I've finally banged out the next chapter of the Yu-Gi-Oh fanfic,Sister of Anansi. Again,deep apologies for not getting this done sooner.
Yu-Gi-Oh Jr.: Sister of Anansi
A Yu-Gi-Oh fanfic-crossover fanfic by .hack//BELLOSSOM
Chapter 2: The Story of Anastasia

"Toon Decks can be very dangerous. Look. Clover spent 1,000 Life Points to summon Toon World in the first place, and an addition 500 Points to have her Mermaid attack. But in just one attack, she’s caused an even greater Life Point loss to Mary. Mary is going to have to be very careful..."
- Yugi Jr., "Yu-Gi-Oh Junior: The Mandate of Heaven" -

The small jet which was one of the jets that would ferry campers to Duelist Camp flew over the Rocky Mountains. Lina watched as the snow-capped peaks passed below her.
"Well, this will be an interesting endeavor," mumbled the young woman to herself. She turned her attention back to the catalog she was bought in the camp's gift shop before heading out. It was a catalog of all the new cards
she had seen in this world. Many of them were created by Industrial Illusions and had interesting abilities, like the Crescent Moon Queen, which could attack twice and had the same attack as a Buster Blader;or the Quicksand
Trap card, which could paralyze all your enemy's monsters which were active.
"I should purchase some of these cards and then make plans to create them when I get home...if I get home," mumbled Lina to herself. "Oh well, no sense in crying over spilt milk. Just hope Phoebe and the others think of me as dead. I wonder how they are doing while I'm out of it..."
She put the catalog away, leaned back, and closed her eyes for a nap. "I'm a bit tired...might as well sleep off the remaining leg of the journey. I can't wait to see what sort of girl Diane Arachne is...*yawn*..." She then dozed off.
~~+~~
Meanwhile, back in Lina's world, her body - possessed by a strange spirit - was sitting in the game room, slipping an unusual card into a folder. "Sorry, Sir Pegasus, but I need your company to make my plans into reality. Interesting how your name is that of one of our fabled beasts, the winged horse. Reminds me of my former life."
Phoebe came in. Her eyes were glazed over behind her shades, as if she was in a trance. "Master, we've completed phase one of your plan. We've almost finished work on renovating the former Duelist Kingdom island."
"Good, I am glad to hear that," grinned the spirit. "How is phase two going?"
"The advertisements were sent, using the gimmick you demanded. I am sure that your fellows will no doubt be interested and come running like flies to honey."
"Very good," said the woman. "You did well. Soon, my other sister and my family will be in the island, and then I can find a way to take their hosts out and capture their Items." She chuckled. "You did well, Phoebe. Report to me if there is anything I need to know of great importance."
"Yes, Master," said Phoebe, walking out of the room.
"Soon, I will have the Astral Items," grinned the spirit. "And then I will give them to Hades, and he will release my brother and me from our prisons and give us true bodies. Ha ha ha..."
~~+~~
Lina had a very disturbing dream. She found herself in a Roman palace with silver pillars and paintings of Roman soldiers fighting against other Roman soldiers while the crescent moon shone on them. "This is a weird place,"
mumbled Lina. She then heard a small mewl and saw a young boy wearing a cat-eared helmet with two kittens also in cat-ear helmets, one blue-furred and one white.
Lina gasped. "A Cat's Ear Tribe? Alive and real? But...why?"
The boy mewled and grabbed Lina's pant leg, pulling on it and pointing to the doorway.
"You want me to...come with you?" she asked. The boy nodded. "That's odd. Okay, I'll follow you."
The three cat-helmeted creatures raced out the door as Lina followed. Lina bit her breath back in awe. "Whoa..."
The environs outside the palace were beautiful. The place looked like something from the Valley of Eden, with beautiful trees and bodies of water, and tiny villages with Duel Monsters fleeing for their lives. Mountains ringed the valley.
"What is this place?" cried Lina. She then looked up and gasped in horror. She saw a dark cloud and, from it, bolts of lightning were raining down from it and striking the Duel Monsters, turning them to stone. One bolt hit the Cat's Ear Tribe and turned the three to stone as well.
