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.

65. Worst-Case Scenario

Redux 26: Worst-Case Scenario

"So this is the place?" Uno looked up at the sky. "I've seen taller." The fusion guilds headquarters was not something he would have gone looking into without clues; an office tower in the middle of a skyscraper-filled city. "Yes, this is the place Martel committed to memory, from the outside. As far as I know they own every floor." June and her mental investigations claimed. "And the reason you didn't just bring us inside immediately is.." Iria let her question linger. "Because I like to get a sense of things before I walk in anywhere. You see these people staring? Because of me they wont remember us the second they look away." The seven duelists were standing on the streets outside the tower, unnoticed by pedestrians, drivers or otherwise. "Isn't that like.. taking away part of their life?" Alice felt that sounded a little excessive. "That's why I never just drop in. The effect becomes immediate if I let it build up. I don't pick up a lot of minds in there, so it should be easy to walk around anyway."

"Is that so?" Adamant quietly walked through the front entrance. "Hmm." The people on the first floor didn't notice him or see the door open. "See?" June smiled. "Freaky.." Alice shivered. The others followed his lead, and were equally undetected. "Are they.. related?" Uno stared at those who could not even hear him; they were carrying dueldisks and guns. "They were merely hired as security for this place. They don't know what's up above." June said as she pointed to the ceiling. "Then we shall leave them." Adamant declared and he moved on to the stairwell. "Heh, I thought you enjoyed a good fight." August scoffed. "A worthy fight is not always the same as a good fight.. or a necessary one." Adamant ignored him. August would have to do what he said regardless. "Do you sense anything out of the ordinary?" Adamant asked as he looked up the stairs. "Can't pin the floor down. But I do." She said. "Then we shall go up until something changes."

"Are you okay, ms Brandt?" Zach asked Alice once they were passed the third floor. "Huh? Uhm.. yeah?" She didn't think she'd get a question at this point. "I apologize. I did not mean to pry. I just wanted to say that I was surprised that you came along. You're very brave." The disciple claimed, with an oddly afflicted expression on his face. "Really? I am still a little nervous. But I wanted to help. But it's not as scary as I thought it would be.. thanks to ms June. Her power is pretty cool." Alice thought things were going pretty well. "I see." He felt likewise... It did not take long for them to regret those thoughts. Barriers of light streamed down from the ceilings. "Ah! I didn't mean that!" They were cut off from the floor above and below. "A trap!" They could only move sideways, out of the stairwell and into the fourth floor. It was abandoned, save for an entourage of templar drones. "Where did these come from?" And while Iria cursed, one more person showed her face.

"Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in." Celeste hummed as she appeared on a large screen against the wall. "Marie.." Uno figured they would run into her, just not this soon. "She can see us?" Alice gasped. "Of course. We knew about that invisibility trick already, you used it against the synchro guild and dreamworld. Use as much telepathy as you like. It doesn't do you much good when my security cameras feed the images directly into my brain." She tapped the side of her head. "And I hope you don't mind me staying far away from her." She gave August and June a scowl. "You knew we were coming." Iria figured. "How did you know? Did you hack into the templar network? Everyone else was doing it." Alice asked her. "Please.. hack is such an ugly word. You met Martel, right? Well back when he briefly controlled the city, he gave me the opening I needed to get inside the net. Now all these lovely toys.. are mine and I know everything there is to know. I know you took this brute of a man from the Monument, for some reason. And then you got this woman to join your quest too. But I expected you a lot sooner. You gave me plenty of time to prepare. So.. why did you even bother?"

"We came for the portal, Marie Celeste." Adamant walked to the front of the group. "We need an opening into the other world, to bring their partners to this one." He explained, pointing to June and August. "Is that how you introduce yourself to me, Adamant Waitley? Meh. Can I at least assume you didn't expect me to just give it to you? I could do it, the XYZ-Guild and all of its inventions are mine now. But.. why on earth would I bring more of your special friends here?" She demanded to know. "Because, the world may not have as much time left as we initially thought." The XYZ-duelist claimed. "Which world are we talking about, Adamant? We have the lost legendary cards now, the gods powers. If your prophecy is right, that gives both worlds an equal chance of survival." The woman sneered. "You do not understand. Marco, Uno's brother, has gone rogue. If he gathers enough power, he can make a jump to the past. Years, decades, millennia could be erased from time. This will affect both worlds, not just not this one! Even if you complete your plans, and fuse both timelines together, it will be undone! We need the other pendulum users to locate him!"

