So fair warning, this book in not only another tournament story, like the previous full book, but it is also pretty different from my other stories. There is no big supernatural threat, or unsavory characters to show up, it is simply an opportunity for character building and a chance to see my main characters battle each other, and a chance to say goodbye to the Duel Force as it has existed for so long. This is because, after this book, John's Duel Force will break up and the members will go their separate ways. The Duel Force will still exist, but someone else will take the position as leader, and take the team in their own direction. This book is also a goodbye of another kind, as this book marks the last time that we will ever see one of the main characters.
Chapter OneThe Last Meeting of the Duel Force
I woke up one morning, and it hit me almost out of nowhere: I was finally a high school graduate! In fact, many of the Duel Force’s members had graduated recently. Karen, Tucker, and Rocky were all out of high school, Lawrence and Monty had never gone back to school since joining our the Duel Force, electing to get GED's instead, and they were all ready to move on with their lives. Max, who hadn't even bothered with a GED, was already planning to quit the Duel Force soon and go into the world saving business for himself, and Kimi had recently been accepted into some gifted school overseas in Japan. She would attend her junior and senior years there.
None of us had said it yet, but the Duel Force was through. Marik was gone. Blackheart was gone. The Dark Divine Dragon was defeated. The remnants of the Order were still at large, but they had the Duelists Elite to contend with. Other than the fact that the Duelist's Souls hadn't disappeared after The Duelist's battle with Blackheart last year like we'd thought they would, and we still had to stand guard over them, we were no longer needed. We were finally free to live our lives.
I reached over and switched off my alarm, thoughts like these running through my mind at light speed. The Duel Force was to meet later today. I planned to tell the others then that the Duel Force was to be disbanded, so that those of us who wanted to go our separate ways wouldn't feel compelled to stay for the team.
I sat up and looked out the window. The sky was completely clear. No clouds at all. I took a deep breath and I sighed deeply. Then I began my day. I showered, stopping breifly to scan my perpetually untidy dark brown hair with my dark eyes, and to run my fingers hopelessly through it, before I shaved off my peach fuzz, dressed and headed down the stairs. I microwaved some left over Chinese food that I found in the fridge, plopped down on the couch, and watched some TV. I could hear Sarah getting ready upstairs. The meeting was supposed to start in forty minutes. I waited another thirty before my sister finally lumbered down to meet me. Her curly blonde hair was still wet. She was wearing a powder blue hooded sweatshirt with a 9 on each sleeve, faded jeans, and glasses.
“You’re late, Sister,” I said.
“Well,” she replied, “I guess we’d better get going, Brother.”
We both smiled.
We stepped outside and walked to my car. I drove us to the mall where we found our friends and team-mates waiting for us in the Game Center, in our usual corner of the room, sitting at our usual two tables. I greeted my friends. I’d become relatively close to every member of my team in one way or another. For just a minute I wished that I hadn’t. If I didn’t know them so well, it would’ve be a lot easier to tell them what I had to tell them.
I sat down at one of the two tables next to the beautiful dark-haired Karen. We were sort of a couple. Or at least I thought we were, it was hard to tell.
“Alright guys,” I said, “I’m going to get right to the point.”
I looked from face to face. All eyes were on me. I was their leader, so they were used to looking to me. I would miss that. I took a deep breath and said, “This will be the last meeting of the Duel Force, because after today, there will be no Duel Force.”
“What?!” Tucker demanded, standing up and leaning in over the table top. He planted his hands on the surface with a loud “thud”, and his Soul of Fire flickered, glowing with a red light that was almost as bright as my oldest friend’s red hair.
“You can’t do that,” said Jen, glaring at me with eyes as dark as mine, through hair recently died black and purple.
“Why would you want to?” Sarah asked, sounding a little hurt.
“That’s easy,” said Rocky, leaning back in his chair, looking at us from under sand-colored bangs, straightening his trademark khaki explorer’s vest. “He knows that most of us are at a point where we’re going to have to choose between this team and continuing on with our lives, and he wants that choice to be an easy one. Everyone here knows that many of us will be parting ways soon, whether we talk about it with each other of not. Now that all of our enemies have been defeated, I for one, plan on finding the Duelists Elite and joining their ranks. I want to continue doing things that are bigger than myself.
“And I’ve got that school back home in Japan,” said Kimi, pushing her shoulder length black hair out of her dark eyes.
“But I don’t want it to be over,” said Amanda, a little desperately, “I was just getting into it!”
“Yeah,” said Kris, twirling her long light brown hair around her index finger absentmindedly, “I don’t want it to end either. The only reason I’ve gotten confident enough to compete in tournaments is because I’m a member of this team.”
“The only reason we lasted this long,” I said, “was because we had enemies. After all we were basically kids when we formed this team. But it’s like Rocky said: our enemies are gone. We don’t need to protect the Souls anymore, at least not on a daily basis. The only other reason for us to carry on would be so we could call ourselves the Duel Force at tournaments, but none of you need to anymore. You’re all strong on your own.”
“But maybe we want to,” said Tucker. “Maybe you’ve forgotten how this all started, but I haven’t. This team was formed to duel. You even said that you wanted Duelists everywhere to know about us. To know our names, and the name Duel Force.”
“They do,” I countered.
“Which is why this isn’t right,” said Karen thoughtfully. “Duelists everywhere admire the name Duel Force. John, you won the world title. You. Some kid from Ohio. Not Yugi Muto, you. You’ve given Duelists everywhere hope, and inspired them to be all that they can be. We all have. Which is why, if we're really going to stop being a team, we can't just end it. We should find a way to go out with a bang.”
“We should have a tournament!” blurted Tucker. “John, let's have a Duel Force only tournament, and when it’s done, if you still want to end this thing, I won’t say a word.”
“Honestly,” said Lawrence in his typically indifferent tone, crossing his arms across the chest of his dragon print t-shirt, “I don’t care what we do.”
“I do,” I said, swayed by Karen and Tucker's arguments, “and a tournament doesn’t sound like a bad idea. But we’ll need more people if we want it to be single elimination.”
“There’s Jenna,” said Sarah, “and Mom.”
“And I’m sure Christopher wouldn’t mind another shot at you, John,” said Jen.
Tucker counted on his fingers, “But wait, that’s only fifteen. Who else could we get? We need,” he counted on his fingers again, “one more.”
“And don’t forget,” said Monty, “that we'll need to find a public place to hold an event like this, if we want it to be public.”
I smiled, struck with sudden inspiration, “Just leave everything to me.”
We hung out for a while, talking cards, life, and anything else that came to mind. After a few hours Sarah and I headed home. I dropped her off and then drove to the bank to make a withdrawal. It was time to dip into my Grand Championship winnings: a total of nearly two hundred thousand dollars after taxes, which had just been sitting in the bank, accruing interest.
On my way home from the bank, I made some calls. I called my odd but loyal Duel Monsters apprentice Jenna first, inviting her to compete. She eagerly agreed, anxious to prove herself to me, which she didn’t really need to do anymore. Then I called Christopher, my old rival from the Duel Force’s very first tournament appearance. He seemed just as eager himself. He never passed up an opportunity to test his skills against mine. I knew my mom would agree, since she’d often expressed a desire to complete against me in a public venue, so once I was home I remained in the car long enough to make the final, most difficult call. I took a deep breath as my call was put through to Kaiba Corporation.
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