"NO!" cried Lina in horror. "What is going on?"
Suddenly, a young girl wearing familiar clothing emerged and spoke in a childish voice. "It's the Darkness, come to destroy Shadoria and wipe us Shadorians out. It seeks to rule both our worlds."
"Who...?" Lina whipped about and gasped. "Toon Magician Girl? You can SPEAK?"
"All Shadorians can speak, Lina Mystara, one of the Chosen," whispered the Girl.
"Shad--you mean, this place? Where you Duel Monsters live?" asked Lina.
The Girl nodded. "You call us Duel Monsters, and this place the Shadow Realm, but in truth, it is another world like yours. Long ago, when the ancients unlocked the means to summon our souls from Shadoria, they created the Shadow Games. And now, something evil wishes to take control of us all and use us to destroy your world. You must stop them."
"But how? How can I...?" She felt her body fading away. "Wait, I have questions!"
"Save our world...Chosen One..." whispered the Toon Magician Girl as everything went black.
Lina woke up in a cold sweat. "What WAS that place? And what did she mean by me being a 'Chosen One?' Darn, too much Tales of Symphonia!" The speaker crackled on.
"Miss Mystara?" asked the pilot. "We're landing in the airport right now. Buckle your seatbelt."
"Guess I'll never know now," mumbled Lina with a sigh, clicking her seatbelt on.
~~+~~
In the airport, Sheena was saying goodbye to her sister. "I'll miss you, Diane," said Sheena, hugging the girl again. She was wearing a green sweater with a spider on the front.
"You'll write, won't you?" asked Diane with a sad face.
"I don't think I'll be able to send a postcard when the tournament starts, but we can still e-mail," said Sheena with a smile. "And I promise that I'll bring you a souvenir when the tournament is over."
"Okay!" said Diane happily. "You take care, big sis!"
"You too," said Sheena with a sigh. She heard the chime that meant that the plane had arrived. "Well, I'll be off. See you in about three months, sis." She hugged her sister one final time, tight as she could, and then left for the terminal while Diane waited behind, tears in her eyes.
"Goodbye for now, big sis," whispered Diane. A bell sounded and Diane sighed deeply.
A woman with short red-orange hair came up the hallway, dragging a suitcase dolly behind her. She looked over a photo and scanned the crowd of people, then spotted Diane and grinned, making a beeline to her. Diane sensed this and turned around. The woman checked a photo she held in her hand. "Excuse me, are you Diane Arachne?"
"Yes," said Diane. She made a realization. "Are you the one who was sent to be my caretaker while big sis is away?"
"Yep, that's me," said the woman, putting the photo in her purse. "Name's Lina Mystara, nice to meet you. I'm one of the camp counselors at Duelist Camp, where you will be staying in a month." She held out a hand.
Diane took Lina's hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you, Miss Lina."
"Just Lina," said Lina, chuckling. "So, your sister left already, did she?"
"Yep, off to train for a full month and then scare duelists silly in a big-name tournament," said Diane, smiling.
"Interesting concept," said Lina. "Maybe I should try it when I get home." She covered her mouth. "Oops, sorry! I didn't mean to say that out loud. I have a bad problem with keeping secrets."
Diane giggled.
"How about we go get my bags, then we'll go rent a car and head out for lunch before we head to your place, okay?" said Lina. "My treat, I'll even buy you your favorite dish."
"Oh boy!" said Diane, licking her lips. "Yum!" She then recalled something and took out a key ring. "Here, you don't have to rent a car - my sister say you could borrow hers for the time being!"
"Whoa," grinned Lina, taking the keys. "She won't mind?"
"Nah," said Diane. "My big sis once caught me eating goldfish, but she didn't spank me. She just made me spit it out and told me why it was wrong. I sure believed her when I got sick the next day!" She blushed. "She may have some scary behaviors when dueling, but she can be a softie in real life."
"Oh, I see," said Lina. "Well, I'll try not to mess up the car too much." She laughed her head off and Diane giggled.
