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.

2. So far so

Redux 089: So Far so...

The fates are decided by the soul rather than the flesh. Spirits once roamed the lands to create misfortune and fortune alike, coming in many shapes and sizes. Now man has tamed them to guide them, to fight for them, to shape the world for them. The strongest of these spirits have come to represent the duality of the world, the branches that all free minds can undertake. But there is only one who can follow the perfect path, who would be victorious in every challenge and honor the spirits at all times. Only a warrior such as he shall inherit the ultimate spirit and, together, become the decider of the final fate of the world. For there will come a time when a choice must be made, when the world will be torn asunder and two equal halves must duel each other. Only the inheritor will end this conflict, that began before the dawn of time.

So went the prophecy according to its fervent believer Adamant. This was written down in stone, in several languages, on tablets from across the globe. This was what Adamant served to the uninitiated; the elite of the XYZ-guild in the past and now.. his new 'traveling group' of the present. "If you have questions, ask them." Despite their current surroundings, he treated this situation much like the other. It usually was a difficult concept to swallow. "Is that why.. you wanted to win so much? Because only the perfect duelist can get such power?" It cleared up a lot of things, which the young Alice appreciated. "Heh. Like there's anybody left to even fill those shoes." There was also the strongheaded Eric, who doubted the story for the simple reason that every duelists had to lose one day. But his apprehensions paled in comparison to Iria's. "..." The disciple had opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but reconsidered for the time being. She did not embrace this lunacy. Only one really did. "Well... it makes sense." Uno was the one who'd seen it all, he knew for a fact that the world was a magical place. Just one of many.

"But how did your guild know about all that?" There was a reason he asked of course. This was no longer their world, not for most of them. Less than twenty years ago, there was an time-splitting event of unknown cause. Two worlds were created as a result of a divergence and these five were stuck on this side now; this silent world with bright cities on the horizon. "As I said before, we have contacts in the army and government. They were the ones who discovered the other world, and the tablets with these prophecies. The connection was there in the words. The connection to 'dueling' was there in the images. Hundreds of stone pictures were found, who resembled the monsters from the game." Adamant replied. "The better question is, where do we need to know where to go? Who do we avoid or seek. I assume your guild had done its research in those areas." Iria did not need to remind everyone that Adamant's guild was the one who planned to invade this new world. ""But from what I hear.. our endgoal should be to find Tempus." According to Uno and December, one man was responsible for all this mess. "To start with, we will need to get into this world's network." He raised his dueldisk; a weapon that no duelists would go without. "All data my guild attained so far, can be accessed from an online point."

"Uh.. I don't want to complain but.. " Alice's voice piped in timidly. "Can we also get some food? I'm sorta hungry." The night that led them up to this point had been quite active, making meals an easy thing to overlook. "Good point. Hey.. wasn't there an apple tree around here? You showed me that once." Uno could hear his own stomach growl, and a nice red apple would hit just the spot. "I thought so too but..." The girl pointed in the distance. At the edge of the mountain rocks stood a lonely dead tree. "Oh." It seemed the new world wanted to make absolutely sure that they did not mistake this for their home. "But there's that nice fish restaurant down the road. Maybe we could go there?" While Alice's hometown had been erased from the map, the road stayed intact. It was nice to have something to hold onto. "What if we can't pay!? I bet they have some weird bizarro-coins on this side!? Man, this is all so.. messed up." Eric wanted anything familiar at all to keep himself sane. "I'm sure we can get back. I'm sure." Meanwhile this was not the first time Alice experienced a journey like this. Though she did not want to talk about that very much.

"There's no need to worry about currency. I already scanned the area and found no such facilities." Adamant stated with his eyes drawn to the screen on the dueldisk. "Did you locate anything else?" Iria inquired with moderate impatience. "A single building shows up on the network here, next to the road in that direction." He pointed to the west, where all the bright cities were. "I suggest we make that place a resting point, before we head on..." He made sure the others could see the screen too. It showed a map of the entire country, with most cities still carrying the same name. "All the way there? Guh, that's such a long way down." Eric hadn't even moved one foot yet and he already felt tired. "Can't we just fly down there, on one of your solid holograms or something?" Alice suggested, as Adamant's disk was fully capable of creating physical objects to interact with; up to and including flying birdmachines. "I think we should avoid standing out for now." Uno said as he looked up at the sky with uncertainty. Something told him that those flying grey dots in the sky were watching them. "I concur. We will walk." Iria decided.

