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.

6. Room to Breathe

Annex 006: Room to Breathe

For several hours now, the car had been driving down the road. At first Emily would have called her father, but Eric talking of phoneline-bugging got to her and made her decide to call mom instead. Unfortunately Mrs Brandt appeared to be too busy to come to the phone. "Do you think we'll get there before dark?" Their mothers was staying at a place, hundreds of miles away. "I can pull it off." Uno stated.. or rather yawned. "Uh. Dad always says you shouldn't drive more than two hours in a row. You look pretty tired." Alice knew Uno had not exactly taken a good night's rest. "Hm. Maybe you're right." They were driving along the countryside. The only thing in the neighborhood was a gasstation and a few farms. They were safe here, probably. "As long as it doesn't take too long." Emily did not know how far Zach was behind them. A helicopter could catch up fast. "Maybe he doesn't know where we are going?" Eric shrugged. "A short break wont hurt I think."

They were in agreement. Uno stopped the car at the gas-station and cashed in his quick nap. Emily meanwhile went out to see what she could do about getting the car refueld. Eric and Alice stayed behind to obeserve their surroundings. "I've never been this far away from home. Not without mom and dad at least." The mere sight of all that flat green terrain amazed Eric, though there did not seem much to do here.. "Yeah. Me neither..." Alice took the air in. "Haa.. It smells nice. I wonder what they grow here?" She had half a mind to start looking around, but she did not want to stray from the car.

"Hey check it out.""Is that?""Yeah..." The calm was broken by a pair of voices. "What series is it?""Don't know. Looks brand new." Two teens were eyeing the contents of the back of the truck. "...?" That was where they had left Uno's dueldisk. "Ah. Hello!" Alice walked up to greet the curious pair. "Are you talking about the disk? Are you guys, duelists?" The two looked at each other. "You can say we are." They revealed their own dueling devices. "The name's Boris. And this is my pal, Jet." The one with brown curls and sunken eyes introduced himself and his partner with the pointy black hair and widowpeak. "Hiya! I'm Alice, and this is my friend Eric!" She returned the courtesy. Jet nodded. "Alice, eh? So that disk is yours or your friends?" He also saw Uno dozing off in the pickup. Every dueldisk had its owner. "It's mine." And Alice claimed this one.

"Alice? What are you doing?" Eric took her aside and talked to her softly. "I don't want them to bother Uno is all." She whispered before turning back to the duelists. She also took the dueldisk and strapped it on her wrist, to prove that she knew how to handle it. "Ah. Of all the places to meet another duelist. I guess we're both here for the tournament." Boris chuckled. "Tournament?!" Eric liked what he heard. "Say. Why don't we duel, just a quick friendly match to test our skills." Jet activated his own disk. "I don't know...we have to be somewhere." Alice did not want to slow the others down, but she did not want to be rude either. And a duel could be fun. "It won't take long." Jet smiled. "You can do it, Alice." Even Eric was goading her. "Okay, I'll do it!" She inserted her cards and turned on the machine. "A solid energy blade? Nice." Jet's envy was showing His dueldisk was fully made of plastic and metal, including the blade section. "You go ahead. Show me what you got, Alice."

Alice's LP: 8000 Jet's LP: 8000

"Okay!" Both players drew five cards, Alice moved to her main phase. "I'll summon my Mermail Abyssteus in defense mode!" Abyssteus, the ancient deepsea fish(7/1700/2400) in knights armor, could special summon itself from Alice's hand at the cost of another Water-monster in her hand. The card she discarded was Atlantean Dragoons. "When Abyssteus is summoned like this, he lets me take a lowlevel Mermail from my deck. And because I sent Dragoons to the graveyard, I can use his monster searching effect too!" Abyssteus gave Alice a Mermail Abyssgunde, while the Atlantean dragonrider selected a seaserpent; Mermail Abysslinde. "I set a monster, since I havent normal summoned yet." Alice placed Abysslinde in face-down defense position. She also placed a trap card down. "That was it! What do you think?" The guys had to be seasoned duelists. She was hoping she did not look bad in comparison. "Mermails and Atlanteans are a decent combination. Looks like she could be tough, Jet." Boris said. "Tough enough for me, you think?"

