The Rise and Fall of History II: Opposing the Present

by Medigo

The world of dueling has reached its climax. Many stories have been told through these cards, and the final story brought everyone together. People are united and yet, an unknown world suffers in their shadow. The fallen one returns in the midst of their peace, pursued and still a stranger to those around. There is not much time to save both his home and his friends.

25. I'll Miss you Most

Redux 66: I'll Miss You Most

Before now, the duelists had to make do with what little time and space they had. Now, inside this the palace, they had too much of it. Not everyone adapted well to the situation. "Gah!" No matter where Stonewell went, he did not find comfort. There were guards everywhere in this tower. "How can he stay here? In a place like this?!" Inevitably he crossed paths with someone he actually knew and decided to vent. "We did not get much rest, Stonewell. It makes sense to recover lost energy." It was Adamant, filling his own time by exploring every floor one by one. If secrets were hidden here, he would find them. "But his mother is in danger!" Stonewell referred to his other half. Eric was not far from here, taking a nap in a suite reserved just for him. "And right now he can do nothing about that. The people who can are hard at work. I understand your worry. Though he is not your family, he is a part of you." Adamant wouldn't offer any excuses, just insight. "He is nothing like me!" Stonewell protested. "He started like you. The only difference is choice, the ones you made and the ones made for you. You can choose to fight the world, or you can fight for it. It is up to you." Adamant smirked and walked off. "Hey! What is that supposed to mean!" Stonewell yelled. "Riddling bastard." He grumbled to himself as he walked the other direction.

...

"Hello!" Alice shouted as she entered the hospital room. "I do not think they will wake up if you yell at them." Inside was Iria, watching over the three 'puppets' that Martel lost. They all lied in separate beds, unconscious still. "Oh. Are they okay?" Alice asked as she hovered over Bishop's face. "Do not get so close." The disciple grumbled. "But yes, they are physically fine. Their minds are another matter." According to the doctors, they were all in a coma. "Oh. I'm so sorry. I was out there having fun, while you stayed here." The girl felt embarrassed. "Don't be. This is my choice." Iria knew there was a lot you could do out there, she only needed to look at Alice. "I see you got a new set of clothes." The girl was wearing an elaborate blue dress now. "Oh..yeah.. they can make anything here, even outfits from duel cards! I wanted one that looked like that Northwemko lady. She was one of my favorites when I was younger. Just had to make the sleeves and skirt longer and get rid of the feathers and chains and oh.." Alice caught herself talking too much again. "Sorry. What about you, ms Silver?" She noticed her suit was new, but not different. "Right now I want to remain myself." That included keeping her appearance as Dreamworld's disciple. She merely used the machines to replicate her current uniform. "So Zach will see a nice face when he wakes up, right?" Alice smiled.

"Don't you have somewhere to go to?" Iria pointed out. "OH! I nearly forgot! Thanks! I gotta go then! Hope you don't mind!" She waved goodbye and ran straight out the room. "...To be that innocent again." The disciple sighed.

...

The time was sunset, an hour before Marco's grand diner. "Any reason you chose this place?" The scene was a large hall inside the tower, with windows that gave a clear view of the city below. Uno was here. "you liked to come here a lot, to look at the cities. i thought it would help." His adopted sister was there too, because she was going to duel him. "Well, I am ready when you are." Uno was using the energy-blade disk he bought at the academy. "what happened to your old device?" The dueldisk she wielded was the same her brother carried with him when he first arrived in the other timeline; simple yet elegant. "I had to dismantle it. Sorry about that." Uno said. Though he felt like he was forgetting something. "I will let you start, Anastasia. Or did I use your first name more, Winnifred?" He drew five cards. "only amadeus calls me Winnifred. only he calls you Christopher too. you liked my nickname for you more, uno." She claimed and drew five cards as well. "I see. Thats a relief.." Uno didn't want everyone to start calling him Chris or Fortuno all of the sudden.

"You can do it, Uno! You can win! And ehr.. get your memories back!" The only one with the time to watch the duel was a now fully rested Eric, everyone else was busy with something. But one audience member was more than enough. "Duel!"

Anastasia's LP: 8000 Uno's LP: 8000

"i need you, kozmo tincan." Anastasia summoned what looked like a literal walking kettlepot(1/0/0) in attack position. And that was all she did. "when this turn ends, i reveal three Kozmo and choose one, for some of my life." During her endphase, 500 lifepoints were paid to activate Kozmo Tincan 's effect. "choose, brother." She selected three monster cards from her deck; Kozmo Dark Eclipser, Kozmo Dark Destroyer and Kozmo Forerunner. "Hmm. I choose Forerunner." He went with the card that had the least attackpoints. "Kozmos? What are those based on?" Eric thought the names sounded familiar, like they came from a certain famous book. But he was sure he'd never seen a duelist use Kozmo cards before. "from two of my favorite stories, given to me by my father. do you remember them, Uno?" She claimed Kozmo Forerunner and passed the turn back to him. "no.. I.." But Uno could not even recognize the source material, much less the cards. "oh."

