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.

12. Tell Me about Yourself

Redux 79: Tell Me about Yourself

"All of that happened? And you still went ahead to duel in the academy?" Iria did not know which emotion she felt more after she received the full story from Alice and Eric; anger or dread. "It is a good thing that you went through with it, Alice. And I am pleased to hear about your victory." Adamant knew what he felt; pride and perhaps a little joy too. "Thanks!" Alice was surprised to hear those words from him but she gladly took them. "We do not have time for celebrations, Adamant." The disciple hissed. Finding out that your temporal double was chasing you was a good reason for paranoia. "I understand. But Alice's victory is fortuitous for other reasons. Now we have unlimited access to the network. While Uno may not be online right now, we know which dueldisk he is using." They would see him as soon as he was dueling. "We can not wait for that. We should start searching now." Iria would rather prevent a duel. "Then we could split up!" Alice said. "Agreed. We cover more ground that way. Alice and me will take the outskirts, you and Eric may search the nearby areas."

"Which Eric are you talking about?" Stonewell coughed. "Uh.." He and Eric spent the last few minutes staring at each other, ever since Alice told the others what happened. "What makes you so sure I will help you?" He started to move away from the van. "You're just going to ditch us?" Eric shouted. "Uno is your friend, your business. I have my own. Besides, I still don't trust you people." It sounded like he was ditching them. "Even after we told you what.. wait.. wait!" Eric tried to block him, but the pendulum around his neck flashed again. "Tch." Eric could not risk physical contact if it was doing that. "Listen to me. I think I know what you're feeling. You're feeling guilty, so .." So he tried to appeal to what he thought made sense. "You do not know anything, you with your perfect life and perfect world! You're nothing like me, so stay out of my way!" It didn't work. Stonewell ran away. "Great. I screwed that up." Eric groaned. "Let him go for now. We can't help anyone who doesn't want our help." Iria said dismissively.

...

"Uh, I asked you something." Who was this girl? She called out his name and now she was just gazing longingly at him, bobbing her head from left to right. "Don't tell me you were just counting up in spanish. I me.." Then a hand emerged from the mantle of her coat, and planted itself right in his face. "Okay." Uno nudged it aside. "You're gonna have to give me something here." He was at the funfair, and he was in no mood for fun. "you are him, but you are not. your name is... Uno?" She finally deigned him worthy enough to speak to again, using a floaty distant tone. "That's what I call myself... Hold the phone.. you know someone named UNO? As in Uno with all capitol letters?" Had his bait caught someone? Had he found someone who would be familiar with the original UNO? "i knew an Uno once. but I do not understand. you remind me of him, while you don't appear as him. when I stare into your eyes, I do not see what I could see in his eyes. you do not recognize me." She concluded dejectedly and pulled her hand back. "who are you?" She asked.

"I... don't know. I don't know my name, I just remember hearing the name Uno once, and I know he's here somewhere." This girl was on to something, that was clear. She could have some answers, or all of them. "Listen.. does any of this sound familiar? Pendulum crystalss, timetravel, December, Tempus, amnesia, Dom, Prophecy sisters." So he just rattled off keywords and watched her closely for reactions. The girl's eyes widened immediately as she mouthed one of the words silently. Uno could not tell which one. "do you have.. the pendulum?" Apparently that was the subject that stuck out to her. "Yes I.. wait, no! Shoot!" Of all times he had left it with Eric now! For good reasons, but still! "I had one! I can get it if you let me!" Uno activated his dueldisk. He knew his friends would find him this way. "was i mistaken." Unfortunately the mystery girl was shaking her head; never a good sign. "Wait. I can explain, I can.. It's this small, hangs around my neck!" Perhaps describing it was enough. "you are with others. i shouldn't have come here." She turned away from him. "Nonono!" As easily as she snuck up on him, she escaped his sight. "Gahhh!"

...

"He's activated his dueldisk." Iria spotted the new blip on the tracker right away, it was the only unregistered account in the area. "He's at that funfair." Eric recognized the area; he, Alice, and Uno went through it this morning. "But of course he is." The disciple groaned. At least they were headed in the right direction. "Guess we didn't need this. " Eric held up the pendulum. "Tho.. why is it still turned on?" A faint light lingered inside the crystal. "Stonewell walked in the other direction, didn't he? And Uno said.." He looked at Iria. ".. that it only reacts to two counterparts getting too close." And if it was not his counterpart. "Oh boy..."

