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.

9. Fight or Flight Response

Redux 082: Fight or Flight Response

Inquisitor Silver directed her eye towards the ships bridge. A sound came from that direction; a womans voice. "Crap. I think she heard us." Eric ducked below the windows. It was Alice who, upon seeing what the Templars did to the unfortunate man outside, couldn't stop screaming. She had to cover her own mouth to muffle the noise. "Alice. Breathe slowly!" It looked like she was about to suffocate while hyperventilating. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I.. I don't want to be here!" She sobbed through her hands. "We don't have to be. We're going right now, right?" Uno looked at Tory. She unfortunately had a complicated look on her face. "It wont be that easy anymore." The mechanical buzzing of the drones got louder. The Templars were surrounding the ship. "Let me duel them. We can take them." Uno clenched his hand. "Not like this you're not. I've seen bigger groups lose to smaller numbers. And Silver is here this time too. No.. we need.." Her eyes darted towards the captains quarters. She crawled over there and grabbed some items from the table, including a dueldisk. "We need a distraction."

"You're not saying, you're gonna be that distraction?" Uno cringed. Her look of determination was clear. "No. She can't do that!" Alice wailed. "I can and I will." She got up. "But..but I was the one..." Alice didn't want to scream, she couldn't stop herself. It was all her... "This is nobody's fault." Tory shook her head. "Just do me a favor. Take these." She tossed three cards at their feet and a handheld device. "You made these?" The cards were laminated ID-cards, forged ones. "While you were sleeping yeah. You can become proper duelists, take the trials at the academy and not be chased anymore for wanting to play the game. But all of that isn't gonna happen if you stay here." Tory started walking towards the front door. "The other gizmos lets you listen in on my duel and keep track of templars. Destroy the first one the minute you think I am going to lose." Tory looked back one last time, at Eric in particular. "As for you. My Eric is gonna get pretty mad. So tell him that I still trust you, that I wanted to help you. You'll know how to convince yourself, right?" Eric nodded slowly. "Good. Well, I'm glad I saw that face one last time." She pulled down her mask.

"Huzzah!" 'Purgatory' soon burst out of the bridge while tossing an orb into the air. It exploded to release a current of energy. "!?" Silver's Templars all came tumbling down, dropping in the bay's waters or on the ships deck. The device fried their circuits temporarily. "So there you are!" Undeterred, the Inquisitor activated her own dueldisk. "..." It connected to Tory's disk, forcing her into a duel with the Inquisitor. "No escape huh." Tory took her time to walk down the stairs. "That was a nice try, that EMP device of yours. But my dueldisk is made of sterner stuff." The Inquisitor smirked. "Yeah? Well you can thank the guy you just 'carded'. He made it for in case we ever needed it." She saw the once-human/now-card in the womans hands. This was not how Tory wanted to get to know his face. "You took it hard, didn't you? Couldn't help but cry about it.." Silver sneered as she put the card away in one of her pockets. "Why did you have to do that to him? He was harmless." Tory inquired the inquisitor. "Anyone who threatens the Union, deserves this fate. You will be next. So do you want to do this? You can give up now." Silver started drawing her cards. "And miss my chance for revenge? Not on your life!"

Silver's LP: 8000 Tory's LP: 8000

"I've heard that one before too. But you won't even get a chance to touch me." The Inquisitor took the first turn. "My cards know your type, your sin. I set the pendulum monster; Amorphage Wrath!" There were Silver's cards that the dueling world feared. "Amorphages." There was one virus for every sin; Wrath (scale 3) took the form of a grey-scaled dragon-demon, with a wolf's head growing out of its neck. "I activate my continuous spell, Amorphage Infection. And I set the pendulum, Luster Pendulum the Dracoslayer!" The other pendulum zone was given to a winged dragon in knights armor (scale 5), with long blonde hair. "Luster Pendulum, sacrifice my other pendulum card!" Luster could destroy its pendulum partner, to search a card with the same name. Amorphage Wrath died, and another Amorphage Wrath entered Silvers hand. "But Wrath isn't your only crime. You took what wasn't yours." The woman pulled a different dragon from her deck. "With my Amorphage destroyed, Amorphage Infection grants me a new Amorphage! Amorphage Greed!" It was the crawling gold dragon with its spine-covered back.

