Annex 015: Damage Control
Though Alice, Adamant and Uno stayed outside on the golf course when the commercial hit the screens, they could hear what was said well enough. "The Blank slate. Pendulums as the prize." Only now did the leader of the guild release Uno's hand. "I do not understand what game you and Dreamworld are playing, but i will have no part of it. Keep your cards, Uno." Adamant walked away from him, passing Alice by along the way. "Thank you." She said to him, causing him to slow down. "That was not an act of generosity. Your friend simply has nothing to offer me, not anymore." He scowled at her. Being seen as considerate was the last thing he wanted. "Leave this place now. Or we will force you out." The deal was to let them stay if Uno won his duel. As he did not, they were now trespassers.
"Kgh. What an a-hole." Eric cursed once he was sure that Adamant was inside. He knew better than to insult him to his face. "Leave it, Eric. He's still won. We cannot stay here." Emily returned at this point. "Em? Did you reach dad?" Alice wondered if her sister had had enough time to make a proper call. "Yeah. He's okay. The details can wait." At least they had not come all this way for nothing. "Hey, you four." And there were still 'allies' here. "You aren't with the Synchro guild, are you?" Lambert had noticed their guest-tags. The synchro guild did not just freely hand those out. "No. But Aar.. Cassius is a friend. He showed us the castle. Please tell me you have other hotspots around here besides that one." It would take all evening to drive back there, which Emily really did not want too. "I'm affraid we dont.. now." Lambert shook his head. "This was the last location we sponsored near the city. Now the XYZ-guild controls them all. The Castle is your best bet. If you know Cassius, you already have all you need to get in."
"Uno? Yo, Uno! You haven't gone in shock have you?" Eric raised his voice to get a response from the duelist. "I hate it as much as the rest and if it were up to me, I'd take on as many as I could. But.. oh." It took just a few words, eventually Uno snapped out of his trance. "You don't have to worry about avenging me or anything Eric. Nobody wins them all, dueling would be boring otherwise." The performer put on a smile. "It still sucks what they did to you." Eric growled, his fists were clenched. "I think we both knew I wasn't cut out to be part of their guild." Even if he had won, Uno did not know if he would enjoy the help of these people. "Are you sure you are okay though?" Alice asked as she looked at Uno, trying to decipher whether or not his expression was genuine. It was hard to tell when ones eyes were covered by red shades. "Trust me, I am over it." Uno stretched his arms. His body seemed heavy, as if it had just woken up from a deep sleep. It wasn't the loss that ailed him. "Let's just exit this stage before they decide on an encore."
Adamant observed their departure through the window. He then took a cellphone from his uniform and took a snapshot of the group with it. Then he made a call. "Second, this is Adamant. I am placing an order for a background check. Name; Uno. Description; see the attached image file. I want to know everything that can be found about him." He listened to some words from the other end of the line. "It is important. They say he does not remember who he is. He could be one of the Enemy."
...
The trip back to Cassius gave Emily and the others plenty of time to talk things over. "So Dreamworld makes all that racket about you stealing their cards, and then they release them to the world anyway. Try and figure that one out." The immediate subject naturally was that commercial that had been aired. "It's not a bad play actually. Dreamworld can't arrest me for stealing something they didn't make. They also don't want people to know about Pendulum cards before they're official. The obvious answer is to push the release date so that everyone can have them. I figured they would try to do something after they let me go." Uno had already ruined their initial plan when he revealed the Pendulums to the synchro guild. This was just their way to neutralize the threat of leaks. "Aw, but I wanted to the second duelist with Pendulums." Eric moaned. "Eric. I don't know if I could teach you that much to begin with. Pendulum cards are not just my specialty anymore."
"No way. You're still unique!" Alice abruptly cried out. "I mean. You will still be the first, and nobody can change that. People are more than what they have! You can be whatever you want to be!" Earlier she had said that Uno would become a lesser man if he would lose his cards too. But that did not mean she saw the cards as a limit. He had more freedom than anyone. "Alice. I know why you're saying this. You don't have to. I want to duel. I liked doing it, I like doing it." He would try something else, except then he would stray from what he believed to be the straightest path to his identity. It didn't help that the last two duels did not restore any of his memories. "That reminds me, Alice. Thank you. You tried to stop Adamant." Whether or not it was her that got the XYZ-guild to back off did not matter. In the end she stood up for him. "Oh? It was nothing.. you'd do the same for me. Oh wait, you did do the same for me." Alice blushed and laughed it off. "Ha. True. Back then you said you could have found new cards if you lost your old ones. I would have done the same.. Besides, I do have one other thing. Not quite sure if that is as replaceable."
