Annex 037: U.N.O.

There wasn't a duelist alive who did not hear about Uno's victory. Not when Dom screamed about it to everyone in the park, whether they cared or not. "That's nice. Maybe now that guy will tell Uno what he wants to know." This included Emily and Cassius. "Then maybe, you can stop now." While Emily was happy for simple reasons, Cassius saw a few more indirect benefits from all of this. "Stop? You mean step out of the tournament? But Eric is.. Alice is still dueling!" Emily did not want to leave before she knew how either of them would do. "Oh I don't doubt that she'll do well. But I'm speaking out of concern for your safety. This possible attackj on me may just be a beginning of things to come. If Uno gets his answers, he doesn't have to duel here anymore. Now could be the best time to pull back." He considered his guilds chances pretty dire right now anyway. "I think Uno would keep dueling even if he gets what he wants. He likes to show off. Besides, I'm part of your guild. If they stay, I stay."

Before either duelist could argue their case any further, a security guard walked into the hospital room. "Emily Brandt?" He asked for the name of the girl. "Ehr.. yes?" She answered somewhat warily. "Master Dom has requested your presence at the Stadium. Your sister and your friend are waiting for you there as well." If one had been asking for an indication of Dom living up to his promise, they got one. "Now? Matches are still going on, right?" The timing was a bit off though, Emily thought. "He has made time for you. Now please follow me."

It was hard to say no. A quick drive with the car and Emily found herself back in the company of Uno and Alice, inside a luxurious suite that Dom had hidden back in the amphitheater. "Ah, there we are! Everyone seated, everyone comfortable?!" There was narrowly any time to catch up before Dom made his entrance by dramatically turning his chair around. "Were you waiting there all this-""SO! Uno my boy, you really impressed me back there! Heck, all of you did. Your duels were outstanding and unforgettable! You can't tell me a man who loves dueling that much, could be a threat to Dreamworld. Now just like I prepare all my speeches, I prepared this one as well by envisioning the list of questions you would undoubtedly throw at me with on a moment like this one. So let's get some out of the way. No, I am not UNO. Yes I know UNO. No Uno you are not UNO. I don't know who or how you got a hand of our cards. That should start the fire. The floor is open now!" He placed his fingers against each other and waited for their response. "...and I thought Zach could talk without end." Emily only had sighs to give. "He learned it from the best, missy. Allthough his face is at least prettier than mine."

"Dom.. You know UNO. How? Who is he?" Uno took the 'floor'. He needed everything there was on this person. "Uno and I share a mutual pact, he does work for me and I do work for him. Though we've never met in person, I have heard his voice. It was partially because of him that I had to play it slow with you. I haven't heard from him in a while. I don't know who convinced you that he was at Dreamworld HQ, but they sold you a lie. UNO has never been near me." That is what Dom had to say, and Uno could not tell if it was true or not. Doms mask made it so that Uno could only go on his voice. "Someone lied at least." Maybe Uno had wasted his time with those psychic sisters after all. Neither the Uno nor the Odd-Eyes revelation bore any relevance to real-life events as of yet.

"Actually, I do wonder about something. If Uno gained your trust, why are you still keeping that thing on?" Emily referred to the cardback colored fishbowl that was his mask. "Oh I'm just used to going through my days like this." Dom played the question off. "Doesn't it get hot in there?" Alice played right along with it. "Very much so!" Dom laughed. "The point is.." Emily snapped to get them back on topic. "You ask a lot of Uno while you keep your own face bottled up. That doesn't sound very fair." She disapproved, period. "Hey! I'm doing this for your own protection. You saw that August guy, there are a lot of wackos out there like him who want me for my brilliant mind. If word got out that you've seen my face, they might try to get to me through you! Imagine the torture and carnage! I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Well maybe my lawyers.. Still, you don't want to know everything about me. I don't. Iria and Zachary are the only ones I know who can take it."

