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.

77. Voices without Voices

Annex 077: Voices without Voices

The main corridor was Jims path, the other members of The Circle planned to scour the rest of the underground level. Cassius knew Emily and the others couldn't have gone far. And the sooner he found them, the sooner he could salvage this situation. "Look out!" Unfortunately, there were more obstacles to overcome. "Oof!" One duelist was taken out by a quick strike to the back of his head. "You!" Adamant was the man behind the ambush. "He got out of his cell? Damn it, the fallout opened his door too!" The other duelists readied their dueldisks while Adamant picked up the one from his knocked out victim. "So.. we meet again." He stared them all down. "Surely you're not planning to take us on without your deck?" One duelist shouted. "A duelist that can only use one deck is not a duelist at all." Adamant grimaced as he activated his disk. The inner circle did the same. "Not now.. not now." Cassius was the only one to not engage him. "You take care of him! I have to find Emily!" He raced away, leaving the three to duel the escaped XYZ-duelist. "Heh, so things are falling down.. Synchro guild."

...

When Alice woke up, she felt disoriented and tired. There was no more pain, and no memory of what happened in the last few hours. She was alone in the room, with a glass of water.. and three sets of dueldisks on the floor. That was when she knew that something was wrong. Usually she was the one to forget her dueling equipment, not the others. Uno especially would never willingly abandon his cards. So she went downstairs and found the trouble Uno had run into, and more. "Emily?" Her sister was as stiff as a board, her friends had all become statues apparently. "..what happened to everyone? Did he do that?" The onle apparent culprit was Doms bodyguard that Uno dragged into a duel. None of this made sense, maybe she was still dreaming.

Jims LP: 8000 Uno's LP: 8000

"Someone did. It happened before. It must have something to do with the other timeline, since it doesn't seem to work on me." Uno drew his cards. Jim took the first turn. "Heh. Your friends are frozen because their minds are being pulled away from their universe. Because the synchronization process was never completed, they get stuck halfway. It is a painless way to keep someone at bay. But you need a different treatment. This isn't your universe, Timetraveler-boy." Jim had the first turn. He set a monster, placed a trap and activated a continuous spell. "Graydle Impact?" That was a brand new spell. "Courtesy of UNO's new printer. Thanks to all of you, the synchro guild will become the ruling guild!" Jim ended his turn. "During the endphase, Graydle Impact places a Graydle card from my deck in my hand!" The bodyguard added a Graydle Slime card to his hand.

"Uno, what does Synchronizing mean?" Alice had not been introduced to that term yet. "Eh. Basically this guy is from the other world, possessing a body from this world. That is what the synchro guild wants to do, have our minds possess each others bodies." Uno drew his sixth card. "That sounds crowded." Alice shuddered. "I amn ot fond of the idea either. Jim, if I win. You will let them go. You don't get to decide their fate." Uno activated two cards; a scale 6 and a scale 2 pendulum monster. "I set the scales, Performapal Guitartle and Camelump!" The effect of Guitartle activated once a Performapal was activated in the other pendulum zone; allowing Uno to draw one card. "Pendulum summon!" Uno summoned two monsters from his hand, Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer(4/1500/800) and Performapal Salutiger(4/1700/500). "The spell effect of Performapal Camelump allows my monsters to inflict piercing damage, while weakening your monsters defense by 800 points! So go, Salutiger. Let's crush that monster he set!" The camel sat out a bubble that popped against the face-down monster, a golden eagle(3/1500/500) to lower its defenses. The Tiger soldier then rushed forward and punished the Eagle(1500/0).

Jim: 6300

"You set off Graydle Eagle!" Jim chuckled as the eagle turned to golden slime. "Ew, look out!" Alice cringed as the slime sloshed past Salutiger and entangled Pendulum Sorcerer. "When a Graydle beast dies in battle, it can equip itself to one monster on the field and give control of it to me!" Sorcerers body turned pale and its eyes white. The infected Performapal abandoned Uno and joined Jims side. "Disgusting, and appropriate." At least Uno gained something out of this too. Since Salutiger had destroyed one monster on the field, he could claim a pendulum Performapal (Trump Witch) from his deck. "One mind takes the other. I am guessing you are like Cassius; two people for the prize of one?" Uno placed a spell card down and ended his turn. "Hah. That would defeat the use of a spy, wouldn't it? No, we are halfway synchronized; from my end but not from his. Other Jim does not know about me, which makes his alibi is perfect. Nobody can catch transmissions if they are done on a completely different plane of existence! When the time is right, he and all other spies will be told, not before."

