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.

91. For the Last Time

Annex 090: For the Last Time

Decembers LP: 1400 Uno's LP: 3200

"PENDULUM SUMMON!" The pillars of light were cast, D/D Savant Galilei and D/D Savant Kepler swung the pendulum from scale 1 to 10. "Return to me Kings of Oblivion and Doom, return D/D Cerberus!" D/D/D Abyss Ragnarok(8/2200/3000), D/D/D Armageddon(8/3000/1000) and D/D Cerberus(4/1800/600) were summoned from the extra deck, joining D/D/D Rebellion King Leonidas(7/2600/1200) on the streets of battle. "Lord Ragnarok, return the Wave King to me!" The last monster zone would be filled too. A summoned Abyss Ragnarok could special summon any D/D/D monster from the graveyard. December chose the XYZ-demon; D/D/D Wave King Caesar(4/2400/1200). "Oh no, we're not doing that dance again!" If nothing was done about it, Abyss Ragnarok would banish Uno's Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon(7/3000/2500) just by sacrificing one of Decembers monsters. "How about this instead? Performapal Showdown!" Luckily, Uno had his trap. With it he could flip two monsters face-down, one for each spell card on his field. "That fortune shall not repeat either, your Xiangsheng Magician is shattered!" Unluckily, December had foreseen this and activated a quickplay spell card, Mystical Space Typhoon, to destroy Uno's scale 8 pendulum Magician. "One will do!" With one less spell, Uno could only flip Abyss Ragnarok face-down.

"I saw that too, Uno. Your pendulum clouds your decisions, but it cannot create new outcomes." The main phase was of no more use to December, he started his attacks. D/D/D Wave King Caesar summoned a tidal wave to sweep Odd-Eyes Meteorburst Dragon(7/2500/2000) away. Yet as Uno's monster was stronger, the dragon could fight back. It vaporized the waves and King Caesar with solar flames. "Hey..?" That vapor did not just travel to the graveyard, some of it flowed into the deck. "Caesars destruction brings forth a new Dark Contract." The deck gave December a Dark Contract with the Swamp King spell. "And the Doomking feasts on death this turn. One monsters death increases its 'attack' by that which the fallen possessed." The rest of Caesars energy entered the living pendulum demon Armageddon(8/5400/1000). Now empowered, the DoomKing gathered purple light within its glass-body and shot it away. The chaotic rays surrounded Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon and tore it to pieces.

"Uh. Wait, aha! I can tribute Performapal Pinch Helper!" By destroying the continuous trap, Uno could cancel out the battle damage done to his monster. "Also! Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon is a pendulum monster, so I could send him to the extra deck now.. But why would I do that..when I can do this?" Uno moved the destroyed dragon to the pendulum zone. "Ta-da! Rebellion Dragon can reset my pendulum zones, and turn itself into a spell!" Xiangke Magician shattered and went into the extra deck. "No matter how many you summon, they will all fall." December ordered Leonidas to charge Odd-Eyes Meteorburst Dragon. The synchro dragon was impaled by the phalanx king's spear.

Uno's LP: 3100

"December. I'm not gonna say I can fill your shoes. But I don't think you're right when you say that someone like us.. shouldn't have friends. I wouldn't want to be alone, I would go insane. And my friends helped me more times than I can count. Heck, Alice was the one who stopped you from taking me away!" He wouldn't be standing here if it weren't for her, December knew that. "Yeah but you wouldn't have been in that position if you didn't try to make so many friends in the first place, Uno. Besides, you can only truly understand someone, once you have fought for your life with them." Neter said teasingly. Meanwhile December activated the card that Caesar had taken from the deck. "Sign the Dark Contract with the Swamp King." This continuous spell targeted two D/D monsters in the graveyard; Marksman Tell and Caesar, and banished them. "A fusion spell card for D/D/D monsters?" Eric yelled as the two monsters were fused together to form the fallen angel D/D/D Oracle King D'Arc(7/2800/2000). Now all effect damage would heal December instead.

