World 044: Take Our Time
Pandemonium had seen a lot of visitors lately. Still its current occupants were beginning to wonder about relocating before the bad kind of visitors showed up. "You are still here. That makes me glad." Luckily for them and the last visitor both, Crescent Aurora was one of the good ones. She was also an extremely punctual one, logging back in the very second her account's downtime ended. "And you have returned sooner than expected." Scarlet Rose had left the virtual backdoor open for people like her, but she figured that the weather girl would have run into some resistance back home to prevent such timely returns. "I could not stay gone. I had to do something." Crescent claimed. "Things I could not do back there..."
"Things? Like what? Did you see your parents? Did you see the real Wagner? You two live together, don't you?" Miss Echo pried. "You knew? I.. of course you do." Crescent sighed. The girl in the wheelchair had obviously seen her memories too. "Oh. No. I didn't.. I mean I didn't want to.. It's just that he.. thought so much about you. It was hard not to see it by accident." Echo tried to explain, but could only stumble through her words. It did not help Crescent that she had to think about him even more. "I am not mad. I am just.. I was affraid. My parents.. I could have gone to them. Told them everything if I wanted too. But.. I didn't. I left a phone message on their answering machine to explain what happened. I did the same with his parents...But nothing more." She could not bring herself to speak to either set in person. Because she always depended on Wagner to do the talking for them both.. "And Wagner is still...is still trapped." She could not find her friend either, not in any sense that would make anyone happy.
"There is nothing you could have done for him in that world. He needs you here." The Fisherman tried to encourage her. "Maybe, but he is stronger than me now. The odds of me defeating Wagnerok are too low." She could at least duel again. But now that she'd lost the shield, Crescent would have to duel with her Weather Painters while he could use all the powers she once had. "We do not have to start with him. There are others out there that need our help, remember? We were just about to head out to find them; Sundown, Khan and..."
"Therese!" Crescent's eyes lit up. "Yes, her too. So lets not keep her waiting." The fisherman nodded.
...
Charles' LP: 8000 Renner's LP: 3500
The duel between Charles and the researcher Renner already created some unusual results. The cyberse duelist managed to recreate the Quantum Dragon(7/0/2000) [Zone 4] and inflicted a lot of damage with it and the Update Jammer(0 atk) [Extra Zone 2] But more importantly, he finally got some truth out of his opponent. "Who else works for this system of people then? And why do you need the chalice?" Cherry and Charles both wanted to hear more.
-TURN 04-
"I have said all I want to say, miss Kelly. And only because you three already figured it out. The rest is off limits." Renner sounded more serious, knowing that he could actually be threatened by Charles now in this reality. "I normal summon Dual Avatar Fists - Yuhi!" So he started playing ore seriously too, revealing a new archetype. "Dual Avatars? I've never heard of them." Charles remarked he looked at this black-ponytailed fistfighter(4/1800/1000) [Zone 1] in a black uniform with a single red sleeve. "No. You would not. These cards are not on the market yet, heheh. But we have our connections too. I am sure a duelist of your caliber will have no problem keeping up with these developments."
"I activate my field spell, Perfect Sync A-Un. This card adds one Dual Avatar to my hand upon activation, and if I control a Dual Avatar already, I can also create a spirit token." Renner added the second Dual Avatar: Kokoku of the Feet martial arts, while on the field a hound ghost(2/0/0) [Zone 2] made of crimson flames appeared in Yuhi's shadow. "Yuhi destroys one Dual Avatar card I control, to add a Dual Avatar spell card to my hand." The warrior of fists could also destroy tokens this way, so it punched out the dual avatar spirit. This destruction triggered the Supply Squad as well, giving Renner a draw from the top of the deck as well. "I add Dual Avatar Invitation. This spell owns two effects. One, I can summon as many avatar spirit tokens as possible! Though it does cost me a card in my hand." He discarded the avatar Kokoku and produced a total of four hound-faced token spirits(2/0/0) [Zones 2,3,4 & 5] "These tokens cannot be tributed, and will be destroyed when this turn ends. I cannot fusion summon monsters from the extra deck for the rest of the turn either. Of course, this was the way people used to duel, was it not?"
