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.

47. Woman for All Seasons

Redux 44: Woman for All Seasons

Dom looked at this whole new world with fresh eyes. From the walls around the palace he could see the city, the tower and the people. He wanted to see more. "You don't have to follow me around all day you know. I am not running; this place is way too interesting." And no matter where he went, one of his disciples was there. "Sir, it is my job to stay with you." Even though Iria told him what happened to their master, Zach wanted to see him. "Fraid I don't remember ever saying that, sport." Dom breathed in and smiled. "I know you and the lady are saying that I am wealthier and smarter than I could ever imagine. But between you and me, I am not so sure I even want to be who I was. Your world sounds like too much trouble, while this one has got it all." He felt free, not burdened by anything. "But don't you want to know who did this to you and why they.." Zach tried a different approach. "Sir? Master!?" But Dom simply walked away. "Sorry again, champ. Still have so much to do. We'll talk later."

"Hey." On the way out, Dom passed Eric. "Was that..?" The kid approached the forlorn Zach. "Yes, that was master Dom." Zach replied somberly. "Thought so." Eric hadn't seen his face before, but he recognized his flashy clothes. "Also, are you feeling better? I don't want to sound like my mom here but.." Eric thought it would be best to keep an eye on Zach after what happened to the last of Martels waking puppets. "I feel fine, clearheaded and voice-free. I assume that is because was not under the fusion guild's influence for long." Zach guessed that helped his recovery a little. "I just wish the master could get better. He wont respond to me, but I have to keep trying. I cannot stand doing nothing while everyone around me is out there fighting." Zach put his hands together. "Iria told me about a plan to attack the Circle's base, but she wouldn't allow me to go with them." She didn't say whether or not she doubted Zach's skills in his condition, but the implications were there. "I know the feeling. The missus wont let me leave either." Eric sighed. The other Eric could go, why not him? "Maybe I can help you? It wouldn't be the first tim.. Hey!" Eric flinched. "What is it?"

"Don't know." Eric reached for the source of the pain in his coat. "Nothing good." It was August's crystal pendulum, now brimming with an intense white glare. "It did this before, but not this crazily. It must be the guilds! Whatever's happening, it's getting worse!"

...

"Uno. We're here! Please, let us help!" Alice desperately tried to wake Uno up from whatever agonizing nightmare he was having. "What is happening to him?" Nothing she did improved the situation, Uno kept screaming and convulsing. "she is using his pendulum's power, against his will. the pendulum is what.. if he loses it he could.." Anastasia was too horrified herself to get an explanation out, but the gist of it was clear. Vespers actions were putting his life in danger. "They went in there you said?" Iria took control of the Templars. "Target that wall!" The machines used various holographic attacks to break through the metal cylinder around Vespers chamber. Consecutive blasts took down the outer layer and revealed a hollow space inside.

"An elevator?" The space contained a lift platform that was now at the top of a carved out vertical shaft. Stonewell rushed inside. "Damn." He didn't see a way up without the lift. And the controls were locked. "Up instead of down this time? Hmph. The Templars can get there!" Iria commanded them to fly up. "Whoa!" But as soon as they did they ran into an electric current that fried their circuits and caused them to drop down like bricks; one nearly landing on top of Stonewell. "Great, she's got some kind of forcefield too!" Meanwhile Adamant found his dueldisk among the pile of carded duelists and activated it. "Then we will carve our own path."

{I will not tolerate this any longer. No.} The telepathic voice of Vesper snuck inside the minds of all duelists. "What was that?" Amelia was naturally shocked out of her wits. {My power has spread beyond the mountains, it has reached the cities. You lack the time to stop this. Soon it will cover the two earths entirely.} Her words were sharp and intrusive. "What is he.." Tory thought she was having a migraine. So did others. {I am desynching you, paralyzing you so that you cannot interfere. You will have to bear it, the pain comes with this.} Vesper casually explained. "Desynch? But this is not.." Even Adamant was affected {This is happening in all dimensions. I have synchronized my mind with my other body to strengthen my abilities, XYZ-leader. Even if you are not from this world, I can take your mind away from it. And so it will be, until I am done.} The pressure got worse, some couldn't even stand anymore. "Why.." Ultimately, their resistance crumbled. "Amelia!" One by one they froze, their consciousness put in stasis. "Uno!" And Uno, just kept on screaming.

...