"You mean the shiny pendant?" Alice had not forgotten about that. Though she hadn't noticed its glow earlier. Only Uno did. "Yes the shiny pendant. I somehow doubt it's something you can find in shops. Maybe that is worth a search. Aarons big old database can help with that, yeah?" He looked at Emily as if she had the answer. "Uh. I guess. Would've saved you a lot of trouble if you did that the first time. Or didn't you trust him then?" Emily remembered how Uno never showed the pendulum jewel to the synchro guild. She hadn't thought anything of it at the time. "Maybe we shouldn't?" Eric interjected. "Hey, what are you getting at?" Emily fired back, annoyed that Eric was implying something negative about Cassius. "The XYZ guild somehow heard about Uno. Someone must have told them. The only other guild that saw him duel was the Synchro one! So.."
"It wasn't Aaron!" She hissed. As far as she was concerned, this conversation was over. "Alright. Okay, he wasn't, geez." Eric gave up, though his suspicions remained. They dod not talk much for the rest of the journey.
Late into the evening, the truck arrived back at the underground levels of the castle. People were there to greet them; faces Uno had seen before and a face that was new. "I knew it!" One of those people was Mrs. Brandt herself. "I knew she'd be here!" Alice immediately jumped into her embrace. "Honey, oof, calm down." In appearance and demeanor she resembled Emily more. "You didn't sit in the back out in the open all day, did you? What if you caught a cold?" Though it was clear that she cared for her daughters, she couldn't stop fussing. "Mom. We aren't sick." Alice protested as her mother placed a hand on her forehead. "I'm sorry. It was the only way to travel." Emily and Eric joined the two. "As long as you're alright. But I never thought we would have to get together like this. Your friend told me what was happening, and I still do not really understand." The woman sighed. Then she noticed the man who was still in the truck. "So that is your new friend.."
"Yeah. That's me." At first Uno was a little reluctant to go out and say hello to the mother of two people he had caused so much trouble for. There just was nowhere else to go. "Don't be too harsh on him, mom. He is as confused as the rest of us." At least Emily was quick to come to his defense, and her mother looked understanding enough. "Hi." He took of his shades and greeted her as he would any other person. "Hello Uno. My name is Heather Brandt. I was told about your condition, I cannot imagine how that feels. This company must think they can get away with anything if they are going after those with amnesia." The righteous part of Heather flared up inside her. She had always been of the opinion that companies like Dreamworld were taking too much power for themselves. "Present company excluded of course. Aaron has been very nice to me while we waited." The guilds also often caused trouble for the government, but this one seemed to be okay. "Ehr. People call me Cassius now, but you can keep calling me Aaron, if you want." He chuckled. "...I am running out of ways to be grateful to you, Aaron." Emily said.
"So... You ran into the XYZ-guild. Lambert already reported it to me." Cassius took over the discussion from here. "I could have warned you. We knew the XYZ-guild was taking over our locations. I just did not think they would be bold enough to come this close to our official headquarters. The part that worries me is that they are not doing it for the money from the sponsorship deals." Whatever they were doing it for, it could not be good. "Oh they are bold alright! Especially that Adamant guy. It's like they are doing it just because they can." Emily spoke with as much disdain as she could muster. Uno cringed a little, as Adamants name came up again. "He was strong, too strong. They all are! Are XYZ-monsters just better than Synchro and Fusion monsters?" Eric asked. "They have been more popular as of late. They were the third extra deck type to be created. I wouldn't say they're better. It's just that they are easier to get out. Guild-wise though, the XYZ-guild has the most members out of all of them, and the best contest records."
"I need to become stronger then." Uno said with his eyes fixated on his dueldisk. "The surprise factor of the Pendulums is not cutting it now that everyone knows. I need a new edge. No that's a terrible word, I need a new twist!" He talked in a way that Cassius could follow up on. "Synchros would be easier to summon with Pendulums, possibly." They both could tell where Uno wanted to go. "But I don't have tuners." Even if Uno went with more generic synchros, he couldn't randomly toss a tuner into his deck of Performapals. "Oh, but that is where I come in! If you join our guild, you get the benefit of card creation! We can request Dreamworld to craft new card designs for us, and you will get them by the end of the week. A lot of guild members do this for existing archetypes when a tournament comes around. That is how most new cards are made. Any duelist can get his hands on a few extra deck cards, especially with those new boosters coming out, but through a guild you can get what you need the most. Even if there are limits to what we can ask."
"And what if you had a Blank slate?" Uno asked. "Oh yeah, that was announced again. The blank slate is one of the annual tournament prizes. The winning guild gets unlimited access to the card database and they can request pretty much anything. Even pendulums now, going by that commercial. Whoever wins decides the landscape of dueling for the next year. That is why the XYZ-guild spread out so quickly." With that kind of assistance, one could get pendulum tuners or pendulum XYZ monsters. "That sounds awesome!" Eric was naturally interested. But so was Emily. "It does. Dueling's fun, but it would be more fun if someone could take those killjoys down a peg."
