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.

32. Mixing Night with Day

Redux 59: Mixing Night with Day

It couldn't be out off anymore, the Lord declared. One day for resting was acceptable, but now was the time for Uno to learn about his world. Once Marco stole him away from Alice, he was brought to the wardrobe to receive the proper attire; a regal orange and blue uniform that would fit a duke or earl. After that it was time for the 'throne room' and the official introduction to the court of Millennium. There were a lot of people there, all of them shocked and surprised to see what had happened to 'Christopher'. Uno didn't recognize a single one of them either. A lot of names were dropped on him. There were heads of security, keepers of the treasury, ministers in almost every societal area. Uno wasn't sure if he could even remember them all, though nobody expected him to do so right away. They were all very careful when talking to him. After that came the technical details, the day-to-day meetings and discussions. He tried to follow the topics that were raised; the new guests, the other dimension and the supposed invasion. Apparently the Union'd known about the other world for quite some time, but only to to the top of the hierarchy. None though claimed any awareness of temporal degradation or whatever you would call it. They treated it like just any other ordinary subject. The rest of their talk went in one ear and out the other.

A full tour of the entire tower followed, which all brought him back to his own room. Uno didn't see any of his friends the whole time. "Anastasia. Is this really what we should be doing?" Uno never felt comfortable throughout any of this. He'd rather just do what he did before he met her and Marco; dueling to make people happy directly. "you said the same before, when you were.. younger. today was necessary, to see if something would reawaken inside you. it has not, has it?" Anastasia looked at him "I'm sorry." He shook his head. "you were always more a knight than a king. i suppose that would make me the princess. it used to be all three of us who attended the court. but our brother has done well alone." Marco was still overseeing matters right now in fact. "but we can act on that tomorrow. i will see you then, Uno." Anastasia bade him farewell and retreated to her own section of the palace. "Yeah. See you." And he was left with his room and his thoughts; old and new. He let out a sigh. "Uno.. what if you wanted to run away from all of this?"

The day exhausted him more than he realized; Uno dozed off a scant number of minutes after he chose to rest a little on his bed. That was an hour or so before midnight fell, and it was peaceful for the next three hours. By that time he was in too deep a sleep to be disturbed by little sounds.. like locks opening and doors creaking. A shape entered the lords bedroom, silently and smoothly. It moved about the place like a shadow, clinging to every wall and poking at every opening. It was looking for something, something that could not be found between the shelves of his bookcase or the drawers of his cupboard. "Nuh.." Uno made a noise. The intruder froze until it became clear that Uno was just stirring in his sleep. The lord moved to lie on his back, and exposed the glistening pendulum crystal on his body. There was the treasure, the shadow's long fingers stretched out to it. They carefully snapped the cord that kept it around Uno's neck and pulled the pendulum away. The shadow got part of what it wanted...

...and for reasons it did not understand, the crystal was glowing.

"UNO!" Alice shouted the second she saw what was going on. The girl appeared out of nowhere, positioned in the doorway with a crystal that glowed like Uno's. "Huh what?! Alice?!" Uno woke up on the spot. "What the.. who are you?" He saw the shadow vaguely, outlined by the light coming in from the hallway. "Uno! He took your pendulum!" Alice yelled again. "He did what?" Uno reached for his bare throat. It wasn't there. It was in this strangers hands. "Hey!" The thief saw a chance. It ran towards the window and smashed it open with a disk-blade. It had a dueldisk. "No!" Uno chased after him, but the thief jumped off the balcony already and landed in the garden. "He's getting away!" The shadow was almost out of sight. There were no Templars in sight to stop him. That was odd in itself, but Uno didn't have time to question that. "No he's not!" That was when Alice grabbed Uno's hand, closed her eyes and engulfed the two in a bright flash.

"What!?" The shadow finally uttered a word, of dismay, as his pursuers suddenly flashed into existence right before him. "Alice.. what.." Uno looked at the girl, who was beaming with delight. "You know how to use it?" That was a teleport! "Yup! Ehr uhm.." Realizing she was still holding his hand, Alice quickly pulled hers back. "Yeah! All I had to do was stop thinking I couldn't do it! And then it let me flash wherever!" Thanks to the crystal, she showed up just in time in front of Uno's room. It was fortunate that the door had been opened beforehand, since she never actually saw the inside of Uno's chamber. "How did you know?" Uno was happy she did show up, but it was unusually good timing of her. "They told me! The prophecy sisters!" She revealed. "The.. those three? You met them?" Uno could barely believe it. Why would they talk to Alice? "Never mind that for now." There was a more pressing dilemma. "Who are you? Why did you take my pendulum?"