"That leaves room for the other effect, Dual Avatar Invitation can perform a Dual Avatar fusion summon after it makes its tokens." The continuous spell selected Yuhi and the token next to him for a fusion. "I take two Dual Avatars as fusion materials, to summon Dual Avatar Fists: Armored Ah-Gyo! When that card is summoned, it will destroy one monster on the field!" The brawler Yuhi seemed to have an evolved form, a ponytailed fighter(6/2400/1500) [Extra Zone 1] in golden armor. Ah-Gyo punched the air and let out a roaring spirit of beastly destruction. "You're not the only one with surprises, Renner! When I control a link monster, you cannot target anyone but Quantum Dragon with your effects! And I can activate Cyberse Synchron from my graveyard to negate the destruction of my monster in the extra zone!" Charles yelled and promptly protected the Cyberse Quantum Dragon behind the force field grid of the banished Synchron.
"I see we've passed the stage for honorifics. But I had already adjusted for that, mister Adami." Renner revealed his first trap: Universal Adapter. "Gah!?" It was a trap right from Charles' own playbook. Its effect equalized the attackpoints of all monsters with that of the strongest card on the field. Ah-Gyo shared its power with the tokens(2400/0), Quantum(2400/2000) and Update Jammer(2400 atk). "Surprising isn't it? But now I do not need your my fusion anymore. I activate Dual Avatar Defeating Evil. This card destroys my Dual Avatar and your card at the same time. And if it was a fusion monster that I destroyed, I can draw one card or banish one card from your graveyard. I would prefer the draw myself." Abruptly Ah-Gyo wrapped himself up in golden chains of energy and struck a blow against the cyberse dragon at close range. Its attack let out so much energy that both monsters died in the explosion. "Hmph. So you did."
"Indeed. When you come down to it, dueling is the same as any other science. It is no wonder the creatures of that world gravitated towards it." One card always logically preceded another, especially in this deck. "I activate my second trap, Dual Avatar Return! It special summons one Dual Avatar from my graveyard. And if that monster has a level of 4 or less, Dual Avatar Return also creates one Dual Avatar Spirit Token" This sleek blackhaired fighter(3/800/2000) [Zone 1] wore longer white robes, grey pants and had armor on his boots to kick extra harder. He used his effect to claim the trap of Dual Avatar Compact. "Kokoku, when summoned, adds one Dual Avatar trap card to my hand!" Kokoku added a trap card called Dual Avatar Compact, while the newest hound spirit(2/0/0) [Zone 2] raised the number of tokens on the field back to four. "And finally, Dual Spirit Invitation will use its second fusion of the turn. This time I summon the Armored Un-Gyo! The Dual Avatar fusion of Feet!" Kokoku and the token without attackpoints became as one. The kickfighter(5/1700/2000) [Extra Zone 1] donned more blue armor on his shoulders, chest and limbs and wrapped his leg in the aura of the spectral blue hound.
"Un-yo can negate one effect of a monster summoned from the extra deck each turn, since I used an effect monster as one of his fusion materials." With another kick, the armored warrior trapped put the Jammer in his own jam; a prison of blue fire. "The token attacks Update Jammer. And my other monsters attack directly!" Since the tokens would die anyway, Renner did not mind sending them on a kamikaze attack. They possessed the Update cyberse and dragged him down into the graveyard. The second and third token made Charles suffer a mild headache with its own presence. "Argh!" Though that did not hurt as much as Un-gyo's spiritual kick to the chest.
"Ehr. Was that an act?" Cherry winced when he nearly keeled over. "No, it was not." Charles grunted and rubbed his sore chest. "Curious, your first attack did not register with me at all. Then the holograms must be more in touch with your spirit." Renner placed two trap cards down and ended his turn. "Yeah? Lets test that theory." Cherry growled.
Charles' LP: 1500
-TURN 05-
"We may get the chance, Anise." Charles said as he got a lucky draw. "I activate Pot of Avarice and draw two cards!" Because he could replenish his starved and empty hand by returning five monsters (Cliant, Launcher Commander, Link Disciple, Link-Infra-Flier, ROM Cloudia) from the graveyard to the deck. Subsequently he drew a spell and a monster. "..I normal summon Draconnet! It special summons one normal cyberse from my deck!" For this duel the grid-wyvern(3/1400/1200) [Zone 1] summoned the white lionbot Leotron(4/2000/0) [Zone 2]. "And I can take two level 3 or higher cyberse as link materials for Elphase!" Both Draconnet and Leotron satisfied the requirements and formed the strongest LINK 2 monster that: Elphase the blonde ponytailed elf(2000/LINK 2) {Up/Right} [Extra Zone 2] with cybernetically enhanced kicing boots. "Now, like she said. Let's see if you feel anything!" Elphase and Ungyo jumped up at the same time and met in mid-air with a synchronized cross kick. Only Elphase's leg proved to be a bit sharper and faster, and he managed to break his opponents armor and body in the same blow.
