The Rise and Fall of History III: The Future Will Fade

by Medigo

A long journey through time threatens to come to an end. The lord of time has returned while the war of the worlds reaches a twisted climax at the hands of the guilds. One side must fall and be forever erased, and its days are numbered. Only one can bring salvation yet he has been banished from his home once again. The duelists must all stand together, or there will be no future.

14. Wall for One

Nexus 013: Wall for One

All the pieces were on the board, it was time to move them to their places. "This is all the data I was able to get from their server. Marie deleted a lot of data, but she could not remove everything before December and January chased them out. So.." Iria would act the part of instructor. The widescreen behind her showed the board: a map of their country. "..these are all they key areas we should strike. The synchro guild's castle contains the only other way into the second dimension. Ours does not work, but theirs apparently does. If we take control of it, we can shut down the inflow of templar units. However, it is heavily defended." She highlighted several cities on the map. "Next, there are a fourteen barrier generators across the country. Taking them all out will consume too much time. Therefor we should focus on one, open a hole and make contact with the outside world. Finally, it would seem the guild has taken over Dreamworld headquarters a critical base of operations. To borrow a phrase, if we can cut off the head of the snake, the snake will fall to pieces. These are our options."

"So you suggest we split up?" Jet did not like the sound of that. "Even if we stay together, they outnumber us a ten to one. We have to be sneaky about this, and fast. Thanks to Uno and his teleportation power, we have that liberty. Right now a lot of their forces are scattered, dealing with local resistance. If we wait, they will regroup. And.. we lack the time to do something fancy." Zach did not need to remind anyone of Uno's omen. They already lost a day dealing with Martha's incursion. "Of course, I am nominating myself to lead the party into Dreamworld HQ. It's high time I kicked those moochers out of my home." Dom boasted. "If you are leaving. Who will stay in charge of this area?" Vesper assumed Dom was taking his disciples with him. "I'll leave that in your hands, Vesper. Besides, you aren't exactly suited for missions like these." Dom chuckled. "Hmph. I could say the same about you, cardmaker." The wheelchair-bound woman coughed and pointed towards the map. "Cardell will lead my men when you strike at the generators. But my suggestion is to wait to separate until you secure the place. A second group of duelists should then strike out in the open as a diversion."

"A diversion? Who is gonna sign up for that?" Emily did not appreciate her tone or choice of words. "I know who." Uno stepped forward. "Uno, dude! No!" Eric yelled. "I agree. You are too crucial to serve as bait." Iria confessed in her own stand-offish way. "Thanks guys. But Vesper is right. We shouldn't forget that Phoebe is out there looking for me. Nephilim can tell me when she gets close and I can draw her attention away from what you are really doing. Better me than someone who can't run away from her. Relax, this wont be like the last time." He looked at Eric and smiled. "What last time?" Emily asked nervously. There was a buzz in the crowd. "It is settled then." Dom cut them off. "Uno will drop the first group off at the generator, then the second at the tower. After that's done, we should have an easier time taking the castle." There were few objections. "What about me?" Merely a few questions like those of Eric. "I have all these cool powers now!"

"You're not thinking about leaving me again, are you?" Mrs Stonewell sobbed. Mother and son had been inseparable from the moment he showed up in her room. "Mom! This a little more important!" Her son grumbled. "Actually, I was going to suggest you maintain order here. We need a defended location to fall back too, and your skills have proven themselves very useful in that regard. Besides.." Iria gave Eric a quick grin. "I trust you can keep Vesper in check, should she do something out of the ordinary." Eric's eyes lit up. "Oh, haha! I get ya!" He passed the grin on to Vesper and to his mom. "Don't worry, mom. I wont let anyone hurt you." Mrs Stonewell just shook her head and moaned. "To be protected by my son. I must be a terrible mother." Her son was too much like how she used to be to be as a kid. "Nah. You're the best!" Eric laughed. "Even if you're making fun.. Thank you, Eric."

