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.

38. Ghost Stories

Annex 038: Ghost Stories

Round two was winding down. Inevitably Alice was called to the stage to go up against someone from the Fusion Guild. While she and her sister headed for the dueling spot, Uno stuck around Doms place a little longer to get some more questions answered. The spot itself was an ice skating ring, though obviously Alice would not duel on the ice itself. "So empty now." It was while watching this duel that Emily noticed how few of her 'friends' were still around. The Synchro guild had finished all their duels for the day and they lost another three members. Cassius wouldn't be fighting so his opponent just got his free ticket to the third round. It happened to be someone from the XYZ-guild, of all guilds. Sure that guild took a few more hits, but Adamant was still around. The champions duel, which would cap off the day, seemed like a foregone conclusion. She felt lonely. At the very least she still had her sister.. and her family.

"Uhhn.." She could only groan as her phone's most used ringtone went off. "Hey mom." It was that time again. "Hi honey. I heard about what happened today. I am sorry that it happened." Today's call was decidedly less upbeat. What Emily did not need was a reminder of her own defeat. "It happens. Nobody wins all the time." She told her mom. She had been saying that to herself for some time too. "Well your father and I want to know that we are still proud of you, and that we wished we could have been there. But my schedule is still open for tomorrow so.." Heather did not want to fail her promise to come on the third day. "About that. Mom.. maybe you shouldn't come." Unfortunately Emily could only think about what Cassius had said earlier about leaving the tournament. "Why? What is wrong honey? Is it Alice?" Her mother seemed oblivious to what else had occurred in the amusement park. "You didn't hear?"

"Never mind. Alice is.. doing okay. More than okay actually.." Emily heard shouting; the duel had found a winner. It was her sister. "She won? Oh that is splendid. Now I am certainly going to be there." Now there was no excuse Emily could use to make her stay way. If Alice had lost, things could've been different. "But I would have done the same for you, you know that right?" Now Mrs. Brandt wondered if jealousy was playing a factor in what her daughter was saying. "I know, I know." Emily did not need to be told that either. She was rarely envious of people, least of all Alice. If her younger sister was happy, she was happy as well. "Is that mom? Gimme, gimme, gimme!" Especially since Alice got excited over just about anything, no matter how often she did it. "Here." Alice came back and got the phone from her sister. She talked her mothers ears off, bringing up how she felt less and less anxiety each time she dueled in front of all those people. "Why didn't I just tell her?" Emily wondered to herself. She wanted to explain what happened to Cassius and it should have been as simple as saying.. "Oh yeah Aaron got hurt a lot today." Like what Alice was saying right now. "H-hey!"

"Shouldn't I have said that?"

So after a fun conversation with her mother, about the dangers of fast and reckless driving and how Cassius was lucky to not have his bones broken, the sisters had time for themselves. "She didn't even want to listen." Emily had not succeeded at convincing her mother not to come. She saw the accident as something that was bound to happen with someone like Cassius. That was the most insulting part. "And the outside world doesn't even know.." There was also that part. Was Dreamworld covering it up or did nobody care? "Do you think Eric was watching my duel?" Alice brought up a new subject. "Huh? No, I don't think so. I didn't see him." The fusion guild crowd was big, but Eric had not been with their mob. "I still need to talk with him." Because of Doms revelations, Emily knew the full story behind Erics bizarre actions. She wanted to apologize, a little, for things she had said the last time they saw each other. "What if that black and white lady is with him though?" But Alice raised a counterpoint; if Phoebe was watching Eric, they could hardly discuss his 'spying duties' in public. "He has got to be alone at some point.."

...

