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.

31. Stuffed with Personality

Annex 031: Stuffed with Personality

"IS IT A BIRD, IS IT A PLANE? NO, IT IS ZACHARY CREFFIELD! THE SECOND DISCIPLE MAKES HIS ENTRANCE! GIVE HIM A WARM WELCOME EVERYONE!"

"Oh. Zach?" The time had come. A duelist walked down the stairs coming from Doms skybox. "Had to happen sooner or later. I guess he'll use another one of Doms new pendulum decks." There was no telling what it would be, but Uno needed to see it if he was to prepare. "Tough luck for whoever he is up against though. Even Dom is not keeping quiet on who he wants to win." Emily said. Not that she would mind if Zach won. He was the more agreeable of the two disciples. "Uhhh.. Who is he up against?" Alice saw only one face on the big screen, Zachs. His opponents face was scrambled. "Is the screen glitched?" There was only a name; Dame Phoebe. "Oh no." That name only meant something to Eric. "You know her?" The rest had no idea why Eric seemed to nervous all of the sudden. "Dame Phoebe is a duelist in my guild. She's like a fusion Cassius." He put it in his own way. The actual Cassius found this strange. "Two high ranking duelists are facing each other in round one?" Seeding should have prevented such a match-up, regardless of bracket randomization. "No. Dame Phoebe is not high ranked, she is just.. in charge."

"There she is!" Alice yelled as one person walked out of the fusion guild section of the stadium. "And there she.. is?" Then another person appeared and walked in her footsteps. "Which one is Phoebe?" Something odd was going on here. The close-up on the big screen revealed their appearances as two girls. One had long smooth blond hair, wore a blue princess dress and white gloves. The other had dyed blue hair, a gothic black dress and a red bowtie. "Are they twins? Is he supposed to duel two people at once?" Their faces were identical, aside from the stitches one had underneath her blue eyes. "Not quite." Eric could not really say what the deal was, because it was..slightly unusual. "Hello and Hello!" The two said their first words. "It's them!" Uno remembered those voices; one deep and one high. They were the two from the casino.

"Hmm?" Zach raised an eyebrow. He was also curious where this was going. As soon as the two stood in front of Zach, they grabbed each others hands. "!" A blinding whirlpool of light was released from their dueldisks. Once that faded, only one girl was left.

"What!? They fused?!" Alice shouted. The one Phoebe that remained looked like a perfect fusion; an asymmetrical person. Her new dress was the old blue and black dress stitched together. Her blond hair was dyed blue on the left side, there was less make-upon the left. "No.. they were holograms?" Uno figured it out. The two Phoebes were never the real one. The real Phoebe just hid herself in one hologram. "Why.. why did she do all that?" The kind of effort Phoebe took to make an entrance boggled Emily's mind. "The guild did say they were saving her first public appearance for something special." Cassius had to admit that this made a memorable first impression. "I get it. Some people live for their act." Uno was very interested in where this duel could go now. Perhaps Zach would not have it so easy after all.

Phoebe's LP: 8000 Zach's LP: 8000

"Dame Phoebe I presume?" Zach was a little perturbed but he recovered quickly enough to extend his greetings. "Just Dame will suffice." Phoebe said as she held her ungloved hand in front of her right eye. "Enchantee, mister Creffield. I pray you will be gentle." She was only using her softer voice now, childish yet graceful in tone. "But of course, that is how I am. I would offer you the first turn freely, if the machine had not given it to you already." The dueldisks decided that Zach would take the second turn. "Fantastique. I do so hope the crowd is in the mood for something cute." Phoebe gently drew her cards as to not damage them or to get dust on them. "Come on out, Fluffal Dog." She normal summoned her monster, a fluffy dog(4/1700/1000) with wings on its back. "Oh! I summoned him from my hand, so his effect will activate. I can add 1 Fluffal from our deck to my hand. What should I choose?" She zoned out for a second or two and giggled. "No, silly. We can't add another Fluffal Dog... I know! Fluffal Bear!" The Dog's effect searched a different Fluffal and gave it to his master. "Now. I set this trap of mine and end the turn."

