Annex 018: Beautiful on the Outside

If the words of fortunetellers could truly be trusted, then time was not a luxury Uno could afford. He wanted to visit the fusion guild as soon as possible, the very next day. Emily and Cassius traveled with him to represent their guild while Alice and Eric tagged along because they too were invited. After much pleading, Eric got his mother to okay one more night with the gang. It took a ferry to bring them to the island. It took their invitation papers to get them beyond the doors of the casino. "Wow." The inside looked as extravagant as all the neon signs outside had suggested. Half the place was filled with virtual arcades, giftshops, gambling machines, dancing stages and dueling arenas. "Just think, we could win a million dollars here." Eric was salivating at the thought. "What would we do with all that money?" Alice was more interested in just playing on the machines. "You gotta be practical about these things. Erh,.. not that we should try." Emily coughed. "Heh. Sounds like someone has given this some thought after all." Cassius joked. "Maybe.. Once. If it ever happened.." Emily sheepishly admitted.

The only one who didn't talk was Uno. He had no interest in gambling on a normal day, and certainly not now. He preferred thinking opponents. Uno instead made a beeline for the elevator that led to the main office. "Excuse us." Yet there was a man in the way; a pretty-boy type with styled blonde hair. He wore a T-shirt with the fusion logo on it, the kind of shirt that probably cost a good hundred bucks. "That's as far as you go." He did not budge from the elevator door. "Nobody told you that we were expected?" Uno showed him the invitation as well. "Oh no, I was told. But this is part of the 'tour'. Those above wish to see you, but also wonder if you are at all worthy of stepping into their domain." He spoke in a disdainful manner that made it seem like he shared that opinion. "Is that so? I can vouch for him. My position should count for something." Cassius protested. "Why drag us all the way out here otherwise?"

"I think I know what counts." Uno activated his dueldisk. "Defeating one of you in a duel should be enough to prove my 'worth', right?" History was repeating itself. Only this time Uno would take the initiative. "That will suffice. They foresaw such an eventuality and deigned me, Meridian, to act as their right hand. I will be your opponent." He rolled back his sleeve to unveil his dueldisk; a gem-studded and silver-painted model. "I accept." Uno said, unwavering. "Exquisite The rest of your friends are welcome to observe our engagement. Or they may browse around. You will find plenty of entertainment, nourishment and merchandise in our halls." The choice was theirs and the second option was too much for one duelist to ignore. "Alright!" Eric raced towards the shops without a moments hesitation. Hundreds of cards awaited him. "Uh. I'll go with him." Cassius offered. But Emily shook her head. "No no. Let me. I'm used to this." She wanted him to stay here anyway, it felt safer that way. "Alice? Do you want to come too?" She asked her sister. "No. I'm happy watching Uno play. You go." She smiled. "Oh.. bit surprising. But okay. Uno, Aaron, I'll be back as soon as I can." Emily took off in Erics general direction.

"Now then, follow me." The three duelists who stayed behind were led to one of the arenas at the center of the building. From there everyone could see them. "Will the top brass be watching?" Cassius inquired. "They can see us, there are cameras to cover every inch of this place. If they like what they see, they will come to meet you in person. If not, I will go up in rank instead. So dnot expect this to be a walk in the park. I intend to win." Meridian stepped on his side of the arena. Holographic enhancers cast their light on the field before him. This kind of equipment was a taste of what was to come in the tournament. "Uno. You're not worried are you?" Alice had noticed that Uno did not look as enthusiastic as he usually did. "No, not that." He did feel different. Like this duel was only a formality he had to get through. "This wont be like the last time." He activated his own unique dueldisk and started the fight. The first turn was awarded to him. "I set a card in my spell/trap zone and normal summon Performapal Silverclaw!" The show began with he silver wolf(4/1800/700). Its fur flashed brilliantly under the lights of the Casino and the projectors.