"And that, my boy, was the first time and last time I flew economy class. Nasty business, don't recommend it." Dom ended his long story. "That was nowhere near an answer to my question. Also I'm pretty sure half of that was made up." It took more time to listen to than Uno could recount. "Ah but you kept listening! You're alright, Uno! Shame that you forgot most of your stories, I am betting there's a whopper or two among them." A sigh escaped his dome. "Anyway, that should hold you for now. There's one more duel coming up and I don't want to miss doing live commentary for this one." The duels so far had all been broadcast on the big screen behind him, so Uno was at least aware of Alice's victory. "A duel you do not want to miss?" Uno could also deduce who was still left; Adamant. "This is it then? What about me meeting the real UNO?" That was something only Dom could give him. "He's a hard guy to get on the line.. He might be more interest him in you if I can convince him that you're no threat. Either way, you can count on me Uno-boy. If he makes a peep, you will be the.. fourth to hear about it."

"I guess I should say thanks." Uno got up. He stared at Iria. "You know, I can understand Zach working here with him. But what is your reason? Does it pay good?" Iria had never given the impression that she liked playing games, nor did she have much patience for fun. There was a story Uno would love to hear. "Nothing like that, Uno. Nor is that an answer you need to have. Now can you find our own way out of here, or do you need an escort?" He should have known better than to try. "The former." Uno would have to try again later. He had a feeling they would be more honest than Dom himself was. Dom may have acted the part of the fool, but he was no fool. Uno could see that right away. "Oh don't worry about the pendant by the way. If it acts up again, we will know and my boys at the lab will figure out what it's doing." He always left out just enough information. Like, how were they going to figure it out? How were they keeping track of the pendant? There was no way he would get clarification on that issue. "Yeah, see ya."

...

The final duel of round two would take place at the centerpiece of the amusement park, the massive Blue-Eyes White Dragon themed rollercoaster. "You think they're gonna duel while riding the cars?" An environment like this begged for a sensational duel. "That sounds like a terrible risk to take for no reason, but who knows." Emily did not look forward to seeing another accident. One was enough for a day. Normally she would not be here to begin with, as she had no investment in the outcome of this duel. "Howdy!" But since Uno didn't know where they would be otherwise, the two sisters had been waiting for him at this spot. "It didn't start yet, did it?"

"Not yet. Kyle is not here yet." The XYZ-guild stood on one side of the tracks. Adamant sat in the middle with his arms crossed and his eyes closed. "Kyle?" The other duelist was late. Few duelists from the fusion and Synchro-guild had shown up as well. "Yeah. That guy we met at the casino, remember? He was the one who told us about the independent guilds." Alice had to remind Uno, since he had never met the guy in person. The face on the big screen rang no bells. "Oh yeah. Wait.. " Another memory scratched the back of Uno's mind now too. "Dom said something about this duel.. about choosing to be Adamant's opponent. So Kyle did that?" That was not what he would have done. Adamant seemed like the kind of guy you'd want to leave to someone else. "Maybe he believes he has a shot? You don't set up matches like this unless you know what you want. He must have a reason." Emily could not rationalize it very well either.

"There he is!" Finally, right on time in fact, Kyle appeared. He had his cards already inserted into his dueldisk and the disk itself was turned on. "..." Adamant's disk received the challenge signal from Kyle's disk. "Kyle, is it?" The rest of his guild moved out of the way to let Kyle make his approach. Kyle however took his position on the other side of the tracks, passing right by Uno and the girls. "Hey, Kyle! Remember us!? We're here to wish you good luck!" Alice waved at him. Despite their close proximity, he walked on as if he saw and heard nothing. "Huh? That's not nice..." He wouldn't have noticed anyone else either. Uno realized that Kyle had set his sight on Adamant this entire time. "Are you not going to get up?" Kyle finally spoke. He was ready. Inversely, Adamant was still lazily sitting on a waiting bench. "You made me wait. Because of you my duel was placed here at the end of day. You have my attention, Kyle. I hope you can keep it." The XYZ-duelist only moved to prepare his cards. "You can bet your life on that, champion of the XYZ-guild."

