Annex 044: Compromise on Continuity

There was a whole new world to explore; a terrifying world. Uno did not want to see what waited for him out there, he did not want to be here. But he had no choice, he could be stuck here for the rest of his life in the worst-case scenario. He had to find someone, he had to ask what year this was and what happened to make this place was it was now. Ruins, everywhere he looked he only saw ruins. Outside the amphitheater there were crumbled buildings and walls covered with moss and vines. Nature had taken over. There was no evidence of an amusement park ever having been here. Just how quickly did a house usually deteriorated into a pile of rubble anyway? It could not be less then a decade. Were they demolished perhaps? Then why was the theater left alone? This place was abandoned. Civilization, that was what he had to reach. That would be quite the challenge, the forest was on every horizon. Then there were the odd helixical drones in the sky, which just floated there. What were they for?

And yet, in spite of everything, Uno did not feel lost.

"Okay, think, Uno. Different time, same planet. Where was the nearest city?" It was in fact quite easy for him to regain his bearings. He remembered there was a major city two miles down from here. A large distance, but it could be covered on foot. "Wait.. how can I be sure that place is still around? Sure cities don't disappear easily. Except.." Uno was convinced that city would still be there, and he did not have an explanation as to why. It was the same with the other scraps of general knowledge he had saved. Uno did not remember when or where he learned basic mathematics, he just had. There was a certain familiarity to this dark and gloomy atmosphere. "No..wait.. What if.." Uno activated his dueldisk, just for curiosity's sake. "...Nonono. You gotta to be joking." He did not expect the thing to actually work. Not only did it work, it received signals from local sources. There was a network in this time-period as well, and his disk could connect with it. The dueldisk that had come been with him since the beginning... "Ah.."

This was his world.

"No way, nohow." This was what Neter had been talking about, Uno did not belong in the present. The future was his world. "Not this. I don't want this!" The pendulum had brought him back here. "Not this way! It's too soon! I still don't remember anything!" He was afraid. Uno was scared of this world. This is what he'd run away from, this was what gave him his nightmares. "Get me out! Now!" The pendulum was keeping him here now. Uno could shake it as much as he wanted, the jewel did nothing. "Okay. Okay... Okay. Calm down. Calm down, Uno. Just because you're here does not mean you can never go back. It's not like you're gone for every second that you take here. That's not how this works, right?" Uno exhaled. He found peace for several seconds. "Aaahh!" Then he screamed and ruffled his hair. "No. How does it even work? How can I even do this? How can those guys do it?" It did not matter if he eventually found a way to return to 'when' he wanted to be, he would still spend the moments in between here. He could not just sit around, he had to find water.. food.. people..

"People?" Fortune smiled upon him. There was someone coming for him right now. "Hey! Hey!" It might have been a bad idea to call out to them. This person could be anyone, good or bad. In this darkness it was hard to make out this persons features. But Uno was beyond caring. He'd been wandering through desolation for hours now, any interaction would be an improvement. "Wait. Hey! Where are you going?" The figure kept walking, as if it had not heard his cries. "Was it something I said? Something I did? Look, I'm a bit new to this place, I don't know the customs yet! Can you please.." There was a reason for this, which Uno discovered when he placed himself in front of this stranger. "help..me?" The person was like a ghost, it had no face or color, and it passed through him like the wind. "... Stop! Don't go! Don't lea.."

,,,,,,,,,,,,...

"Uno?" Alice flinched and turned around. "What is it?" Emily asked her. "I thought I heard Uno." She said. "What? Where?" Neither her sister nor Alice could see him. "I could've sworn... I must've imagined it. Sorry. Didn't want to give you false hope." She had given herself enough.

