Hey look, it's Rocky! I like Rocky. Depending on my mood, he's my
favorite amongst all of the characters that I've written. We'll get to
know him a lot better as the series progresses, so I won't say too much
here, but let's just say that Rocky is the kind of guy that you'd want as your friend. He's super reliable and the only genuinely heroic to their core for the sake of being heroic character in this entire series.
Like with A Night in Egypt in the last book, the duel in this chapter is filler, and doesn't get a Card of the Day. I eventually do more with the character of Nate, but as of right now, his character is literally a joke.
The Order Returns;
Enter the Duelist of Earth
“With the very strong chance that the Order will be making another move soon,” I said, “we need to work that much harder to find the recipients of the other Souls.” Sarah and I had met with my friends following our duel with Max. We were in the Game Center, sitting together once again around our usual out of the way table. I'd just finished describing what had happened, and returning Jen and Tucker's cards.
“I know a kid who could be set for a Soul,” said Tucker, shuffling his newly returned cards back into his deck. “His name’s Robert Stone. He uses Earth attribute Rock monsters. He’s a good guy, and one of the toughest Duelists I’ve ever seen.”
“Do you know where he might be?” I asked
“He comes for the Duel Monsters Bi-Weekly here every Saturday,” Tucker answered.
“Then I guess we have a tournament to enter tomorrow.”
Tucker smiled, “You took the words right out of my mouth!”
We arrived back at the Game Center the next day at 9:00 AM for the tournament. Seeing as we were part of a fully-fledged Duel Monsters team, the members of the Duel Force were given slots on the roster, despite the fact that we were entering at the last minute.
“Alright boys and girls,” I said, addressing my team. “The first person to duel this Robert kid, ask him if he would be interested in talking to us after the tournament.”
The others agreed, and we set out with purpose, preparing to face our individual opponents.
Jen
Those of you who have been following this story from the beginning should know me pretty well by now, but for those of you who haven’t, allow me to introduce myself. You already know my name, so I’ll skip that and tell you a little about myself. You know that one character in your favorite TV drama who always seems in control of the situation, no matter what, using his intellect alone to manipulate everything to his benefit? That’s who I am to the Duel Force. I’m the chess master. I’m always two steps ahead of everyone, or at least I usually am. Needless to say I’d disappointed myself during my duel with Max, and despite the fact that everything had worked out, I needed to blow off some steam. I was looking forward to the tournament, at least until I met my first opponent.
He was a blonde boy, about John’s age, named Nate. I walked up to the designated area within the Center, and I found Nate admiring himself in a pocket mirror, combing back his hair like a first-rate tool. He saw me and looked up over the rim of the mirror.
“Well hey there honey,” Nate asked in a vaguely southern accent that reminded me of that actor, Matthew Mc-something, “you here to ask ol’ Nate on a date?”
Ugh! “No you moron, I’m your opponent.”
“Ohh, well then, Nate is pleased,” Nate replied in true douchebag fashion. “Nate will wow you with his incredible skills and dashing good looks!”
I drew my opening hand, mumbling under my breath, “Get a life, creep.”
“Allow Nate to make the first move,” my opponent declared (LP: 4000). “Go ‘Reflect Bounder’!”
A robot with mirrors on its chest and arms appeared (ATK: 1700), and to my utter dismay, Nate wasn’t done yet, “Next Nate sets a card. End turn.”
“Good,” I said, “because the more I hear you talk the harder it is to keep from hitting you. I think I’ve had about enough of this. I’ll end this duel this turn. I play ‘Pot of Greed’. All I need is to draw one of several cards, and it’ll all be over for you.”
“Impossible,” said Nate, combing his hair again. “Nate is superior.”
“Don’t think so,” I said as I picked up my newest cards, “’cause even though it will take every card in my hand, this duel ends now. I begin with one of my most powerful cards, my mighty ‘Pinch Hopper’ (ATK: 1000).”
“Mighty,” Nate asked as the oversized grasshopper appeared, “that thing?”
“That’s right,” I said, “and I’ll show you why. Activate ‘Multiplication of Insects’, sending ‘Pinch Hopper’ to the Graveyard to summon two ‘Hopper Tokens’ with half the stats of the original (ATK: 500/DEF: 600). Next, because my ‘Hopper’ went to the Graveyard, I can summon any insect from my hand. I summon ‘Nobleman-Eater Bug.”
As I spoke an eight and a half foot tall beetle with a brown exoskeleton appeared, holding it’s sharp claws up, ready to strike (ATK: 950).
“Next,” I said, “I play ‘Insect Imitation’, sacrificing the level five ‘Nobleman-Eater Bug’ to summon a level six monster from my deck.”
‘Nobleman-Eater Bug’ disappeared and was replaced by an egg. The egg split open and a beautiful and elegant four-armed glossy-winged insectoid woman emerged from within.
“Meet ‘Insect Princess’,” I told my opponent, “my favorite card (ATK: 1900).”
Nate ignored me, focusing entirely on his own reflection. Pitiful.
“Okay. Well then, here goes. Activate ‘Premature Burial’, bringing my ‘Pinch Hopper’ back from the Graveyard, and I follow up with the Spell card ‘Heavy Storm’, destroying every Spell and Trap card on the field.”
“What?” Nate said, finally paying attention to the game, “but that’ll destroy your ‘Premature Burial’ card, and your ‘Pinch Hopper’ along with it!”
Nate watched as a strong wind carried away my Spell card and his Trap card, which was revealed as the powerful ‘Mirror Force’.
