The Rise and Fall of History: A Past Unseen

by Medigo

The world of dueling has reached a standstill. Many stories have been told through these cards, and the final story pits every side against each other. It is a game no more. Duelists are divided, and an unknown enemy watches from afar. In the midst of all this chaos is one man who brings a new power that can forever end the conflict; a stranger to this world and to himself.

4. Maid of Iron

Annex 004: Maid of Iron

Emily's LP: 8000 Zach's LP: 8000

"A duel it is then." Zach seemed rather jovial about being challenged. He did not even call in his bodyguards. "If you are innocent like you claim to be, this test will prove that. And it will provide some entertainment in the mean time. I will leave it to you to decide the turn order" He added five cards to his hand and waited for her response. "In that case." Emily showed Zach her choice, by placing one of her monster cards and one of her trap cards face-down. "Ah." The rest of her cards went unused, she ended her turn. "Now you don't have to be shy with your cards. I cannot analyze your disks output." Zach took his turn and summoned a Shining Angel(4/1400/800), the blonde angel with goldfeathered wings. "Not until I win that is. ... Pardon. I should say 'if I win'." The Shining Angel flew forwards and hit Emily's facedown monster with its fist. "Oh no!" Alice cried out, thinking that her sister would start losing monsters already. "What?" It was not to be. The angel retracted his hand after it injured itself against the red-steel body of a mechanical samurai(3/1000/1800).

Zach's LP: 7800

"Yeah, you should say that." Emily smirked. "Or did you expect to run into a chump? Fraid not." The samurai struck back with its pulverizing claw and slammed the angel into the ground, weakening the shining one(0/800). "So that's how it is, Superheavy Samurais." Zach of course knew this card, he had been there when it was first printed. "Superheavy Samurai Swordsman. When I do battle with it, my attacking monster loses all its attackpoints." He would have been better off not attacking at all. "Very well, you got me that time." Zach placed a spell card down and ended his turn. "You can do it, Em! You have the cooler monsters!" Alice shouted from the sidelines, completely drawn in by the spectacle. "Sure do'" Emily drew her card. "I activate Spikeshield with Chain, a trap card that I can equip on my monster to give it 500 attackpoints." Exactly as written on the tin, the heavy swordsman(1500/1800) gained a new spiked shield connected to a chain. "Then I switch him to attack position and I attack!" Her swordsman used the drill chain to pierce through Shining Angel and destroy it.

Zach's LP: 6300

"Owch. I don't see a combo like that often." Zach said. "Would it be wrong of me to assume that your Superheavy Samurai deck is incomplete?" A normal superheavy deck did not include random power-up traps like this. It looked like Emily was just filling in gaps. "What if I am?" Emily did not see the point of talking about it. "I could get you those missing cards, as a compensation for your troubles. I can sense talent in a person, and you have it in spades. Dreamworld would hate to see it go to waste." He made it sound like it was very easy to do. "I don't see why I'd need more cards." Emily shrugged. "Well you can take it from me. These days, you need a certain power to back your skill." Zach searched through his deck. "Let me show you what I mean. When you destroyed Shining Angel, its effect was triggered. It'll summon a new fairy-type from my deck, with 1500 attackpoints or less." The deck released a card, a singing diva(4/1400/2000).

"Oooh. She's pretty." Alice liked the way she looked, with her flowing dress and her golden butterfly mask. "...And different." Emily placed a monster down again and ended her turn. "Right you are, miss. She is part of my ensemble, Canon of the Melodious Divas. She has a very handy summoning condition. I can summon her when I already control a Melodious monster. Ergo..." When the time came for his main phase, Zach special summoned a second Melodious Diva Canon(4/1400/2000), from his hand. "I can call her sister." He then picked up both cards. "And now..." Zach took both ladies Canon away, tributing them. "I will normal summon Melodious Maestra Mozarta!" A much taller angel was tribute summoned; Mozarta the musical master(8/2600/2000) with a red dress and wide pixie wings. "Your ace monster, I reckon."