"I know you miss him, Alice, and it is perfectly normal." Her mother tried to soothe her. "To hear him? I'm not crazy am I?" That momentary delusion only made her sadder than she was before. The truth was unkind, Uno hadn't returned that night. Nobody at the hotel saw hide or hair of him. Dreamworlds men could not locate him either, as Zach informed them this morning. Still they were called them to come over to Doms office. After they stopped by Cassius, who was fast recovering, they made their way to the master and the disciples. The problem was clear. Round four was about to begin with only Seven duelists; Alice, Eric, Phoebe, Adamant, the two remaining members from the Synchro Guild and one last member from the XYZ-guild. The last day had evened out the odds a lot. "I hope Eric wins." Eric was set to duel first, against a member of the Synchro guild again. "What about your duel?" Alice did not know who she would be facing yet, there was no open bracket for today. "I don't...know.." The 4th match would be the real question of the quarterfinals.

Dreamworld had an elegant solution. "What?!" One that Emily loudly disagreed with. "Hey? I thought you would be pleased." As it turned out they had just given the victory away to the other duelist from the Synchro guild. Both Neter and Uno were disqualified, so there could be no 4th duel. "It was the least we could do after Cassius had to sit his battle out." Zach thought it was a generous offer. "Do you know how he cheated then, sir Creffield?" Heather inquired. "We think it's a built-in card printer. A very good one. It would have to be to bypass our codes. If only we could analyze those cards. We should have. Now we lost our chance." Dom snapped his fingers. "Lost your chance? You don't think Uno will get back?" Alice did not like what he was saying, what he had done. Giving away Uno's spot was the same as giving up on Uno. "Nobody is saying that. We can't say what is going to happen. We just work with what we see and what the audience sees. They saw Uno use cards that should not exist yet, in their eyes he broke the rules. We don't want people to think we supply duelists with special cards. He wouldn't be able to duel regardless, I am sorry."

"Oh." Alice got it now. "Then.. I don't want to duel anymore either."

...

Phoebe's LP: 5600 Gwens LP: 76800

The quarterfinals went very well for Eric. He landed his win with moderate difficulty. Dame Phoebe went next, against Gwen the Class 2 duelist from the XYZ-guild. Gwen deck destruction deck went up against Phoebe's Frightfurs and Fluffals. One one side was Frightfur Bear(6/2200/1500) and a set card in Phoebe's spell/trap zone. There was also a greatly destroyed deck and Gwen was about to make it lose even more cards. "I summon Tristan the Knight of the Underworld!" A skeletal horseman(4/1800/0) rode in on a horse with glowing red eyes, galloping through the massive dark fog projected by the theaters hologrid. "When Tristan is normal summoned, I can take one zombie with zero defense points out of their grave." Gwen took a lowlevel zombie card. "Isolde, Belle of the Underworld! I can special summon her from my hand when Tristan is already on the field!" A white-haired and horned ghost-lady(4/1000/0) emerged from the mist trails of the Underworld Knight. "Isolde can change the levels of 2 zombies on the field, to 5, 6, 7 or 8. I choose 6!" By holding hands, Tristan(6/1800/0) and Isolde(6/1000/0) increased their levels twice. "They are together now, for my new XYZ-monster!" Gwen overlayed the two. "I XYZ-summon Pilgrim Reaper!"

The knight and belle created a long-haired grim reaper(6/?/?). It wore a black pilgrim cloak and had a wing of both dark and light feathers. "Oh. Nice. Very nice. Most XYZ-monsters just use their materials as powersources. But this one had a little individuality to it. Yes, I like it." Dame Phoebe said as she clawed her fingers through the air. "Does it look like I care what you think about XYZ-monsters?! We know who the inferior type is." Gwen detached one material from the Pilgrim Reaper. "You have had it easy so far, but your joyride stops at me. Pilgrim Reaper can discard 5 cards from your deck each turn!" Phoebe had to throw away even more of her dying deck. "And the Reaper gains 200 attack and defense points for each dark monster in our graveyards! Your own monsters will help me win, Dame Phoebe! What do you think about that?" Edge Imps all carried the dark attribute. The seven that were in Phoebe's cemetery right now empowered the Reaper(4400/4200) along with the aid of the fifteen zombies in Gwens cemetery.