"You're calling me greedy? That's rich." Tory laughed it off. "Heh, you poor naive girl." Silvers smile was wider still. "I set Amorphage Wrath in the pendulum zone. And I activate Wavering Eyes!" A quickplay spell flipped this time. "Ugh. You're destroying your own pendulums?" Wavering Eyes blew up all the pendulum monsters on the field and activated two of its subsequent effects, counting Luster Pendulum and Amorphage Wrath's deaths. "I claim Amorphage Lechery and 500 of your lifepoints!" The spell's second effect searched the deck for new pendulum cards; a red dragon with a black scorpion tail and scorpion claws protruding from its body. The spell's first effect first inflicted 500 points of damage. "Ngh!" Wavering Eyes slammed Tory right in her chest with a flash of transparent force. "It hurts, doesn't it?"

Tory's LP: 7500

"That was nothing." Tory lied. She did her best to pay her beating heart no mind. "That was just the beginning. It will get worse." Silver placed the two pendulum Amorphages she had acquired; Lechery (scale 5) and Greed (scale 3). It was time. "I PENDULUM SUMMON!" Four massive blasts of fire and light crashlanded into the freighters deck. "From my extra deck; Amorphage Wrath, Luster Pendulum!" The wrathful dragons(4/1650/0) and the dragon knight(4/1850/0) emerged in attack position. "From my hand, another Amorphage Greed!" The porcupine dragon(4/0/1950) rested in defense mode. "Under Amorphage Infection, all sins will grow and fester. Each Amorphage card adds 100 points to an Amorphage monster, and I control six cards." Infection channeled the power into Greed(600/2550) and the Wrath dragons(2250/600) through the bacteriophage-shaped canisters on the monsters backs. "Now then. You are welcome to retaliate. But I do not see that happening." The Inquisitor was finally done with the turn.

"Oh no?" Tory couldn't wait to start her turn. With the kind of pendulums she had, she could easily overwhelm Silver's monsters. "I know some guys who beg to diff... huh?" So why couldn't she? "What the? Just let me.." Her dueldisk was rejecting her cards. She couldn't set pendulum spells, or activate spells at all. "You!" This wasn't a malfunction, it was an effect! "It took you that long to catch on? Heh, you are so slow." Silver snickered as she placed her finger under her nose. "Amorphage Lechery prevents the activation of non-Amorphage spells and their effects, as long as Amorphage monsters are on my field. Amorphage Greed does the same to traps. As long as these sins live, you wont be able to use anything but monsters. And since I know what kind of monsters you tend to steal, I know you wont be able to summon anything good without pendulums." She was right. Tory couldn't bring out her Superstar the normal way. And none of her other Abyss Actors could stand up to Amorphage Wrath or Luster Pendulum. "Damn it. How could I forget that?" She mentally cursed as she placed a monster face-down, along with a spell and trap card.

"Pointless. Nothing in the backrow will stop me." The Inquisitor took her turn again. "There is one cost to using my Amorphages. Each pendulum demands a sacrifice of an existing monster." During her standby phase she had to tribute two of her monsters for Lechery and Greed. She tributed the two Wraths. "But as long as even one Amorphage lives, the seal on your cards will remain unbroken. Furthermore, Amorphage Infection activates again." The infection spell did not just respond to the destruction of Amorphages, but also when one was tributed. "Luckily for you, Infection only activates once a turn." Silver added Amorphage Sloth, a higher-leveled demon. "I should also mention that, as long as I control pendulum summoned Amorphages, only Amorphages may be summoned from the extra deck. But I can go further. When I control Amorphage Sloth." She tributed Amorphage Greed to tribute summon the lime-green demon(6/2250/0) with a dragons head and a bears head. "Extra deck summons of non-Amorphages are restricted regardless of how I summoned my Amorphages."