Anastasia's LP: 7500

"Sorry!" At that point Alice barged in. "I tried to get here faster, but its so big in here!" She was clearly late. "We're cool, Alice. You didn't miss much! Nice dress by the way!" Uno gave her his complements, which made her face turn red. "Oh. ahahaha.. thanks." She grinned and rubbed her neck. "...it is your turn, brother." Anastasia coughed softly. "Right. Right! Gotta focus!" Uno drew his sixth card. "Anastasia. Maybe you can recognize these cards for me, I've used them for as long as I can remember!" Uno activated Pendulum Call, discarding one card to claim two Pendulum Magicians from his deck. "I set the scales, Timegazer and Stargazer Magician!" The red chronomancer and white astromancer appeared in the red and blue pendulum zones. "Now that's a classic!" Eric cheered. Those were the same pendulums Uno used during his first duel with him. "the magicians. of course i know them, brother. father gave those to you." Anastasia revealed. "He did?" Uno didn't expect such a quick answer. "pendulum summon was one of his talents. he wanted you to inherit that."

"These things.. are Tempus' monsters huh." Uno suddenly felt less comfortable with them. "Well what about this? I activate Sky Iris!" Uno used a field spell and opened a rift in time and space. "I can destroy one card to add an Odd-Eyes card to my hand!" He destroyed Stargazer Magician, sending it to the extra deck, and added his trusted Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. "I set the new scale, Odd-Eyes!" Now the dragon (scale 4) paired up with Timegazer (scale 8). Uno could special summon three monsters now. "And here are my Performapals! Sleight Hand Magician in attack mode and Kaleidoscorp in defense mode!" Uno pendulum summoned the winged wizard jester(7/2500/2000) and the prism-tailed scorpion(6/100/2300) from his hand. At the same time he summoned Stargazer Magician(5/1200/2400) from the extra deck. "the performapals were always yours. you always liked to duel with cards that were.. lighthearted." She said, and smiled a little. "Heh. Well, I like it when a duel doesn't get too serious." Uno was about to use his monsters effect, but she went first.

"by banishing itself, Kozmo Tincan may summon a higherleveled kozmo from my hand. i need you to defend for me, Kozmoll Wicked Witch." The Tincan vanished into a puff of smoke. And a cackling witch(5/1900/300) in black hood and robes came flying out with a double-sided light sword. "That's their technique?" Eric didn't usually see monsters that could tag out so quickly. "amadeus prefers extra deck summons. i prefer what i have in my normal deck." She went on to say while Uno continued his turn. "Okay... I discard Performapal Plus Turtle to activate Sleight Hand Magician's power and destroy your monster!" The mage spun his staff around until magic exploded out of the crystal tip and raced towards the Kozmoll witch. "then i will give up more of my life to her. she cannot die this turn if i use her power." Anastasia paid 1000 lifepoints to activate the Wicked effect. Wicked Witch jumped over the magical beam and dodged it. "Ah. No point in attacking then.."

Anastasia's LP: 6500

"Anyway. That covers the Performapals and Magicians." Uno activated the Pendulum Dragons searching effect, tributing the card from the pendulum zone to add a pendulum monster with 1500 attackpoints or less to his hand. "But what about Odd-Eyes?" He added Performapal Partnaga. "odd-eyes. i do not know that story well. father never told us much. but that dragon.. was a trophy of his own adventure. that is what he said." That was all she had to say here. "Excuse me.. miss Nisell? Do you always have to pay to use your monsters effects? Wont you run out?" Alice had another concern, as a thousand LP was not exactly a low cost. "it wouldn't be so bad. and it isn't. kozmoll wickedwitch can also remove itself for a higherleveled kozmo. the turn is not over yet." Anastasia used Uno's endphase to activate the other quick effect of her monster. "i need forerunner now." Kozmoll Wickedwitch banished itself, to special summon Kozmo Forerunner(7/2800/1400), the massive spaceship with four engine wings. "during my standby phase, i recover 1000 lifepoints if Forerunner is on my field." Anastasia drew her card now and let the machine heal her. "Oh." Alice got it now.

Anastasia's LP: 7500.

