This chapter is really only dialogue, as Karen goes off on her own, seeking answers from Pegasus. Speaking of Pegasus, he's all somber, serious Pegasus in this chapter, which isn't really any fun to write compared to childish Pegasus, or confident gamer Pegasus (which we see next chapter, hurray for cliffhangers again!). Still, this was an interesting chapter to write, as I really tried to get into Pegasus' head and decide how he would feel about his past actions in hindsight. I think I did okay.
Also, Karen is so BAMF-y in this chapter! I love it!
Chapter Thirteen
Teacher vs. Student;
Karen vs. Maximillion Pegasus
Karen
John and Max were busy discussing the recent developments
amongst themselves and with Reiko, pressing her for what little information she
had on the Card Professors while trying not to frighten her further. Meanwhile I
walked thoughtfully further back into our little alley. After the recent
dialogue with my brothers I had a lot to think about myself. Without even
realizing why, I knelt down and reached into John’s bag, removing his Duel Disk
and strapping it to my arm. I stood back up, and by the time I had returned to
my full height, I knew what I had to do.
I looked back over my shoulder at John. He was looking at me
past Max and Reiko. He met my eyes, and I could see that he had come to the
same conclusion that I had, and that he understood. He nodded and I nodded
back, and with a flash of my Soul of Imagination, I disappeared.
A moment later I reappeared outside a large estate
overlooking a lake and woods. I didn’t recognize it personally, but if this was
where my wish on the Soul of Imagination had taken me, it could only mean that
Teacher was here.
I turned and walked calmly up the stone drive a few yards to
the front doors. They were double doors made of solid oak, stained dark and inlayed
with gold. I didn’t knock. I didn’t wait to be let in by one of the servants or
the bodyguards that I knew were watching via hidden camera. I simply kept
walking. My soul flashed and a clear, ghostly image of my favorite Duel
Monster, the ‘Dark Magician Girl’, appeared and threw the doors open with a
spell.
Once inside, I was approached by a pair of Teacher’s
bodyguards, but the transparent form of my sorceress changed form, becoming the
jeweled ‘Millennium Shield’, surrounded by a field of red light, which hung in
the air just ahead of me, driving them back.
I kept walking until I found myself in an open hall
surrounded by half a dozen bodyguards, their hands on their holstered guns,
standing between me and a pair of curved staircases leading up to a second
story landing and a set of lavish doors. I knew just by looking at them that
they were the doors to Teacher’s room.
“Stop where you are,” One of the bodyguards commanded, “or
we’ll be forced to stop you.”
I raised an eyebrow in disbelief, fully aware of just how
little chance they had against me, but I didn’t want to hurt anyone, so I put
my hands up. My ‘Shield’ remained though, preventing the bodyguards from
getting close.
“The magic shield,” one of the bodyguards said, “put it
away.”
“I need to see Maxamillion Pegasus,” I stated, standing
firm.
“Deactivate your magic item!” insisted the first bodyguard,
and he drew his gun and took aim, his fellows following suit.
Just then the double doors at the top of the stairs swung
open, and Teacher emerged, wearing a long white robe over pink silk pajamas. He
wordlessly surveyed the situation below him and ordered, “Stand down men. Treat
our guest with respect and courtesy. She’s family, after all.”
The security guards lowered their weapons, some more
reluctantly than others. My Soul stopped flashing, and the apparition that I’d
summoned to my aid faded away.
“Mr. Johnson,” Teacher said to the lead bodyguard, “please
show Miss Dunn to the sitting room.” Then to me he said, “I’ll be down in
moment, my dear.”
He disappeared back into his room, closing the doors behind
him. Johnson led me through a set of doors beneath the landing, down a lavish
corridor, and through another set of doors into a large, open room with an
entire wall made up of windows overlooking the wooded area surrounding the
building, as well as a creek and small waterfall. Book shelves lined the other
walls, and a semi-circle of four high-backed lounge chairs sat upon a throw rug
in the center of the room, around an ornate wooden table, angled so that the
windows were always in view. The room was lit only by natural light, so the
corners furthest from the windows were dim and a little bit imposing.