"Kgh." The thief's escape had been ruined, it knew that. "You want this?" Her voice was clearly femine, and her hooded and cloaked figure was more visible under the light of the moon. They couldn't see her face however. "You will have to duel me for it, Lord Christopher." She carried cards on her person, along with the previously noticed dueldisk. It appeared to be union model. "Uno. Do you want me too.." Alice didn't have a dueldisk on her, but she could get one right now if she wanted too. "No. I'm good." But Uno always kept his cards close. "But what if I refuse? That pendulum belongs to me rightfully." Uno wondered if he could stall for time. Security would show up eventually. "Then I will shatter it." She punctuated her threat by letting the crystal fall to the ground and then stepping on it. "Ah!" Alice gasped. The crystal was not damaged yet, thankfully. "Ugh. You made your point." Uno activated his dueldisk. "I do not know who you are, but I'm affraid you're going to regret this night either way." Who did she work for? She could talk, so she was not one of Martels pawns. He would find out, one way or another. He was in his element now. "Duel!"

?'s LP: 8000 Uno's LP: 8000

Uno got the first turn. "I'll set one monster, and one trap!" He would stay on the defense for now. "... My turn then." The hooded woman drew her next card and summoned it. "Sapphire Pegasus." A crystal-horned unicorn(4/1800/1200) flew in on wings with sapphires. Thanks to its effect, another Crystal Beast could be placed on the field.. as a spell card. "Topaz Tiger." A pure topaz gem appeared in the spell zone, even though it was a monster card. "She uses Crystal Beasts!" Sapphire Pegasus and Cobalt Eagle belonged to a very classic theme, there was no way Alice wouldn't recognize them. "And.. Crystal Vanguard!" Except, as it turned out, the Beasts got a slight upgrade in recent times. "A pendulum?" Uno was shocked to see his opponent set a pendulum monster in the red zone. Crystal Vanguard (scale 5) the crystal-haired and masked guardian was not a Beast, but as a spell card it did protect all Beasts against targeting effects. Ironic, if one considered the Crystal Beasts to the first form of spell-monsters. "The Pegasus attacks the set card." The battle began.

Her sapphire unicorn galloped towards Uno's monster and crushed it. "Aha!" Just what the doctor ordered. "You destroyed Performapal Parrotrio! Now they will special summon a performapal of the not-pendulum variety from my deck!" The trio of parakeets(3/500/500) sang their heavy melody to introduce the strongest performer Uno could go with,.. "Performapal Elephammer!" ..the hammer-trunk elephant(6/2600/1800). "Hmph." The thief placed two trap cards in her spell/trap zone. "Make your move then!" She goaded him. "Oh that's gotta be a trick." Alice did not like the look of that field at all. "Same. But don't worry. Elephammer here can return all spells and traps to the players hand when he attacks." Uno could even scare away that Topaz Beast with this effect. "And to make sure she doesn't try anything beforehand. I will back him up with Performapal Fireflux!" A literal lightbulb firefly(4/1200/1600) fluttered out of Uno's hand and landed on the elephants back. "No traps or spells can be activated when Fireflux is around during a Performapals attack!"

"And now for my final trick! Don't really know when Crystal Beasts got their pendulums on, but I have been doing this since the beginning, lady. So.. let me show you how its done!" Uno placed Performapal Guitartle (scale 6) in one pendulum zone and Performapal SelShell Crab (scale 2) in the other. "Guitartle lets me draw one card each time a pendulum performapal is set in another pendulum zone!" Uno drew one card. "With their scales I can summon this level 3 monster from my hand; Timebreaker Magician!" A young battlemage(3/1400/0) with a black collared cloak shot down in a single bolt of energy. "When Timebreaker is the only card pendulum summoned from my hand, he can double his own attackpoints!" The Mage spun his sword around a full 360 degrees to accelerate his own time. His(2800/0) power was twice as high at this speed. "That one's nice.. did you make it?" Alice hadn't seen this Magician before. "Yeah. Well, Anastasia gave me some pointers." His sister wanted him to have more options for his new synchro card. "Oh. Okay." Alice was not sure why she felt weirded out by that. "Now then, where were we? Oh yeah!" Uno moved to his battle phase. "You talk too much." And the thief flipped one of her trap cards. "Wha?"

