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.

29. Stick to the Shallows

Annex 029: Stick to the Shallows

"Ah, there you are." Breaktime was over and Dom was calling for the contestants to take the stage. "At least you showed up." Jet had been waiting long enough to wonder if there even would be a duel. His opponent only showed her face at the last minute. "Better to face defeat than run away. Heh." Jet was ready, his dueldisk was active. "Y-yeah." Alice had pushed herself this far, thanks to Uno. But now she was alone. "..." She placed her hand on her chest and felt her beating heart. Alice breathed in and out until it slowed down. "I am ready too." Her jitters did not escape her sisters notice. "Hey. Is she okay? She looks a bit anxious." Emily asked Uno. "Oh?" He had promised Alice to not tell her sister. Though that did not mean he had to lie. "Only as anxious as anyone else would be. I told her she would do fine, and she will... This will be her turn to amaze everyone."

Alice's LP: 8000 Jet's LP: 8000

With both disks connected, the duel was set. The first turn was handed to Jet. "Now this is more my speed!" Jet drew his cards. He played a continuous spell first. "This cool card is Black Whirlwind!" Then he normal summoned one of his blackwings, a small bow-wielding crow(3/1200/1000) with a red-feathered turban on its head. "Whenever I normal summon a blackwing, Black Whirlwind will give me a whole new Blackwing from my deck. Though it must have less attackpoints then the Blackwing I summoned. So seeing as how I summoned Blaxckwing Pinaki the Waxing Moon.." Jet pulled out a monster with just 800 attackpoints. "I can add Gladius the Midnight Sun to my hand! Gladius can be special summoned if I only have one Blackwing on the field!" Jet called out the second black bird, a knightly blackwing(3/800/1500) wielding twin daggers. "Pinaki is a tuner. You can tell where I am going with this.." Jet sent the two monsters to the grave to synchronize them. "I synchro summon Blackwing Nothung the Starlight!" The dark raven warrior(6/2400/1600) was formed. "Remember him?" Nothung could inflict 800 points of damage whenever he was summoned. Alice took the damage as the synchro Blackwing hurled his sword at her.

Alice's LP: 7200

"..." Alice did not move, aside from an involuntary flinch. "Well you got the hang of holographic attacks. Good. There'll be plenty of them! I normal summon Blackwing Jin the Rainshadow!" A small blue bird(1/600/500) in green ninja robes appeared from Jets hand, unexpectedly. "Oh I should've told ya! Nothung has a second effect! I can normal summon another Blackwing from my hand each turn!" Thanks to this second summon, Black Whirlwind was activated again. Jet used it this time to add Blackwing Oroshi the Squall, with its mere 400 attackpoints, to his hand. "And Jin is a tuner monster too. So here is another one of your favorites!" Jin the Rainshadow and Nothung the Starlight were tuned together. "I synchro summon Blackwing Tamer - Obsidian Hawk Joe!" The redhaired blackwing native(7/2600/2000) flew down to the stage. Alice had not forgotten its effect either. "Obsidian Hawk Joe special summons a synchro blackwing from the graveyard!" The Tamer of Blackwings used his effect to revive one of its own synchro materials; Nothung. "Which means.." Nothung hurled his weapon at Alice a second time, to inflict another 800 points of damage. "Still with me?"

Alice's LP: 6400

"Does that guy have to be so brutal. Tch." Emily grunted. She did not know whether or not she could keep watching this. "Jet will never be satisfied with just one synchro summon. He doesn't even hold back against his own teammates." Cassius was unsure on which side he wanted to be right now. He was just thankful the Ante rule was not in place for this tournament. "And one more synchro for the road! I tune Oroshi with Nothung! And I summon Blackwing Armor Master!" As Jet controlled his Blackwings, the blue-brow Blackwing tuner(1/400/600) could be special summoned from his hand. Oroshi the Squall and Nothung the Starlight turned into the indestructible armored blackwing(7/2500/1500). "I end my turn. But that doesn't mean I am through yet! During my endphase Pinaki the Waxing Moon gives me a new Blackwing as well, as he was sent to the graveyard this turn." Jet used this effect to claim Blackwing Gale the Whirlwind. "That was it. What're you gonna do this time, Alice? You changed more than your outfit I hope!"

