The Rise and Fall of History: A Past Unseen

by Medigo

The world of dueling has reached a standstill. Many stories have been told through these cards, and the final story pits every side against each other. It is a game no more. Duelists are divided, and an unknown enemy watches from afar. In the midst of all this chaos is one man who brings a new power that can forever end the conflict; a stranger to this world and to himself.

65. The Day that Never Ends

Annex 065: They Day that Never Ends

Cloe's LP: 1100 Uno's LP: 3150

A few minutes earlier, while his friends were out there in the physical world dueling December and the other travelers, Uno was still trapped with the Prophecy Sisters. "Just tell me! Forget your rules for a second!" These ladies knew everything he didn't. And rigght now he had to know what was going on outside his head. "This story has been told many times. They do not have much time left." Cloe "simply chided him for his impudence. "The future is not infinite, not yours, not theirs. This story will end, a new story begins. Only we remember." Veronica did not give an answer either, naturally. It looked like the only way he was going to get anything was by finishing what he was doing right now. "Fine." Uno activated his spell, Performapal Recasting. "I draw three cards!" The recast spell sent the two Performapal cards in his hand back to his deck, and then drew one card for each 'recast' Performapal, plus one. Then he placed two of those three cards down in the spell/trap zone. "Your turn!"

"Now you finally realize that you can not afford to wait for the future or wait on the past. You run from one to the other. You are going in the wrong direction." The middle sister gave another speech as her younger sibling drew her cards. Thankfully she was not dragging out her actions much. Cloe flip summoned two of her face-downs; Ghostrick Jiangshi(3/300/1800) and Ghostrick Yuki-Onna(2/1000/800). "I flip summoned Jiangshi.." The vampire ghosts flip effect helped Cloe out again, as it put another formerly decked Ghostrick monster in her hand. "What I took was.. Ghostrick Mummy." She summoned a muscular mummy-monster(3/1500/0), who carried a pocket-sized witch(2/1200/200) on his shoulder. "When the Mummy is normal summoned, another Ghostrick can be normal summoned. Her name is Ghostrick Witch, and her power.." The blonde witch smacked Uno's other monster, Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer(4/1500/1000) with her broom. "Switches your pal." The witch's effect shuffled the Sorcerer into face-down defense position as well. "That said, if you fail now that doesn't make it an ending. Margot says that you may try again and again, to overpower the XYZ-force. We have all the time in the world." Veronica spoke as if their victory was already assured. "..." Uno could hardly protest if these sisters could really see the future.

"Let us skip stage two." She said as Cloe overlayed Ghostrick Mummy and Jiangshi. "Another XYZ-monster.." This time the sisters went for rank 3. The vampire ghost and creature of science combined to create a majestic vampire(3/1800/1600) with a bloodred cloak and a pale face like white fire. "Ghostrick Alucard. It detaches one card to destroy one set card." The vampire sucked up one of its XYZ-materials through its mouth and spat out a stream of blood. It was not Uno's monsters that she was after though. The blood splattered over Uno's left trap card, Performapall Call, and broke it down. One trap and one face-up monster remained. "That was the main phase." Cloe moved into the battle phase and hit the table with her fist. Ghostrick Go-Round flipped her last face-down monster, Ghostrick Lantern(1/800/0) face-up. Due to its status as a Ghostrick monster, one of Uno's monsters would now be flipped face-down by the continous trap. Performapal Drummerilla(5/1600/900) was the unfortunate flipped victim. "Ugh." With Ghostrick Museum on the field and no face-up monsters to defend him, there were going to be a lot of direct attacks this turn.

Unless he could help it. "Trap card!" He made his countermove when the first attack was declared. "Pendulum Reborn!" Right as Ghostrick Witch made his pass at Uno, his Pendulum trap special summoned a Pendulum monster from the extra deck in defense position. There was only one in there and only one he needed, Performapal Turn Toad(2/0/800). "Go!" The toad hopped down in front of the Ghostricks. The Witch let out a yell and smacked the monster with her broom to destroy it. Luckily that was not Uno's only resort "Now I can activate Fire Mufflerlions effect!" Uno took the lion from its pendulum zone. "If he is set as a spell card, he can summon himself as a monster when another Pendulum monster is destroyed!" The circus lion(3/800/800) with the mane of fire was special summoned in defense mode, just in time to intercept Ghostrick Alucard. Instead of the duelist, the vampire sucked the life from the Mufflerlion. "Maybe I am not good at predictions, but one thing you cannot tell me is when my show ends!" He had stopped half of the direct attacks now. Ghostrick Lantern and Yuki-Onna also attacked, but Uno could handle their lantern flames and snow crystals. "Everything has to end sometime, but I am going to have fun while it lasts!"

