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.

17. Puppetshow

Redux 74: Puppetshow

"Uhn..." Uno opened his eyes. The fall was short, but rough and uneven. He landed somewhere cramped and warm. "Oh right." He turned on the dueldisk to get some light. All around him were big metal pipes and thick powercables. "Must be some sort of service tunnel." Whatever it used to be, it was no longer being used. "I guess I am all alone too." He saw noone else, and he did not see a way to get back up either. He must have fallen through some chutes or something. "Wait.." He was not alone long. He heard light footsteps coming his way. "Alice? Eric?... Iria?" He was hoping for the best. "No.. I didn't think so." When no response came, he knew what he was delaing with. A man in a cloak was revealed as the lights of his dueldisk switched on. "One of Martels... Hey, can you hear me? Can you do anything?" Under the hood was the face of a young boy with chestnut-brown hair and lifeless eyes. "..." The boy said nothing and drew five cards faster than Uno could. "Nothing matters but the duel huh. Blast it."

Puppet's LP: 8000 Uno's LP: 8000

The hooded boy activated a field spell "?" A pyramid appeared and folded outwards. It turned into a battleship that floated above the ground. Meanwhile the dark tunnels were replaced with a bright desert skyline. The vision system made the area look more open that it really was. "Triamid Cruiser?" Uno identified the card, it was support for rock and Triamid monsters. Once it was active, all rock-monster normal summons would reward the user with 500 lifepoints. So the puppet summoned one right away. "Triamid Hunter." It was a mechanical man(3/1400/1100) made of gold, with a distinct egyptian theme to it. Its head was fashioned after that of the jackal god Anubis. "This one lets him normal summon a second rock monster from his hand." The Hunter held up an ankh symbol which glowed. The light produced the second normal summoned card; a female automaton(3/600/1900) of gold, with the head of Bastet the cat goddess. "And Triamid Dancer.." Triamid Cruiser boosted the boy's lifepoints twice.

Puppet's LP: 9000

"But Triamid Cruiser has another effect." If the summoned rock-monster was one of the Triamids, the duelist could draw one card but he had to discard one too. In this case Triamid Cruiser discarded a Triamid Master monster from the boy's hand. "And that means. The Dancer can use her ability." Triamid Dancer played a musical tune with her sistrum instrument. "She returns the Triamid card to the deck, to increase the attackpoints of all Triamids by 500." Triamid Master followed the music and headed back into the deck. The Dancer(1100/1900) and the Hunter(1900/1100) raised their own powers. "How do I know all these effects?" Uno never saw anyone use Triamids in the other world though. "Was he a duelist from this world? But that would mean.." That Martel visited this world before...

"Oh its my turn?" With this silent opponent, he would need to rely on his disk to tell him when he could begin. "Okay then! I will give you a show, so you can at least enjoy yourself! Set the scales, Performapal Odd-Eyes Unicorn and Performapal Performapal Changeraffe!" The scale of 8 came with the green unicorn. A scale of 1 belonged to a longnecked giraffe "I Pendulum summon these cards!" Uno summoned Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon(7/2500/2000), Xiangke Magician(7/2500/500) and Performapal Bubble Bowwow(5/2300/1000). "...Nothing? Geez. You're really under his spell." People always reacted to the weirder Performapals and a bulldog with a soapbrush, a soap sprayer on its head and soap bubbles on its body was about the oddest image he could conjure up. This kid did not even move a tiny muscle. "Well, I have to make this quick anyway. from his hand. "Battle! Odd-Eyes attacks Triamid Dancer!" The dragon killed the catheaded woman with one fire-breath blast. And the battle damage was doubled as usual. But there was less damage than he expected. And right before impact the scenery changed, twice.

Puppet's LP: 7200

"A Field swap?" Each Triamid possessed the ability to switch one Triamid spell for another, both Triamid Dancer and Hunter used theirs it before the former died. Triamid Cruiser went to the graveyard and Triamid Kingolem the giant in pyramid-armor, took over. Under the effects of Kingolem, all Triamids gained 500 attackpoints. That was why the Dancer(1600/1900) absorbed more of the hit. After her death, the Hunter activated Triamid Fortress the cannon-equipped fort from the deck to take the place of Triamid Kingolem. Returning the attackpoints of the Hunter to normal, while raising his(1900/1600) defense points and making it immune to destruction effects. "Great. With Triamid Cruiser going to the graveyard, he gets to grab another Triamid monster. And with Kingolem going to the graveyard. He can summon a Triamid from his hand." The third effect of the first field spell chose a Triamid Master in the deck, which the boy claimed. The grave effect of Triamid Kingolem special summoned that Triamid Master; a pharaoh-masked wizard(4/1800/1700) in religious red and blue robes. But that was not the only monster to appear.

