So, remember how, back in Book One, I implied that my characters would be participating in Team Duels all the time? Me neither. But I went back and re-read that book, and I totally did! So, I figured that I should probably make up for lost time. That's why this book focuses on a Team Duel tournament. And some plot. After a whoooole lot of establishing chapters, AKA filler.
Chapter One
Competitive Goals
I woke up suddenly, sweating, my face buried in my pillow. I'd been having a nightmare but at this point in my life, that didn't even faze me in the waking world. With a groan, I pried my left arm from beneath my torso and felt beside me. The rest of the bed was empty. Karen was already up and about. That didn't surprise me, either. I'd been staying up later than her recently, and sleeping later as a result. I knew that it bothered her a little that the two of us hadn't been going to bed together, and it bothered me, too, but the two of us tried our best to spend whatever time we could together in the waking world.
I rolled over and looked at the clock on the bedside table. It was just past noon. She'll be aft, I reasoned, doing design work and waiting to see if I show up in time for lunch. I will, if I hurry.
I peeled myself off of the bed, pulled on a clean pair of boxers, picked up my day-old jeans, and stepped into them. I adjusted the cord that held the dark purple crystal sphere, the Soul of Darkness, around my neck, so that the crystal was hidden behind my faded t-shirt, and I looked over at the place where an almost new jacket hung from one of the bed posts.
It was mostly black, with some white lining the interior hemming, and the pockets. In my last major duel, against a guy named Damien Curran, an electric shock had accidentally caught my old black overshirt on fire. Finally, after years, it had been damaged too much to salvage. So Karen had bought me this new one, but no matter how much I wore it in an attempt to break it in, it still didn't feel quite right.
With a sigh, I picked the jacket up off of the bed post and draped it over my shoulder, and I looked to my left, toward the aft section of the Industrial Illusions-owned ship that had become my home in recent weeks. The Soul of Darkness flickered purple beneath my shirt. I intended to use my power to open a doorway connecting two shadows and then become like the shadows myself, and pass through that doorway to a different place. Doing so, I could appear beside Karen in seconds. But as my power activated, I flinched, and I stopped myself. I could feel it, welling up again.
It's getting worse, I thought. Ever since letting out the full force of the Darkness within my heart against Damien Curran, It had become harder and harder to use powers specific to the Soul of Darkness. It seemed like every time I did, that other me bore down, and tried to divert that magic to his own use, to get out again. Some mental block which had prevented him from doing so before had been broken.
He's even harder to contain today, I realized. If I try to do something as complicated as travelling by Shadows, he might break his way back into the forefront of my mind. At the very least, it'll stir him up.
So I did something that I have little experience with: I walked to where I needed to go. It took me several long, boring minutes, and by the time I arrived at the aft deck, Karen wasn't there anymore, if she'd been there at all. So I walked to the galley. She wasn't there either.
Maybe she went back to the room and ordered in?
Or maybe she had had lunch early, and moved on with her day. I didn't want this. I didn't want her to think that I didn't want to see her. I'd been distant since my duel with Damien, but that wasn't because of Karen. I didn't want her to think that it was. I wanted her to know that I was trying to put things back in order. I wanted things to be okay again, like they had been since after we'd resolved things back at Duel Academy.
I can risk just looking for her, I thought. My Soul flickered, and my mind connected with the shadows around me, which were likewise connected with all shadows. I could see everywhere that those shadows touched. Not all at once, of course. But combined with the almost instinctual guidance that the Soul gave me when I used it, I didn't need to actually search too hard.
This was the power of my Soul which put the least amount of strain on me. Yes, my powers do take a toll on me. I know it doesn't seem that way, but that's just because I have a lot of Duel Energy to offset the effects. Despite the low-intensity nature of this power, though, as I gazed through the Shadows, I felt myself straining more than usual. Another consciousness was there with me, trying to wrest control of the Soul from me.
I had to strain to keep my power active, and to keep him at bay. Just one moment of battling wills with him left me winded. But that had been long enough. I cut my connection to the Shadows, and my Soul went dark again. Thankfully, that moment had been long enough. I knew where Karen was. So, after catching my breath, and taking a few seconds to collect myself, I started walking again.
It took me almost ten minutes more to walk from the galley to the ships bow deck. Despite everything, I couldn't help but smile when I saw what Karen was doing, confirming what I'd witnessed through the darkness.