"Very much so. Mozarta is the conductor of the concert. Her ability summons an angel, or fairy-type if you prefer, once a turn." As the Maestra waved her baton to direct the Divas, she special summoned yet another monster from Zach's hand. "Elegy the Melodious Diva! Her song grants 300 attackpoints to all Melodious angels when she is special summoned!" This time it was a one-winged green-haired songstress(4/2000/1200) with a music-note mask on her right eye. When she started singing, both her(2300/1200) and her Maestra(2900/2000)'s attackpoints were raised. "We're almost there, we need one more voice!" Zach activated a spell card. "Celestial Transformation! I special summon a light-attribute monster from my hand, with its attackpoints halved." The Celestial spell gave life to a purple-haired masked diva(4/800/1200). "Aria the Melodious Diva!" The powered down Aria(1100/1200) was strengthened again by Elegy's lament. Now all three joined their voices as one. "This is the kind of of power I was referring to, miss Brandt. I will attack you and your machines!" The sounds of Elegy crushed Superheavy Samurai Swordsmans body, while Aria's melody destroyed Emily's facedown samurai(1/0/500). Mozarta struck the duelist herself with an overpowering soundburst. "Eeesh.."

Emily's LP: 4600

"Em! Did it hurt?" Alice asked loudly. "Nah. It's just noisy.." Emily never had to endure an attack before. Holograms could not touch her, but they could shout at her. "Alice, you may have to.." Emily was starting to think that her victory was not guaranteed, which meant.. "I.. I'll do it!" Alice knew what Emily was really asking of her. She ran upstairs. "Oh dear. I hope I did not upset her." Zach said all apologetically. "Alice will be fine." Emily had been given her turn by now. She would have to stall for a bit to give Alice time. "Now.. you're strong, obviously. But I think you should see how strong I am too." Then again, Emily could also just fight back harder. Even if Zach was the politest guy on the planet, she could not let Uno get in trouble. "I just had to be nice today..."

"My turn! Since I have no monsters I get to special summon Superheavy Samurai Scales from my hand!" Her next machine warrior was a green samurai(4/800/1800) carrying a heavy scale on its back. "Now that Scales is special summoned, it can bring another Samurai back to life!" The scales were tilted to the left, the Samurai special summoned the Superheavy Swordsman(3/1000/1800) back in attack position. "I have two tributes too. Can you guess where this is going?" Emily cracked her knuckles and grabbed another card from her hand. "I summon Superheavy Samurai Big Benkei!" Scales and Swordsman were sacrificed to tribute summon something greater then the two of them combined. Big Benkei(8/1000/3500) was a large mechanical monk in white/orange and darkblue samurai armor. Steam erupted from the vents on its back. "Big Benkei can switch to defense position when he is summoned" The Samurai sat down on the floor, to rest it seemed. "But he also can attack while in defense position, with his defense points!" Big Benkei took the bladed flute from his back and swept it from one side of the room to the other. Melodious Diva Elegy(0/1200) was caught by the sweep and slammed against the wall.

Zach's LP: 2800

"Oof. That's right. Elegy's attackpoints were taken way when she fought with your Swordsman. Fortunately.." When Benkei retracted his weapon from the wall, Elegy emerged unharmed. "What!?" Emily winced. That attack definitely should've destroyed her. "Oh I am sorry. Of course you do not know the effects of my Aria and Elegy combination. When Aria is special summoned, Melodious monsters cannot be destroyed as a result of battle. Nor can they be targeted by effects." Elegy flew back to Aria's side. "Elegy's effect meanwhile makes it so that no Melodious angel can be destroyed by card effects. In laymans terms, my musicians cannot die. I should have told you that last turn." The Celestial Transformation spell card normally destroyed the monsters it summoned during the endphase. Thanks to Elegy, Aria was spared from this effect. "Still, I didn't expect to run into Big Benkei. You have the Samurai's key card at least. The Divas cannot get through that defense, but there are ways to get around him."

...

"D.. Dad! Wake up!" After a few unsuccesful attempts at shaking him up, Alice had finally disrupted Mr. Brandts sweet dreams. "Alice? What's the matter?" Though only barely awake, he could tell that his daughter was in distress. "We need to tell Uno. He left already. Someone is here..." It was difficult to deliver the news, when she did not really understand what was going on down below. "Uno is gone? And someone else is here inside the house? Where is Emily?" Hearing this got James properly conscious. "In the living room, dueling a man from the company. She won't be hurt.. I think. But if she loses.. we have to warn Uno somehow!"

...

