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.

8. Caught up til Yesterday

Annex 008: Caught Up til Yesterday

"Those children have to be out there somewhere. They would not abandon the roads." Iria was not too happy at her next meeting with Zach and the Master. "The father did not want to say where they were going. If I were to hazard a guess, it would be their relatives they are heading for. But the which and where has yet to be determined." Being thorough gave her no luck thus far. "Silver. This may just be the wrong approach. Perhaps that man really did forget everything. In which case, we can't get information from him anyway." Zach tried to interject, but he only caught a deathly glare from his associate. While Iria did not verbalize her grievances, it was all too clear that she blamed their escape on Zach. "Uhm..anyway. This was why I sent the smashed dueldisk to Research, so they could find out where this specific model came from."

"It sounds like they did 'find' something, didn't they? I suppose you don't keep me and Iria in suspense, Zachary." The Masters curiosity was piqued. "Of course not, sir. They did come to a conclusion, but it may not be a very acceptable one." Zach forwarded the file to the screens of Iria and his boss. "This conclusion can not be right." The discrepancies were obvious from the get-go. "They are saying this dueldisk is entirely unregistered? No known serial number or regional code?" Everything Iria read, made it sound like this dueldisk was not made by Dreamworld Technologies at all. "Could... the damage have muddled the results?" The master inquired as he took his own look at the screen. "Not like this. The codes are not gone, they are incompatible. Uno may not even have stolen it from us." Though Zach could not give an answer on the topic of Uno's pendulum cards. Iria in the mean time, felt this shed light on a whole new evil. "You realize what this means, sir. Someone out there is already making counterfeit dueldisks, ones that can connect to the network." Even if Uno was not a thief, Iria thought, forgery was an unforgivable offense on its own.

"Hmm. That's both honoring me and insulting me at the same time." The Master leaned back in his chair. "Iria, Zachary.. I.."

"Just a second sir!" Zach raised his finger. "You dare interrupt?" Iria hissed at him. "I have to. I think we found the other Uno." Zach had received a message from the research center, a new one. "The boys at the lab are saying there was another spike. Someone pendulum summoned a few minutes ago." That news changed Iria's tune around. "Where? Who is dueling him?" She wanted his position, and fast. "Oh. He is dueling a member of the Synchro guild." Zach said with a look of consternation. "Then they are in their territory." The Master hummed. "Bummer. I was hoping to avoid spoiling the guilds on this."

...

"I knew it. Not even Pendulum monsters can cut it." Emily had seen Uno perform his special miracle again. But unlike Eric, Boris avoided a one-turn kill. Uno's turn was over. "Maybe he thought it would be boring if he won the same way twice?" Eric still had hopes that Uno could pull it off. He had dealt a tremendous blow already. "It's not over yet. But, it is out of his hands." Cassius suddenly joined the discussion. "If Boris draws any monster with 1300 attackpoints or more. Uno is done." Odd-Eyes(7/2500/2000) and the defending Performapal Kaleidoscorpion(6/100/2300) would be fine, but Performapal Sword Fish(2/600/600) was ripe for the slaughter. "Why are you telling us that?" Alice did not know why this man was talking to them now. "Because I do not want you to get your hopes up." He answered. Emily started to feel strangely uncomfortable around this man. Who could trust a man who refused to show his face?

Boris' LP: 100 Uno's LP: 700

"Tough luck eh? I don't know when those cards became a thing, but they did not seal the deal!" Boris started his turn, placing all his faith on his next draw. "!" If it had been a warrior, it could have ended the duel. "Tsk. More bad news." Alas it was a spell card. Boris looked down, he had one other card left. "Even if I can destroy your Pendulum monsters, they will just go to the extra deck and be pendulum summoned on the next turn." Boris knew how dire it was. "Unless.. Chief, you said his Pendulum monsters were half spell?" He looked to his leader for answers. Cassius just nodded. He thought that should have been obvious. "Then we will go with that.. I activate Descending Lost Star!" His set card was revealed to be a revival trap. It targeted X-Saber Wayne in the graveyard. "A synchro monster will descend, with one lost star! It will also lose its defense points and cannot be switched to attack position." The cowboy(4/2100/0) was special summoned as a monster of a lower class. "Perfect.."