"so... you did not forget how to pendulum summon." Anastasia seemed glad that Uno at least had some memories left. "Not at first, it took a few duels to get it back. And I don't know how to wake my pendulum crystal up either." Uno admitted. "so that is why you want to duel. then i will not hold back. i will use you, kozmo farmgirl." The next monster, a red-braided Farmgirl(3/1500/1500), looked rather futuristic for her name. Then again so did the rest of Anastasia's monsters. "my kozmos will attack the magicians." Kozmo Forerunner fired a space torpedo from its bow, which impacted with Sleight Hand Magician and destroyed it. The Farmgirl shot down Stargazer Magician with her lasergun. "when the farmgirl hurts another player, she can add a kozmo from my deck to my hand. i choose kozmo dark destroyer." Anastasia had to forfeit another 500 lifepoints to activate this effect. Meanwhile Uno wished he hadn't summoned Stargazer in attack position. He could have avoided battle damage that way.

Uno's LP: 7400 Anastasia's LP: 7000

"there is another effect, naturally. farmgirl can banish herself too." By making the girl disappear, she could special summon a level 4 or higher Kozmo from her hand. And she just happened to have one. "the room is yours, Dark Destroyer." Another spaceship(8/3000/1800) entered, bigger, sleeker and foreboding than the Forerunner. "Of course. She can summon during her battle phase too! Man, that one is clearly evil." Eric liked this ships design more. The effect was nastier too. "when he is summoned, someone has to die." Dark Destroyed targeted Performapal Kaleidoscorp, and annihilated it with a series of red energy beams. "my next attack is all for you, brother." Dark Destroyer fired one more laser right at Uno. "Guh.." He expected a physical hit, but the laser just went through him. "Weren't you gonna go all out?" He knew someone like her could bypass the solid vision dampeners in this palace, with 'real' monster attacks. "even then.. i could never hurt you, uno." she placed a trap card on her field. "it's your turn now."

Uno's LP: 4400

"Very well! We did everything separately, time for combos!" Uno placed Performapal Partnaga in the empty pendulum zone and destroyed it with Sky Iris. The field spell gave him Performapal Odd-Eyes Light Phoenix. As it was an Odd-eyes card, Timegazer could reclaim his 8th scale when Uno placed the red flame phoenix (scale 3) on the right pendulum zone. "Pendulum summon!" Uno took every monster he could and summoned them; Performapal Secondonkey(4/1000/2000), Partnaga(5/500/2100) and Kaleidoscorp in defense mode; Stargazer Magician and Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon(7/2500/2000) in attack mode. "Odd-Eyes has has been with me all the way! And he and his pals have plenty of tricks in the bag! Secondonkey!" With Secondonkey summoned from his hand, Uno could add a new Performapal to his hand; Performapal Friendonkey. "Partnaga!" Partnaga's power sharing ability gave one monster 300 attackpoints for each Performapal card on the field. The snake stretched out from the Light Phoenix to the scorpion and added four boosts to Odd-Eyes(3700/2000). "Kaleidoscorp!" The scorpion then hit the dragon with its prism rays, creating colored clones which could attack all of Anastasia's special summoned monsters. "Gogogo, Odd-Eyes!" The empowered dragon attacked and shot the Kozmo Destroyer down from the sky. As usual its battle damage against another monster was doubled.

Anastasia's LP: 6200

"when a kozmo ship is destroyed, it can banish itself to summon a kozmo of a lower level." Anastasia activated Dark Destroyer's dying effect to special summon a second Kozmoll Wicked Witch(5/1900/500) in defense position. "So its a cycle between the passenger and the vessel eh?" Uno figured her next step would be to use the Witch's effect, but it was still worth attacking. "Attack number two!" So he sent one cloned dragon after the witch. "i give up my life again." At least he made Anastasia pay the cost. The witch danced around the charging dragon, whose teeth missed her entirely. That only left the Forerunner to deal with it. "And three!" The third clone spewed fireballs at the other ship up above. "i do not believe, you need to be told what this monster can do." Anastasia countered... with Honest's effect. "Awk!" As the angel was discarded, the light-type Kozmo Forerunner gained power that equaled its attackers current attackpoints. Forerunner(6200/1400) deflected the flames with a barrier shield and fired its torpedos down to kill Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. "Gah, I didn't expect the big guns." Honest was such a common trap, yet she got her with it. "Uh, end turn."