"What about you, Emily?" Naturally, James wanted to know which mission his daughter was taking. "I think I will stick with Uno. I want to be there if he gets another message from June and August." Emily was already upset that any plans to try and look for her mother were set aside for later. So she would not be denied on this topic. "I understand." James guessed he would keep Mrs Stonewell company as usual. What were neighbors for, after all? "I will take care of her, mister James." Uno promised. "..I know you will do whatever you can." Emily's father responded, after a short pause. "Is he blaming you, for what happened to Alice?" Lavender abruptly chimed in, detecting the same undertones that Uno thought he did. "Not now." He did not want to hear anything like that from her. "We should go. Everyone is ready, I presume?" They knew the plan, now they needed to execute it. "Yes. Indeed." Every duelist showed their dueldisk and their cards, they were ready. "Then we are off." Uno pictures the first destination in his head, using the images Iria showed him. The pendulum did the rest..

...

The first image involved a athletic stadium, another location bought by the XYZ-guild to hide their barrier generators in. "We're inside!" Usually the machines created a second barrier around themselves to protect them from outside interference; around the entire course in this case. But the pendulum did not care about that, it warped everyone straight through the first forcefield and into a hallway of the stadium. "Keep it down." The only downside was that they could not get to the device at the center of the field, without being spotted. "I see one guard inside the barrier, a few more outside." Uno stated as he peeked outside. The barrier lit up the area like a neon lightshow, there was no cover of darkness to speak of. "Can't we just.. get in and out? Push the off switch?" Emily fidgeted. "No. Winters explained it to me. Those devices work with transmitters and codes. They wont turn off without the proper input sequence. One of the guards here will have it, otherwise they wouldn't be able to get out. Winters.. was very helpful, until the end." Iria sighed.

"Then we should make sure his help was not wasted." Uno was about to step out into the open. "I thought we agreed that you would not risk yourself right away." Cardell cursed under his breath. Uno was willing to see his point. "He's right, Uno. You can't.." Except then Lavender repeated it. "We talked about this. Don't make me say it again." No, he could not endanger himself now. But he would still put others ahead of himself if it came to it. "Are you speaking to that invisible woman again? Hm, she would be a lot more useful to us if she could replicate the powers that Martel displayed." Cardell would not mind turning a few XYZ and Fusion-guildsmen into slaves. It would be only be karma. "What? I wouldn't.." The girl became all apologetic towards Uno, as if she was worried that he would sign up for that kind of approach. "Cardell. That option is off the table, now and forever." Of course he wouldn't. He couldn't. He only needed to look at Zach to be reminded of what kind of torture that was for a person. "Uno.. do you think you could bring back the people that were transformed?.. Like you did with master Dom?" The disciple suddenly inquired. "If I could get to the other world, yes. But here.." He didn't know, he did not know if he could save Dana and Winters now.

"Okay this is taking too long. We need a plan.. Iria, your barriers can cut off outside communications right? And project false images around people?" Back in the tower, Eric made sure to catch Emily up with all of his escapades. That included his and Iria's fun little stunt with a certain Yosenju duelist. "I can. But we're the only three with a dueldisk like that." Iria referred to herself, Zach and Dom. "Perfect. Then we can split up and surprise them. I will take the one in the center." Akai was on the same page as Emily. "Very well. You can have mine." Dom offered his dueldisk to the girl. "Fine. We will assist in taking down the perimiter guards. Do it quickly and at the same time, we cannot let word get out." Everyone nodded and went their ways, leaving Jet, Akai, Uno and Emily down below. "We'll go with you. In case things go south." Emily said. "Eesh. Give me a little more hope than that."

"Nice evening isn't it." Akai chose the 'subtle' route towards her opponent and walked right towards him. "Who are you?" The guard turned around and activated his dueldisk. "That might as well be my line." This guy's uniform made him out to be a high-ranking elite. That was all she got from his appearance. "You. You're Tanvir." Emily got a little bit more. "You?!" This was a man with vivid memories of the samurai duelist. "Tanvir? Oh, you were the guy who attacked Cassius on his sickbed." Now Akai was very glad that she got to fight him. "And you, Uno Nisell. Now I understand how you got in here!" Tanvir reached for a button on his dueldisk. "They can't hear or see you." Emily pushed her hand against a wall of energy. "We put a barrier inside your barrier. You don't mind, do you?" Uno laughed. "Using my own tactics against me, I see. Well, I know I only need to defeat you, woman, to get out." He quickly linked his disk to Akai's. "It's Akai. Okay? And you're Tanvir. There, now we know each other. I don't know why I bother though. You can't be that important if you're stuck on guard duty."

