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.

30. Lucky Number Six

Annex 030: Lucky Number Six

"You're gonna duel? Why didn't you tell us? What deck are you using? How did you get here? Where's your mom? How did you find us?" Eric did not think his sudden appearance would avoid questions, and there was Alice with a hundred of them. "Eh.. Yes. I didn't want to say anything because I only barely made it in. That's a secret for now. I found a guild that worked for me. She's home because she doesn't like busy places but she is watching me on TV. I saw you walk here and followed you." He also managed to answer them all. "Secrets.. seems like everyone has one these days. Still, I'm glad you made it." Emily said. "Me too. But did you start your own independent guild? You could have joined us. Still can.. maybe." Uno made him an proposal. "Nah. I'd rather not have be called an Oddball. But I hear you showed them who's the man tho, Uno. You too, Alice." He had seen her victory. Allthough one couldn't tell that she had won just by looking at her expression. "Don't look so sad. You kicked ass out there, you should be happy!" Eric just wanted her to smile. He liked that smile. "Ah..yeah.. I did. But what about you?"

"THE NEXT MATCH CAN BEGIN. NEIL GUZMAN FROM THE XYZ-GUILD AND ERIC STONEWELL FROM THE FUSION GUILD!"

The previous duel ended very quickly. It was already time for the next. "There you go. That's my cue!" Eric raised his finger and set his sights on the stage. "Watch closely. This is gonna be good!" He walked towards it with determined steps. The others were left with the revelation. "The Fusion Guild!?"

Eric's LP: 8000 Neils LP: 8000

"Ah. I've waited long enough. Everything built up to this moment." Eric sniffed the air and listened to the shouting coming from the ring. He was overjoyed to finally take his place in the tournament. "What about you, pal? Is this your first rodeo?" His opponent was a rather stocky and short man with the same boring haircut and black uniform as most XYZ-duelists; Neil Guzman. "Tchh. This is not. I will just tell you right now, you don't have a chance against me. I have the experience and the power! My deck is brand-new, nobody can prepare for it!" Neil at least had eagerness going for him. "How fitting; my cards are brand new as well! Let's do this!" The duelists drew their cards. Neil got the first turn. "Even if they are new, a fusion deck will always fall before an XYZ-deck!" Neil placed one monster and one trap card down.

"Hey. I may be from the fusion guild. That does not mean I will be using them.. Where I come from, you didn't need the extra deck to finish a duel." Eric's turn started. "And I guess I will be the first to show off. I cant complain. You see there was a set of new cards that screamed at me to take them. They were demons, they had the fire-attribute, they looked wicked. Their names?" Eric banished one card from his hand. "The Infernoids! As long as the total level of monsters I control is less than 8, I can special summon them by banishing other Infernoids in my hand or graveyard. Though they cannot be summoned in any other way. For this card I only need to banish one Infernoid!" A flash of hellfire broke out, and the infernal fiend was summoned in defense position. It(2/0/2000) had the appearance of a mechanical dragon with half a dozen claws and insectoid wings. Two bright spheres were attached to its back. "This is Infernoid Beelzebul! Or Infernoid Antra if you go by the official name. But this demon is clearly based on the lord of the flies, so that is what I will be calling him!" Eric would not accept downtoning in his vocabulary. "Beelzebul can return one monster to your hand, Neil!" The demon from hell fired beams from its orbs to blast Neils set card off the field. No attacks seemed to be coming afterwards though. "That was it?"

"For now. I'm not ready yet to show you the cool stuff." Eric placed two cards face-down in his spell/trap zone and ended his turn.

"Tcheheheh. You talk big yet start in such a boring fashion? You didn't even damage me! Lame. This is what a New deck should be like." Neil normal summoned a mechanical centipede(3/1500/500) made from microchips. "Digital Bug Centipede!" Next he activated a quickplay spell card. "Crashbug Road! Both players summon a monster from their hand, with the same level as a monster on their field!" Neil placed another computer insect on his field, a machine spider(3/500/1500). "I summon Digital Bug Websolder! And you?" Eric placed nothing on his field. "You can't can you? Must be annoying to have monsters that can only be summoned by their own effects! Not me though! I activate Websolder's power! It changes a monster to defense to summon a level 3 insect from my hand in defense position!" The digital spider webbed up the Centibit to push it into curled up position. "Heh. When Centibit goes to defense, his effect goes off too! It will summon a level 3 insect from my deck in defense position! So from my deck it summons a second Centibit, and from my hand Websolder summons Digital Bug Cocoondenser!" Another chip centipede and a floating cocoon condenser(3/0/2000) appeared.