"...I see your frown is getting frownier." Dom said as he took one look at Emily. "Here is something to tide you over. Your friend Stonewell works for us."

"What!? Eric?" Alice and Emily cried out simultaneously. "Sir? Do you think it is wise to tell them this?" Iria finally spoke up, also taken aback by his 'honesty'. "They did enough to fool the others during that duel at the haunted house. There is no harm now." Dom gave her a shrug. "So there was a reason." Uno should have known. The anomaly wasn't that Eric joined a guild, but that he wanted to stay quiet about it. "Yes. We put Eric in the fusion guild to act as our informant. I'd call him a spy, but that's an ugly word." He waved his hand dismissively. "You made Eric your spy? Isn't that dangerous?" Alice asked. "The idea was his. He came to us, pleading, and we decided that his contributions could help us expose corruption. We gave him what he needed to get into a guild, and then he worked his way up from there."

"How is that not dangerous? What if the fusion guild is behind the attack on Aaron?" Emily protested. Knowing what really had gone on with Eric just made her frustrations worse. "And did you just say that 'I played my part?' Does that mean that you set us against each other?" She knew they could do that, Iria did not just radomly become Uno's opponent in round two. "I do what I have, when I have to. Right now I am holding Alice back from any matches so she can be here with you and me." Doms response was both revealing and also did not actually answer Emily's question. "The Fusion guild is not responsible for any attacks. That's not their M.O. Usually they just stick to bribing, betting and forgery. Now being part of an counterfeit black market, that is more their thing. Your friend is trying to find out if they have connections. Zach has the details, since he's his correspondent now. But according to him, the guild did not make any noise this morning. And if that wasn't enough."

The master tapped a button on his desk and opened a door on the wall behind him. A security guard walked through the door, carrying a dueldisk. "Aarons disk?" It was the same one Emily had seen Iria take earlier this day, Iria took it again. "Our people finished analyzing this device, and compared it with all known transactions on the network at the time. No other active disks were near the scene of the accident, and no ID connected to this one. So we can conclude for now that no guilds were involved. We do not need this anymore." Iria explained before she just handed it back to Emily. "Gee, thanks." It was not as if Cassius could use it anymore. "It is a pity. I could easily have rearranged the playlist to set his duel at the end of the day. But it doesn't look like he will get better in time."

"Anyway, this is getting boring. Uno! Let's get back to you, and to what makes your Pendulums special." He leaned forward in his desk, resting his dome on his hands. "We picked up something interesting during your duels." His head tilted to one side. "Your pendant.. may I see it?" Uno's heart thumped heavily as Dom mentioned 'that'. "Pendant? I don't have any jewelry." He tried to feign ignorance, even if he did not really know why. "Oh right. You bugged my dueldisk." Iria and Dom probably already heard enough. "Here then. Maybe you'll understand it better than me." He took the jewel off his neck and placed it on the desk. "Well I'll be. An actual pendulum. This is what was making things go haywire." Dom rubbed his mask as if that made it easier to see. "Now this is new to me, Uno. See, that duel against Iria was supposed to replicate the odd phenomenon that happened five times now. Eric, Boris, Stan, Meridian, August; each time you battled them, some glitch showed up in the network. It did not happen against the Qliphorts. Very strange."

"Can I ask something?" Alice raised her hand. "Of course you can! What can I do for you little Alice?" The master giddily clapped his hands together. "Those Pendulums, how did you come up with them? Why do they look like that?" She referred to the Qliphorts, though the Performapals and Magicians counted as well. "That is a good question. Did you design all of them?" Uno had seen evidence on the contrary. "Ah. I'd like to take credit for all of it, but the cards we have today are the result of a combined effort of our creative teams, the guilds input, and my genius. Now if you promise not to spread this around, I can tell you who came up with the idea." Emily and Uno seemed to accept this condition by staying silent while Alice nodded fiercely. "From the Infernoids to the classic Dark Magician; it was UNO who gave life to them. It all started as a simple novel series he wrote twelve years ago. But everyone has forgotten the books and only remembers the cards that came from them. I owned the company that made the cards real, but he helped us with the designs. There is a reason my friend called himself UNO. He did not want the world to know, but he is technically.. The First Duelist."

