Time flew by and life was pretty good. My brothers were always fun to hang around, even if they didn’t like playing with cards so much as collecting them.
Today however I was finally going over to Brandy’s house to play cards and hang out.
Granted I do have concerns given her father, she’s real fun to play against and uses fair deck building and doesn’t use cheesy tactics.
“Thankfully she believes in some OG stuff that doesn’t involve making sure your opponent can’t play the game.” I thought to myself honestly. “But…I really hope Pegasus won’t be mad with me here…”
"You excited for your playdate?" Dad asked me.
“Yis!” I said happily, though I was a bit nervous. “Just…hope I don’t do anything silly…”
"Heh, well a little silliness is in order. Makes the best memories." Dad said as we walked through space on a magically forming ground beneath us.
“I’ll try.” I said. “Just…hope Mr. Pegasus won’t be upset with me hanging out with Brandy.”
"He might get a bit overprotective but he's a good dad. And should he get a bit too rude his wife usually pulls him back in. Usually with a baseball bat…"
“Oh boy…who would have thought Cecilia would be the danger wife.” I said sheepishly. “Well…let’s hope for the best.”
As we approached Brandy's house I was surprised to see it looked… like a normal, average two story house you'd see on earth. A fair sized front and back yard of this house just floating in space.
These houses are always cool to see. Even if they can feel out of place.
“A little surprised to see it’s…rather average on the outside…” I hummed. “Wonder if it’ll be like Toon World inside…”
Dad walked me to the door. He rang the bell and after a bit the door opened.
Now, I won't lie, part of my inner nerd wanted to geek out at seeing Pegasus himself standing before me. The real deal and so intimidating…
The other was confused as to why he was wearing an apron that was heavily stained.
Even more confused when he wasn't wearing his clothes from the show but rather a black T-shirt and some shorts with no shoes.
"Ah, hello Joy." Pegasus said.
"Pegasus." Dad nodded.
“Hello.” I said politely, given that this was the second time meeting him, but first as a ‘pedestrian’, I really wanted to make a good first impression. “Were we…interrupting something?”
"Hm? No, I was just cooking." Pegasus said. "Come on in, Brandy is in the living room so you two can play while your father and I talk."
“Alright.” I nodded. “Thank you.” I said, carefully moving past the two to go see Brandy. “Just a nice simple day…hopefully.” I thought to myself, looking around for Brandy.
I walked inside, finding everything looked… normal. A normal house. Huh.
Brandy was sitting next to a short coffee table, various cards laid on before her, and a few piles next to her as well.
“Hey Brandy.” I said with a smile, pushing back my surprise that this wasn’t some Cartoon land in here, but just a simple normal home. “How you doing today?”
"I'm good. Glad you were able to make it. Did you bring your cards too?"
“Yep.” I said with a smile, bringing out a few deck boxes filled with my cards. “Got my cards ready for a fun day.” I said readily.
"Cool." She said.
Brandy and I began looking cards over, making decks and comparing styles. Good fun really.
“Is it weird that I’m…surprised your house isn’t some cartoon land?” I inquired, even though I saw her Doppleganger cartoon familiar lazily napping on the couch, it still felt…odd to see this place so normal.
“Dad would have that but mom likes the sense of normalcy. He did teach me a trick to do that though.”
“Oh really?” I inquired. “Mind if I see?”
She nodded, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a deck card. I noticed however it was blank. Just the back design and nothing on the front. She threw it to the side, the card floating up and standing vertically like a door and growing to the size of a door. “Come on.” She said, standing up and walking to the dark door.
I blinked. “Well then…” I said, getting up and grabbing my new Gate Guardian deck just in case and following after her.
We walked through the card and found ourselves in an all empty void of space.
“Make Land. Make Sky. Make Light. Make Grass. Make Trees. Make clouds.” Brandy said. Suddenly in a blink we were standing on a grassy field with patches of trees under a blue semi cloudy sky.
“Eheh Excuse me?” I asked in shock and awe.
“It’s called Mini Dimension. It’s not that big but you can make almost anything in these.” She said. “You just say the command ‘Make’ and then what you want it to make. Watch. Make Cake.”
