Oh, hey, an action scene that isn't a card game! This book actually has, like two whole ones of those, and this one is pretty good if I do say so myself. The next couple are a duel. It was a fun one to write, but I probably won't comment on them much, if at all.
What I want to comment on is whether or not I invalidate Rachel as a character by having Rocky fight this battle for her. I agonized over this when writing this book, but really, after going through what she just went through, she deserves a little bit of time, and she more than makes up for it in just, like, two chapters or something. You'll see.
Chapter Seventeen
Bonds, Part One
Rachel
My head felt heavy, and everything seemed a little distant, but even through the confusion, I heard Tim’s beckoning voice calling out to me, “Give me the Necklace.”
Before I knew what was happening, I was walking toward him. There was no other possible option. No other possible destination. I reached up and removed the Necklace, holding it out to him, a mere four steps away.
Step.
I was vaguely aware of Rocky calling out to me. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but for some reason I tried to hear him anyway.
Step.
Rocky called to me again. This time, through all of the fogginess, I was able to make out a single word: Rod.
Step.
I looked over at the Shadow Rod in Tim’s hand. He’d set down the scales to receive my Item, but he kept the Rod firmly in his grasp. The Rod, with its silver eye glowing.
Step.
Suddenly it was as if my mind had cleared and a whole new world had opened up for me. I understood. Everything became clear. I saw a vision of the day that Tim and I had met. Somehow I knew that the vision came from my Necklace. On that day, Tim had been interested in my necklace. He’d even offered to let me exchange it for another Shadow Item, one with fewer bad memories attached, but I’d told him that I would never give up the Necklace that my parents had died for. That I’d protect it with my life the way that I wasn’t able to protect them. Tim had stayed close to me after that, and every time I’d seen him since, he’d looked right at my Necklace.
I realized in that very moment why it was that Tim had really spent time me. Why he’d really gotten so close. He’d been after my Necklace the whole time, waiting for an opportunity to take it from me.
Suddenly my mind cleared, the Rod’s spell broken by the sheer strength of my revelation. Emperor reached out for the Necklace, his fingers mere inches from his objective. Just as his fingers brushed the chain, I pulled it back, holding it close against my chest.
“No,” I said. “You never really cared about me. You were just waiting for a chance to get the Necklace, and when you realized that I’d never let you have it, and that I’d never let you take it, you decided to go after the other Items first. To save mine for last.”
Emperor’s once welcoming expression turned vicious, and in a harsh voice he cried, “I will have that Necklace! If you won’t give it me, then I’ll use the power I already have to take it from you!”
The immense stone doors behind us swung violently shut. I took a step back from Emperor as he picked up the Shadow Scales. I pulse of light spread from the six Items, and I felt the power from my Shadow Item disappear as Emperor prepared to strike.
Emperor lunged at me, reaching for my Shadow Millennium Necklace. I stepped back, but I was too slow. He was going to catch me. Then, suddenly, Prof and Rocky were there. Prof deflected Emperor’s hand up and then twisted to the side, out of the way, as Rocky came in low and drove up, meaning to deliver a powerful blow to Emperor’s jaw, but Emperor was quick. He leaned back, just out of Rocky’s reach, and gripped the Shadow Scales and Shadow Rod more tightly in his hands. There was a flash of light from the six items and the three of us found ourselves slammed against the closed double doors. We were down, too stunned to rise, but Marco was still up. He stepped between me and Emperor, his hair standing up, color draining from it.
“You won’t get to the girl,” Marco announced in the harsh, confident voice of Dark Marco. There was a flash and the ‘Dark Armed Dragon’ appeared by his side. The dragon wound its arms in black fire and swiped its mighty claws at Emperor. He leaped out of the way, the claws leaving a three-foot-deep gash in the ground where he’d stood. The dragon struck again, and again Emperor narrowly avoided his would-be fate. He summoned up another pulse of light. From the light emerged a tall warrior in complete armor, colored black, wearing a tattered cape. The warrior summoned darkness into his hands and released it, engulfing the dragon. With his monster gone, Dark Marco was left open to Emperor’s next magical attack. He was thrown into the wall and knocked unconscious, his hair returning to normal. I looked up at Emperor. There was nothing left separating me from him.
I stood up and moved to meet Emperor head-on. I threw punch after punch and kick after kick, but Emperor was able to counter each blow with ease, even with the Shadow Rod and Shadow Scales in his hands.
“Do you really expect to defeat me?” Emperor asked. “I’m the one who taught you to fight, and I have the Shadow Millennium Eye. I can see every choice that enters your mind as you make it!”
“I won’t give up!” I declared, and I made one final, desperate move, but before it could connect, I found myself flying through the air, once again a victim of Emperor’s power. I hit the wall and fell to the ground beside my friends yet again, hitting my head, causing my vision to blur. I was too stunned to rise. I guess my last attack had been closer to its mark than I thought, though, because Emperor was shaken.
“If you insist on fighting me,” Emperor cried, his expression of frustration twisting into one of desperate rage, “then I’ll crush you and take the Necklace from your corpse!”
He raised his Shadow Rod toward the ceiling, and chunks of stone broke free and fell toward me. I threw up my arms in desperation, knowing all the while that my efforts were in vain, and waited for the end to come, but it never did. There was a flash of light, and as I watched from behind my arms, the falling stone became harmless sand. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, and I looked over just in time to see Rocky rise to his feet. The look in his eyes made me afraid, until I remembered that he was my friend, and that all of that pain and emotion was directed at Emperor. That thought alone made me smile.