Akai's LP: 8000 Tanvir's LP: 8000

"This post is my privelege. It is as vital as any other task." The man insisted. "But I do remember you.. by name. The first turn is yours." That was not his choice, but that of their machines. "Thanks. Some might see that as a handicap. Not me, not against you. I bet you didn't change that deck you used against Emily." Tanvir's MO involved setting traps and countering summons. "Are you no different?' Tanvir inquired. "Yes, actually. In more ways than one. Here, I'll show you!" She normal summoned her new monster; a little green droid(2/500/500) made from various desk tools like erasers and tape containers. "I summon Deskbot 002! It gives 500 points to my other machines. Oh and when I special summon this card, I can add a Deskbot card to my hand! So why not? I activate Machine Duplication!" The spell she played, special summoned two more of the same deskbots(2/500/500) from the deck, as the original did not have more than 500 attackpoints. The effects of the second and third Deskbot 002 triggered and they pulled two pendulum monsters from her deck. They also powered each other(1500/1500) up. "I take Deskbot 008 and 007 to my hand!" Then she placed two cards in the spell/trap zone and ended her turn.

"I see. These are not the cards you used at the tournament." Back then Akai used trapmonsters. "And those pendulums.. are a new weapon." The Deskbot series only reached level 4 on all official setlists. "Hmmhmm! Dom made these for us back at the castle with that special printer, before you stormed in and took over. This was the second deck I requested in fact. I like to be flexible, you see." Before this, she tried out Symphonic Warriors. But she started to favor the Deskbots in later testruns. "Then this is your first trial with these machines. Quite a risk for you." Tanvir smirked and summoned his first monster. "Traptrix Mantis." An orchid seemingly bloomed on the battlefield, and a young innocent redheaded girl(4/1500/1300) sprouted from the flower. "When this card is normal summoned, I add a Traptrix monster from my deck to my hand." Tanvir claimed the Traptrix Myrmeleo. "I then activate Crashbug Road. We may both summon one monster from our hand, with the same level as a monster we control." The intent, clearly, was to special summon Myrmeleo from his hand.

"Not so fast. I activate And the Band Played On! This trap stops the both of us from summoning a monster with the same level as one already on the field!" Her continuous trap card was the very antithesis of Crashbug Road and of XYZ-monsters. "What?" The perplexed Tanvir could not reply with much more than that. "What 'what'? Did you think I wouldn't tech in a few counters to XYZ-summons? Especially now that your guild started using dangerous stuff like the Numbers. I prepare for each fight differently. That's another part of being flexible!" Under these circumstances, all her opponent could do was prepare his traps. "..I set three cards face-down, and end my turn." Anyone on the sideline could tell that his backrow had become a minefield. "Well. My turn again? Good. Time to show off!" Akai placed two cards in her pendulum zones: a pink robot (scale 1) with hair made of papernotes and a yellow box-cutter robot (scale 10) wielding scissors. "I can only summon Deskbots between these two. I.. bring out Number nine! Pendulum summon!"

"You are not the only one who has been blessed with new tools, woman!" As soon as Akai pendulum summoned her new Deskbot 009, a robot (9/500/500) made from lesser Deskbots, Tanvir unveiled the first trap hole. "Pendulum Hole! When a monster is pendulum summoned, that monster returns to the deck!" A hole opened up between the two pendulum deskbots. "Blast!" Uno gasped. Deskbot 009 fell down so far, it landed somewhere deep in Akai's deck. "You acquired your gifts from a mere printer. We of the guild have accesses the vaults and the treasury of his world." Tanvir pointed dramatically at Uno. "We know pendulum monsters by now, and we can use their countermeasures too!" Tanvir was pretty pleased with his move. So much so that he did not realize.. Akai did not care that she lost her monster. "I guess you love your own voice." She normal summoned a yellow robot(3/500/500) covered with all kinds of measuring instruments. "You kept a monster?" Uno was surprised she did not pendulum summon everything in one go. "Of course not. I am not blind."

