Annex 071: White Screen
June's LP: 8000 Uno's LP: 8000
Ritual Beast Ulti-Gaiapelio(10/3200/2100). It certainly was a fearsome looking beast that June had fused together. It could negate any card but only by banishing a Ritual Beast card from the hand. "Okay, one of those cards is a Ritual Beast card. So I have to maybe waste two cards to get to her." Right now Gaiapelio's master only had two cards. "Not maybe, Uno. And not Two either." But then he was forgetting what he was up against. "She read my mind?" June was a psychic, of course she was. "In a test like this, you must face the most dire of circumstances. That and I prefer to duel this way." June gave her answer without moving her mouth. "!?" The words were spoken in his own head, telepathically. It sounded no different from her normal voice. "Spell card, Psychic Path. I activate 800 lifepoints to retake two of my banished psychics." June used the other card in her hand to increase her supplies. The Ritual Beast Tamers Lara and Wen were put back in June's hand. "Rats.." The threat had tripled.
"Okay so.. I need stop thinking. Just go with the flow." Uno drew his sixth card. "Oh, wait.." Before he turned it around he placed his hand on it and covered all but the top edge. "Purple." He could only identify that it was a trap card this way. "Smart." And so would she. "If you're gonna read my mind, I'll just let the computer think for me!" Uno placed this unknown trap down in a spell/trap zone. His dueldisk would tell him when he could use it. "Then I set the scale, Performapal Monkeyboard!" Without a second thought, Uno began activating his cards. In the blue zone he placed the scale 1 monkey on a unicycle. "This will be less successful, Uno." So June banished one of the cards in her hand to negate the activation of the pendulum card. Monkeyboard was burned down the lions fiery aura. "Ugh, sorry Monkeyboard." That was not the worst part. Since the Performapal had not been fully activated, it never actually touched the field. It was destroyed in Uno's hand and could not be sent to the extra deck. The graveyard was its fate.
"Well then how about Xiangsheng Magician!" Uno attempted another activation. "That one too." June banished her second Ritual Beast card to negate the activation of the one-eyed sorceress. She was destroyed by Gaiapelio as well. "One more, Dharma-Eye Magician!" Finally he placed the magician with the golden spikes and flail in the blue pendulum zone. "...?" And this time, no effects followed. Ulti-Gaiapelio allowed the scale 2 pendulum monster to claim a position on the field. "I applaud your resourcefullness, Uno. But even if you act without thinking, your mind still knows which card you really need or want." June was not taking the bait. She saved the last card in her hand for the real threat to her monster. "This is why I prefer working with opponents who I can still surprise.." Uno grumbled. Trying to run through her hand was not going to work. "I set a monster card and end my turn!"
"The Pendulum monster, Performapal Bit Bite Turtle?" June of course saw that face-down monster for what it really was. "If that card is destroyed by battle: it can destroy the monster that killed it. That is your plan. Yet subcobsciously you already realized that it would fail. Otherwise you would have attacked me with it.." June drew one card. "While I had less means to negate it with." She had UltiGaiapelio attack. The great fused beast smashed the cutesy turtle(3/800/1200) with the bowtied-shell and sparkling eyes. "Namely, my Ultimate Ritual Beast can negate effects even during the damage step." June banished the Ritual Beast Tamer Wen from her hand to block the Bit Bite's destruction effect, shattering it again as it tried to strike back. "It appears your trap is not going to help you." The dueldisk never indicated an activation window for the set card. To Uno it might as well have been a dud. "Try again." June ended her turn.
