Annex 043: Lost Backstage

"We're sorry ma'am. We lost track of him." At the end of their wild Neter chase, which took Iria and her guards nearly halfway through the theater, there was nothing to be found. "How does that even happen? He is using one of our dueldisks, we should be able to track that!" They had kept up with the use of cameras and disks and still this kid managed to slip away, to her great irritation.

"Wow you really arent getting teleporters are you?" That kid was just as skilled at popping back into frame, as he demonstrated when he dropped down from the ceiling to stare right in Iria's face. "!" She nearly cried out in surprise. "Heee. Made you flinch!" Neter snickered. "Wh..why are you still here, if you can teleport?" Even if Iria had to visually confirm that instantaneous movement powers were a part of reality, it did not make any sense to her. "Uhmm. Well I wanted to have a little fun game of hide and seek. Also, that Uno guy might get in the way if I do a long-distance jump near him. He copied some of our powers before. I should be far away enough now!" Neter raised his arm. The jewel on his wrist was glowing. "So now, this really is goodbye. See ya in the near future!" He winked. "Wait!" Iria yelled as he grabbed him by arm. "Waiting is not for people like me." Neter from vanishing on her regardless. Her fingers touched empty air. She could not wrap her head around this. And.. "The Master!" There was someone else who needed her now.

Doms LP: 1000 Uno's LP: 0

The duel was over and it had clearly ended in Doms favor. His dueldisk told him that much. "That flash was not part of the duel." The rest of what happened, including Uno's disappearance, could not be explained by any of his machines. "No.. It was his pendulum." That was the only part of all this unintelligible madness that Emily could clear up. "He was so angry. Who was that kid?" She muttered to herself. There had to be a link between Neter and Uno's uncharacteristic outburst. "You got me. I didn't get much out of this ordeal; except maybe the fact that the kid had the same kind of crystals. But hey, this beauty here has all the data recorded." Dom could not wait to turn his dueldisk in to the tech department. They had to run into some useful information. "But where is Uno?" Emily found this question a little more pressing. The more she looked, the more she realized Uno was not coming back. "Don't look at me. I got blinded too. He must've run away in the confusion."

"...I have to tell them." Emily decided on what was most important right now. "You think that's a smart idea? They might not like what they hear." Dom claimed. "They should hear it. Uno's a friend, and a good guy... You I am not so sure of. But.." Emily was glad that Dom stopped her, as she had one last request for him. "Promise me that you will let us know as soon as you find any trace of Uno." With all his resources, he could search the area far better than she could. "Believe me, missy. I want to find that guy as much as you. This mess is way bigger than I can imagine. And I can imagine a lot."

...

When Iria came back to the skybox and saw Zach without Dom by his side, she had many things to say to him. "Creffield! You left the master unsupervised? At a time like this!?" She was yelling, rather. The last few events had left her a bit flummoxed. "It was his wish to take on Uno alone. I was constantly monitoring him!" Zach flipped up a screen to show Iria what had happened backstage. "He dueled Uno?" She was not sure if that was good or bad news. "I would have stepped in with the barrier if I had to, but I didn't need to. He won the duel." The footage was sped-up so that every turn could be seen. "Of course he won. He's the Master. But what happened afterwards?" The way the duel ended was also caught on film. "Yes, I was about to address that." Zach stopped the video at the exact moment of the flash. "See. Uno is here now." He lowered the brightness, so that a figure could be seen within the light. "Now he is not." He moved the recording by a fraction of a second. The shape was missing. "He's nowhere inside the building, or the park"

"Then he did it as well?" There it was, physical evidence of instantaneous movement. Iria's mind was reeling. "When you say 'as well', it sounds like Neter vanished in a flash. You left the master to pursue him." Zach did not mind pointing that out. "That was different." She argued. "Unfortunately he did get away. If we could understand the mechanic behind this 'power', we will be able to stop him. With this, we have a good start." Iria took the screen with the recording. "11:58 AM." She quoted the time of Uno's vanishing act. "Around that time, Neter escaped. There is a definite correlation." Sometimes something was too well timed for it to be co-incidental. "He could be anywhere if we assume . But where would he go? What places does someone with no memories of the world go to?" Zach had answered his own question. "To the places he knows?"

...

By now the bad news had been shared with the other Brandts. "I don't understand. Did Uno challenge Dom to a duel to keep playing in the tournament even though he was disqualified? Then he lost and fled?" Heather was more confused now than she was before. "He wouldn't do that!" Alice cried out in distress. "He's just trying to chase that kid, I'm sure!" She was unusually insistent. "I believe that, Alice. Part of it anyway." Emily got that Uno did not flip his lid for no reason. Anyone would be desperate to recover memories they had lost. "But Dom said he will be looking for him." She quickly added because she knew her sister would be asking to do the search herself any moment now. "So that kid. Did he know Uno? Was he someone from his past?" Mrs. Brandt guessed. "Neter knew something. But he didn't act like he was Uno's friend. He's might be on the same team as June and August." Guessing was all Emily could do when there was so little to go on. "June..and August?"

"Long, long and confusing story. You better sit down for this, mom."

