051 Kaiba vs. Pegasus! Betting His Wife!
Beside the duel platform inside the villa.
“The new form of the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon after its evolution is right here in this suitcase.”
A brown leather suitcase was placed on the table by Pegasus. Inside was a brand-new card, conceived and designed together with his beloved Cynthia during their travels, sketching and creating as they went.
As for why he wanted to create such a card? It was because the director of the Egyptian Archaeological Bureau contacted him during the journey and mentioned the “Three Egyptian Gods.” That was what inspired Pegasus to create this new card along the way.
“Pegasus! I won’t let you just give it to me for nothing! I’ll wager my three most precious Blue-Eyes White Dragons! If I win, the new form of the Ultimate Dragon is mine! If I lose, all three of my Blue-Eyes White Dragons go to you!”
Kaiba was fair. Since the ownership of the new card would be decided through a duel, he brought out a worthy stake!
“OK! No problem!”
With the terms set, the two each shuffled and cut their decks, then took their places on opposite sides of the duel platform.
“We’ll use the latest ‘Master Rule,’ alright?” Pegasus asked.
Seeing Kaiba nod, Pegasus activated the duel platform system.
“Duel!”
Pegasus: 4000 LP
Kaiba: 4000 LP
[Under the new ‘Master Rule,’ the starting Life Points have doubled from the previous 2000 to 4000. Also, if your opponent has no monsters on the field, you may declare a direct attack with your monster, regardless of special effect text.]
“I’ll go first. Draw!”
With the platform indicating him as the first player, Pegasus drew his opening hand of five cards and then drew one more.
[With the new ‘Master Rule,’ regardless of who goes first, at the start of their turn, each player draws their normal draw unless otherwise specified. The reason? Even by the ‘City Arc,’ duels are still slow-paced at this point, so everyone starts with six cards in hand.]
“I pay 1000 Life Points to activate the Continuous Spell Card: ‘Toon World!’”
(Pegasus: 4000 LP → 3000 LP)
With Pegasus’ payment, a large storybook-castle-like object appeared on his field.
“Toon World? I remember Yugi and the others mentioning it. This is the card you custom-made for yourself in Duelist Kingdom, isn’t it?”
After collaborating with Yugi, now president of Fantasy Corp, Kaiba had heard from him about what happened on the island after he and his brother Mokuba left. Among the stories was mention of Pegasus’ custom-made, one-of-a-kind Spell Card—“Toon World!” It wasn’t a Field Spell, but its effect was just as powerful.
“That’s right! But back then, ‘Toon World’ was just a prototype. Now, I’ve turned all the residents of that world into their own standalone card series!”
Pegasus’ face was beaming with pride as he spoke.
Kaiba: “...”
“Ahem!” Pegasus cleared his throat and continued his turn. “Next, I summon ‘Toon Gemini Elf!’”
The mature and enchanting Gemini Elf sisters were transformed here, by the power of Toon World, into mischievous, adorable cartoon girls.
(Toon Gemini Elf, Level 4, ATK: 1900)
“I set one card and end my turn.”
[Pegasus: 3000 LP, hand: 3, Monster Zone: Toon Gemini Elf, Spell/Trap Zone: Toon World, 1 Set]
“My turn! Draw!”
Even if he’d never faced this archetype before, Seto Kaiba would always crush his enemies with overwhelming force!
“I Normal Summon ‘X-Head Cannon!’”
A blue and yellow cannon-shaped robot appeared on Kaiba’s field.
(X-Head Cannon, Level 4, ATK: 1800)
“Next, I activate the Continuous Spell ‘Frontline Base!’ I Special Summon ‘Y-Dragon Head’ from my hand!”
X-Head Cannon, Y-Dragon Head, and Frontline Base—all three belonged to the latest “Union Monster” series produced by Fantasy Corp.
“I banish ‘X-Head Cannon’ and ‘Y-Dragon Head’ from my field for a Union Fusion!”
The lower half of X-Head Cannon and the back of Y-Dragon Head clicked and snapped together like toy pieces, performing what was called a “Union Fusion.” This was the main selling point of the Union Monster series: as long as the Fusion Materials were on the field, you didn’t need ‘Polymerization’—you could simply banish the materials to Special Summon the Fusion monster!
“I Special Summon—XY-Dragon Cannon!”
(XY-Dragon Cannon, Level 6, ATK: 2200)
‘Hmph! So what if you have Toon World? In the end, it’s just a Spell Card. All I need is an effect that targets opposing Spells or Traps!’
As Kaiba prepared to declare XY-Dragon Cannon’s effect—discarding a card to destroy Pegasus’ Toon World—Pegasus spoke up first:
“Kaiba-boy! At the very moment you Special Summon your monster, my set card activates!”
Pegasus flipped his face-down card, revealing a red suitcase with steel jaws and large, glaring eyes fixed on Kaiba’s Dragon Cannon.
“Chomp chomp chomp!” The suitcase snapped its mouth, then leapt at the Dragon Cannon. Under Kaiba’s stunned gaze, the steel teeth quickly shredded the Dragon Cannon to pieces.
“The effect of the Trap Card ‘Toon Briefcase!’ If I control a Toon monster, when you Special Summon a monster, I can activate this card to shuffle that monster back into your deck.”
With Pegasus’ effect explained, Kaiba could only grit his teeth in frustration as his hard-won Dragon Cannon was returned to the deck.
“Tch! I set two cards and end my turn!”
His Normal Summon had already been used on X-Head Cannon, so even with more monsters in hand, he couldn’t summon again this turn.
[Kaiba: 4000 LP, hand: 1, Monster Zone: 0, Spell/Trap Zone: 2 Set]
“My turn! Draw!”
“I activate the Spell Card ‘Cost Down!’ By discarding a card, I permanently reduce the Level of all Monster Cards in my hand by two this turn!”
Cost Down—a Spell Card perfect for high-level monsters. Especially under the new Master Rule, monsters of Level 5 or above require tributes to Normal Summon: one tribute for Levels 5–6, two tributes for Level 7 or higher, unless otherwise specified by the card text.
“Thanks to ‘Cost Down,’ the Level 6 ‘Toon Summoned Skull’ in my hand can now be Special Summoned without tribute under ‘Toon World!’”
The original six-star, 2500-attack Summoned Skull, now transformed—like the earlier Gemini Elves—into a cute, mischievous cartoon demon under Pegasus’ control.
(Toon Summoned Skull, Level 6, ATK: 2500)
Having Special Summoned the little demon, Pegasus cast his single, cyclopean eye toward the last card in his hand, drawn this turn.
“I activate the Spell Card to replenish my hand: Graceful Charity!”