"Our deck?" Zach did not want to say anything. It was not in his nature to question other people's habits. Yet this act of hers confused him. "If you are trying to throw me off my game, you are doing a commendable job at it." Zach drew his card. He then summoned the masked Melodious Diva Canon(4/1400/2000). "Whether you have a trap waiting, or not. I shall make my move as I normally would!" Zach started the battle phase, Canon started singing her melody. "While I am attacking, I discard Score the Melodious Diva from my hand! Sing with her, my Diva!" Score, a yellow-skinned fairy with blue hair and a white dress, came in to back up Canon. "Sounds good." The speakers amplified the music splendidly. In the background Dom could be heard shouting as he explained Score's. This Diva effect reduced an opponents monsters attack to zero, when a Melodious monster did battle. The Fluffal Dog(4/0/1000) was depowered by Score and its stuffed body splattered across the stage by Canon.

Phoebe's LP: 6600

"So he is not using Pendulums? What, did only Iria get them?" Emily did not expect this. Someone like Dom could easily make two whole new Pendulum archetypes if he wanted to. "Maybe he liked his old deck more?" Alice would understand that kind of sentiment. "I hope he can still win with them."

"Oh no! Poor Fluffal Dog." Phoebe took the hit to her life hard, but the loss of her card harder. "How cruel. I let this happen to you. I have to make things right, right now!" She snapped her fingers and activated her set card. "Trap card; Fluffal Crane. A destroyed Fluffal is added back to my hand and I can draw a card as well." Fluffal Dog's card was pulled out of the grave by a crane. Since she drew a card as well, her hand had recovered as much as her field had lost. "Clever." Zach was sure she had wanted the attack to go down this way. "I activate your effect, Canon the Melodious Diva! Switch yourself to defense position!" Canons power allowed her to change positions even after she had attacked. Knowing what he knew about the Fluffal archetype, Zach figured it would be for the best to bunker down. "That was my turn, Dame Phoebe."

"And a nice turn it was, mister Creffield. A nice song as well, I feel like I am at the opera. It is also thanks to you that I get to see my cute Fluffals in real life." Phoebe activated the effect of a monster in her hand. "Now you go, Fluffal Bear. You tribute yourself to grab me the Toy Vendor." Fluffal Bear was discarded and a spell card was set on the field with his effect. "See, we need new toys." Phoebe flipped her spell card face-up; Toy Vendor. It was a dispensing machine filled with capsuled toys. "I can exchange what I have for something new. Though they have to be Fluffals or else it wont work." Toy Vendor discarded a random card from her hand, while she drew a new card with her other hand. "Ooh, another Bear." The card she drew was Fluffal Bear. Toy Vendor could now special summon the fairy-winged pink Bear(3/1200/800) to the field. "Hmm, guess I will use him along with Fluffal Dog." The girl resummoned the dog toy. Its effect was activated once more..

But it was not her right hand that pulled a card from the deck. "Aren't you forgetting someone?" Phoebe's voice cracked and changed to a lower pitch. "Toy Vendor and Fluffal Dog can search something else besides Fluffals. They can get Edge Imp Sabres too!" In the middle of the duel, Phoebe flipped the dueldisk from her left wrist to her right. The disk model seemed specifically designed to allow this quick maneuver. "What are you doing, miss Phoebe?" Zach's opponent seemed to be ambidextrous and ambivalent of mind. "Just taking over. Hi, I 'm Phoebe!" Phoebe smirked wryly as her left hand claimed the Edge Imp Sabres card with Fluffal Dog's effect. "Wanna see something terrifying?" She activated Polymerization. "I fuse Fluffal Bear with Edge-Imp Sabres and fusion summon Frightfur Bear!"

The fusing spell combined the cute bear with the horrifying scissor demon in her hand. The holograms made it look less like a normal fusion, and more like Fluffal Bear was torn up from the inside out. Scissors protruded from his belly and arms and its head split open to reveal two sets of sharp teeth and glowing red eyes inside the dark gaping mouth. "Pray there weren't any kids watching on TV, heheh." She cackled like a witch as she entered her battle phase. "Eat her whole my bear!" Frightfur Bear(6/2200/1800) used his new claws to grab Melodious Diva Canon and just tossed her into his own mouth. "Heheh, Frightfur Bear grows from what it devours like a venus flytrap!" The destroyed Canon was equipped to the Bear. A thousand attackpoints were added to the toy of death(3200/1800) for each meal. "So you have thrown fusion into the mix? Dare I say your true self has come out?" Zach would just have to play along. He was sure Dom would approve of a little showmanship. "True self? What a ridiculous idea! We're both true! Me and the Dame." The girl was done with her turn.