"What a clean way to get a victory, pfah. Instead of making me bleed you make my deck bleed. You're afraid of my cards, Gwen." The fusion duelist cackled. "..I know you're goading me. But that fusion monster you have is an eyesore. So.." She activated her face-down trap card; Royal Decree. "I will just have to seal your moves! Trap cards cannot be activated now!" The Reaper tightened its grip on its scythe. "Eliminate the target!" Her XYZ-monster flew up into the air, its scythe soared down towards the beartoy of death. "Your mistake was thinking that you could make yourself safe.. from me." Phoebe tapped the card before her, flipping it face-up. "Battle Fusion!" It was a quick-play spell, not a trap. "Ah!" Battle Fusion responded to the attack on a fusion monster. It would add the attackers power to the target for this one battle exchange. The scissors in Frightfur Bear(6600/1800)'s gut tripled in size. "Snip." Both blades closed in around the Pilgrim Reapers neck. Gwens monster was decapitated by one merciless strike. "Damn!"

Gwens LP: 4600

"Thanks for the meal." The headless remains of the Reaper were thrown into the bears gullet. The XYZ-monster became a mere equipment to power up the fusion monster(3200/1800). "What are you going to do now,. huh? Your own trap sealed your defenses, heheh." Little could stop Frightfur Bears counterattack now. "I..don't have to do anything! Your deck will run out by itself at this rate! Most of your monsters are in the graveyard already! Edge Imp Sabres can only revive itself in defense mode!" Gwen only needed a little luck to win. "I end my turn!" Her deck could outlast Phoebe's and she had a decent amount of lifepoints left. "The XYZ-guild likes to pretend it has courage, that it does not know fear. We will tear it out of you, Gwen." When her next turn came, Dame Phoebe shifted back her voice's pitch. Her other half was in 'control' now. "And we will show you you too have a softness. I activate Suture Rebirth. This will bring back one of my sweet Fluffals that you tried to bury." Suture Rebirth repaired the destroyed Fluffal Leo and special summoned it(4/1600/1200) in attack position. "Son of a.." Gwen cursed. "Mind your tongue." Dame Phoebe began the battle phase. Fluffal Leo bumped its head into the XYZ-duelist. "Or we will cut it off for ya!" The Frightfur Bear used its scissors to cut off Gwens lifepoints. Had it been real scissors, she would have lost her head along with her points.

Gwens LP: 0

"Oh my. That did not require much of our time." The girl smiled and tilted her head towards a particular section of the front row. "Do you imagine he enjoyed that? Dear sweet Adamant, his neck will be next. Heheh.. " She made a snipping motion with her fingers. "Tell him we said hi and hello."

"Do it yourself." Gwen fumed and stormed off. As soon as she approached the rest of her guild in the ring, she knelt down. "I apologize sir. I could not defeat her. I was weak." Her eyes averted Adamant as he looked down upon her with his arms folded. "You were weak.. and she was too strong. You did not have a chance to begin with." He was in a foul mood because of this setback. This defeat meant that the entire fate of the XYZ-guild rested on his shoulders. "But she is no match for you, sir. I am certain of it." One of his other followers, Ichirou, stated optimistically. "Your sycophancy is wasted on me, Ichirou. You failed me as well even after Cassius was removed from your path." He grumbled. His finger was nervously tapping on his arm. "When is the next match being announced? I already know who my opponent is." He wanted to get done with this next duel and soon. But there was no word from Dom or an announcement on the big screen at first. Then there was.. a warning of technical difficulties. It appeared one of the duelists was indisposed in some way. "What are they doing?"

