which one do you choose?"

"I pick the one on my right." Kaiba said.

"Lucky me! You chose my Red Eyes Toon Dragon!" (2400/2000) A chibi cartoonish black dragon with glowing red eyes appeared on Pegasus' side of the field.

"So you got out a cartoonish knock-off of a third-rate duelist's ace monster. Big deal."

"I activate Red Eyes Toon Dragon's effect. I can special summon a Toon monster from my hand regardless of summoning conditions. Come forth Toon Buster Blader!" (2600/2300) A chibi knight completely covered in purple armor appeared. It had red eyes and two wiggly horns on it's helmet, and it wielded a sword larger than it's own body.

"And let me guess. It has the same effect as Yugi's Buster Blader?"

"Bingo. It gains 500 attack points for every Dragon monster on your field and in your graveyard." Pegasus guessed.

"So with the Alternative White Dragon on Kaiba's field, along with the White Stone of Legends, Ancients, and three Blue-Eyes White Dragons in Kaiba's graveyard, that makes for six dragons total." Leon said.

"Which means Pegasus' Toon Buster Bladers gain 3000 attack points." Zigfried stated. (Toon Buster Blader 2600-5600/2300)

"But let me guess. Like most of your Toon monsters, it can't attack the turn it's summoned, right?" Kaiba asked.

"True. Now, I activate Card of Demise. I draw until I have 5 cards in my hand. Then on my 5th standby phase after activaton, I send all cards in my hand to the graveyard." Pegasus drew until he had 5 cards in his hand.

"Risky move." Leon said.

"True, but given how this duel has been going, it's doubtful that the 5th standby phase will come. And Pegasus knows that." Zigfried replied.

"I set a card facedown and end my turn." Pegasus said.

Kaiba drew. "I activate my own Pot of Greed." Kaiba drew two cards from his deck. When he looked at what he drew, he smiled. "I activate the Ritual Spell, Chaos Form!"

Pegasus widened his eyes. He knew what card was coming.

"I remove from play one of the Blue-Eyes White Dragons in my graveyard!" The transparent image of the dragon appeare.d Suddenly, it began to be absorbed in a purple vortex that crackled electricity. "Mighty beast that lurks within the realm of mayhem, reveal yourself to lay waste to all who oppose me! I ritual summon the Level 8 Blue-Eyes Chaos Dragon! (3000/2500)"

Flying it's way out of the crackling vortex was a dark blue dragon, sapphires scattered around it's body. "The ritual monster I confiscated from that boy, Scott. Had I known what you were going to do, I'd never have given his Blue-Eyes cards to you."

"Hmph. Listen to me and listen well Pegasus. Nobody gets to use Blue-Eyes except for me. And I'd rather shut down my entire company than let that change. Anyway, I'm sure you know what Blue Eyes Chaos Dragon's effect is."

Pegasus nodded. "If Blue-Eyes White Dragon was used to ritual summon it, when it attacks, it switches the battle positions of as many of the opponents' monsters as the controller wants, and reduces their attack and defense points to 0. In addition, it does piercing damage."

Leon and Zigfried both gasped in shock.

"But...thanks to Toon World, Pegasus' monsters won't be destroyed." Zigfried said.

"That's right! Meaning that as long as Pegasus survives, Toon Buster Blader will defeat Kaiba next turn." Leon said.

"Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure Seto has backup for that." Mokuba said.

"Now, I'm well aware of Toon Bookmark's other effect. While it's in the graveyard, I won't be able to destroy your Toon Kingdom because you'd be able to banish Bookmark instead. So instead, activate my facedown Call of the Haunted! This lets me special summon a monster from my graveyard in attack position. Come forth Dragon Spirit of White!" A chilling gust of wind blew before a ghostly spirit identical to Blue-Eyes White Dragon appeared. "When Dragon Spirit of White is special summoned, I can banish a spell or trap card you control. Say goodbye to Toon Kingdom!"