Anastasia's LP: 5200 Uno's LP: 1600

"you have gotten softer. the old you would have been more careful." Anastasia drew a card, and Kozmo Forerunner returned 1000 of her lifepoints. "i need to keep pushing." In her turn, Anastasia activated a field spell of her own. The field projectors a sci-fi city in the background, covering all the windows with towering skyscrapers. "kozmotown. i must relinquish even more life to return lost kozmos from the banished zone. i lose 100 points for each level on the retrieved card." By adding Kozmo Farmgirl for instance, 300 lifepoints were deducted. "Uh oh." Uno could tell where this was going too. "farmgirl." She normal summoned the redhead with the lasergun and moved towards the battle phase. "time often repeats itself." Kozmo Forerunner bombarded and destroyed Performapal Partnaga. Farmgirl blasted and killed Stargazer for the second time. Anastasia paid 500 lifepoints to let the Farmgirl add a second Kozmo Dark Destroyer to her hand. She banished the Farmgirl to special summon that monster from her hand. "and i want you to repeat your past. you will not escape this situation until you do." Dark Destroyer immediately blew up Performapal Kaleidoscorp with its effect, and Performapal Secondonkey with an attack. Kozmoll Wicked Witch was the last one to strike, and Uno was out of monsters now.

Anastasia's LP: 5400 Uno's LP: 1300

"Not so fast!" Uno shouted as he snatched both pendulum cards from his dueldisk. "When a direct attack is sent my way, Light Phoenix can destroy the other pendulum, to special summon itself from my pendulum zone!" The pendulum swung to the left and shattered Timegazer Magician. Then it swung back to the Phoenix and manifested the odd-eyed fire bird(5/2000/1000) as a monster in attack position. "ah. you let it get close there." Anastasia pulled Wickedwitch back. It couldn't fight against the stronger Performapal. "He does that a lot. He always lets us think that he's gonna lose and then he comes back right away." Alice said. It was a lot more nerve-wrecking then she would have liked. "I like a bit of showmanship in my duels. Or was I less dramatic in the past?" Uno wondered aloud. "somewhat. that trait was there already. but that is not the part of a duelist that i recognized in you when you dueled the inquisitor" The sister noted. She placed a trap card down and ended her turn. "What was it then?" He asked and drew his next card. "your cards, your deck. it has become more than its beginning."

"You mean.. the cards I made?" Uno looked at his hand. He realized where he had to go next. "Cards like.." He used Sky Iris' effect; destroying Odd-Eyes Light Phoenix to add an Odd-Eyes spell card to his hand. "Odd-Eyes Fusion! When my opponent has two monsters and I have none, I can fuse two Odd-Eyes monsters in my extra deck to fusion summon a monster!" Uno took the face-up Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon and the face-down Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon. "By fusing an Odd-Eyes with a Pendulum monster! I can make Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon!" The fused dragon(8/2500/3000) of the wind and stars emerged from the fusion portal. "He can return one attack-position monster on the field to the deck!" Odd-Eyes Vortex targeted Kozmo Forerunner and swept it away with a powerful tornado. "yes. those are the cards. you made it with your own power. the power we all have."

"My own power? Well, I can't say I got everything that way." Rebellion and Vortex Dragon were definitely not manmade, but other cards were printed for him. "Performapal Friendonkey!" Uno normal summoned the grinning mule(3/1600/600), whose effect allowed him to special summon a Performapal from his graveyard. "I choose Plus Turtle!" The donkey revived a nearsighted geriatric turtle(4/100/1800). "He can raise the level of one of two monsters by 1!" Plus Turtle struck the back of Friendonkey with its four-holed stamp. The Performer(4/1600/600) acquired just the right level. "I will XYZ-summon!" The two Performapals overlayed. "Dark Rebellion XYZ-Dragon!" And the dark XYZ counterpart(4/2500/2000) to Odd-Eyes regained his form. "ah, another dragon from the legend." His sister vaguely recognized it. "Yeah. Dom made this for me. It's not the original, just a copy printed with UNO...'s... "

"What.. the.. hell?" Uno remembered what he forgot. "Anastasia.. How old am I supposed to be, right now?" He needed an answer, urgently. "29." She replied. "Dude. That's like twice as old." Eric gasped. "Then.." Uno didn't want to know this just to satisfy his curiosity. "I could be old enough." This was something he should have thought about right away, but he got swept away by his own relief to question it. He was calling her Uno, UNO. He did not just borrow the name, it was part of his middle name: Fortuno! "Am I.. the same Uno as Dom's UNO? Am I the first duelist who wrote the books about duel monsters fifteen years ago, just so that the other timeline would have the cards too? But that's not possible. I met UNO. Who was he!?"

(To be Continued in Redux 065: That Name no Longer has Meaning)

New Cards used by Christropher 'Uno' Nisell
Performapal Odd-Eyes Light Phoenix
Performapal Plus Turtle

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Odd-Eyes Fusion

Cards used by Winnifred Anastasia Nisell
Kozmo Tincan
Kozmoll Wickedwitch
Kozmo Forerunner
Kozmo Farmgirl
Kozmo Dark Destroyer
Honest

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Kozmotown