Maximillion Pegasus normally faced life with a powerful feeling of confidence and grace.
It was nearly impossible to do otherwise, considering his Millennium Eye granted him abilities and knowledge beyond mortal means. Knowledge of lore and legends long gone, enough to grasp those long lost and forgotten Shadow Games that once controlled this planet and bind that nebulous process into playing card tributes to unseen powers.
He had crafted the current shards of power into the widely profitable and worshiped Duel Monsters trading card game, and had YET to touch on a fragment of the raw power and knowledge his eye gave access to!
Not only could he reference powerful monsters and spells and creatures and more from beyond this plane of existence, but he could gently touch upon the grace of beyond, to that spark of imagination and unformed potential, and call forth entirely new cards all together to support his goals and aims!
And this was with only ONE of the Millennium Items. Just… Just one of them, in his clutches, had granted him wealth and power and abilities beyond measure.
It was what drove him to find the others… Not for the fame or unusual skills and knowledge he could gain, he had more than enough for any man already. No, for something he desired more than any meer coin or worshiper…
To break Death.
To call her back to his arms, to bring her home to his kingdom. To their home he had so carefully built.
Even that one object of power, the Millennium Eye, was enough to grant him hope.
For the minor cost of destroying his left eye and suffering intense pain and ongoing torture, he had been granted the most glorious gift imaginable…
A chance to see her again. A precious moment to hold her in his arms.
His love Cecelia, torn from him by disease and death moments after marriage…
One moment, granted to him by an impossible artifact formed from a forgotten or misrepresented era of history.
Even as he broke down with empty arms, her illusionary image faded and his heart torn anew, he had found a trace of a path… A shard of hope!
For there were still six OTHER Millennium Items out there.
Six more chances, to do impossible things… To potentially fracture the bindings of Death and find his love once more!
So with unbreakable resolve and the raw power granted by his replaced eye, he planned.
Enough money to bend the laws of man. Contacts with higher circles of society expanded, to ensure no places were beyond his touch. The spread and promotion of Duel Monsters, to allow mortals a touch of Divinity and spread their use… To encourage betting and deals and contracts to be built and settled using this reborn imagining of those ancient Shadow Games, that were so powerful they could capture and bind Souls themselves!
And having designed the field of battle and trained all potential foes and enemies to fight upon those bloody shores, Maximilian Pegasus had taken that last step, to ensure his future path to bringing her home would remain unblocked and clear…
His custom cards.
Painfully crafted through great hidden cost and torment, to ensure that he would always be triumphant in this new world he was building… Adaptable to any style of Duelist, able to capture and convert his foes into toonish allies willing to fight for his purposes!
While obstacles and setbacks had occurred over the years, on average things were going to plan, his goals moving forward even if they had yet to be accomplished…
So from day to day, Maximillion Pegasus was a bastion of calm resolve and stood on high in confident superiority over his unknowing and unaware followers. A man who knew more than any mortal should, with a slight grasp of said power and a goal beyond any reason or logic or science.
Truly, it was rare to be caught so off guard.
He stared at the card researcher. "What do you mean, 'the frogs are restless'?"
Seriously, who answers a status report like that?
The man coughed and adjusted his glasses. "While my team was researching which new set of monsters were close enough to be cardified into this world, we found prior existing frogs suddenly growing unstable. It's to the point where some of our bindings may even be broken, leaving the actual power thread to decay and vanish."
…Which would leave them as simple playing cards. Still profitable and playable, but not able to nurture powerful Duelists to go forth in the world and gather the items he so desperately required to call her home.
Unacceptable. "Is our process itself flawed?"
The head of the team jerked back! "No! No no no, nothing is going wrong on OUR end! All other samples have shown ZERO contamination or degradation, this is specifically a condition that relates SOLELY to a number of frog related Duel Monsters!"