Crystal Seal, Continuous Trap
Target 1 monster your opponent controls. The target cannot attack, be Tributed, change its battle position or activate its effect(s).
If the ATK or DEF of the target changes, destroy this card. This card is unaffected by your opponent's card effects.

"I'll seal your big beast." A prison of ice and crystal grew around Elephammer. It could not move against anyone while it was entombed within this solid block. "Too blunt for your tastes? In that case..." Uno attacked her Crystal Pegasus with Timebreaker Magician. The mage's sword cut off the beasts horn and shattered its body. "Trap card, Crystal Hoard." The woman now revealed her second trap. "Each turn a Crystal Beast dies, one more can be special summoned from my deck." While Sapphire Pegasus was reduced to its gem-form and moved to a spell zone; the fate of all destroyed Crystal Beasts, a smaller red gem took his place. "Ruby Carbuncle." The Hoard trap released a four-eared catdog like creature(3/300/300). On its tail and forehead was the ruby gem, and it burned with a fiery glow. "Ruby Carbuncle is summoned, so all Crystal Beast spells will return to their original selves!" The white Topaz Tiger(4/1600/1000) and Sapphire Pegasus spells were summoned to the monster zone in defense mode. As Sapphire Pegasus was summoned again, it could place a new Crystal as a spell card. Crystal Beast Cobalt Eagle was chosen. "Was that it?"

?'s LP: 7000

"..Almost. I have one more attack!" Performapal Fireflux flew away from the crystallized elephammer and bumped into the Ruby Carbuncle beast to destroy it. "That was it." The Carbuncle died and left its Ruby behind in the spell/trap zone. "Hmph. You're not too bright either." This was exactly what the enemy needed, which she made quite clear with her next spell. "Rare Value. I draw two cards, but you must send one of my two Crystal spells to the graveyard." She wouldn't have been able to use this drawing spell if Uno left Ruby Carbuncle alone. "Oh. I guess the Carbuncle then." At least he could get rid of that little beast for good. "Very well." The red gem shattered and the thief drew twice. "Uno. Maybe I should get more people? I mean, I don't think you'll lose but.." Alice whispered to him. "It can't hurt. But I don't think we'll find anyone." Most of the 'nocturnal' workers were many many floors above them. "I can.." She took her crystal. "Wait, Alice. I didn't.." She flashed away, just like that. She was getting pretty good at it. Uno did not know if the crystal would keep up with her, or if she would tire herself out.

"Pendulum." The thief grunted. "Not a fan? I can tell. Why do you want mine anyway?" Whoever she was, she did not seem that interested in Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. So was this another party besides the fusion guild? "I owe you no explanations... Crystal Vanguard." This time the woman normal summoned her pendulum guardian(3/1300/1000). "Amethyst Cat." The monster effect of the Vanguard was one that involved a selftribute and a Crystal Beast search. She added the amethyst cat beast to her hand this time, by tributing Crystal Vanguard. "Crystal Hoard returns my Sapphire and your Elephant." There was one more effect to Crystal Hoard as well. The trap sent itself to the graveyard to bounce back a Crystal Beast and an opponents monster. "If she's putting Pegasus back then.." Uno figured out what was coming, his skin was tingling. "You are not the only one anymore. Uno." The thief placed a monster in the other pendulum zone, a gold-haired masked swordsman (scale 2). "Crystal Protector!" This one owned a spell effect that made all Crystal Beasts indestructible as far as effects mattered. "PENDULUM SUMMON!"

Between the Vanguard and Protector, four different colors materialized. The tributed Crystal Protector was resummoned from the extra deck while the Crystal Beasts Amethyst Cat(3/1200/400), Amber Mammoth(4/1700/1600) and Sapphire Pegasus were summoned from her hand. "Emerald Tortoise!" With the effect of the Pegasus, the seventh and last Crystal Beast left the deck. An emerald shell was activated as a spell besides the cobalt gem. "And.. finally.." Crystal Protector turned himself into a tribute for the second time this turn. Only now it was going after a bigger fish. Its effect could not just search Crystal Beasts, but also Crystal Gods. "I add the Ultimate Crystal God, Rainbow Dragon, to my hand!" The crystals of seven colors all served one lord. This dragon could only be special summoned when the player had all seven Crystal Beasts on her field and/or in her graveyard." Seven.." Amber, Amethyst, Cobalt, Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire, Topaz; the whole gang was here. "I summon Rainbow Dragon!" And so was the mighty dragon god(10/4000/0). Its angelic white wings folded outwards and made the moon behind it disappear.