"That's a lot of bugs." Emily cringed. Mechanical or not, she had no fondness for them. "I overlay all four Digital Bugs!" Neil shouted. The computer bugs crawled on top of each other. "Ah it's getting even worse!" Emily shivered. The things made one big thing. "Xyz-summon; Digital Bug - Scaradiator." A large glowing scarab(3/1800/1400) scuttled unto the stage. It rested on top of a large radiator, in which its four Xyz-materials were captured. "Hah! You think that thing is enough?" Unlike Emily, Eric showed no signs of fright, and he was looking straight at it. "Tch. Of course not. Scaradiator can be summoned with as many level 3 monsters as I can overlay, but its effect requires 2 Xyz materials. I need to save those materials.." The two Centibits were detached from the XYZ-monster. "So it can evolve!" The scarab turned into pure light. "I can XYZ-summon Digital Bug - Corebage from my extra deck by using a Rank 3 to 4 Insect as the base, and by using 2 materials as the fuel! The other materials are attached to my new Xyz-monster!" The light died out and revealed a digital butterfly(5/2200/1800).

"What did he do? Is this something new too?" Alice rubbed her eyes. The beetle had become a whole new insect. "He performed a Rank-up. It is the ultimate technique of a XYZ-duelist." Cassius began to explain. "In certain conditions, a duelist can evolve his Xyz-monster to a higher rank. These Digital Bugs can do this by themselves apparently. There are other older ways.."

"Corebage is more suited to you. It can return your monster to your deck by using just one Xyz-material!" Digital Bug Scaradiator was detached and absorbed into the cores on Corebage's wings. With a beat of its wings, Erics monster was dismissed. "Was that it?" Eric was not that worried. He had seen worse. "Smile while you can. Because I can rank-up more than once!" Neil moved to his second main phase. The last two monsters were detached from his Xyz-monster. "Rank-up!" Corebage transformed into a ball of light, just like Scaradiator before him. "Digital Bug Rhinocebus!" It went from the 5th rank to the 7th, as it became a very large rhinoceros beetle(7/2600/2200). "And I activate the field spell Bug Matrix! All Insects gain 300 attack and defense points!" A computers motherboard was set down on all zones. The energy from thet board gave the Rhinocebus(2900/2500) more power. "Tcheheh. Attack!" Rhinocebus fired a stream of electricity from its horntip and blasted Eric with it. "End.."

Eric's LP: 5100

"Hold up. I got a trap." Eric flipped his trap card, Needlebug Nest, before Neil ended his turn. "Just don't take the next card I activate as any sign of approval, Neil. I like creepy bugs as much as the next guy. But if I wanted to look at them, I can already do that in real life." The trap took away the top five cards from the players deck, a move Neil did not see the point of. "Hmph." Eric discarded 2 monster cards, 2 spells and 1 trap. "Okay, now I'll start my turn. I Draw!" Then Eric ran into a bit of luck, as he drew Infernoid Antra all over again. "Tchaha! You fool! Rhinocebus can destroy the monster with the most defense points, and he can do that during your turn too. You think I will let you use any monsters against me?" Neil could see the hope in Erics face and he wanted to squash it. "Yeah I know. I can read. That is why I need a liiiiittle bit more." Eric activated a spell card.

"Reasoning! I am going to pick up cards from my deck until I draw a monster that can be summoned! But you have to guess what level it will be first, Neil." If Neil guessed the proper level, the drawn monster would be discarded. If not, it would be summoned. "What? Tcheh, four then." He picked the most common level. Yet he could not help but think something was off about Erics choice of spell. "Alright!" Eric picked up the first card. It was a monster already; a level 8 Infernoid. "Wait! You stated that Infernoids cannot be summoned by other card effects!" Neil protested. Reasoning would not work on that card. "I know." Reasoning discarded the Infernoid instead. "Isn't this fun?" And Eric discarded five more cards, two of them Infernoids, until he got his hands on a non-Infernoid monster. In the end it still was not a level 4 monster. "Level 3! Fiendish Rhino Warrior!" Since Neil had guessed wrong, Eric could special summon a rhino demon warrior(3/1400/900). "It's Rhino against Rhino. Mine has an effect that protects other demons from destruction!" Neils Digital XYZ-Bug couldn't harm his Infernoids. "You can go ahead and destroy the Rhino, but you will lose your XYZ-monster either way.