"UNO... invented the cards?" More and more pieces fell into place. "I must have known UNO in the past.." It was what he had believed all along. "Possibly. I don't have his friendlist. I asked him about you, but he claims to not know anyone that looks like you." Dom said. "All I know he has a wide range of interests; from circus animals to.. what was it again, Iria?" Some references were lost on him. "The sephirot tree, sir." Iria was luckily always there to remind him of such things. "Right, the ten spheres. Now, to get back to this." He nudged the pendant on his desk with the tip of his finger. "This thingamajig is the key. I'm no gem expert, but I am pretty sure we can figure out your whole deal if we understood what this pendant can do." Before he could fiddle with it more, Uno took the jewel back. "You want to help me now? Nobody told me that we were on the same side." He tucked it away behind his shirt. "I trust my friends before I'd trust you. And they have a good point, it's hard to work with someone whose face you can't see."

"Of course we're on the same side, my boy! You can come to me with all your wishes. How is this for an idea? We should recreate the events of one of those previous duels. Sure, half of those people are not in the tournament, but.." Dom pulled out a notepad from his drawers and used it to turn on a big screen behind him. "There is one of them right now!" On that screen were two duelists fighting each other in the forest of monster statues. "That guy?" One of them was Stan, the XYZ-duelist Uno had battled two weeks ago. "Bingo! What do you say to a rematch with him? That could get that old crystal to stir a little." It would be a repeat of what happened then, something Uno was not necessarily against. "You're going to schedule his next duel now?" Alice was amazed Dom could even do that. "Happens all the time. This morning some eager young lad traded in a lot of dueling credits to get a shot at dueling Adamant. It's perfectly legal and encourages trading."

"Uh I think you should be watching that duel." Emily pointed to the screen. "Relax. I told you, I prepare all my speeches in advance. My staff just plays the proper recorded soundfile at the appropriate time." These XYZ-Guild duels usually ended the same way anyway. "Sir. I think she was talking about something else." Not in this case. "Huh?" Dom turned his chair around and watched the duel with his own eyes. "Hey now. That wasn't part of the plan!" It looked like Stan was taking a few nasty hits. "Who is that kid?" Uno saw that Stans opponent was just a young boy with messy blonde hair and a tattered grey coat. He did not look like prime dueling material, yet he was using cards that could match Stans. "It says here his name is Neter Decan; aged 13." Iria pulled his profile up. "He comes from his own independent guild, the Sleepers, and uses Tellarknight cards." Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. "You think he can win?" Alice was curious what would happen if he did. "He better not. I have things riding on this. Go Stan!" Dom pumped his fist in the air.

Stans LP: 5600 Neter's LP: 5700

"Hehe.. My turn!" Neter seemed like an energetic little kid, he did a lot of exxagerated movements just to draw his one card. He controlled one monster, Satellarknight Rigel(4/1900/700). "I would not laugh. I control the field." Stan meanwhile had both his best XYZ-monsters on the field, Castel the Skyblaster(4/2000/1500) and two Kings of the Feral Imps(4/2300/2000). "You control the field? Haha, you don't know how funny you sound.." Neter normal summoned a new Tellarknight. "Go, go, go! Satellarknight Altair!" Altair(4/1700/1300), like most Tellarknights was a knight in white armor with a large golden ring floating around their bodies. Rigel had a long cape and curly blonde hair, while Altair had angelic wings on his back. "Bring baaaaack.. this one!" Altairs effect could special summon a Tellarknight from the graveyard. Neter chose Satellarknight Alsahm(4/1400/1800); a tiny armored archer with golden wingsymbols behind his back. "Familiar face, isn't it?" Alsahm inflicted 1000 points of damage each time it was summoned. Just like it did right now.