"I wouldn't get too many ideas, young man." Mrs. Brandt felt she had to respond to Erics bravado. "I believe your mother is worried sick about you, and she wanted you to come back home as soon as possible." She heard all this from James, who she had called earlier today. "She did?" Eric gulped. "But I can't go back now! That would go against the entire adventure! I'm old enough to do what I want!" He was about to start a huge rant. Instead his mouth opened to let out a long yawn. "You will have to convince her, not me. Either way, nothing will be happening today anymore. It is clearly too late. I can stay with you for the night." They would have to see about further plans in the morning. "..Yeah. Sleeping sounds like a good idea." Eric granted her that. Being mad all day sure drained a man. "Well you know where the rooms are." Cassius opened the doors for them. They could sleep in the same bed. This was starting to feel like a deja vu, Uno thought. "Hey." As the others strolled towards their rooms, Uno waited. He wanted to be alone with Cassius. "Can you do me a favor?"
"Sure. What is it?"
Minutes later, he and Cassius were down below in the archives. Uno had already seen the place, there was nothing worse he could do as long as Cassius stayed with him. Dwon there Uno told him about his pendulum jewel. Cassius scanned it with his dueldisk and used the mainframe to look for comparable images on the network. Theese results were also less than illuminating. "I am sorry." There were no hits online, this pendant wasn't just a trinket. Yet there was nothing to explain why the thing could glow like a lightbulb at times. "You're sure that you saw it light up?"
"Three times now. It's not just me, Emily, Alice and Eric saw it too." If it had not been for them, he might have accepted that he was a bit crazy. But he had them. "...?" This time though, he only had Cassius near him. And he did not witness what Uno saw next. "Behind you!" Right next to them Uno spotted a shadow shaped like a human, but only in between seconds. It was gone with the next blink. "Behind me?" Cassius had no idea what had spooked Uno. "You didn't.. Never mind. Maybe I am going crazy.." Uno rubbed his eyes. "Maybe you're just tired." Cassius humored him. "Probably." Uno lied. He was not tired at all. "Uno. Maybe you do need to see a doctor.. or at least a shrink." He turned to Cassius. "I need another favor.. in the shape of a car."
...
The next morning, everyone regrouped for their second guild-endorsed breakfast. "So what do you think, mom? Is the food better here, or at the hotel?" Talk started light. "You shouldn't really compare the two, Alice. If it is good, it is good. Also do not play with your food." Heather was a little out of her comfort zone, but she made it work and got some mothering in as well. "Ahem." Eventually one of them touched upon a delicate subject. "Mom. I have something to say, something I hope you and dad will understand." Emily cleared her throat. "What is it dear?" Her mother inquired. "I want to join this guild." Her daughter declared. "What?" It was the other daughter who had the first reaction, she was shocked. "Sis? Why?" Alice appeared to be more confused than their mother. Not that Mrs. Brandt could empathize completely either. "Join them? Is that possible?" Only Eric seemed to be on board. "Yeah it is! That Cassius guy said so!"
"I did." Cassius took this moment to show his face. He had a knack for timing. "You want to join, Em? Did I get that right?" He was very happy to hear it. "I do. Hear me out, mom, sis.. I owe Aaron. He did a lot for us, so I want to repay him. Those XYZ-people are giving him trouble and taking members and stuff away. And they're gonna win the tournament too at this rate. So if I can even it out just a little.. Also, I really.. really, want to duel those jerks and show 'em what for. I saw what duelings has become and I dont want them to win and make it even worse." This was the quickest way to fixing the flaws with her deck, and this was probably the best guild to join. "There's the duelist inside you. You love the game enough to stand up for it." Cassius clapped his hands. "Mrs. Brandt, you do not have to worry about this affecting her life. Being member of the guild is more of a hobby than an obligation. She can still live where she want, go to school where she wants. This just allows me to help her, as one duelists to another."
"As for how you do it. You can either take on a few members in regular matches. Or you can try and shoot for a high rank with a duel against yours truly." Cassius pointed at himself. "Me? Against you?" Emily did not expect him to offer that. "Sure. If you can defeat me, your rank would rise rapidly. Though, a match against the top guild duelist entails special rules. The challenge does not have to be done right now though." They both needed time to prepare decks after all. "Today 's good. You're good, Aaron." Emily insisted nonetheless. "But, Em, that guy is really tough! You think you can beat him?" Having seen Cassius in a duel, Eric could not give Emily good odds. "It has to be him. I don't know his deck, but I know the duelist." Cassius could not have changed that much play-wise, no matter how many years he had been a member of this guild. "And I know you, dear. You really want this, don't you?" For Heather, that was more than enough. Her daughter had her consent. "Thanks mom."
"Aaron? Have you seen Uno by the way?" Alice asked, as Uno had not been this late for breakfast yesterday. "He had to do something, on his own. So I gave him one of our cars and he drove off. He also said you don't need to worry. He'll be back before the end of the day." What Cassius didn't say was where Uno was going. Uno did not want him to tell the others that he was going to look for answers by himself. And he was not actually sure when he'd come back.
(To be Continued in Annex 016: Slow and Steady)