Annex 059: Think Again

The helicopter was finally on its way to Dreamworld HQ. Doms amusement park was behind them and the city only half an hour away. "Are we there yet?" Pretty soon they would also reach a safe network provider for their disks and phones. "No." But despite Alice's interjections, they were not quite within range. "I will tell you when you can make a call." Zach tried to say it as gently as he could while he was concentrating on keeping them in the air. "Awww... We have to let dad hear from us.." The family had not spoken with him all day. "I'm sure he knows not to do anything hasty. He might not even realize that anything is wrong." Heather wanted to get in touch too, she just did not want to assume the worst. "Mom, if we call him we should ask about Erics mom. Maybe he could check if she is still at her house?." Emily suddenly said. "Check on Mrs Stonewell?"

"I'm worried they did something to her, the fusion Guild. I mean it was weird how Eric never brought her to the tournament, you know? She was always so proud of him. What if they're holding her hostage?" It was an image that did not let go, no matter how much Emily tried to reason it away. "I do not believe so. We brought Eric into this, but we also had daily talks with his mother about the well-being of her son. She called this morning as well. She did not sound 'compromised'." Zach explained, which was mildly comforting. "If that is true, and I hope it is.. Then what the hell is making Eric behave like this?"

...

"Two against Two? Well that's more fair..isn't it June?" Neter/January and June found a second opponent in Eric Stonewell. He came to the aid of Dame Phoebe who gladly accepted his involvement. "It wont make things much worse. It is settled; we will have ourselves a tagteam duel." The two would bet their lifepoints against the fusion guild duelists. This would bring their duel to a quicker end than if they challenged them one at a time. "Don't worry Phoebe. I know these guys tricks. They can't get away with it while I am around." Eric pointed his finger at the woman. "You should look out for her especially. She has some freaky mindpowers..." He had no concrete proof of this other than what he had seen But it was convincing and Eric had seen weirder things these last few days. "Mind tricks eh?" Phoebe grinned. "Then it is a good thing that we are of two minds!""I am afraid that I am your worst kind of opponent, miss June." She flipped back to her sugary tone of voice and started out her turn that way. "I'll begin.."

Team Phoebe's LP: 8000 Team January/June's LP: 8000

Every player drew their hand of five cards. "My turn should start with something cute." The girl normal summoned a Fluffal Dog(4/1700/1000). "Doggie, fetch me a kitty." With the effect of Fluffal Dog Phoebe could grab a new Fluffal, Fluffal Cat, from her deck. "Now let's put a smile on its face!" She then immediately shifted into her other persona and activated a spell from her hand. "Polymerization! Fluffal Cat and Edge Imp Sabres will combine!" The fairy-like purple cat was forcefully fused with the demon of scissors to fusion summon one of the toys of death. "Frightfur Bear!" The murderous bear(6/2200/1800) appeared on the field, its scissors and claws hungering for cards. "But do not forget Fluffal Cat's gift!" Phoebe's first voice briefly came back as she activated the effect of one of her fusion materials. "Now that she has been fused with something, she can give us Polymerization back." The Cat returned the fusion spell to the girls left hand. "And I will set this card face-down." A spell card was set. "I think we are done now""Yeah we are. Your turn, summer girl."

"So that's your deal. I was wondering what was up your clothes and hair. That is so cool!" Neter enjoyed watching that turn play out. June did as well, for different reasons. "That was a nice act. But nothing more.. I can see that you were thinking I'd fall for it. But I am not a fool." June took her turn and drew her sixth card. She activated the spell card Foolish Burial. "Are you? Haha." A move that amused Neter. "That was purely by accident." June rolled her eyes.

"Anyway. I am using this spell to send Spiritual Beast Cannahawk from my deck to the graveyard." The foolish spell buried the monster in the ground. Then June summoned a card from her hand; Ritual Beast Tamer Lara(1/100/2000) the young wind sorceress in green. "And this is why. Lara can revive one Ritual Beast when she is normal summoned." The Tamer channeled her magic into the graveyard, special summoning the electric bird Spiritual Beast Cannahawk(4/1400/600). "And Cannahawk can banish one Ritual Beast from my deck, face-up." The Hawk banished a Ritual Beast Apelio card. Two turns later, June would get the option to add that card to her hand even if Cannahawk was no longer on the field. "So... Here is my fusion monster." June banished her two monsters; Tamer and Beast, to merge them into an Ulti-Beast. "Ritual Beast Ulti-Pettlephin, in defense mode." A younger tamer now rode a different animal, a pink dolphin(8/200/2800). "I remember that one. It's got protection against destroying effects." Eric felt like his last duel against June had only happened yesterday; the memories were that vivid.

