Annex 010: The Forgotten Testament
"I just had a terrible thought, what if I'm a vegetarian?" Uno proclaimed solemnly as he stared at the piece of meat on his fork. "You had no problem with eating a whole steak before." Emily noted that Uno was already done with most of his meal. "I guess. I will apologize to my past self later if I am wrong." Uno chewed down on the last piece. It tasted too good to be denied. "Hmm, Erics food is getting cold. Maybe..." Alice was about to make a suggestion.. when the alarm rang throughout the castle "Ah! Why does it have to be noisy now?" Alice covered her ears. "Sounds serious. Let's ask. Excuse me, miss. Is there a reason the alarm is going off?" He approached the first duelist he could find, a young lady with long red hair. "Ah? You're the guests?" She noticed their ID-tags. "There was a breach in one of the secure levels. I heard this sometimes happens, but this is the first time I have been here for one." She told them. Apparently she had not been a member for long. "Mis..uh.. Can you see where the breach was?" Emily worried about the one who could have caused this 'breach'. "Sure. Its Akai by the way." Her dueldisk created a three-dimensional map. It revealed the location of all tagged individuals in the area. "Uh-Oh. It's the mainframe area. Cassius is down there and.." Akai looked at the map and then at the trio of guests. "A visitor is there too." Only two people were detected. "Oh damn it Eric."
...
Erics LP: 1200 June's LP: 6500
"Battle Royal Mode?" Eric had been saved by his new partner. Up until that moment he had been unaware that duelists could even pair up. "It is a feature that allows guild-members to team up against each other. Tagteam matches, two-on-one, last man standing; it has all kinds of offshoots." It was thanks to the guild-disk that cassius had given Eric, otherwise this would not even be possible. "Then this is two-on-one, clearly. So what kind of handicap do you have to take?" June mused. With twice as much opposition, some penalties would have to be given to a duel intruder. Sadly that applied to Cassius as well. "You can see the effect already." He tilted his disk to the side to show off the lifepoint meter. It red 1500. "You lost lifepoints until they matched mine?" Eric gasped. Cassius shook his head. "Worse. I'm tied to your lifepoints. We duel as one. It was the only way I could stop her in her tracks. Eric, you did me a great so far." Cassius smiled at the kid, and then changed back to scowl when he faced this invader. "Who sent you? The Fusion guild? What do they want?"
"A lot of questions. I couldn't possibly answer them all." The woman gave an response, but it did not seem to be a response to them, or one at all. "It is nice to see one duelist sticking up for the other, but that has nothing to do with me. You will not find anything about me in your machines." Her monsters, Ritual Beast Tamer Lara(1/600/2000), Spiritual Beasts Rampengu(4/2100/400) and Apelio(4/2300/200) were all in defense mode due to Cassius' Speedroid Menko(4/100/2000). "You will have to lose with him." June re-activated Rampengu's effect. "Banish Ulti-Apelio and send Apelio." Another fusion beast was removed from her extra deck, so that a normal beast could enter the graveyard. "One things left to do, better not forget it." Tamer Lara was banished alongside Rampengu to recreate the Ritual Beast Ulti-Cannahawk(6/1900/1600). "I use his power." The fused hawk returned both banished Ulti-beasts to the graveyard. In return, June could add a Ritual Beast card from her deck to her hand. She took out another Ritual Beast Tamer Lara.
"Here we go again." Eric grumbled. This deck was a real pain, compared to everything else he had seen today. But once she had placed a trap card down, he could finally fight back. The powerboosts from Spiritual Beast Apelio disappeared from it(1800/200) and from Ulti-Cannahawk(1400/1600). "Let me take the next turn. I do not know how battle royal turns go, but I want to help. Please let me." He did not want to look bad, he had to prove himself. "I will trust you, Eric." Thankfully the guildchief obliged.
"Thank you. You wont regret it!" He'd show them both what his deck could really do. "I normal summon Nikitama!" The groundwork would be done by Nikitama(4/800/1800) the green flame counterpart to Aratama. "With its effect I can normal summon another Spirit monster this turn! Even better, if Nikitama is sent to the graveyard while I control a Spirit, I can draw once!" Eric sacrificed Nikitama for a higher-level monster, a rainbird(6/2100/1800) with feathers of primarily red, but also blue and green colors. Because a Spirit was still on his field, Nikitama allowed Eric to drew another card. "My phoenix looks a lot more like the real deal than yours, June! This is Fang..Fu..Fenghuang." Eric nearly bit his tongue while trying to pronounce the birds name. "It destroys all set cards on the field!" Fenghuang flapped its wings once, and a firestorm followed. Flames as bright as the sun descended and scorched June's trap to ashes. "Now nothing can.."