"Rgh." Neil followed through. He detached Rhinocebus' last material and blew up Fiendish Rhino Warrior. "There you go. But when Fiendish Rhino Warrior is sent to the graveyard, I can send another demon from my deck to my grave." Uno discarded a certain Infernoid, Infernoid Attondel. "You're probably thinking, oh Antra is not that bad? Well he isn't by himself." Eric banished an Infernoid from the graveyard this time to summon the demon lord of flies(2/0/2000). Strangely enough Eric used Antra's effect to push Bug Matrix of the field, lowering the power charge on Rhinocebus(2600/2200). "But this one." Uno took three more of the discarded Infernoids. Two were banished and one was summoned. "From the grave?" Much to Neils horror. "Good reaction. Yeah, highlevel Infernoids can summon themselves from the grave too, as long as the total level and rank of all my monsters is lower than 8. Adramelech, or Infernoid Attondel, needs to banish two Infernoids." The next demon from hell was more dragonic in shape, Attondel(8/2800/0) unleashed a bloodchurning howl as flames burst out of its armored body.

"I guess you wanna know what Adramelech can do? Well.." The Infernoid gathered hellfire to prepare for the battle phase. Though Eric placed a monster face-down first. He had not normal summoned yet this turn. "When he destroys a monster, he gets to attack again!" The first flame blast destroyed the digital beetle, making sparks fly everywhere. "You used Antra on my field instead of my XYZ-monster, just for a little more damage? You'll wish you hadn't!" Neil would not humor him either. "Trap card: Bug Emergency! I can special summon two insects from my graveyard with their effects negated!" Neils trap targeted the Digital Bugs Cocoondenser and Centibit. They would defend him as soon as they were revived. "Neat. Know what my cards can do? My Infernoids sacrifice a monster to banish a card in your graveyard. Adramelech can do this either turn!" Infernoid Attondel sacrificed Eric's set monster to banish Digital Bug Cocoondenser before it could be special summoned. "Gah!" Since Bug Emergency targeted two monsters at the same time, its effect fizzled when one of them disappeared. "Looks like your emergency call, didn't get through." Eric snickered. "Anyway.. Direct attack!" Attondel tossed the second infernal blast towards Neil. "That was my turn!"

Neils LP: 5000

"My Digital Bugs will lose to your Infernoids? Unacceptable! I refuse to lose to a fusion-guilder, even if he does not use fusions!" Neil drew his next card and he normal summoned it. A blue steel worm(3/1200/1000) appeared. "Galaxy Worm! This insect monster can special summon another level 3 Galaxy monster from my deck if I control no other monsters!"The eyes of the worm lit up, as it released its energy. A second Galaxy worm(3/1200/1000) was created by special summoning it from the main deck. "Then I will activate Bug Emergency from my graveyard to raise the levels of all my level 3 insects, to the level of a XYZ-monster's rank in the graveyard!" Since Neil could not gather enough materials to rank-up towards Rhinocebus again, he would take a more direct approach. If he had been allowed to. "Hey, Neil? Your monsters arent the only ones who can use their effects during an enemy's turn." Eric reactivated Attondels effect. It sacrificed itself this time to banish the Bug Emergency trap card from Neils graveyard. "Tchrhr.. You.."

"Then a rank 3 Xyz-monster will make do!" Angered, Neil overlayed his two Galaxy Worms to Xyz-summon a second Digital Bug Scaradiator(3/1800/1400). He also reset his Bug Matrix field spell to give some power back to the Bug(2100/1700). "Scaradiator can switch the position of one monster on the field and negate his effects!" The scarab absorbed the two attached Galaxy insects, sending them to the grave. Then it zapped Infernoid Antra with a static bolt. "Not going to happen!" Eric flipped his set quickplay spell card. "I activate Void Seer to cancel out your effect on my Infernoid!" Antra was bathed in a golden light. Void seer's power made the Infernoid immune to Scaradiator. "I don't care if I can't damage you! Antra cannot revive itself either way!" Scaradiator rolled towards the hellish demon on his radiator wheel and ran it over. "Heh. Still got a lot of mileage out of this thing you called lame, Neil." Eric did not mind what he said anymore. He knew Neil was out of cards, out of boasts, out of pretty much anything.