"I.." Alice tried to draw her card. She failed because her hand was still trembling. "I will.." She tried to shake it, and when that did not work she slapped her hand against her cheek. "!" That seemed to help a little. "Draw!" She got the card out of her deck. "I will do this! I discard Nekroz of Brionac from my hand!" Alice discarded a blue card from her hand. The card's name was rather familiar-sounding, especially to a synchro duelist like Jet. "Brionac?" Brionac was one of the most notorious synchro monsters ever made. Too notorious in fact, Dreamworld had banned it from tournament play. This was not the same card, yet it made Jet think. "Don't tell me you went with synchro monsters after all your talk about not liking them?" Except what Alice had discarded had a different shade of blue from a spell card. "Wait. That is not.." It was something he had not seen in years. "A Ritual monster?" Nekroz of Brionac was a Ritual monster card, one with an effect that could be activated from the hand. "Nekroz? What is this? Where did you.."

"I bought them. I spent my guild-points on a new deck." Alice explained matter-of-factly. "Nekroz of Brionac adds a new Nekroz card to my hand; Nekroz Unicore." The card she claimed was another ritual monster. "You seriously went with rituals out of all the new cards dreamworld offered? They aren't even extra deck cards! You need them in your hand to summon them! What a waste!" Jet said derisively. Duelists hadn't won with ritual monsters in years. "These are different. Dom told me to get something new. I did.. I got something that didn't need an extra deck." Alice normal summoned a monster now, an aquatic witch(4/1600/800) in purple robes. Her long red hair flowed as if she was standing underwater. "Dance Princess of the Nekroz. Your cards cannot target Nekroz ritual monsters while she is on the field. You also cannot stop my ritual spells." Alice told him, just before she used one of those ritual spells. "Nekroz Cycle. I can sacrifice monsters to ritual summon a Nekroz ritual monster from my hand.. or graveyard." A golden portal was opened by the Dance Princess. Jet's grin disappeared. "From the graveyard?!"

"I sacrifice Shurit, Strategist of the Nekroz. He can be a single sacrifice for Nekroz Ritual monsters, even if he does not have the right level. Also he adds a new Nekroz Warrior to my hand, if he tributed by a card's effect." Normally a ritualistic sacrifice had to have the same level as the Ritual monster. But in this case Alice could sacrifice a level 3 monster, Shurit, to revive the dragon she had discarded before. At the same time Shurit's other power added a Nekroz Trishula warrior monster to Alice's hand. "I ritual summon Nekroz of Brionac!" Instead of a pure beast, Nekroz of Brionac became an armor which the redhaired Strategist Shurit could wear. Nekroz of Brionac(6/2300/1400) was now a winged warrior of ice. But its powers were very similar to the Synchro dragons. "Brionac will return two monsters that were summoned from the extra deck!" Her ritual monster flapped its wings to unleash a snowstorm. "What?! No!" Jets Blackwings were covered in ice and shattered from head to claw. Obsidian Hawk Joe's protection effect could not negate multi-targeting effects like this. "With one monster.."

"I want to show you more, Jet." Alice activated a spell card. "Another ritual?" This time Jet saw Dance Princess create a blue mirror in the sky. This was not a second Nekroz Cycle spell. This one was called Nekroz Mirror. "Each Nekroz Ritual spell can only be used once a turn, but they can summon any Nekroz I want to. Cycle recycles what I lost. Mirror.. sacrifices what I lost." The spirit of Shurit flew into the mirror. He was banished from the graveyard. "I sacrifice Shurit in the graveyard to ritual summon Nekroz of Unicore from my hand!" This time a young white-haired mage(4/2300/1000) was called out. He donned the embodiment of Unicore from a long forgotten Fable, complete with a staff and a purple cape. "These are.. nothing like those mermails you used." Her opponent could still not fathom what was happening. "No. But I like these cards enough.. " Alice pointed a finger at Jet. "These three are for you." Nekroz of Brionac, Nekroz of Unicore and the Dance Princess made their direct attacks as the battle phase started. Ice, thunder and water blasts assaulted the other side.

Jet's LP: 1800

"She stopped using her old deck?" Emily knew that was expected of her. But she never really thought her sister would go through with it. The Nekroz only resembled the Mermals in their element; they were all water-attribute cards. "Only for as long as she needs to." Uno could finally talk about why he had been smiling all this time. "How long did you know about this?" Emily understood that Uno would know, as a fellow Oddball duelist. What she didn't understand was why Alice hadn't told her. "When she first got the cards. She wanted it to be a surprise. She wanted those cards."

"Did she? She doesn't look too happy with them."

"You keep blindsiding me, Alice." Jet had no idea a ritual deck could be this devastating. Her summoning speed matched his own. "But there is no way I am losing in the first round! I'm not like Akai or Boris!" It was his turn again. "Spell card, Against the Wind!" First he used a card to retrieve a Blackwing from his graveyard: Oroshi the Squall. This cost him lifepoints equal to that monsters attackpoints however.

