Annex 067: World Breaking
In the late hours of the night, Adamant found himself in an underground bunker. The XYZ-guild controlled many locations across the country that only they were aware of, some were made with their own resources. Here they could finally discuss their 'mission' without fear of interference. "Nothing. We have nothing! How do you justify this, Roma? You destroyed the guild, alienated us from half of our members!" Roma was there too of course, with his most loyal duelists there to protect him. That did not stop Adamant from airing every single grievance he had with the decisions of the new leader. "It was your failure that put us on this path. What would you have done, Adamant? You would say to avoid making attacks out in the open and wait for the right moment to get Doms files. But time is something we do not have, do we?" Roma tapped a few buttons on a nearby computer. "Luckily, the generators are still online and undetected. By the time they find them, it will be too late."
"The generators? You plan to go to phase four?!" An uncharacteristic look of horror set in on Adamants face. "Why are you so surprised? They were your idea." Roma stated calmly. "They were intended for the other side!" The former champion shouted. "The guilds are our enemy too, Adamant. If we cannot defeat them and gain control of our own territory, then we have no chance. Our partners have already agreed to go ahead with phase four." It looked like Adamant had no say at all anymore. Still he persisted. "There must be another way! The generators are our last resort, not our first! Let me take a small team of my finest duelists, we could engage with Dom directly!"
"How very honorable. I figured you would say that, mister Adamant." That was Ichirou's cue to walk into the room. "Ah, Ichirou. You made it back after all. I had almost given your position away." Roma was only slightly astonished to see his second-in-command. "Then I was fortunate enough to return in a timely manner, sir Roma. Alas, my own skills were insufficient when it came to safeguarding the cardmaker. His disciples bested me and my men in a duel. However I managed to escape during an interesting encounter. To make up for my failure I can grant the guild some vital information that I overheard. I believe Adamant will find it interesting too." The XYZ-duelist said with usual smiling expression. "What is this information?" Adamant was wary about any sentence that came from his tongue. "Dom has made himself useless to us. Everything he ever knew he put inside three cards. And if we get our hands on those cards, we will have everything we need for the coming war. There, that should help you shouldn't it mister Adamant?"
...
The night, or what remained of it, had been the time to relax for the Brandt family, in the comfort of dreamworld HQ. Doms office was offered to them by Zach, there was no better place to give in to exhaustion. The morning that followed was delightfully calm. They did not know any better than to think the worst had been put behind them. Yet there were still dangers out there. "Those four guys. We should give them a name.." Alice certainly had not forgotten that. Though Emily wishes she had. "We really dont." It was bad enough to remember that everything that happened last night was not some crazy dream. She just wanted to stay in bed, but as usual her sister was already up and about: talking and theorizing without end. "But everyone needs a name. What do you think? Maybe we can call them the four Time-Bandidos, or the Calendar Quartert!" Alice just took everything at face-value; time travel, real monsters, everything. That was how she usually was in the morning, filled with too much energy and curiosity. It was a brand new day. "Uhhh..Just.. can we talk about this later? I.." And there were brand new noises. "Aggh.. what the.. what now?" It sounded like a vehicle was passing the building, getting closer and louder. "Fine. I'm getting up."
The source of the sound was Doms helicopter, which Zach had sent back to the park to come pick his master up. He and Uno waited at the top of the tower to greet him, since Uno wanted to be here as well. "Did you have a nice flight, sir?" His disciple inquired. "Taking a nap of an hour or so in the middle of the skies after a whole day of restlessness? I wouldn't recommend it, Zachary. But hey, I've had worse.." Dom kept a positive attitude for someone who desperately wanted to crash down and forget the rest of the world existed. "It could have been.." Iria meanwhile seemed only slightly more crankier than usual. The presence of Uno was a factor in that. Her glare was meant just for him. "You are still clinging to your tale?" Uno had told them what he told the Brandts, and Iria did not believe it then either. To assume the existence of time travel was too ridiculous, she could not even say it. "It's not just me, Iria. I know they said it too." Uno had stayed up all night as well. He'd done enough sleeping during the day. Those midnight hours were spent listening to the recordings Zach had made of Decembers encounter with Dom and Iria.
"Whatever they are, or claim to be, they are not our priority right now. The XYZ-guild is now public enemy number one. Meanwhile the Fusion Guild has acquired key information." Iria bitterly stated what they already knew, primarily to make clear to Zach how she felt about the loss of the fusion dragon. "It's not all bad. They need all three cards to make sense of the encryption codes. Even if they get access to the servers, they wont get anything." Dom came to Zach's defense, which Zach appreciated but it did not make him feel any less ashamed. "Thank you sir. But it is not all good either. The fusion guild has not responded to our calls. It appears they are denying any involvement. We did not find Meridian in the tunnels either." All their leads were gone, and all because their inside-man betrayed them. "Eric Stonewell. That traitor will regret going against us." Iria swore. "Hey, I know Eric a little. I can't imagine he would turn his back on his friends. Something must have happened." Only Uno apparently still believed in his innocense.