"Hrm.." Uno drew again. This time he did not even peek at the card, he just placed it face-down in the spell/trap zone and waited to see if his dueldisk would reject it. It didn't, so it was either a spell or a trap. That would not be the only card he used. "It's your show, Performapal Trumpanda!" He summoned a young panda performer(3/800/800) who carried a large brass horn around his body. "Your turn!" Again he moved quickly to not let any plans or schemes settle in his mind. The more he meditated, the more prepared she'd be. "This is what you would call Adlibbing, isn't it? I am sure it helps in some cases." June drew another card, and with it she would realize one of Uno's fears. "This is not one of them. I summon Ritual Beast Tamer Lara." She used the blonde female tamer(1/100/2000). The fact that June was not keeping it in her hand was not a good thing. "Bring back Spiritual Beast Cannahawk." Lara special summoned the thunder hawk(4/1400/1600) from the graveyard with her effect. "And banish Apelio." Cannahawks effect banished Spiritual Beast Apelio from her deck. "Your thoughts are right about where this is headed." The crucial step came; the Beast and Tamer were fused together to resummon Ulti-Cannahawk(6/1400/1600) from the extra deck. "Oh boy."
"I can go faster. There's no point in explaining the obvious." June activated both of the Ulti-hawks effects. First it targeted two banished Ritual Beast cards (Cannahawk and Apelio) to return them to the graveyard. Then it split itself up into a banished Tamer and banished Beast; Tamer Wen(3/1500/1000) and Beast Apelio(4/1800/200). Despite the Spiritual Beast Apelio being summoned to the field before it could be returned to the graveyard, Ulti-Cannahawks first effect still resolved and June added a new Ritual Beast card from her deck to her hand. Finally the lions own power was activated to re-banish Cannahawk from the grave and to power up all Ritual Beasts like Ulti-Gaiapelio(3700/2100) for the rest of the turn. And this was only the first loop in the sequence. "Great, I'm getting saddled with reruns." Uno groaned as his opponent rebooted the cycle. She banished Apelio with Wen to fuse them into the same Ulti-Cannahawk. Ulti-Cannahawk targeted its two cards (Apelio and Rampengu), defused into one of those cards and the one Tamer that could still be special summoned this turn; Spiritual Beast Rampengu(4/2100/400) and Ritual Beast Tamer Elder(2/700/1000). Apelio was retruned to the graveyard and a Ritual Beast card was added to June's hand again.
"This will be the last time, honest." Ulti-Cannahawk(6/1900/1600) was fused from the penguin beast and the elder tamer. This third time the Hawk did not chain its defusion effect to its first effect, it simply returned its fusion materials to the graveyard and added a third Ritual Beast card to June's hand. Now she had four cards in her hand that she could banish. "This should be an interesting battle phase. I attack your monster, Uno." Ulti-Gaiapelio targeted the Panda. "My line now then; I activate Trumpanda's effect! He can negate one attack made against a pendulum monster once a turn!" Uno's Performapal started blowing into its instrument. "Then I shall negate that." June banished the first card from her hand this turn. "Of course! Then I'll activate my trap!" Uno's second trap was flipped up. "Command Performance! I switch your monster to face-down defense position!" Uno could have done so ever since he summoned his Performapal, but he waited for this opening.
"A good idea; trying to catch me off guard with a two-pronged attack. However I saw it coming the instant you came up with it.. It is too bad that Ulti-Gaiapelio can activate its effects twice in the same chain." June banished another card of hers and blocked Command Performance. "What? Crap.." Trumpanda was destroyed next, as its effect was shut down. Now Uno did not have anything to shield him anymore. "Take it fast or slow, either approach is wrong. You need a little more." June restarted the attack and made Uno take a direct hit from the Ritual Beast's claws. "Gahhh!" He was tossed against the wall like a ragdoll. "Ugh.. did anyone get the number of that truck?" That was what it felt like. It hit harder than anything the XYZ-guild had thrown at him. "It's not over yet." Ulti-Cannahawk came in next and dug its claws into Uno's body. "Argh!" They did not go deep enough to pierce skin, but there were visible tears in his clothes.
