This chapter was something new for me. In DF there were a lot of characters, but only some of them were mains. John, of course, is the main character. Jen, Sarah, Tucker and Karen are also mains, as are Max, Rocky and Kimi to a lesser extent. The rest are just kinda there. I mean, I develop them all enough that I think you can get the point of who they are supposed to be, but characters like Amanda and Kris never get anything resembling archs. As for the mains, I had the luxury of developing them over time. They could be changed and retconned as time went on, because I had time with them, and retconned they were (seriously, Tucker in Book One was kinda a jackass).
Here, I didn't have that luxury. I needed to establish the bare bones of a decent-sized cast all at once. That's what this chapter existed to do. The only main character not introduced here is introduced in the following two chapters, and given way more time, since she's at least as important to this book as Rocky himself.
Chapter Three
Introductions
“What now?” I asked Prof. I had trouble believing that a duel would be my only test. Not if the Duelists Elite were as guarded as I had come to understand.
“Now,” said Prof, “I want you to open the door.”
I was confused at first, but then I realized what he meant. “That door?” I asked, pointing at the handle-less steel door behind Prof.
“Yes,” he said.
“That door that has no handle and is made of solid steel?”
Prof nodded.
“How?”
“With your Soul, obviously,” Prof answered as if the answer should have been clear, “but be careful. Your Soul manipulates the earth after all. You wouldn’t want to manipulate the wrong rocks and cause a rock slide that will kill us both.”
I smiled, “That’s the real reason you brought me here, isn’t it? You wanted to test my skills as a Duelist, but you really wanted to test the power of the Soul of Earth, and the extent of my control over it.”
Prof smiled, “Bingo.”
Fine, I thought, if he wants to see my power, then I’ll show him my power.
I thought about it for a moment, deciding on the best course of action. Once I’d formed a plan I concentrated, and my amber-brown spherical crystal necklace, the Soul of Earth, flashed. Several small rocks rose up into the air and ringed the edge of the door. I raised my hand, and there was a scraping sound as the rocks pressed tight around the metal frame. I clenched my fist, and the rocks flew a few feet toward me, carrying the entire door with them, revealing a dimly lit corridor on the other side.
Prof began to clap, “Very impressive.”
“Thanks. What now?”
“What do you mean?” Prof asked.
“This is the test site, right? So when do we leave for the main headquarters, or whatever you call it?”
“Prof chuckled, “Just because this is the test sight, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t also the sight of our headquarters.” He was nice enough to wait for the realization that I’d misjudged to situation to sink in, and then he said, “This way please.”
I couldn’t think of a response to that, so I simply followed, wondering what I would find.
We walked silently through the corridor, walking at a downward angle for about fifteen minutes or so, with me still wondering why Prof would bring someone he didn’t know right to the home of the Elite before testing them, before we reached another door. This one was larger. It didn’t have a handle either, but it did have a keypad. Prof swiftly tapped in a code on that keypad, and the door rose up into the ceiling. I realized that this place was little more than a mountain bunker, like one of the military bases that you see in war movies. Like Cheyenne Mountain, or the bunker from T3. I looked around. This place was as secure as any military installation, but it had no military logos anywhere. It was likely privately built. I chose not to even fathom how much money such a thing would actually cost.
“This place, as you can see,” Prof informed, “is remarkably secure. Even if someone were to find us, it would take someone with incredible power to get inside uninvited.”
We walked awhile longer before we finally came to a massive open doorway leading into a huge, open, well-lit cavern of a room. Its ceiling was high, like an indoor stadium. Chalked onto the floor were the outlines of ten Duel Disk arenas lined up in two even rows. There were duels taking place at seven of them. There were at least two dozen other duelists scattered around, watching, sitting at either the six rows of stadium-style seats that had been placed against one wall or the dozen or so benches and tables scattered about.
“Welcome,” said Prof, “to your new home. This portion of the tour will cover the Arena Room. But more about that later.”
