Annex 012: Elementary

"Give me a reason I should do this." Vice had a choice to face Iria to prove his innocence. "I think you should do what she says." Uno knew this woman a little more than Vice. It was not a good idea to say no to her. "If you comply, I can have Dreamworld itself endorse your establishment. If you refuse, I will detain you and investigate all of your assets. Your shop would be shut down, of course." Miss Silver herself made her terms crystal clear. "When you put it like that.." Vice grabbed a random disk from the stalls. That was the only good answer. "Are you just going to stand there, or are we dueling in the arena?" Iria had not budged from the stairs since she showed up here. "I am fine right here. It suits you to duel me from a lower position." Iria scoffed. "And what are we supposed to do?" Eric was slightly upset that they were all dragged into this mess. "Just wait and observe. Your time will come."

Iria's LP: 8000 Vice's LP: 8000

"I take the first turn!" Vice drew five cards. "That is natural for the lord of his domain." Iria did not care much either way. "...I think I'll summon Cyber Dragon Core, the spine of Cyber Dragons." Vice's first monster was a small mechanical serpent(2/400/1500), hooked up on red glowing wires. "Core adds a Cyber card from my deck to my hand; how about Cybernetic Fusion Support." Vice used the dragons effect on a spell card in his deck. Then he placed a trap card face-down and ended his turn. "Cybers? Those cards have fusion monsters, don't they?" Alice asked Uno. She knew a little about them, just not enough to see where this duel was going. "They do; some of the strongest fusions in the game.." Uno meanwhile was more curious to see Iria's turn.

"A fusion cyber deck is what I would expect from a man lke you." The woman did not sound impressed. "Fusion, Synchro, XYZ; they are all the same in the end. What matters is which deck is the most functional. I activate a continuous spell." The card that was activated, Return of the Monarchs, said everything a duelist needed to know. "Monarchs!?" Now Uno could identify her deck. Vice could too. "Those cards? You can't use the extra deck while that spell is active! And Monarchs need to be tribute summoned. Where will you find a tribute?" Rarely anyone dared to duel without their extra deck these days. "I already have one." But Iria had the perfect response. She activated a quickplay spell; The Monarchs Stormforth. "With this spell, I can use your monster as a tribute once this turn." The floor began to shake. "Mine?" Cyber Dragon Core was sucked into the earth. "I tribute your card to summon mine; Granmarg the Rock Monarch." The ground split open and the emperor of the earthen element; Granmarg(6/2400/1000), arose.

"Two effects activate now. Granmarg, when tribute summoned, destroys one card my opponent has set." Rock spikes shot forwards until they reached Vice's set trap card; Mirror Force. It was crushed beyond recognition. "Return of the Monarchs, when a monster is tribute summoned, adds a new monster with a different name from my deck to my hand. That monster has to have either 2400 or 2800 attackpoints, and 1000 defense points." Iria helped herself to a Zaborg Thunder Monarch card. "I will use one more spell, a field spell." The disciple activated a strange card. A six-pointed star symbol was thrown on the ground, casting a green glowing ricle around everyone. "The Seal of Orichalcos?" Vice gasped. Any of Iria's monsters would gain 500 attackpoints while they stood inside this Seal. "I enter the battle phase, and my Monarch attacks." Granmarg(2900/1000) raised a huge boulder above its head and slammed it down near Vice. "I suggest you to use something more potent now, Vice. Your theory can not be proven with small fries." Iria's turn ended.

Vice's LP: 5100

"Fine, miss dreamworld. I will show you my completely legitimate fusion monster. I activate the second effect of Cyber Dragon Core. When I control no monsters, a destroyed Core can banish itself. It will then special summon a real Cyber Dragon from my deck." A light broke out from Vice's disk, creating a new image. The larger mechanical serpent(5/2100/1600) was created from the scrapped remains of the Core. "Then I normal sumnmon Cyber Dragon Drei. It is treated as a Cyber Dragon on the field and in my graveyard." This cybernetic dragon(4/1800/800) was thinner and longer than the classic model. "Everything is in place." Vice had a second original Cyber Dragon in his hand already. "For your Monarch, two heads will not do. I activate Polymerization!" There was the fusion spell, it targeted the Cybers on his field and the Cyber Dragon in his hand. "I fuse all three dragons to fusion summon Cyber End Dragon!" Metal merged with metal, the dragon grew in size and gained wings. It had become a massive sight to behold; a three-headed warmachine(10/4000/2800).