Renner's LP: 3200
"Hmm, a slight tingle. But a hit of that magnitude barely registers on the pain scale, mister Adami." Renner laughed the damage off and let the destruction of Un-gyo trigger another Supply Squad draw. "But Elphase is a good choice for a link summon. Were I to remove it from the field, Elphase would let you summon one lowlevel cyberse from your graveyard. That is why I did not revive my fusion monster, when I could have." Renner made his remark at the same as the reveal of his third trap: Dual Avatar Compact. "You see the Compact banishes one Dual Avatar spell or trap to activate its effect instead. I choose Dual Avatar Return and bring back Dual Avatar Yuhi once more!" Now that they were out of the battle phase, Renner could safely summon the fistfighter [Zone 1] and create another Spirit token(2/0/0) in defense mode. The effect of Yuhi in turn added another trap card (Dual Avatar Turning) to Renner's hand.
"Heh. I see. But if you ask me, you did want to know what the damage would feel like." Charles muttered as he placed his spell card face down. That wrapped up everything he could do this turn.
-TURN 06-
"Perhaps. But what is science without risks? Now my current process may look familiar. But trust me, we are escalating matters." Renner started his turn with a discard, to reactivate Dual Avatar Invitation and create four more spirit tokens(2/0/0) [Zones 1,2,3 & 4] However, this time he took two tokens as fusion materials instead of just one. "There was another reason I did not want to see Elphase get destroyed yet. I Fusion summon the Empowered Dual Avatar, Migyo! It takes three avatars as materials, including Dual Avatar Kokoku!" Beyond he armored state lied the empowered state. In this form the kickfighter(7/2000/3000) [Zone 4] with his sleek black hair adopted a full set of white/blue armor with the face of the beast spirit on his shoulderplates. And he got summoned to the zone marked by Elphase. "I thank you for your link marker. Now then, Mi-Gyo can return all spells and traps you control to your hand." The fused warrior spread his arms so that the white sash coiling around him could lash out at the set spell, like a ravenous snake.
"Well, if you like tokens, you might love this too. I activate Scapegoat!" At the very least this effect could not outspeed a quickplay spell. Charles smiled confidently as the spell created its four goat tokens(1/0/0) [Zones 1,2,3,4] in defense mode. "Hm. That was one of the spells in your structure deck. Very well, then it is time to fusion summon Kon-Gyo the Empowered Dual Avatar as well." The continuous Invitation spell reactivated and took the remaining two tokens as fusion materials along with the Dual Avatar Yuhi in Renner's hand. The fistfighter(8/3000/1700) [Extra Zone 1] also put on a full set of beastfaced armor, but Kongyo's was made of gold. "Kon-Gyo prevents spells or traps from targeting my Dual Avatars. And when it attacks, it will return one monster to the hand after damage calculation. Now that you know this, we can battle." Kon-Gyo selected the first target, and drove the red spike on its gauntlet into the chest of the cyber-elf. The puncher overpowered the kicker and blasted it off into the distance. Then, with a second quicker punch, Kon-Gyo shattered the leftmost Scapegoat token.
Charles' LP: 500
"Then I will revive Leotron!" Elphase's effect activated at the end of that damage step. And since the monsters it revived could not activate their effects, Charles figured he might as well special summon the cyberlion normal monster (2000/0) [Zone 5]. "Ah, but Mi-gyo makes it so that my Dual Avatars cannot be destroyed by one battle each turn." Mi-Gyo had nothing to fear from Leotron. The cyberbeast tried to counter-attack, but the Empowered Avatar moved was far too agile to be caught. It delivered a killing kick and jumped back to safety in a manner of seconds. "The less cyberse materials you have, the better. That is my conclusion." The man of science ended his turn by setting the Dual Avatar Turning trap card on the field.
-TURN 07-
"Yes, there aren't many link summons I can do with just normal monsters. But I always prepare a few, Renner. Like this one who takes any three monsters as materials: Powercode Talker!" The three remaining scapegoats came together in a burning link circuit. Charles link summoned the Code Talker who attacked with his own armored fists: Powercode(2300/LINK 3) {Left/Right/Downright} [Extra Zone 2] of the flame and grappling claw. "Powercode can negate one monsters effect each turn! He will use it on your Empowered Avatar Mi-gyo!"