...

Suddenly, while Uno stewed in his own incomprehension, the fair around him decided to stop being 'fun'. "Whah?" The carousels ceased to spin, the ferris wheel unloaded its passengers, the haunted house was evacuated. Everyone was in a hurry to get out. "Say." And before Uno could follow the crowd, one person walked back in. "I have a question." It was the other, Inquisitor Iria Silver.

Deja Vu; this was the second time someone blindsided him. "Uh.. what would that be?" She had done it so effectively, that he couldn't even react any other way than anxious. "Where would a duelist get cards like Odd. Eyes. Pendulum. Dragon?" She 'inquired'. Silver was undeniably here for him. "Odd-Eyes? Never heard of it." The Pendulum dragon was not on the official card list. But Uno thought that if he kept cards like that out of his dueldisk, that they wouldn't be detected again. "It is a crime to lie to an officer of the law." He was wrong. "I know what you are." Silver already passed judgment. The next step was clear. "And you have a choice, come quietly.. or.." She activated her dueldisk. "Damn it." She had him in a bind. If he gave in, Silver would search him and find the card anyway. "Not much of a choice, Inquisitor." So he might as well give up the act and fight back with everything he had. He took all of his Odd-Eyes cards and inserted them in the disk.

Silver's LP: 8000 Uno's Lp: 8000

"A goodie, a duel it is." The two drew their cards, Silver looking pleased with his choice. "You duelists always pick the second option. It's funny to see them put so much hope in their cards." And the Inquisitor claimed the first turn. The network almost always gave her the first turn. "No. That is the wrong word." She flashed a wry grin. "It is pathetic." She activated the spell Amorphage Infection and placed the pendulum monster Amorphage Lechery (scale 5) on the left zone. "Rgh." Thanks to Lechry's effect, Uno would not be able to use any of his spell cards as soon an Amorphage was summoned. "That fear.. You seem familiar with these cards. Like a sinner would be. Tell me; is your sin the pride you have for your cards?" Amorphage Pride, a green-scaled dragon(4/1750/0) with the second head of an eagle, was normal summoned. Due to Amorphage Infection the seventh sin dragon(2050/300) gained 100 attack and defense points from all three Amorphage cards on the field. After that her turn was ended.

"I had a chance to admire your work." Uno was forced to keep his cards hidden, setting one monster and one trap card. He however did not feel like hiding what he knew. "So it was you who was on the other line, who the woman gave her life for." The Inquisitor smirked. "You mean Tory. That was her name." He stated before ending his turn. "Was it? Well have you ever heard anyone mention Benedict Winslow or Patricia Connor in passing?" The names she dropped only drew a puzzled expression from Uno. "Exactly. It's the same for 'Tory', you and anyone else who tries to defy Millennium." The Inquisitor drew her next card. "... I tribute Pride to maintain Lechery." The cost for her pendulum spell took the life of the eagle dragon. But a tribute satisfied the trigger for Amorphage Infection's second effect; letting her add Amorphage Greed from her deck to her hand. "You had a window of opportunity to get away, but you stayed within city limits. You also had an opportunity to break the lock, and you let that slip away too." She placed Amorphage Greed (scale 3) in the other pendulum zone. "Your friend wasted her life for nothing! Now that is funny."

"I Pendulum Summon Amorphage Pride and Wrath!" Pride was summoned out of the extra deck, and the Wrathful wolfdragon(4/1650/0) flew out of Silver's hand. With two more Amorphage cards on her field, the Infection spell had 500 attackpoints to pass on to Pride(2250/500) and Wrath(2050/500). Meanwhile Lechery and Greed sealed Uno's spells and traps. "So which one is the first to die?" Iria ordered the first attack and Amorphage Wrath sank its teeth and claws into Uno's set monster. A helpless trio of singing parakeet birds(3/500/500) was torn to pieces. "Hmmhmm, you got the wrong sins, Inquisitor! When the Performapal Parrotrio is destroyed, they summon a non-pendulum Performapal from my deck in attack position!" Uno called out the best pal for the job, the boatswan insect Performapal Skeeter Skimmer(4/500/1600). "You should have gone for whatever sin negates monster effects!" He suspected that Silver would go for Amorphage Greed with the effect of Infection. She couldn't have known that his face-down monster was the real threat.