"My spell card, Gottoms Second Call. I can special summon two X-Sabers from my graveyard, because I control an X-Saber synchro monster. But their attackpoints are reduced to zero, add they will be destroyed when the turn ends! I cannot enter my battle phase this turn either." Gottom' Second Call revived XX-Saber Ragigura(1/0/1000) and X-Saber Palomuro(1/0/300). "Ragigura puts an X-saber Faultroll back into my hand." Thanks to the chameleon warriors's effect Boris was given his cyberknight again. "Of course, I will call for him!" Faultroll(6/2400/1600) was special summoned, back at full power. "And now.. I tune my level 1 monsters with X-Saber Wayne!" Palomuro synchronized with the stars of Ragigura and the descended Wayne. There were six levels all in all, so what came from the extra deck.. "I synchro summon XX-Saber Hyunlei in defense position!" Was the futuristic swordswoman(6/2300/1300) in golden armor. "Heh. Your Pendulum monsters may be set in special zones, but they are still spell cards! So.." Hyunlei covered her sword with lightning. "They can be destroyed the same way!" The sword unleashed a massive spark that instantly destroyed Timegazer and Stargazer Magician.

"Gah." Uno was forced to send them to the extra deck. "Of course! Hyunlei can destroy up to three spell or trap cards when she is synchro summoned. Nice move, Boris!" Jet excitedly waved his fist in the air. "No. Now he can't pendulum summon anymore." Eric and the girls had the opposite reaction. "Damn. He's doing it again! His turns never end!" Emily groaned. "But Uno should be fine..right sis?" Alice did not think Uno was in any danger as long as Boris couldn't enter his battle phase.

That did not stop Boris from feeling triumphant. "Uno. I made my choice. I'll take your Odd-eyed dragon when I win." Boris made a 'few' more moves. He used Faultrolls effect to resummon Ragigura from the grave again. Ragigura retrieved X-Saber Palomuro. X-Saber Palomuro was normal summoned. And this time the two level 1 Sabers were paired with Faultroll to create a level 8 synchro monster. "I synchro summon the Colossal Fighter in attack position!" No more sabers, this time the extra deck released a titanic warrior(8/2800/1000) in full body armor. "This Colossal guy will gain 100 attackpoints for each warrior in the grave! That includes your graveyard, Uno!" Performapal Helpprincess was a warrior-type as well. She, along with the Souzas/Faultroll/Wayne and Galahad, gave 700 attackpoints to Boris' utlimate fighter(3500/1000). "Next turn, It will be over!"

"That was my line." Uno had his next card in his hand. "I mean, clearly, you were talking about my turn." His smile was wide. "Boris. You could be a good performer. Even with 100 lifepoints, you stand there bravely. But the problem is.. with 100 lifepoints, it does not take a lot of razzle and dazzle to tip someone over. But then that is perfect for you, since you were so down on my Performapals. Without them, I would not be winning right now. And without you summoning so many synchro monsters, you would not be losing right now." Uno summoned yet another one of his circus pals. It was a spiky-feathered eagle(2/900/900) who whore the same kind of shades Uno had on him. "The magic word of the day is Piercing! Performapal Spike Eagle target Odd-Eyes with your ability!" The eagle spread out its wings and covered the dragon with yellow painted stars. "Now Odd-Eyes can attack through defense!" Uno aimed at XX-Saber Hyunlei. "You were good with your attacks, Boris. But shy on defense!" Odd-Eyes finally attacked, incinerating the female warrior with piercing flames. "What? No.. This is't happening." Boris' life was devoured by the odd-colored flames.