Uno's LP: 1350

"Those are the words of someone who appreciates the present and denies everything else." The two sisters continued with the turn after all battles had played out. Ghostrick Witch could, like most Ghostrick monsters, switch herself to face-down defense position. Ghostrick Lantern and Yuki-Onna were flipped by Ghostrick Museum, as the two had inflicted direct damage this turn. "Denial is only the first step towards acceptance." They passed the turn to Uno. And when they did, they flipped their trap: Spirit Barrier. the card would cancel battle damage done to them as long as they controlled monsters; whether they were face-up or down. "Hey! Denying my past was not my idea! Someone took it from me, and I know who!" He vehemently resisted their deconstruction of his amnesia. "You think you do, but you don't." Veronica in turn rejected his claim. "What? You know who did it?" They had to be aware of what they were saying. "If only I had a fourth question.. Maybe that is that their game, to keep me here? They're trying to butter me up with tasty bits of information. "

He could not afford distractions. He had to win, and soon. The question was how? If it werent for the Ghostrick Jack Frost card in Cloe's hand, he could have tried to employ another direct attack strategy. "Alright, deck, what is your offer?" Uno pulled the card that waited for him. Maybe, just maybe, luck had been kind to him when he shuffled his deck last turn. "I...Set the scale, Performapal Monkeyboard!" It had been very kind. "Hit it, Monkeyboard!" The monkey in a purple tuxedo started playing the piano keys in its teeth. "When I activate him, he can call for another Performapal to assist me!" Uno searched his deck again and grabbed Performapal Lizardraw. "The second scale!" The orange lizard jumped into the other pendulum zone. Uno was flanked by a scale 1 and a scale 6 pendulum monster. "Pendulum! Summon!" He special summoned Fire Mufflerlion and TurnToad from the extra deck. "Perhaps I do need to have some trust in the future. So let's try this again! I tribute Lizardraw to draw one more card!" The lizard used its own effect to exchange its life for the card on the top of the deck.

And that card was a spell."...Oh, another stroke of fortune. I guess this means Margot likes me the most eh?" Uno chuckled. He happily activated his spell card. "Here is my answer, Performance Hurricane! For each Performapal monster on my field, this spell will return a card to players hand!" The magic number was two. The Hurricane targeted both of Cloe's traps; Ghostrick Night and Spirit Barrier. "But I think you can tell how this will go on your own." With Ghostrick Night destroyed, Uno could flip summon whomever he wanted. "Get them boys!" He flipped his Performapals; Silver Claw(4/1800/700), Drummerilla and Pendulum Sorcerer. "Let's make some music!" The silver wolf and the drumming gorilla performed the first strike. Drummerilla's effect added 600 attackpoints to Silver Claw(2400/700), while Silver Claw added 300 attackpoints to itself and to all other monsters. Cloe took no measures to save her XYZ-monster. The wolf clawed right through Alucard the vampire prince. "The immortal dies." Like Dullahan, this XYZ-Ghostrick had a monster retrieval effect that activated upon its death. Veronica chose Ghostrick Specter. "Nothing lasts forever out there, not even those who say they do."

Cloe's LP: 500

"And here is different?" They kept talking as if they were immortal, as if they really did have time on their side. "But... I like it out there more!" Uno shook his head. He had already won, they were just going through the motions to keep him here for as long as possible. "So this has to end. Not that I didn't have fun.." With three face-down monsters and Ghostrick Museum as the field, Drumerilla could make a direct attack. "I made my choice four turns ago." Cloe activated Ghostrick Jack Frost from her hand to switch the attacking gorilla to face-down defense position and to set the snowman on her field. It hardly mattered anymore. "I choose the future, the real world!" Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer made the third attack, creating a ball of magic with his hands which he tossed all the way to the other end of the table. "So you can stop trying to talk me into staying here!" The blast exploded before Cloe and Veronica's faces.