The two duelists were at a stalemate for a while. Emily had nothing that could get rid of the Melodious monsters, and Zach had nothing to kill Benkei with yet. In his turn the disciple just switched his angels to defense mode. Emily simply passed her turn. On Zachs next turn though, things changed. "Now here's some wonderful timing. Emily, Mozarta can summon more than just my Melodical angels. Example, I summon Athena in defense position!" Mozarta reached for the ceiling, creating a pillar of heavenly light. A Goddess of wisdom(7/2600/800) flew down the carved path. "Athena can tribute one angel to revive one from the afterlife." Athena selected Mozarta for her effect, sending the Maestra to the graveyard, only for her to target Mozarta afterwards and bring her back out all over again, also in defense position. "She can even special summon those that were sent?" Emily grumbled. That did not seem right, yet it was. "And if a fairy is special summoned while Athena oversees the field.. she inflicts 600 points of damage to my opponents lifepoints." Athena channeled some of Mozarta's glowing energy into her own staff, and released the power at Emily. The holy bolt flew right above Benkei's head and hit her. "Going for Effect damage?"

Emily's LP: 4000

"Another great thing is this; Mozarta already used her ability and left the field afterwards. The Mozarta on the field now is treated as a new being who has yet to use her effect." Once again the master of the melody performed her magic, summoning a second Shining Angel(4/1400/800) in defense position. "I get the picture." Of course Athena's effect had no limits. With another fairy special summoned, so another volley of 600 lifepoints came from the Goddess and her staff., zapping Emily. "As for the rest." Zach placed a trap card down. "I hope I am making my case clear. This is how strong you could be too."

Emily's LP: 3400

"This is not about that. We just want to be left alone. You wont change my mind just by offering me treats!" In her turn, Emily activated a monster effect from her hand. "Superheavy Samurai Soulshield Wall!" She skipped the details, Zach would know the effect. Soulshield Wall was a samurai that could equip itself to another Superheavy Samurai, like Big Benkei. By fastening that green plate of armor to its own, the Big Samurai(1000/4700) gained 1200 defense points. "I know what I need to do. Your Goddess is not a Melodious monster, she aint protected by Aria or Elegy." Athena had to be destroyed before she could do more damage. "Big Benkei, you have your target!" Her mighty warrior prepared his weapon for another strike. "Then, I must spring my trap before it is too late." Acting against his opponent, Zach activated the set card; Solar Ray. "My trap will gather the solar energy of all light beings under my control; 600 points for each single monster." With five light-attribute fairies on his field, the damage would climb up to 3000 points. "I am attacking anyway!" While the Solar rays bombarded the area around Emily, Samurai Big Benkei pushed through the explosions and crushed the goddess Athena decisively. "I set a trap card. That was my turn."

Emily's LP: 400

"Emily. Let's clear the air. I am quite sure that you are hiding something or someone. That is not your dueldisk.." It did not take a genius to figure out that someone like her could not afford a device like that. "I can think of many reasons you would want to do it, I can certainly admire such nobility. But you do not have the full story." He switched his Melodious monsters back to attack position; not a good omen. "Do you?" Emily remained steadfast and still. Even if she only met Uno yesterday, she knew a lot more about him than this guy or the company he worked for. "I will, soon. No matter how much defense you put up, it only takes one weak spot to break it open." Zach activated a field spell card. "Ancient Forest.." Zach's holographic emitter covered the entire room, making it look as if they were in a thick forest, surrounded by immense trees. "Ack." The effect of the ancient spell forced Big Benkei into attack position. "No monsters can defend in the Ancient Forest. And they are destroyed if they attack.. of course, that last clause is undone by the Diva Elegy." Zach smiled. "I attack with Mozarta!" The melodious master opened with her final song of destruction.