~~+~~
"Wow, what a tight ride," said Lina as she drove the red Porsche, which was painted up to look like Spiderman, through the street. She turned into a local drive-in burger joint.
"Yeah, my sister used some of the money she got from Mr. Kaiba to buy that car and make it look neat!" said Diane.
"Your sister got a lot of money from Siegfried?" asked Lina, cocking a brow.
"Yep," said Diane, who explained how Siegfried hired Sheena to be an Eliminator. "He liked my sister's insect deck."
"I see," said Lina, recalling how her foster dad showed her some of the security videos from Duelist Kingdom and the duels that took place - it was part of the planning stage of working on the Duelist Empire project. The first one Lina had seen was one about a duel between Yugi Mouto and an insect duelist called Weevil. "You know, my foster father showed me a duel between Yugi and Weevil back in Duelist Kingdom."
"Did you say Weevil?" gasped Diane. "I know about him! He dueled my big sis just a week ago!"
"Really?" asked Lina, cocking a brow.
"Yeah, in the Golden Scarab Cup," said Diane. "It's a big tournament which is held in San Fransciso for all insect duelists. You have to use insect decks to be in the tournament." She described what had happened.
"Oh, I see," said Lina. "So, this Weevil is dead." She paused to think. I wonder where the Weevil in MY world is now..."
~~+~~
Some on Lina's world, in a place called Hachi Mitsu Ranch, Weevil Underwood sneezed. "I must be having pollen allergies."
~~+~~
After having lunch, Lina drove the car into the apartment parking lot. Lina sighed and scrunched her nose up at the smell. The place was in an awful neighborhood, which didn't have pooper scooper laws or garbage laws. Garbage was piled all over the street and flies were swarming them. "It's garbage day," grinned Diane.
"Ugh," said Lina. "I hope Sieg gives you a nicer home."
"Oh, I think he will," said Diane. "Come on, let's get into our place, it's much nicer than out here."
Sure enough, Diane's apartment was a much prettier place than the streets outside. However, it was hot. "Oh dear, the air conditioner must be on the fritz," sighed Diane, wiping the sweat from her brow. "This always happens."
"Ugh," moaned Lina, following her charge's action. "Say, you have any cold sodas? We can drink them and watch a bit of TV before I give you some help in Dueling."
"You mean you'll teach some advanced strategies?" grinned Diane as she connected a big electric fan and it started up.
"You betcha," said Lina, winking.
Some time later, Lina and Diane had finished watching cartoons. "I love cartoons," sighed Diane. "I never thought a big girl like you cared much about kiddie shows."
"Let me clue you in on a little secret," whispered Lina conspiratorially. "You know Maxmillion Pegasus?"
"Yeah, the former owner of Industrial Illusions," said Diane sadly.
Lina grimaced. Upon hearing that her foster dad's counterpart in this world had been murdered, she went into fits. She still couldn't believe that Pegasus was dead. "Well, he loved cartoons too!"
"Really? A big CEO like him?" gasped Diane.
"Of course," said Lina, pulling out her deck and shuffling it. "Would a big stuffy CEO who didn't have a kid in his heart make a card like...THIS?" She whipped out Toon World, the copy that her foster father had given to her. After her training was complete, Lina received a copy of the Toon World card. Pegasus had copied it himself, putting all his heart and love into the card. He even made amenities so that it couldn't be torn or damaged easily.
"Wow...Toon World," said Diane. "I heard that they're coming out with a whole set of Toon cards now!"
"And I have them all," grinned Lina. "I loved Max, so I emulated his very deck."
"Aweseome," said Diane. "I wish I were as good as you."
"Let me see your deck," said Lina. Diane went to her room and came back with her cards, which Lina shuffled through. She shook her head sadly. "This isn't very good."
"You...think my deck stinks?" asked Diane sadly.
Lina laughed. "I'm not saying that, kid. You have a lot of good trap and magic cards, but the monsters...ech. They need some work." She put the cards down. "You don't have a theme."
"A theme?" asked Diane, cocking her head.