Boris' LP: 0

"Oh I think it is. It's your loss, Boris." Uno turned off his disk and walked towards his opponent. "You know what I want now." He reached out with an open hand. By the rules of Ante, Boris had to give Uno the card of his choosing. "...Whatever. Take it. I woudn't ever have used it anyway." Boris took Mermail Abyssmegalo from his binder and handed it over. It was not until this exchange that Uno's victory sunk in. "He actually.. won." Emily couldn't remember why she had been worried in the first place. Eric topped her elation with screams of joy. "Yeaheah! That's the one and only Uno! Not even you synchro jerks can stand up to him!" And Alice, who had gone through everything with confused emotions, could only feel joy now. "Here. This one was yours." As promised, Uno returned the card to its original owner. She did not know how to thank him. "Uno.. you really didn't have to. I could have just replaced.. You had a lot to lose.. a lot more than me." For such a small thing, the card felt very heavy now. "Hey. It is in the past. I would to his any time at any cost. Because you're my friend. So don't feel guilty, okay?" Uno was happy just because she was happy. He wanted nothing more. "You're right. In the past." Alice moved her finger across her lips and smiled.

"This is a nice scene." Cassius' interrupted. "Oh no, don't let me ruin it. Pretend I'm not here." He faced away from them. Tthat was not good enough for Emily. "Do we know you?" This guy acted far too friendly around them. "Well, you wrangled it out of me." Cassius placed his hands on his helmet and pulled it off. "!" Underneath was a young mans face, long spiky hair that had white streaks, and piercing blue eyes. "Aaron?"

This was a face that had crossed the Brandt's eyes before. "You're the guildleader? You didn't tell us right away? You jerk!" Emily was utterly stupefied. She was not the only one. "You know the chief?" Jet cringed. All this time he had been harassing the friends of his superior. "And why are you calling him Aaron?" Aaron was neither his first nor last name. At least that was what Cassius had told them. "Because..that is his name." Alice only knew him as Aaron. "I might have gone for a slightly better sounding name, once I joined the guild. I confess, I'm guilty of harboring an uninspired birthname. God bless my folks." Aaron/Cassius shrugged. "So you do know him? You were friends in the past?" Now Uno was curious. "I don't. Never seen this guy before." Eric said, scratching his head. "He was from before we lived next to your house. Sis and Aaron were in the same class then." Alice revealed to both Eric and Uno. The Brandts were in fact known for moving from town to town due to their mothers job. Though they had stuck to the last town for a few years at least. "Yes. It has been a while, Emily.. Alice."

"That's nice, Aaron. But.." The shock of his appearance and Uno's triumph had worn off. Emily was forced to think about the reality of their situation again. "We really cannot stay and talk. We have to go somewhere." It clearly pained her to even say this. But her fears were winning the fight with her sentimentality. "Emily. Does something have tou troubled? You can tell me. I might be able to help you." Cassius offered a proverbial hand. Emily was reluctant to accept, but Eric went straight for it. "You have no idea! People are after Uno.. and us! They're chasing us because he has those special cards you saw! They said he stole the cards! We ditched them for now, but..." Before he could say too much, Uno placed himself in between Eric and Cassius. "That'll do." He was not sure if he trusted this guy yet, after all. "Chased you say? Interesting. But if you're a friend of Alice, you're a friend of me.. and a friend of the guild." Cassius took a phone from his pocket. "I can give you asylum. You will be protected at the castle."

"The castle!? Chief, say it aint so!" Jet sounded downright offended at what Cassius was suggesting. "I have to agree with Jet! You can't bring outsiders into our main hub!" Boris protested with a near reverent fierceness. "Can't I? Uno here has beaten you in a fair fight. He is already qualified to join our guild at a decent rank." Cassius said with a knowing wink. "Oh!" The gesture made Boris realize something. "What is it, Boris?" Jet saw him checking his Dueldisk. "Oh no! I dropped the chart!" Apparently his loss to Uno had made him lose some points in the guild. "You did! Any more, and I will outrank you!" Jet meanwhile had only gained credit, due to his victory. "Good thing I didn't get Uno after me." Trading away Abyssmegalo was the best decision he could have made.