"Heh. A nice attempt, but ultimately a waste of resources. You should already know that Mi-Gyo destroys one monster each turn when they activate their effect. Furthermore.." Renner flipped his trap card, Dual Avatar Turning, before Charles could actually trigger the effect of Powercode. It destroyed Kon-Gyo to special summon a fusion monster with one level less than it, another Armored Un-Gyo(7/1700/2100) [Extra Zone 1] in defense mode. "Un-Gyo can negate the effects of a monster summoned from the extra deck, since I still control Avatars that used effect monsters as their fusion components. So do you wish to continue?" Charles would lose the effect and monster if he did. "Yes!" He activated Powercode's effect regardless, keeping Mi-gyo as the target. "As you wish. Then Mi-gyo and Un-Gyo will counter." Powercode never stood a chance. The Armored feetfighter trapped the Code Knight of flames inside blue spectral flames. Then the Empowered feetfighter finished it off with shockwaves created by a series of kicks in the air. "One card left, Charles Adami. The stats do not speak in your favor." He chuckled. "Never depend on numbers alone, Renner. You never know when a miracle can happen."
That appeared to be the wrong thing to say, as the red lights in the room shut off and power got restored to the whole base. "Oh crap.." Cherry sighed loudly. "A miracle? What would that be?" Renner chuckled.
"Something like this!" And Tycho responded with his voice coming through his dueldisk. "What!? This is the main channel? How did you get on it?" The researched yelled. "With your control room of course! Your buddy showed me the right way! Your security was spread so thin, an army of elephants can sneak through!" The fiery duelist pridefully let everyone in the room hear the good news. "You fool! They will descend upon you immediately now! You cannot lock them out!" Renner's patience had worn out already. "Don't have to! I already used your fancy machines to call emergencies. I figured you'd have the best reception up here! I didn't expect it to work so fast though. I just told them some names and I guess a couple of keywords got their attention.. Or maybe they were already looking for us. Whoever was on the other line told me the cavalry was on the way!"
"You are lying, it's just a bluff!" Renner shut down the comlink out of frustration. "He will never make it out, and neither will you. Even if you stall for time, the enforcers will be down here within minutes. This duel is over."
"Yes. It is." Charles calmly normal summoned a blue cybernetic dragon(4/1800/1000) [Zone 1] with golden horns and claws and wings of purple glass. "Clock Wyvern can halve his own attackpoints to create a clock token!" This Clock Wyvern(900/1000) could shed some of its power to create a drone token(1/0/0) [Zone 2] covered in shards of the same purple glass. "I will use a link 2 or lower cyberse to summon Talkback Lancer! And a link 4 or lower cyberse can be used to link summon Link Devotee!" Together the clock monsters would create a new bond; the token turned into the blue and green cyberlancer(1200/LINK 1) {Down} [Extra Zone 2], while the Wyvern became a robotic drone(300/LINK 1) {Up} [Zone 4] wih two floating leg-segments and armsegments attached to a floating halfring. "Talkback Lancer can tribute one monster it points to, to summon a Code Talker from the graveyard! And when a co-linked Link Devotee is tributed, he creates two link tokens!"
"You are bringing back Powercode now? What is the point? You cannot summon any other Link 3 monsters now that you have summoned Link Devotee!" Renner pointed out the drawback to using the Devoted Link droid. Nevertheless Charles made it happen, the Lancer tributed Link Devotee and resurrected Powercode[Zone 4] beneath its marker. The Devoted one in turn special summoned the link tokens, two of its hollow limb segments(1/0/0) [Zones 1 & 2], in defense mode. "I wont need anything above Link 2 this turn, mister Renner. And the next Link 2 I summon takes any 2 cyberse as materials!" Charles declared and took Talkback Lancer off the field along with one of the Link tokens. "I link summon Clock Spartoi!" What came out of the link circuit looked to be another kind of cyberse lancer(800/LINK 2) {Down/Downright} [Extra Zone 2], only this one wore sharper and less covering silver armor on top of his black bodysuit with red neon markings. A goldfanged helmet framed his face as well. "Clock Spartoi can add one spell to my hand, Cynet Fusion!"
"Fusion!? Since when did cyberse have fusions?" Cherry gasped and protested. "Since I created them. I've made more than just synchros and tuners for my deck, Cherry. I even have an XYZ, which is what helped me defeat Ulysses." Charles did not really know why he brought that up, he just felt like it. "So that's how you kicked him out? Bah, don't remind me. These people are lucky that they never brought ol' Uly over to this place." The girl snickered.