"No luck there either huh?" Even if Tory could set her scales, she wouldn't get the chance to resummon any of her destroyed Actors. "I Pendulum summon!" Silver repeated the process, bringing the Amorphages Wrath out from the extra deck, and another Dracoslayer from her hand. "Lector Pendulum the Dracoverlord!" It was the crazed white-haired dragon knight(4/1950/0); Luster's counterpart in black armor. "Now.. fall." Amorphage Infection powered up the Wrath dragons(2250/600) and Sloth(2850/600). Luster Pendulum was the first to strike. He pluned his sword into the body of Tory's facedown monster. "Aha!" It didn't die, it merely made a clown(4/1700/1000) jump up in agony. "Abyss Actor Sassy Rookie can't be destroyed by the first attack!" Tory clapped her hands. "And when he is destroyed, he can special summon another level 4 or lower Abyss Actor from my deck!" She said all this as Silver already ordered Lector Pendulum to finish the Rookie off. The black dragon knight skewered the Actor on his trident. "Come out, Wild Hope!" So Tory special summoned the cowboy Abyss Actor(4/1600/1200) in defense mode.

"Monster effects are not negated. But this is all you can do." One of the Wrath Amorphages gored Wild Hope with its horns. "I am doing it pretty well!" Tory activated Wild Hope's effect. With its destruction she could add another Sassy Rookie from her deck to her hand. "That is not all that you are doing." Silvers eyes narrowed. "You are stalling. Who are you buying time for?" The fact that Tory was focusing just on defending gave her intentions away. "Nobody. It was just the two of us." But she wouldn't give Uno away. They probably weren't far enough away yet. "Then we can add 'being a poor liar' to your list of sins! I attack twice!" Amorphage Sloth and the other Wrath rammed their bodies into Tory. "Gwah!" She was knocked against the side of the ship, nearly falling of the edge. "I will rephrase the question. Who is valuable enough for you to give up your miserable life for?"

Tory's LP: 2800

"Oh. Like you have it so much better?" Tory managed to crawl back up. Her body was really aching now. "At least I have people I would give myself up for! Who is valuable in your life, huh?" She shouted at the Inquisitor, who did not dignify her with a reply. "Thought so! Draw!" So she took her next turn, no matter how hopeless it seemed. "!? This card?" And what she drew was something that had slipped her mind; a card Stonewell gave her long ago, in case either of them ever came across Millenniums forces. "I set a monster and end my turn!" She actually had a chance now and she did not want to give that away. "You're not setting that Sassy card of yours again?" Unfortunately the Inquisitor could not help but notice the change in strategy. "Why is that?" During her standby phase, the two Wrath Amorphages were tributed for the two pendulum Amorphages. Amorphage Infection added a third Amorphage Lechery card to her hand, as a precaution. And afterwards she pendulum summoned the dragons of Wrath from the extra deck. "Who knows." Tory was as motionless as a statue. "Could it be.. your face-down monster!?" And then Silver activated a new spell: Amorphage Contagion. "!?"

Amorphage Contagion, Quickplay Spell
Tribute 1 "Amorphage" monster or destroy 1 "Amorphage" spell/trap card you control. Destroy 1 card your opponent controls.

Amorphage Contagion targeted Amorphage Infection first and broke it down. Then Tory's monster: a glazed donut with teeth(1/0/0), was killed. "Doom Donuts?" Even the Inquisitor had a moment of dumbfoundedness in light of this revelation. "I see, I see. If I simply attacked that card, its flip effect would have destroyed all monsters with 0 attack or defense points." The Pendulum Dracos and the Amorphages all had zero points in at least one of their stats. Her entire army would have been wiped away. No monsters would have meant no effects for Amorphage Lechery and Greed and Silver had already pendulum summoned this turn. "Undoubtedly, you would have used that opening to spring your traps or spells on me. But that doesn't matter now does it?" Tory was truly out of options. She couldn't even get a Battlefader to save her life. "So I will give you the choice; cooperate with me now and surrender everything you know. Or join your friend and have your information extracted anyway. As long as I get results, I don't care how this ends either way."

"Forget it. I am not surrendering. In fact why don't you answer something for me?" Now that she was aware of her own doom, she didn't have to care about how much she pissed Silver off. "A last request? Go ahead." The Inquisitor was amused enough to humor her. "How did you find me?" And that was Tory's question. "Heh. Does the poor girl want to know how she messed up? Sure, I can tell you. Every Templar's deck is marked. That includes the Igknights you took from that Templar that you and your friends sent crashing. One of you was foolish enough to use them in a duel yesterday, and just because you duel offline, does not mean the network wont detect it. Was that what you wanted to hear?" She inquired with her cruel smile. "So it was my fault. Yes, I'm glad to hear that." Tory returned the smile, happily. Uno and the others would be long gone by now, but not yet out of transmission range. "Hmph." No longer entertained, the Inquisitor ended the duel. A single direct attack from Amorphage Sloth was more than sufficient. "Gaaaahh!" She was thrown against the deck.