"Yeah, how you duel," said Lina, nodding. "Every duelist has some sort of theme in his cards, no matter how erratic. Yugi Mouto doesn't have a true theme, but he has a card - the Dark Magician - that he focuses on. Weevil had an deck focusing on insect monsters, Rex had a deck focusing on dinosaurs, Seto--I mean Siegfried Kaiba, who probably has his uncle's deck--utilizes the three Blue Eyes White Dragons. You need a theme in your deck to duel well."
"Can you help me find a theme, Lina?" asked Diane.
"Oh, don't worry, I've got you covered." She pulled out a pair of cards, showing an axe and a pair of swords. "Demon Axe - Grarl, and Twin Flashing Swords of Light - Tryce. Two Guardian cards. I bet we could make your
deck into an excellent Guardian deck."
"Really?" grinned Diane. "Thank you, Lina. You're the best!"
Lina blushed. "Come on, let's get to work."
~~+~~
The weeks passed swiftly for Lina - too swiftly for her liking - and still she couldn't find out if Diane was the one who the strange ghost had told her to protect or not. She spent some time going over e-mails and postcards with
Diane. The first week, Sheena sent a postcard telling Diane about her training. The Centurion training had been hard for the woman, but she held firm and refused to let it break her spirit. Luckily, this harsh training was only for a week, then the rest of the month was spent training in Dueling, attending workshops based on Duel Monster tactics and mock-dueling with the fellow Centurions. The next three postcards told about these things and Diane really thought it was cool, so did Lina - she made some notes about her Duelist Empire Tournament, if she ever got back.
Then the cards stopped and Sheena started to send e-mails. The last card said that she couldn't send any more cards for the fact that it might give her away as one of the Eliminators. So the little sister started getting e-mails from "ItsyBitsy", Sheena's secret e-mail handle while in her Eliminator guise. The first e-mail spooked Lina, because it had started off with a creepy intro:
I will come and devour your flesh in the night,
Sucking the blood from your veins with my fangs.
None, not even you, little girl, can resist my venom!
Lina had nightmares after that for the next two days, especially since she had taken Diane to the movies after Diane asked about why Sheena chose "Shelob" as her name. The movie: Lord of the Rings, the Two Towers. The scene with Shelob, the giant man-eating spider, attacking Frodo, was scary. Strangely, Diane was not spooked.
Lina was okay for a week after that, but then she accidently stumbled on a fanfic site where the main characters tied up a "Mary Sue" and left her for a hungry Shelob, and she broke down into tears for an hour.
Returning to the e-mails, Diane was pleased to know that her sister was now in Eliminator training. Sheena didn't give many details, but promised to bring back a DVD recording of all her duels for Diane's enjoymoent. Lina wanted to see that too - she was eager to see what this Dueltopia was all about, even if it was only an Eliminator.
From what she read, Sheena was making friends with the other Eliminators. She didn't give any names, but mentioned their titles. One particular Eliminator she was buddying up with was a woman whose title was "Echidna." She was a female duelist who played a Dark Magician deck. Lina was intrigued. She recalled how Yugi Mouto loved the Dark Magician, the most popular spellcaster of the entire game. She smiled as she recalled her toon version of the Dark Magician's apprentice, the Dark Magician Girl.
Diane was pleased that Sheena was making friends, and she told Lina that after Duelist Camp, she would move out of the apartment and into a special development for Centurions and Eliminators. She was hoping to participate in the next Dueltopia tournament, or maybe the third! Lina was proud of Diane's determination.
Of course, Lina knew that Diane had no chance in Siegfried's tournament event if she wasn't up to snuff, so she decided to give Diane a bit of advance training before the camp officially began. After all, the headmaster DID say she had the potential to improve Diane's skills! So, one a week, the two would study up on Duel Monsters cards and their effects, or have an unofficial duel with each other. This helped both Lina and Diane.
Lina decided to help Diane with her deck theme. After some heavy research and searching through the cards Diane had gotten as "hand-me-downs" from her big sister, Lina used some of her "Inheritance" to make an excellent deck, one which would work pretty simply for Diane, but also one which had a good chance of winning many duels.