"Hey!?" The trap was not the only card to be destroyed. Before Erics eyes, the phoenix spirit turned ashblack and then shattered like a statue of dust. "Ghost Snow and White Rabbit.." Cassius spotted the 'cold' that caused Fenghuangs demise. It was a little demon girl with red eyes and long white hair. A white rabbit spirit floated around her. "When did that appear?!" Eric had not seen June summon anything. "When she activated it from her hand. If you discard it, Ghost Snow can destroy a monster after that monster uses its effect." Eric had nothing left on his field, again. That was the second defeat he walked right into. "At least you are here to help him, and talk to him." June said. Perhaps she sympathized, perhaps not. It was hard to tell. "I can help him too! Cassius, I think she wants something from your database, she has that machine there." Eric pointed at the small device clamped to one of the hard drives. Whatever its task was, it was not done yet.
"So you're after data, our data. I do not understand how you got this far, nor why only Eric tried to stop you." Cassius thought his fellow members would've been more observant. "We'll have to remove your lifepoints before that machine runs its course! I summon a tuner; Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice!" Cassius displayed more of his deck-style when a golden dice(1/0/0) with red eyes was normal summoned. "Level 1 and level 4; I'm ready to go for level 5." The die was sitting with its one-eyed side face-up. It exploded into a ring of energy, and the Menko machine synchronized with that energy. "Synchro summon Hi-Speed Roid Chanbara!" A larger vehicle came all the way from the extra deck, it was a kind of hoverbike(5/2000/1000) shaped like a sword. "Let's clear the course before take-off." Cassius followed with a spell card. "Shock Surprise! I banish up to two speedroids from my graveyard, to destroy up to two cards!" Both Menko and Red-Eyed Dice were banished, and two shots were fired at June's Ulti-Cannahawk and Apelio beasts.
"Split." Though the Spiritual Beast Apelio was taken out, the Ritual Beast Ulti-Cannahawk could defuse into the banished Tamer Lara(4/100/2000) and Spiritual Beast Pettlephin(4/0/2000). "I knew that was coming. But Hi-Speed Roid is so quick that he attacks twice in one turn!" Chanbara blasted forwards like a jet propelled by a missile. "And each time Chanbara battles, it gains 200 attackpoints!" The Speedroid(2200/1000) powered up once, and cut down the pink dolphin with its front blade. Then Cassius made a second pass and Chanbara(2400/1000) tore through Lara as well. "...incredible." Eric was awestruck by this display. Synchro duelists and Fusion duelists, they were in a whole new world of dueling. "I set a trap card. That was it. Your move June, if that is your name."
"It's not, actually" Was all she said before she summoned another Ritual Beast Tamer Lara(4/100/2000). Because Lara was normal summoned, she could special summon Rampengu(4/1600/400) who was in the graveyard. "Your Synchro monster is nice, Cassius. Too nice." June reactivated the effect of Rampengu. A random Ritual Beast card was banished from her hand. "It has to turn away." Hi-Speedroid Chanbara was ejected from the board and returned to the extra deck. "Now.. there is nothing in the way." June banished the Tamer along with Pettlephin. Ritual Beast Ulti-Apelio(6/2600/400) made its grand fusion summoning entrance. "Crap. If that thing attacks, we wont be able to defend!" One hit was all she needed, and Eric could not count on Cassius' trap to save them. "Pity. I wondered what it would be like to fight you normally. Oh well-oh well." The tamer and tiger fusion broke out into a blaze, as the battle phase began.