"Gaahh!" A shot of pure pain to the chest made Uno rise from his uncomfortable resting place. "Hey! Whoa... what?" Said place was a cobble-stone path that led to a small cottage up ahead. "Is this..where the guild took me?" This did not have the appearance of a useful hideout. He was in wide open space, surrounded by bushes and flowers that spread sweet scents. He was free to move at that. "Am I dreaming? I am dreaming arent I?" He slapped his own face. "Tss.. Okay, maybe not. Stop using that as a test. Uno." Despite his throbbing cheek, he still could not really believe that this was really happening. There was only one possible answer. "Oh.. not again."

"You shouldn't be surprised anymore at this point." The door to the cottage opened up, and out came the shapely sister of the present, Veronica. "Welcome Uno. Long time no see. About half of a whole I would say." She smiled at him warmly. Veronica evidently felt more like being down to earth today, as she wore a simple plaid dress with long sleeves and had two flower clips in her hair to separate them into twin ponytails. "Veronica.." Uno was not in the mood for games right now, he didn't even bother to ask her why he was here. "Do you like this place? I know the answer, but I still like to hear you say it." She clearly did not mind as she was asking him questions instead. "I want to wake up, Veronica. Even if this is supposed to help me, I cannot stay." Uno knew better than to give these ladies demands, but he had to try. "Oh but this is me helping you. This.." Veronica snapped her fingers, and conjured up a deck of cards. "Is how I duel." She drew five cards and let the rest of her deck float in mid-air. "A duel? Already?" Uno now noticed that he was holding cards in his hand too. He could not let them go. "Of course. Cloe and Margot aren't here. I have you all to myself. This is happening, now."

Uno's LP: 8000 Veronica's LP: 8000

"I suppose I cant talk you out of it... But I have the first turn?" Uno noticed she was waiting for him to make a move. "This time. Cloe likes to set the foundation for the past, she always goes first. But you know how the present is, it can't make up its mind. Sometimes I like to do it one way, and then I hate doing that the next minute." She prattled on. "I get it, I will.. I..." And he came to a shocking discovery. "Why are my cards.. so orange?" There were no pendulums in his hand, not even one. Cards that were supposed to be pendulum monsters had their pendulum effect stripped away. They were all just effect monsters now. "Now is when I can tell you, that you cannot use your pendulum in this duel. Currently an outside force is disrupting their power flow. What you need to show me this duel, is if you can survive without the pendulum.. Christopher Fortuno Nisell." She smiled again. "Hmph. You knew my name all along I see." Uno placed one monster card face-down. It was all he could do with his current deck. "What 'current events' are you talking about?"

"Now that is a spoiler. Margot does not like spoilers.." Veronica took her turn and used it to set one monster and two traps down on her field. "I can only move, once others have moved." She passed control back to Uno again. "Are you talking about the game or.. oh nevermind." Uno was just glad that he could keep his monster on the field. "I sacrifice my set monster for a tribute summon!" He never thought he would say those words again. "And I normal summon Performapal King Bear!" The circus bear king(6/2200/1000) replaced the set card, and slammed its claws together in anticipation. "King Bear, attack her monster!" His Performapal rushed towards Veronica's card and stomped on it with one foot. "This is Aroma Jar." A jar(1/500/400) holding four scented candles flipped face-up. "If this card flips face-up, you cannot destroy it with battles while it stays face-up." King Bear's claws left no mark on the Jar. "Just that?" Uno placed two cards down in the spell/trap zone and let his turn end. "That and.. during each endphase, the Jars aromas restore 500 of my lifepoints." Veronica took a deep breath to inhale the scents and sighed it out. "Ahh.. lovely."

Veronica's LP: 8500

"Oh. I remember this now. This garden.. those cards.." Uno realized what he was up against. "The Aromages, yes." Veronica nodded as she activated a continuous trap. "Humid Winds. For every turn in which I have more lifepoints than you, I can pay one thousand of them to grab an Aroma card from my deck." A damp wind flew across the garden, taking one card from Veronica's deck and gently placing it in her hand. "It's Aromage Jasmine." She summoned Jasmine, a young white-haired witch(2/100/1900) in a jasmine-colored flower dress. "So this is about synchro monsters?" The Aromages' general gimmick involved raising lifepoints, but their strongest card was a Synchro monster. And back when he dueled Cloe, he faced her XYZ-cards so she could teach Uno how to control his XYZ-monsters. "It is the power of synchronization that is threatening your pendulum, so you can put it that way."