Stans LP: 4600

"By the way, mister, you are not the only one with XYZ-monsters, you know?" Neter took all three of his level 4 monsters. "Rank 4?" Like Stan this kid was using them to Xyz-summon a monster of the 4th rank, the Satellarknights overlayed into one majestic knight(4/2100/2500) of the stars. In one hand he held a three-pointed shield of energy, in the other a glowing saber. "Hey. Remember when you said you controlled the field? Hahaha, funtimes." The knight threw his shield down on the ground. "This one is Stellarknight Triverr. Because I summoned him the right way, he sends all other cards on the field back to our hands!" The triangular force shield trapped all of Stans cards in the field and banished them back to his hand. "I assumed you would have one or two Xyz-monsters, Neter Decan. But one is not merely enough." Stellarknights were a deck dedicated to XYZ-monsters, though they were usually restricted to their own family. Summoning Triverr denied the player any non-Tellarknight summons for the rest of the turn.

"Hey. I said monstersss. The 's' at the end makes it plural!" Neter activated a spell card; XYZ Shift. "Here is another right now, ha-haa!" XYZ Shift tributed Stellarknight Triverr to special summon a Xyz-monster with the same element, type and rank as the sacrificed monster. It needed to have a different name though. "He's here, here, here! Stellarknight Delteros." Delteros(4/2500/2100) looked much like his predecessor, except his sword and shield glowed with the color of gold. The same color adorned the wings with which he flew. XYZ Shift also attached itself to the new XYZ-monster as its single material. "Oh! I almost forgot about Rigel!" Neter took a card from his graveyard and put it on the field. "Ugh." Stan was affraid of this; Stellarknight Triverr could special summon one Tellarknight whenever it went from the field to the graveyard. "You XYZ-shifted one monster to bring out two monsters." It was such an unusual combo, one that his class of duelists would never bother with. Yet now it was what was going to finish him off. "Yay! You know how it works! So guess all I need to do is fight, fight, fight!" The revived Satellarknight Rigel could give a monster 500 attackpoints when it was summoned. It boosted his(2400/700) own power, so he and Delteros could join blades to cut Stan down.

Stans LP: 0

"...well that's a bummer." That was the duel, Neter was clearly the winner. Dom's nice project went up in smoke. "Independents are giving me a lot of trouble lately. But hey, this kid clearly spent a lot of bucks to get those XYZ-monsters, so I can't complain." That was the norm for independents. If you were not part of the three big guilds, extra deck monsters cost three times as much. "So who's left?" Dom inquired. "The only one to fit the criteria is Eric Stonewell." Iria had crossed of every other name on the list. Boris and Meridian never made it into the tournament and August was clearly not participating. "Ah yes. The classic friend and mentor scenario. What do you say, Uno? Are you up for a test?"

"You're gonna choose something if I don't." Uno preferred not knowing who his next opponent would be. But he did not have that luxury with a gamehost this erratic. Dom seemed set on the concept of a pendant-themed rematch. "Leave Eric alone, at least. You helped him get into the guild, that is more than enough. I want him to know he earned it when he does well." He closed his eyes for a second to think. Was there someone to duel, someone he simply wanted to duel? Adamant or Phoebe both were very alluring targets. On the other hand, the show man inside him suggested that he had to build up anticipation and leave the big hitters alone until the last few rounds. "Neter." He made his choice. "Him? Intriguing.." Dom chuckled. "You got it." A mere push of the button was all it took to arrange it. "..." Uno wondered already if he would regret this alliance.

(To be Continued in Annex 038: Ghost Stories)

Cards used by Neter
Satellarknight Rigel
Satellarknight Altair
Satellarknight Alsahm

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Stellarknight Triverr
Stellarknight Delteros

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XYZ Shift