"I never thought I'd see the day," I said with a chuckle.
Karen blushed as she turned toward me. She was wearing a pair of black athletic shorts and a pink sports bra, all perfect attire for the task at hand. Her skin glistened with sweat, and her long, brown hair was pulled up into a disorganized ponytail.
"Don't joke, Johnny," said my friend, Ria, with a suggestive wink. She was dressed similarly, except that her dark hair was pulled up more to the side, and her olive skin was a bit dryer. I had to consciously avoid looking at her toned midriff. I may not have any interest in Ria, but she is a very attractive girl.
"Yeah, John," said Ria's skinny, redheaded boyfriend, Thomas, who was sitting off to the side, spectating. "She's getting really good. Soon, she'll be able to give you a run for your money."
"You weren't supposed to see us," Karen said, with that cute kind of sheepish smile that people put on when you catch them planning your surprise party.
"Why not?" I asked. "I can't even remember when I started saying that you should learn self defense."
"I know, but I wanted to surprise you," she said, "and besides, you always want to train me yourself. But I know that you won't want to hurt me. You'll go easy, and I'll never learn anything."
"I, on the other hand," Ria chimed in, wiping her face on a sweat rag, "have no such hang-up."
I smiled at the gentle ribbing. Karen and Ria are friends, but they're also pretty big rivals. I knew that Ria would never actually hurt Karen, or vice versa. Then I noticed bruising on Karen's arms and stomach. I knew that it was just from the two of them sparring, and Ria had a good number of bruises herself, but in that moment, my blood boiled. I wanted to hurt Ria for hurting Karen. A lot of that came from the other me, but some of that came from me. It was only there for a moment, before I told myself how ridiculous I was being, and I shoved it aside. Still, it worried me. If the other me had decided to try and break out in that moment, I don't know if I would have been able to stop him.
See, something else happened when I fought Damien. He hurt Karen. I thought that he'd killed her. And when he did, the other me screamed. He wanted Damien dead. And I wanted him dead too. That's why I let the other me out. He cared about Karen, too. In that moment, our goals were the same. So I released him, without even a second thought about what that might mean in the long term. It had taken the considerable, if unreliable, power of Karen's Soul of Imagination to put him back.
"Are you okay?" Karen asked, noticing some outward sign of my inner turmoil. I forced a smile.
"Yeah," I answered, "just a little headache. It's all of this sea air, I think."
She didn't seem completely convinced, but she didn't press the matter. Instead she reached past me and snatched her own sweat towel from a lounge chair beside me, and wiped herself down as well, which distracted me from my inner conflict.
"Alright," she said, "now that the surprise it ruined, wanna go a round and see what I've learned?"
She raised her hands in a ready stance that was somewhere between a karate and a kickboxing stance, much like Ria's own style.
"Uh," I said, "no thanks. That thing about me not wanting to hurt you? That was on point."
She looked disappointed, but not surprised. "Okay then, how about a late lunch?"
"Oh yeah," I replied, flashing her the best smile that I could muster, "I'm starving."
She smiled back, and looked over at Thomas and Ria, "You guys wanna come?"
"Nah," Ria replied, "Tommy and me are gonna go back to my bedroom and do bedroom stuff."
Thomas looked surprised, but he hopped up and followed close behind Ria as she walked away, the two of them leaving Karen and I behind, feeling thoroughly awkward.
"Shall we?" I asked Karen after a few seconds, after forcing the unwanted thought of "bedroom stuff" from my mind.
Karen laughed, "Absolutely." The two of us walked together toward the galley, and we got to talking. I noticed, however, that it felt like there was a gap between us. Like we were standing several feet apart, instead of several inches. It felt eerily like we were still getting to know each other, like it had been back when we were just playing at the idea of dating. We got lunch, we ate, and we had a solid, lengthy conversation, it just wasn't a very deep conversation, and it petered out before we'd finished eating. It was for that reason, and that reason only, that I was actually excited to receive a call from my manager.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," came a lyrical voice from behind me. Karen looked over my shoulder and smiled. I turned and looked over my shoulder. Standing there, in a flamboyant white suit, was Maximillion Pegasus. He looked past me, at the freshly empty plates on the table, "Apologies, I assumed that you would have had lunch earlier in the day."
"We got a late start," I replied. "Well, I did, anyway."