The turn went back to Uno, Doomking Armageddon(3000/1000) powered down. "Ya know, even if you can see the future. I doubt you can see everything at once." Uno had survived his opponents attacks plenty of times. Presumably, this was his own pendulum helping him out. "Then again, nobody is gonna be surprused by my next move! As long as Odd-Eyes Rebellion is in one pendulum zone, I can set any Pendulum monster from my deck in the other zone!" The dragons effect placed the highest scaled monster Uno could request, the scale 8 Timegazer Magician. Rebellion Dragon had the scale of 4. "Hope you aren't tired of this yet; Pendulum summon!" Two pendulum monsters could be special summoned from the extra deck; Xiangke Magician(7/2500/500) in attack mode and Performapal Drummerilla(5/1600/900) in defense mode. "This battlephase, Drummerilla can add 600 attackpoints to my monster!" The gorilla beat his own chest, boosting the Destruction Mage(3100/500) with his rhythm. "Time's up Abyss Ragnarok!" With a powerful beam blast fired from his shield, Xiangke obliterated the face-down Oblivion King.

"The power of foresight is one that the pendulum does provide, to me." December edified while his opponent placed a trap card down. Uno's turn was over. "But if you can see all and go anywhere, why don't you travel back in time when something goes awry?" Iria was getting curious about the mechanisms at play. Even something as crazy as timetravel had to have rules. "The future is always changing and it is all we can change. The past is immutable. What is lost can never be regained." The pendulum duelist answered as he drew his card. "Then why chase this Tempus? If you can never undo his damage?" Adamant now asked. "To stop him from causing further damage. He cannot keep erasing time, the powers he plays with could scar existence forever." During Decembers standby phase, both Dark Contract spells burned 1000 of his lifepoints away. Except, thanks to the Oracle King, the damage was converted to healing points instead. "Right now he is bound to time, but if he breaks free.. nothing can stop him."

Decembers LP: 3300

Something else happened during the standby phase. The scale numbers of the Savants went up and down twice. "Huh?" Galilei was now a scale 3, and Kepler a scale 8 spell card. "The power of pendulum is sometimes unstable, only D/D monsters can survive this imbalance. All other monsters whose levels do no match these scales will be destroyed. Time is running out." December clenched his fist. "To me, Conquest King Kaiser! Rise, D/D/D Cruel Dragon King Beowulf!" The Hellgate Contract claimed the D/D/D Kaiser monster from his deck. The Swampkings Contract kicked off another fusion. Leonidas and D/D Cerberus were fused together on the field to create a werewolf(8/3000/2500) in gold armored and redclothed garbs. "Pendulum summon!" One of the fusion materials, Leonidas, was resummoned from the extra deck by the Savants. Conquest King Kaiser(7/2800/2100) appeared in the last monster zone. The pendulum summoned Kaiser negated the effects of all the enemy's face-up cards.

"Kaiser shatters my magic twice, to strike thrice!" The Lord of Conquest destroyed both dark Contracts, which allowed it to make two more attacks. "Beowulf, add the pain of piercing to all my D/D monsters!" And at the same time the wolflord electrified all other D/D/D monsters. They could all now pierce through defense points. "Fall, Magician." Leonidas attacked Xiangke and got counter-attacked by the magician(3100/500) as it was again powered up by Performapal Drummerilla's effect. "Grow stronger, Armageddon." Leonidas died and his attackpoints were given to the D/D/D Doomking(5600/1000). "Heh. It's not gonna be that easy! I activate Refine Osacillation!" Uno flipped his face-down continuous trap. "Once a turn, I can destroy one card in my pendulum zone, and place another from the graveyard in that zone! An Odd-Eye for and Odd-Eye!" Odd-Eyes Rebellion was destroyed, and Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon jumped into the pendulum zone. "When Pendulum Dragon is a spell card, I take no battle damage from battles with pendulum monsters!" Though Xiangke Magician fell prey to DoomKing's attack, Odd-Eyes nullified the damage forces.