In the back, muffled, one of the stranger scientists had to interject. "And toads! A couple of toads too, guys!" "Be QUIET Carl! They are all part of the same archetype!" "I'm just saying…"
Pegasus couldn't care less. "Do you have enough researchers to look into this without delaying the next release set?"
The man confidently nodded. "Yes sir! I just wanted to bring this to your attention as soon as we noticed the discrepancy. We even have a few ideas to address the issue, but can't even begin research on that until the ongoing oscillation stabilizes."
Good man. "If you need additional resources or funding, contact my staff immediately. After all, Industrial Illusions has more than enough to ensure proper handling of this, I personally guarantee it!"
His mind rapidly considered this issue from a wider viewpoint… "And gather a set of requirements needed for ongoing monitoring of this sort of issue. I will establish a team solely focused on incidents like this to keep your own work free from distractions."
The man nodded with confidence. "Yes sir!"
Pegasus waved the other team leads off as well, forcing back his concerns as usual. "I'll make my own inquiries of course, but everyone must stay on top of this issue until it is resolved! Understood?"
""""Yes sir!""""
Good.
Walking away from his people, he retired to one of his painting rooms and sent away the staff.
He would paint her memory once more and try to remember her love for a few moments… It always helped him calm down.
Then he would look beyond this life and see what exactly was going on in those Shadowy lands.
~~~Pocket System~~~
Jessica blinked at the most recent report. "John's frogs are… Moving?"
The agent sent confirmation.
She felt a headache coming on… "Moving where, exactly?" Was this going to cause trouble for his attempts to simulate the whole Soul reinforcement ability?
Then she groaned as more information was shared. "Does he KNOW that they've built a Pond into his Pocket?"
Oh, they COULDN'T build a pond there apparently. Because of limitations set up to protect his Pocket from invaders and stuff. So, from what they could tell, they built it somewhere else…
Jessica clenched her teeth. "NO, building it into his backup Soul network mesh is NOT something I agreed to, nor is it something that either of us talked about! Is this all because he had set up that whole 'Extra Deck' feature earlier?"
Darn it. "System, ping Grace about all this and have her start looking into how this is affecting John… And it might be best for all three of them to return to the Hotel so we can check up on any side effects."
[[Confirmed.]]
Sheesh, forget having a 'frog in your throat', her brother had a whole damned POND full in his backup SOULS! What would that even DO to a person!?
Her attention was then cautiously caught by a now very hesitant agent… "You guys don't want to do that to me too, do you?"
A proposal was submitted.
Sigh. "Let me look at it first, alright?"
Hmm. Her Soul mesh would be treated as a new 'Territory' for a SPYRAL base to be established, but unlike her brother's amphibian related woes the numbers involved would be VASTLY lowered.
A number of retired agents as trainers, some new employees to run things, the support staff and the families related to everyone involved in this endeavor… "And at least THEY are asking first! Stupid frogs, just hopping inside my brother as if he is a free hotel. Or swamp, I guess."
She tapped the document, originally made from Soul like everything else Duel Monster related but translated by John's System into a Crafted folder of papers. "How would this affect me? And how would it affect YOU guys and gals, if you suddenly set up shop like that in such a place that literally is MADE out of my Soul?"
Apparently? They were not sure. But that was the sort of risk EVERY agent had to face when exploring domains of other Archetypes, and it was common for agents in other territories to pick up the local 'flavor', as it were.
If they were NOT alright with picking up some of Jessica's nature by associating with her, then they wouldn't have connected with her in the first place.
…That was actually kind of touching. "Let Grace do some initial research, I can feel her freaking out already and she's about to bring the other two home… But for now? I am filing this under a tentative 'maybe yes' at the moment."
After all, having a number of Soul based secret agents, infiltrators, and (if required) emergency warriors sounded VERY handy to Jessica, considering what dangers they may face in the future on John's journeys.