Tory's LP: 0

"By the way." That was not the end for Tory though. "Rgk." The inquisitor stepped on Tory's arm and pulled the girl's mask off so her one eye could look into Tory's eyes. "There is someone I value. And you could never understand our bond. Take that knowledge with you." Then came the light from the dueldisk, which sealed Tory's future.

...

Uno and the others were indeed in the clear. After they snuck off board, they hurried in the direction of the city. Stopping only when they ran out of breath. "She's gone. She's gone.." That was also when the connection died. The little handheld displayed Tory's lifepoints at zero. "I know. But this isn't your fault, Alice. She wanted us to know that." They had also heard every word she said during her duel, thanks to this device. "Yeah it was hers!" Eric added without thinking about what he said. "That doesn't mean she deserved it!" She cried out. "Of course not. But she did everything she could to make sure we at least got away." Uno figured Tory already saw herself as responsible for this mess in the first place. "I don't know how they can 'card' people like the Fusion guild. But I'm sure there is a way to undo the effects, to save Tory.. and anyone else they turned into cards. And they wont come after us right now, they shouldn't." Uno wiped off the handheld before tossed it to the ground and smashing it under his foot. "Well that was one thing. Now what do we do? Wait for the others to come back?" Eric didn't like the idea of waiting that long.

"I want to go home." Alice said with a whimper. "Hey, me too.. but we're stuck here for now." Eric stated the facts, for which she had no use. "I don't want to be here anymore! It's just like the other world. No it's even worse! I want my family, I want my mom and dad. I want Emily!" She turned to Uno. "Please. Can't you do it? Can't you use the crystal again?" The pendulum had brought them here, it could do the reverse. "Alice, I.. I don't know how. This thing doesn't listen to me half the time." It was a miracle that they even ended up here in the first place. "What about Adamant?" She asked. "The gate? We havent heard from them yet. And I don't know if it is safe going through there. Right now the best thing we can do is stay in the city and.. " Uno checked his pockets. He still had the fake IDs. "And maybe.. we should listen to what she said."

...

"We've arrived." Adamant woke Iria and Stonewell, as the van screeched to a halt. "..I see." Iria looked around. "I suppose I should thank you." She had not planned to fall asleep, but it seemed like Adamant had not taken advantage of that. "That wont be necessary." Adamant stepped out of the car with Iria, while Stonewell got out the back. "This is it then?" They had ended up in the middle of a forest, at what seemed to be a military complex hidden under thick trees. "It is. We chose a place far removed from civilization, where we wouldn't be seen from above." He took out his dueldisk. "Stay here. I will go first to see if the area is secure." He moved on, making his way into a bunker. "I do not know who is more paranoid. Him, you or me." Stonewell said.

"Silv.. I mean.. Iria. What are those other cards you have with you, those pendulum cards?" He changed the subject. "You noticed?" The disciple carried her second deck alongside her Monarch deck, since she never could be sure when the situation called for them. "Yeah, you fell asleep before me. I just wanted to know why you didn't use those against me." She might have done better that way. "They're the Qliphort, a deck I ran in the past. I grew less fond of it over time. That and.. they have a history." She took the cards out and sighed. "Oh?" Stonewell was eager for more on this 'history'. "These Templars. You said they can turn people into cards. They are not the only ones who can do so, I have seen that with my own eyes. So has someone else." It was hard to forget Alice's story, about the Qliphort being the Guardians of time. Iria just did not know how it all tied together yet.

"There is a problem." Adamant returned with foreboding news. "What? Are there enemies here?" Stonewell flinched. "No. There is nothing here." He replied. "Nothing.. what about your.. ""Not even that. The Gate is missing. Someone took it.."

(To be Continued in Redux 081: Darkness the same as Light)

New Cards used by Tory
Doomdonuts

Cards used by Inquisitor Silver
Luster Pendulum the Dracoslayer
Amorphage Wrath
Amorphage Greed
Amorphage Lechery
Amorphage Sloth
Lector Pendulum the Dracoverlord

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Amorphage Infection
Wavering Eyes
Amorphage Contagion