~~+~~
It had been a few weeks since Diane and Lina got together and Lina moved temporarily into Diane's home. She got to use Sheena's computer, as long as nothing was tampered with. Lina didn't really mind - she would just put stuff on a floppy and bring it back when she got back to her world. She and Diane loved to snark bad fanfiction.
One author was being so lame. She gave this note at the end of one chapter of her terrible fanfic:
Author’s note: I know the last chapter didn’t contain much, but I just had to set things up. This chapter will be better.... Read on...AND REVIEW!! It’s the only thing that keeps me alive! Keep me alive! I DON’T WANT TO DIE!!!
"Maybe we should send the Reaper of Cards to kill her?" giggled Diane.
Lina burst into howling laughter. "You're a typical barrel of monkeys, Diane," she giggled, wiping tears from her eyes. She checked her watch. "Oh, it's almost noon. You know, Diane, tomorrow morning we'll have to leave for Duelist Camp. Did you get your stuff packed for the trip?"
"Uh huh," said Diane, nodding her head.
"Well then, nothing more to do," said Lina. "Say, how about we go to the mall and have one last fast-food meal, then we can see a movie and play a few video games at the arcade?"
"Oh boy, sure!" said Diane. "Then we can come back home and make fun of more badfic before bedtime!"
Lina rubbed her hair. "Sure thing, and I'm going to prepare a tasty dinner for the both of us, our last meal here."
The two hopped in the car and drove over to the mall. Everything went well, and Lina felt a little sad that this would end soon. I don't really want to leave her behind, but how can I explain that my life isn't here?
That was answered when they were in the arcade, their final stop before going home. Lina was surprised to see a dueling arena in the arcade. "A dueling arena? Here?"
"Yeah, they've just gotten distributed all over the world," said Diane. "After the Duelist Labyrinth, Industrial Illusions bought out the rights to the Dueling Arena from KaibaCorp and distributed it all over the world."
"Huh?" asked Lina. "What about the Duel Disk?"
"Duel Disk? You mean that disc toy that was shown off in New York before the Shadow Incident?" asked Diane.
"No, I mean..." Lina paused. "The Battle City Duel Disks, the ones which snap in place."
"Oh, the ones Sieg's using in Dueltopia!" said Diane. "I don't think he's got plans to bring them to the public."
"Oh," said Lina sadly. I guess that KaibaCorp decided to reclaim all the Battle City Duel Disks and have everyone use the clunky arenas my foster father used way back when. That's odd, considering this is two decades in the future from my time! Surely they would have made Duel Disk technology more prominent.
Just then, someone grabbed Diane's purse. "HEY!" she cried, running towards the punkish boy who had swiped her purse. "Come back here, you jerk! Give that back!" She raced towards the boy, who twisted about and landed a blow in her gut. She collapsed and began wailing. "WAAAAAAAH!!!"
Lina hovered over her. "You did that on purpose, you freak!" hissed Lina, her eyes narrowing at the boy.
"What if I did?" grinned the boy, taking out the deck of cards in Diane's purse and shuffling carelessly through them. "Wow, some of these cards could make me rich!"
"Those are not yours!" roared Lina. "Give them back!"
"Oh?" grinned the boy. "Make me. You punch me, I'll scream for the police and you'll get in trouble!"
Lina looked about and cursed under her breath. She knew that she would be in trouble if she got into a fight here and Sieg would fire her for being violent. She knew that Dueltopia would frown upon violence, and Duelist Camp would probably be the same way. She then had an idea. "How about this instead? You were looking over the cards, you must be a duelist. We duel. If you win, you get to keep the purse." Diane gasped. "If you lose, you hand it over and turn your sorry buttocks over to security, got it?"
"Heh, like I'm going to lose against an old lady like you," laughed the boy.
"Old lady...?" hissed Lina, her eye twitching. She smirked. "I'm not old. I'm pretty young, and I will show you how young I am, once I kick your butt on the arena!"
"Fine!" grinned the boy. "We'll use the Battle City rules! You're going down, woman!"