Adamant's LP: 8000 Kyle's LP: 8000

"AND THEY'RE OFF! LADIES AND GENTLEMAN WELCOME TO THE CLIMAX OF ROUND TWO. IT HAS BEEN A DOOZIE OF A DAY HASN'T IT? WELL WE SAVED THE BEST FOR LAST!" True to his word, Dom returned to active commentary for this match. Something that both sides could have done without in fact. "Terraforming!" Kyle activated a spell right in the middle of Doms speech. Terraforming searched the deck for field spells and added one to a players hand. "I take Ultra Athlete Stadium!" Kyle settled on one card and used it. The ground beneath the two players turned into a trackfield of artificial green turf. The area around them became a futuristic sport arena, with a floating monitor station up above. "Whoa.." Uno felt like he was standing in a real life building for a second. The stadium was huge, hiding half the tracks. "Ah. I was beginning to worry nobody would play a field spell to play off the enhanced visualizers!" Dom bragged. Hologram amplifiers were set all over the park. This was the first time people could see the full effect of it.

"Just noise." At any rate Kyle continued his turn. "Ultra Athlete Midfielder!" In the center zone he normal summoned a soccer(4/1200/1000) player with cybernetic jetboots and a helmet for safety. Because of this the effect of the field was triggered. For every normal summon, U.A. Stadium would add a new U.A. monster to the players hand. "I add Ultra Athlete Blockbacker! I will summon him too, in defense mode!" The athletes of course could still tag out and in. By sending U.A. Midfielder back into his hand, U.A. Blockbacker the armored football tackler(7/1600/2700), could special summon himself from Kyle's hand. Reasonably, U.A. Stadium had an effect that aided special summons too. Once per turn, when an Athlete was special summoned, all Ultra Athletes on the field would gain 500 attackpoints permanently. Invisible spectators in the holographic stadium cheered Blockbacker on to make him(2100/2700) feel more psyched for battle. "I set a trap card and end my turn!"

"The Ultra Athletes. A relatively old archetype, not geared towards any extra deck mechanic. It is standard for a duelist like you, Independent Guild. Yet their chances are poor,. You chose to challenge me with this?" Adamant did not give of a very enthused impression so far. "I wouldn't have it any other way, Champion!" Kyle said. Though it sounded more like he was growling. "An attachment between you and your cards then; how foolish. You would do better to waste someone else's time." Adamant placed a trap card face-down and summoned a monster; Raidraptor Fuzzy Lanius(4/500/1500), in attack position. "End turn." He did nothing else, which came as a shock to everyone but mostly to Kyle. "Are you mocking me? Do you think that you can afford to not play just because of what cards I'm using?! Or does even the champion run into a bad opening hand?" U.A. Blockbacker could switch one special summoned monster to defense each turn, and negate its effects as well. That alone should not have been enough to slow Adamant down, except in this case apparently.

"If your reason was anger. Why direct this at me, Independent Guild?" Kyle's stern face had been twisted by rage so suddenly that even Adamant took notice. "You have to ask me that? Doesn't my face look familiar to you?" Kyle leaned forward to give his opponent a good look. Adamant's silence was the answer. "Maybe not, we didn't look that much alike. But these cards, you should know them. They took you on in the past!" Kyle shouted. "That is possible. But I have seen many decks and many duelists. If you belived I could remember a single instance, you were hoping for the impossible." Adamant stated and then he slumped back against the bench. "Don't you dare!" Kyle normal summoned U.A. Midfielder again. He activated the effect of U.A. Stadium after that; adding a U.A. Mighty Slugger monster to his hand. "Come!" He then switched the Midfielder with the Mighty Slugger, summoning the ultra batter(5/2300/700) in attack position. Both the Slugger(2800/700) and the Blockbacker(2600/2700) received another boost of power from U.A. Stadium. "Don't you dare tell me that you forgot! If you did, I will hit you until your mind relives every part of it!" Kyle switched Blockbacker to attack mode.