Nevertheless Iria seemed more interested in her own dueldisk screen than the fusion dragon. "I see. The energy from this process is lower than the one at the guild's location." Her device had analyzed the extra deck summon that just transpired. "The guild location? You mean you compared this fusion with June's fusion?" Uno asked her. Fortunately this time she was willing to answer. "Her fusion is what we call Contact-fusion. A variant, but it should still require the same amount of energy from the holo-grid. Whatever organization that woman belongs too, it appears to have no relation to this man here." Iria finally looked at her opponent again, still with disdain. "June? Contact Fusion? What in the hell are you going on about? I kept my fusion intact! Am I not cleared yet?" Vice was getting angry. He wanted to hear why was this duel still going on. But he was not going to get anything from Iria, she was as silent as the grave. "You know what? Screw you and screw your boss. You dreamworld people think you can push us around?" Cyber End Dragon attacked, utterly annihilating Granmarg with three destructive laserbeams.

Iria's LP: 6900

"I must not have heard you correctly." Iria's words pierced the smoke of the destruction. "That sounded like anger to me." Her turn, she drew her card. "Anger reveals guilt." One card of hers was set down in the spell/trap zone. Another.. was special summoned. "This monster, Mithra the Thunder Vassal, can summon itself by summoning a Vassal token to my opponent's side of the field." Two female envoys appeared, wearing silver armor and a tiger-pattern robes around their legs. One(2/1300/1000) was the real Mithra. The other was a doppelganger token(2/800/1000) and appeared at Cyber End Dragons side. "It will be the tribute." The Vassal sacrificed itself, so that its similarly-armored emperor(6/2900/1000) could be normal summoned. "Zaborg the Thunder Monarch destroys one monster now that it is tribute summoned." Zaborg fired a bolt of lightning at the Vassal token, blowing it to pieces. "Yeah every king has its disciple. And your master has one with bad aim! You should have used that effect on my dragon." Vice chuckled.

"Do not lecture me, Vice. Your dragon's destruction will come. But not because of a mere Monarch." Iria also made use of her continuous spell's effect. Return of the Monarchs added a monster to her hand, a Monarch with 2800 attackpoints. "It will be destroyed by Zaborg the Mega Monarch." She placed the monster on top of the original thunder monarch. "Another tribute summon?!" Vice saw, Zaborg transform into its fiercer mega-form(8/3300/1000). Red devil horns grew from its shoulders, and his green hair spiked outwards. Just like its weaker self, Mega Zaborg could destroy one monster now that it was tribute summoned. Cyber End Dragon was the only target. "Level 8 monsters need two tributes, don't they?" Eric did not understand this turn of events at all. "Mithra allows a second tribute summon, if it is used as a tribute for the first. And Mega Monarchs can be tribute summoned with just one monster, if the tribute was tribute summoned itself." Uno was the only one who could follow this womans moves it seemed.

"This is the end for your fused dragon." A storm of thunder descended from above, smiting Cyber End Dragon where it stood. "This is also the end for your other fusions." Iria set her sights on Vice's extra deck. "My other fusions.. what are you doing?" Vice's own disk was ejecting card after card, exiling them to his graveyard. "If the destroyed monster is a Light-type monster, its master must take cards out of the extra deck. The amount of cards to send to the grave, equals the level of Mega Zaborg's target." Cyber End Dragon was a light-type monster of the 10th level. Vice had to give up on 10 cards. He couldn't even choose which ones. "Additionally, as Mega Zaborg's tribute was a light-type monster itself, it gives me control over what is discarded from your extra deck." Both Zaborgs were light-elemental, meaning Iria had free reign over Vice's precious fusion monsters. "No!" Vice had to stand there helplessly as the disciple took care of the rest. Three Cyber-Twin Dragons, One Cyber-End Dragons, Two Cyber Dragon Novas, Two Chimeratech Fortress Dragons and Two Panzer Dragons; those were the cards he lost. "Without fusion monsters, you can not claim victory." Finally, the emperor attacked directly. Zaborg made it rain lightning around the shopkeeper.