~~+~~
The two took their places at the arena, shuffled, and placed their decks on the deck zone. "Let's duel," said Lina. The life meters set themselves at 4000 life points each as they drew their hands.
"I'll go first," said the boy. "And I play Vorse Raider in attack mode!" The giant beast-demon warrior rose to his side of the field. (1900/1200)
"Good play," said Lina. "But I've got a better one. Behold the magical mayhem of...TOON WORLD!"
She slapped the card down and her life points dropped to 3000 as the bright colorful cartoon book popped open.
"No way!" cried the punk. "You have a TOON DECK?!"
"Of course," smirked Lina. "I told you I was a young girl at heart." She giggled as she placed another card down. "And I'll summon this monster...Toon Gemini Elf!"
The twin elf girls appeared with a flash. (1900/800)
"And now they'll attack," said Lina as the two elves leapt into the air, much to the amazement of the crowd.
"Ha, they have the same attack as my Vorse Raider, they'll destroy themselves!" laughed the opponent.
"Oh, who said I was attacking that Raider?" grinned Lina. "I'll have them attack YOU!"
With a cry the two elves teleported behind the punk and kicked him in the scalp, making him cry in pain. His life points dipped to 2100. "Oh, and they have a special effect, forcing you to discard one card from your hand when they inflict life point damage." The elves grabbed a card and cackled as it vanished into the graveyard. They then flipped back to their position on the arena floor.
"You go, Lina!" grinned Diane. She had seen Lina's deck and knew what surprises it had.
"Grrr...you'll pay for that," hissed the boy.
"Whatever," said Lina. "To end, I'll set a card face-down. Your turn." The card appeared behind the elves.
The punk drew a card, then grinned. "Say goodbye to your freaky elves! I equip my Vorse Raider with Sword of Dark Destruction to increase its attack by 400!" The demonic warrior's sword changed to a wicked black blade. (2300/1000) "And now I'll have him wipe out your elves! Attack the elves with Sword of Demise!" The Vorse Raider charged forward...
...and was crushed by a cartoon safe. "Boring," yawned Lina.
"WHAT?!" cried the punk in shock as the safe opened to reveal a dazed Vorse Raider, which exploded.
"You activated my trap card, Plummeting Safe," grinned Lina. "This card works like Sakuretsu Armor, but requires Toon World to be on the field. Not very efficient, but fun to watch!" She giggled.
"You'll be laughing out your butthole when I finish with you," hissed the punk. "I place two cards face-down and end my turn." The cards appeared before the boy.
"Really? Two monsters face-down? That's the lamest move I've ever seen, leaving yourself wide open for an attack," grinned Lina. She drew a card and smirked. "Very well, I also lay two cards face-down, and summon Toon Sorcerer in attack mode!" A goofy cartoon wizard popped up on the field. (900/1400) "When he does his direct attack, I get to draw a card. Now, my Toons, wipe out the rest of his life points!" The cartoon characters charged.
"Not so fast, loser!" laughed the punk, flipping his card over. "You've set off my trap, Mirror Force! This card will destroy all your attacking monsters and spare my life points!"
"Oh no, a trap!" cried Lina in mock fear. "Not Mirror Force! Whatever shall I do?" She put her hand on one of the cards she had laid down earlier. "Oh wait, I know...how about I activate THIS!" She flipped the card over. "TWISTED MIRROR!"
"NO!" cried the punk. "I know what that does!"
"Yep, it destroys your Mirror Force and shatters the monster you have on the field as well, inflicting 1/4 of its attack power to your life points! Say bye-bye to your Vorse Raider!" The wicked demon-man shttered and the punk's life points dropped to 1625. "And now you're very vunerable! Toon Gemini Elf, finish him off!" The elves kicked at the opponent again.
"OFFERINGS TO THE DOOMED!" shouted the punk. White light enveloped the elf twins and they screamed as they vanished. "This card destroyed your twisted elves before they destroyed me!"