"But this Jim is a properly trained duelist. My turn! I summon Graydle Alligator!" Jims next alien-esque beast was a grey and green alligator(3/500/1500). "If I do not use the second effect of Graydle Impact, I can activate the first! It destroys one my Graydle cards together with one of your cards!" The spell created a holographic flying saucer and smashed it into the ground. The impact splattered Graydle Alligator all over the field, while Uno's facedown Illusion Ballloon spell card was burned by the fire. "Each Graydle also can possess monsters if they die by certain card effects!" For the Alligators effect, it had to be destroyed by a spell card. "Not again." Alice and Uno both knew what was coming. The liquid remains of Graydle Cobra approached Salutiger and infected his body. The tiger warrior joined Pendulum Sorcerer. "Direct attack!" Both enslaved Performapals struck their former master. "Blast.."

Uno's LP: 4800

"Oh, don't worry. I will give them back to you. Sorta." Jim placed a new monster on his field, a grey-head alien(5/0/2000). "Graydle Slime; This tuner monster can destroy two Graydle cards I control to special summon itself from my hand or graveyard." The Alien absorbed the Graydles that were equipped to the Performapals. "But the hosts of Graydles, will die if the Graydles are removed." The bodies of Salutiger and Pendulum Sorcerer decomposed. One went to the graveyard, the other to the extra deck. "Meanwhyile Graydle Slime can special summon one Graydle from the graveyard." The absorbed slime was released and remolded into Graydle Alligator. "Now.. watch this. Synchro summon!" Jim tuned the Slime with the level 3 reptile, creating one solid silver blob. "Graydle Dragon!" Golden wings, a pink tail and a green alligator head popped out of the grey mass. The rest shaped itself into a dragonic torso and claws. He created a chimeric dragon(8/3000/2000). "Graydle Dragon destroys one card for each of its synchro materials. So do the math!" The dragon fired streams of gold and silver slime towards Uno's pendulum zones. Guitartle and Camelump were drowned by the effect, destroyed and pushed into the extra deck. "Now you have nothing, timtraveler-boy!" Jim placed two more trap cards down and ended his turn.

"Au Contraire! You gave me everything, Jim." Uno smiled and activated a spell. "Pendulum Call!" It discarded a card from Uno's hand (Performapal Trump Witch) to grab two pendulum Magicians from the deck. "Set the scales, Wisdom-Eye Magician and DragonPit Magician!" He placed the scale 4 and scale 8 in their respective pendulum zones. "WisdomEye, switch out for a new Magician!" The insightful mage activated its effect to destroy itself. "Say hello to Oafdragon Magician!" Another pendulum Magician took over WisdomEye's zone; an adult mage with sharp green hair and a green jacket. "Uh, hello? Is he gonna help?" Alice wondered. "Heh. And how.. Oafdragon can search and retrieve a Pendulum Magician or Odd-Eyes card, if the other pendulum zone also has a Magician in it." As that requirement was met, Uno could add another new pendulum Magician to his hand; Nobledragon Magician. "And DragonPit Magician can destroy one spell or trap card by discarding a Pendulum monster from my hand!" Uno discarded Nobledragon to shatter Graydle Impact

"And now.. Pendulum summon round two! Come on out fellas!" Oafdragon was a scale 2 pendulum card, Dragonpit was scale 8. Together they allowed Uno to summon every monster in his extra deck; Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer, Guitartle(3/300/400), Camelump(4/800/1000) and Wisdom-Eye Magician(5/1500/1000). "Jim. You said that I shouldn't run away from what you could tell me. So why don't you? You know more about our world than me.. you may even know something useful!" Uno taunted his opponent as he activated the effect of Pendulum Sorcerer. The magician destroyed one other card, WisdomEye. Then it added yet another Performapal monster to Uno's hand. The card he claimed and immediately normal summoned was Performapal Bit Bite Turtle(3/800/1200). "Because winning might not be in your cards. You see, that printer made me a lot of stuff too!" Uno activated another spell, a field spell. "Performapal Dramatic Theater!" A large stage rose up beneath his Performapals and a circus tent came down around the duelists.