"You bought yourself a turn. That is all your friend was good for as well. It makes me wonder if there's still more to come, more friends in hiding." Silver did not even continue her battle phase, as she knew it would be pointless to send Amorphage Pride after Skeeter Skimmer. The insect could negate one attack by switching itself to defense mode. "And there are more, aren't there?" She asked as she placed one trap card down and passed the turn to Uno. "I already fooled you once. You wouldn't trust my answer either way, Silver." Uno might have given his identity away, but he would be damned if he let this woman get anywhere near Alice or Eric. "By the way. If you will humor a little lecture, I want to say what I noticed about the way you duel." He jovially stated as he inspected the next card he drew. "Oh do go on." Silver didn't really care. There was almost nothing a deck like his could do to get out of her Greed/Lechery lock now. "You tend to expect the best of your opponents. That's why you didn't expect Tory to use something like Doomdonuts. Like I know most duelists these days min/max their decks until they are absolutely perfect, but.. that is not really my style. I have so many Performapals, and I want to give each of them a role in my act."

"What is your point?" She was no longer amused. "My point is.. Performapal Trampolynx!" He normal summoned a purple striped cat(2/300/300). "Trampolynx?!" There were countless Performapal cards in this world, and Trampolynx was universally agreed upon to be one of the weakest in the series. Uno had to be the only Performapal duelist on the planet who would put it in his deck. "A normal summoned Trampolynx bounces a card out of any one pendulum zone!" The Lynx bumped into Amorphage Lechery with his trampoline body and forced the pendulum monster back into Silver's hand. "Rgh!" The spell-negator was gone, Uno was free to set his scales. "Scale 1 Performapal Monkeyboard! Scale 6 Performapal Lizardraw!" And he did it with glee. "Now that I've set Monkeyboard, I can add one Performapal from my deck to my hand!" The monkey played his keyboard instrument and its music lured out a Performapal Salutiger card. "And now.. my pendulum summon!" Uno called two Pals from his hand in attack position, the Saluting Salutiger(4/1700/500) and Performapal Springoose(5/1100/2400). "Am I still wasting Tory's sacrifice?"

"Don't need to answer that yet! The show's barely begun!" Uno played another spell. "Since you killed the funfair, I'll make my own stage. I activate Performapal Dramatic Theater!" A circustent was thrown around the two duelists. "It's kinda like your card. My monsters gain 200 attackpoints for each unique type among them." He had four types of Performapals now; the insect Skeeter Skimmer(1300/1600), the beast Trampolynx(1100/300), the winged beast Springoose(1900/2400) and the beastwarrior Salutiger(2500/500). They all gained 800 attackpoints. "I do not recognize this card... yet the dueldisk does." The Inquisitor was, again, perturbed. "I guess you wouldn't. Because this is one of those Odd-eyes cards that you are coming after me for. See, when I control four differently typed Performapals.." Uno dramatically pulled a card from his deck. "I can summon an Odd-Eyes monster from my deck!" He summoned Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon(7/2500/2000) in attack position. The dragonic type of Odd-Eyes added 200 additional attackpoints to the pals (Skimmer: 1500 atk, Trampolynx: 1300 atk, Springoose: 2500 atk, Salutiger: 2700 atk) in the Dramatic Theater and to itself(3500/2000). "So there it is. Whatever strings did you pull to get your hands on that dragon?" This was the one card that did not belong.

"Some guy called UNO gave it to me. Then he gave me a printer that let me make whatever cards I wanted. I lost the printer though." Uno didn't care if she knew the truth, it helped her about as much as him. "Uno..?" Silver was surprisingly not upset with that answer. "...You know it'd be nice if you could quid pro quo some of my questions too. Aside from me having an unregistered disk, how did you find me?" That had to help, but it couldn't have been what made her track down Odd-Eyes. "You had a duel beforehand, outside the city. The templar that investigated the scene was destroyed and its footage lost. But the duel records stand, so any Performapal duelist would be my target. You and your friends clearly do not realize that no duel in this world is hidden from us, whether you go online or not." That was after all how she found Tory as well, because Stonewell dueled the other Iria. "So that's how. Well, if you know so muh." Uno entered his battle phase. "You'll know how this will go too!" Odd-Eyes lobbed a fireball in the direction of Amorphage Pride(2150/400). "Amorphage Lysis!" And Silver countered with a continuous trap which weakened Odd-Eyes(3000/2000) just as his blast blew up the Pride dragon(2250/500). "!?"