Meridians LP: 8000 Uno's LP: 8000

"So those are the illustrious Pendulum monsters. They certainly are a sight." Meridian started his turn. "Yet now I shall grant you a true feast for the eyes! I activate the spell of Absorbfusion! This card adds one Gemknight from my deck to my hand!" Meridian used the first effect on a Gemknight Tourmaline card. It appeared all of his cards had a glossy sparkling foil applied to them. There was not a common among them. "Then I may apply immediate fusion to monsters on my hand or field! Though I may not special summon anything but Gemknights this turn!" The Tourmaline gem in his hand was banished along with a Gemknight Crystal. "Fusion already?" Alice was stunned that he could gather his fusion materials this quickly. "There are a thousand ways to fuse, but mine may be the most splendid! Behold, Gemknight Topaz!" Yellow and white crystal were merged into a knight(6/1800/1800) in topaz-orange armor. "My Gemknight may attack twice in one turn. Furthermore, when Topaz slays a monster, its master loses lifepoints equal to the monsters attackpower!" And as Meridian had not normal summoned yet this turn, he could summon the red/brown warrior Gemknight Sardonyx(4/1800/900) from his hand. "I shall cut your lifepoints first!"

"I have three guys who disagree with you, Meridian!" Uno activated his set quickplay spell card; Hippo Carnival. "I special summon three Hippo tokens in defense mode! Only they can be attacked his turn!" The dancing hippo trio(1/0/0) jumped own in front of Silverclaw, to defend him. "Oho. I must say, I find those things quite repulsive." Meridian wanted to be nowhere near those things. He quickly had Topaz cut down two of them with this golden blades. Sardonyx crushed the last one with his spiked flail. "A pity that tokens and zero attackpoints do not set off the power of my Topaz." Meridian placed two trap cards down and ended his turn. "Being cute will not please the crowd today, Uno. Is that all you can do?"

"You haven't seen the half of it, Meridian." Uno's drawphase came, he pulled out Stargazer Magician. In his hand were three Performapals. "Nothing devastating." On one hand, he did not have Odd-Eyes the other hand, the last duel proved he had to rely less on it. "I summon Performapal Salutiger." The ringleader tiger warrior(4/1700/500) came to back the silver wolf up. "Then I shall set the scale 3 Pendulum monster; Performapal Partnaga!" One beam of light shot up to the ceiling, a red-ringed yellow snake lied inside the pendulum zone. "Just one scale?" Cassius did not know what Uno was trying to do. It wasn't going to be a pendulum summon. "While it is a spell card; Partnaga can add attackpoints to one monster for one turn. He gets 300 points for each Performapal card I control, that means three boosts!" The Naga grabbed Salutiger with the glove on its tailtip to enfuse it(2600/500) with more strength. "And let's not forget Silverclaw, who gives each Performer 300 attackpoints when he charges into battle!" Uno started the battle phase. Silverclaw(2100/700) targeted Sardonyx and cut the flame-colored quartz knight up into sharp fragments.

Meridians LP: 7700

"And Salutiger destroys..well you can guess." The other Performapal punched right through the chestplate of knight Topaz, scattering his crystal body like diamond dust. "Pretty." The glistening projections looked so real, Alice thought she could touch the dust with her hand. "Indeed. Attacking my fusion monster with lowlevel monsters like those. But then that was merely the most fragile of my gems." Meridian chuckled. "I wasn't done yet!" Uno activated Salutigers effect. Because it had destroyed a monster, he could add a new pendulum Performapal from his deck to his hand. "I add Performapal Lizardraw to my hand and end my turn!"

Meridians LP: 6600

"You think that will be enough for your defense?" Meridian drew his next card, and his expression changed. "And here I was dreading a delay. I should not have let my tastes dictate my actions. Uno, you know what the beauty of fusion is?" He activated a field spell card; Fusion Gate. A grid of green lines marked the floor. "They alone offer all choices!" Meridian followed it up with his trap card; Chain Material. "Oh boy!" Cassius flinched. He had seen this combo many times. "What is it?" Alice did not like the look of this either. "Chain Material can banish materials in his deck to summon fusion monsters. That effect lasts until the end of the turn. With Fusion Gate he can fuse materials as many times as he wants, if he banishes them. He won't need a fusing spell." By putting the trap and field spell together, Meridians entire extra deck was up for grabs. He could fusion summon the same monster three times if he wanted, just by banishing fusion materials from his deck. The only consolation was Chain Material blocking the battle phase during the turn it was activated.

