Annex 048: Solid as a Rock

Heather had her priorities in order, as soon as the word on the semifinals was given by both her daughter and Dom. "Did that man even consider the people who are watching this on television? Your father might miss it at this rate" All she got when she called James' line was his answering machine. He was probably back at work already. "Nothing we can fix from here, mom. Can we go now?" Emily was impatient. Eric was dueling right now and she did not want to miss that either. There was no big viewscreen around the hotel area. "Of course hon'. Where do you want to watch it? The theater or the hotel?" They could stay with Uno. Eventually though Alice would have to leave. "Honey?"

"...The hotel sounds good." Emily said with a guarded tone. "Is anything wrong?" Her mother caught on, yet did not discern what her daughter was looking at. "Just go. I'll come later. I need to see someone first." Her mother did not question her again. She headed inside the building. Once she was out of sight, Emily made a break for it. "Just what are all these people..doing here?" There had been some changes to the environment; changes she would not have noticed if she had not been inside for a while. Before there were almost no people on the street. Now there were dozens, one in every direction. They were XYZ-guildmembers; men and women in black of class1 or class2. There were so many, more than she thought they had. It was hard to avoid staring at them when they were spreading like an infestation. "The XYZ-guild is eliminated, right?" She did not like this one bit. She had to tell Cassius, maybe he knew something more. "Sorry, Eric." She could not be distracted by anything else right now.

...

Eric's LP: 8000 Phoebe's LP: 6600

The duel between the two fusion duelists started well enough. However, Phoebe was about to prove that her deck was not so easily torn apart. "Edge Imp Tomahawk!" The two-faced girl summoned her monster, a demonic mouth(4/1800/800) made from Tomahawk axes. "Tomahawk can eat one Edge Imp in my deck to imitate that monster!" The tomahawks discarded a second Edge Imp Sabres from her deck and cut it down until nothing was left. The Edge Imp had become 'Sabres' in name only. "Let the real fun begin; Polymerization!" She took a Fluffal Rabbit from her hand and fused it with Edge Imp Tomahawk. "By fusing a Fluffal with Edge Imp Sabres, I can create Frightfur Tiger!" The body of the rabbit was twisted inside out by the tomahawks. Its shape and colors were altered into that of a striped blue tiger(6/1900/1200). Then scissor blades shot out of its body and its head split open to reveal the Edge Imps demonic eyes. "Great." Eric hadn't seen this one yet.

"Frightfur Tiger adds 300 attackpoints to all monsters on the field, for each Frightfur monster on the field! That's your terror for later. Frightfur Tiger also destroys a number of monsters equal to the number of materials it was made from. That is your terror now!" The tiger(2200/1200) grabbed Infernoid Harmadik(3/1600/0) with one claw and Eric's set card, Call of the Haunted, with the other. It used its scissor blades to cleave through them both. "All of my cards..." He was at her mercy, a fact she relished deeply. "Should I gut you now, hmm?" Phoebe asked Eric, causing him to shudder and take a step back. "Oh. She's only playing, Eric." Dame said all pleasantly. "We're still the best of friends. But I gotta warn you; this next bit is going to hurt." With her right hand, Phoebe activated the effect of Fluffal Rabbit from her graveyard. Since it had been used as a fusion material, she could add a Fluffal-monster or Edge Imp Sabres, back to her hand. The girl went with the latter.

"Fusion Recovery!" With her left hand she played a spell card to recover two thirds of the materials that went into the fusion summon of Frightfur Tiger; Polymerization and Fluffal Rabbit. "!" There were enough resources for a second Frightfur. "This toy of death can be summoned with Edge Imp Sabres and any Fluffal as well! Time for some Poly-merry-zation!" Edge Imp Sabres was forced together with the Fluffal Rabbit. The Frightfur that joined the Tiger was the the hound of scissors; Frightfur Wolf(6/2000/1500). It presence made Frightfur Tiger(2500/1200) add even more attackpoints to all monsters on the field, the wolf(2600/1500) included. "Two materials. My wolf gets to bite you twice." Phoebe explained as she made a chomping sound with her teeth. "My toys, be sure to take a lot of pieces! Ahahahaha!" The attacks came, first the tiger and then the wolf. "Damn it!" Three strikes in a row, Eric hardly had any lifepoints left afterwards. "Ah, the reaper is so close. Come on, Eric. You know you like this as much as I do. Why don't you show me your most terrifying monster?"