The swell of emotional enthusiasm brought a bit of a smile to her as well. "Yeah, yeah… But theoretically, if a field base IS set up in my backup… Soul hive thing, whatever it is… What kind of impact will it have locally? I mean, you guys said John's new pond and the army moving in was causing a bit of a loud commotion up there, yes?"
An unheard snort informed her that they were acting like an ongoing ribbiting STAMPEDE!
Yeah, that didn't sound great. "So you think others noticed?"
Yep. A list of detected people and creatures who had caught on in obvious ways began to scroll by her mind.
Shit. "Will we face the same issues if I agree to the new SPYRAL setup in MY Soul network mesh?"
No. Because SPYRAL agents were just a little bit more professional than a bunch of frogs.
And they were only planning on establishing a new base, not a grand migration of every agent who ever existed.
…Hang on. "How many frogs and toads, EXACTLY, are moving into John's new 'pond'?"
Numbers were provided.
Her eyes grew wide. "Holy crap."
That was a LOT of amphibians. "Do all those things even have cards out there to try and jump into his deck!?" How big could a deck be ANYWAY!?
Thankfully: Nope. Most of the creatures were completely unaware about Shadow games to begin with, and not all of the frogs and toads actually wished to be included in John's deck apparently.
Her fingers paused as she reviewed the papers. "...Shadow games?"
More and more intel was shared and… Oh dear. "So I guess 'Duel Monsters' is a fairly RECENT rebranding then."
These Soul Fragments had apparently possessed other forms in the past. Totems, worshiped by kingdoms. Artwork passed through family lines. Summoning rituals, empowered by the Souls of the worshipers and occasionally enhanced by sacrifice and torment… And yes, other games too.
Although from what she could read, the variety and nature of those had only taken off after Duel Monsters had impacted this world. "Can you submit this stuff to Grace directly through John's Pocket? I… I am pretty sure she's going to need to look over this."
A full series of backups were already under construction, covering everything from training manuals to past reports and piles of intel.
The delivery of said material was only being delayed due to needing to be VERY comprehensive, as the 'new base' had been marked as 'leaving reality itself on a fundamental level', due to intel Jessica had provided in earlier meetings.
Right. "Work with Grace then, she acts as John's defensive administrator for his Pocket and his defenses are MY defenses. And in the future, you'd probably best work with Temptation for any external work like reconnaissance or fieldwork… She's in charge of 'active defense' when searching out outside risks."
Her agents understood, and they were VERY busy… Mostly trying to cover up the evidence and ongoing signals of John's new amphibian immigration nightmare.
They couldn't STOP him or his new friends from causing an ear numbing screech of frog-tacular proportions, but they were ATTEMPTING to keep it down to a city shaking roar at least.
Jessica groaned. "Are we at risk right now due to this?"
Her people basically shrugged. From what they could tell, the massive migration of toady wonder was causing more confusion and chaos than any sort of organized response or sparking any conflict or confrontation from the surrounding monsters.
Which was good enough for now. "Let me know if anything critical comes up, I'm going to grab another coffee from down the street before my brother gets back."
Because when he did, Grace was likely going to lock them all down until this entire mess was under control... And they might have to bounce soon from this Realm entirely unless they could avoid any potential fallout.
It was near lunchtime too, right? Might as well get a sandwich too while she was at it.
~~~Pocket System~~~
John blinked. "Why do we have to go back right WOAH!"
Grace was two stepping it! "Let's go, move it. Move it!"
Even Temptation was caught off guard as Grace Pocketed all the picnic supplies. "What's going on, sis?"
She shook her head. "We'll talk when we are secured. Temptation, if you see ANYTHING heading towards us with frogish intent, let me know!"
Wait what!? "Grace, I am feeling confused."
And her eyes were wide and worried! "Do you feel anything else? An urge to eat flies or… Or hop or something!?"
Uh. "Not really?"
And she was dragging him along. "Then we STILL HAVE TIME LEFT!"
…What?