"Also, I wouldn't get his effect that way.. Deskbot 003 special summons a Deskbot from my deck if I normal summon him!" Akai ran her hand through her deck and placed Deskbot 009 back on the field. "You should have seen number three coming at least, Tanvir." Thanks to the Deskbot 002 trio, both Deskbot 003(2000/2000) and Deskbot 009(2000/2000) gained 500 attack and defense points. "I activate Deskbot 003's other effect. I can add 500 attackpoints to one other deskbot. 500 for each deskbot on the field, that is." The measuring bot counted the five Deskbots on the field, and turned the first Deskbot 002(4000/4000) into the recipient of its powers. "Then with its own effect, Deskbot 009 will add the points of all Deskbots on the field, to himself!" The deskbot amalgamation armed itself with tools taken from all his mechanical brethren, and broke the powerlimiters of its own body(11000/11000). "Rgh! I activate Traptrix Trap Hole Nightmare!" Mantis revealed a second traphole that led to a pit filled with hungry preying mantis insects. "The effect of your special summoned monster is negated and your monster is destroyed!"

The hole was big enough to catch Deskbot 009 again. This time Akai decided to do something about that. "Unified Front! I have two monsters with the same name on my field, so I can negate your card's effect!" Her second set card was a countertrap. "Curse you." The Nightmare traphole closed up, as his trap was negated. "I activate the effect of Traptrix Mantis! I return one of my set traps to my hand, to set another!" The mantis girl removed a Double Trap Hole card, a trap that was useless as long as Akai kept summoning one monster at a time, with a Traphole of Spikes card. "His last chance." Uno recognized that traphole. It would destroy any summoned monster as soon as it attacked and inflict damage equal to half of its attackpoints. "But... Tanvir. Deskbot 009 negates all other effects during its battles!" Akai moved to the battlephase. "And I only need its attackpoints to win this duel!" The ninth droid fired its full complement of pencil missiles, scissor blades, compass bombs and stapler bullets at the orchid insect girl. "No. I thought.." Tanvir's bag of tricks was empty. "Curse you!" The destruction of Traptrix Mantis also destroyed his lifepoints in one go.

Tanvir's LP: 0

You will never get away with this!" Tanvir backed himself against the forcefield wall. "Really now?" Akai opened a channel on her dueldisk. "How is it going?" She inquired and Cardell responded. "We took down the guards. They didn't get a signal out. They didn't have any codes on them however." That was all Akai needed to hear. She looked back at the XYZ-duelist. "I suppose you have the codes then. You might as well give hand them over." No help was coming. "I would never betray the cause, or betray the guild!" Still, he refused. "Why do you always have to make things difficult?" Emily grumbled and walked up to him. "Because you are going to destroy the future. I have seen the light and it lies with us! And I will sacrifice myself in advance, if it means stopping you!" Tanvir carefully reached for a button on his dueldisk. "Huh?! Emily! Watch out!" Uno warned her, seconds before a burst of energy escaped Tanvir's device. "No way! He.." The body of Tanvir was no more. What stayed behind was a card with his determined face on it. "That crazy bastard!"

Soon the others discovered the bad news as well. "Well now what?" They regathered around the generator itself. "Can't we just blow it up?" Akai asked. "There is enough energy inside this generator to blow up a city block. If we tamper with it, we will set it off. The guild made sure enough that only they could control them." Iria sighed. This entire operation turned out into a waste of time. "And we do not have enough time to jump from one generator to the next. The guild will catch on to us eventually." Uno imagined that they'd have an hour at best, before anyone found out about what happened here. "No. This was not a total failure. We secured one of their devices. We just need to find someone who has all the access codes." Zach raised one finger. "We need to proceed to phase two.. 'cutting the head of the snake'." A certain master of his was very pleased to hear that. "Good thinking, Zachary! Uno, it's time to take back dreamworld enterprises!"

(To be Continued in Nexus 014: The Dom Advantage)

New Cards used by Akai
Deskbot 002
Deskbot 007
Deskbot 008
Deskbot 009
Deskbot 003

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Machine Duplication

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And the Band Played On
Unified Front

New Cards used by Tanvir
Traptrix Mantis

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Crashbug Road

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Pendulum Hole
Traptrix Trap Hole Nightmare
Traphole of Spikes