Eric's LP: 300

"Huh? Are you trying to help or trick me?" One would think someone from her guild would have a better grasp on her thought processes, but Eric had no such luck. "What? You do not trust me? That really hurts, Eric." The way she kept shifting from one mood to the other made it impossible to prepare for either of them. The only certainty was that he would gain nothing from listening to her. "If I wanted too, I would. But my cards aren't really working with me here." Eric only had two Infernoids in his graveyard, one thanks to the effect of Fiendish Rhino Warrior. Yet he did not have any in his hand. His deck was not helping him out. "...I set these cards." A trap and a monster were placed face-down. The rest was up to her. "Our turn already? Dear us, that is not nearly enough to save yourself." Dame Phoebe sighed as she ran one finger down her right cheek. "But I wont bite the hand that feeds me! Gyaaahh!" She let loose a bloodcurdling scream and sent her Frightfur beasts to go for the kill.

Eric had one last hope. "Yeah, than I will! I activate my trap card! Ferret Flames!" A fiery weasel jumped out of a bed of flames. "You have to send monsters back to your deck, until their combined attackpoints drop to the amount of lifepoints I have left, or less!" The microscopic amounts of lifepoints that Eric had retained turned out to work in his favor. As his opponent would have to send both monsters back to the extra deck now. "300 lifepoints, so I can not control more than 300 attackpoints? Ahahaha, you're such a kidder, Eric!""Regrettably, you did not fool both of us." Dame Phoebe activated the Defusion quickplay spell card from her hand. "Uhhh." Frightfur Wolf split up into its original fusion materials; Fluffal Rabbit(1/300/1200) and Edge Imp Sabres(3/1200/800). "Oh hell." Now only Frightfur Tiger and Edge Imp Sabres were returned to their decks. Fluffal Rabbit had the exact stats that Ferret Flames asked for, so it could stick around. "Hu-hu-hu... Looks like we pulled each other out of his infernal fire again."

"Indeed.. or should I say.. in dead?" The asymmetrical girl flipped her own trap card, Fusion Reserve. With that trap she gathered a fusion material for Frightfur Tiger, Edge Imp Sabres, and reclaimed Polymerization from her graveyard. "Crap." Eric got to watch as she played the familiar old spell again to fusion summon the same Frightfur Tiger(2200/1200) to her field. With one cut from its scissors, Erics face-down Tour Bus from the Forbidden Realm was destroyed and sent to the graveyard. "Come on, Eric. You know what we know. Fusion is the only way you are going to get out of this."

...

When Heather entered the hotelroom, she found her daughter and Uno gazing devotedly at the TV-screen. "Hey mom! Come in, you just missed Eric perfectly pulling a fast one on the Fusion guildlady!" She invited her to come sit on the bed as well. "Alice? Should you still be here? Isn't your duel next?" Her mom noted. It was not exactly a quick walk to the amphitheater from here. "Aw I just want to keep watching for a little longer, can I?" She begged. "I'm positive there'll be a short break in between. Besides this duel is far from done." Uno backed Alice up. He would prefer it if he had some company. "I can see I am not winning this argument" Mrs. Brandt gave in. She sat down and looked at the duel. "I can't tell who is winning. Does Eric have a chance? He is up against one of those guild leaders, isn't he?" She had seen a leader lose already with her own eyes. "He does. I don't think he has as much going for him as your daughter did, tho." Adamant lost because he did not expect certain elements of Alice's deck. Phoebe probably knew every card Eric had put in his. "But that Ferret Flames was one of his old cards! Maybe he's trying the surprise factor as well!" Alice said, standing up for Eric. "He loves his first deck just as much. It feels just like old times..."

"... maybe things can be more as they were, after this. Maybe Eric can quit the guild once he wins." That was what Alice would like to see, a return to the normal. She was not sure if Emily would feel the same way about Eric if he stayed in that guild. She did not want to choose between the two.. And she definitely did not know what she'd do if they both made it to the finals. "If he wins, he'll never let me live it down."

...

