In the truest Shonen fashion, the kids have to come to some kind of realization before they can level up and beat the baddies. This process begins here. Except for Jen, of course. She's already so badass that she could probably turn Super Saiyan if she wanted to.
Chapter Twenty-One
The Burial of the Soul
The next morning we went with Odion to rent one of those heavy duty jeeps. They didn’t have any of the monstrous climate controlled fortress ones, so we had to settle for a sort of cargo truck with a canvas covering over the bed and only two real seats in the front for the driver and one passenger. I sat up front, and while Sarah and Jen improved their decks with their new cards, Odion and I discussed tactics.
“All I’m saying,” I said, “is that, strong as your Trap strategy is, its one fundamental flaw is the lack of monsters. You have Trap Monsters, yes, but they are vulnerable to effects that can target monsters, or effects that can target traps.”
“That is true, which is why I use ‘Serket’, a monster that few have ever managed to overcome,” Odion countered.
“Alright, I guess I have to give you that one,” I admitted, conceding the point, just to prevent an argument. After all, I’d “overcome” ‘Serket’, so it couldn’t be too terribly hard.
We were silent for a few minutes before he spoke again. “These Duelist of the Order. I’ve heard of their organization. From what I hear, they exist in cities all over the world, and also from what I hear, every Duelist who is a member is very strong. Is it true what I’ve heard?”
“Well, we only met the three that fought us before,” I told him, “but from what Pegasus said, the organization is pretty big. And as for their power, well, let me put it this way; any one of them could have destroyed you, based on what I saw of your deck yesterday. If you were holding back, like I think you were, you might’ve given them some trouble before they beat you. Especially that Karen girl. The way she duels is almost scary. She was able to predict my moves before I even played any cards and defend with just the right combination.”
I must have sounded as frustrated as the memory made me feel, because Odion decided to offer me some welcome advice, “Her deck will, of course, have a weakness.”
“How do you know?” I asked.
“Because every deck has a weakness,” he said. “My deck, while it is fast and fortified, it lacks monsters, and many of its monsters are extra vulnerable. Your deck is very balanced, but it has weaknesses as well. I’m sure that when the time comes, you will discover Karen’s weakness.”
“I dunno,” I said. “I watched those Toons, looking for a weakness, but I couldn’t find one. They are strong, easy to summon, and they can bypass my monsters when they attack.”
“Do you know professional Duel Monsters?”
“Yeah,” I said, “but only the big stuff.”
“Then you’ll know of Yugi Muto’s legendary victory over Maxamillion Pegasus?” Odion asked.
“Of course!” I exclaimed. “Every serious Duelist does. He used the old style arena dynamics to take advantage of the first edition rules for 'Kuriboh' and combined him with Multiply to overcome Pegasus’ ‘Thousand-Eyes Restrict’, something that no Duelist had ever even considered before!”
“Yes,” Odion said, “but first he had to contend with Pegasus’ Toons and their home, the magical realm of ‘Toon World’ from which they draw their power. To defeat them, Yugi discovered a weakness in the Toons that not even Pegasus was able to overcome.”
It hit me like a slap to the face, “You mean ‘Toon World’! The weakness of the Toon monsters is the magic book that gives them life, ‘Toon World’! If I destroy ‘Toon World’, the Toons will lose their power and die.”
“Exactly,” said Odion. “With that knowledge, you should be able to go into battle with the edge you need to win.”
“Thanks,” I said, genuinely grateful.
“You are destined to do great things for this world,” he replied, as if maybe he’d seen a few of those things in his dreams. “That is thanks enough.”
Tucker
I had dozed off in the back of the truck, and was dreaming that I was dueling Lawrence and his dragons. He was destroying my monsters one after another. It all came down to two monsters. I could only summon one or the other, and if I made the wrong choice, I would lose. My first instinct was to summon the first card, ‘Tyrant Dragon’, but when I really thought it through, I realized that if I did Lawrence would just summon up ‘Blue-Eyes White Dragon’ and destroy it, so I used ‘Tyrant Dragon’ as an offering to summon the second card, a new card that I had just added to my deck the night before, and I won.