Veronica's LP: 7500

"Once per turn, when my lifepoints are lower than my opponents, Humid Winds can restore 500 of them." The winds flew in the opposite direction now, repleneshing her health slowly. "And when I gain lifepoints. Jasmine can draw one card." The Jasmine mage reached over to Veronica's deck and picked the top card. She handed it to her mistress. "Thank you. I will activate this spell now, Aroma Garden." A field spell covered the area, though nothing changed. "Familiar, is it not?" The Aroma Garden was the same garden that already colored their environment. Veronica was merely turning it into an active element of the duel. "Each turn the Garden will heal me by 500 points and add 500 attack and defense points to all my Aromages." Veronica plucked one flower from her garden and scattered its petals across the field, letting the flowers bring her life back over the 8000 treshold. Jasmine(600/2400) and the Aroma Jar(1000/900) also absorbed some the ambient warmth into their bodies. "Oh boy." More bad news; Aromages like Jasmine gained more effects when their owner held more life than the opponent.

Veronica's LP: 8500

"Now, Jasmine lets me normal summon one more Aromage per turn. I summon Aromage Cananga." Jasmine called another wizard from the cottage, the young chemist(3/1400/1000) in brown robes. He(1900/1500) too gained the powerboost from the pollen traveling through Aroma Garden. "While my lifepoints exceed yours, Cananga takes 500 points away from all your monsters." The Aromage tossed tossed a potion at Performapal King Bear to weaken the beast(1700/500). "They attack." Cananga grabbed his staff and charged the King of Bears. "But then I activate Performapal Raingoat from my hand! I discard it, to make sure one Performapal cannot die this turn!" A goat-shaped raincoat wrapped around the Performer Bear, blocking the attack. However Uno still took battle damage. "And then!" Another Performapal sprang out from the bushes, a grasshopper(4/0/700) with faces on both ends of its green body. "When I send a Performapal from my hand to the graveyard, I can special summon Performapal Teeter Totter Hopper from the graveyard, in defense mode!" This was the monster he sacrificed to summon King Bear.

Uno's LP: 7800

"Interesting." Veronica placed a trap card down and moved to her endphase. During this phase, Aroma Jar returned 500 more lifepoints. But Uno could activate one of his effects too. "During an endphase, Teeter Totter can be tributed, and one level 3 or lower Performapal can be put in my hand. I will use that effect on Performapal Raingoat!" The grasshopper jumped back into the ground, and kicked a card out of the grave. "I see. You are maintaining a perpetual loop. Not bad for a crippled deck." Veronica folded her arms and chuckled.

Veronica's LP: 9000

"Well, I got plenty more surprise guests lined up! Like Performapal Sword Fish!" His next monster was the sword-haired elvis fish(3/100/100). "He can steal attack and defense points away from all your monsters too, 600 of them. Because hey, fair is fair." Swordfish made it rain swords, one stabbed Jasmine(0/1800) and the other struck Cananga(1300/900). "And by tributing one non-pendulum Performapal, Performapal Sleight Hand Magician will appear!" The Swordfish left the stage, allowing the red stage magician(7/2000/1500) to special summon himself from Uno's hand. "Battle! Sleight Hand is gonna attack Cananga!" With his staff, Sleight Hand created a spell that would destroy the earthen magician. However.. "Now, I activate Waboku." Veronica's trap made that attack useless. "Waboku?!" The Performapals spell ran into a wall of holy energy. Waboku negated all battle damage, and made them indestructible for one turn. "Pretty attached to your lifepoints aren't you? Well, I better make sure you don't get more this turn." Uno moved to the second main phase. He discarded a card to activate Sleight Hand Magicians effect. "Sleight Hand Magician destroys one card; Aroma Jar!" The magician waved his hand across the ground and made the healing jar disappear. "Teeter Totter!" As another Performapal was discarded, Uno could revive the grasshopper in defense mode.

"You duel like always, in the moment. When really all you are thinking about is everything around you, behind you and in front of you." While it was still Uno's turn, Veronica reactivated Humid Winds, paying 1000 lifepoints to add an Aromage Rosemary monster to her hand. "Yet how far does this bring you?" This turn also ended the Garden boosts on Aromage Jasmine(0/1300) and Cananga(800/400).

