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.

31. Pool of Tears

Redux 60: Pool of Tears

Alice's LP: 7200 Cloe's LP: 5900

"Uno.." While she was dueling the voice of the past, the present offered the real threat. "You want me to choose between him.. and my family? I can't do that! Nobody could!" Veronica spoke of a danger hanging above Uno's head. And if she was mentioning it, it had to be taking place right now. Yet Alice was trapped here. "But you could, and you did. Were you not the one to suggest to Uno that you and he just leave behind the old world and settle for this one?" Cloe meanwhile could perfectly cite moments that had already happened. Moments Alice was ashamed of. "That was different. I was scared, I didn't know what I was saying! You can't make me choose! I just..I want to help them both!" She did not have time to waste, she needed to attack now. On her field was Mermail Abyssmegalo(7/2600/1800), powered up by her water-themed field spell Lemuria. In her hand was Abysscale of the Kraken. If she could activate that spell, she could negate the effects of Cloe's ritual priest; Prediction Princess Tarotrei(9/2700/1200) this turn. "You were too late, again." But Cloe hit the table and activated the effect of Tarotrei to flip Abyssmegalo into a defensive position.

"Ah.. no." Megalo card could not be returned to attack position. However her face-down Mermail Abysslinde(4/1700/1200) could. But even with the equip spell, it wouldn't have enough attackpower to defeat the Princess. "I attack your other monster!" Abysslinde would have to contend with whatever was face-down. The mermaid dove underneath the surface and grabbed Cloe's set monster, dragging it down into the sea. "You flipped Prediction Princess Astromorrigan." Of course this card, a clock-faced battle maiden(3/1300/0), carried her own flip effect. "You doomed all your face-down monsters." During the endphase, Astromorrigan's lingering effect would destroy each defending card, and inflict 500 points of damage per death. "Then.. Abyssmegalo." One of her monsters was already prepared for destruction. "I..end my turn." She could not stop it. "No. More." Cloe flipped her trap card; Reverse Reuse. "With this trap, I have brought two of my prediction princesses, to your field. Face-down." Crystaldine and Arrowsylph were sitting right before Alice now. "Three?" All three defenders were destroyed as the astral clock struck twelve. "Eek!" The trio of blasts shook the Lemurian city and harmed her lifepoints.

Alice's LP: 5700

"And so died that which linked you to Uno. Allthough you wouldn't care, you severed ties with that card long ago." Cloe chided her while she drew the next card from her deck. "What? I didn't want to! I had to do it, and he helped me with it!" Cloe was talking about the Nekroz; how they replaced Alice's original deck during the tournament. "Yet you did not return once it was no longer asked of you to use those cards. They were discarded just like everything else in your past." The girl in white was beginning to sound angered. "You did not love them." Wordlessly, she commanded Tarotrei to attack Mermail Abysslinde and kill her with a wave of psychic energy.

Alice's LP: 4700

"That's not true! I liked all of them!" Alice activated Abysslinde's effect. As she was destroyed, the Mermail could summon another Mermail from her deck. "I hated throwing them away! I kept some. But... I had to get stronger!" Abysslinde special summoned Mermail Abyssbalaen the massive whale warrior(7/2700/2200) in attack mode. It was a card not many duelists bothered with when putting together a Mermail deck. "You started seeing the monsters as tools, like most. You knew better." Cloe continued. She placed two trap cards face-down and activated an effect from her graveyard. "I banished Prediction Ritual. So one Prediction Princess could be placed in my hand." The banished ritual spell took the Prediction Princess Petal Elf card and Cloe set it down at Tarotrei's left. "My turn has ended." During the endphase, Tarotrei used its own effect to reset Prediction Princess Astromorrigan face-down on the field.

"No. I know they are more. I just.." Alice shivered. There was one dreadful reason she knew. "You didn't want to remember." The guardians of time that destroyed her world, they were a part of the game. Iria's Qliphorts shared their appearance, and that was no coincidence. "Even your Nekroz, your Mermails. They had stories." Cloe kicked the floor with her foot, causing several books to fall out of their shelves. "I know that too! That's why I.. chose the Nekroz. They were survivors.. their story was... not happy. And nobody wanted to use them." Nobody looked forward to new ritual monsters, not until Dom got Alice to promote them at least. "But I did not forget anything! And I wont forget about Uno either!" She couldn't keep talking back and forth with her opponent. Alice activated the Abysscale of Cetus, equipping the spell to Abyssbalaen(7/3500/2200) to raise its attackpoints. "I summon Abyssocea!" Mermail Abyssocea the blonde seanymph(4/1300/2100) flew into the bay of the Forgotten City. Ocea was equipped with an Abyss-scale of Kraken spell card, which raised the monster's(1700/2100) attackpoints too, but less so. "Abyssbalaen attacks Princess Tarotrei!"