"Alice? What is this?" Unfortunately by now, Emily had finished filling the tank and paid for the fuel. "We have to go, we can't duel now!" She could not believe her sister would be this shortsighted with the time. "Sis, I.." And when Emily got mad, Alice did not have it in her to fight back. "Wait! Emily.. Uno still needs to sleep a little, and how will it look if we run away now?" Eric offered some counter-arguments in her stead. Part of him did simply want to see this duel play out. "Is there a problem? C'mon, I was about to get my turn?" Jet moaned. "I told your sister, we wont take much of your time. Besides once a duel has begun, you should see it through til the end." Boris tried a more persuasive approach. "...Rgh." Emily would not say yes, but she did not say no either.

"We cool? Cool. Let me show you something Cool too!" Jet could finally draw his card. "I summon Blackwing - Ghibli the Searing Wind." His first monster was a six-winged bird(3/0/1600) with black and red feathers. "Blackwings?" The trio thought that name sounded vaguely familiar. "Haven't played against these yet? Then you are in for a doozy! When I control a Blackwing, I can special summon the tuner monster; Blackwing - Gale the Hurricane from my hand!" A more humanoid greenfeathered bird(3/1300/400) joined Ghibli in the air. "Gale has a special effect! It halves the attackpoints of an opponents monster once a turn!" The Blackwing flapped its wings and created a small storm that pushed Abyssteus(850/2400) down to the dirt. At least it was in defense position. "And now..I synchro summon!" All of the sudden, Gale the Hurricane left the field. He transformed into three pure rings of light. "I tune Gale with Ghibli!" Ghibli soared through the rings, reducing itself to three glowing stars. Both remnants collided, causing a bright flash. "Synchro monster: Blackwing Armed Wing!" The endresult of the explosion was a new monster, an armored winged warrior(6/2300/1000) who carried a large rifle.

"Synchro summon, Synchro monster!? You.. you're with the guilds?" Emily had heard of these, but she thought only members of a guild could have a card like this. "Uhh.. What happened?" Eric had never even seen this mechanic before. "You don't know what a synchro summon is? Maybe a second demonstration will help. See, you need a tuner monster and a non-tuner monster!" Jet special summoned another monster from his hand, a black bird(1/400/600) with a big red waddle. "Oroshi the Squall is a tuner monster. I can special summon it if I already control a Blackwing. Now, you count the tuner's levels". Oroshi converted itself into energy rings as well; one from its one level star. "You add the nontuner monsters level. And you send both monsters to the grave." Blackwing - Armed Wing transformed into six brilliant stars. Another explosion followed. "Then you can special summon a synchro monster from your extra deck, if its level is the same as what we counted up! That is a synchro summon!" Seven level stars meant a 7th level Blackwing. A native-american looking bird shaman(7/2600/2000) emerged. "Blackwing Tamer - Obsidian Hawk Joe!"

"Oh and yeah, we are with the guild; the Synchro Guild." He pointed at a badge on his coat. It had a symbol of a white dragon on it. Boris' shirt had a similar symbol. "You are?!" Emily's eyes widened.

The duel continued. "Oroshi the Squall switches a monsters position when he becomes a synchro material!" Oroshi's effects activated as it entered the grave, and Steus was switched to attack position. "Oh no!" Alice gasped. This was just the beginning. Jet activated his synchro monster's effect. "Blackwing Tamer Hawk Joe can bring one downed level 5 or higher Blackwing back to life; back to the skies!" The Tamer used his powers to special summon Blackwing Armed Wing from the graveyard. "And I can bring out another!" Yet another Blackwing was summoned from his hand, a masked assassin bird(4/1900/300), clothed in red. "Like Gale and Oroshi; Blackwing - Kris the Crack of Dawn can be special summoned if I control a Blackwing." Jet had three monsters, two synchros, all in one turn. "Here it comes!" Blackwing Armed Wing attacked first, the gunner(2800/1000) loaded his rifle. "Armed Wing gains 500 attackpoints when it attacks a defending monster. And it will pierce through that monsters defense!" Armed Wing fired a shot which tore right through the face-down Mermail Abysslinde; the blue-haired mermaid(4/1500/1200) in red armor.

