Annex 052: Or You're Against us

The scene at the theater was one of chaos. Each XYZ-duelist fought against one not from their guild. Some were fighting in teams, or doublingup on one enemy. Battle Royal Mode had been activated in each dueldisk, there were no rules about who could defeat who. The one who started it all stood at the center of it all. "Admiring your work, cardmaker?" The only ones not engaged in a duel were Roma and his closest followers. Nobody had been able to break through to them yet. But one was close. "Unhand him!" Iria Silver stared her offense with an army of Qliphorts at her side. "That's the spirit, Silver!" Dom cheered her on before Roma grabbed him by the collar. "Silence him!" Roma tossed him to his subordinates. "How, sir?" Ichirou could not exactly cover his mouth. "Forget it! Just take some men and bring him to a secure location for interrogation!" Ichirou nodded and began dragging the Master off. "Adamant, you are with me." The former leader and current leader would face anyone bold enough to get near them.

"Wait!" Iria was already slowed down by several class1 XYZ-duelists. "Damn it!" Before she started the duel she used her disk to send a message to the other Disciple."Creffield, they have taken the Master! I cannot get to him. It all falls on you to save him! Please, we cannot fail him."

...

Uno ran through the park, avoiding detection by sneaking through the bushes around the statue park. It brought him near the theater. That was where his luck ran out. "Ah!" He was spotted by a female XYZ Class 2 duelist. "Oh no you don't!" The woman tried to raise her dueldisk, but Uno beat her to the punch. "Damn, you're first." She cursed. "Is that how that goes now? Either way, I'm kinda in a hurry here." Uno never thought the day would come that he'd try to get out of a duel. Not that he could. "Tough. I have my orders to stop any duelist." Her dueldisk did not disengage. "And you just follow those? Tch, fine then" It was better to deal with her, then wait for reinforcements to show up. Fortunately Uno could play faster than usual, now that he did not have physical cards to place, just buttons to push.

Uno's LP: 8000 XYZ-duelists LP: 8000

"Here, Performapal Drummerilla." Without fanfare, he normal summoned a pendulum monster gorilla(6/1600/900) with drums on its chest. Drummerilla could be normal summoned without tributes if there were no other monsters on the field. However his(4/1600/900) level would drop by two stars. "And Odd-Eyes." Uno placed Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon in his left pendulum zone and a trap card in the spell/trap zone. Then he ended his turn and sacrificed Odd-Eyes to add a Pendulum monster with less than 1500 attackpoints, Timegazer Magician, to his hand. "Oh. It's you, the Performapal guy. What happened to your real cards? Eh, not important. You're just another enemy." The woman, who apparently did not even feel the need to introduce himself to Uno, drew her next card. She placed a trap card down and activated a spell. "Nobleman of Extermination. I banish my face-down trap card." The Nobleman spell could banish any set spells or traps, his as well. "Yours?" So why did she not remove his trap?

"XYZ Dimension Splash." The answer was that her trap activated when it was banished. "I special summon two level 8 water monsters from my deck." Two seaserpents flew in on the dimensional tide; Spiral Serpent(8/2900/2900) and Kaiser Sea Snake(8/2500/1000). These monsters could not attack, use effects or be tributed. However they could be overlayed. "I XYZ-summon Aegaion the Sea Castrum." So she used them to XYZ-summon a mechanical sea fortress(8/0/3000) that was as large as a castle. "Aegaion will banish a monster from your extra deck, and copy that monsters attackpoints!" The Sea Castrum absorbed a card that surprisingly still was in Uno's deck; Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. Uno had been surprised Dom created digital copies of those cards at all. "Wish I hadn't included them." Now Rune-Eyes gave 3000 attackpoints to the XYZ-machine(3000/3000). "Destroy that card!" Then Aegaion aimed all its cannons at Performapal Drummerilla. "Oh hold on! When an attack is declared, Drummerilla can add 600 attackpoints to one of my monsters!" The gorilla beat its own chest to pump himself(4/2200/900) up. When the cannonfire came and the Performapal died, the damage was minimized somewhat. "Huh. Take what you can get." She ended her turn.