Suddenly there was a fair sized cake on the ground before us. White frosting covering it.
“Uh…” I blinked. “Make Ice Cream?” I said, not entirely sure if it would work out…but thankfully it did, as a tub of vanilla ice cream appeared next to the cake. “Oh…oh I can feel my teeth crying.”
“Heh, yeah. Mom likes to make sure I don’t eat too much, especially before dinner.”
“Yeah, mom doesn’t like when I try to snake too much as well.” I admitted. “But…mini dimensions…this is a dangerous thing to give a nine year old and I am all for it.”
“I can’t make anything dangerous. It’s also got some safety features dad put in before he gave it to me. Said it would be a good place to both practice with my cards and summons and to keep my imagination active.”
“That’s good.” I nodded. “So, I did bring one of my deck’s in if you want to do some Summoning practice.”
“Sure.”
I nodded with a smile, hopping back to give us some space. “Alright, whatever summon you want Brandy.” I said, starting to shuffle my Gate Guardian Deck and ready for the battle.
“Alright.” Brandy smiled, pulling out…is that a Bakugan? “Bakugan Brawl!”
The duels were really cool. I know I’ve seen them appear and fight in person already, but against another person in a proper duel, it’s a whole new experience.
“That was really fun.” I said with a warm smile, seeing my Gate Guardian Combined go up against Infinite Dragonoid.
“Yeah. More fun than just the normal cards.” Brandy nodded.
“Kids.” We turned to see Pegasus standing in the card doorway. “Dinner is ready, time to stop playing.”
“Yes dad!” Brandy said.
“Okay sir!” I answered as well, disbanding Gate Guardian and heading to the door to get some food. “A tough duel always works up an appetite.” I said, which my stomach growled in agreement.
We walked out the card doorway, it shrinking back to a normal card and Brandy picked it up. Once that was done we walked into the dinning room. I sat next to dad. I looked at Pegasus’s wife.
Cecilia Pegasus, mother of Brandy and…jeez, the anime did not due her beauty justice…and also was surprising how similar her and Brandy were, but instead of Cecilia wearing a frilly dress for dinner, she wore a nice loose clothing that were comfy for her, her T-shirt having the phrase ‘Hubby Wrangler’ on it with a cartoonish display of her and Pegasus together.
“It’s nice to meet you Mrs. Pegasus.” I said politely to Cecillia.
“Please, Cecilia is fine.” She said with a smile.
“Alright.” I nodded, seeing Pegasus walk in with some cartoon butler’s, walking around and putting down our plates…and boy did it smell delicious.
“Dinner is served.” Pegasus said readily. “So, Mikey-boy, I see you’ve become fast friends with my dear Brandy.”
“Y-yes, and I’m always happy to be her friend.” I said readily, already noticing a mild stink eye from Pegasus but he kept up his jovial and polite smile.
The plates were served, large T-bone steaks, baked potato covered in sour cream, chopped green onion, bacon bits and melted butter. A side of mixed veggies, and several plates with biscuits for grabs.
I started to dig in with everyone else, immediately going for the large T-bone and eating it. “Wow, this tastes amazing!”
“Thank you, I have had plenty of time to perfect my cooking for my wonderful family.” Pegasus said simply.
“You are often more the house husband than not.” Dad said, chuckling.
“Heh… well as my boss my lack of work hours are on you.” Pegasus said.
“You gonna argue against the excess family time?”
“No…” Pegasus pouted.
“So…” I said sheepishly. “When did you start working for mom and dad?”
“Not long after I joined The Family. To be fair I sometimes wonder if I was brought in as more of King’s inner child wanting a duel with a childhood cartoon favorite rather than any actual skill or power.” Pegasus said.
“They did duel you a lot back then… Then again they were also new to the whole ‘retirement’ thing so…” Dad sighed.
“Well…I can fully understand why he would do it…but did it also involve…” I made a motion to Cecilila as I wasn’t sure how to properly word it.
“Oh yes, I was happily reunited with my Cecilia when I joined the Family, one of the many things your Uncle did to help me feel more at home instead of them always being a giant nerd.”