Eric's LP: 2900

"Of course, thanks to you I now have two dead Infernoids. I am getting my Adramalech back, if you don't mind!" Eric banished Antra and the third Infernoid in his graveyard, just to revive Infernoid Attondel a second time. "And I do not want you to you get your hopes up!" Swiftly, Eric normal summoned a horned crimson demon, who had the lower body of a serpent and the wings of a bat. "Gren Maju Da Eiza! Do you have any idea what this guy is about? He gives himself 400 attack and defense points for each of my banished cards!" All told, Eric had banished six Infernoids this duel. Their exiled spirits were drawn into the body of Eiza(2400/2400). "And that..means I win.." Eric flinched. "I win?" He heard himself say what sounded so unreal. "I.. WIN, Neil!" He gave the command, Infernoid Attondel attacked and destroyed Scaradiator. Attondel then used his second attack, along with Eiza's attack to strike the bugless duelist and cut through his lifepoints. "Yes. Yes! YES!" It had finally happened. He snatched victory away from his opponents!

Neils LP: 0

"You won? With Gren Maju da Eiza?" Naturally Neil did not share his glee. "This was a bad match-up, but to lose to some outdated card like that." This defeat would not reflect well on his ranking. "Can't you just say you under-estimated me and the cards I was using? Besides. I've been dueling for a long while too. Maybe not in a guild, but I had experience. I bet all you XYZ-types do is just get your decks assorted for you anyway." Eric hardly saw Neil use anything atypical. "Nobody told me to add Gren Maju or Reasoning or Fiendish Rhino Warrior. Those were all my ideas and they payed off in spades." When it came down to it, Eric just couldn't feel completely satisfied unless he heard his opponent crediting him. "Tch. You win this round then. But I doubt your chances for later rounds." That was a much as Neil would give him. "Good enough."

Now Dom was doing his job of sending cheers everywhere. However there was only one group of people whose reactions Eric wanted to see. "So you all saw that, right?" He walked straight back to his friends to pick up from where he had left off. "If we'd gone blind, we'd still hear it." Uno said. Like with most winners today, the watching mob shouted out Erics name as it were some chant of war. "Oh. Oh yeah that's nice. Man this is even better than I thought it would be. And you said I couldn't make it." He scoffed. "We never said that. I didn't. I think." Alice defended herself as well her memory allowed. "Yeah well anyone who did looks silly now." Eric wouldn't call names. As far as he was concerned, nothing could ruin this day. Nothing but harmless queries. "So why the Fusion guild?" Like the one Emily posed. "Huh?"

"Good question. Last time I saw you, you were all depressed about not making it into a guild and going back home." Akai joined in on the questioning. She would know, she had been his driver home. "How did you do it? It can't have been as easy as it would have been if you let Aaron help you." Emily did not let it go, she was still a bit bitter about him having rejected Cassius as well. "I used the easiest option. It just took me a day for myself to get over feeling sorry for myself and trying it again, and the fusion guild had a sponsored location close by. That's all." His story had nothing wrong with it. "..." Still Emily found it suspicious that Eric had such a turn-around. "Emily. It's like I said before, I'm perfectly okay with this." It took Cassius' own words to get her to back off. "If you say so. We'll see what happens."

"We're already in different guilds anyway. What's important is that you're pleased with your choice." Uno sighed. He would have liked to have been the one who helped him get here. Nevertheless there was an upside. This proved that the guilds could not keep them apart. "Oh I am happy. Very happy. And so is my guild.. The fun has just begun."

(To be Continued in Annex 031: Stuffed with Personality)

New Cards used by Eric Stonewell
Infernoid Antra
Fiendish Rhino Warrior
Infernoid Attondel
Gren Maju da Eiza

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Reasoning
Void Seer

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Needlebug Nest

Cards used by Neil Guzman
Digital Bug - Centibit
Digital Bug - Cocoondenser
Digital Bug - Websolder
Galaxy Worm

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Digital Bug - Scaradiator
Digital Bug - Corebage
Digital Bug - Rhinocebus

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Crashbug Road
Bug Matrix

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Bug Emergency