Adamant would not tolerate this. He marched right to the skybox and when he discovered that Dom was not even at his station, he waltzed to the office instead. "Why is the next match delayed?" He did not find Dom there either, just Zach who greeted him in the waiting room. "Ah. I was expecting you to drop by. I do apologize. It appears the oddball guild is requesting to be dropped from the bracket. Which means you will be automatically forwarded to the semifinals." Zach the disciple explained it all. But Adamant did not come here to listen to excuses. "Do you mean to insult me? I will advance when I have proven my power. This is not just about honor; there must be no question that the champion is the champion." He was not happy, Zach quickly realized. "Well everything has already been arranged for today. I could get the synchro guild to send me their man, though he already took the free ticket to the semifinals. It will be difficult to convince him to still duel today."

"That's also unacceptable. That would mean that there are only three duelists for the semifinals, you would only postpone the inevitable." In that case, Adamant, Phoebe and Eric were the only ones left. Two Fusion Guild duelists against him alone, Adamant needed to prevent that at all costs. "Where is my opponent? What is her reason for running away?" If he could not talk sense into the disciple, he would go straight for the source. "That is not your concern, young man." However he would have to get through her mother first. The Brandts had been sitting in the office, listening to every word Adamant shouted near the door. "Who are you?" While he was younger than her, he was also taller. There were few who could look Adamant straight in the eye. "The duelists mother. She does not have to do what she does not want, and I refuse to let you say otherwise." Nevertheless, she did not waver in the slightest. "I only want to speak with your daughter. I.."

"It's you.." He could see them through the open door, a redhaired girl with green eyes and a blonde-haired girl with blue eyes. Those eyes brought back a memory he had not been able to get rid of entirely. "Of course. The oddball guild.. his guild." So many duelists, so many names; it was no wonder it took til now to associate the guilds name with the name of Uno. This was the girl that dared to speak to him on his behalf back at the golf course. She was the opponent. "Why do you not want to duel?" He asked her directly.

"Why? I.. only did this for Uno. I don't see why I should go on now." Alice was a bit more intimidated by the man, so her answers were slow and short. "Uno? He is not with you? So the stories were true." As head of the guild, Adamant had caught some chatter here and there. People would naturally talk if a duelist refused to show his face to the public. "He tried to break the rules and fled after he was called out on it. How disappointing. I had some interest in facing him personally." He scoffed. Uno would just be another name to forget. "Now this is your justification; fighting for someone else's sake? That is a lie!" He turned his attention back to her and took another step closer. "Hey, back off!" Emily kept him at bay by standing besides her mother. Not that it silenced him. "You may be fooling yourself, but you do not fool me. I remember something of you, you showed your spirit once. A duelist with no passion would never make it this far. You will never succeed at anything if your decisions depend on the whims of others, if you retreat at the first sign of trouble! You are a member of a guild, you have a duty to your guild. Uno is not here, you are. What do you want?"

"I.." Her voice was shaky. Millions of people were waiting. With every thought she gave the question, she felt herself tripping over reasons to do it. However those reasons were not hers. What would Uno do? He would not deprive the audience of a great show. Now he would never give them another show again, he was part of the outside. Though, that led to a comforting conceit; Uno could see her if she did duel. Uno could come back if she did her best. The duel itself would not make her happy, she sensed. The last three did not make her that happy either. "I want to duel." It was just easier to say yes. That was how it always ended when she was asked to do something. It at least made her feel better than whenever she ran away. "I thought so." Adamant relaxed his stance and breathed out. "You will arrange our duel in the next ten minutes, Disciple." He barked his order at Zach. He showed Alice slightly more restraint. "I will see you in ten minutes. Prepare as you see fit. This duel you will not regret."

Adamant was gone the next minute. "Honey? Is this really what you want?" Heather was left feeling unsure if this had ended the way it should have. "It is, mom." Alice put up her bravest smile. It didn't really matter if she had a chance, not to her.

(To be Continued in Annex 045: Head Above the Clouds)

New Cards used by Dame Phoebe
Battle Fusion
Suture Rebirth

Cards used by Gwen
Tristan, Knight of the Underworld
Isolde, Belle of the Underworld

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Pilgrim Reaper

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Royal Decree