Cloe's LP: 0

"Oof! Wh.." The results of his win made themselves apparent within seconds. A surge of energy rushed through Uno's body, from his chest to his head and arms. "Hey.." He was overjoyed to see why; Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon had come back. The card glowed on the top of his deck. "You have succeeded. Your Pendulum has seen your battle against the power of XYZ and accepted you as its master again." Cloe spoke with an almost gratified tone of voice. Her older sister was equally pleased. "This is another step of your evolution. You have something new to show for it." Uno checked his deck again, and to his surprise he saw several new cards that had not been there before. Those cards werent Doms. "Who keeps sending me these?" Rune-Eyes, Beast-Eyes, Pendulum Call; the list went on. He would find out why, with or without the help of prophecies. "That is a question for the next time." Veronica said. "Another time? So we will meet again? I thought you could only see the... ?!"

Uno swallowed his words. "We can't. We just said what Margot wanted to say." The third sister had gotten up, her back was still turned to him. She did not speak or move. In fact Uno had not seen her make a motion even once. "I.." The mansion suddenly was so very small and cramped. Bright light came in from the windows on the second floor, separating them from the darkness. He was alone with her, the past and present had disappeared. In that moment he could swear he saw her face slowly turn around, as all colors and sounds were distorted into a painful screams. He did not want to see her face..

...

That was when he woke up, like the last few hours had only been a nightmare. Time slowed down for his senses, as he adjusted back to a world of physical constraints. He noticed his surroundings, and the people that were with him. Instantly he realized what had been going on. He was inside Dreamworlds tower, not in a world of dreams. June and the others like her had come for him here and kind little Alice had tried to defend him all by herself. It was a feeling of enlightenment. Perhaps this was a gift of the sisters to prepare him for his awakening? Or perhaps his mind had already taken in the details that took place around him, while his subconscious floated around in that mansion outside of time. Regardless, Uno knew exactly what to do. He activated his dueldisk, drew his cards and intercepted Decembers fatal blow before it could take away Alice's lifepoints. He went from one duel to another and there came the cries of joy and wonder and the questions from the enemy. He was back in the present. This was his choice, and he did not regret it.

Alice and Uno's LP: 500 Decembers LP: 7800

"It's my turn!" Uno could have asked anything but first he wanted to make sure that Alice was safe. Answers were not more important than his friends. "Alice. You are gonna love this.." Uno drew a new card. "Set the scales, Wisdom-Eye Magician and Xiangsheng Magician!" In one pendulum zone he placed the insightful mage. "Oooh! That's a new one!" In the other zone was a magician that neither Neter nor the rest of the world had seen in the days before. It was a female magic archer, dressed in billowing robes and wearing an eyepatch on the right eye.

"You! Who gave you those pendulum cards?" August demanded the truth. The provider could not have been Dom. "I don't know. Who gave you yours? Maybe that's the answer." Uno was not blind. He could see that this December person had a Pendulum monster in his graveyard. It was typical for these duelists, it did not shock him. "Maybe it's the cards themselves? Let me get another one!" Uno activated Wisdom-Eye Magicians effect and sacrificed it so that it could set a new Magician in the pendulum zone. "Xiangke Magician!" The empty pillar of light was taken up by the male counterpart of Xiangsheng, the knight in green with long blue hair. "Three and eight." Alice counted their scales. They were not as ranged as Timegazer and Stargazer, but they were perfect for this situation. "Pendulum summon!" Uno special summoned Wisdom-Eye Magician(4/1500/1500) from the extra deck along with Performapal Skeeterskimmer(4/500/1600) and Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon(7/2500/2000) from the hand. "And now, XYZ-summon!" It was time to find out just how much his duel with the sisters payed off. He overlayed the Skimmer insect with the Wisdom mage, and created Dark Rebellion XYZ-Dragon(4/2500/2000)

"That's Doms dragon.." This was the first time Alice saw the black dragon in solid form, looking many times more terrifying than it did as a card. "He has XYZ-monsters now too?" Neter gasped. "Yet this one he did get from Dom. Though Dom was not the one who first made it." June recalled the story about the three codes and the three dragons. That story seemed to have relevance after all. "..Uno? Is everything okay?" Alice noticed that Uno going quiet while everyone else did the talking. He was staring down at his own crystal. "Better than okay." Nothing happened this time, the pendulum did not act up. The two dragons tolerated each others presence. "I activate Dark Rebellions effect!" Uno detached two materials from the black dragon, so that it could drain away half of the attackpoints of D/D/D Wave King Ceasar(1200/1200) and give it to itself(4/3700/2000). "Now it's time for step three! Watch closely, these are the powers of my Xiang duo! Xiangsheng can make an XYZ-monsters rank equal to that of a level 5 or higher monster on the field!" Xiangsheng shot her arrow through Odd-Eyes and Dark-Rebellion. Three of the dragons level stars were added to the rank stars of the XYZ-Dragon(7/2500/2000).