...,

The day continued, the remaining duels passed without fanfare and a lot of gossip. At the end, the master and his disciples could have their review. "So what can we rule out? Almost anything modern technology can do? I'd give an arm and a leg if I could figure out how to teleport people across the globe." Doms head ached from all the information he had in front of him; none of which could be deciphered. Uno had not been caught on any cameras since his disappearance. Nobody had seen him at the synchro guilds castle, the Brandts hometown or other noteworthy locations either. His dueldisk was no longer showing up on the network either, and that network covered most developed countries. "Could he have turned his dueldisk off, or destroyed it?" Zach suggested. Iria shook her head. "That would not remove the tracker inside his dueldisk. Unless that device got damaged during 'relocation', it should be telling us where he is even if he went to the farthest corner of the deepest jungle." Their satellites would have spotted a signal by now. Neter could get away because his dueldisks had no bugs in it, Uno could not. "So Uno found a way to leave the planet. Hell, he could be dead for all I know. But I can't exactly tell those kids that." Dom sighed.

His headache was about to get worse. "Huh? What is it Claire?" One of Doms many assistants called in on his speakerphone. "Sir. Both the representatives of the Fusion and XYZ guild have requested a meeting with you. I informed them that you were occupied, but they did not take 'no' for an answer. A visual conference would be enough for them. What should I tell them?" The trembling in her voice made it very clear that she was hoping that Dom would say yes. "Why not. What's the worst that can happen? Patch them through." Dom kicked his chair away from the control panel to give the callers some space. The projectors formed holographic recreations of Dame Phoebe and Adamant. "Gentle duelists. Judging by the way you scared poor Claire, I'd say you have something important to ask me." While they were not here physically, the three could see and hear each other perfectly.

"I think you will find our requests quite mutual, sir Dom." Dame Phoebe opened the discussion. "We know you want the same thing as us, Adamant." But she left the bulk of the request to her rival, after a small taunt. "The Guild does. I'll get to the point. Dom, you will continue the tournament." Coming from him, it was not so much a request as it was an order. "Last time I checked, Adamant, Dom did not answer to you. Who told you that the tournament was put on hold?" Iria reminded these people of their place. "The rumors are out there. This round was handled sloppily, and the chaos of the second duel caused a great deal of concern. My guild and the Fusion guild both want your guarantee that today's crisis will not affect the quarterfinals." Adamant demanded without a hint of shame "Don't see this as a responsibility towards us, but as a responsibility towards the community. You can't let one or two delinquents destroy everything you set out to accomplish.""Even if it was entertaining as hell to watch." Dame and Phoebe added.

"Now that may be what the duelists want, but there's a lot more customers here than there are guild members. We have to keep them safe, and if they are at risk we should conduct a thorough investigation no matter how much time it takes!" Zach responded this time,. That pleased his boss. "Thank you, Zachary. I couldn't have said it better myself. Besides, we can't have anything harm our reputation." He stacked on some of his own priorities to the list of counter-arguments. "Regardless. The guilds will not rest until a champion has been declared, with or without you." Adamant responded. "Was that a threat?" He went a little too far, by Iria's standards. This guy clearly had no idea who he was talking too. "Silver, stand down. You too, Creffield." Yet Dom, who had taken a quick side-glance at his personal computer, changed his tone drastically and undercut her. "Sir Adamant, Madame Phoebe. You will get what you want. The quarterfinals will take place as scheduled." His response satisfied them greatly. "You made a wise decision." Adamant determined and his hologram faded out. "We'll be seeing you tomorrow." Phoebe giggled and bid them her farewell.

"Sir.. You said I shouldn't be affraid to ask you anything. So I am going to ask this.. why did you allow this?" Zach knew his boss well enough to deduce that Doms mind had been changed by what he saw on his computer. "It is what UNO wants." Dom clicked a button to put the contents of his screen on the main monitor. A mail had been sent to Dom on his private address. The only man who had this address was 'the first duelist'. "He finally called back?" UNO usually did not respond this quickly, or give such short mails. The message was one simple sentence; KEEP THE TOURNAMENT GOING. "How did he know?"

"He always knows, Zachary." Dom placed his hands on his mask and slowly took it off. "I'm not controlling this tournament anymore. I don't think I did to begin with."

...,...,

The stories Heather Brandt heard, with no details left out, helped her make her next decision. She was going to stay with them for the rest of the tournament. "Mom, you really don't have to do this." Emily's mother was bringing her belongings to the hotelroom as they spoke. "Nonsense. You two are more important to me than anything else. I can afford to extend my leave and there are plenty of rooms available." Despite Doms best efforts with the cover-up, word of Uno and Neters destructiveness was breaking out. This, paired with Kyle's accusations from the previous day, set off a flame of paranoia and insecurity. Many duelists and nonduelists were leaving already. The park was primarily dominated by the guilds, and even they bled members. "But what about Uno's room?" Alice mentioned abruptly. "If he comes back, we gotta keep it free for him, right? Maybe he will show up in the middle of the night, and there wont be anyone to open the door for him when he comes knocking. He could slowly dehydrate or starve."