And they did, they traversed the road for a couple of miles until they reached their destination. "Oh yeah, I remember this. Some old guy used to live here." The band of five stood in front of a stone-white house that looked more like a resort than anything. "So what's the plan? How do we get in?" The front gate was well-secured and cameras covered every corner. "We could easily dismantle the security system with our tools." Iria pondered out loud while she rested a finger on her chin. "We can break in if we need to. We are on a time limit." Adamant was already thinking one step further, and felt justified in doing so. "No! No breaking, no hacking! We can't just go around smashing other people's stuff!" Alice admonished them both for even considering it. "'But we don't know who is in there." Adamant countered. "I have to take her side on this, Adamant. I don't know what you were told, but I'm positive not everyone in this world is an enemy. This is my home we're talking about.." Uno tugged at his collar and confidently walked towards the gate. "Leave it to me."

"Excuse me!" He shouted as soon as he got within two feet of the walls. "I know you can see me, and probably hear me!" The cameras geared towards him. "I'd just like to ask if me and my friends can spare a few hours of your time? We've had some car trouble and.." Uno had an entire story planned, made up on the fly. The intro must've worked really well, because the gate opened right away. "Hmm. That was... easy." He turned to Iria and gave her a thumbs up. "He got in?" Cautiously she and the others followed Uno inside. "Never thought I'd see this side." Eric said to himself as he took it all in. There was a pool, a flower garden, an outdoor dining table, a friendly-looking man. "Ah!" Eric recoiled in fright. This was definitely a somewhat old guy. "Guess the older you are, the less you change in another timeline."

"Ah greetings duelists. What can I do for you?" The man treated them kindly enough. "Duelists? You let us in because we're.." Uno remembered he still had his own dueldisk with him. The man clearly noticed that. "Duelists, yes! Why wouldn't I? Any duelists is welcome here." The man responded as if it was the most natural thing to say. "Ah yeah.. of course! Well, anyway.. as I was saying. Our car broke down some miles up the road and we need a place to rest at before emergency services arrive. We've been going all night and some of us are pretty exhausted." He finished the story with some lies and some truths. The walk did take a lot out of them. "Of course! My house is your house! There are plenty of couches available! And if you are peckish, help yourself to the fruit and nut bowl." He stepped aside and showed them the way in. "Is there a connection point somewhere?" Iria's eyes she scanned the living room. "Connection? Oh. You need the network? I understand. There is one in the study." Iria then shared a look with Adamant and he nodded back. "Uno. We will go to secure the information we need." He stated as the two went ahead.

"Uno eh? That's a wonderful name. I am afraid you will have to simply call me Walter." The man remarked with a smile. "Oh. I'm so sorry!" Alice yelled as she hurriedly finished eating her apple. "We didn't tell you who we are! I'm Alice, and this is Eric. And those two in there are.." Before she could give the remaining names, a long yawn escaped her mouth. "Oh my. Do you need a rest, little lady?" Walter chuckled. "What? No..Imnot.. tired..." She protested, despite her body insisting the opposite. "Alice. It's fine. I am sure you can take a quick nap here." Uno checked with Walter and the old man offered no objections. "But I amnot.. I don't want to.. What if I sleep..and then I wake up, you wont be there anymore?" She said softly, trying as hard as she could to stay awake. "Alice. Hey.. I am not going anywhere. I will be here, where you last saw me. Okay? This is my world, it's safe in here." Uno held her hand gently and did not let go until she looked away. "O..kay.." She sighed and turned around. "You can use my spare bed. I have no need for it anyway." Walter said. "Thank..you." She replied and left the room.

It was just Walter, Uno and Eric now. "How about you Eric?" Uno figured Stonewell had to be pretty tired too. Uno was the only one who had caught some ZZZs recently. "Bah, I can tough it out." Eric swore. "Uh-huh. I trust you buddy... Walter. I gotta say, you're making me feel bad with all this hospitality. I don't know how to thank you." Uno was not sure what he expected from his homeworld. He liked what he saw so far. "Nothing of it. I hardly get any visitors, certainly not duelists. I take it you are on your way to the big city?" He asked out of nowhere, which got Uno's attention. "Where else? I wanted to show my new friends the sights." He definitely wanted to hear more about this 'city'. "Ho-ho. Don't I know it. Those lights are always on; the sky sometimes purple, red or green." Walter smirked at Eric. "You're in for a treat, son. Many duelists test their luck there, there's not a deck you wont find there; Pendulums, fusions, XYZ, synchro. They have them all."