Rocky
I was angry. I was angrier than I ever remember feeling in my entire life. But even more than I was angry, I was determined. I knew that one way or another I would keep Emperor from harming my friends. Letting him by was not an option.
“You can’t beat me any more than the others can,” said Emperor confidently.
I smiled, “We’ll see.”
I lunged, swinging my leg up and dropping my heel hard, aiming right for Emperor’s collar bone. The blow would have broken the bone and brought Emperor forcefully, and painfully, to his knees, but Emperor was fast. All in one motion he returned the Rod and Scales to his belt, ducked to the side, spun, and launched a kick at my head. Letting my instincts guide my movements, I ducked under his foot and slid gracefully to the side, avoiding a follow-up knee strike.
I rolled in, punching high with my weaker left fist. Emperor caught the blow as I’d expected he would, and I used his grip on my hand as a hinge to swing my arm forcefully, making a blind strike with my elbow for Emperor’s solar plexus. He brought his palms together and caught me elbow, so I twisted into position and launched a back fist at his face.
Emperor ducked back out of the range of my blow. He was a good fighter, but he was even better at retreating. I stepped in close, negating his evasive motion, and thrust an elbow at his chest. I wanted to crush a few ribs. Emperor jumped backward like lightning and sailed into the air, aided by the power of his items. Without thinking, I swung my fist at him, and a chunk of stone tore loose from the floor and hurled toward my opponent.
Emperor summoned up another energy pulse that sent my stone attack spiraling away. He landed a moment later, only seven or so feet from where I stood. I axe kicked the ground, splitting stone, creating a growing crevice that lurched toward him. His Items flashed again, and he sailed twenty feet through the air, touching down gently atop his throne where he stood calmly, facing me. He smiled as he reached behind his back. I barely noticed him pull a small blade from the handle of the Shadow Rod. There was a flash, and suddenly Emperor was on me, swinging his blade. I barely had time to react at all, but at the last second I managed to deflect the blade off of my Shield Disk, spin, and kick him right in the chest. He fell back, clutching his wound.
Emperor scowled and reconnected his blade with the Shadow Rod. He redrew the Rod and Scales from his belt and took a deep, focusing breath. Light arched from the other five Items to the Shadow Millennium Pendant, and the Pendant glowed brighter than the six Items had glowed individually. I could have avoided Emperor’s desperation attack as it charged, but I’d had enough. I wanted this to end. This fight. This mission. Battles between the Elite and the Order. All of the heartbreaks and betrayals. All of it.
So when Emperor unleashed a blast of energy so powerful that it shook the entire temple, I closed my eyes and called all of my energy together into my palm. I opened my eyes, and an array of light appeared before me. Emperor’s attack hit the array, and the array absorbed it and dispersed it harmlessly. I looked at the shield that I had summoned, and I knew its name: Aegis Barrier.
“That’s impossible,” said Emperor disbelievingly. “No one Duelist’s Soul can overcome the power of six Shadow Millennium Items!”
“Classic megalomaniacal attitude,” came a voice from behind me. Prof stepped up to my side, “You underestimated your foe. You assumed that you were the most powerful. In fact you waited until you had six of the seven Shadow Millennium Items before you even attempted to take Rachel’s because you wanted to be sure that you were the most powerful when you did. But despite all of your careful planning, you still managed to act rashly. You knew of my calculations. You knew what they predicted, that Rocky would be the one to defeat the new leader of the Order, but, like your brother, you ignored them, because you believed yourself to be above such things. Thanks to your ego, you failed to take time and consider how Rocky might defeat you. Why the numbers predicted that he would.
“Rocky is why,” Prof continued, “and Rocky is how. Everything about him is geared toward being the perfect opposition to someone like you. Where you care for no one but yourself, Rocky gives of himself for the benefit of others. Every Duelist’s Soul draws its power from a particular trait of its wielder. The more prevalent that trait, the more powerful the Soul and its wielder become, and once that trait becomes prevalent enough, the Soul can evolve.
"The Soul of Earth is fueled by the trait of reliability. If its wielder wants to help people, he will have power. If he is willing to give of himself, his power grows. But if he reaches a point where he is willing to risk or even give his life to protect the lives of others, his power will become almost infinite. In other words, the longer he is willing to fight, the further he is willing to go, the stronger he becomes!”
I smiled, “And I don’t plan on rolling over and giving up any time soon.”
Emperor looked from me to Prof and then back to me. I saw fear flash in his scheming eyes, and he looked over his shoulder, turned, and ran toward the temple’s final room and, I assume, an alternate means of exiting the structure.
“No way,” I said, and my Soul flashed. Instantly Emperor found his way blocked by multiple arrays of light, multiple Aegis Barriers. Emperor scowled and turned slowly to face me.
“So it’s come to this,” he said. “Will you kill me, or will you give me a chance to win my freedom in a Shadow Duel?”
“I’m a fair man,” I said. “I’ll give you your chance, to win either your freedom, or your penalty.”
Emperor laughed as he took a duel disk from a holster on his back and slid it onto his wrist. He holstered his Rod and Scales in his belt and said, “Oh Robert, you have finally made a mistake! You may be superior to me outside of a duel, at least until I acquire the final item, but in a duel, there is no one superior to me.”
“I don’t care how ‘superior’ you are,” I replied. “I will defeat you. You will answer for your crimes.”
My Soul glowed, and the ground shook beneath my feet. I drew my opening hand and prepared to duel.
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