"NANI!?"
Only now did Pegasus start to panic.
His unbeatable strongest shield, Mirror Force, was useless when no card effects could be activated.
Also, while back in Duelist Kingdom the Toon monsters all had those ad-libbed "can flexibly dodge attacks and can't be targeted" kinds of effects, once the story reached Battle City and the rules were progressively standardized by KaibaCorp, those early, unregulated ad-lib effects were abolished.
So when Pegasus later made cameo returns in the movie and the GX anime, you could see that under the modern rules his Toons had lost their old invincibility, and were instead revised to have the ability to attack directly.
Of course, to make up for the nerf caused by version changes, Pegasus had countermeasures.
The new card "Toon Kingdom" that only appeared in GX was how he reinforced Toons to compensate for the loss of their resistances.
"Then the effect of 'Toon Kingdom'!" Pegasus shouted. "If a Toon monster on your field would be destroyed by battle during battle, you can instead banish the top card of your Deck to prevent that monster's battle destruction!" (Anime effect)
This effect and its activation cost both differ from the real card.
In the anime, activating Toon Kingdom required banishing the top five cards of your Deck, and replacing destruction also banished the top card.
In the real card, upon activation you banish the top three cards of your Deck face-down, and for replacement you banish the top card face-down as well.
Don't underestimate those two words "face-down." In today's Yu-Gi-Oh!, while not everyone treats banished cards like a second hand, quite a few decks do—many banish-focused strategies treat banished cards like no different from the hand—no, arguably even more convenient than being in hand.
But face-down banish is different. Face-down banish means the card is banished face-down. Under Yu-Gi-Oh! rules, face-down banished is an "unconfirmed" state.
Cards banished face-down can't have their type determined, so there are virtually no ways to retrieve them. And even if a card has a "when banished" trigger, most such effects won't trigger if it's banished face-down.
In other words, for many decks, face-up banish might feel like going home, but face-down banish really is "missing from this duel for real."
Joey reminded him: "But when Archfiend Black Skull Dragon attacks, neither player can activate any card effects, including Spell effects!"
No ad-libbing allowed.
"But it only says 'cannot activate,' not that all effects are negated."
Pegasus argued forcefully.
"'Toon Kingdom' has a continuous-type effect that applies without activation, so it isn't affected by Black Skull Dragon's effect.
Therefore, I'll banish the top card of my Deck to prevent 'Toon Dark Magician Girl' from being destroyed in battle!"
Pegasus drew the top card from his Deck and casually placed it aside to indicate banishment. The thunderous black flame blasted by the Black Skull Dragon crashed toward the Toon spellcaster girl; the lightning reflecting in her eyes turned her face pale with fright, freezing her in place.
But a transparent barrier released by Toon Kingdom appeared in front of her and blocked all the lightning and black flames.
"Only the destruction is prevented," Joey barked. "Battle damage still applies!"
[Pegasus, LP 4000 → 2800]
Blasted back two steps by the shock of black flame and lightning, Pegasus's face flushed and paled alternately. After steadying himself, he snorted.
"Not bad, Joey Boy."
But before he could finish, Joey clicked his tongue twice, wagged his finger smugly, and chuckled.
"You don't think the evolved Black Skull Dragon is only that strong, do you?"
"What?"
Pegasus's face changed again.
"Archfiend Black Skull Dragon's follow-up effect activates!"
Joey cried out in a clear voice.
"At the end of the Battle Phase in which this Fusion Summoned card battled: target 1 'Red-Eyes' Normal Monster in your GY; shuffle it into the Deck, and inflict damage to your opponent equal to that monster's original ATK!"
Pegasus: "!!!"
Pegasus's eyes went wide—what people call "pupils shaking."
Because he really was panicking.
A Red-Eyes in the GY—that means…
"Right. I'll return the 'Red-Eyes Black Dragon' I just sent to the GY for the Fusion back to the Deck!"
Joey took the Red-Eyes Black Dragon from the Graveyard as it popped to his hand.
On the field, Black Skull Dragon roared, and a draconic silhouette separated from its body. The translucent Red-Eyes figure soon looked as if it were burning, flames latching onto the black dragon, becoming a ferocious flaming dragon!
"I inflict damage to Pegasus equal to Red-Eyes Black Dragon's ATK—2400!"
Black Skull Dragon threw back its head and roared; the burning Red-Eyes shot out like a cannon shell, the flames swallowing Pegasus whole, even making his elegant red suit look as if it were ablaze.
"Aaaaah—"
Losing his gentlemanly poise and calm, Pegasus cried out in pain.
[Pegasus, LP 2800 → 400]
"How's that, you card-printing scumbag!"
Joey preened.
"Now do you see how powerful the friendship between me and Yugi is?"
Back then he'd scorned Pegasus for designing bespoke cards and rules for himself. After all these years, being able to slap him in the face like this felt pretty great.
"I set 1 card and end my turn," Joey said.
Pegasus's body swayed as if he could barely keep his footing.
He panted heavily, hand absent-mindedly raking his hair that had been blown into a mess, taking a good while before regaining his breath.
Then he looked up, narrowing his eyes at Joey.
"It seems you really are a bit different now, Joey Boy."
Pegasus no longer spoke in his earlier teasing tone.
He seemed truly serious now.
Joey had never told anyone, but in truth he had been training these years.
Yes, he hadn't entered any tournaments or been active in the dueling world. But that didn't mean he'd given up dueling.
On the contrary, he had a dream—or rather, a wish.
To cast off the title of "God of Gambling"!
Even now, whenever people mention his shining moments—reaching the semifinals of Battle City, clashing with the Egyptian Gods, crushing the Doma Swordsmen—they end with "just dumb luck."
And he found that aside from saying "luck is a part of strength," it was hard to refute. Because many of his crucial battles did rely on dice and coins.
But now he would change that!
He would prove that he, Joey Wheeler, is not just dumb luck.
Even without dice and coins, he is a legendary duelist!