"Aaron!" Emily made it all the way to the infirmary without incident. "Emily?" Still she barged into Cassius' room like she was being chased. "..Aaron, I.. are you the only one here?" She was surprised to see no other synchro duelists. "Uhm, yes? When we heard about the semifinals happening today, I told everyone to head to the amphitheater to support Gareth." Gareth, one of the oldest members of the guild, was the last duelist they had that had a shot at being the champion. His opponent unfortunately was going to be someone dear to Emily. "Frankly, I'm glad that I'm not there in the flesh. The gang is happy with your sister for taking out Adamant, and they have nothing against her. But we haven't won a tournament since the XYZ-guild first showed up. Gareth'll do everything to stop Alice." If he didn't, then the Fusion guild might as well have won. "I think there's more important stuff to worry about now. Especially since it looks like I'm the only one who can help you if things go down-hill."

"Hm? Down-hill?" Cassius was beginning to realize that Emily hadn't shown up because of her sisters duel. "Yeah. The XYZ-guild is acting weird. They have people standing in every part of this amusement park and they aren't subtle about it. You know them better than I do; do you think they'll try anything now that they can't officially win the tournament?" As she talked, Cassius' expression changed from perplexed to horrified. "Oh no." A look that set off every alarmbell. "If what Kyle said was true, then winning the tournament might just have been a means to an end. And now they'll try something else to get that end." Cassius got up from his bed. "Whoa, whoa. Can you walk? Should you be doing that? Also the tournament prize was just a blank slate card, wasn't it? What could they do with that?" As far as she had been told, the blank slate could only create more cards. That didn't sound dangerous. "I can.. move." Cassius stood on his wobbly legs. "It's not just the blank slate, it's what's around the program. Dom may not even understand what he is giving away; complete access to the network. I should have seen it sooner.. we have to go and.."

"You are not going anywhere, Cassius." The doorway was blocked, by a man in a black uniform. "You forced my hand, woman." With one click on his dueldisk button he activated a forcefield that surrounded the entire room. "Ah? That is.." That was the exact same trick Iria always performed. The XYZ-guild was no stranger to it either it seemed. "Tanvir? Is it? Why are you here? Who told you to do this?" Cassius tried to speak with a strong voice but the rest of his body was not working with him. He had to sit back down on his bed. "Trying to be friendly with me will get you nowhere, Cassius. You understand how our guild functions. We have a new leader now and with that comes new orders. I was to monitor you here whole your followers were away, unless someone like this woman here tried to relocate you." He glared coldly at the one who had messed up everything. "If you didn't expect me, then you don't understand how other guilds work, Tanvir. We're not all a mob of mindless sheep." Emily was here, and she could fight. "You're not doing anything with Aaron while I am here!" She activated her dueldisk.

Emily's LP: 8000 Tanvir's LP: 8000

"The plan did not count on a dueldisk getting inside the secure zone either. Such a nuisance." Tanvir cracked his knuckles. "You are just one duelist, woman. You can not save him by yourself." He activated his own dueldisk. "I can save him by defeating you. I don't know how you got the technology to make these barriers, but if they are anything like Dreamworlds, then disabling that disk will take care of the rest." Emily drew her cards, as did Tanvir. The first turn was handed to him. "We have the technology because of Dreamworld, that should be clear enough." Tanvir summoned his first monster. "Traptrix Myrmeleo." A pit of sand opened up in one monster zone, and a young girl(4/1600/1200) with devil horns climbed out of it. "When this card is normal Summoned:I can add a "Hole" normal trap card from my Deck to my hand." The XYZ-duelist made Myrmeleo get him a Bottomless Trap Hole card. He placed that trap card, and a second trap from his hand, face down in the spell/trap zones.

"Be careful Emily. Those Traptrix are not as innocent as they look!" Cassius cautioned her. "I can see that. Trap holes are the oldest trick in the book." Emily was familiar with the Bottomless Trap Hole. The minute a special summoned monster with 1500 or more attackpoints dared to touch the ground, a hole would open up beneath him to banish him to the depths. "I'll be careful. I summon Superheavy Samurai Battleball!" Anything she did could set off his second trap. Thankfully, it did not seem to be a card that worked on the little samurai (3/100/800). "That tuner?" Tanvir gasped, as he recognized the threat it posed to his monster. "Yeah." Emily activated Battleballs effect and targeted Traptrix Myrmeleo. "I will use his effect to synchro summon a Superheavy Samurai from my extra deck, with your monster as the nontuner!" The tuner turned to synchronizing rings, and the antlion girl gave up her life to send her four level stars into the rings. "In defense mode, Superheavy Samurai Ogre Shutendoji!" Her newest synchro monster leapt forward. The two monsters had created an ogre(6/500/2500) made from gold and red metal.