Cloe rested her face on one hand and tapped her ritual monster. "Tarotrei." The princess attempted to flip Abyssbalaen face-down. "I can negate her effect!" Alice unequipped the Abyss-scale of Kraken from AbyssOcea(1300/2100), which resulted in a monsters effect being blocked. "..Black Cat-astrophe." Cloe yawned and flipped one of her traps with her free hand. "I set two monsters, so I could activate this trap." Black Catastrophe would end the battle phase, by sending a swarm of black cats out against the whale and oceanid mermails. "I can stop that too!" Alice removed Abyss-scale of Cetus from Abyssbalaen(2700/2200). This Abyss-equipspell could negate the effects of traps like the Catastrophe card. "You could. And I knew you would." Cloe tipped over her other trap card. "Desert Sunlight. The flip effects of all monsters I set." Desert Sunlight switched her monsters positions. ".. have been switched on." Tarotrei moved to defense mode. The flipped Prediction Princess Astromorrigan restarted the countdown towards destruction. A new Prediction Princess, a flower-dress and petal-haired fairy(3/800/700), spread her petals across the table. "Ah no." Abyssbalaen and Abyssocea were switched to defense mode. "Petal Elf changed all my enemies from attack to defense."

"But I.." Alice tried to move Abyssbalean back into attack position. But even though he hadn't been summoned this turn, she could get him to budge. "The switches are irreversible?" Petal Elf made the Mermails defend, permanently. "I..I.. I can't! I won't lose! I'm gonna use Lemuria's effect to raise the level of my water monsters by one star for each water monster on the field!" Alice's field spell affected Abyssbalean(9/2700/2200) and Abyssocea(5/1700/2100), setting up the next stage of her plan. "And AbyssOcea can sacrifice one of my monsters to special summon level 4 or lower Mermails from my deck, if their combined levels are the same or less as the tribute! I'll tribute Abyssbalaen!" The seanymph sent her energy into the whale, causing him to release nine stars of light. "I summon the Mermails Abyssdine, Abysshilde and Abyssgunde!" The stars flew into Alice's deck. Each trio special summoned their own Mermail; Hilde(3/1500/600) the eel girl, Gunde(3/1600/1000) the clownfish mermaid and Dine(3/1200/400) the little sea angel. Abyssbalean died in the wake of the effect.

"I will.. I will overlay them!" Now came the final step. By placing all of these on top of each other, Alice could perform an XYZ-summon. "I need three level 3 monsters for Mermail Abysstrite!" The purple-haired queen(3/1600/2800) of the Mermails appeared in attack position. "You remembered that you owned that card?" Cloe looked actually perplexed for once. Abysstrite had always been in Alice's possession, since it came with the structure deck that her parents bought for her. Yet this was the first time she summoned it ever. "You wanted to see if I would, didn't you?" Her dislike of extra deck cards was no secret to anyone who knew her. It definitely wasn't unknown to these allseeing sisters. "Sometimes.. you just have to change something, to let go of something. If you want to become better." That loathing was something she was trying to correct now. "I end my turn!" During the endphase, only AbyssOcea fell to Astromorrigans curse. The nymph died and Alice lost 500 lifepoints.

Alice's LP: 4200

"That is true." Veronica cut in while she was still resting on her sofa. "But many desire the gift you have; the ability to forget and move on. You are learning, but you are selective in that. You choose what makes you feel better. Uno is part of that." She claimed. "I just thought.. Uno was like me." Alice could not refute her point. "And he is. But he is the reason you are in this new perfect world. Your love for him is based on what he can do for you."

"And what he has done." By now Cloe was banishing cards from her graveyard again. "I banished Black Cat-astrophe. One monster on each side of the field was flipped as a result." The girl slammed down on the table. Prediction Princess Astromorrigan and Mermail Abysstrite switched to face-down position. Promptly, Cloe flipped the clockfaced princess back face-up, sealing Abysstrite's own doom in one turn. She did not keep it at that. "You placed one field spell on your side of the table. Therefor I was able.." Cloe activated a quickplay spell, Pop-Up. "To use mine." Pop-up could activate field spells from a players deck, when their opponent already controlled one of their own. Like a pop-up book, the inside of dilapidated mansion surrounded the Lemurian waters. "Ghostrick Mansion?" This was an unexpected cameo from Cloe's previous deck, the second of Ghostrick field spells. "Even if they aren't Ghostricks, all monsters can attack directly now when you have nothing face-up." Veronica helpfully explained why suddenly all three of the Prediction Princess were flying around Alice. Ghostrick Mansion did halve the damage, but it would still hurt.