Alice's LP: 6400

"Ow. But.." Alice reacted rapidly. "When Abysslinde is destroyed, she can bring a new Mermail to my field." Alice used Abysslinde's effect to special summon Mermail Abysspike(4/1600/800) from her deck, in defense position. "I pick him. Because Abysspike can discard a water card from my hand to add a new lowlevel one." The Mermail traded Atlantean Marksman for a Mermail Abysshilde card. "Oh? Marksman... Better look out, Jet" Boris knew what that card could do. Now that Alice had sent the Atlantean to a watery grave, it would destroy one face-up card. "I want to destroy Obsidian Hawk Joe!" An arrow was shot out of the depths, towards the strongest Blackwing on the field. "It would be dangerous, Boris..." But at the last second Armed Wing intercepted the arrow and took the hit. ".. if Hawk Joe could not switch with another Blackwing if he is targeted by a effect! Nice try, Alice!" The weaker synchro monster died in his place. "Aw.." Alice sighed.

"Moving on.." Jet sent out Kris the Crack of Dawn. It attacked Abysspike, stabbing it to death with its Kris dagger. "One more to go!" The last clash would be between the weakened defenseless Abyssteus and the Blackwing Tamer. "Wait. I use his trap first. If I am going to lose him anyway.." Alice flipped the trap, Aquamirror Cycle. "I send Abyssteus to my deck, and I get back two water monsters from the graveyard." Abyssteus was thrown into a pristine mirror. From the other end of the glass came Mermail Abysslinde and Abysspike, which she added to her hand. "Hah.. You made the best out of the worst." Jet wiped his finger under his nose. "Guess this attack is all for you!" Hawk Joe threw his fist through the girl. She might not have felt it, but her lifepoints did. "That was it for now."

Alice's LP: 3800

"..Alice. You have to stop this. This isn't right." Emily did not like this. These Guild people were clearly out of their league. "But I want to go on. I'm having fun, sis." Alice did not see it that way. For her this was not about winning. "He summoned a lot. It's a little scary. But.. I can do something about it!" She drew a card, and then discarded four cards from her hand. "Dude, what!?" Atlantean Dragoons, Abysshilde, Abysslinde and Abyssgunde were all tossed into the grave, to satisfy the summoning condition of the last card in her hand. "I special summon Mermail Abyssbalaen in attack mode!" The water shot up high, making way for the massive blue whale warlord(7/2500/2000). "Abyssbalaen? Oh man, I didn't think anyone seriously used that card. What does it do again?" Jet had a look of bewilderment on his face. That expression intensified when Abyssbalaen(3000/2000) charged up and destroyed his two Blackwing monsters with a huge tidal wave. "Gah!"

"Heehee. Abyssbalaen destroys as many monsters as there are Mermails in the graveyard. And he gains 500 attackpoints as well." Hawk Joe's effect was not going to stop a multi-targeting effect. "And there is more! You already know why, right?" Over half of the discarded cards had their effects go off. Mermail Abyssgunde, because she was discarded, special summoned a Mermail, Abysspike(4/1600/800) from the graveyard in attack position. The Atlantean Dragoons added another seaserpent to Alice's hand; Mermail Abyssturge. And Abysshilde, because she was sent to the graveyard, could special summon that monster from Alice's hand. Abyssturge the sturgeon merman(4/1700/1100) swam to the surface. "I think every Mermail should get a chance to shine. No matter how hard it is to summon them sometimes. It's all worth it!" The trio of Mermails swarmed Jet with direct attacks. Balaen hit him with his giant hammer, Spike stabbed him and Sturge impaled him with his lance. Quite brutal, for a holographic onslaught.

Jet's LP: 1700

"Jet. You aren't doing too hot." Boris pointed out the obvious. "Grrr. Thank you, Boris." Jet spat. "Alice, you surprised me. But I wont let that happen again. To lose like this, the guild would never let me hear the end of it!" As Alice was out of cards and attacks. Jet just assumed it was his turn. "Draw!" And what he added to his hand would turn everything around. "Aha! I normal summon Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North!" A small white bird(2/1300/0) with black tufts hopped down before Jet. "Blizzard lets me special summon one level 4 Blackwing from my graveyard!" The floor opened up, and from the light came the level 4 Blackwing Kris the dawnbreaker. "Synchro summon!" Jet removed both monsters from the field. Blizzard tuned itself with Kris to form a creature if six stars, a black knight raven(6/2400/1600) with darkand gold armor. "Blackwing Nothung the Starlight! When he is special summoned, he can inflict 800 points of effect damage!" Nothung threw his sword away, making it spin through the air like a boomerang. It phased through Alice. "Ah no!"