"Surprised? Your trap hole is not so useful against this." As was expected from Emily's monsters, their defense outweighed their attack. "Shutendoji can attack while it is in defense position. Also,since I have no spells or traps in my graveyard: I can destroy all the cards in your spell and trap zones." The Ogre used his spiked club to smash both of Tanvirs traps. "Luck is on your side, for now." Bottomless Trap Hole and Dust Tornado were the cards he had to send away. "You had a bad match-up, Tanvir." Cassius said with a grin. "Don't oversell me. The duel is not over yet. Though I am going to hit him as hard as I can, while I can." Emily activated two monster cards from her hand, equipping both to Shutendoji. "Superheavy Samurai Soulshield Wall and Soulhorns!" The green scale shield and blue horn shoulderplates were added as armanents. The former gave 1200 defense points to Shutendoji(500/3700), while the latter allowed it to attack twice each battle phase. There was no need to get soft on this guy. "Shutendoji, double attack!" Her synchro monster swiped at the enemy with his club and his claw. The first attack staggered Tanvir, the second toppled him. "What the.."

Tanvir's LP: 600

"What did you.." Emily gasped. Her opponent made it appear as if the blows really hurt him. "Ugh. I would not have activated 'It' this soon if I had seen this kind of power coming." He pulled himself up against the doorway; his body clearly stressed from some sort of pain. "It?" What he was referring to, must have been the same thing Kyle referred to two days ago. "You did do it. You did experiment with solid vision." There was no other explanation. "Don't act so high and mighty, woman. Every guild has tried it. We are simply the first to perfect it. The dueldisks Dreamworld made always had the capacity for solid vision. Isn't that right, Cassius?" Tanvir taunted the synchro duelist with his smirk. "I.. we only suspected." Cassius was speechless. "Do not try to feign ignorance. You people know everything we do. Ah, but the woman is new to your guild. She probably wasn't told. Does she even understand who you are, Cassius?" He chuckled. "Hey, you can cut that out, pal. I have known Aaron longer than anyone. He was my friend way before he played his first card. I 'understand' him perfectly. Whatever story you are trying to make me believe, you can stuff it."

".. Oh why am I even talking to you? Your opinion doesn't matter." Tanvir claimed the next turn. He drew a card. "Traptrix Dionaea!" He placed a venus flytrap monster on the field. The tooth-rimmed leaves opened to reveal a young brunette(4/1800/1100) with flowers in her hair. "When this card is normal summoned: I can target 1 "Traptrix" monster in my graveyard and summon it in defense position." Dionaea split the ground open to dig out Traptrix Myrmeleo and bring her back to life. "When this card is special summoned, one spell or trap on the opponents field is destroyed!" Myrmeleo summoned a giant antlion insect from the ground. Its pincers clamped down into Shutendoji's armor and tore Superheavy Samurai Soulshield Wall off. "Now.. I will XYZ-summon a monster in defense position!" The two traptrixes could be overlayed for a rank-4 monster. "This card; Traptrix Rafflesia!" A pink parasitic plant sprouted from the ground. Its arrival literally cracked the tiles of the room to create space for the monster. "You are still too soft, woman. Now it is too late to finish me!"

(To be Continued in Annex 049: BlackOut)

New Cards used by Dame Phoebe
Edge Imp Tomahawk
Fluffal Rabbit

-
Frightfur Tiger

-
Fusion Recovery

New Cards used by Eric Stonewell
Ferret Flames

New Cards used by Emily Brandt
Superheavy Samurai Ogre Shutendoji

Cards used by Tanvir
Traptrix Myrmeleo
Traptrix Diaonaea

-
Traptrix Rafflesia

-
Bottomless Trap Hole
Dust Tornado