Uno's LP: 2400
"Damn. How is anyone supposed to fight against you guys?" They could read minds, see the past and future and who knew what else? No normal duelist stood a fraction of a chance. "You are not a normal duelist, Uno. You know that as well as I do. The one thing you never forgot were your skills as a duelist." June passed the turn to him again. Despite her words, Uno saw no way out. June still had two cards in her hand and he only had one. It did not matter what he drew, there was nothing Ulti-Gaiapelio could not negate. On the next turn she would get more cards to banish, since she could restart the Ulti-Cannahawk loop. Attacking the weaker fusion would not work either, since Ulti-Cannahawk could just defuse itself if it felt threatened. "It is hopeless.. What does she want from me? UNO can't print cards for me anymore. I.." He drew his next card. "Wait." The very act of which put a new thought in his head. "Why didn't she.." He stared at June. Her expression stayed apathetic. "Why didn't she use a Tamer on her second turn?"
"I had it all wrong." Uno finally said out loud. "I can't beat you with brute force or speed. The solution was already there; you do not have two ritual beast cards in your hand!" He yelled, pointing dramatically at the two cards that June held. "What makes you say that?" She asked him, a smile tugging at her lips. "You want me to think it or say it?" His reasoning was in the forefront of his mind right now. Before June attacked Bit Bite Turtle, she could have used the Tamer card in her hand to get the materials for a Ulti-Cannahawk fusion summon. The loop could have been set in motion one turn early. The fact that she didn't suggested that she was afraid of Uno's trap card, that she had to keep the Tamer in her hand... Because the other card in her hand was not one that Ulti-Gaiapelio could banish. That card was still in her hand. "So I only need one card to get through your lock!" Uno activated the spell card he had drawn. Pot of Riches. "I return three pendulum monsters from the extra deck and graveyard to my deck to draw two cards!"
"Suppose you are right, how would you break the lock? It is not that easy to destroy Ulti-Gaiapelio." June banished one Ritual Beast card, and Ulti-Gaiapelio negated Pot of Riches. "I already have the right script, I just need one more performer!"_ "I set the scale, Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!" Now, at the end, his loyal dragon showed himself. The scale 4 pendulum monster was placed in the other pendulum zone to complement Dharma-Eye Magician. "Well, well, well.. Looks like I gambled on the right horse." No consequences sprung from the activation of his card. June's beast had nothing left to banish. "Finally, let's pay her back! Pendulum summon!" With these scales, Uno could special summon every level 3 pendulum monster in his extra deck. Performapal Trumpanda and Bit Bite Turtle were summoned to the field. The latter was in attack position. "If I leave it up to you, you are going to either negate him or kill him with anyone not named Ulti-Gaiapelio. I can't have that, this is gonna go my way.. I..."
"!?" Attack; the word was there on the top of his tongue. Yet he could not say it. Distrust gripped him by the throat, keeping him quiet. Why was he suddenly so scared? "She is.." That woman was not giving an inch, as if she could see his defeat laid out in perfect detail. Was his attack doomed to fail? Did she have a Ritual Beast card in her hand after all, or did she own a handtrap card that could stop him? June was the image of utter calmness, while he was sweating madly. His mind was telling him not go through with it, his heart and nerves were agreeing. He could not spit it out, he could not get to her... "...No." But he had to. Something inside forced him to accept that he had one last chance and this was it. "No!" The battle phase began. "Bit Bite Turtle will attack your great beast!" The turtle sped forwards. It only got halfway before Ulti-Gaiapelio burned it to the ground. "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon negates damage done during a pendulum monsters fight once each turn!" The remainder of the fire was extinguished by the Pendulum Dragons pillar of light. "And!" Bit Bite Turtle's effect was triggered by its destruction. The killer was targeted and destroyed itself.
"Incredible. You forced your way through." June stared wide-eyed as Ulti-Gaiapelio turned to pure energy and scattered across the room like a thousand falling stars. "Through what?.. Did you do something?" That fear he had felt before; Uno began to wonder if that was entirely natural. "Ha, just like you cannot lie to me I cannot lie to you. I did try to put a seed of doubt in your mind by putting up a veil around mine. You pierced it unknowingly, with the help of your pendulum. Not as thoroughly as I would have, mind you, but enough to find my own fear." She pulled back her hair, revealing her glowing earrings. "So I took some of your power again?" Uno looked at his own glowing crystal. Their lights dimmed simultaneously. June nodded. "And that means I beat your trial, doesn't it?" He smirked. The deal was for him to destroy Ulti-Gaiapelio, not to finish the duel. That seemed to be their general modus operandi. "Why is it that you sometimes retreat from a duel, what do you have to lose by..losing?"