That’s when I woke up, “I know how to win the duel.”
“What,” Jen asked, “how?”
“Once it starts,” I replied, beaming with anticipation, “just follow my lead, and we can’t lose.”
Sarah
I went through my cards again, old and new. I had just finished adding more of the kinds of cards that I was known for to my deck. The principle of my deck was the same, but I had a few new tricks up my sleeves that I was sure would even confuse a master magician.
It’s not every day that I stick up for someone, Monty, I thought, thinking about the blank, almost sad look that I’d seen in his eyes. Don’t get me wrong, I still intended to fight Monty, as I was sure he still intended to fight me, but I couldn’t help but wonder why I’d stuck up for him in the first place, what had compelled me to do it. I decided to duel not just in the hopes that I would win, but in the hopes that I would one day get an answer.
John
As we made our way closer to our goal, I knew that my friends were preparing as best they could for the battle that we all knew was coming. I could only hope that we could get ready in time. Though I wasn’t physically doing anything to further that goal, talking to Odion had helped me form a plan and get stronger from it. Then there was the dream.
As we drove along the sand of the desert, I drifted off to sleep. As I slept, I dreamed, and in my dream I heard a voice in a vast expanse of black. It was faint, and I felt that the darkness around me was trying to keep it from getting through.
“Who’s there? Who are you?” I asked the voice.
Guardian, I heard it reply, a trailing whisper.
“Guardian? Guardian of what?” I asked. “Guardian of the Twelve Souls?”
Yes. ...Release them. ...Destiny.
“I know,” I said, “we’re on our way now to release the Souls.”
...Sealed.
“We have a Spell.”
...Not…enough. ...Must…heart.
And just like that, the voice was gone.
“Wait!” I cried. “What do you mean? What about heart?”
Suddenly I was jerked awake when the truck came to an abrupt stop.
“We have arrived,” Odion said. “You must go alone from here.”
"You could always come fight with us," I said, only half serious.
"I think," Odion replied, "that you know I cannot."
"Yeah," I replied, trying not to sound bitter, "well, thanks for everything."
My team and I exited the truck and watched it power away until it was only a waiting speck on the horizon. Then we turned and walked through the sand, toward a stone doorway that was poking out of the dunes. We arrived in only a few minutes and took a minute to survey our surroundings. To either side of the door, along the frame, was chiseled a bird-headed man carrying an ankh in his outward-facing hand.
“This must be it,” I said. “Let’s do it.” I pulled out the Spell card that Pegasus had given us. As I lifted it toward the massive stone door, glowing text appeared. It seemed to be the same language as the text from the artifacts in Pegasus’ Egyptian room. I held the card up higher, and it started shaking, nearly ripping my arm off (at least it felt that way). The others had to help me steady it.
Then the ground began to shake, and a light flashed from the other side of the door, but other than that, nothing happened. I let my arm drop to my side and I steadied my breath. “Crap,” I said. “We must have done something wrong. Let’s try it again.” I raised the card, and it turned to dust, falling to the ground and becoming one with the sand at my feet.
“Did we just fail?” Sarah asked, a confused look on her face.
“Not yet,” came a voice from behind us. We wheeled around, and there was Karen, Monty, and Lawrence. Karen was the one speaking.
“No,” she said, “you didn't fail. Your little Spell wasn’t to open the door and release the Souls, it was to unlock the doors. You’ll need a stronger magical boost to actually open the door. That boost could come from your natural tie to the Souls, or from us. That’s why we didn’t kill you. We needed you to unlock the door. We can’t unlock it, but now that you did, someone just needs to open it, and that’s something we can do.”
“You won't,” I said, standing between them and the door, holding my arms straight out at my sides. “You’ll have to get past us first!”
Monty and Lawrence moved away from Karen, and my teammates followed suit, facing their respective opponents once they were a sufficient distance away, and the rematches began. This time, we knew that if we were taken down, we wouldn’t be getting up ever again.
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