Uno's LP: 7200

"Can't slow down.." Uno drew his next card. "I set the scales, Timegazer and Wisdom-Eye Magician!" He placed his scale 8 dark magician on the right and a scale 5 magician on the left. "I can tribute Wisdom-Eye to set another Pendulum Magician from my deck!" Uno swapped out the flail-carrying mage for his trusty Stargazer Magician. Now that he had a scale 1 monster, he could bring back the pendulum monsters that died and went to the extra deck. "Pendulum Summon!" Uno summoned Performapal Drummerilla(6/1600/900), Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon(7/2500/2000), Wisdom-Eye Magician(5/1500/1500). "Odd-Eyes! attacks with the help of Drummerilla's power!" The odd-eyed dragon(3100/2000) gained a powerboost as the gorilla played his drumbeat once more. The dragons blast destroyed the giant castle in the sea, and the damage from that blow was doubled. "I also attack with my other monsters!" The Gorilla and Wisdom mage charged Uno's opponent and knocked her to the ground.

XYZ-duelists LP: 4700

"Rgh. you're playing rough aren't you?" The girl got back on her feet. The pain only livened her spirits. "You know, I thought you were going to fusion summon there for a second." She had seen Uno's duel with Neter, and she knew he had the perfect setup to fusion summon a Beast-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. "I may be in a hurry, but I am not going to trip over an obvious boobytrap." Uno also knew a few things, like how the Sea Castrum could destroy the same kind of extra deck cards on the field that it had banished before. It was a perfect weapon against other guilds who always specialized in one type. "I will now though." Uno had feeling he was going to need to. He just hoped these digital copies weren't gonna mess with his head. "Beast-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!" He sacrificed the beast Drummerilla and the dragon Odd-Eyes to fuse them into the skeletal beast dragon(8/3000/2000). "I set another card in the spell/trap zone and end my turn!"

"Ah. That's the part I remember. There is something else I remember too." The woman special summoned a monster from her hand. "When my opponent has a monster, and I don't, I can summon Kaiser Sea Snake from my hand." It was another imperial seaserpent(4/0/0). If it was summoned through its own effect its defense would be reduced to zero. Also any special summoned Kaiser Sea Snake had its original level of 8 cut down by half and its attackpower nullified. "When I summon a Kaiser Sea Snake like this, it will summon another level 8 Seaserpent fom my graveyard." The second Seasnake revived the first that had been attached to Sea Castrum before. It(4/0/1000) too had its level reduced and its attackpoints taken away. "I XYZ-summon, Castel the Skyblaster!" And so she overlayed both Kaiser snakes to create the winged musketeer(4/2000/1500). "Stans card.." One of the easiest rank 4 monsters to summon. Uno would not soon forget it.

"The first shot is for, Beast-Eyes." The woman used up both of Castels XYZ-materials to activate its field bounce effect. The fused dragon beast was pushed back into the extra deck by the muskets blasts. "The second is for that magician on your field!" Castel reloaded his gun and used them for an attack. It came in close and blasted Wisdom-Eye Magician through the head. "Ack." The bullet narrowly grazed Uno's hair. "You... could kill someone like that." What would have happened if it actually hit him? "No I couldn't. We are not here to kill anyone. We just get what we need and let nobody stop us; not Synchros, not Fusions and certainly not your Pendulums." Finally, before she ended her turn, she activated a Twin Twisters spell card by discarding another card from her hand. "I better make sure you do not bring any back. Twin Twisters can destroy two spell or trap cards at once." She directed her twisters at both Time and Stargazer Magician.

Uno's LP: 6700

"No." Uno did not even let the suspense play out. "Not these two." He activated his quickplay spell card, Pendulum Impenetrable. "Aw damnit." The twisters subsided; any effect that targeted a pendulum card would be negated this turn. "You know, I always though these guilds were a wild idea, but I could see why people would start them and join them. But now everyone is acting like this. Why? What is worth all this?!" He shouted. Nothing made sense anymore, this was not why people were supposed to duel. "All I know is that we needed something Dom was not sharing. You sound just like him by the way. But even if I had the full details, I wouldn't tell an outside. The higher-ups say that the less you know, the better." The duelist placed a trap card down and ended her turn. "What could your guild know that the rest of the world doesn't?" Uno asked. "I already said I didn't know. I just do as I am told." The woman shrugged. "Blast it.." Uno had to remind himself he did not have the time to play riddle games. "Pendulum summon!" He special summoned Odd-Eyes, Performapal Drummerilla and Wisdom-Eye Magician. "Odd-Eyes will attack!" While the performapal gorilla played its drums, the dragon(3100/2000) charged his flames.