"You had a Triamid Sphinx!?" When one Triamid fell as a result of battle, the mightiest Triamid could be special summoned from the duelists hand. It was the ferocious living sphinx(10/2500/3000). "Bad news." . The beasts own power added 1500 attackpoints to it(4000/2500). Five-hundred for each unique field spell in the graveyard. "And Triamid Sphinx forces all monsters to attack it while its on the field, so.." Xiangke Magician could not be of any help in this fight. But it could be useful elsewhere. "I end my battle phase. And now I can.. overlay my two monsters!" Xiangke Magician joined with Odd-Eyes to become the foundation for a rank 7 XYZ-summon. "Come out, Odd-Eyes Absolute Dragon!" The pendulum dragon took a new form, pale purple skin was covered in armor and scales of ice. This XYZ-monster was another creation of Doms. "Then I set two cards face-down and pass the turn to you!" He wanted to say.

The boy used used the fieldswapping effect of Triamid Master first however. Triamid Fortress was removed and a second Kingolem appeared. The Master(2400/1200), Hunter(2400/1100) and Sphinx(4500/2500) exchanged defense for offense. "And when Triamid Fortress is sent to the graveyard. A Triamid in the graveyard comes back." Uno's opponent moved the destroyed Triamid Dancer to his hand. Then he summoned her(1100/1900) in attack mode. "Have to wait for the right moment." There was one upside to all of this, Uno realized. These duelists, no matter how smart they were, still played more like machines than people. This boy could not 'see' how Uno had a trap waiting for him. Just that he had two. So he made his dueldisk trigger the effect of Triamid Master. "Of course. Triamid Master can sacrifice a field spell, to destroy one set card. Unfortunately." Uno flipped the set card. "I will destroy yours first! I activate Cosmic Cyclone and banish Kingolem!" The Triamids could not replace field spells during their turn, so this was the one chance Uno had to break the cycle. The cyclone would removed the field spell at the cost of 1000 lifepoints.

Uno's LP: 7000

"..." For a second, Uno thought the boy was going to utter a word. He must have been mistaken, as he played Mystical Space Typhoon instead to destroy a spell on the field; his spell. "You wanted it in the graveyard?! Of course.. you.." The Typhoon claimed it before the Cyclone could. "Another?" The boy special summoned a second Triamid Sphinx(10/4000/2500), since a Triamid card had been destroyed. "And Dancer can.." The cat-lady sent the second copy of Kingolem to the boy's deck, giving herself and her clan the power they lost due to Kingolem's destruction. Without a moments hesitation, the attacks were declared. Two Sphinxes(4500/2500) rushed towards Odd-Eyes Absolute Dragon. "Odd-Eyes Absolute can negate an attack by detaching an XYZ-material!" Uno detached Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon and Xiangke Magician from his XYZ-dragon. "Then he can special summon one Odd-Eyes monster from the graveyard!" The second negated attack was followed by the revival of the red dragon(7/2500/2000) in attack position. After that Uno also activated his trap card, Refine Oscillation.

Refine Oscillation, Continuous Trap
Once per turn, during either players turn, you can target 1 card in your Pendulum zone; destroy it, then place 1 Pendulum Monster from your hand, graveyard or extra deck in that pendulum zone.
Destroy this card during your endphase.

The trap destroyed Performapal Changeraffe, to place the detached Xiangke Magician in the emptied red pendulum zone. Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon was stronger than the remaining Triamids, so it could not be destroyed. Killing Bubble Bowwow with Triamid Master only caused minimal damage too. The boy wordlessly accepted that, placed a trap card down and ended his turn. "This is taking a while. I can't find the others this way." Uno would bet good money that each of them had a puppet visiting them too. And even for mere mindless slaves, these were powerful opponents. So he looked again and finally spotted a way up; a stairwell behind the boy. "The only way out is through him huh? Okay..." Uno used his new scale 3 Magician and Odd-Eyes Unicorn to pendulum summon the Bubble bulldog back from his extra deck. "But why are they after us? What do they want?!"

Uno's LP: 6900

...