Despite this, however, the room was warm and inviting, and
yet I couldn’t make myself at home. The circumstances of my visit didn’t permit
that. Instead I stood in the middle of the spacious room with my hands in my
pockets, kicking my foot nervously.
Then, finally, the doors opened again, and Teacher stepped
into the room, shown in by Johnson, who was insisting that he remain just
outside. Teacher dismissed him anyway, and closed the door as Johnson skulked
away. Then Teacher turned to me, his hands behind his back, and joined me in
the room proper, his famous red suit almost orange in the warm light of the
sun, his long white hair gleaming gold.
“Of course I’m always glad for a visit from my favorite
student,” Teacher said, speaking carefully, “but to be honest I prefer that your
visits be accompanied by a little less aggression. Is there a reason for your
recent demeanor?”
“I had a visit today,” I told him, “from Richie and Depre.
They still insist that all of the things they told me about your plans, all of
the things that they told me to get me to leave, were true. I recall that when
I asked you about the things they told me, all those years ago, you told me
that their words were lies. It’s why I blame them for my leaving, and not you. Today
they made some compelling points, even telling me that, after I left, you took
things even further. I thought it was only fair to come to you and see if you
had anything to add to the conversation. Did you lie to me, and if so, then
why?”
It was barely a question. At this point I could see it in
Teacher’s one exposed eye, and I was as close to sure as I could be that Richie
and Depre had been telling the truth. Teacher’s one exposed eye met mine, and
he saw there that I had come to just that realization. He could no longer lie
to me credibly, and I could practically see any notion that he’d had of doing
so leave his mind. I remembered back to my time all of those years ago, to my
time training with the other adoptee students.
I’d been the youngest of the group, and I’d been too
stubborn and naïve to see some of those same looks in his eyes during our
conversation back then. To my mature and educated mind, it was clear looking
back that Teacher’s insistence upon his innocence had been nothing but lies,
and I understood why. Having grown up and fallen in love, I could believe that
someone would go to any lengths to see their love again. With the power that
John and I had, I even sometimes worried what might happen if one of us ever
lost the other.
Teacher stood silent for a few minutes, deciding what to
say, and likely also trying to recall our last conversation before I’d gotten
fed up with my brothers and run away. Finally he said, carefully, “If I recall,
Richie and Depre told you of my plans to see my Cyndia again using stolen
magic, and I told you that their assertions weren’t true, that they were
jealous of you as they were jealous of the Tenmas, and that they were bullying
you for that reason. Those were lies, rooted in truth. All of the things that
they told you I had planned, I did then and more. Richie and Depre went against
my wishes and shared my plans with you because they were jealous of you. I
taught you my own style of dueling, printed you a set of Toon cards, and taught
you about design, and they didn’t understand why.”
Teacher paused, took a breath, and continued, “The Duelist
Kingdom Tournament was a front for my activities. I only held the tournament
because it afforded me an opportunity to secure the technology that I needed to
complete my plans. I would have done anything to get what I wanted. I desired
more than anything to see Cyndia again, and I let that desire, and the real possibility
of accomplishing that goal, to change who I was. It took my utter defeat for me
to see that truth.
“I could tell you,” he concluded, “that I’ve since learned
my lesson, and made peace with many of the people who I hurt. I could tell you
that I’ve returned to the person that I once was, or something close to that
person, and ask for your forgiveness. Instead I will just say that I’m sorry.”
I wasn’t surprised by what Teacher had said. If anything, I
was relieved to have the truth out in the open. I wasn’t so much angry with
Teacher as I was curious. There were still a few things that I didn’t
understand, and now that Teacher was being honest with me, I felt it was
finally time to get some answers.
I nodded, “Okay, fine, but explain something to me. Why did
you treat me differently from even the Tenmas? Why did you teach me things that
you didn’t teach the others, and prevent them from challenging me? Because of
that, I never really felt like I was a part of their group, and they felt the
same way. When Richie and Depre call me sister, it’s more mocking than anything
else and that hurts. So tell me, why?”