"Icarus Attack." Adamant reacted while his opponent was moments away from declaring his attacks. "Your set card and your Blocker." He did not explain what his trap was for, everyone present would know already. "Oh no!" Alice had dealt with that trap herself. A winged beast was sacrificed so that Icarus Attack could destroy two cards on the field. Fuzzy Lanius burst into flames and crashed into U.A. Blockbacker. The bird kept going after the destruction of Kyle's monster, and it blew up a trap card as well; U.A. Penalty Box. Adamant improved his own numbers as well. Since Fuzzy Lanius' effect activated upon its death. Adamant could use it to add a second Fuzzy Lanius Raidraptor from his deck to his hand. "Rghh! I still have one monster left!" Mighty Slugger threw an electric ball in the air and slammed his bat into it. The ball phased through Adamant and the walls of the rollercoasters ticket booth. "Did you feel that?" The assault had only just begun.

Adamant's LP: 5800

"Feel? How can he feel anything. They are just holograms?" Some of the duelists who were watching the duel naturally considered Kyle to be slightly less than sane. "He knows what I'm talking about!" Kyle overheard their babbling and gave them a piece of his fury too. "Yeah but we don't. What are you talking about? What did Adamant do?" Emily was fed up with everyone talking like they were swapping inside jokes. If this guy wanted sympathy, he was not doing it right. "I... I know you two." Kyle had been too focused on his true enemy making it take this long to recognize the two girls he had seen at the Casino. "You're the new ones." Kyle placed a trap card down. He also switched out U.A. Mighty Slugger to let U.A. Goalkeeper the Ultra goalie(6/1000/2800) summon himself in defense mode. "Millions are watching.. millions of innocents. They have to.. I have to.. I'll tell you and every other person who has to know! This is about the XYZ-guild ...and my brother."

"Your brother?" Alice remembered Kyle mentioning him before, how he was the sportsman of the two. "What happened to him?"

"He was hurt; put into a coma, by that man!" He dramatically pointed at Adamant. Gasps erupted from the mob, including several XYZ-duelists. "What nonsense are you spewing?" The only one who was not reacting loudly in any way, was the accused. Adamant was primarily offended. "My brother, James Warren, he was a member of your guild. Though he was my older brother, people always said how much we looked alike. I was the student, he was the athlete. He joined your guild because he felt he had to master every game and every sport. We were fine living like that. Except then, one day, I found him in a hospital, with no explanation of what happened. He just lied there on life-support, with inexplicable bruises. It looked as if he had been attacked. The doctors told me they did not know if he would ever wake up again! Nobody could tell me what happened! I had to find the truth myself! I looked and I found you, Adamant."

"To me." The XYZ-leader scoffed. "Yes. I found out that my brother was last seen in one of your facilities. He left his dueldisk and cards there, the same cards that you are seeing on this field right now! He would never leave his stuff behind, so whatever happened to him happened in that place. I had my own theory on what was done to James, I heard rumors from other duelists about dueldisks that could make monsters 'real'." Kyle hit the side of his disk. "A duel like that would explain Jame's wounds. Of course I couldn't get any straight answers from your guild, and they told me that you would never see me unless I joined. I was never going to join one of your guilds. The law wouldn't help me either. So this was my only chance to get to you, to expose you in public as the monster that you are!" Kyle activated one more effect. He banished U.A. Penalty Box from the graveyard, which was required for the trap to take a U.A. Spell from his deck. Kyle added a U.A. Signing Deal spell card to his hand. "You're going to reveal everything that you and your corrupt guild have done in the name of power!" He ended the turn.

"That's quite a story." Adamant remarked calmly once Kyle paused to catch his breath. "But it says nothing to me. Your brother, if I ever met him, has already been erased from my memories. And you will be erased too, once your last lifepoint falls."

(To be Continued in Annex 039: Justice must be Taken)

New Cards used by Kyle Warren
U.A. Midfielder
U.A. Blockbacker
U.A. Goalkeeper

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Terraforming
U.A. Stadium

New Cards used by Adamant
Icarus Attack