Vice's LP: 1800

"Whoa.." Eric thought he had seen everything, but he did not know regular monsters could be this dangerous too. However, Vice was not out of his special reserves yet. "Without fusion monsters? Pfah! Extra decks can hold fifteen cards! You only took eleven!" Vice still had two Chimeratech Rampage Dragons and two Chimeratech Overdragons. "I only need one to beat you." Vice started his turn and took his next card. "I've already proved to you that my cards are authentic! And now I will prove that I am the better duelist as well. I activate Power Bond and Cybernetic Fusion Support!" A normal spell and a quickplay spell were activated in sequence. The latter resolved first. "Fusion Support takes half my lifebar. In exchange I can now banish fusion materials from the scrapheap, if I try to fusion summon something this turn. And that is what Power Bond will do.."

Vice's LP: 900

"Eh? There are other spells that can fuse too?" Alice and Eric experienced another event for the first time. The Bonding spell recycled all the Cyber Dragons in the graveyard. "My next fusion needs two or more 'Cyber Dragons' as a base!" Parts were welded together; becoming part of a metal center(5/2100/1600) of the darkness attribute. "And yes, Power Bond is a unique fusion spell. It can make fuse materials for a fusion machine and double that card's attackpoints! Here is it, Chimeratech Rampage Dragon!" Three heads and three tails came out of the core's openings. Their(4200/1600) energy was boosted by the spell's Power. "Rampage Dragon destroys one spell or trap for each Cyber Dragon that was used to summon it! Rampage Dragon can also attack three times this turn, if I send two Light-type machines from my deck to the grave!" Essentially, the Chimeratech monster could overwhelm Mega Zaborg and Iria's lifepoints all in one battle phase. Not to mention, all her spells and her trap would be wiped out. "I've wo.."

Vice's LP: 0

"to..ry?" That was not how things turned out. What actually happened was that Vice's fusion monster left the field. "No. Nonono..wait.. wait." And there was a new monster on Iria's field now; a demonic emperor(6/2400/1000) of the dark element. "Did you not see what trap I activated? I used Escalation of the Monarchs, before it could be destroyed by your fusion monsters effect." Escalation of the Monarchs could tribute summon a monster during the turn of Iria's opponent. "I tributed Mega Zaborg to summon Caius the Shadow Monarch and activate its effect. Caius banishes one monster on the field. If that monster had the dark element, its former master loses 1000 lifepoints." That was how Iria won before she could lose.

"You prepared this. Your Mega Zaborg only left him fusion monsters that had a dark attribute, on purpose." It was Alice who noticed Iria's entire design. "And he played his part perfectly." Only Chimeratech Rampage Dragon and Overdragon would trigger Caius' burn effect. It had been Iria's intention to end the duel with that surprise tribute summon from the start. "You played me!" Vice had done it to himself. Of course, the woman had seen him add Cybernetic Fusion Support to his hand. She knew he would halve his lifepoints with that spell eventually. "Someone had to play, Vice. You were never even in control. And I do not rely on luck." She snapped her fingers and made a row of bodyguards come down the stairs. "And your crime has been determined." They came at the shopkeeper with cuffs. "But we finished our duel!" Vice protested and struggled. "Oh, my disk already confirmed your cards to be imitations halfway during that match; stable but fraudulent nonetheless." The best fakes Vice had kept to himself. Not even those could not fool Iria's machines. "Since then? Then why did you let the duel continue?" Vice demanded an answer. "Because you insulted My master with your words and your actions. You had to learn your place, Vice."

"This is all Dreamworlds fault, you and your official stores! This was the only way I could keep my business going! Raaagh!" Not yet defeated, the shopkeeper tried to leap at Iria. His efforts were rewarded with a forcefield to the face. "Imbecile." Naturally Iria had protected herself. She wouldn't mingle with the rif-raff without her barriers. "Take him." Half-conscious, the shopkeeper was dragged of by Iria's goons. He swore to not tell them anything while his screams could still be heard.