And Uno's opponent flipped her trap card. "Not this time!" It was Fiendish Chain. "We know your weaknesses, Uno! That is why the XYZ-guild.." Chains bound Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon down, preventing its attack. Just like during Stans duel. "Cosmic Typhoon!" So Uno countered with his second quickplay spell card, one that banished one spell or trap card at the cost of 1000 lifepoints. "Ha? You added.." The woman had no recollection of ever seeing this card in Uno's duels. "The same trick will never work on me twice, miss." Odd-Eyes broke free as the Cyclone eroded the fiendish chains. The fire escaped its jaws and immolated the Skyblaster Musketeer. The doubled battle damage was a little more impactful now. "And I guess I don't have to hear your guilds story anyway. Because it could never justify this madness." Just like last turn, Wisdom-Eye Magician and Drummerilla attacked directly. Uno did not mind if he was repeating himself, not on an evening like this. "Gyugh!" The hits from the two monsters pushed the woman against the walls of the theater. "That hurt more..than I thought it would.. " she was fading fast. She had only enough energy for one last provocation.

Uno's LP: 5700

"You lose anyway.. There's hundreds like me. Our guild.." She did not finish it. The woman slid down to the ground. Uno never got her name.

XYZ-duelists LP: 0

"I wish she hadn't timed her sentences like that. She might have given us something valuable." Someone with a rather refined tone of voice had a few words to say about the womans defeat. "!?" Though the sound was familiar, Uno instinctively reached for his dueldisk to prepare himself for a challenge. "Whoa there. It's just me, Uno." The other disciple stood behind him, Zach Creffield. "Zach?" This was not the place where he had asked Uno to meet him. "Please keep it down, I managed to not attract any attention so far. Also, my apologies, I saw someone using performapals on the network, so I assumed you had been caught. I came as soon as I could, but you did not need my assistance." Zach had his dueldisk primed as well, to be prepared for anything or anyone. "No. You need mine." Uno pointed out bluntly. "Yes. Straight to the point, Dom has been taken by the XYZ-guild. He anticipated that and instructed us to recruit your aid, should me and Silver ever face too big an opposition. I think we can agree that this occasion qualifies."

"But why me? Just a day ago I couldn't even control myself and tried to wreck the place. Why not ask the other guilds for help?" Uno started to wonder if he got this digital deck simply because Dom wanted to prevent further anger outbursts. "We can't trust the other guilds. We do not know what the guilds need Doms data for, but Dame Phoebe probably wanted the same thing, seeing as how she tried to rush towards the finals. Dom has more faith in you than in them. You and me, we have to save him."

...

Alice and the others could see the security center in the distance, they had made it that far. "It seems clear. Come on!" The last stretch unfortunately was a wide open field. The guards did't like the look of this; it seemed too easy. And it was. "Look out!" Heather screamed. A pair of gigantic axes, swords and spears rained down from above. They crashed into the pavement and into the guards, knocking the wind out of them. "Oh no!"

"Oh yes." The responsible XYZ-duelist revealed himself. He had them surrounded with his solidified blade monsters . "I was looking for stragglers, I did not expect to find such a big one like you.." His eyes were set on one person. "Me?" It was Alice, much to her surprise. "Yes, you. You were the one who defeated our champion and ruined our chances of a true victory." The nameless duelist shouted. "Uh. I am sorry?" An apology was all she could come up with for an answer. "Don't be. I don't care that deeply. I am not here to avenge him or anything. I just thought.. how good it would look on my record if I defeat the champion slayer. I'll definitely make it to class 1 then." He activated his dueldisk. "You want to duel my daughter? Now? She doesn't even have a dueldisk!" Her mother protested. "As if that is going to stop me. Use this." He placed another disk on the floor and kicked it over to Alice. "I took this from some random independent that I stomped down on my way here. You can use that."

"But..but I don't want to fight you.." Alice refused to pick it up. "If you want to be the champion slayer..slayer.. can't you just pretend you beat me and let us go? You don't have to hurt anyone.. you didn't." It was too late for the guards. Hopefully they were not too injured. "The guild would know. This can only be done the right way. I am not letting you or your dear mother go until you fight me! And do not try my patience. If you wait, more like me will come. Neither of us has time for that." With or without her, he was starting this duel. He placed three cards down in his spell/trap zone and ended his turn.