Prof led me through a doorway off to the right and down another, better lit corridor until we came to a huge, round, mostly dark office. Almost one half of the high, spacious, circular wall was covered in large monitors displaying statistics, text and images. I couldn’t follow any of it. In the back of the room was a wide, curved, dark-wood desk, a high-backed chair behind it. There were four computer monitors on the desktop, but only one keyboard and mouse. That meant four interconnected computers. That meant that whoever usually sat at that desk could do the work of four people at once. The long short of it, he was smart.
There were two young men in the room already. One was older, taller, and more muscular. He had light, short, spiky hair and intense light yellow eyes, almost the same color of his hair. He stood with his hands held behind his back as his gaze danced over the monitors before him, studying them and very clearly understanding them. The second figure was smaller, about my build. He was sitting on the corner of the desk closest to the door. His hair was similarly spiky, but darker and a little longer than the other’s. His dark, almost black eyes were kind, but calculating. He was speaking, reciting some kind of report.
“…Team four repelled the most recent Order strike in Egypt. They destroyed the enemy’s Shadow items when necessary, recovered them for our use when possible, and used the penalty game Mind Wipe to erase all knowledge of the Order and the Shadow Items from their opponent’s minds. The erasure took in all seven cases, and no one was permanently harmed. It looks like you were right, Greg. The entire Duelists of the Order is in its death throes.”
“I agree, Tim,” the larger figure replied, “so why can’t I bring myself to believe it?”
“Because,” Prof cut in arrogantly, both interrupting and announcing our presence, “you know deep down that I’m right. I predicted that something was about to happen that would lead the Order as a whole to find its second wind and become more dangerous than ever, and deep down you know I’m right.”
“Still singing the same tune, Prof?” the one named Greg asked, not even bothering to look over at us. “I thought I told you to let it drop. With no command structure to speak of there’s no way that the Order can recover to the extent that you’ve predicted.”
Prof smiled, “I respectfully disagree, Gregory, and if you weren’t so blinded by your desire for this war to end, we’d be singing a duet. You claim that you’ve accounted for the strength of every strong Duelist left in the Order’s ranks, and that none have the skill or the power to lead, but my equations don’t lie. Numbers never lie.”
Gregory finally looked over, to speak a retort, but he stopped when he saw me. Gregory looked Prof in the eyes and demanded, “Who is this?”
“The new recruit I mentioned,” Prof replied calmly, grinning defiantly. “His name’s Robert Stone, a former member of the Duel Force. He holds the Soul of Earth.”
“Hi,” I said, “you can call me Rocky.”
“I told you,” Gregory said, speaking to Prof, “that you were not to recruit anyone else.” He looked and sounded more intimidating that I ever could have imagined.
Prof lowered his voice, “Come on Greg. If I’m right, then we need this kid to win the coming battle. If not, then, well, I still need a new fifth member for my team. Team Two can’t be left undermanned. He’s good, at least as good as me, on a bad day. I could really use someone like him covering my back.”
Gregory looked from me to Prof, and then back to me. “Fine, Prof,” he said, “but he’s your responsibility.” Gregory took a step toward me and offered me his hand. I shook it, and he introduced himself, “I’m Gregory Hendriks, leader and co-founder of the Duelists Elite.” He gestured toward the second figure, “This is my brother Timothy, second co-founder, and the head of our most powerful team.”
Timothy walked over, shaking my hand as well. His stance was far less aggressive than his brother’s “I’m Timothy Hendriks,” he said. “Good to meet you.”
“Yeah,” I said, “Likewise.”
“Now that we’ve gotten through the awkward process of introductions,” said Prof, “I’d like to take my new recruit to the AE to begin the equally awkward process of meeting his team-mates.”
“You’ll find Charlie and James there,” said Timothy, having already returned to his previous perch on the desk, “but you know better than to think you’ll find Rachel anywhere relaxing.”
“I know,” Prof replied, “but considering Rachel’s usual mental state, I figured I’d save her for last.”