"At any rate... 'Clock Spartoi owns two effects' as you would say, mister Renner. And the second I guess I based on my Cyberse Witch monster. When I special summon a monster and link it with Spartoi, it will special summon one monster from my graveyard without its effects. But I cannot special summon anything from the extra deck, except fusion monsters, for the rest of the turn." Charles accomplished that by using the remaining Link Token as a link material for the other floating segment robot: Link Disciple(500/LINK 1) {Down} [Zone 5]. Once the Disciple appeared, Clock Spartoi revived the main material for what was to come: Clock Wyvern(1800/1000). "Now. It is time. I activate Cynet Fusion! The fusion materials are Clock Wyvern.. and as many link monsters as I can find!" The spell hit the field, transforming Clock Wyvern, Powercode, Link Disciple and Clock Spartoi into green, red, blue and purple energy particles. They all swirled together inside a vortex that spun upwards and grew in size. The storm reached its peak and got dispersed by the fusion summoned monster inside. "This, is Cyberse Clock Dragon!"
"Amazing." Renner had no words for what he saw. A cyborg dragon(8/2500/2000) [Extra Zone 2] made of pure violet crystal and pitchblack steel scales, with sharp glowing veins running along its body like chiplines. Only its claws and jaws were seemingly made of organic matter, and its four eyes were bright blue. "You have seen nothing yet, Renner. When Cyberse Clock Dragon is summoned, it can discard cards from my deck equal to the total link rating of its fusion materials! And then it gains 1000 attackpoints for each card!" Powercode, Spartoi and Disciple had given six link arrows to the fused dragon. Ergo, six cards were sent to the graveyard and six attackboosts were placed on top of Clock Dragon(8/8500/2000). "8500 attackpoints!?" The researcher shuddered, even if his monsters could not die, they could not stand up to that kind of firepower either. "Cyberse Clock Dragon! Attack Mi-gyo the Empowered!" The cyberdragon let purple electricity course from the tip of its spiked wings, and gathered it all in front of its face inside a large lightning orb. The orb turned into a wide beam, and evaporated the Dual Avatar for good. "I win, Renner!"
Renner's LP: 0
"Guah!" Unlike the last attack, Renner could not say he did not feel the damage. The massive beam enveloped his monster so rapidly that most of the remaining energy slammed into him and pushed him against the wall of the room. "I've won, Renner. Tell your people to stand down." Charles dispelled the barrier around him while he maintained his own. "Tgh..Ghah. That.. that means nothing." Renner objected, trying to save some dignity in the middle of all this chaos. "It's over either way. You heard Tycho. People are coming, you have been found out. Even if they do not shut this place down, Static will keep attacking you anyway because you pose a threat to him. And I am tempted to let him have his way. So just make this easy on us and tell us who else is working for Shintaro, and what else you have done for them."
"And while you're at it, tell us where Himiko is as well!" A venomous Cherry joined in on the demands. "Himiko?" Charles was surprised to hear her care about the Mayakashi duelist. "Hey, she wanted the same freedom that we all did. And we can still give it to her. But first we gotta take this bastard to town."
"This is a joke... You're just a couple of miscreants, you think you can bring down everything I have worked on? This place has existed for years and will exist for years to come! We are building a new future, and you cannot stop it. You want to know what this is all for? What the Shintaros, what Exeter want? To transcend humanity! The evolution of both mind and spirit! This is far more important than any dreams you could begin to imagine with your meager intellects. I will not yield just because of this, you have not changed anything!"
"But he has though." Said Void. "Aaah!?" Charles literally saw his own virtual reflection pop out of a portal of light behind Renner, along with Miss Echo and a slew of duel monsters. "Thank you, Charles. A defeated mind is far more malleable." The monsters swarmed out of the portal and surrounded Renner. Before Charles or Cherry or the enforcers rushing into the room could do anything, the scientist got dragged into the portal which turned into a prison of energy. "No!"
(To Be Continued in World 045: Grey Area)
New Cards used by Charles Adami
Clock Wyvern
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Clock Spartoi
Cyberse Clock Dragon
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Pot of Avarice
New Cards used by Renner
Dual Avatar Fists - Yuhi
Dual Avatar Feet - Kokoku
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Dual Avatar Fists - Armored Ah-Gyo
Dual Avatar Feet - Armored Un-Gyo
Dual Avatar - Empowered Kon-Gyo
Dual Avatar - Empowered Mi-Gyo
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Dual Avatar Invitation
Dual Avatar Defeating Evil
Perfect Syn A-Un
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Dual Avatar Return
Dual Avatar Compact
Dual Avatar Turning