"Die." All five monsters swarmed down on Uno's small troupe. Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger gained 400 attackpoints during its(2000/1000) attack with its own effect and slaughtered the Fireflux insect. And Rainbow Dragon utterly decimated TimeBreaker with a beam of white light. "I activate the effect of my Performapal! When one of my monsters dies, Selshell Crab can summon one card in my pendulum zone to the field! And I am going with the Crabmeister himself!" The hermit landlord crab rolled out of the pendulum zone and moved itself in a defensive position to shield Uno from further attacks. "Heh. Then Crystal Beast Amethyst Cat will attack directly!" The purple gem feline could halve its own damage output, but in return it could sneak around Sellshell Crab and swipe at Uno directly. "Egh..eh?" Uno did not feel the slash though. "Oh right, solid vision dampeners."

Uno's LP: 5400

"Still a fool." The mystery woman called of her remaining attacks. In her second main phase she activated the field spell, Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins, and placed another trap card down. "Huh. You're reminding me of someone..." Uno looked at his hand before playing his next card; the Performapal Recasting spell card. The card shuffled Elephammer back into his deck and drew two new cards. At the same time he checked the network for information on these new crystal pendulums. "Huh. Mind telling me how you have cards that aren't for sale yet?" There weren't many groups who could acquire such cards. "Look who is talking." One group was Uno and his family of course. "Yeah yeah. You got me there." Uno said as he normal summoned Tuning Magician(1/0/0). "?" The summoned magician reduced his lifepoints by 400 and gave 400 lifepoints to the opponent. "Didn't see that coming? Interesting. It's like you've seen me duel before. Or at least you know that my deck didn't have this card until yesterday." This woman didn't seem to question Alice's appearance either. "If you have pendulum cards of your own too, then you must own something that makes them. Like a printer.." That narrowed down the list of choices to two. The fusion guild or.. "Like the one the Synchro Guild had." Or Cassius' friends. "Stop me if I am getting too close."

Uno's LP: 5000 ?'s LP: 7400

...

"Adamant, Iria! Can anyone hear me?" That was the problem with looking for people when you could only teleport to places you were familiar with. This place was just so big. The best Alice could do was go back to everyone's sleeping quarters and hope that someone was still around. Eric was a stone-solid sleeper unfortunately "Hey? Don't you know how late it is?" Stonewell on the other hand did not inherit that trait. "I'm sorry. I didn't know where else to go! Uno's fighting someone who stole his pendulum!" She said with a trembling voice. "Uno? They're after him again? Here?" That got him wide awake. "I know what to do.." Stonewell glanced around his room and spotted an red switchbox against the wall. "I noticed a lot of these..'silent alarms'" He pushed the button. Within seconds a security guard walked into the hall. "What is the emergency?" The man requested. "Uno is under attack! In the garden! He's dueling right now!" Alice told them too. "Lord Fortuno?! I'll inform the Templar network immediately! Stay here!" He raced back out the hall. "Well, they're good for something at least." Stonewell snickered.

"Okay. I should go back to Uno." Alice took the crystal from her pocket. "Back? With that thing?" He heard how she'd been trying to learn how to use it. He did not expect her to actually succeed. "Yup!" But her nods were fierce. "I just have to think about a place. And it takes me there!" It tired her out a little to do it, but it was worth it. "Wait? Then what about your father? And my.. I mean.. the other missus Stonewell? Couldn't you go and save them now too?" Stonewell suggested. "Oh. I almost forgot again! But yeah.. I could! I could do it right now!"

(To be Continued in Redux 058: Somewhere over a Rainbow)

New Cards used by Uno Nisell
Timebreaker Magician
Performapal Fireflux

Cards used by ?
Crystal Vanguard
Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus
Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger
Crystal Beast Ruby Carbuncle
Crystal Beast Cobalt Eagle
Crystal Protector
Crystal Beast Amethyst Cat
Crystal Beast Amber Mammoth
Crystal Beast Emerald Tortoise
Rainbow Dragon

-
Rare Value
Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins

-
Crystal Seal (+)
Crystal Hoard

(+ Based on the trap used by Rafael in Yu-Gi-Oh DM)