When the silence came, Iria dismissed the forcefield. "So, our turn. What's it gonna be? You finally have me." Uno had little faith in any plan that entailed running away. On a certain level this was what he wanted; a chance to talk to this person. "What if she wants to duel again? I'm sorry Uno, but she was like.. wow.. unstoppable." Despite his new deck, Eric he had seen too much of Iria's skills to conceive of a fight where any of them could stop her. "Miss Iria, can Eric get his money back?" Alice did not even have her mind on a confrontation, but on the fact that Eric had been deceived. "Uh.. Alice. Don't think she's here to help us." Uno was positive that begging her for anything would lead to disaster. "But if she wanted to fight, wouldn't she have done it already?"

Before the standoff could be resolved, the duelists gained more company. "Guys!" Emily appeared from the ground floor. "Greetings!" And Zach was right behind her. "Em?" It was a rather unorthodox combination, even for Iria. "Creffield? This was not part of the plan." She hissed while Emily passed her to rejoin the group. "I found her at the hotel. I told her to wait, but she did not." Zach absolved himself of all blame. Except for the fact that he told her about Iria going to the cardshop in the first place, that was his mistake. "He was there? Where they waiting for us and mom? Did you see her?" Alice still wanted to know. But the question had the same answer as last time. "They didn't see her either." Emily shook her head. In all likelihood, their mother was at an important meeting somewhere. That was how it always went with her line of work. "Ahem.. Still waiting for an answer." Uno was prepared for a duel or a speech or anything. "What? You mean you haven't told them yet, Silver?" Zach said, mildly perturbed. "Tell us what?"

"I.. owe you an apology."

"Excuse me?" That sounded like the start of a confession. "Don't make me repeat myself." For Iria it was difficult enough to get the words out the first time. "I called you a thief. By now it has become clear to us that your dueldisk and your pendulum cards were not stolen from our facilities. We cannot accuse you of that crime anymore. So the first matter to attend to was that, to inform you of your status." This appeared to be an official pardon, albeit a vague one. "So what then? Are you going to arrest me for using embezzled merchandise?" Uno figured the next logical conclusion was for them to say his stuff came from stores like this one. "The master believes that this time it is better to regard you as innocent until proven guilty." Zach spread his arms. "Look around. There is a lot of evidence here. The fact that even this store is corrupt proved that the black market scene is bigger than we thought. Here we can start investigating. We can can also compare Vice's material with the dueldisk Emily Brandt left us." He directed a knowing wink at Emily. "You're welcome." She mumbled.

"That is how the master sees it, we can help each other find the real culprits. Yes, Eric will get his money back. And if he wants, we can discuss the proper steps to becoming a duelist." The way Zach spoke, one could think they were on good terms now. "Zach." Uno was aware of the risks. It was better to cut this guy off, than to listen to his entire speech. "If we can do things for each other. That is great. But you can do something for me too, you can tell me who UNO is."

"Do not presume too much, Uno. We have only given you a temporary reprieve. You are not entitled to anything, let alone our trust." Uno's question earned Iria's ire. He saw that coming. "Then you obviously have thought of some way for me to gain that trust." Otherwise, as Alice has said before, they wouldn't be talking but fighting. "Yes. The Master decided it." Iria produced four tickets from a case that Zach had brought with him. "What are these?" The tickets had no words on it, just a date and a coordinates. "Invitations for the upcoming tournament. They instruct you when and where to go." Zach said. "The Tournament? That was what those guys were talking about." Eric remembered that Jet and Boris had mentioned it offhand. "The guilds were already informed, now you know as well. The master wants you, Uno, to enter his tournament. Your friends may join as well, if they wish. But it is you who he wants to see in the arena. To be eligible, you must have a high rank, and be member of a guild." The Master was not making it easy, apparently. "So he wants me to duel, why?"

"Because we will be dueling as well. We will determine just how far you are willing to go, to get answers."

(To be Continued in Annex 013: X marks the Spot)

Cards used by Iria Silver
Granmarg the Rock Monarch
Mithra the Thunderstorm Vassal
Zaborg the Thunderstorm Monarch
Zaborg the Mega Monarch
Caius the Shadow Monarch

-
Return of the Monarchs
The Monarchs Stormforth
Seal of Orichalcos

-
Escalation of the Monarchs

Cards used by Vice
Cyber Dragon Core
Cyber Dragon
Cyber Dragon Drei
Cyber End Dragon

-
Chimeratech Rampage Dragon

-
Polymerization
Power Bond
Cybernetic Fusion Support

-
Mirror Force