Jet's LP: 1400

And then... he started unloading every Blackwing he got. "Shura the Blue Flame!" He normal summoned the blackwinged blue avian(4/1800/1200) with large claws. Black Whirlwind subsequently placed a Harmattan the Dust Blackwing with 600 attackpoints in Jet's hand. "Harmattan, Gale, Oroshi!" Then he special summoned three Blackwings in a row. Harmattan the black curlew bird(2/800/800) had the same effect as its brethren Gale the Whirlwind(3/1300/400) and Oroshi the Squall; they could all be special summoned if a Blackwing was already on the field. "Gale targets your Nekroz of Unicore!" The Whirlwind bird trapped the mage in a vortex to shave half of his(1150/1000) attackpoints away. "And Harmattan targets my own Blackwing Shura when he is summoned. The dust Blackwing will add the levels of the target to himself!" Harmattan(6/800/800) absorbed the four stars from Shura the Blue Flame. "Synchros will always be better, faster, stronger. Watch this! I summon Assault Blackwing - Raikiri the Rain Shower!"

The tuner Oroshi and the leveled up Harmattan united to create a more combat-oriented Blackwing. Raikiri was an knight(7/2600/2000) with a beakshaped helmet and one angel wing instead of two bird wings. "Assault Blackwing - Chidori the Light Rain!" The tuner Gale combined with Shura to create a similar blackwing. Chidori did have two black wings, but swords stuck out from the feathers and its armor was green instead of purple. "Raikiri can.. huh?" Their entrances were less glorious than Jet had planned for them to be though. "What is wrong with them?" Their effects were sealed, as visualized by a blue forcefield around the two Assault Blackwings. "It's the effect of Nekroz of Unicore. He negates the powers of all monsters that come from the extra deck." Alice revealed the source. Unicore was casting the binding spell with his staff. "So your entire deck is made to counter the extra deck? Tgh!" Jet started his battle phase instead. "Your ritual monsters are toast! Raikiri attacks Nekroz of Unicore!" The assault knight used his sword to cut down the Nekroz mage.

Alice's LP: 4950

"Good riddance." With it gone, Chidori's powers were unsealed. "Chidori gains 300 attackpoints for each Blackwing in my graveyard!" The souls of Pinaki, Gladius, Jin, Oroshi, Harmattan, Gale and Shura all came to Chidori's aid. Their spiritual energy made the sword of Chidori(7/4700/2000) crackle with lightning. "Next is your pretty Princess." Chidori swung his weapon to fire a bolt of thunder into the sky. The blast crashed back down on the Nekroz Dance Princess, instantly incinerating her. "Now that she is gone as well. I can target your Ritual monsters.." The battle phase ended. "For each Blackwing on my field, Raikiri the Rain Shower can destroy a card on yours!" Alice had only one remaining card, Nekroz of Brionac. When Raikiri swung his blade, he created a wave of cutting force that killed the warrior and shattered his armor like glass. "That's more like it." Jet placed a trap card down and ended his turn. This trap would be a nasty surprise for Alice. "I know you probably got all excited about your big chance for revenge. But that isn't going to happen!"

Alice's LP: 1850

"Revenge? I didn't want revenge." Alice wistfully stated as she began her turn. "I just wanted to duel, and help a friend. I didn't think I would see you again. I'm not sure if I am glad about it now. Except.." Her hand moved towards her graveyard. "I am glad that I haven't lost yet." She took Nekroz Cycle and Nekroz of Unicore out of the graveyard. "Wh..what is happening now?" Nekroz Cycle had another effect even after it was used. Jet had no idea just how powerful these cards could get. "Nekroz ritual spells can banish themselves along with one other Nekroz monster. In return I may take a new Nekroz spell from my deck." Alice drew a second Nekroz Cycle spell. "If I want too, I could do the same with Nekroz Mirror." She could use these effects as long as there were no monsters on her field. "But I think I only need one.." Alice activated Nekroz Cycle. She sacrificed two random monsters in her hand whose levels added up to six. "I ritual-summon Brionac." And the Brionac dragon knight(6/2300/1400) made his way back to the land of the living.