"What was the point of that?" August cursed. "Excellent question." . "Xiangke chooses one XYZ-monster I control. The chosen monster can then be used as a material for another XYZ-summon!" The shield fired seven stars into the XYZ-Dragon. "You're gonna XYZ-Summon, with an XYZ-monster?" Alice cried out. "Impossible." December uttered a single word of protest. Not only could cards normally not treat ranks as levels, but also .. he had not foreseen this. "Everything is impossible, until it isn't! Haha!" Uno went through with it. Dark Rebellion was placed on top of Odd-Eyes. "I overlay both dragons, and XYZ-summon a rank 7 monster!" The power of pendulum would share with the power of XYZ. A powerful wave of energy was freed as a result, and it swept across the office. "A pendulum.. XYZ-monster?" The four stood in awe, as a new dragon(7/3000/2500) was born. Not even they had seen a being like this before. Odd-Eyes took the dark armor and scales from Dark Rebellion while spikes on its wings turned into blade-shaped cannons. "Meet Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon."

"It looks.. strong. Is it?" Alice was half affraid and half fascinated with what she was about to see. "I could tell. But I'd rather show." The wings of the dragon split open. Electricity arced down the middle. It was building up for en effect. And that effect struck instantaneously. Two bolts of lightning hit Decembers Fusion and Synchro monster. D/D/D Oracle King D'Arc(7/2800/2000) and D/D/D Gust King Alexander(7/2500/200) were disintegrated by the power of rebellion. "Rebellion Dragon destroys all level 7 or lower monsters when it is XYZ-summoned with an XYZ-monster as the material! For each monster destroyed, it inflicts 1000 points of damage!" The electricity splashes over to December himself, shocking him twice. He visibly winced.

Decembers LP: 5800

"Then Odd-Eyes gets to attack three times!" The XYZ-dragon spread its wings. "Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon, attack the wave King and his master!" With its first attack, a volley of thunder sparks, Uno's monster blew up the weakened D/D/D XYZ-monster. "Juragedo, to me!" But at this time December activated a monster effect from his hand. A longclawed mutated devil(4/1700/0) was summoned in defense mode. "Juragedo?" This fiend could summon itself during a battle step, and increase a players lifepoints by 1000. Juragedo took the third attack while restoring some of Decembers health. "Of course, you could save yourself. I would have been disappointed if you didn't!" Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon used his other attacks. The second killed Juragedo, the third launched straight into December. "Rgh." He was pushed back by the blow, to the edge of the room. He stopped in front of the shattered windows.

Decembers LP: 2000

"That was.. just like December." Alice shivered. Uno's monster was just as destructive as Decembers D/D/D demons. Yet for some reason, she was not as scared. The opponents were the ones who felt the ripples of dread for the first time in a long time. "Your monsters were not like this before.. Who taught you how to manifest such power? Your thoughts are confusing me." June rarely saw images that she could not comprehend. This was one of those rare times. Uno's mind was too chaotic. "I do have a lot to say, don't I?" Uno sighed. "I'm sorry, Alice. I should have told you about my 'exploits' sooner. I thought people would call me crazy then, but the whole world has gone crazy now, so who cares?" He placed a trap card down and ended his turn. Now he was ready to talk. "What are you saying?" Though his words still made no sense to Alice or the others. "Well its all thanks to this friend there." Uno pointed at Neter. "He helped me discover where I am from. I came from the future, and I am guessing so did you.."

(To be Continued in Annex 066: Instead of Tomorrow)

New Cards used by Uno
Performapal Monkeyboard
Xiangke Magician
Xiangsheng Magician

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Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon

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Performance Hurricane

New Cards used by Cloe and Veronica
Ghostrick Mummy
Ghostrick Witch
Ghostrick Alucard

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Spirit Barrier

New Cards used by December
Juragedo