"Let me think about it.." Celeste's finger hovered over her console. "You know. I'd feel much happier bargaining from a position of power. If you don't mind.. I'll show you some of the tricks I built into my home." She pushed a button, which seemingly made the walls come to life. "Uno!" Adamant rushed towards Uno and pushed him out of the way of one panel that rose from the floor. "Ugh, what?" He landed next to August.. "That woman is separating us?" The two duelists were cut off from the others by barriers, templars and walls. "Uno!" Alice, June and Adamant meanwhile were lifted up on a platform as they stood at the center of a room and pushed to the next floor. "What on earth is happening?" Iria cried out before the floor tilted up underneath her. "You cannot be serious!" She fell down and into a chute that dropped her down below. "Iria!" Zach was left behind, separated from everyone else by this madhouse of a building. Except one of the Templars. "Oh my."

...

"Ragh!" August brought out a Yangzing Suanni wyrm. "Do you think you can keep us bottled up?!" The monster blasted the walls with fire. "I don't think she's here anymore, August." Uno said, while August kept his attack up. "Blast! Why isn't this working!" The fire only made the room rather warm. The walls were untouched. "She's covered everything with forcefields." Uno touched the wall, feeling sparks of energy radiate across it. "I can't let constructs made with technology stop me!" August howled. "Then it must be something more than that. This Celeste girl had a lot of time and tools to experiment with, including whatever Martel brought to the table." Uno took his pendulum. "Like a teleport block." It was the same story from the island. This whole tower must have been teeming with anti-pendulum tech. "But she let us in. So there must be a way to turn that off." Uno concluded. "Then lets find it." August growled as he saw templar drones coming their way. "Guess you got your fight after all." Uno smirked.

...

June, Adamant and Alice stayed together as they wound up in a new location, several floors above their previous position. "That was peculiar." Not even June saw that coming. Machines were harder to predict than people. "Where did everyone else go?" Alice tried to look through the dark. The hall lights were not on here. "I..do not know. That girl pulled a fast one on me, something in the walls is weakening my pendulum." June could not sense anything outside a ten feet radius, her power was blinded. "The others should be below us at least." Adamant knew that much. "But we cannot go back for them, we have to assume they can make it on their own." Time was running out. "We have to move on." They could not waste it. "Okay." Alice regretfully agreed. "Then lead the way." Wherever Adamant went, they would follow..

...

Iria at first believed herself to be alone, in this office that she ended up in. Alone with a Templar that was. "Tch." The machine already picked a fight with her, connecting its lifepoints with hers. "That voice.. Creffield?" So imagine her surprise when Zach ran up to her. "You brought another one?!" She also spotted a templar chasing him. "I know, but I couldn't leave you.. I jumped in after you! Iria! Let's duel them together." That way, they could make it two against two at least. "What? That would be the worst idea; your deck clashes with mine." Most of her cards prevented the use of extra deck monsters. That would hinder Zach and his fusion cards. "Besides it's too late for that now." The two should have been dueling together from the start anyway, if they wanted to have a shared field or lifepoint pool. "I guess this is probably why we never dueled together before now. I just don't think these machines are going to play separately." Zach noticed the two templar drones were floating besides each other now. They could not share fields, but they could affect their respective opponents. "They're doing what.. Martel would do." Zach shuddered. "They're not much choice to it then, is there?" Iria sighed. The disciples and the templars drew their cards.

Iria's LP: 8000 Zach's LP: 8000

Templar M's LP: 8000 Templar D's LP: 8000

"I will.. go first." Zach placed one monster face-down on the field and one trap card. He then signalled his turn's end. "BEGINNING TURN 02" The machine made its move the very next second. "SET THE SCALES, DINOMIST ANKYLOS AND DINOMIST CERATOPS" This particular model evidently came from the Dinomist series. "PENDULUM SUMMON, DINOMIST BRACHION AND DINOMIST STEGOSAUR." Ankylos (scale 6) and Ceratops (scale 3) were the perfect fit for mechanical Brachiosaur tank(5/2000/800) and the steampowered stegosaur(4/1600/1800). "BATTLE PHASE. DINOMIST BRACHION ATTACKS THE FACE-DOWN MONSTER." Zach's card, Solo the Melodious Songstress(4/1600/1000) faced the dinosaur's wheels. "Solo the Melodious Songstress effect.. lets me summon a new Melodious." Zach tried to use her effect. "ACTIVATE EFFECT OF DINOMIST STEGOSAURUS. DESTROY ANY MONSTER THAT BATTLES ANY DINOMIST." But the Stegosaur fires light from the spines on its back to destroy Solo. Her effect did not go off if she was destroyed by a card effect. "Ah!?" And afterwards the Stegosaurus gave Zach a direct attack with its spiked tail. "Gah!"