Teacher hesitated. Somehow this seemed like an even harder
question than the last one. I wondered why, and then I got a hard answer.
“Originally,” Teacher said, “my adopting you and the others
was little more than a publicity stunt. I had nothing against taking on a group
of students, but I had no desire to start a family without Cyndia. Then,
working with the children, I realized that it was easy to come to care for them,
some more than others. I took to the Tenmas because of their incredible natural
skill as gamers, and to you because I saw some of Cyndia in you. I also saw
something of myself in you, and I came to think of you as the child that she
and I had never gotten the chance to have. Its why, when you left, I was able
to find the resolve to go forward with my plans as soon as the opportunity
presented itself.”
I was taken aback, and Teacher saw that and said quickly, “Don’t
think I am blaming you for what happened, my dear. I would have carried out my
plans either way. My decisions were my own.”
I sighed, “I don’t blame myself. I’m not even sure I blame
you. As strange as it sounds, I understand why you did the things you did, even
if I don’t condone them.”
I looked away from him, out the window. Our conversation
about the past was over, and we both knew it. I paced for a minute or two, and
then looked at him again, “There’s something else I need from you. I didn’t
just come here today to ask questions. I-.”
“You’ve lost the cards I gave you,” Teacher interjected, but
he didn’t seem upset. I looked at him questioningly, and he said, “It isn’t
often that you see a Duelist of your caliber with a Duel Disk and no deck
within it.”
He was as observant as ever, a true gamer of the highest order.
“Yeah,” I said, nodding, “you’re right. I need new cards. But
I don’t want you to give them to me. When I was young I didn’t understand the
importance of earning things for myself, but I do now. I know that you keep
collections of spare cards at all of your retreats. I still have two of my
cards. Give me thirty-eight random cards to go along with them, and then duel
me, without going easy on me. If I win, I get to make a deck out of any of your
cards that I want.”
I looked at him seriously. I wanted him to know that I meant
every word, and he did. He nodded and said, “Alright, I accept your challenge.
Follow me.”
Teacher led me through another room to something like a
dungeon basement. I shook my head, amused as always by Teacher’s odd choice of aesthetics.
He led me through the room, past a full-size Duel Arena, like the ones which
still littered Duelist Kingdom, to the back wall. As he approached, a panel slid
from the wall. Teacher touched his thumb to it, and the wall slid open,
revealing a hidden room containing three huge shelves, which themselves
contained three of each Duel Monsters card in existence, as well as, I would wager,
some cards which had yet to make it to circulation.
“I’ll leave you alone for a while to build your deck,”
Teacher told me. He turned to leave, but I interrupted him, “that won’t be
necessary.”
My Soul of Imagination flashed, and thirty-eight instances
of the small fairy Duel Monster ‘Dancing Fairy’ appeared and fluttered into the
room on glimmering wings. They branched out and each snatched up a random card
from the shelves and checked them. A few returned the cards that they’d drawn,
seeing that they simply couldn’t be used in a draft deck, and chose again,
repeating this until finally each of them had returned and given their choice
to me before flickering out of existence. I removed my last two cards, ‘Dark Magician
Girl’ and ‘Toon Dark Magician Girl’, from my pocket, added them to the other
thirty-eight, and shuffled.
“Impressive trick,” Teacher said, clearly amused.
“Soul of Imagination,” I replied. “It lets me manifest my
will. My power grows stronger in certain situations, and even I’m not really
sure what those are, so I mostly just create Duel Monsters to keep things
simple.”
I turned to Teacher and held up my new deck, “Now, let’s get
started.”
We each stepped up to one end of the old style duel arena,
and placed our decks upon our respective duel fields. Teacher drew his cards
like a man who was comfortable with his options, while I drew my opening hand more
slowly and apprehensively.
“I concede the first turn to you,” Teacher told me politely.
I nodded, and then I looked over my cards, and I smiled.
Well, I thought, this might be more fun that I realized.
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