"Bfore you banish Toon Kingdom, I activate Toon Mask. When I control Toon World I can target a monster you control and special summon a Toon with a level equal to it. Since all monsters you control are level 8, I special summon the level 8 Toon Ancient Gear Golem!" (3000/3000)

A chibi cartoonish version of Ancient Gear Golem appeared. Immediately afterwards, wind began to swirl around Toon Kingdom before suddenly, the field spell disappeared. "Now Kaiba can destroy Pegasus' Toon monsters!" Leon yelled.

"Blue Eyes Chaos Dragon attack Toon Buster Blader! And naturally, I choose to switch Toon Buster Blader into defense position and reduce it's defense points to zero!" The sapphire dragon flew into the air and built up energy in it's mouth. As it did, Toon Buster Blader and Toon Ancient Gear Golem both kneeled down, a sinister purple energy surrounding their bodies. (Toon Buster Blader 5600-0/2300-0) (Toon Ancient Gear Golem 3000-0/3000-0) Blue-Eyes Chaos Dragon then unleashed a stream of energy at Toon Buster Blader, disintegrating it. (Pegasus 4000-1000)

"I'm not done yet. Dragon Spirit of White, destroy Red Eyes Toon Dragon!" Kaiba ordered. The ghostly dragon flew towards Red Eyes Toon Dragon. The toon's eyes popped out and it tried to flee, but it was quickly gobbled up by Kaiba's monster. (Pegasus 1000-400)

"Now, Blue Eyes Alternative White Dragon, destroy Toon Ancient Gear Golem!" The dragon slashed through Pegasus' last remaining monster, causing the toon to shatter into pieces. "I'm disappointed Pegasus. I expected the creator of Duel Monsters to improve his skills over time. Then again, maybe my skills just improved too much for you to keep up with. I end my turn."

Pegasus drew a card. "You've changed, Kaiba. You always had an ego problem, but after finding out about those boys, you crossed lines you would have never crossed before."

Kaiba smiled. "You act as if I plan to shut down your company. The game won't change. Card production won't stop. This is just my guarantee that you won't be mass producing Blue-Eyes White Dragon."

"That's not the point. You're perfectly willing to threaten the happiness of children now just for business. Threatening to deactivate and recall all Duel Disks if I didn't agree to this duel. Selling out countless students to the Princeton Corporation. What next? Allowing duelists unfair advantages during duels if they pay extra money to you?"

"We run businesses Pegasus. Not daycares. I'm just doing what's most benefitial for KaibaCorp."

"No. You're throwing a tantrum because of the mere possibility that other people will have Blue-Eyes in the future. The game is changing Kaiba. New types of summoning, alterations to the rules. And yes, the cards themselves. Tell me. Are you afraid that if other people use Blue-Eyes, you won't be as powerful a duelist anymore?"

Kaiba's eyes widened. "Shut up! Make your move already. I know your Toons inside and out Pegasus. They might have been fearsome back during the early periods of Duel Monsters, but now, they're just the playthings of a man who refuses to grow up!"

"How ironic. I was never planning to, but maybe Blue-Eyes being more accessible to the public will humble you."

Kaiba looked like he popped a blood vessel.

"Anyway, I activate a second Card of Demise. I draw until I have 5 cards in my hand. Then on my 5th standby phase after activation, which I doubt will come, I discard my entire hand." Pegasus drew more cards until he had 5 in his hand. Pegasus took a look at his new hand and sighed. "It seems you're right. I won't be able to defeat you with just Toon monsters. I activate Relinquished Fusion!"

"Relinquished Fusion?" Kaiba asked.

"By banishing materials from my hand, field, or graveyard, I can fusion summon an Eyes Restrict monster. I banish my Relinquished and Golden-Eyes Idol." Transparent images of the monsters appeared before a swirling purple vortex with dozens of eyes within them appeared behind them. The two merged together in the vortex before a new monster appeared. "Come forth, Millenium Eyes Restrict!" (0/0) A bizarrely shaped monstrosity appeared on Pegasus' side of the field. A large red body with two wing-like appendages sprouting from it. Countless golden metallic orbs resembling the Millenium Eye were scattered around it. In the center of it's body was a monstrous looking mouth and two glowing blue eyes. Sprouting off from the tip of it's body was a dark trendil, one last, larger looking Millenium Eye look-a-like being at the center of said tendril.