"Adequately put, leader of the Synchro Guild." He set his plan in motion. "By fusing a Gemknight with an Aqua-type monster, Chain Material can fusion summon Gemknight Amethyst!" Gemknights Iolite and Saphire, two aqua-type Gemknights were banished along with two random Gemknights. Four went from the deck into the gate and Two purple-Amethyst armor knights(7/1950/2450) came out of the gate and extra deck. "By fusing any three Gemknights, I can create Gemknight Master Diamond!" Meridian now banished six random Gemknights from his deck, to fusion summon two of the kings of Gemknights; Gemknight Master Diamond(9/3300/2500). "Finally! Gemknight Lazuli, together with Gemknight Lapis.. will form Gemknight Lady Lapis Lazuli!" The gate opened for one more time, combining the essential elements to release the rock maiden of blue; Lapis Lazuli(5/2400/1000). Meridians masterpiece was complete. "Lapis Lazuli, she sends one Gemknight fusion from the extra deck to the grave, to inflict 500 points of damage to my enemy.. for each special summoned monster on the field!" The Lady Lapis sent a second Lady Lapis away, and gathered energy from herself and the other Gemknights into the crystal on her chest. Then energy was released. "And that means.. " Uno counted 2500 points of damage, which exploded in his chest. "Augh."

Uno's LP: 5500

"You did not hope that was the end of it, did you? Alas, Gemknight Master Diamond can imitate the effect of a fusion-monster Gemknight in the graveyard!" Meridian banished the copy of Lapis Lazuli that he had discarded. Its essence was absorbed by the Gem Kings sword. "Then.." Now Master Diamond(2900/2500) had the same effect as Lapis Lazuli. "Only one Lazuli can be summoned each turn. Master Diamond will have to finish what she started." The Diamond Knight discarded the third and final Lady Lapis from Meridians extra deck. Then it fired a wave of energy at Uno with his sword. "This is getting old, Meridian." He took the same amount of damage again.

Uno's LP: 3000

"Yet you cannot deny its effectiveness. My victory will be flawless. Your loss will guarantee my slot in the tournament, and the prize will be glorious." His second Gemknight Master Diamond banished the third Lapis Lazuli. With that stolen power, Master Diamond discarded a random fusion from the extra deck. Uno was blasted for the third time. "..." Uno looked more and more dejected with each hit, which Alice noticed. "You're okay, Uno! He is out of Gemknight ladies now!" She yelled. Even an extra deck could only hold three copies of any card.

Uno's LP: 500

"Naive girl; your friend already knows what I am about to do. Out of Gemknight Ladies? You have no clue!" Meridian laughed even louder. "I can also use Fusion Gate to combine monsters on the field!" One Master Diamond was banished along with the two Gemknight Amethysts. "Just like the King, the queen of diamonds can be fusion summoned with any three Gemknights! I call out Gemknight Lady Brilliant Diamond!" Purple and clear crystals were mixed by the field spell. The knights formed the female counterpart to Master Diamond; Brilliant Diamond(10/3400/2000). "Lady Diamond can sacrifice any Gemknight I possess, to summon a fused knight from the extra deck. She disregards any requirements for that fusion monster! I sacrifice my blue Lady and bring out my final King!" The Diamond Knight tributed the last Lapis Lazuli. The third Gemknight Master Diamond(3400/2500) was summoned from the extra deck. "Oh no!" Alice gasped. Now there was another Lapis Lazuli in the graveyard! "Master Diamond, you can see how the act goes!" The Master banished Lady Lazuli and copied her effect. Though there were only three special summoned monsters on the field now, Uno could not endure 1500 points of damage. "I activate the effect!" Master Diamond(3300/2500) charged his sword.

"Meridian. I could see the entire act too." Uno waited until the time was right. "I disagree with the ending! I activate Performapal Raingoat's effect from my hand! This guy negates effect damage once a turn!" A living raincoat jumped out of his hand. Raingoat spread his body to swallow the attack from Master Diamond. "What is this?" Meridian was shocked. He could have stopped damage all this time? "If you knew, why did you wait?" If Raingoat had blocked any of the earlier blasts, Uno would have a thousand more lifepoints. "What kind of showman would I be? If I did not build the suspense?" Uno snickered briefly. He and Meridian had a sizable audience, dozens of people in the casino were watching their duel. "You are a fool. A lucky fool, but luck wears thin quickly in this place." Meridian placed a trap card down and ended his turn. "My guild does not need duelists like you. You have one more turn, and then it all ends."

"One more?" Once again someone told him he had little time to spare. The people around were only just now getting into the duel, yet Meridian wanted it over with already. "These guilds are always in a hurry. Like they dont have much time either." Uno disliked it, but he had to admit that he had just gone through the motions so far. Ot wasn;t getting him any results. His deck seemed to agree, as Uno now finally drew Odd-Eyes. However there was no way to summon it. "You're supposed to tell me who I am? No, not just you.." Closer to him, obscured by his own jacket, was the light of his jewel. What was it trying to show him? Who else was using it? "Purple?" The light had a kind of hue that reminded him of the power he was up against. Was that what the pendulum wanted to say to him? Uno noticed his disk felt heavier, if ever so slightly.