"She did not attack with Fluffal Dog? Because it's a monster that Dame summoned?" Even Uno started to think Dame Phoebe was taking this performance a bit too far.

Zach drew again. " ...Perhaps. Since you have taken the next step, I have to follow your lead! Polymerization!" Zach activated his own fusion spell to combine Mozarta the Melodious Maestra and Elegy the Melodious Diva in his hand. "I fusion summon Bloomdiva the Melodious Choir!" Fusing the Maestra with another Melodious allowed him to recreate the invincible flower fairy(6/1000/2000). "This will be a clash of fusion monsters!" Bloomdiva attacked. Her song unleashed powerful waves upon Frightfur Bear. "I take no damage from her battles, and she cannot be destroyed. Also, since she is battling a special summoned monster, she will cause you damage equal to the difference between her attack and your Bears original ATK. And your monster will be destroyed!" Try as it might, Frightfur Bear could not fight back. It was overwhelmed by the sound and dismantled into blades and tufts.

Phoebe's LP: 5400

Once Zach placed his trap card down, he gave the turn back to his opponent. "Ha. Wonder what it will be." Phoebe roughly drew the next card on top of her deck. She glared at it..and her lecherous expression transformed into a sweet smile at the flip of a card. "Ta-da!" That card was Defusion, she showed it to Zach. "Oh that's not good." Zach knew Defusions effect, everyone did. The name said it all. "Goodbye Bloomdiva. You could sadly not stay with us for long." Dame played Defusion on Melodious Choir. Zach's fused fairy separated and dissolved into nothing. "Oh yeah. Defusion split a monster into its fusion materials, but only if those materials are in the graveyard of the guy who activated Defusion." Eric mumbled. Defusion was a handy tool for fusion duelists, but even more devastating against other fusion duelists.

"Oh we are enjoying ourselves, aren't we? Let's get more toys in!" Dame clapped her hands and reactivated Toy Vendor. She discarded a second Toy Vendor spell from her hand and drew a Fluffal Leo monster from her deck. "Prima! I got a double bonus! A Toy Vendor that is sent to the graveyard fetches a Fluffal or Edge Imp Sabres from the deck." Because of the discarded Toy Vendor, Phoebe could add a second Fluffal Leo from her deck to her hand. The first lion toy(4/1600/1200) was special summoned by the Vendor machine. The second(4/1600/1200) was normal summoned. "Frightfur Bear had his say. Now the Fluffals are here to stay. Fluffal Leo, you will attack first since you get more 500 attackpoints during my battle phase." The first Lion flew towards Zach and delivered a soft yet damaging blow with his(2100/1200) stuffed paw.

Zach's LP: 5900

"Thank you for that, Dame Phoebe!" Zach retaliated with his trap card. "I can activate Damage Gate now! I special summon a monster from my graveyard if she does not have more attackpoints than the damage I took!" He resummoned Aria the Melodious Diva(4/1600/1200) in defense mode. "A special summoned Aria cannot be destroyed as a result of battle!" He would be safe from further attacks now. "Oh. What a pity. My other toys merely wanted to share their love." Dame placed one trap card of her own face-down and ended her turn. "I am afraid an enemy is an enemy, no matter how cute or beautiful." Zach drew his next card. "But since Bloomdiva failed. I will hire a different conductor. I summon Soprano the Melodious Songstress!" His next Diva was a fairy(4/1400/1400) with long red hair. She wore an armored dress and her eyes were covered by a golden visor. "Soprano allows me to fuse monsters I control to summon a melodious fusion monster. I fusion summon Schuberta the Melodious Maestra by using 2 Melodious monsters as the materials!"

The Songstress merged her own essence with Aria. Together they created the Maestra(6/2400/2000) in her voluminous red and brown dress. Wavy red hair flowed down her back and a golden butterfly mask rested on her face. "Schuberta can banish 3 cards in any graveyard. If she does, she'll gains 200 attackpoints for each banished card. I will target Polymerization, Edge Imp Sabres and Fluffal Bear!" Zach was no fool. He knew Edge Imp Sabres had a selfrevival effect built-in. And fusion duelists always had a way to recover their fusion spells and fusion materials, so he would get rid of it all at once. "Nice try, Creffield." Dame, or rather Phoebe, was one step ahead unfortunately. Her trap activated and resolved first. "Fusion Reserve. I show you a fusion monster in my extra Deck. Then 1 of its materials from our deck and 1 Polymerization from our graveyard will fall in my hand!" The girl switched dueldisk positions again as she took revealed a second Frightfur Bear. Thanks to Fusion Reserve, she regained Polymerization and could claim Edge Imp Sabres. "That's a shame." Schuberta(2800/2000) only banished two cards now. "..I attack a Fluffal Leo." Schuberta could destroy 1 Fluffal, but not all. "I set a trap card and end my turn."