"Anyway." Cassius ignored those two for now. "The base is not far from here. I can guarantee you that we will help you with your problems. You only need to say yes." He waited for their answer. Most of the group just looked at Emily to make the choice for them. "Well... better you than them." The sun was descending, it was getting colder. The gang would not make it to where they wanted to go anyway. "Okay, for one night.."

...

Cassius, who had Cassius had driven to the sportcenter on his motorcycle, dropped his vehicle in the back of their pickup truck so he could ride with them and give Uno directions on where to go. This way he could clear up the questions that his presence had created. "First off. How the blazes do you shoot your way to the top when you are barely older than I am." It had not been that long since Emily last saw Aaron. Also she thought someone older would be running these guilds. "That's an easy one. Our guild does not work like the others.. none of them are the same, to be honest. But in the synchro system, each signed up duelist is treated the same. We just have different tasks and a lot of planners." He pointed at his own dueldisk. "I'm only seen as the guildrunner, because of my score. I have won more duels than anyone else in the guild, and faster than anyone else too. It's nice to be highly ranked if you want to be famous, but it doesn't mean they have to answer to me or that I boss them around.."

"So that is how. But why did you join the guild? Why this one?" Alice asked him next. "Well we all loved dueling back then, and I can see you still do. If you want to reach your peak as a duelist, entering a guild is the best way to do it. Once you're a member, you can ask Dreamworld Technologies to design cards for you, you can gain access to synchro monsters. Or, if that is your preference, XYZ and Fusion monsters. There's also the Ante rule that they all apply to their duels, but I try to ignore that." Though Jet and Boris had gone their own way after the duel, Cassius did not want to name names. He was not just referring to duelists like them. "The other guilds just.. did not appeal to me. Fusion seems too focused on the trading and collecting aspects. XYZs are too devoted to winning as often as they can. Synchro sits nicely in the middle. One day I was just a rankless nobody. Then I met someone from the guild. I dueled that person and won. That's how I got in. It's that simple." He tapped the side of his vest. "Uno. If you want you can join too. You defeated a member while being witnessed by two others members." He noticed Uno was staring at him. "But I hear you have your own story to tell?"

"I don't want to toot my own horn." Uno was cautious. Boris and Jet had not exactly given a nice impression of their guild. "People are looking for me, and I am looking for someone as well." It was hard to broach the subject, without getting into his amnesia. "Why are they looking for you?" Especially considering Cassius was already taking a risk with bringing him inside. "Cassius, can you keep a secret?" It was time to bite the pill. "As lord is my witness." Cassius swore, rather seriously compared to his previous behavior. "I lost my memories. I do not remember my name, or why I have these cards. Dreamworld Tech believes that I stole them. I think something else happened. To get to the bottom of this, I need to find someone named UNO."

"Uno? Isn't that your name?"

"That is what he thought. But Dreamworld said.. Uno was someone else." Alice told Cassius. "Yes. Maybe this other Uno guy can help him find out who this one is. Ever heard of the name before?" Emily thought it could be worth a shot to ask mister guildleader over here. "Not until today. Though I have a feeling that is about to change."

And then, it came into view. On the horizon, atop a large hill, sat a tall castle. "Whoa! It's real?" Eric had thought they were using figure of speech all this time, to make their base sound nicer than it was. "As real as it gets, Eric. With proceeds from our duels, we managed to secure this nice location. It was falling to pieces until we fixed it up and made it livable again." Cassius spoke with no small amount of pride. "But what about the old parts of the castle?" Alice was hoping to see a real medieval building. The way he talked made it sound all hollowed out. "It is still there. The actual base is inside the hill, at the the lower levels. Our mainframe is inside too. That might be interesting for you, Uno. The computer holds a database of every duelist known to the world. If you, or the real Uno, are recorded anywhere. We will get to know them. You came to the right place, friend."

"Oho? That is interesting." Uno said with a grin. "Alright, Cassius. Your guild has my attention."

(To be Continued in Annex 009: Mind the Gap)

New Cards used by Uno
Performapal Spike Eagle

Cards used by Boris
XX-Saber Hyunlei
Colossal Fighter

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Gottoms Second Call

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Descending Lost Star