"The Bishop is playing with the Odd-Eyed duelist. The Rook is meeting his old friend. My Pawn has joined the two-faced Dame. Who should I play with? Should I chase my old Pawn? He is all alone." Martel stood at the edge of the hole he created in the floor, scanning for signs of life. "The Knight is alone too, maybe he can help him." He had so many options and he delighted at the prospect of every one of them

"Who is he talking too?" Martels one-sided dialogue was observed by an overlooked Eric Stonewell. When the floor collapsed, Stonewell stood at the edge of the destruction. He fell back quickly enough to avoid a deep fall and hid himself in one of the sidetunnels. As far as he knew, he hadn't been spotted yet. "Knights, Rooks, Pawns.. are those his mind slaves? Well... In any case, this guy is clearly the King of the group. Cut off his head and the rest should go down too." Stonewell had a chance to prepare now, to make a sneak attack. If the rules of this battle royal were as loose as Martel described them. He could take his turn in silence and spring his battle phase like a thief in the dark. He just needed to make sure to keep his dueldisk on silent mode, with the visuals turned off. "Okay. I can do my Igknight shuffle." He placed an Igknight Gallant and an Igknight Cavalier card in his pendulum zones. The two destroyed each other with their spell effects, and placed Igknight Margrave in Stonewells hand. He placed that pendulum monster in one zone, and Dragon Horn Hunter in the other. "This should be enough!" He jumped out..

Stonewell's LP: 8000 Queen's LP: 8000

"Gyah!" ... and rushed into a glowing crystal filled cavern. There he was greeted by two faces instead of one. "This guy still has a piece left to play!?" A girl with bright blue eyes and long red hair stood in between him and Martel. "There is the other. The pawn from this world." Martel grinned. "You knew I was here all along huh." His ambush failed. While he took his turn, this girl started hers some time ago. The crystal stalagmite and stalactites belonged to her field spell; Crystolic Potential. On her field was also a face-down trap and a Tuner monster; Crystron Quan. Quan(3/800/800) was a boy-sized robotic knight with wings of clear crystal. Due the field spell Crystolic Potential, all Crystrons like Quan gained 300 attack and defense points. "Do you like her? She is my Queen, one of my first puppets. She will always defend me." Martel said as he placed his right hand on her chin. "She had a name. Tara.. I think. It's been so long. But her cards were special."

"Hey!" The woman was activating more card effects, as if it was her turn already. "No. Those are.. quick effects?" Crystron Quan could summon a Crystron monster from the users hand, during their opponents turn! Tara special summoned Crystron Smiger, a mechanical white tiger(3/1000/1800) with smoke quartz crystals sticking out of its back and joints. "Yes, she can defend me even during your turn." Quan immediately had to tune itself with monster it summoned. "Watch." Martel pulled back as the girl pulled a card from her extra deck. "Synchro summon!?" Quan used the Smiger's crystals to evolve itself, growing into an adult knight(4/2100/2300) with golden spikes and a lions tail coming from its back. "Crystron Quandax. Marvelous. But there is more." Martel explained, as Tara activated her trap card; Crystron Entry. "More?" The trap special summoned two Crystron Tuners; Quan from the graveyard and Crystron Citree(2/800/800) from the hand. Citree was a pigtailed crystal girl with Citreene-colored armor and gems for eyes. "She can special summon a Crystron monster from the graveyard?" Stonewell cringed, as exactly that happened. Citree revived Smiger, and immediately tuned with it for fifth level synchro summon. "Crystron Ametrix!" Martel heralded the arrival of the dragonic devil(5/2800/1500), made from purple amethyst crystals.

"Tch. When can I.." Stonewell just wanted to get his pendulum summon done. But this girl kept chaining effects to summons to effects. And she still had one in her reserve. Quandax tuned with Ametrix. "What? She's going to accel synchro summon?" Quandax was a tuner Crystron as well, one that could start a synchro summon during the opponents turn. "Yes. One synchro and one synchro tuner. That is what my queen uses. To make her ultimate Crystron." Purple, white and gold meshed together into a pure red mix. "Crystron Phoenix!" A titan(9/3100/2300) of red crystal stood at the end of the cave, with phoenixian crystal wings and tailfeather ribbons extending from its back. "Gah!" As soon as Phoenix appeared, Stonewells pendulums disappeared. "It banishes all spells when it's synchro summoned?" Stonewell lost his scales and his chance to pendulum summon. "Indeed. You have a playmate now. I will find someone else. Your other, maybe." Martel waved his hand at him and jumped down the hole. "Wait!" Calling out to him did no good. The puppetmaster was gone and Stonewell was stuck with her. "I'll get him. I have to!"

...