Zach's LP: 6400

"Creffield. You should have known that that would happen." It was not like he could not read the card text. "Yes. I am sorry. It's been a while since.. I could duel how I wanted." Zach shook his head; it was fogged up with weird thoughts. "SET A CARD IN THE SPELL/TRAP ZONE, END TURN." But now the other disciple could make her stand. "I know you can do better, Creffield." She would pick up his slack, and she wouldn't do that by playing defensively. "Spell card, Tenacity of the Monarchs!" Her first card revealed a monster in her hand, Zaborg the Thunderstorm Monarch, to add a Monarch spell or trap card to that same hand. "I shall claim Pantheism of the Monarchs! And activate it." The Pantheism spell discarded another Monarch card from her hand; March of the Monarchs, to draw two new cards. from the graveyard. "Now I can banish Pantheism of the Monarchs from my graveyard. It chooses these three cards. And you you must select the one that is kept." Between the three Monarch spells; The Monarchs Erupt, Domain of the True Monarchs and The Monarchs Storm Forth, the Templars allowed Iria to draw the first card. "Very well..." The other cards were returned to her deck.

"I summon Edea the Heavenly Squire!" A vassal(2/800/1000) adorned in angelic armor floated down from above to land on the field. "The summoned Edea will special summon one monster with 800 attackpoints and 1000 defense points from my deck. I choose Eidos the Underworld Knight." The heavenly squire called upon the aid of the netherworld by bringing Eidos(2/800/1000). "When Eidos is normal summoned, I can tribute summon one more monster this turn. I tribute both Edea and Eidos to tribute summon Zaborg the Mega Monarch!" The Vassals silently gave their life, to bring the ultimate thunder Emperor(8/2800/1000) into existence. "Mega Zaborg destroys one monster, your Dinomist Brachion!" She declared her target. Mega Zaborg arced lightning between the red horns on its shoulders.

"ACTIVATE THE EFFECT OF DINOMIST CERATOPS. DESTROY THIS CARD INSTEAD OF A DINOMIST ON THE FIELD." Alas, Mega Zaborg could not enjoy the moment. Its thunder of destruction was intercepted by the Triceratops that jumped out of the pendulum zone to die in Brachions place. "Very well." Edea's effect also activated if she was ever tributed. She could return a banished Monarch card to Iria's hand. "I take back Pantheism of the Monarchs, and reactivate it." This time the spell discarded The First Monarch and Iria drew two cards afterwards. The graveyard effect of Pantheism could only be activated once each turn however, so she let it stay in the graveyard. "Now, I will attack Dinomist Stegosaur!" The emperor prepared a ball of electricity in its hands this time and tossed it towards the spiked dinosaur. It was blown to bits. "That was my turn." Iria declared after she placed up to four trap cards down behind her Mega Monarch. "Iria.. I think you surpassed me while I was gone." Zach was in awe. "Do you think I like to hear that, Zachary Creffield?" She rasped. "No I.."

Templar D's LP: 6800

"BEGINNING TURN 04. SET THE SCALES, MAJESPECTER CAT - NEKOMATA. PENDULUM SUMMON THE MONSTER, MAJESPECTER CROW - YATA AND MAJESPECTER FOX - KYUBI. ACTIVATE THEIR EFFECTS." While they talked, the other Templar was already using its cards. "It's using his partners pendulum!?" It appeared the Nekomata (scale 2) was enough to replace the destroyed Ceratops. Now two level 4 monsters were pendulum summoned. "Almost got me off guard... I activate The Monarchs Erupt!" The Fox(4/1500/1000) and Yata(4/1000/1500) would search Majespecter spells and traps. Iria did not want to hassle with that, so she activated her continuous trap that negated monsters effects as long as she controlled her tribute summoned Monarch. "NORMAL SUMMON THE MAJESPECTER UNICORN - KIRIN." Of course, the Specters could still use their raw strength. Majespecter Toad was sacrificed for the tribute summon of majestic unicorn(6/2000/2000). "DIRECT ATTACK." And they set their sights on Zach. "Oh dear." Two whirlwinds headed his way, dragging him across the floor. "Gwaah!"