"!?" The attackpoints of all Uno's monsters were shooting up. "Dramatic Theater adds 200 attackpoints to my monsters, for each different monstertype I control." The spellcaster Pendulum Sorcerer(2300/800), the Beast Camelump(1600/1000), the Aqua Guitartle(3/1100/400) and the Reptile Bit Bite Turtle(1600/1200); their four types were worth 800 attackpoints. "And that is not all. Watch and be amazed!" Uno pulled another card from his deck. "When I control four different types of Performapals, Dramatic Theater can special summon one Odd-Eyes monster from my hand, deck or graveyard!" The four performers cheered jubilantly. "I summon Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!" The fifth player joined the stage, the dragon Odd-Eyes(7/3300/2000). Because of its arrival, another 200 attackpoints were given to all of Uno's monsters. "Time for the climactic showdown! Battle!" Odd-Eyes(3500/2000) pulled its head back and gathered its flames. With one fiery blast from its mouth it blew up Graydle Dragon and delivered double the battle damage.

Jims LP: 5300

"I have said more than enough! If you want answers, come and get them!" Jim shouted as he placed a new card on his field. "When Graydle Dragon dies, one Graydle monster will be summoned from the graveyard!" Graydle Eagle(3/1500/500) was revived in defense mode. "That's okay! Everyone gets their time to shine!" Performapal Pendulum Camelump attacked and destroyed the golden bird with bubble blasts. "Heh, thank you." The residual pink slime then equipped itself to Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon(2500/2000) and gave control of the dragon to Jim. "You're welcome, Jim!" Uno laughed and attacked with Bit Bite Turtle. It rammed the performapal into Odd-Eyes. This time Uno took doubled battle damage. "But Odd-Eyes is better off with me!" The biting turtle's effect triggered upon destruction, inflicting the destruction upon the Pendulum Dragon too. Both monsters were sent to the extra deck. Two performers remained in the theater. "Now, Pendulum Sorcerer, Guitartle! Direct attack!"

Uno's LP: 3000

"Alright, you had your fun. I activate Graydle Parasite!" Jim revealed a continuous trap card. "Once a turn, when I am attacked while I control no monsters, Graydle Parasite will special summon a Graydle from my deck in attack position!" A grey blob crept out from Pendulum Sorcerers shadow, shapeshifting into a pink and grey serpent, a Graydle Cobra(3/1000/1000). "Meh, Tough crowd." Uno stopped the battle phase. If his sorcerer killed the snake, it would control one of his monsters and he did not think 600 points of battle damage were worth that. "That can't be good.." Alice whimpered. "Don't worry about a thing, Alice. It's still my show!" Uno placed a trap card down and ended his turn. "Your show. Pfeh, without your pendulum, you wouldn't even matter. I can tell you what I know about you, Uno. Nothing." Jim said with a vile sneer as his drawphase began. "What did you say?"

"Exactly that. You're not even a blip on the radar, we never heard of any duelist with cards like yours. I bet you're just a lowborn commoner. Now let's end these jokes, yourself included! If Graydle Cobra is destroyed by a trap card effect, he can control one monster on the field!" And the lucky trap was already on the field. "Graydle Split!" He flipped a normal trap, which attached itself to the Cobra(1500/1000). "Graydle Split is equipped to one monster and that monster gains 500 attackpoints. But more importantly, it can destroy one monster and split it into two new Graydles!" Jim had set up the perfect strategy; the destroyed Cobra split itself into two Graydle Eagles(3/1500/500) while its remains possessed Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer(4/1500/1200). "I will destroy the two Eagles to revive Graydle Slime!" The last step would bring back his tuner while the Eagles would take control of the remaining Performapals. Uno would have nothing, Jim would have everything. "It is over!"

"Oooh. You shouldn't have said that, Jimmy. The higher the pride, the harder you fall." Uno activated his trap as Graydle Slime targeted the two Eagles. "Double Magical Arm Bind! By sacrificing two of my monsters I can take control of your two monsters until your next turn!" Springloaded clamps appeared in the spell/trap zone. They shot outwards, shattering Performapal Camelump and Guitartle along the way. The clamps than grabbed both Graydle Eagles. Since they were now under Uno's control, Graydle Slime could not destroy them. Plus they(1700/500) gained a powerboost from the Dramatic Theater. "You son of a.." Jim could not activate the effect of Graydle Slime again this turn, not even if he failed to resolve it. "Ha, two can play this game. But don't feel too bad, Jim. I change my tricks all the time, you couldn't have seen this coming. That's also why I cant agree with your plan. The future is unpredictable, there could be tons of ways to solve the problem. To say that your answer is the only right one, and that everyone else can just die.. Does that sound right to you?!"