"No!" Emily countered the attack with a monster effect. "I can unequip Superheavy Samurai Soulshield Wall from my monster, to negate an attack made against it, and reduce that monsters defense to zero!" The wall came loose and absorbed the impact of Mozarta's soundblast. In return, Big Benkei(1000/0)'s armor was stripped down to nothing. "That only stopped one attack, Emily." Zach was one move away from ordering his second and fatal attack with Elegy. "Negate Attack!" But Emily was one step ahead. She flipped her counter trap to negate the second attack and end the battle phase. "What? You..had a trap like that? Then why use Soulsield.. Oh!" Zach realized why Emily activated Soulshield Wall to begin with, when he scanned her graveyard. "Ayup. The monster you had Aria destroy a few turns ago, that was Superheavy Samurai Soulbreaker Armor." The writing was on the wall. By banishing itself, Superheavy Samurai Soulbreaker would damage Zach for each point of difference between Benkei's original defense and current defense. That was 3500 lifepoints lost right there. "You played me like a fiddle." He would have been fine if he hadn't attacked. His own confidence was his undoing. "Then it is my loss." He accepted it with dignity, he ended his turn. "It is." Emily activated the effect of Soulbreaker, and released the effect damage on Zach.

Zach's LP: 0

"I guess I will not be taking your disk then." Zach shook his head. He had come here all for nothing. "?! What is.." Though, for reasons beyond his knowledge, his dueldisk was not shutting down. "What did you do?" Emily's disk was the same. It refused to be switched off. "I didn't do anything, someone else connected to me and registered you on the net. I only know one person who would do this."

...

It dawned on Uno, only once he was halfway down the road on the hill, that he had no clue what he was going to do in the city. He had no money or ID. He could have asked for some from the Brandts, but that would have been rude. Perhaps instead he would just act it off, if he reached the hospital. They wouldn't be so hard on a man with amnesia right? But then what? What if going to the hospital would alert whoever was trying to find him? "See, this is why you need an audience Uno-boy. You start getting too many thoughts without someone to bounce off of.." He felt lonely. Just how much longer did he have to walk this path? What he could really use right now was a car to hitch a ride with. "Oh, speak of the devil." It must have been his lucky day, as a pickup truck was driving down the street right now. "Shoulda wished for a million dollars instead. Hey!" He called out to the car. "I.. huh? It's you guys?"

"Uno, there you are!" Alice and her father were inside the vehicle. They managed to sneak away while Zach was preoccupied with the duel. "How did you find me?" Uno was surprised, relieved as well. "I.. saw you. I saw which way you went." Alice confessed. Once you left town there were really only two paths to travel anyway. Catching up was only a matter of time. "Why did you go, Uno?" The she asked him that definitely made him feel like a heel. "Sorry. I didn't want to get you in trouble. I only remembered this last night; people are after me and I don't know who or why." There was no reason to keep it a secret any longer. "Trouble has already shown up. One of those 'people' is dueling my girl right now!" Brandt growled. He knew it likely wasn't Uno's fault, but this was still a mess he did not want his family to be involved in. He wouldn't even be here if Alice had not begged him to warn Uno. "What? Then we have to get back there!" Whatever he felt before was gone, now Uno could only think about helping out. "That is the last thing you should.."

"No need. We can settle it all here."

A cold austere voice intruded. "What the?" They were the only three people on the road, Brandt did not see anyone else. "It's your disk!" Alice did see something else. Uno's dueldisk was shimmering. "Mine?" It had turned itself on. Uno hadn't touched it. The device was creating a hologram and it was not a monster. The image of a tall slender woman was projected on the pavement. She wore formal clothes like Zach did, and had mediumlength black hair that was tied up in a topknot. "So it is you." She could see them apparently, her eyes stared straight into Uno's soul it felt like. "Who are you? How did you pull this trick of?" Uno dared to ask. "My name is Iria Silver, Disciple of Dreamworld Technologies. Some of you have met my associate already." She said with a sneer. "What I 'pulled off' was not a trick. When Creffield engaged one of the rogue dueldisks in combat, it was connected to the main network. Yours is remotely linked as well now, because it dueled against the other disk before."

"So let us talk, Bob, about those pendulum cards. Or should I call you thief? That is what you are."

(To be Continued in Annex 005: When Adventure Calls)

Cards used by Emily Brandt
Superheavy Samurai Swordsman
Superheavy Samurai Soulbreaker Armor
Superheavy Samurai Scales
Superheavy Samurai Big Benkei
Superheavy Samurai Soulshield Wall

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Spikeshield with Chain
Negate Attack

Cards used by Zach Creffield
Shining Angel
Canon the Melodious Diva
Mozarta the Melodious Maestra
Elegy the Melodious Diva
Aria the Melodious Diva
Athena

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Celestial Transformation
Ancient Forest

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Solar Ray