Phoebe's LP: 4200

"Hhehehheheh, now there is someone I can sink my teeth into! Time for another toy of death!" The darker Phoebe was clearly in control, as she tore her next card from her deck. "And what big teeth we will have.. Polymerization!" She used her spell on every monster in her possession. The Edge Imp Sabres in her hand polymerized with Fluffal Leo and Fluffal Dog on the field. "By fusing Sabres with any number of Fluffals, we can make Frightfur Wolf!" The dog formed the main body of this new creature, its fur turned dark blue and its(6/2000/1500) shape became wolflike. The head and stomach split open, just like with Frightfur Bear, to reveal scissor blades and red eyes in the dark. The fact that the Wolf was weaker than the Maestra drew a lot of chatter from the audience. "Oh? Not scared yet? You should be." Phoebe had a card left to play, an equip spell card that could only be equipped to level 6 or lower fusion monsters. "Fusion Weapon!" The Frightfur's left claw mutated into a veiny red cannon. Fusion Weapon added 1500 attackpoints to the Wolf(3500/1500). "Rip! Stab! Tear!" With his new weapon the Frightfur beast battled Schuberta, and devoured her. His teeth left nothing of the Melodious conductor, not even a the baton.

Zach's LP: 5200

"This is it." Sweat rolled down Zach's forehead. He had been aware of his fate since she first played that spell card. "Yeah. How does it feel? Are you scared? Good! Savor that feeling!" Frightfur Wolf suddenly came in for a second attack. It swiped at Zach with his scissors.

Zach's LP: 1700

"What? Why did she get another attack?" Emily did not follow what was going on because even the host stopped explaining card effects over the speaker. Dom seemed just as shocked. "Frightfur Wolf gets to attack once for each monster fused into it." Uno had to deliver the exposition and the bad news. Since three monsters had been used as materials, Frightfur Wolf still had an attack left. "Now this is the end. Did you think it would come this soon, poor thing?" Dame Phoebe briefly reverted to her sweeter tone of voice, seemingly just to mock Zach. "Everyone loses some time! Everyone! Even Doms pretty boy!" Finally Frightfur Wolf made its third attack. The demonic beast toy slashed right through the disciple's body. "Guh.."

Zach's LP: 0

There was no turmoil of cheers or jeers coming from around. There were no blessings or cries given by Dom. It was unlikely that he'd seen this coming. "He lost? But he wanted to duel you." And Alice raised a good point. There was one less disciple for Uno to fight now. "I don't know. I.." Uno did not really get the time to ponder the ramifications. His mind was distracted. "Is she..looking this way?" It was distracted by the fact that Dame Phoebe was staring at him from the corner of her left eye. "She is coming towards us!" Eric panicked as the asymmetrical girl turned towards them. She had no words left for Zach. "Hey, Stonewell, did I say you could mingle with the other guilds?" 'Phoebe' addressed Eric first. "Ah! No ma'am. I was just about to leave!" He apologized profusely and was about to make a hasty retreat. But then her face relaxed into a big grin. "She was just joking, Eric. You can be with whomever you want." 'Dame' giggled. She did not make Eric any less tense.

"I mean who could resist such wonderful friends? I would murder to get a chance to hang around with you, Cassius." Phoebe divided her attention to the others. "I am honored." Cassius was wishing she hadn't. Though he was not what interested her the most. "Hello and Hello, Uno." It was the duelist who had rejected her guild. "You should have joined us. You are like us, two-faced. I saw your other face when you dueled Meridian." She licked her finger. "I look forward to seeing more of that Uno."

(To be Continued in Annex 032: It's all Fun and Games)

New Cards used by Zach Creffield
Score the Melodious Diva
Soprano the Melodious Songstress

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Schuberta the Melodious Maestra

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Polymerization

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Damage Gate

Cards used by Dame Phoebe
Fluffal Dog
Edge Imp Sabres
Fluffal Bear
Fluffal Leo

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Frightfur Bear
Frightfur Wolf

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Toy Vendor
Polymerization
Fusion Weapon

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Fluffal Crane
Fusion Reserve