"Why are we talking about this when the XYZ-guild is the one we need to deal with first? Ichirou got away; the XYZ-guild might be aware of the three dragon cards now. We have to find their members. They may have cleared out their stations, but their names are still registered. We should go to their families to their friends, interrogate each and every last one of them!" Iria felt that was the only thing they could do at this point. "Iria. I saw these members, they don't even have the slighest idea of what their leaders are trying to do. A third of them just signed up because they like to duel, and are too affraid to back out because they have been part of the guild for too long. Another third is filled with duelists who are too loyal to betray the guild, or are having too much fun beating up duelists with their monsters. The rest did not even show up during the attack. You wont get anything from them, and you definitely wont get anything from their families." Uno did not like her plan simply because he could not imagine that all of them were guilty.
"He has a point, Iria. The country has enough paranoida on its own. I'm open for strategies, but I'd like it if we could continue this in the control room." Dom was starting to get cold up here at the top of the tower. "Very well." Iria dropped her argument, for now. Dom, Uno and the disciples moved down the stairs. "So what is causing problems, besides every duelist in the world that is. You said that people were trying to pin the blame on your company?" Since Dom had brought up the topic of paranoia, Uno figured he could ask more about that. "Eh it's just saber-rattling for now. The suits at city hall are holding me responsible for 'traumatization visited upon my park-going citizens'. They say the XYZ-guild might have been the ones who turned my creations into weapons, but I was still the one who supplied it to them. I'm probably gonna get a mass lawsuit and have to settle out of court, it happens. But this time it feels like someone is putting extra pressure on us, there's talk of a ban on dueling. We're being watched, so my hands are sorta tied. Going after the XYZ-guild by ourselves would get us in trouble." Of course Dom did wonder if this was just the government talking, or if it was someone else too.
"I just do not understand why the XYZ-guild would go this far? What drove them to this? Who is the enemy they keep talking about?" Zach had thought it over many times and he never found a satisfying answer. The guilds had existed for many years, and nothing like this ever happened before. The country was not at war with anyone else either, so that could not be it. "Maybe it's just this year that is special. Maybe this is the last chance they had to get what they wanted? The three sisters did say that time was running out." Uno had his theories. It could not have been a coincidence that he travelled to this time. "This again, Uno?" But here is where Iria had to interject. "You should know that I did a background check on these sisters that you keep mentioning. Neither their names nor their location came up in any search results. The ones you call Cloe, Veronica and Margot; they do not exist." If there was any part of Uno's tale that she had difficulty accepting, it was that of the prophecy sisters. "Well I know what I saw. Frankly, I wouldn't want to go looking for them anyway." The three sisters were a mystery in their own class, of course it would not be so easy to find them. "Forget it then." Iria gave up. If Uno wanted to believe it, she would let him. Though truthfully, Uno could not be sure if the sisters were real or if they were just mental delusions.
"Ah. Home at last.." The four arrived at the control room. This place would have to serve as Doms main office now that the one below had had its windows smashed to pieces. "Iria. Check the computer. See if Uno responded yet... The other Uno I mean." Dom turned to Uno. "You're still sticking with that name, right? I mean, I know plenty of Bobs and Jims and Wills, but at least with them I can use their last names to point them out." In the case of both Uno's, he had no such luxury. "I am sticking with it yes.. And you sent the other UNO a message? Don't you think that's exactly what December and his friends are going to look out for?" As Uno said this, Iria's eyes locked with Doms mask. "Oh...That is what they wanted you to do." Uno remembered the last sentence uttered on the record; December giving Dom a last order before he would leave them. The actual demand was not picked up by the recorder. "Sir..." And if that was the case, now was the time to come clean. "He did respond." Because Iria looked at another direct message from UNO himself. It was one word.
''Yellow."
"You got him to answer you? What did you say?" Without the request, the response meant nothing. That was probably the point. "I am affraid he was right, Zach. December had an ultimatum. I could get back in contact with Uno willingly, or he would make me. Naturally I chose the less painful option. I told UNO about everything that happened and asked if we could talk in person. He got back to me a little sooner than I expected, in less than a million years." Uno had always declined personal visits before. Perhaps this was a sign that even He understood how big the stakes were. "Blue is a codeword. It means that he has chosen a safe and neutral location to meet me."