Iria's LP: 6500

"Amorphage Lysis subtracts 100 attack and defense-points from my opponents monsters for each Amorphage card on my field." Before she had five, so Odd-Eyes lost out on 500 attackpoints. At least the dragon still doubled the battle damage it dished out with its attack. "Well, it's your move then Salutiger!" Now she only had four. Four to weaken the attacking Tiger(2300/100) and four to power up the attacked Amorphage Wrath(2050/400) through Amorphage Infection. The tiger still won the fight, leaving her with three Amorphage cards. "Salutiger adds a pendulum Performapal to my hand, when he destroys a monster. So..." Uno added Performapal Skullcrobat Joker. "Now the rest can have a taste of her too!" Skeeter Skimmer(1200/1300), Trampolynx(1000/0) and Springoose(1800/2100) all pounced on her. Despite the holograms being physical in a duel like this, the one-eyed woman seemed utterly unbothered by three direct attacks. "Hrm.. Lizardraw, do you thing." Uno tributed the Lizard pendulum while it was scaled next to another Performapal, so that it could draw a card from his deck. He gained an actual trap this time around. "I set a card. That was my turn."

Iria's LP: 2150

"Heh. You missed your shot again! How sad." Silver drew her card. "Did I?" Now Amorphage Greed would have to destroy itself, as she had nothing to tribute for it. "Keep watching." Amorphage Lysis and Infection activated as a result of this destruction effect. "When an Amorphage in the pendulum zone is destroyed, my continuous trap can set another!" Silver placed a second Amorphage Greed as soon as the first melted into a puddle of goo. Meanwhile Amorphage Infection chained to the destruction of the first and added an Amorphage Goliath card to Silver's hand. "And I reset Amorphage Lechery from my hand." The two sins were back to reset the lock. "Well, you're gonna be mad after this then." Except right now, Uno could still activate traps. "Countertrap, Unwavering Bond! Your pendulum monster's activation is negated and it is banished!" The trap removed the Lechery demon from the pendulum zone. "What?" She didn't expect anti-pendulum cards either. "Not your fault. I just met a lot of pendulum users lately." Uno chuckled.

"Uno!" At this point, Eric and Iria finally caught up with the duelists, breaking into the theater tent. "Oh.. I didn't think your allies would willingly throw themselves on the line for you. But there..." Her eyes were quickly drawn to her walking reflection. "So we meet at last." Iria saw herself and vice versa. "Is.. this your little rebellions idea of a joke?" Silver did not know how to react, but her mind formed a theory. "You believe you can bring me down and replace me?" In this world where facial reconstruction had developed so far that it was a luxury for the rich, the first thought of anyone would be to assume that this was someone who had simply modified her face. "No. It's not like that! She's you! From another dimension!" The truth that Eric gave was simply too ludicrous to believe. "Silence." Silver snapped her fingers and two Templars flew in from above. "You will not succeed." The drones were set to guard-mode. If Eric and Iria wanted to help Uno, the drones would interfere. "Guys. You shouldn't have come. I can handle this by myself." Uno shouted. "We came because we thought we could talk sense into her." Iria grumbled. Sadly her counterpart was as stubborn as Eric's.

"You're very close to your friends, Uno. I suppose you were right." Iria filled the empty pendulum zone with Amorphage Gluttony, a blank-eyed grey dragon fused with a parasitic fly. Amorphage Infection claimed this card back in Uno's turn, when he destroyed Amorphage Pride. "Gluttony fits you better; your hunger for friends is as great as your hunger for cards. So like you requested, let's negate your monsters effects from now on instead."

(To be Continued in Redux 078: Desire on Display)

New Cards used by Uno
Performapal Parrotrio
Performapal Trampolynx

-
Unwavering Bond

New Cards used by Inquisitor Silver
Amorphage Pride
Amorphage Gluttony

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Amorphage Lysis