"My turn!" Eric's turn followed June's. Unfortunately, his deck was the kind of deck that needed time to build up steam. Eric could not bring out any of the monsters he had in his hand yet. "Uh..I set three cards face down. Your turn.. Neter.. or January, whatever your real name is." At least nobody could attack on the first turn in a tagteam match. He wanted to do more, but he would have to wait. "Oh you can keep calling me Neter. Also, boy that must be embarrassing to draw so badly huh?" As soon as Neter drew a card in his drawphase, Eric sprung his trap; Needlebug Nest. "Ha, very funny.. and also dead wrong!" Needlebug Nest sent the top five cards from his deck to the graveyard, two trap cards and three Infernoids. "Ooh. He used Infernoids now. Scary scary.. Should I watch out for his other traps, June?" The kid turned to his partner for advice. "Not as far as we are concerned, January." She seemed to take her tips straight from Erics thoughts again. "Guh. Stop looking in my head! That's cheating!"

"We never said we would play fairly. You must be a kid if you think we'd follow the rules." Neter laughed. "Satellarknight Vega!" His first Knight was the maiden(4/1200/1600) of the summer triangle stars. Another Satellarknight could be special summoned from Neters hand thanks to her effect. "Satellarknight Unukalhai! If this card is summoned, kick one Satellarknight from the deck!" His second Knight was the dark warrior(4/1800/1000) from the serpents constellation. Unukalhai's effect sent one of the Satellarknight Denebs in Neters deck to the grave. "Okay, Unukalhai, you did your job. Time to jump the Stellarknight Skybridge!" Neter activated his quickplay spell to switch one Tellarknight on the field with one in the deck. The serpentine knight returned and the winged Satellarknight Altair(4/1700/1300) was special summoned. "You know what it does, right? You saw my game with your friend." Altair revived a dead Satellarknight when summoned. The discarded Satellarknight Deneb(4/1500/1000) was brought back to the field, thus completing the summer triangle. "Gimme another Altair." First though, Neter activated Denebs effect to claim another Satellarknight from his deck. "And nooooowww... I get to do my special move! Overlay and XYZ-summon!" Altair, Deneb and Vega combined into one rank 4 XYZ-monster, Stellarknight Delteros(4/2500/2100).

"Oh yeah?" There it was, the XYZ-monster that Uno had fought. Its effect was dangerous and Eric had every intention of blocking it with one of his traps. "Wait, Stonewell." But even his strongest desire could be smothered by a word from Phoebe. "Do not use your trap yet." As they were on the same team, Phoebe could see the cards Eric had set and the moves he would make with them. "But.." So why did she not allow him? "Save it." Phoebe told him again, sternly this time. "Heh? Are you gonna do something? No? Okey-dokey!" Neter got his chance after all. He detached one material from Delteros. "Destroy the Bear!" The stellarknight fired a beam of destruction from his shield and blew the Frightfur Bear to pieces. Afterwards Neter placed a card in the spell/trap zone and ended his turn. Eric just did not understand. "Why didn't you let me protect your monster?"

"It was better off dead." The fifth turn came, and Phoebe's battle phase came with it. She would get a new fusion monster for that. "I set one card." With the right hand a trap was placed face-down. Then the left hand and the left half took over for the rest of the turn. "Polymerization!" With her recycled fusion spell, she fused Fluffal Dog on the field with a monster in her hand. It was not Edge Imp Sabres for once. "One Fluffal and one Edge Imp Chain! Together they can make Frightfur Sheep!" A demon made from chains and gears was embedded in the fluffy body of the dog. Its shape and color twisted into that of a monstrous golden sheep(6/2000/2000) who was suspended in the air on revolving chains. "Stonewell, now you get to see what I would have done to you to win that duel!" The fusion guildleader dug her fingers into her deck to pull out one specific spell card. "When Edge Imp Chain is sent to the graveyard, it will give us any FrightFur card. And I choose Frightfur Fusion!"