Veronica's LP: 8000

"Far? I met my sister, and my brother! I'm back home!" Uno thought that was a lot of progress. "Yet you still do not know who you are. Even in your own palace, you are still just 'Uno'" She said as she switched Aromage Jasmine to defense mode. "That's not something I can fix! I lost those memories!" Not even a psychic like June could bring them back. "But why are they lost? And why are you here? There are two different answers that belong to the same category. If you cannot figure that out, you cannot win your pendulum back." Veronica traced her finger across her lips. "I summon Lonefire Blossom." A bomb-seed thistle flower(3/500/1400) grew out from between the cobbled stones. "Lonefire Blossom sacrifices itself to summon a plant from my deck." All Aromages were plant-monsters, meaning she could tribute the fire blossom for the strongest mage; Bergamot the redhaired and redcaped battlemage(6/2400/1800). "And with the second normal summon from Jasmine, I summon Aromage Rosemary." Another monster flew out of the garden house, the angelic sorceress in the blue flowerdress: Rosemary(4/1800/700). Then she reactivated Humid Wind's first effect to pay another set of thousand lifepoints. The third refreshing breeze from the continuous trap took an Aromaseraphy Angelica card from her deck.

Veronica's LP: 7000

"Now that my life is lower than yours, Humid Winds second effect recovers 500 lifepoints." As the clammy winds blew across the field again, the Aromages all activated their secondary effects. "When I gain lifepoints; Cananga returns one spell or trap, Bergamot gains 1000 attackpoints, Rosemary switches the position of one monster on the field. Jasmine, you already know." Jasmine drew one card for Veronica, Cananga made the grounds roots push Uno's left trap card back into his hand, Bergamot(3400/1800) wrapped himself up in a flaming aura, and Rosemary made Teeter Totter Hopper slip on a waterstream, forcing it up into attack position.

Veronica's LP: 7500

"And of course, I make use of my Aroma Garden too." The field spell's effect restored 500 lifepoints to the master of the garden. Now the Aromages had their continuous powers unsealed, with Veronica once more leading with lifepoints. "I activate the trap, Dried Winds." A continuous trap flipped. "Once a turn, when I gain lifepoints, I can destroy one card on the field." Dry and deadly hot winds blew towards Sleight Hand Magician. "No way!" Uno discarded his Performapal Raingoat to negate the destruction of the Performapal wizard. "Hmmm. Now we battle. Rosemary first.. her effect stops any monster effect that activates during a plant-monsters attack." Cananga(1300/900) was back to weakening Uno's monsters, which gave Rosemary the water aromage(2300/1200) an opening. She sprayed a surge of water at Performapal King Bear(1700/1000) like a high-pressure fountain and drowned the beast. "Then Cananga strikes Teeter Totter Hopper." The earthen mage threw a magic blast at the wide-open grasshopper. "Not all effects are stopped, Veronica! A special summoned Teeter Totter cannot be destroyed as a result of battle once per turn!" The performapal insect took a lot of damage, but one of its faces survived.

Veronica's LP: 8000 Uno's LP: 6000

"And I activate my spell card, Hippo Carnival!" Uno flipped his token generating quickplay spell, putting the three hippo dancers(1/0/0) on his field in defense mode. "And I can banish Performapal Uni and another Performapal from my graveyard, to negate the next battle damage I take!" He activated Uni's effect while Veronica was in between attack declarations. A rather blonde playgirl appeared from the graveyard to block the damage. "You look ahead. You see that Bergamot allows all my plants to inflict piercing damage." The red Aromage hurled a fireball at the blue hippo token, burning it. Luckily Uni, a blonde playgirl performer, popped up from the graveyard to block the piercing damage. "But can you see a way out of this duel yet? And do you have an answer yet, as to why you are not who everyone wants you to be?" She gave him the same question again as she ended her turn. "I think so, now. You say it all belongs together.. it's all about the pendulum. So.. the pendulum must be what took my memories in the first place?"

"That is correct, to some extent. A pendulum is the cause." The second sister looked pleased. "One question down, two to go."

(To be Continued in Redux 043: Lateral Rain never Hurt Anyone)

New Cards used by Uno Nisell
Performapal Teeter Totter Hopper
Performapal Uni

Cards used by Veronica
Aroma Jar
Aromage Jasmine
Aromage Cananga
Lonefire Blossom
Aromage Rosemary
Aromage Bergamot

-
Aroma Garden

-
Humid Winds
Waboku
Dried Winds