"Uh.. you know about that kind of stuff?" Eric was midly surprised. "Ho-hum. Just a little. My son used to be a duelist, and I played a few matches with him myself. Hrm.." Walter looked around the place. "There it is. I knew I kept my cards close by." He picked up a deck of cards from a small box on top of a fireplace mantel. "Say, Uno. These days are getting so dreadfully long and dull, and you are kept waiting by outside forces anyway. What do you say to a quick match? I'd just like to see what you are made off." He placed his deck on top of a table. "Oh. Well.. I can't say no to that." After everything he had given them, Uno could repay him a little this way. "You are on, Walter. Eric, you keep the score." Uno sat down on the floor on the opposite side and took out his cards. "Huh? You're not gonna use disks? Well okay." Eric wished he had something to look at. At least he could keep track of their lifepoints with his dueldisk.

Uno's LP: 8000 Walter's LP: 8000

The two drew their cards, Uno allowed Walter to lead. "Hmmm. I think..I will start with this one." The man placed one monster in a face-down defensive position. "That should do it! Now it's your turn Uno." Walter waited with folded arms. "Okay then! I summon Performapal Whip Viper and attack!" Uno placed his first card on the field, the purple hat-wearing snake(4/1700/100). Admittedly he was not used to dueling without holograms, but it felt enjoying. And if he closed his eyes, he could still see the monsters before him. "Performapals? Can't say I heard of that type of monster." Walter sniffed as he flipped the attacked card. "Perhaps you heard of mine? Hydrotortoise the Empowered Warrior." The snake's victim was a redhaired summoner witch(4/1600/1300). "When this card is destroyed by battle: I can Summon a Warrior with 1500 or less ATK from my Deck in Attack mode." Walter explained the effect of his destroyed monster, as he slowly searched his deck for a new card. "I pick Hydrotortoise the Empowered Warrior." He placed down a serpentine warrior(3/1400/900) in green body-armor who had one golden wing and a golden claw. "Well, I dont see those often. I can give you that." Uno said and ended his turn.

"I've never seen them." Eric added.

"Ho-ho. You really will enjoy the city." Walter laughed again. "Now watch this. It's time for a spell card!" Walter switched Hydrotortoise to defense mode and activated a continuous spell. "Take note son. This is Empowerment. All dragons, magicians and warriors gain 300 points while this card is active. And that's good for me, because all my monsters are from those types." He exposited, while Erics disk acknowledged the boost to the Hydrotortoise warrior(1700/1200). "Also, once a turn I can discard one card to summon one Empowered Warrior from my deck!" A normal monster was discarded from his hand, and another golden-winged and 'Empowered' warrior(5/2300/1100) appeared. This one was armored in blue and modeled after a dragon. "Now here we have Ventdra the Empowered Warrior, who can attack directly. I think you know what this means, Uno. He will attack you!" He motioned his cards towards his opponent directly. "Then I will have to use Whip Snake's effect!" Uno tapped his Performapal card and Ventdra(4/1100/2300) at the same time. "Now your monsters attackpoints are switched with his defense points, so I only take 1100 points of damage!" Uno proclaimed. "A hit is a hit." Walter was satisfied for now. He placed a monster down and passed the turn to Uno. "He's got you there Uno." Eric chuckled.

Uno's LP: 6900

"Yes indeed. Looks like I gotta step it up." Uno tapped his Whip Snake again to make sure that Ventdra's attackpoints were switched with its defense points in his turn as well. "By summoning two of my pals!" He placed two cards on the table. The normal summon of the turn was the silver-furred wolf Performapal Silver Claw(4/1800/700). "By tributing a non-pendulum Performapal, I can special summon Performapal Sleight Hand Magician from my hand!" The snake was taken away and replaced with a jester(7/2500/2000) in red. On his face was a mask and a feathered crown. His lower body consisted of a crystal and two angel wings. "Sleight Hand's effect is this; by discarding a card from my hand, he can destroy one of your face-up cards!" Uno discarded a Performapal ThunderRhino card and selected the Hydrotortoise as the elimination target.