Zach's LP: 2900

"They have found a weakness, and they are exploiting it." Iria grunted. Between this and the scale sharing, it was no wonder Templars were dangerous in greater numbers "Thank for that descriptive of me, Iria." Zach sighed. "Creffield.." Iria was wondering it was a mistake to bring him here to begin with. The more hits he took, he more staggered his breaths became. "Egh.. It's all dandy, Iria." He did not want to lose face in front of her. "SET ONE CARDS IN THE SPELL/TRAP ZONE, ACTIVATE THE FIELD SPELL; DIVINE WIND OF THE MIST VALLEY, END TURN." Now he at least had a chance to redeem himself. "Divine Wind again?" In fact this duel was starting to look a lot like the duel Dom took for him back at the palace. "I am just worried about that Unicorn monster." Kirin was tribute summoned, so its effects wouldnt be sealed by The Monarchs Erupt. "I have it covered. Don't worry about it." Iria eyed one her face-down Dimensional Barrier trap; her failsafe in case the enemy found a way around her continuous trap. "If you say so. Then I shall activate the field spell, Grand Concerto! Once per turn, I can special summon one Melodious monster from my hand!" Zach summoned his greatest musical angel, the Melodious Maestra Mozarta(6/2600/2000).

Grand Concerto, Field Spell
You cannot special summon monsters, except "Melodious" monsters. Once per turn: You can special summon 1 "Melodious" monster from your hand.
"Melodious" monsters you control are unaffected by your opponent's spell or trap cards.

And immediately a response came. "ACTIVATE THE TRAP, MAJESPECTER SUPERCELL. THE EFFECTS OF MAJESPECTERS CANNOT BE NEGATED." Templar M's continuous trap immunized the effects of other monsters. "What? Creffield, he.." The machine beat the disciples to the punch, Iria's Barrier was useless against Majespecters now. "ACTIVATE MAJESPECTER UNICORN. RETURN ONE CONTROLLED PENDULUM MONSTER TO THE HAND, TO RETURN ONE MONSTER TO THE OPPONENT'S HAND" The Series M-drone returned Majespecter Fox to its hand to return the Melodious Maestra to Zach's hand. "Ah no!" That wasn't even the worst news. "ACTIVATE THE EFFECT OF DIVINE WIND OF MIST VALLEY." All Majespecters were wind-types. A wind-type like Kyubi monster returning to the hand triggered the field spell's special summoning effect. "SPECIAL SUMMON THE MAJESPECTER TOAD - OGAMA. ACTIVATE ITS EFFECT AND SET MAJESPECTER TORNADO." The special summoned Toad(4/1300/500) for instance owned an ability to set Majespecter traps or spells down on the field, though at least those could not be activated in the same turn. "I shouldn't have summoned at all."

"Creffield. Why are you talking like that?" Iria noticed that he sounded more defeated than usual. He placed a trap down to end his turn, but he was merely going through the motions. "I don't know. I just felt different ever since I came back from.. Martel." Zach could not explain it well. "I'd suggest you find an answer to those thoughts. Because otherwise we are both going back to the state you were in before." Iria put it gently, while she activated another trap: The Prime Monarch. "I return two Monarch traps or spells from the graveyard to the deck, to draw one card." She returned March of The Monarchs and The First Monarch, drawing Ehther the Heavenly Monarch from her deck. "I will not let that happen, Creffield." Whatever waited for them, she would not fail.. her master or her partner.

...

"This could be bad. Pretty sure this is bad. Very very bad." Marie Celeste was not enjoying the show on the big screens. "Why did they get freaks of nature like that? They're going to tear through everything." Her plan was not working as well as she had hoped. The templars could barely hold some of them down. August and Uno already destroyed theirs and were running towards their floor. "Why did he have to go and provoke them?" First Phoebe, now Martel; the guild was losing its strongest assets and fast. "It may be time to throw in the towel on this place." Ichirou was still on her side, but all he cared for was his own world. "We can't leave yet! Do you have any idea how long it takes to move terabytes and terabytes of information?" Even if she wanted to go, which she didn't, she needed more time. "Then perhaps we can use this as an opportunity to use the new cards." Ichirou proposed with a wicked smirk on his face. "The 'lost cards'? Which ones should we even use? We haven't tested any of them. Nobody is dumb enough to volunteer now."

"Actually." Ichirou looked up at one screen which showed the progress of Uno, Adamant and Alice. "I know someone who has the right level of desperation. Let's bring him in."

(To be Continued in Redux 025: Highest Standard, Longest Fall)

New Cards used by Iria Silver
Edea the Heavenly Squire

-
The Prime Monarch

New Cards used by Zach Crawfield
Grand Concerto

Cards used by Templar Series M
Divine Wind of the Mist Valley

-
Majespecter Supercell

Cards used by Templar Series D
Dinomist Stegosaur