"What...what is this?!" Kaiba demanded.

Pegasus smiled. "Come now Kaiba. Do you truly believe I shared ALL of my monster designs to you? I activate the effect of my Golden-Eyes Idol. When it's banished or sent to the graveyard due to a card effect, I can target an Effect Monster you control, and equip it to an Eyes Restrict Monster. Your Blue Eyes Chaos Dragon can't be targeted by card effects, so I choose your Blue-Eyes Alternative Dragon. Go Millenium-Eyes! Absorption Force!"

Kaiba gasped in shock. The eye on Millenium-Eyes Restrict's tendril glowed a bright light. Soon, Blue-Eyes Alternative Dragon was condensed into a point of light. Immediately afterwards, the mouth of Millenium-Eyes Restrict opened up and sucked up the ball of light like a vacuum. After swallowing the ball of light, a violet aura glowed around Pegasus' monster. (Millenium Eyes Restrict 0-3000/0-2500)

"And as you've surmised, Millenium-Eyes gains attack and defense points equal to those of the monsters it has equipped to it." Pegasus said.

Kaiba clenched his fist. "So what? It has the same amount of attack points as my Blue-Eyes Chaos Dragon. Unless you plan on destroying them both, I can get rid of it next turn."

"Who said I was done? I activate the effect of Relinquished Fusion in my graveyard! By removing it from play, I can target a monster you control and equip it to Millenium Eyes!"

"Again?!"

This time, Dragon Spirit of White condensed into a point of light, being absorbed by Millenium Eyes as well. (Millenium Eyes Restrict 3000-5500/2500-4000)

"Now it's stronger than Blue-Eyes Chaos Dragon!" Leon exclaimed.

"Battle Phase! I attack Blue-Eyes Chaos Dragon!" Pegasus yelled. The countless eyes on Millenium-Eyes ' bodies all glowed up before each firing a laser at Kaiba's last remaining dragon. Blue-Eyes Chaos Dragon let out a scream before being engulfed in flames. (Kaiba 4000-1500)

"You made a fatal mistake Pegasus. From my graveyard, I activate the effect of my Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon! (3000/0)" As expected by the name, a jet plane modeled in the shape of Blue-Eyes White Dragon appeared. "I discarded this card thanks to Graveful Charity. When a Blue-Eyes I control is destroyed-"

"Yes, yes. I know it's effect. I created that card, Kaiba." Pegasus interrupted. "You can special summon it from your graveyard or hand when a Blue-Eyes is destroyed. And during the battle phase, at the start of the damage step, you can return a monster I control, such as my Millenium Eyes, to my hand. Meaning that no matter it's strength, it'll be removed from the field."

Kaiba frowned. Based off Pegasus' calm demeanor, he had a counter to this. Suddenly, just like before, the tendril of Millenium Eyes glowed, and Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon was condensed in a ball of light. "How?!"

"You were so focused on what Golden Idol and Relinquished Fusion did that you didn't think about what Millenium Eyes' own effect was. When you activate the effect of a monster, Millenium Eyes equips it and naturally, gains it's attack and defense points." Millenium Eyes absorbed the ball of light, glowing with a violet aura once again. (Millenium Eyes Restrict 5500-8500/4000)

"Also, when Millenium Eyes Restrict equips a monster, you can no longer attack with or activate the effects of monsters with the same name as them."

"What?!" Kaiba reacted.

"I'll be honest. I didn't want to use this. I didn't want to remind myself of how I was before losing to Yugi boy. But if this is what I need to do in order to wake you up, then so be it. I set a card and end my turn."

Kaiba put a hand on his deck. "It's my turn."

"And I activate my facedown, Dimension Guardian! By targeting an attack monster I control, it can't be destroyed by battle OR card effects." Pegasus said.

Kaiba looked in shock at the monster. It seemed like anything he would do would just make the monster stronger. Even if he relied on Normal Monsters to get around it's effect, Millenium Eyes was far too powerful to overcome right now. And now he'd be unable to destroy it at all? And to make matters wose, Kaiba's hand was completely empty.