"What are you waiting for?" Meiridian was growing impatient, Uno had been spacing out for a good minute now. It was the moment to break the silence. "I see you want to wrap this up, Meridian. Well then, I will give you an ending!" Uno placed the scale-3 Pendulum monster, Performapal Lizardraw, in the other pendulum zone. "I have set both scales; Partnaga and Lizardraw! I can now pendulum summon any level 4 or 5 monsters in his hand!" The crowd was bustling with cries of exhilaration, they were finally going to see the miracle. "I summon Stargazer Magician!" The caped pendulum spellcaster of white magic(5/1200/2400) was brought in as a monster for once. "That was it?" Meridian balked. "No." Uno took Odd-Eyes pendulum Dragon from his hand. "There is one other thing; your Fusion Gate. Both players can use it.." And Uno fused it with Stargazer on the field. "!?" Because it was a field spell, Fusion Gate could be activated by Uno as well. "Uno? What are you summoning?" Except Uno had never given any indication of owning fusions that he could summon right now, not even to Alice or Cassius. "Did you always have fusion monsters?" Non-guild duelists could use fusion monsters too, of course. But Cassius assumed Uno wanted to join a guild because he had no extra deck cards.

"To get anywhere, I have to let go of my own nature. So this is part of the new me!" Stargazer and the pendulum dragon were banished beyond the gate. "By fusing any spellcaster with Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, I can summon Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon from my extra deck!" Odd-Eyes evolved, its one eye was covered by a golden rune patch, and a golden ring extended from its sides around its body(8/3000/2000). "During the turn it is fusion summoned with a pendulum summoned monster as a material..." Uno began to explain as he saw Meridian move his hand towards his set trap. "It is unaffected by other card effects." Once he was finished, his opponent withdrew his hand. Whatever that trap had been, it was no threat now. "Partnaga!" Uno then activated the effect of his snake again. Partnaga added 300 attackpoints to Rune-Eyes for each Performapal card on the field. The Snake, Lizard, Tiger and Wolf all lent Rune-Eyes(4200/2000) their support. "Attack the Gemknights, Rune-Eyes!" The clash of fusions began, Rune-Eyes turned one Master Diamond knight into a pile of shards with a magic blast from its mouth.

Meridians LP: 5500

"Is he winning?" The people around the arena began to mumble and chat. "He must be even better than Meridian." At first they had come to see Meridian claim another victim with his Lapis Lazuli combo. Now they were captivated by Uno's fusion. "You must believe you can terrify me. Your monster is nothing to me!" But Meridian still had two cards left. Partnaga's boost would wear off on his next turn. And because one more Gemknight was in the graveyard, the other King(3400/2500) was even more powerful. "I wouldn't judge so quickly. Because, I kept something a secret this time too." Rune-Eyes charged up a second burst of flames. "!?" It had a second attack. Meridian was left speechless as the Dragon destroyed the other Gemknight Master. "If a level 5 or higher spellcaster was used as a fusion material for Rune-Eyes, he can attack monsters three times each turn." That meant Uno had a third attack already cued up, and one monster left to destroy. "Fire." The third fireball scattered Gemknight Lady's brilliant body like shimmering ashes. "Not.. again.."

Meridians LP: 3900

"This is what you would call a victory, wouldn't you?" Uno's two remaining Performapals attacked directly. Meridian took the swipes from Silver Claw(2100/700) and a jab from Salutiger(1800/500). "You..you defeated me with those things?" His opponent had trouble accepting such a sudden loss. But Uno wasn't paying attention to him anymore. "So, any more takers? Or was that enough!?"

Meridians LP: 0

(To be Continued in Annex 019: Right to Party)

New Cards used by Uno
Performapal Partnaga
Performapal Raingoat
Performapal Lizardraw

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Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon

Cards used by Dian
Gemknight Tourmaline
Gemknight Crystal
Gemknight Sardonyx
Gemknight Iolite
Gemknight Sapphire
Gemknight Lapis
Gemknight Lazuli

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Gemknight Topaz
Gemknight Amethyst
Gemknight Master Diamond
Gemknight Lady Lapis Lazuli
Gemknight Lady Brilliant Diamond

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Absorbfusion
Fusion Gate

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Chain Material