"That card?" Before now, Eric only was aware of its name. From now on, he would remember its terrifying power. "Frightfur Fusion can banish the materials for a Frightfur monster from the field and graveyard to fusion summon a Frightfur monster!" She activated the spell to banish up to three monsters; Edge Imp Sabres, Fluffal Cat and Fluffal Dog. "Come out, come out wherever you are! It's time to play with Frightfur Tiger!" The scissordemon cut up the remnants of the cat and dog toys to change them into the Tiger-toy of death(6/1900/1200). The first of its powers added attackpoints to all Frightfur monsters like itself(6/2500/1200) and Frightfur Sheep(6/2600/2000); 300 for each Fluffal or Frightfur monster on the field. But that was just a little extra spice. The real terror would come from the Tigers second effect. "If you want to help me, you can do it now, Eric Stonewell." Frightfur Tiger would destroy cards equal to the number of its fusion materials. Ritual Beast Ulti-Pettlephin normally could not be one of those monsters due to its destruction immunity. "You can count on me!" So that is why Eric had to wait until now, to activate the trap Needlebug Nest had sent to the graveyard. "I banish Breakthrough Skill from my graveyard to negate your fusion monsters effects, June!"

"Oh in that case. Don't mind if I.." Before Breakthrough Skill could resolve, June chained with her own monsters effect. "Split things up." Ulti-Pettlephin defused, summoning the banished Ritual Beast Tamer Lara and Ritual Beast Cannahawk back from the banished zone. "As I expected." Now Frightfur Tiger could choose whatever target it pleased. "Rip them to shreds, darling." The monsters scissors cut through June's Ritual Beasts and through Neter's Stellarknight Delteros with its destruction effect. "That's not so bad! Because I get to do this!" Delteros' destruction triggered its final power to special summon a Satellarknight from the deck. Neter placed a second Stellarknight Vega(4/1200/1600) on his field. "Weeeee! Here we go again!" Now that she was summoned, Vega could special summon the Satallerknight Altair in Neters hand and this Altair(4/1700/1300) could subsequently special summon Satellarknight Deneb from the graveyard. All were summoned in defense mode, naturally. The next effect spoke for itself as well. "I want.. another Altair!" Deneb's effect seized the last of the Altair cards and gave it to his master.

"Heheh. You should already know that it's gonna take more than a few meatshields to save your own skin!" Phoebe entered the battle phase. "Tear, slash, grind!" Frightfur Sheep used its chainsaw limbs to turn Satellarknight Vega to a starry pulp. Frightfur Tiger swept his claws through the body of Satellarknight Altair. "And then..!" She activated her set card, Defusion. "Stonewell, you know what I want." Defusion targeted Frightfur Tiger, despite the fact that its three fusion materials were banished right now. "Oh, yeah!" So Eric activated his own set quickplay spell. "Burial from another Dimension! I unbanish three cards!" Fluffal Cat, Dog and Edge Imp Sabres were returned to the graveyard, just in time for Defusion to summon them to the field. "Deliciously done." The battle phase continued. Edge Imp Sabers(4/1200/800) sliced Satellarknight Deneb with its scissors. Fluffal Cat(1/700/300) attacked June directly, while Fluffal Dog hit Neter. With a shared lifepoint pool, distributing attacks served no actual purpose. Phoebe just wanted to spread the pain equally. "That satisfies me for now."

Team June's LP: 6000

"Hey, June. Looks like this guild figured the solid hologram trick too." Neters coat had been cut by the attack. Even this he just laughed off. "June?" But now something unusual happened, June had no immediate comebacks. "What is the matter? Heheh.. can't you see me?" Phoebe could recognize an expression of doubt no matter what face it was framed on. "I did not account for this.." June did not need to ask how it began, she could read that part of Phoebe's mind. The rest was what confused her. "You set that card, yet you made yourself forget what it was.. because you did not actually set it?" That was the read she got from Phoebe's current thoughts. "Whaaaat? You mean she really is two people?" Neter was astonished. So was Eric. "What?!" Eric did wonder why Phoebe did not revert to her fluffier character once her fusion monster left the field. The guild always said her double act was just a performance for the sake of the audience. It actually carried benefits now. "Heheh. I may not know how you can read minds, but I see you have your limits. You can't read a mind that is not awake."