"Just what kind of fantasies have you been seeing?" Emily shook her head. "What are you saying, honey?" Her mother asked. "Maybe I.. or you can sleep in his room for the night?" That would at least save Mrs Brandt the money for her own room. "I am okay with that. But you girls really need to rest now. We can see where to go from here, tomorrow." They had been worrying all evening with no signs of Uno. Sometimes you just had to accept that you could not do anything. "Okay, mom." Emily accepted this plan. "C'mon Alice." She headed up to their room. "Yeah... right behind you!" Alice followed, but first she stared out the windows and looked at the black night. Silently, she hoped that Uno at least had a place to stay at for the night. Wherever he was.

...,,,,,,,,,-

"Imaerehw?" That sensation one had, when they were calmly sleeping in their bed and for no reason the ground underneath opened up. A sudden fall and yet your body never moved from its comfortable rest. It was that kind of experience for him right now. Uno was in limbo, he fell out of the normal world and lied in in a cloud of moving colors. Lights headed in every direction; up and down, left and right, away and towards. Sounds passed too quickly to be heard, there was no smell or taste, there was nothing he could touch. He stood still on nothing. "ishtsitahw?" The words he spoke came out garbled. He did not understand himself. Any way he looked there was the same chaos. There was nothing to focus on. He did not know he got here, where he came from or where he was going? Was he even going anywhere? He was stuck, wasn't he? What did this? "?muludnepeht?" Uno could still affect his own body and his own belongings. He could take the pendulum jewel. This was the object that placed him here, he remembered it!

"ohWho?" Once he held it, the madness gained a method. The lights slowed down and the noise stabilized. Though Uno still couldn't comprehend what this place was, this was a start. "heY!" He could even make out other shadows in the distance, four of them! There was something to use as a marker. "Hhey! caN yOu heRE Me?" Except this limbo was playing cruel tricks on him. His body still refused to go anywhere. Or was it that he could not close the gap no matter how much he struggled? Nevertheless he was not alone. He was not. He was far from alone. Uliyrwwvm. There was someone.. some... thing.. else.. in this world. Uliyrwwvm. It spoke, it said things in a cold mechanical tone, in a language that did not exist. Zmznlob wvgvxgvw. Zmznlob wvgvxgvw. Zmznlob wvgvxgvw. Whatever it was saying, it kept repeating it. Vcvxfgrmt iverhrlm. Vcvxfgv. Vcvxfgv. And it was getting closer, louder. "What..are you?" Uno had to turn around. He had to see it. He could not keep living with himself if he did not take a peek. He wished he hadn't.

Ivgfim gl lirtrmzo grnvormv Y/N?

A great eye stared at him, its iris was larger than the horizon.

Y.

"Gah!" Uno woke up. Did he wake up? It felt like waking up. He had been laying down on the floor, so he 'd probably been unconscious either way. Now he could move, the nightmare was over. "Dom! Emily?" Not that reality was more pleasant. Uno regained his memories of his last few actions and he lacked the emotions that came with them. What had gone through him? A different person took over, that's how his mind perceived it. That context for the fury was gone. "I am.." And so where they. "Sorry." He was alone. This was still the same place, the same dark rooms of the amphitheater. But they had left him. "You lost your audience, Uno." He said out loud, hoping anyone would answer. Nobody did. "Just me." He still had his dueldisk, he still had his cards, he still had the pendulum. That was all he ever had. "Back then, who was I? Was I you? Was I who I had forgotten to be? If that is the case, I don't like us very much, Uno." There had been so much anger, it was no wonder he drove everyone away.

"On the other hand, this is nuts." Uno took another look at his surroundings. "Why would they leave me alone? Dom would at least send a few dozen guards my way after what I did. Emily and Alice would not just leave me either, right?" Uno got up and examined the walls. "Ehh." There was dust on them, a thick layer. The wood panels looked worn down too, and the stone pillars were cracked. The amphitheater was old, sure. But this looked ancient; this place was in a state of decay! "I've heard of long naps, but this beats everything..." Uno held his breath. "Ugh. Forget it. Let's just look for someone." He put his thoughts aside and rushed out towards the nearest exit. Another voice would clear things up. He did not care whose voice it was. It could even be Iria. "Come on." He kept walking and searching. Nobody crossed his path. The closer he got to the outside, the more disconcerting the silence became. "No." And once he reached the wide-open arena, he could see straight into a clear sky filled with strange lights and oddly shaped futuristic drones. It was not a corrupted horizon, but it was not the same either.

"No. No. No. I'm not seeing this."

This was not where he had left off. The entire theater was in ruins. Gone was the big screen and the seating, there was no evidence that this place had ever been used for duelists. "What the hell is going on?" He had seen this strangely colored sky before, in his nightmares. "That dream?" That was not a dream. That limbo, the eye, it had all been real. "You did this!" The pendulum, it brought him here. "..Timetravel?!" Neter, the pendulum, the arena, the dragons, the prophecy.. time.. Time had run out. "This is..the future?"

(To be Continued in Annex 044: Compromise on Continuity)