Alice's LP: 8000 XYZ-duelists LP: 8000

"Honey. You don't.." Brandt saw her daughter pick up the dueldisk. "I do." She turned it on and placed her cards in it. "Otherwise, he wont leave anyone alone." She took a deep breath and started drawing her cards. "My turn.." She placed a trap card down first. Then she normal summoned Mermail Abysspike(4/1600/800). "Mermails? That was not what you used against Adamant!" The opponent complained. However he then saw her use Mermail Abysspike's effect to discard a water monster, Nekroz of Decisive Arms, from her hand and add a level 3 water monster, Nekroz Strategist Shurit, to her hand. "You combined them? Well, I don't care how I win. Just that I win!" He laughed. "...". Alice wordlessly declared a direct attack with Mermail Abysspike. "Not even a little afraid of my face-down cards? Good for you. The trap was not down there anyway!" He special summoned a monster from his hand during the attack, a Vajra weapon wielded by a featureless blue warrior(5/1800/1900). "It was up here! When your monster makes a direct attack: I can summon Artifact Vajra from my hand!"

"If Artifact Vajra is special summoned during your turn, it destroy all my spell and trap cards!" His three cards were wiped out. However, they were not spells or traps. "Artifact Aegis, Artifact Achillesshield and Artifact Failnaught, I summon them in defense position!" They were monsters, set as spells and resummoned as monsters; A Shield held by a golden spirit(5/1200/2500) a Shield held by a purple warrior(5/1500/2200) and a Bow held by a green archer(5/2000/1600). "They're the same as those weapons from before?" Thus the nature of his deck was revealed; he wielded the Artifacts. "Artifacts are monsters that can be set down in the spell/trap zone. And if they are destroyed while in such a state, they will come back to the field as monsters!" They had an effect each; Achillesshield prevented attacks and Aegis prevented effect destructions. Mermail Abysspike could not fight them to begin with. "Alice. What are you going to do now?" Her mother thought there had to be a way out of this. "..I have to.. end my turn." Her daughter did not. She allowed the nameless duelist to continue. "Sweetie?"

"Giving up? Good enough.." The opponent cracked his neck. "Let me show you the best weapon in our extra deck before you do though." The duelist took Aegis and overlayed it with Achillesshield. "I summon Cyber Dragon Nova." They became a far different monster, a metallic dragon(5/2100/1600) with no limb or arms. It was intimidating. It was not his final goal. "Once per turn, I can use Cyber Dragon Nova and all of its attached cards, as the materials for Cyber Dragon Infinity's XYZ-summon!" The duelist took another black card from his extra deck and stacked it on top of his initial XYZ-monster. "Ah.." Cyber Dragon Nova evolved before Alice's eyes. It did not change greatly in shape, but it(6/2700/1600) grew in rank and in power. "Cyber Dragon Infinity gains 200 attackpoints for each card that is attached to him! And during each of my turns, he can take one monster in attack position away! That monster will turn into another XYZ-material!" The infinite dragon fired a tractor beam that dragged Mermail Abysspike away. Its body was destroyed and its energy absorbed by Infinity(2900/1600). "Here is how you do a direct attack!" Now he was free to unleashed the offensive power of his three monsters.

"Uh, I activate.. " Alice wanted to block the attacks with her trap card, Rippling Mirror Force. "Denied!" Alas, Cyber Dragon Infinity could negate any effect once a turn by detaching a material. "Aaah!" The XYZ-monster(2700/1600) broke the Mirror barrier and its energy blast continued unimpeded. "No, don't!" Mrs Brandt cried out as the explosion filled the square with smoke. "Alice!"

Alice's LP: 5100

(To be Continued in Annex 053: While it Lasted)

New Cards used by Uno
Performapal Drumerilla
Wisdom-Eye Magician

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Cosmic Cyclone

Cards used by XYZ-duelist 1
Spiral Serpent
Kaiser Seasnake

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Aegaion the Sea Castrum
Castel the Skyblaster Musketeer

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Nobleman of Extermination
Twin Twisters

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XYZ Dimension Splash
Fiendish Chain

Cards used by XYZ-duelist 2
Artifact Vajra
Artifact Aegis
Artifact Achillesshield
Artifact Failnaught

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Cyber Dragon Nova
Cyber Dragon Infinity