Decembers LP: 3200

Refine Oscillation, Continuous Trap
Once per turn, during either players turn, you can target 1 card in your Pendulum zone; destroy it, then place 1 Pendulum Monster from your hand, graveyard or extra deck in that pendulum zone.
Destroy this card during your endphase.

"Why will he not die!?" August cursed loudly. "Because I am.. not a quitter. By the way, you set off Illusion Balloon!" Uno unveiled his other set quickplay spell, creating five balloons. "Let's see if there are any Performapals on top of my deck?" Illusion Balloon excavated the top 5 cards from his deck, several of them were Performapals. "Performapal Trumpanda!" The trumpet-playing panda(3/800/800) ended up with the lucky part and was special summoned in defense mode. "His effect is not negated, so he can block one attack against a pendulum monsters this turn!" This would save him from Decembers continued attacks. "Perish, Performapal!" Oracle King D'Arc stabbed Performapal Drummerilla in the chest with her claws. Conquest King Kaiser used his three attacks on the leftovers. Trumpanda negated the first attack, then died to the second. Uno's Oafdragon Magician(5/2100/1400) was killed by the third. Uno did not lose a single lifepoint, all thanks to Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. "Suffer." But Odd-Eyes did not block direct damage. Uno took a hit from The Cruel Lord Beowulf, who ran his claws through the duelist. "Kgaaha!"

Uno's LP: 100

"No, Uno!" Alice shouted. That attack looked the most painful of all. "Heh." Only Uno was still grinning, even as he wiped blood from his mouth. "100 Lifepoints, the most dramatic setting. I don't think I could have asked for a better pendulum opponent, December.. No offense, Iria." Uno coughed and laughed. "None taken." Though Iria did not speak her mind, she had already accepted that these two had far surpassed her as a pendulum duelist. "He would make a good ally, wouldn't he December?" June suggested. "The same can be said for Tempus." December placed a trap card down and ended his turn. During the endphase, Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon was destroyed. "Yeah, well. I don't know this Tempus guy, or why he keeps messing with time. And I know even less about my own past. But one thing is for sure; I'm not him!"

"I'll use the Performapal Recasting spell! It shuffles Performapal Lizardraw in my hand back to my deck, to draw two cards." To get his fresh start, Uno would need a new hand. The first draw spell helped him get another. "I'll also use Pot of Riches. This spell returns three pendulum monsters to my deck, to draw two cards!" He sent Pendulum Sorcerer, Trumpanda and Skullcrobat Joker back from the extra deck and graveyard. "By the way, Iria. I am still glad that I dueled you first, because I learned a weakness that day. And all pendulum decks have that weakness!" Uno activated one of the cards he had drawn. "Harmonic Oscillation!" The spell targeted the two Savants. "You are going to use my Pendulums.." The scale 3 Galilei and scale 8 Kepler, Uno could treat them as his scales for one turn to pendulum summon monsters from his extra deck. "You bet!" Uno grabbed five cards. "Go get him pals!" Performapal Drummerilla, Oafdragon Magician in defense position, Xiangke Magician, Xiangsheng Magician(4/500/1500) and Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon in attack position. They were all revived.

"Awesome! I didn't know you could pendulum summon the XYZ-dragon too!" Eric cheered. "Of course. While it is face-up in the extra deck, it can be summoned like a level 7 pendulum monster!" Uno clarified. "Oafdragon Magician, I want Wisdom-Eye Magician!" The effect of the Oaf mage placed one of the Magicians in the graveyard, back in Uno's hand. "Xiangsheng, show everyone your power!" The archer lady fired her arrow through Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon. "Your effect is to mirror one of my monsters attackpoints!" That arrow returned to her and powered her(3000/1500) up significantly. "I am coming for you, December! Drummerilla will play his beat for Xiangke again, and we are good to go!" The Gorilla's effect targeted the Destruction Mage(3100/500). "Xiangsheng, Odd-Eyes. This is gonna hurt, but you gotta do it. Take down Armageddon and Beowulf!" Uno's and Decembers monsters were equally powerful. The archer destroyed herself to kill the DoomKing. Rebellion Dragon took the Cruel Dragon King down with it into the grave. "Kaiser is yours, Xiangke!" The last magician fired star-blasts from its shield to blast the Conquest King to smithereens.