"You do realize that as soon as you do that, December is gonna jump on him like a lion on raw steak. Uno is the one he wants now; me and him." This was so obviously a trap, Uno could smell it from miles away. "Don't have much of a choice. December told me not to give away that people were after him, and if I did, he would never show up. UNO is the one who pushed to keep the tournament going. Maybe he is in cahoots with this Tempus fellow, maybe he isn't. Irregardless, he knows a hell of a lot more than we do, and he needs to tell us what that is. And if we can get him on our side, it should help our case as well.." If they had the true creator of the cards, they would have the best weapon possible against the guilds. "Well, when you go to see him, I want to be there as well. After all, I am his biggest fan apparently.." "
...
As the morning continued, Heather rejoined her family to discuss something important. "Emily, Alice. I have been thinking, and you might not like what I am about to say.. But I feel you should be going back home." She had not been looking forward to broaching this subject, but it had to be done. "What!? Go back home? In the middle of everything going on?" As she expected, her oldest daughter resisted the suggestion right away. "Aren't you coming too then?" The other was more puzzled than riled. "I wish I could stay with you girls, but after everything that happened yesterday, my coworkers need me more than ever. I saw what happened, I have to let the people know. I put in a request to have you two come along with me, but it was shut down. And I can't keep an eye out, your father can."
"But can't he come to us? Why do we need to leave? We'd be running away from everything!" Emily did acknowledge her mothers concerns, they were just outweighed by her own. "Maybe it is safer there..but what about Uno, and Eric?" Alice did not want to abandon them either. What would they even tell Erics mother if they showed up alone and her son was nowhere to be seen? "I get that you feel like you have to help. But this is not a game anymore, this is terrorism. We should let the national forces handle this. Look, I do not have a lot of time but I cannot leave if I think you are going to be in danger again." She was torn. Any other time she would have told the office to take a raincheck, but the country was in disarray. The common people did not know it yet, and the state wanted to keep it that way. "Mrs Brandt; I can take care of them." Hearing this, one duelist offered himself to take her place. "Aaron?" It was the duelist who used to just be the friendly neighborhood kid. Who had finally recovered from his exhaustion and now looked better than ever. "I'll keep them safe, and get them out of trouble if it pops up. I will have them home before you know it."
"Aaron.." Emily was not happy with that. Her mother was. "Thank you. I know I can trust you." She said nothing against the arrangement. "Girls, I love you. I will be back as soon as I can.. okay?" She gave both of them a hug. "Okay." Only Alice responded. "...Goodbye." Heather sighed and grabbed her belongings. She left the suite. "Now hear me out, Em." As soon as the room was cleared, Cassius attempted to explain himself. "No, I get it.." But Emily did not want to talk about it. "But just so you know. It's going to take a lot to get me to budge.. I 'm still part of the synchro guild." She fumed. "I wouldn't want it any other way, Em." Cassius smiled.
...
Zach flew the helicopter to a city up north. "So why this place?" Uno looked down and saw an old bookstore; that was where they were landing. "Well this happened before my time, but master Dom told me that when he first spoke with UNO, he had a huge argument over what color each card should be. He wanted them all to be based on the colors of his bookcovers, and the first book was yellow.. just like normal monsters. This is the store where his first book was sold. This place was before my time too, when they still printed books on paper." Nowadays everything was machines, lasers and digital software. It was more efficient, but less sociable. "You know you don't have to keep calling him master when he's not around." Uno noted. "Pardon, it is a force of habit." Zach smiled. The master was watching them both anyway.
"So we are here because UNO said yellow? Seems kinda vague if you ask me." Uno hoped that this was not just dead lead. "Dom believes it isn't. UNO would not use a signal that we wouldn't understand. And this is one of the few places UNO ever talked about." Zach powered the vehicle down and jumped out. Uno followed him, and they headed inside. "Then where are we looking?" It was a big building and nobody seemed to be around. This place was mostly used for storing books and management was fully automated too. "I do not know. I think he is going to make the next move, so we.."
"Uno! Your disk!" Zach shouted as the lights on Uno's device went haywire. "What the.." Two flat beams came from the device, which phased through the two duelists. "I think we this is his 'move'." They were being scanned, along with their surroundings. "Ah! But of course! Your dueldisk must have a direct line with! He wanted us to come to an isolated place so he could talk to us in this way!" Dom and the Disciples had held this theory ever since thy saw Uno's dueldisk create new cards out of thin air. "He really must be nervous around people. Wait does this mean UNO was the one who gave me this disk after all?" The beams pulled back as the disk started humming strange noises. Then it emitted a different light, a hardlight holographic construct. "UNO?" It took the shape of a faceless man of average height and build. "No. That's just the standard wireframe model for humanoid duel monsters." This was a good form one who wanted preserve their identity. But there he was. "UNO!" Uno finally had a way to speak to him. He had so many questions. And yet he had only three statements, using the voice of the dueldisk.
"You are being followed. You are not Dom. You cannot be Trusted."
(To be Continued in Annex 068: If You Can't Trust Yourself)