"What.." When she could see and hear only destruction, Alice instinctively crouched down and closed her eyes. She felt something hit her and lift her up. "I'm..okay?" When she looked again, she could see Adamant, right in front of her. "Ah!" She freaked a little when she realized he was holding her in his arms. "Do not worry. You are safe." The XYZ-duelist himself was protected by the wings of his Rise Falcon monster. That was what helped him escape the devastation. "Oh. Thank you..." From the look of things, he had taken her all the way to a wide open area where old railways crossed. This underground maze was even bigger than she'd imagined. "Uhm.. can you put me down then?" She wasn't hurt or anything. "..Of course." He put her down while he himself dropped to one knee. "Oh no! Are you hurt?" He looked to be in a slightly worse condition. "Nothing I cannot endure." He took only a few stray cement rocks against the back. "You didn't have to do that." Now she felt bad that he got injured just because he tried to help her. "It was what I wanted to do, Alice."

"Better you than her eh? That's talking like a true leader!" One half of a two-woman act made her presence known. "Phoebe." Adamant grunted. "I do apologize for the mess my friend made. We didn't intend to hurt you that way. Martel just does not follow orders that well. He thinks he's not a pet when he really should be." The other half took over as the sound of her approach got louder. "The fresher his puppets, the less controlled they are. This one we took from your Bunker. Martel calls him a Pawn." Phoebe was not alone. The hooded figure who summoned the monster that started the cave-in was with her. "I think he can give you plenty of that pain you love to shoulder so much, Adamant!" She snapped her fingers and the 'Pawn' made its move. "!" He knocked into Adamant's Rise Falcon with his Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack and pushed the duelist away as well. "Rghah!"

Adamants LP: 8000 Pawn's LP: 8000

"Adamant!" Alice shouted as the Pawn and Adamant fell further into the darkness. There was no way she could follow them. "Tut-tut. You shouldn't fuss about guys like that. It will make your cute face all ugly." The Dame said as she rested her head on her hand and put on an insincere smile. "Why are you doing this?" The girl cried at her. "This? The ambush? The carding? The takeover of all guilds? You're gonna have to be more specific." Phoebe's expression deadpanned. "Everything! What do you want? Why do you want it so much?" Alice yelled even louder as she reactivated her dueldisk. She still had five cards left and would duel her if she had to. "I only want what Adamant wants. What your friend 'Aaron' wanted... to help the two worlds." The woman cackled. "I don't believe that! At least I.. could believe them, believe why they did it! You're worse than everyone!" Aaron only wanted to save those he could. Adamant believed he was following his destiny. What was Phoebe doing this all for? "Oh you're just so adorably innocent. I could just.. huh? What? Yeah I was getting to it! Martel started the duel, not us!"

All of the sudden the two-faced girl began to talk about something else, to someone else. "Huh?" It was not Dame or Phoebe acting crazy; Alice caught a glimpse of an earpiece hidden in her hair. "I am the one in charge now! Not Dame! Ichirou's theory about that prophecy is stupid, but this is... Fine! We will try it your way!" It clearly was not Ichirou on the other end, so perhaps some other accomplice. "You will have to forgive me for that bit of unpleasantness. You know what? You're such a nice girl, I can give you two answers!" The Dame told her all sweetly, before growling something at her accomplice. "MC, put up the footage from the two subjects. You know the one." As ordered, the unseen assistant projected a visual image through the dueldisk. "! Dad! Mrs Stonewell!" Alice was shown a video of her own father, and Erics mother. They were trapped inside of some metallic room. "That's right, take a good look. Two dear loving parents, far removed from their own children. What a sad story. You asked me what we did to your parents, well here is your answer."

"No.. No. Don't hurt them!" Alice shook her head. "Why would I? I only kept them for a get-together like this one. You can get me something, and I will release them. See that's where the second question comes in. What do I want? Why it's simple.. I only want your friends card; Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon."

(To be Continued in Redux 073: Their Side of Their Bargain)

New Cards used by Uno
Performapal Bubblebowwow
Perfomapal Changeraffe

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Odd-Eyes Absolute Dragon

Cards used by 'Bishop'
Triamid Hunter
Triamid Dancer
Triamid Master
Triamid Sphinx

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Triamid Cruiser
Triamid Kingolem
Triamid Fortress
Mystical Space Typhoon

Cards used by 'Queen' Tara
Crystron Quan
Crystron Smiger
Crystron Citree

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Crystron Quandax
Crystron Ametrix
Crystron Phoenix

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Crystolic Potential

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Crystron Entry