Decembers LP: 2900

"By the way, I am using Odd-Eyes Rebellions spell effect again." When it died, the XYZ-Pendulum destroyed Timegazer and Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, before placing itself in the red pendulum zone. "Time for main phase 2! Odd-Eyes, set Dragonpulse Magician!" This time Uno used the long-braided swordsman in white and counterpart to Dragonpit Magician; placing it in the blue zone. "Then I re-activate Refine Oscillation! I switch Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon with Timegazer Magician!" The dragon gave its zone back to the magician it had replaced. "Now I already pendulum summoned, buuuut.. Now that I have a Magician paired up with Dragonpulse, he can can discard a pendulum card from my hand, to destroy one face-up monster on the field!" The pendulum monster Uno tossed away was Wisdom-Eye Magician. "I destroy Oracle King D'Arc! I mean she's clearly more of a queen anyway." Dragonpulse used its sword to summon down a bolt of green lightning. That bolt struck down the Oracle demoness as if she had been judged by the heavens. "He wiped out his entire field.." Uno's comeback stunned everyone, even Decembers allies.

"D/D Recruit." But to their leader, the battle was far from over. He activated a recruitment trap card. "You control lives, more than I. That difference between us will come back to me." For each monster that Uno controlled, December could add one D/D monster or one Dark Contract spell from his graveyard to his hand. "Whoa.." That amount was three. December took back the Dark Contracts with the Swamp King, Dark Contract with the HellGate and D/D Night Howl. "Well it's certainly your show now, December." Two cards were set in the spell/trap zone and Uno ended his turn. "..." December reactivated his spell card, Dark Contract with the Swampking. "But I have one request!" And Uno activated one of his traps. "Let's stick to pendulum summons! I reveal Pendulum Area! Since all my pals are pendulum monsters, I can destroy my two pendulum spells.." Dragonpulse and Odd-Eyes Rebellion were forced to abandon their zones, the power void they left caused a rumbling in the ground. "Now, neither player can special summon monsters this turn, except by using their pendulums! Well, do you like it?" Galilei and Kepler now had the scales 5 and 6, nothing could be pendulum summoned between those two.

"You still do not see that there is no hope in this." December activated the Hellgate contract as well, and claimed a second D/D Savant Galilei with it. "Galilei, return the pendulum to me!" By discarding that Savant, December could move D/D Savant Kepler from the field to his hand. "Uh oh." The opponent placed Kepler back in its pendulum zone immediately, as a scale 10 spell. "PENDULUM SUMMON!" Together with the other Galilei, he special summoned the D/D/D Kings, Leonidas, Abyss Ragnarok and Armageddon, from his extra deck. "Everything that can die, must die. And will die!" He then entered the battlephase, intending to crush Drummerilla and than Xiangke to end the duel definitively. "That doesn't mean life has to be about misery! What we do with our time is what matters! And I am going to make as many people happy as I can." Uno looked at Alice. "With a classic.. go Hippo Carnival!"

"Hippo Carnival!?" Alice gasped. The most unlikely card came to Uno's rescue. His quickplay spell created three Hippo tokens(1/0/0) and summoned them in defense mode. "Of all paths..". December could not attack anything else but the dancing hippos. "You are so young, more than any other. You believe you can tell us what life is?" December grew more and more tired of Uno's antics. Leonidas, Ragnarok and Armageddon attacked and destroyed all three tokens. "It is impossible for you to understand." During his 2nd main phase he normal summoned D/D Night Howl(3/300/600) and activated the effect of Abyss Ragnarok to sacrifice the Howling tuner to banish Performapal Drummerilla. Finally, December placed a trap card down. "End."