"Abyss Squall!" Fortunately, Alice could finally use her trap card now. "My trap special summons three Mermails from my graveyard, with their effects negated!" The sea unleashed a turbulent wave that swept across the forgotten city and the haunted mansion. Mermail Abyssturge(4/1900/1300), Abysslinde and Abyssbalaen(7/2700/2200) all popped back up from the depths, face-up and well. "You always were skilled at surviving. None denied that." Cloe's direct attacks were disabled now. And she couldn't compete with Abyssbalaen in a fight. "That was the battle phase." Still, the monsters revived by Abyss Squall could not use their effects and would be destroyed during the endphase. There was not much reason for Cloe to act. The sister moved towards the end of her turn and reactivated the effects of Prediction Princess Tarotrei. Petal Elf was flipped back to a face-down position. Prediction Princess Coinorma was special summoned from the graveyard and also placed face-down. And Astromorrigan's destruction would claim all enemies within moments.

"Sorry. But I need a little more of your turn." That was when Alice opened up with a slew of her cards and effects. A trap card sounded it off. "I'll use Aqua mirror Cycle! I recycle two water monsters by sending one I control back!" The Mirror cycled Abyssturge from the field into the deck and Atlantean Dragoons and Mermail Abyssmegalo from the graveyard into Alice's hand. "My other monsters will die now, but.." Balaen and Linde were destroyed by Abyssquall's drawback. Abysstrite was blown up by Astromorrigan's countdown reaching zero, costing Alice 500 lifepoints. "Their effects will activate now too!" With Abysslinde destroyed once more, another Mermail was special summoned from the main deck. With Abysstrite destroyed, a Mermail from the graveyard could return to the field. And with the attached Mermail Abysshilde sent to the graveyard, a Mermail could be special summoned from Alice's hand.

Alice's LP: 3700

Alice resolved Abysslinde's effect first and summoned a muscular merman(4/1800/1000) "Mermail Abysspike! Because he's special summoned, I can trade one water monster in my hand, for one level 3 or lower water monster in my deck!" Alice discarded Atlantean Dragoons. "And you already know what I can do with Dragoons!" Abysspike placed an Atlatean Heavy Infantry monster in Alice's hand. The Dragoons own effect gave her a Mermail Abyssteus card. "Then Abysshilde!" The 'death' of Hilde made her bring back Mermail Abyssmegalo; Alice's most precious card. "And I will end with Abysstrite's effect!" The dying queen chose to revive Mermail Abyssdine(3/1200/400) in this instance. "When Abyssdine is special summoned, she can summon one level 3 or lower Mermail from my graveyard too!" The sea angel spread her arms and opened a hole in the sea. Thanks to her, Mermail Abysshilde could reach the field again. Instead of an empty field, Alice controlled a field of four monsters.

".. I don't want to run. Not anymore!..I didn't want to run to begin with. When I was younger I only thought about who I could be and what I could do when I grew up. I was wasting time in my own head. But then.. it happened. I lost everything. I thought.. I was going to die..." She swallowed a lump in her throat. "That's why.. I didn't want to look back.. or forward. I just wanted to enjoy it, as it happened. I survived.. Everyone else would want me to live happily, right?" Alice took her turn, drawing a card. "You are not going to make me feel bad about that! You can't!" She activated the summoning effect of Mermail Abyssteus in her hand. By discarding a water-monster, Atlantean Heavy Infantry, she could special summon the prehistoric fish-warrior Abyssteus(7/1700/2400). "I destroy Tarotrei! Since the Heavy Infantry was sent to the graveyard for a water-monsters effect!" The discarded atlanteans swam through the depths to strike the Princess from below. "We didn't make you feel bad. You already did that on your own." But in the last few seconds, Tarotrei charged her own power. "What?"