I stood up and turned to face Pegasus, putting my hands in my pockets, trying to act casual, so as to hide just how tense the man often made me feel. I gave him an inquisitive look, "Not to sound rude or anything, but how are you hear? We're out to sea right now, and you're not. At least you weren't, until a few seconds ago."
Pegasus gestured toward the ceiling, where a wedge-shaped device hung in the corner of the room, it's surface shimmering with multi-colored light. "There are solid vision projectors in many important common areas of the ship," Pegasus explained. "They're holdovers from a time before I decided to retire this ship, when I was considering turning it into a Duel Monsters theme cruise. When I failed to contact you in your rooms, or via your phones, I decided to try projecting myself through the holographic systems."
"What's with all of the urgency?" I wondered.
Pegasus smiled in the unique way that he does, where you can't tell if he's amused, or sinister, "I've entered Team Illusion in an upcoming tournament."
"Does that mean that you finally hired a fourth Duelist?" Karen asked as she picked at the leavings on her plate.
"Unfortunately, no," Pegasus replied, "and with the start of the Synchro Project still on hold, I would prefer to have you compete, rather than bring someone new in on such late notice."
I looked to Karen. She had dueled against her brother, Richie, during the conflict with Damien and his Card Professors, but she'd only done so because she had to. Would she want to duel again? Had she overcome her reservations about dueling long enough to fight that one last fight, or was her change in attitude more permanent?
Karen thought about it for a moment, and to my surprise, she smiled and said, "Yeah, okay, I'll duel. It sounds like fun."
I looked back at Pegasus, "There ya go. When is this tournament, and where?"
"One week," Pegasus replied, "in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania."
"You're talking about the semi-annual regional," I realized.
"That's right."
"Oh, this is going to be great," I declared, grinning, the day's troubles forgotten, "I talked to Sarah the other day, and she and the rest of the Duel Force are going to compete. And Christopher and his team won't miss the chance to defend his title."
"Christopher Johnson and his Team Beatdown have won the regional every year since the team was formed," Pegasus agreed, "and they are expected to perform better than ever thanks to the inclusion of their new strategist."
Jen, I thought, my excitement building.
"Considering that they will be defending their title against the well-known Duel Force, which will be competing for the first time in this particular event," Pegasus explained, "the tournament has been generating more buzz than ever before. Up and coming Team Duel teams from around the country are registering in the northeastern region just to participate, and many of them are rumored to have reached out and added at least one international member to their roster to maximize their chances of winning."
"Sounds like this thing is going to be intense," Karen remarked.
"That is the expectation," Pegasus agreed. "The tournament is even expected to air in Europe and Japan. Just making it to the finals would go a long way toward solidifying positive opinions of Team Illusion again in the public consciousness since-."
He stopped abruptly, and gave me an apologetic look, as if he was unsure if he should say more.
"Since we cast the Duelist's Curse," I said, finishing for him, "to make the world forget about the Souls, and it made them forget about the old Duel Force, and all of our exploits."
"A decision which I, of course, completely understand," Pegasus insisted diplomatically, not for the first time since we'd explained the situation to him weeks ago, "but in the process of making the world forget your pasts, you unfortunately made people forget about this team's greatest draw."
My legacy as a professional Duelist, I thought.
"Now we must work harder than ever," Pegasus concluded in a grand manner, "to reclaim the prestige that we have lost. After all, as your manager, I have staked the reputation of myself and my company on your success. Of course, I am not at all concerned. I am sure that you will reclaim your former fame in no time at all."
I was taken aback, "Wow, boss, I didn't know that you had so much faith in me."
"Well," Pegasus countered in the way that he does that makes it so that you can't tell if he's mocking you or not, "as your manager, it is my job."
Then, without missing a beat, Pegasus switched gears back to the lyrical, showy facade that he usually wore, "Now, I am sure that you have preparations to make, and teammates to inform. What information that I have on the other teams that have registered so far will be sent to your company email soon, as well as a travel details, and the tournament schedule. I will be unable to attend myself, so I am trusting you to be the face of Industrial Illusions in my absence. Please, try not to let me down."
Before Karen and I had a chance to reply, the image of Pegasus flicked and disappeared, and the wedge-shaped device hanging from the ceiling in the corner went dark.
I looked over at Karen, "Well, this sounds like fun."
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