"So, it all comes down to this." Uno could not afford another turn. His deck had to save him now, or else he would not have a future in this world anymore. "Alice? Do you think I can do it?" Neither would she, and that was far more important. "I..." All this time she had been watching, despairing and hoping. "You.." When this duel began, she thought Uno had no chance at all. Yet he survived time after time. Miracles could happen more than once. "You can! You can win!" Now she believed, she had faith. "Yeah, go get that jerk!" Eric also spiritedly encouraged him. "Do not let Dom down." Iria had her own way of expressing her confidence in him. "Give this duel the ending it deserves." And Adamant could say he had seen a once-in-a-lifetime battle. "Thanks guys and girls. December, you heard what they said! I draw!" Uno took the card, a pendulum monster. "Set scale one; Performapal Monkeyboard!" On one side sat the keyboard-playing monkey. Its effect gave Uno the opportunity to add a level 4 or lower Performapal from his deck to his hand. "I feel like a scale eight! Performapal Odd-Eyes Unicorn!" That added card, a white unicorn, appeared on the other side. "Performapal and Odd-Eyes?" Neter flinched. Uno kept making new monsters. "I.." Decembers visions did not include this.

"Go! Pendulum summon!" Between the scales, Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon, Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer(4/1500/800) and Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon(7/2500/2000) were summoned from the extra deck. The Sorcerer destroyed himself to add a new Performapal to Uno's hand, Performapal Elephammer. "You can help too, Elephammer!" As Uno controlled two Performapal cards, he could summon the Elephant(2600/1800) without tributes. "But there is only one way to settle this, with the pendulum card that stuck with me the longest! I activate the effect of Performapal Odd-Eyes Unicorn! He can add the attackpoints of one Performapal to another monster!" The unicorn drew power from Elephammer and channeled it into the Pendulum Dragon(7/5100/2000) with its horn. "Odd-Eyes classic can double battle damage. So.. " Uno pointed a finger at the D/D/D monsters. "You are going down, December!" Odd-Eyes gathered its immense flames and selected its target. "...!" And though Uno was free to choose, he somehow had the feeling he had to pick Leonidas. "Odd-Eyes attack the Rebel King!"

"To choose that target." December shuddered, possibly for the first time in a long while. "Your foresight is improving." He could not survive 5000 points of battle damage, he could not survive this duel. So he discarded a card from his hand. "Savant Nostradamus, make him feel our pain!" As Odd-Eyes clashed with Leonidas, a lens-scope pendulum statue came in between. "December, no!" June seemed aghast at this development. "What is.." Uno cringed, because Nostradamus was reflecting the damage to him as well. And his crystal pendant was going insane again. "Uno, you will not change the future!" Decembers pendulum glowed, the other pendulums glowed. The light exploded across the streets. "It does not end here!" The entire town was enveloped..

Decembers LP: 0 Uno's LP: 0

D/D Savant Nostradamus, 2/600/600 Dark/Fiend/Pendulum
6[You cannot Pendulum Summon monsters, except "D/D" monsters. This effect cannot be negated]6
Once per turn, when you take take battle or effect damage: You can destroy this card, and if you do, inflict that damage to your opponent instead.]6
If you would take battle or effect damage: You can send this card from your hand to the graveyard, and if you do, inflict that damage to your opponent as well.

(To be Concluded?)

New Cards used by Uno
Dragonpulse Magician
Performapal Odd-Eyes Unicorn

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Refine Oscillation
Pendulum Area

New Cards used by December
D/D Savant Nostradamus

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D/D/D Cruel Dragon King Beowulf

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Mystical Space Typhoon
Dark Contract with the Swamp King

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D/D Recruit