"In a minute you will learn more than you ever could by asking questions." June waded through the holograms of Trumpanda and Ulti-Cannahawk. "We got what we wanted; our crystals connected. Now I can access the deepest corners of your forgotten self." She walked up to him, and placed her hand on his forehead. "But how can you do this? Where do you teach yourself to become a psychic?" Uno could not help it, he was a man filled with questions. "Ssssh. Let me do the work." June closed her eyes. The glow returned to both pendulum crystals. "Hmm." Uno closed his eyes as well, curious if he would see or hear anything. He did, vague sentences and images floated by. He relived his own past, every bizarre experience flashed by in seconds. He also heard words that could be changed into sentences. "If we lose life, we forget. If we run, we only lose time." It was June's voice. They were her thoughts. "Yrgh!" The last thing they both witnessed was the great eye in the void.
June snapped back and Uno pulled himself free. "I get it..." The glimpses he got were enough to realize that he did get answers to his questions. Not that she wanted to tell him, she just could not stop thinking them. "If you quit a duel, you lose energy and you're forced to leave this world for a while. That's why only you are here, you didn't run from a duel last time." He did not get anything definitive on the subject of her psychic powers unfortunately. All he saw inside was a view of a large endless desert and a flaming red sun. "Everything has changed..." June had received her own revelations, and they had made her shiver. "This has never happened before. This is what the guilds were.. You are not from the future." She dismissed the holograms with a wave of her hand. "What are you talking about? I saw the future, and you saw it too.. didn't you?" He was certain that they had shared that purple sky-memory a minute ago. "That.. was not the future. We would know, we have seen every future that ever was. That, the place you came from, is another time.. a second world."
"What?"
"Wait, what about my memories? Who was I there? Who sent me here?" Uno was getting worried. A lot of memories were shown, and none of them were from before the day he met Alice and Emily. "I can't..find them. They are not there." June said as she was still reeling from her discovery. "Not there? What does that mean?" Uno shouted. "That there is nothing to recover. Either they were completely removed, or you never had any to begin with.. I do not know what you are. You might be Tempus, thougth I do not think you are. What memories you have do not fit with a mind as deranged as his. Still you might have created this timeline yourself by traveling here.. or someone close to you has." She held her hand on her forehead. "Close to me?" Uno had to find out who June was talking about and if he needed to use his pendulum for that, he would. "Too late.." However June did not let him, she hastily teleported out of the room and left no trace of her physical or mental presence. "Damn!" For every answer there were a dozen new questions.
...
The next morning he told the others everything. Whether they wanted to believe it was up to them. "Now it is about parallel universes? Can you prove any of this?" Since nobody else wanted to take the first word, Iria would say it herself. "Well no, but can you prove that other dimensions do not exist?" Uno managed to counter her quite easily. "...That is not the point. Does this information help any of us in this world?" She conceded one point, but stood behind the other. "Maybe.." Alice said, surprising her sister. "Maybe? Huh? Alice, what are you talking about?" Emily was also one of the many who still had trouble accepting everything these 'time travelers' kept saying. "Well, if Uno is from that other place.. maybe UNO is too?"
"Actually, that makes sense." Dom snapped his fingers. "Sir?" Iria was astonished that even the master was going with this story now. "He had to get UNO's special dueldisk somehow and that explains why UNO has never been spotted before." If Uno truly lived in that other time before he lost his memories, then he could only have met UNO there. "There is more to this, possibly." Cassius spoke up. "Perhaps it's not just UNO. Maybe the enemy that Adamant fearscould be from that other universe as well.."
(To be Continued in Annex 072: Eliminate the Impossible)
New Cards used by Uno
Performapal Bit Bite Turtle
Performapal Trumpanda
New Cards used by June
Psychic Path