“You also nerded out plenty when he showed you his cartoon collection.” Cecilia mentioned which made Pegasus lightly scratch the back of his head in embarrassment.
“Y-yes, well it did help break up the monotony of our many many duels.”
I smiled. “Cartoon’s are always great, no matter the age.”
“Yes, King is always looking for new cartoons and to watch… when not that they peek in on people out in reality. I guess at sometime you should meet your uncle…aunt… whichever works for you when you meet them.” Dad said.
“Right…that won’t be confusing.” I joked. “But so far, Uncle King sounds like they're really fun.”
“They can be… when they aren’t paranoid or overreacting to something.” Dad chuckled.
“Aren’t we all…” I sighed, eating some of the veggies and enjoying the taste of it.
“Oh don’t be like that.” Pegasus said readily. “This is a time to not be paranoid or overreact to things, especially when you have a…wonderful friendship with my dear daughter.” Pegasus said, though the small hesitancy on finishing that statement made me a little worried.
“Oh really now?” Dad asked, smirking with a raised brow. “Brandy, what did you and Mike do last when I picked him up from school?”
“I hugged him goodbye.” Brandy said nonchalantly.
I think I heard Pegasus’s fork snap.
“Oh really?” Pegasus asked, his jovial turn staying but I could hear an edge to it…and some small wisp’s of darkness.
“S-so anyways! How has life been treating you all?” I asked quickly, trying to diffuse this possibly worrying situation.
“Oh I’ve been doing well.” Cecilia said, looking between me and Brandy. “Though I am having a sense of deja vu here.”
“A-and what kind of Deja vu?” I asked sheepishly.
“Of when me and my sweet Pegasus were children and met in a family get together.” Cecilia said honestly, making me flush with embarrassment and…I think I heard a plate suddenly break like it had a knife shoved through it.
“U-uh…I mean…” I said nervously, trying to come up with some deflection here.
“Maybe we should schedule a sleep over.” Dad said.
“NEVER!” Pegasus yelled, as he summoned…Relinquished…oh no…
Suddenly, Cecilia was over by Pegasus, a baseball bat in hand as she first whacked the Relinquished through the wall, then her Husband through the other wall.
“Must you tease him so Joy?” She asked.
“You didn’t stop me.” Dad chuckled.
“True…” She smirked.
“Uh….” I blinked, seeing as the woman literally slammed both her husband and a very dangerous monster through walls…”Is…this a common occurrence? And uh…how!?”
“Oh anytime any of our daughters get friendly with others, Pegasus get’s rather aggressive… so it’s somewhat common. Also, don’t ask questions you won’t want the answers to.” Cecilia said, carrying the bat over her shoulder as she walked back to her seat.
“I…suppose that’s what the ‘Hubby Wrangler’ shirt means…” I said sheepishly, looking over to Brandy. “And…you’re okay with this?”
“Eh, my sisters have more crazy stories.” She shrugged.
“And…how many sisters do you have?” I inquired. “And how crazy?”
“In total, Brandy included, four hundred and sixteen. Craziest would be when Pegasus burned Gala’s boyfriend’s home planet down… that was a nightmare…” Cecilia sighed.
“Good lord.” I said in horror.
“He didn’t respect Gala’s true beauty!” Pegasus tried to defend himself with a shaky hand raised.
“Yet he still married her and you spoil their kids whenever we or they visit.” Cecilia. “Just lucky we were able to reset the planet and make it so that didn’t happen. Though I did let the boy and Gala beat their father with a wide range of tools as an apology.”
“Oh is that why you borrowed Lindworm?” Dad asked.
“Yes, Gala had a lot of fun using that.”
“Restrict tried to warn the master…” I heard Relinquished ‘say’, pulling itself out of the wall and rubbing it’s giant eye head. “And your batting arm is still as strong as ever ma’am.”
“Thank you, and sorry for the hit, I know when he summons you you have little choice.”
I looked over to see Brandy smiling at me, even with all this craziness…well, I suppose this could be weirder.
To be continued...