"Tut, you are obviously a desperate man," said Lina, smirking. "But you forgot I had another monster on the field. Toon Sorcerer, attack directly!" The sorcerer cast a funny magic spell that slammed into the pillar, dropping the punk's life points to 725. "And now I get to draw another card, but...you won't be allowed to, because you used that Offerings to the Doomed - it forces you to skip your draw phase!"
"Grrrr," hissed the punk. He took one of his cards and played it. "Goblin Attack Force!" A horde of goblins appeared. "Now you're in for it! Say goodbye to some of your life points! HA HA HA!"
"Oh no, I'm doomed," whispered Lina with a smirk on her face.
"Huh?" said Diane. "Why is she smiling?"
"...or I WOULD be, if you hadn't activated this trap!" grinned Lina, flipping her trap card. It showed a goofy grimaced green head wearing a top hat and shooting green light from its alien-like ears. "Toon Mask!"
"What?" asked the punk. "I never heard about THAT card before!"
"It's a useful card when facing certain monsters," smirked Lina. "When you summoned your monster, I was able to activate this trap! I sacrifice my Toon Sorcerer..." The goofy sorcerer was sucked into the Toon World book. "And special summon a Toon version of your own monster!"
"No way," said the punk in shock.
"Yes way," said Lina. "Mmet the goofy brigade of...TOON ATTACK FORCE!" Toon World jostled and a horde of funny-looking cartoon goblins wearing the same armor as the punk's Goblin Attack Force. "And now you can't touch my life points."
The punk freaked. I have to wipe these guys out or I'll lose the rest of my life points in a direct attack! Even if it means destroying my monster! "Goblin Attack Force, suicide yourselves on those crummy toon goblins!" The two armies came at each other with howling war cries, but the Toon Goblins had funnier cries.
"Uh uh, you don't understand the power of Toons, do you?" smirked Lina. "Don't you realize that if a monster attacks its Toon Version, the Toon Version ALWAYS avoids getting destroyed because of Toon Physics? Fool."
Sure enough, the Toon Attack Goblins were stabbed by the other Force's swords, but they didn't bleed, they just did really bad melodramatic death scenes as they chopped up their non-Toon counterparts. When the 'war' ended, the Goblin Toons got up with silly giggles and did high-fivers.
"Yay!" said Diane. "You're the coolest!"
"No..." moaned the punk. "I'm finished..."
"That is what you get for messing about with the daughter of Pegasus!" laughed Lina. She then stopped. "Oops!"
The thief paled. "No way! No frickin' way! You're...you're Pegasus' daughter?!" He immediately ended the duel by grabbing his cards and shook like a leaf in the wind. "Here, miss, take your dang purse! Just don't send me to Hell!" He tossed the purse over the side and leapt off the platform, twisting his ankle with a cry of anguish, limping off.
The others in the crowd paled and backed away from Lina. "Wh-what did I say?"
"Anastasia..." whispered the crowd, backing off and leaving in fear.
"Who is...what the...?" cried Lina. She got off the platform, picked up the purse, and went over to Diane, who was on her knees and crying. "Diane? What's wrong? Why are you scared?"
"Don't kill me!" sobbed Diane, grabbing her skirt. "Don't hurt me, Anastasia!"
"Who the hell is Anastasia?" demanded Lina.
~~+~~
It was a quiet ride home, and Diane locked herself in her room as soon as they arrived. "Okay, open up," demanded Lina.
"No, I don't want to die!" wailed Diane.
"Look, if I wanted to murder you, you'd be long dead and buried," sighed Lina, rolling her eyes. "I wouldn't have wasted my time trying to be your friend."
"That's what Anastasis did to Yugi Jr. before he tried to kill him!" said Diane. "Act like his friend!"
"I can't help you or explain myself if you won't explain," demanded Lina. "Look, I promise to stay arm's length from you if you tell me who this Anastasia person is and why she tried to kill Yugi Junior!"
Diane popped her head out. "You promise?"
"I swear on my deck," said Lina, nodding. "May the cards burst into flames if I am lying."
Diane tip-toed out and went over to the computer in the other room, looking up a bio. Lina entered and watched the bio appear from the doorway. "This is Anastasia Pegasus."