"I got you now!" Jet wouldn't wait around for Brionac to use its effect again. He flipped his trap card as soon as it appeared. "Trap card, Icarus Attack! By sacrificing one winged beast type monster I can destroy two cards on the field!" Raikiri the Rainshower flew higher than before, straight up into the sun. When he came down again, his wings were set ablaze. "I will destroy your monster and mine!" Brionac and the other Assault Blackwing were the targets, the only two cards on the field. That was fine with Jet though. Chidori the Light Rain would special summon a Blackwing from the graveyard as soon as he was destroyed by that card effect. He would special summon Raikiri back to his field and end this duel with a direct attack. Alice had no cards left except for that ritual monster she added to her hand last turn, and everyone knew those were no threat without spells. "No.. wait!" He was wrong, and he found that out too late.

"If an effect targets my Nekroz monster, I can discard Nekroz of Trishula to negate that effect." Alice used the remnants of Trishula as a shield instead of an armor. Fragments of ice came together to intercept Icarus Attack. "Even that.." Now Jet had nothing left. Raikiri was still tributed for Icarus Attack, Chidori was returned to his extra deck by Brionac. "And now.. a direct attack for you." There was nothing left to do but to fight. Nekroz of Brionac plunged his blade deep into his opponents body. "It's.. over already?" Alice looked at her opponents lifepoint bar. "It happened so fast."

Jets LP: 0

"Wow.. I mean AMAZING! JUST LIKE HER SISTER, ALICE HAS MADE A DAZZLING DEBUT! WITH HER VICTORY, THE ODDBALLS ARE ALREADY THE MOST SUCCESSFUL INDEPENDENT GUILD IN YEARS! And what a deck, right?! The Nekroz are just one of the many new marvels now available!" It looked like Dom got what he wanted at least. Duelists now would think twice about rejecting his new Ritual monster deck. "Maybe you made those cards a bit too strong, sir?" Zach was also astounded by how quickly Alice defeated an already powerful deck like the Blackwings. "Nonsense. We did trial runs, we limited the right pieces. The girl taught herself how to use them properly, that is the impressive part." She had seen the potential before anyone else.

Jet left the stage before Alice could say anything to her. He didn't even regroup with the rest of the guild, he went inside the theater to fume. "Did I.. make him mad?" Alice asked as she came back. "Who cares what he thinks. What're you thinking?" Emily was only concerned about her. Something had to be amiss if Alice was so timid. "Oh. It's just.. I tried to think of something funny, like Uno told me. But I couldn't. And the game was over before I knew it." She had been distracted half the time and too concentrated in the other half. "I'll say. You beat my record. But now that you know what it's like it will be easier next time." This kind of anxiety was exactly what her big sister had been worried about when she started this guild-idea. "I'm not scared or anything. Not like that..it's just..." Alice could not find the right words.

"Oh." Emily's ringtone started to play. "Is it mom?" It was no coincidence that the phone went off at this tim' it had to someone who saw the duel. "It is. She sent a text." But it wasn't the call Alice was hoping for. "She said she heard about us winning and is congratulating us. But she is sorry to say that something serious came up and she can't come today. Maybe tomorrow." When Heather Brandt sent a text message instead of a direct call, the daughters knew it would be bad news. "Aw." For a second Alice had felt a glimmer of joy, now it was gone. "Hey. You won. They know. That is what matters. Maybe we can go to the amusement park later today? I'd say you deserve a little fun." Uno suggested. Alice put up a faint smile. "I would like that.." That could help her shake off this funk she was in.

Not as much as something else though. Someone else, rather. "Leaving so soon?!" Said the duelist who walked by. "Eric!?" Now there was a voice that could make anyone cheerful. Stonewell stood there in the flesh. New snazzy coat, same old Eric. "Eric! You were here!" Alice jumped right at him to catch him with a hug. "Gah! Yeah..I'm happy to see you too!" Eric was used to it. It didn't make it less uncomfortable. "Eric? You came all this way to see us duel?" Emily asked him. "Huh? No. Well.. yes.. but." Eric pried himself loose and took something out from his pockets. It was a brand new deck. "I also came here to duel."

(To be Continued in Annex 030: Lucky Number Six)

New Cards used by Alice Brandt
Nekroz of Brionac
Dance Princess of the Nekroz
Shurit, Strategist of the Nekroz
Nekroz of Unicore
Nekroz of Trishula

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Nekroz Cycle
Nekroz Mirror

New Cards used by Jet Darrow
Blackwing - Pinaki the Waxing Moon
Blackwing - Gladius the Midnight Sun
Blackwing - Jin the Rainshadow
Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame
Blackwing - Harmattan the Dust

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Assault Blackwing - Raikiri the Rain Shower
Assault Blackwing - Chidori the Light Rain

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Black Whirlwind
Against the Wind

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Icarus Attack