Walter wistfully removed the green Empowered Warrior from his field. "Oh. Oh my.. is that a pendulum monster?" Yet he seemed more enthralled with Uno's silver beast. "Silver Claw? Yes it is." Uno tried to play it cool. He didn't want to give away how confused he was by Walters awe. "You will have to forgive me. Pendulum cards are not something you get to duel against every day. I only have a few myself. You must be something special." Walter spoke with a pensive look in his eyes. "I must be.." Uno wouldn't know about that. But this duel was a good way to probe the man for information, in a friendly way. "Maybe I can just show you!" Uno took his dueldisk and switched every card into the device. "Oh we're doing disks now? Okay then." Eric gave his to the old man. "Why, thank you. Now let me see." Walter did the same with his cards. Holograms of his Empowered Warriors and Uno's Performapals showed up. "I'll start my Battle phase!" Sleight Hand Magician made the first attack. With a blast from its wand it blew Ventdra to smithereens.

Walters LP: 6600

"That does make a world of difference." Walter said. "Ah but.. . Now with Ventdra sent from the field to the graveyard, I can take a normal monster from the grave." Walter used Ventdra's other effect to reclaim his discarded monster. "You adjust quickly.. Well I didn't want to rob you of some nice visuals. Now Silver Claw attacks! When he strikes, he adds 300 attackpoints to all my Performapals!" The wolf(2100/700)'s claws sank into Walters hidden warrior(3/700/1800). "Oh that's unfortunate." Walter flashed a wide grin as his flip effect monster was revealed. "You activated Green Turtle Summoner. Now he destroys one of your monsters." A mage in green turtle armor, looking even older than Walter, jumped towards Uno's side of the field. With its helmet it rammed straight into Sleight Hand Magician and destroyed the Performapal. The summoner fell to destruction afterwards. "You can say that again." Uno snapped his fingers. "Your move."

"Well now. What I can do is.. return the favor." Walter drew his card, another normal monster, and discarded it to re-activate Empowerment. "But first there's Empowered Warrior Arnis." The spell special summoned a knight(4/2000/1500) in vermillion armor, who flew on rapidly fluttering bird-wings. "And there's the White Tiger Summoner." A white-haired mage brawler(3/1300/2000) in black uniform materialized besides the Arnis. This one clenched its fist and roared, energizing itself(1400/2000) and the vermillion Warrior(2100/1500). "White Tiger Summoner gives all my monsters 100 attackpoints. Though that's not as exciting as its first power. When I normal summon it, I can also summon a Normal monster from my hand!" Walter took this chance to special summon the card he had reclaimed last turn. "Show yourself, my pendulum monster! I summon Flash Knight!" 'Flash' was right; this new blonde knight(4/2200/900) had a bright yellow cape and glowing golden armor. "Pendulums eh? That's a good look for yours." Uno could see the spell-side of this new card; however it had neither monster nor spell effect.

"Ho. Thank you. Now let's have our cards fight." Flash Knight stabbed Silver Claw with his sword. "Ah not so fast! I can banish ThunderRhino from my graveyard to negate my Performapals destruction!" A blast of thunder deflected the sword away. Though Uno still took battle damage "Is that so. Then.." Walter made Arnis attack next, and a fireblast finally destroyed Silver Claw. After that a direct attack from White Tiger Summoner hit Uno. "Heheh. You might give me a run for my money yet! I don't know about you Walter. But I think it's time to take it to the next level! I think it's time for.. a Pendulum summon!"

Uno's LP: 4800

...

Not to far away, but high above, unseen signals moved through the aether. There was a stir, the drone closest to the mountain range began to move.. heading down quickly.

(To be Continued in Redux 088: Second Chance at First Impressions)

New Cards used by Uno
Performapal Sleight Hand Magician

Cards used by Walter
Red Sparrow Summoner
Hydrotortoise, the Empowered Warrior
Ventdra, the Empowered Warrior
Green Turtle Summoner
Arnis, the Empowered Warrior
White Tiger Summoner
Flash Knight

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Empowerment