"They're... right?" Time slowed to a crawl. Her thoughts blazed past her like a thunderstorm. "Is it my fault? Do I really think that?" She carried memories of her blaming herself for everything; for what happened to her real family, why the timelines split and the worlds got messed up, why Emily was in danger, why her father was captured, why she couldn't even use the pendulum. But she was not the cause. "Some things, you just can't control. Some you can. It's easier to say that destiny did it and it is also easy to say that you deserve it. That I deserve it.. I get it now, though. It doesn't matter. It still happened. If I don't accept that, nothing will change." She was the last one. "It does not have to be my weakness.." The pendulum, it was still in her pocket. "I know what I can do." The light came back to the crystal. "Tarotrei wont get to flip anyone!" Alice activated a quickplay spell from her hand. "Forbidden Chalice negates it!" A holy maiden poured water from her chalice down on the seer of darkness, blocking her magical powers while strengthening her physical body(3100/1200). More power made no difference, because she still died to Heavy Infantry's effect.

"I know what my answer is!" Alice's turn was just beginning. "When Abyssteus is summoned by his own effect, I get a seaserpent monster from my deck!" She pulled the Spined Gillman from her deck. "And I activate Abyssmegalo's effect!" A water monster in attack position, Mermail Abyssdine, was tributed; swallowed by the shark warrior. "Now he can attack twice this turn. And.. I normal summon Spined Gillman!" With the blue spike-backed fishman(3/1500/200) on the field, all fish, seaserpent and aqua-type monsters would gain 400 attackpoints. "Cloe, I also know how this is going to end. I have to attack Astromorrigan first." Mermail Abyssgunde(2000/1000) jumped at the astral princess doll and broke her into several pieces.

Cloe's LP: 5550

"And now.. you only have face-down monsters." The Ghostrick Mansion field affected both players and halved all damage. However it also allowed Alice to just bypass Coinorma and Petal Elf. "So.. my next five attacks are on you, miss Cloe!" Spined Gillman(1900/200) and the Mermails Abysspike(2200/1000), Abyssteus(2300/2600) and AbyssMegalo(3000/2100) cut through the sea, walked into the mansion and circled around the girl of the past. "So they were." Cloe took five attacks, two from Abyssmegalo and three from the other monsters. It all added up to 12400 points of battle damage, which was enough to defeat Cloe even with the damage halved. "You won."

Cloe's LP: 0

"Then what is your answer? What is your question?" With the duel concluded, the table shrank back to its original size and Veronica moved back to stand besides her sister. "You used up two, but you have earned the right to ask any of us.. the third." As soon as Cloe spoke the last words, the library got very very quiet. Something killed the ambient noise of the roots, candles and books. "I know.." Alice could not feel the presence of the third sister. She could only guess that she was somewhere close now. "I know what you were trying to do. You have to give out answers, but you distract people from knowing too much.." She could ask them anything. But the one thing she truly wanted was something she needed to get on her own. The only thing she wanted to know was, if she could still do it. "Is there still time left, to get to them both?"

"Hmm." Veronica closed her eyes and nodded. Cloe in turn turned around and stared into the darkness. "She said that there's still time. But less for your friends.. than for your family."

"Then I know enough. Thanks." Alice took the pendulum crystal from her pocket. "Wait, wait, wait. You're leaving without a goodbye present? After all you went through? A duel does more than test your mind after all. Just ask Uno." Veronica walked over to the bookcases. "Huh? What? You mean you're going to give me a new card, like you did for him?" When Uno defeated Cloe, he was rewarded with a card that didn't exist yet. "I can tell you 'no'. Uno can use the spirits as they are and reshape them, He can channel the pendulums magic into the cards. You are not there yet. What we can do is give you one of our old stories, spirits that nobody in this world remembers." She tossed a book over to Cloe, who caught it with one hand. "You've proven that your ties to the past didn't disappear. The spirits would be honored if you would continue their story." She opened the book to reveal hundreds of choices, from XYZ-cards to fusions. "Oh.. Then.." Luckily, Alice knew what she wanted from the get-go. She placed her finger on one image. "It shall be done. Now go and save your friend.." Alice bowed. "I will!" And she took the crystal and teleported away.

(To be Continued in Redux 059: Mixing Night with Day)

New Cards used by Alice Brandt
Mermail AbyssOcea
Mermail Abyssdine

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Mermail Abysstrite

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Abyss-scale of the Cetus
Abyss-scale of the Kraken

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Abyssquall

New Cards used by Cloe
Prediction Princess Astromorrigan
Prediction Princess PetalElf

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Pop-Up
Ghostrick Mansion

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Reverse Reuse
Black Cat-astrophe
Desert Sunlight