Alice's LP: 3000

"Nothung then takes off 800 points from a monster!" The sword spun back to its master, but it cleaved through Mermail Abysspike along the way. "Eeeh!" The Mermail(800/800) had lost its left arm, it was quite a shocking graphical display. "Why did he target Abysspike?" Eric did not understand why Jet was leaving Abyssbalaen alone, when it would obviously kill Nothung on the next turn. Unless.. "He's gonna end it now? Alice!" Crying about it would not change anything anymore. "Attack!" Jet spared nothing. The Starlight raven struck with the sword in its hands. "I discard Blackwing Kalut the Moonshadow from my hand!" And the specter of another blackwing haunted the synchro monster. "Kalut can discard itself during a fight, to give a battling Blackwing 1400 more attackpoints!" Nothung(3800/1600)'s sword had more than enough power to destroy Alice's monster and Alice's lifepoints in one go. "Take her down!" Mermail Abysspike was cut in half, and the duel was decided. "It's.. over already?" Alice looked at her own lifepoint bar. "It happened so fast.."

Alice's LP: 0

"That is what we promised. Allthough you had Jet worried there." Boris laughed to himself. "I was going to win either way. She doesn't even have any extra deck cards." Jet grumbled. "But an ante is an ante."

"Ante?" That word, the implication of it made Alice shiver. "You want.. my cards? But I.." An Ante was something duelists sometimes used to make duels more exciting, the loser would give the winner their rarest card. But she never dueled like that, she never had any card she wanted to throw away. Her cards were given to her on her birthday "What you didn't know? Guild members always duel with Antes involved. If you do not bet manually, then rarity makes the choice for you." Their dueldisk had already selected which card that was; Mermail Abyssmegalo. It was the only ultra rare card Alice had. And the dueldisk prevented her from taking it out herself. "Wait, she does not have to do this! She never agreed to it!" Emily shouted. Boris shook his head. "You are in our territory now, miss. You have to abide by our rules." He explained. "But don't you have enough cards already?" Eric took he girls side. But Alice was already taking out the card they requested. "It is okay, guys. I lost fair and square.. so..you.. can have it." She gave the card to Jet. "I hope you can use it." If it made someone happy, it was not that bad, was it?

"..Hey Boris. Wanna trade?" Jet turned to his friend. "What?" Alice looked on, nearly mortified, as Jet just casually exchanged her card for a random ultra rare spell card. "But.." And Boris said something about using the card to get some money from the guildleader, or something. She was not really listening anymore. All she knew was a strange feeling welling inside her.

"Hey. Is that Alice's card?" It was his voice that cleared it all up. "Hm? Not anymore...and who are you?' Boris and Jet met Uno. He had woken up from his nap. "Call me Uno. And you two most be those guild-people I keep hearing about." Uno looked at them and then at Alice. "You dueled her huh, and took her card. Well, that makes things straight-forward. I'll just challenge you to get the card back." He gave Boris a glare and walked towards Alice. "Uno. You don't have to do it.. It's fine, really." The girl tried to put up a brave smile as Uno took her dueldisk. "It doesn't work Alice. I know when people are happy and when they aren't. And I can see how much those cards mean to you." He gave her the deck, what remained of it. Then he inserted his own cards. "Uno. I want to get even with these jackhats as much as you do. But we can't..." Emily was going to say the same as usual; how they were on the run and could not stay out in the open anymore. Uno did not need the speech, this was going to happen. "We can. I can. If I can't help duelists, if I can't fix the past, what is the point?"

"It's fine by me, Uno man." Boris was all smiles. "If you want to settle things, you can come to the sports arena down the road. Nobody uses it for anything else anyway. Not these days. That's better than taking up space in his gas station, right?" Sooner or later they would draw complaints from people who just wanted to refuel their cars here. "Agreed. And if I win this duel, I want the card you took. Nothing else." He extended his hand. Boris happily accepted it. "And if I win? I'll take any card I wish. I hope you have something good."

(To be Continued in Annex 007: Cross Swords at Cross Roads)

New Cards used by Alice Brandt
Mermail Abyssteus
Mermail Abysslinde
Mermail Abysshilde
Mermail Abyssbalaen
Mermail Abyssturge

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Aquamirror Cycle

Cards used by Jet
Blackwing - Ghibli the Searing Wind
Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind
Blackwing - Oroshi the Squall
Blackwing - Kris the Crack of Dawn
Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North
Blackwing - Kalut the Moonshadow

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Blackwing - Armed Wing
Blackwing Tamer - Obsidian Hawk Joe
Blackwing - Nothung the Starlight