There was only one opening. "I activate a card! Compulsory Evacuation Device! I return your monster to your hand!" Right now Ulti-Apelio was unprotected by its own powers. "Aha." But the fused beast could still split to avoid Cassius' trap. "Perfect timing, Cassius. Had you waited for me to declare my attack, you would have lost your chance." June had to defuse the Tiger, returning Ulti-Apelio to the extra deck and resummoning Lara and Spiritual Beast Rampengu from the banished zone. "Too perfect.." Slight annoyance could be detected in her tone. "Did you think we would roll over that easily?" Cassius boasted, feeling pretty satisfied himself. "I would have been disappointed, but you are making it more difficult than I wanted it to be." The Beast Tamer and Beast were fused to summon Ulti-Cannahawk(4/1400/1600), one more time. Ulti-Cannahawk returned a banished Pettlephin and Rampengu to her graveyard. June added a Ritual Beast spell card from her deck to her hand. "Still.. time is almost up." She snuck a peek at her device and turned back to the field. June placed the spell card face-down along with another card, then she ended her turn.
This was it. Eric had only one shot at redeeming himself. "My turn! I activate Monster Reincarnation! I'll discard Ultimate Offering to reincarnate Nikitama!" Monster Reincarnation, at the cost of one card from his hand, placed a monster in the graveyard back in Eric's hand. Naturally, that was what he normal summoned first. "Thanks to Nikitama I can normal summon again, so.." Eric summoned the Aratama fire spirit(4/800/1800) that had been in his hand for a while now. Aratama's effect scoured Erics deck for a Spirit to claim. "I'll add Hino-Kagu Tsuchi to my hand!" Eric took the strongest one he could find. "Then I activate the spell, Double Summon! I can summon Hino-Kagu Tsuchi now!" Double Summon added a second 'normal' normal summon to this turn, which Eric used to tribute summon his great fire god. Aratama and Nikitama were both tributed so that life was breathed into Hino-Kagu Tsuchi(8/2800/2900). "Burn that phoenix to the ground!" The spirit covered its fist with flames. "..." The enemy reacted as Eric figured she would, by unfusing Ulti-Cannahawk. The materials Lara and Pettlephin re-appeared in defense mode. "No problem!" He would just have to kill Pettlephin instead.
"Maybe a little problem. Spell card, Ritual Beast Bonds. With this I may banish any two Ritual Beasts to summon a fusion Ritual Beast." June flipped the quickplay spell card that Cannahawk had granted to its master. It targeted both of her monsters and threw them into a vortex of fusion energy. "What!? You can fusion summon during your opponents turn?" Each turn Eric learned something new and terrible. Lara and Pettlephin combined into something more logical, a young girl tamer riding the large dolphin(6/200/2800). "I summon Ulti-Pettlephin, in defense mode of course. This Ritual Beast cannot be destroyed by card effects." Battles could still do it in, but they would have to come at the dolphin with a lot of firepower. Hino-Kagu Tsuchi was just 1 point shy of making any impact. "Aaarghhh!" His frustrations had reached their limit. "Damn you!" Thanks to Nikitama's effect, he had drawn another card when that Spirit was sacrificed. He used that card now. "Equip Spell, Mirror of Yata!" The Mirror was equipped on Hino-Kagu Tsuchi. At least this way it would not leave the field at the end of his turn.
"Stay calm, Eric. Every move you make matters." Cassius tried to keep his partner levelheaded. It was thanks to him that he saw another weakness to exploit. "Speedroid Terrortop! I can special summon it because I control no monsters!" First he had to special summon a chain of toy tops(3/1200/600) that segmented together like a snake. "Terrortop's effect, I can add a Speedroid!" Then he had to get his tuner back. Another Red-Eyed Dice would do. "Hmm. I think I am getting the hang of this. I do not know what went wrong before.. but. It is all in order now." But June, who seemed to be talking to herself again, had flipped a second quickplay spell card during the summoning procedure; Mistaken Accusation. "Oh no." That spell restricted access to the deck. This turn he could not search for any cards. "You saw it coming.. How?" Now Cassius couldn't synchro summon, and his monster was exposed. "Are you with the guilds at all?" This woman was doing far batter than she should have, far better than anyone he knew. "Even if I tell you. You won't remember soon.."
"Would you mind saying that again?"