Pegasus looked at the sole remaining card in his hand. 'Millenium-Eyes Illusionist. Even if Kaiba special summons an effect monster but chooses not to activate it's effect, I can discard Illusionist to equip it to Restrict anyway.'

Kaiba then shut his eyes and took a deep breath. "Four cards."

"What?"

"Four cards. That's all I'll need to play this turn in order to defeat you."

Pegasus widened his eye in shock.

"He's bluffing, right?!" Leon asked.

"I learned the hard way that he doesn't bluff with predictions like that." Zigfried said.

Kaiba put a hand on his deck. "DRAW!" Kaiba took a look at the card he drew. "The first card! I activate the effect of White Stone of Ancients from my graveyard! By removing it fom play, I can add a Blue-Eyes Monster to my hand. I add my Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" Kaiba added the Blue-Eyes to his hand. "My second card! I activate another Trade-In! I discard a level 8 monster to draw two cards from my deck!"

Kaiba discared Blue-Eyes White Dragon and put a hand over his deck. 'I refuse...I refuse to give up Blue-Eyes!' Kaiba drew two cards, smiling as he looked at them. "My third card! Ultimate Fusion I shuffle the three Blue-Eyes White Dragon's from my graveyard back to my deck!"

The transparent images of the dragons appeared behind Kaiba. They then swirled together into a cyan vortex. "My fourth and final card! Feast your eyes on the most powerful of all dragons! My pride and soul! Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" (4500/3800)

Majestically arriving onto the field was one of the most infamously rare monsters in the game. A three-headed beast, each head being a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Pegasus hung his head. Unfortunately, he knew what was about to happen.

"Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon is powerful, but Millenium-Eyes Restrict has nearly double the amount of attack points as it." Zigfried said.

"But look at their faces." Mokuba said. "Pegasus looks like he's lost already.

"Now, I activate Ultimate Fusion's effect." Kaiba said. "For every Blue-Eyes White Dragon I used as a material, I can destroy a card you control."

Leon, Zigfried, and Mokuba all gasped.

"I destroy all the monsters that Millenium-Eyes has equipped to it! Neutron Blast!"

Each of the heads shot out a beam of energy at Millenium Eyes, weakening it tremendously. (Millenium-Eyes Restrict 8500-0/4000-0) "Kaiba. I want you to know this. I won't give up. The fact that you gave me the chance to duel for my company as opposed to simply threatening to recall all Duel Disks if I didn't listen immediately tells me that you're not all gone. Even if I failed to make you listen to reason here, I know for a fact that Yugi boy will be able to save you."

"Let him try. Battle Phase! Attack Millenium-Eyes, my dragon! Ultimate Burst!" Once again, energy built up in all of the dragons' mouths. They fired at Millenium-Eyes, the three beams converging into one to form a giant blast of energy. A shining bright light engulfed the arena, Pegasus calmly standing as it reached him. (Pegasus 400-0)


"It's done." The Light of Destruction said in the heads of Scott and Ghassan.

"You mean...?" Ghassan began to ask.

"Yes. Thanks to Kaiba, we control Industrial Illusions."


God I'm glad to have got this chapter off my back. So sorry for the wait guys. Not only was there several stuff in real life that caused the delay of this chapter (finding a new apartment, furnishing said apartment, Grad School in general) but this chapter went through 5 different rewrites from the decision of Sheppard, to whether or not the Key Keepers find out about Damian's innocence this chapter, to whether or not I would show the entirety of Jaden's practice duel with Gustaph, to whether or not I'll even have Kaiba and Pegasus' duel this chapter. I almost made this chapter about Conklin trying to kill Alexis in a duel before deciding that it wouldn't push the story forward much.

That said, I'm glad with my decision. It's nice to get back to Kaiba, and seeing how much impact our protagonists have made outside of the school. Kaiba now has taken control of Industrial Illusions, meaning that in time, the Light of Destruction will have full control over card production and distribution. How will things turn out?