We crossed the Arena Room and stepped through another retracting bulkhead door into an even more massive room with a much higher ceiling. The ceiling was lined with fluorescent, ultraviolet lights, put in place to provide nourishing brightness to the trees and grass that had been planted in the implanted soil below. A stream ran across a section of the room, supplied by a series of pipes that protruded from the stone wall. There were several small groves of trees scattered about, surrounded by hills and grassy fields. In the back of the room I saw a basketball court and a soccer field, near a flat field large enough for American Football. A running path wrapped the entire enclosure. There were people about, running, relaxing, dueling, and interacting to various degrees. There were both boys and girls, all relatively young. Few of them were older than twenty-five.
It was an Artificial Environment. AE.
“Impressive isn’t it?” Prof asked.
“Yeah,” I said, in awe, “it really is.”
Prof smiled, “Come on, I’ll introduce you to the team.”
Prof led me to a grove of trees nearby. As we walked, he explained, “This place, all of it, is paid for by the Hendriks’ massive fortune, as well as various contributions from powerful figures who are aware of the Order, but unable to fight in any other way. We’ve been outnumbered since this battle started, but we have more skill. There are around seventy Duelists here. The best twenty-five are the only ones who actively intercept the Order when it attacks. They’re the best of the best, making up the five teams that operate in the field. Everyone else is strong as well, but they’re mostly reserve, for when one of our higher ranking members is incapacitated, or decides to return to his normal life. I’m pretty well known around here for being the only team leader who never uses reserve members. I like to hand pick my team members myself. That’s why, when my last fifth decided to return home, I made a point to seek you out as quickly as possible.”
I nodded. I was finally starting to get a clear picture of what was going on. Of what the Elite was really like and how it functioned.
We reached the grove, approaching one large tree in particular. In the branches overhead there sat a boy, maybe a year or two older than me, his back to us, tapping his foot against the branch upon which he sat, keeping time with a song that played silently in his mind. His legs were crossed casually, and his hands were folded behind his resting head, but somehow I felt that he was aware of us.
My suspicions were confirmed when even before we were in his field of vision, the boy said, “Hey Prof.”
“Charlie,” said Prof, “good to see you.”
“Who’s the new guy?” Charlie asked. He finally sat up, turning to look over at me.
“This is Robert ‘Rocky’ Stone,” Prof replied, “our new fifth member.”
“Is he any good?” Charlie asked.
“He beat me.”
Charlie scrutinized me and then returned to his previous, lazy position. “I’m not really in the mood to care much right now,” he said. “James’ll care though. He’s kicking that damn soccer ball around again, or at least he was twenty-three minutes ago when I checked last.”
“Thanks,” said Prof. He turned toward the soccer field and started walking. I followed. Once we were out of earshot, he said, “Don’t mind Charlie. He’s pretty distant, and he’s arrogant beyond the ability of rational human beings to believe, but he’s a good guy, with powerful magic, including the ability to extend his senses, and an even more powerful deck. James isn’t quite as strong on either front, but he’s physically more powerful, and a lot easier to get along with.”
We walked for a few minutes before we reached the soccer field. One player in particular was stealing the show. He was six feet tall, maybe sixteen years old, with golden blond hair and sharp blue eyes. He was clearly athletic, his movements fluid and precise. He was playing against three others: two guys, one older and one younger, and a girl of maybe fifteen. The three were clearly athletic as well. They were also clearly losing.
I didn’t have to ask which one was James.
When James saw us, he told the others thanks for the game, took a sweat rag to his face, took a swig of water from a water bottle, and made his way over to us.
“Robert ‘Rocky’ Stone,” Prof introduced, “meet James, the Elite’s resident jock. Name a sport and James here excels at it.” To James he said, “James, meet Rocky, our team’s new fifth member.”
James shook my hand enthusiastically and replied in an Australian accent, “Good to meet ya. I’ve been lookin’ forward to meetin’ whoever Prof found for us next.”
We made pleasant small talk with James for a few more minutes before Prof finally said, “Well, I think it’s time Rocky met our final member.”
“Oh, you mean Rachel?” James asked. “Well, good luck to ya then.”
I was confused, but I replied politely, “Thanks.” Then, after Prof and I were well on our way back toward the exit of the AE room, I asked, “What did he mean?”
Prof smiled mischievously and replied, “You’ll see.”
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