"Ha. You believe you can fix everything? You cannot even help your friends here! You might defeat me, but that will not free them!" Jims entire strategy had been smashed, so all he could do now.. was laugh. "What? But you said.. you said you would!" Alice cried out. "That is what he said. I never made that promise. Cassius will never let you go. The minute you heard of our plan, you became part of it." He switched Pendulum Sorcerer to defense mode and ended his turn. "No... Uno, what do we do?" Alice tried to shake Emily out of her trance, to no avail. They did not unfreeze. "...You." Uno clenched his hand. "What are you going to do, huh!?" Jim had nothing to fear. He still had Graydle Parasite to protect him. "...Synchronization. Everything comes back to synchro monsters." Maybe it was all tied together, maybe that was the key. "Alice. Remember how I had to master XYZ-summoning with Odd-Eyes as the material before I could do it without. Let's master synchro summoning now."

"Uno?" Alice blinked. "What are you babbling about?" Jim snorted. "You will see.. Jim. Pendulum summon!" He used Oafdragon and Dragon Pit Magician to pendulum summon Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon(7/3100/2000) and Performapal Camelump(4/1400/2000) from the extra deck. Along with the Eagles(2100/500), they gained 600 attackpoints from the Dramatic Theater. "By taking away three stars from Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, I can special summon Nobledragon Magician from the graveyard! Here is my own couple of counterparts, Jim!" In the last monster slot appeared the younger partner of Oafdragon Magician, the purple-haired fire magician(3/1500/1400) in white robes. "Wait a second. That is a tuner monster!" Jim growled. "Good eye!" Uno took the tuner and the level-stripped Odd-Eyes(4/3300/2000). "I will use my dragon and my magician to create a level 7 synchro monster!" Light and flame came together. "Synchro summon: Odd-Eyes Meteorburst Dragon!" Odd-Eyes crashed into the theater like a meteor, revealing its sleek red body(7/3100/2000).

"You had a synchro monster?" Both Jim and Alice were blown away. "Courtesy.. of UNO." Camelump was the first to attack, he had the task of destroying the infected Pendulum Sorcerer. The one to direct attack first was Graydle Eagle. "Heh. Thank you again, boy!" So Jim reactivated Graydle Parasite to special summon a Graydle Cobra(3/1000/1000) from his deck. The Eagle destroyed that instead. "For giving me your synchro.." Jim eagerly sent the slimy remains after Odd-Eyes Meteorburst Dragon. "..monster?" That plan never became reality. Odd-Eyes burned the monster down before it could equip itself to anything. "Looks like you should have payed attention, Jimmy! None of your monsters can activate their effects during the battle phase, while Meteorburst is on set!" Nothing would stop him now. Graydle Parasite could not summon again this turn. "Direct attack!" The second Graydle Eagle slammed into his former master. "Ungh. This is unreal.." He felt the blow, the monsters had become real.

Jims LP: 2200

"Jim. Tell Cassius that we're not his subjects." Uno spoke, while the glow in his pendulum crystal returned once more. "If he can't understand that, then there can be no future between us. And as for you, you will never endanger my friends again!" Uno ordered his last attack. Meteorburst Dragon created a fireball in the sky and dropped it down from the top of the theater. "Gah!" Both the meteor blast and the pendulum unleashed a searing light that flooded the halls from one side to the other.

Jims LP: 0

"There!" Evan Cassius noticed. He followed the fading light and found Jim moments later. "Jim. What happened? Did you find them?" He was the only one here now. "Ngh. That bastard timetraveler of yours... he defeated me. I can't stay here.. much longer now." The bodyguard had been blasted against the wall. The pain made him lose control of his body. "Defeated? How?! Uno had no dueldisk or cards with him! And the others, Vesper should have stopped them." Cassius thought they had covered every possibility. "It was her sister. She came down and gave Uno all that stuff. I don't know how he got the others out of Vespers hold, I couldn't see with all that light. You should ask her about that, and ask her why she didn't paralyze Alice while you're at it." Jim had no answers. Either Uno had teleported everyone out, or he somehow undid the paralysis. "What? But she.." Cassius lurched backwards. "She what?" Jim looked up at him. "Vesper wouldn't have missed her.. Alice shouldn't have been able to walk around at all."

(To be Continued in Annex 078: The Immovable Object)

New Cards used by Uno
Performapal Camelump
Oafdragon Magician
Nobledragon Magician

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Odd-Eyes Meteorburst Dragon

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Performapal Dramatic Theater

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Double Magical Arm Bind

Cards used by Jim
Graydle Eagle
Graydle Cobra
Graydle Slime
Graydle Alligator

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Graydle Dragon

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Graydle Impact

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Graydle Parasite
Graydle Split