"The truth will come out eventually, Dame Phoebe. All minds open up at the end of the duel." June summoned a monster, a new younger tamer(3/1500/1000). "Ritual Beast Tamer Wen. I summon her so she can special summon a Spiritual Beast that was banished." The tamer girl waved her wand once and opened a portal to the banished zone. The fiery lion Spiritual Beast Apelio(4/1800/200) leaped out of the other dimension. "Apelio banishes one Ritual Beast from my graveyard to make the other Ritual Beasts stronger." The lion sent his flames into the graveyard and burned up Spiritual Beast Cannahawk. The flames returned and covered it(2300/200) and Tamer Wen(2000/1000). "They will take your Fluffal Cat and Fluffal Dog!" The two fluffy monsters were burned and cut down by Apelio's flame attacks and the Tamers wind spells. "Then I activate Ritual Beast Bond to fuse my Ritual Beasts!" June revealed a quickplay spell that banished the Ritual Tamer and the Spiritual Beast; to create the third of the Ulti-Beasts; Ritual Beast Ulti-Apelio(6/3100/400). "His target is Edge Imp Sabers." The tamer/lion combo charged the scissor demon and pulverized it under its flaming claws. "Good.. you're not a coward without your power." Phoebe cackled. Her trap had not deterred any of June's attacks.

Team Phoebe's LP: 4000

"You.. You kept other things buried too, plans... connections.." This situation got weirder and weirder, June could not even figure out which aspect of Phoebe was real and which one was put on. "I gotta say, whatever you did to yourself it is very effective." June moved to her second main phase and made her Fusion monster split itself up. Ulti-Apelio returned to the extra deck and summoned the banished Cannahawk and Tamer Wen. "Still, if either of you knows anything about Tempus, than I will find it." Cannahawk activated its effect to banish a Ritual Beast Tamer Lara from the deck. "Ulti-Cannahawk this time." And the hawk banished itself along with Tamer Wen to fusion summon Ultimate CannaHawk(6/1900/1600) from the extra deck in defense mode. "Though..maybe you did it to someone besides yourself too."

"Huh?" Eric noticed her gaze fell on him. "Hey! What're you talking about?!" If she was going to pry into his thoughts again, the least she could do was say what she was looking at. "You were right when you said you had changed, but you do not realize how. Your mind has been altered, something has been implanted. I almost assumed that it was a common pursuit for duelists in your guild... Now I see that you yearn to understand." June continued on with her turn as if she had said nothing. She activated Ulti-Cannahawks effect, sending the banished Cannahawk and Tamer Lara back to the graveyard while adding a new Ritual Beast card from her deck to her hand. "Ritual Beast Ambush." She took a trap and placed that card face down. "Unfortunately, as I cannot special summon the same Ritual Beasts more than once a turn, this is where I will have to end my turn." Ulti-Cannahawk could not split up since Apelio had already been summoned. As the turn ended, it lost the powerboost from Apleio(1400/1600) as well.

"Phoebe. What is she saying? Did something happen to me?" This meant Eric was free to take his turn. Even though he had a few other questions on his mind. "She's trying to scramble your brains and confuse you, Stonewell. Don't play her game. Just do as I say and you will make it out with your sanity in one piece." Phoebe said with a grating tone. A tinge of apprehension came through, but Eric did not pick up on it. "Yeah. you're right! I am me, I am Eric Stonewell! I'll summon Infernoid Decatron!" Eric had finally drawn a monster he could summon, so he did. It was the tiny demon tuner(1/500/200). "Decatron sends an Infernoid from my deck to the graveyard to imitate its name and effects! Though I am not really about him as much as I am about who he's going to send!" Decatron sent Infernoid Onuncu into the graveyard. "This big beast right here! I special summon Infernoid Nehemoth from the graveyard!" He could revive Onuncu, or Nehemoth as he called it. The corpses of the three Infernoids discarded by the Needlebug Nest trap were the fuel for the infernal dragon(10/3000/3000). Once it was special summoned, all other monsters had to forfeit their lives. "Nobody is gonna make an idiot out of me!"

(To be Continued in Annex 060: Stitched Up Purple Heart)

New Cards used by Eric Stonewell
Burial from a Different Dimension

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Breakthrough Skill

New Cards used by Dame Phoebe
Fluffal Cat
Edge Imp Chain

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Frightfur Sheep

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Frightfur Fusion

New Cards used by June
Spiritual Beast Cannahawk
Ritual Beast Tamer Wen

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Foolish Burial

New Cards used by Neter
Satellarknight Unukalhai