Lina dropped her jaw. "NO WAY!"
"Huh?" asked Diane, turning around.
"That face...I recognize it!" cried Lina, pointing at the photo of the platinum-blonde woman with shades. "She's the ghost who helped me get my job and survive in this world! She's a KILLER?!?"
"Well, it's mostly rumor," said Diane. "But I'll tell you what I know from the Net and word-of-mouth." She sighed. "That woman, Anastasia, was the daughter of Maxmillion Pegasus. Maxmillion died mysteriously, and Duelist Kingdom was destroyed."
Lina gasped. "Duelist Kingdom is no more here?"
"Yeah," Said Diane. "Then Anastasia created the Duelist Labyrinth and had a tournament on it, inviting Yugi Jr. and his friends. He also invited Siegfried Kaiba and other people. The duel ended with Anastasia's death. Rumor had it that she had consorted with the Devil and, when you said you were Pegasus' daughter, everyone thought you were Anastasia returned from the dead like a zombie, sent to kill the innocent."
"That's sick," said Lina. But then, old Ana told me that she was serving time in Purgatory for her crimes. I bet that Yugi Junior was the innocent soul she mentioned. Poor thing, no wonder she wants my help.
"So...you're not Anastasia?" asked Diane.
"Of course not," said Lina. "Do I LOOK like her?"
Diane switched her gaze between the photo on the screen and Lina. "Nah, your hair is shorter and cuter. But you said you were the daughter of Pegasus."
Lina sighed. "Hoo boy...how can I explain?" She rolled her eyes. "Well...I'm the adopted daughter of Pegasus, but not this one. You see, I come from an alternate universe, where Max is very much alive and well and made me his daughter and heir to Industrial Illusions. We were working on a new Duelist Kingdom tournament when I got zapped to this world. Anastasia begged me to help her redeem herself by protecting a certain someone."
"Me?" asked Diane, curious.
"I have no idea, but whoever it is, he or she is important," said Lina. "So, until I complete this task, I can't go home. Even now, I'm sure that my foster father is worried sick about me." She sighed.
"I see," said Diane. She smiled her usual smile. "It's okay, Lina. We can still be friends, even if you are a Pegasus."
"No, while I'm here, my last name is Mystara. That used to be my last name until I was adopted, so I'm now Lina Mystara, not Lina Pegasus, got it?" Lina winked.
"Ah, I see. Our little secret," grinned Diane, putting a finger before her lips. "I can keep the secret!"
"That's right," said Lina with a smile. "Well, come on, let get you to bed. Tomorrow's a big day!"
"Okay," said Diane, stretching. "I do feel a bit tired. Good night, Lina."
"G'night, my friend," smiled Lina gently. Her mind wandered back to her foster father and Phoebe. I hope that they don't think I'm dead or something!
To be continued...
NEXT CHAPTER: It's time to go to camp! The two girls meet some of the other campers and the plane gets hijacked by strange guys! Lina must wager her soul to save the future duelists from them! Can she survive,or will she need a bit of help to fight this dark force? Find out next time in...
Chapter 3: The Curse of Orichalcos
ORIGINAL CARDS
PLUMMETING SAFE
Trap Card
This card can only be activated when you have "Toon World" on the field,and is activated when your opponent declares an attack. Destroy the attacking monster.
This card was used in "The Mandate of Heaven",by the harlequin duelist Clover.
Property of Brian "Venusaur" Corvello
TWISTED MIRROR
Trap Card
This card activates when the opponent activates "Mirror Force." Negate "Mirror Force" and destroy all the opponent's monsters,inflicting 25% of their attack power to the opponent's life points as effect damage.
Anastasia used this card when dueling Yugi in "Legacy of the Duelist."
Property of Brian "Venusaur" Corvello
TOON MASK
Trap Card
This card activates when your opponent summons a monster. Sacrifice one of your monsters on the field to summon a Toon variation of the opponent's monster.
This is an original anime card. As of this writing,the episode where this is used has not be aired yet. A fake Maxmillion Pegasus uses this against Seto Kaiba during a duel in Duelist Kingdom.