“True, my ‘Hopper’ is destroyed again," I explained, "but if you’d been paying attention you’d know that when my ‘Hopper’ returns to the Graveyard I can summon another monster from my hand!”
Almost as soon as it reappeared the ‘Pinch Hopper’ disappeared and a huge insect with a massive thorax and an almost humanoid body appeared in its place with a hiss.
“Introducing,” I declared, “the ‘Insect Queen’! Now I attack your ‘Reflect Bounder’ with ‘Hopper Token’.” The grasshopper lunged at the machine and was destroyed in a burst of light via ‘Reflect Bounder’’s effect, dealing me seventeen hundred damage, but destroying the ‘Reflect Bounder’ as well (3200-1700=1500).
“And I finish it,” I said. “‘Insect Queen’, ‘Insect Princess’, attack!”
“Noooo,” my opponent wailed.
‘Insect Princess’ released spores from her wings, and the remaining ‘Hopper Token’ disappeared, feeding my ‘Insect Queen’, who sprayed Nate with acid (4000-1900-2600=0).
“But Nate can’t lose!” Nate insisted.
“Sorry,” I told him as I turned away, “but it looks like Nate just did.”
Tucker
I was a bit luckier than Jen. My first opponent was the guy we were looking for, Robert Stone. He and I had competed against each other before and he recognized me. “Hey, it’s Tucker, right? How’s it goin’.”
“Pretty good.”
“I haven’t seen you here for a while. I heard you’re on that team, the Duel Force. The team that beat that Christopher Johnson guy and his team.”
“You heard right,” I replied, feeling a little proud.
Robert was shuffling his deck when suddenly his eyes grew wide and he stopped, staring right at my Soul of Fire, “Do you mind if I ask where you got that necklace?”
“That’s actually why my friends and I are here today,” I said, choosing my words carefully (don't laugh, it happens sometimes). “We need to talk to you. You have one of these necklaces too, don’t you?”
Robert ran his fingers through his dark hair and reached into the breast pocket of his vest, pulling out an earthen-colored Soul. “This necklace just appeared one day out of thin air,” he said. “If you can tell me anything about it, I’d be happy to hear it. But what do you say we have a good duel first?”
I smiled, “Robert, you took the words right out of my mouth.”
John
“During the duel,” Tucker told me and the others, “I told him everything, about the Duel Force, the Order, and the Souls. He seemed to believe me, and he wants to talk to you, John. I told him to meet us outside the Food Court and we’d all get some grub and talk. He really wants to meet you.”
“But you’re sure he believed you?” I asked, thinking hard.
“He sure seemed to,” Tucker said. “Realize he saw the Soul of Earth appear out of thin air. If that doesn’t open your mind, what does?”
“Good point,” I said, still wondering. Just because this Robert had a Soul didn’t automatically mean that he could be trusted. If the Order had managed to get to him first, there might be another reason why he was so easily convinced.
We neared the area that made up the entrance way to the Food Court. I looked around. Robert was nowhere to be found.
“Where is he?” Sarah asked.
“I dunno,” Tucker said, looking around blankly.
“Well,” I said annoyed, “this probably isn’t good.”
Soul of Darkness, I thought, pleading silently, help me find a boy named Robert Stone and the Soul of Earth.
My Soul glowed, and I closed my eyes, information pouring into my mind. “He’s behind the mall,” I said hastily, already on the move. “We should hurry. He’s in trouble.”
We ran outside and circled the building as fast as we could. When we reached the back alley near the border of the woods where Sarah and I had fought Max, we found Robert, surrounded by several large, athletic young men. They rushed him. He caught one attacker’s fist in his palm, turned, and flipped the attacker into the side of a dumpster. He turned back toward his attackers, deflecting another strike before was caught by a kick and sent sprawling. “Stay here,” I said to Sarah, Jen, and Amanda. Tucker and I ran forward, prepared to do what we do best. Well, I thought, snatching something up off of the ground as I passed, looks like Robert isn’t working for the Order after all.
The attackers moved in to strike the killing blow, unaware of our approach, and were met by a rusty metal pipe to the face. I stepped in between the slowly rising thugs and their target, planting the end of the pipe I had picked up firmly in the asphalt and said, “Sorry, but you might as well go home. You won’t get past me.”
Be careful, said Hiro in my mind. There’s a strange energy surrounding them.
Well then, I thought, I’d better end this quick.
The sun was setting. There were shadows everywhere. I flexed my fingers, and the shadows seemed to move with them. My Soul glowed, and, smiling despite the situation, I willed the shadows to lash out like thick black whips, slamming into the remaining attackers, knocking them out.
I turned to Robert and offered him a hand. “Hello Robert,” I said. “I’m John, leader of the Duel Force.”
He took my hand, and I helped him up. “Please,” he said, “my friends call me Rocky.”
“Those guys surrounded me in the mall,” Rocky said. He was sitting with me and my friends in the Food Court, sipping a Pepsi. “They said that the Duelists of the Order of the Divine Cards wanted my Soul of Earth, and that they would start hurting people if they didn’t get it. I couldn’t let anyone get hurt because of me. I learned to fight because I wanted to help people. So I told them that if they followed me outside I’d give them the Soul. They agreed, and I led them away from everyone. I tried to fight them, but there were too many. If you guys hadn’t found me I would’ve died.”
I put my elbows on the surface of the table and interlaced my fingers. “Well you know what this means,” I said. “The Order is officially back in force, and I get the feeling that this might be just the beginning.”
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