Said yet another man whose presence surprised June. "Uhm?" The owner of that voice was Uno himself, standing in a now open doorway, together with Alice and Emily. "When.." Just how many people were coming now? "I asked you first, miss. What do you mean, they will not remember soon?" Uno was not in a joking mood. "I can't comment.." She replied. But during the middle of her sentence, her hand convulsed and reached for her ear. "Huh?" Emily thought she something shimmer in her hair, an earring perhaps? "Nothing you need to know about." June's discomfort seemingly subsided, and she remained unforthcoming. "I'm sorry chief!" Now even Akai showed up down below. "I tried to tell them not to come down here, I tried to stop them, but they opened the doors from the outside and.." But when she saw that June was in the room with them, things started to make more and less sense to her. "Who..how..why is she here?" This person had not shown up on any cameras or maps at all. Only her own eyes could register the presence.
"My defenses are breaking." June let out a deep sigh.
"That is not the only thing that should be broken! Guys, she is trying to drain information from the computer with that device!" Eric pointed at the small machine attached to the larger ones. "Not for long!" So Alice ran up to it, detached it, and tossed it against the walls as hard as she could. "!" June cringed as she looked at the device. It had been smashed beyond repair. "Learned that from me, did you?" Emily snickered. "Anyway, the jig is up, whoever you are." She and the rest of the duelist all surrounded her. "June. You will come with us." Cassius was not going to let her go. Even if she won the duel, she could not escape all six of them. "Heh. I wouldn't get your hopes up. I got enough of what I came for.. even if I had to pollute the scene." June deactivated her dueldisk and dismissed the holograms. The woman had nothing to gain from continuing the duel now. "So, this is a goodbye. Maybe we will meet another time." Suddenly a bright light and loud noise dominated the room. "Gahh!" Everyone was blinded and deafened for a sizeable instant. When they came to, June had vanished.
"Where did she go? How did she get out?" Uno cursed. They had her, and now they didn't. This woman could not have gone through the exit, passed him. "She knew something! She had to... ugh." He took a deep breath. Uno did not like being this enraged. "What do you mean? You think she..was the one who made you lose your memories?She took them?" Emily could guess why he came to that conclusion. June had chosen very specific words to say. "Taking memories? That sounds a little farfetched." That did not mean others, like Akai, could accept that. Allthough she could not reason away June's ability to move while not being seen or heard. "No. Maybe he is right. I did.. start to fade away as I lost more lifepoints." Eric spoke up. "It was like I stopped caring. Like she got into my head somehow.. Maybe she was." That would certainly be one explanation for her impeccable intuition. "Argh. This is my fault. I should have stopped her. I couldn't do anything!"
"Hey you did a lot! If you hadn't gotten distracted, that woman would have gotten away with her plans!" Alice refused to listen to his negativity. "So what if you couldn't win?" At least they nobody got hurt, mentally or physically. "She's right. You did me and the guild a great favor, Eric. You brought a new concern to light." Cassius said. He was picking up the pieces of the broken machine. "..." It looked like it had tranceiver parts, possibly to send the data to a far-away source. Who knew how much it had copied before it was disconnected. "I do not know who was responsible, or what they wanted to find out. But our mainframe is still intact. That is what matters. This June person. If she is registered as a duelist, we will learn her true identity soon enough." Cassius turned to Uno. "Now. I made you a promise. Since we're all here, I might as well put in the request directly." Cassius opened a terminal. "Sir? Can we do that?" Akai asked. "What harm could it do? We can use the time to look for this June person as well." As Cassius put in the search criteria, Uno waited in silence. Would it be so easy, so soon?
"..Ah. I.. I am sorry." Cassius backed away from the screen. "I had counted on it to work, but.." Uno and the others could see the search results. There were none. "..Of course." Uno was not lucky at all. The database had nothing on his name, his face, or even the type of shades he had with him. "Heh. I knew all along it would be this way." There was nothing to see on there about June either. So he was just like her and the dueldisk he carried, a ghost in the system. "If we do not know, the other guilds probably won't might not even know."
"They know something." Uno stated. "They know UNO."
(To be Continued in Annex 011: Accept no Substitutes)
New Cards used by Eric Stonewell
Nikitama
Fenghuang
Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi
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Monster Reincarnation
Double Summon
Mirror of Yata
New Cards used by Cassius
Speedroid RedEyed Dice
Speedroid Terrortop
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Hi-Speedroid Chanbara
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Shock Surprise
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Compulsory Evacuation Device
New Cards used by 'June'
Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit
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Ritual Beast Ulti-Pettlephin
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Ritual Beast Bonds
Mistaken Accusation