It's over six thousaaaaaand!
...
Sorry, I couldn't help it. Anyway, I think it's poetic (or something) that John beats Hiro with a monster whose full power they once brought out together, using basically the same strategy. Granted that the duel in this episode is basically just one turn, but I still feel that this was an important cliffhanger moment, and deserved it's own chapter, along with the plethora of exposition later on. Realize that I actually had readers for this on yugiohcardmaker.net, and so I felt that it was important to deliver on the drama, and to explain things which they might have been wondering about, such as whether the characters would keep the Souls, and where the story was going next.
Also, yay, John and Karen are (basically) an official couple now!
No Card of the Day this chapter, as the obvious star of the chapter is "Gren Maju", who has already been Card of the Day once before.
Chapter Eighteen
The Victor, and the Proposal
I looked down at my card, and I smiled. “It looks like this duel could be over,” I said. “I activate the Spell card ‘Card of Sanctity’. We each draw until we hold six cards.
I drew five cards, and tried to hide my excitement. It was hard. I was practically shaking.
“Next up,” I said, “I activate ‘Soul Release’, removing five cards in my Graveyard from play.”
I pulled five Spell and Trap cards out of my Graveyard and placed them in the deck box at my waist, giving me ten cards removed from play.
Not enough, I thought. Not yet.
“Now I activate the magic duplication card ‘Double Spell’,” I declared. “I discard ‘Dimension Fusion’ and choose a Spell to activate from your Graveyard, a Spell like ‘Magical Stone Excavation’! I discard ‘Summoned Skull’ and ‘Polymerization’,” I declared, “to return a Spell card in my Graveyard to my hand. Now I activate that card. ‘Soul Release’ will remove five of the monsters in my Graveyard from play!”
I chose five cards from my Graveyard, placing them in my deck box as well. Transparent shadowy forms of ‘Summoned Skull’, ‘Chaosrider Gustaph’, ‘Great Maju Garzett’, ‘Gemini Elf’, and ‘The Fiend Megacyber’ appeared at my side before fading away.
“What are you doing?” Hiro asked.
“You should know,” I answered. “You and I came up with this move together, back in our duel against Marik.”
Hiro smiled, “I thought so.”
I smiled back, looking down at the deck box at my waist. Fifteen cards. It’s time.
“This entire duel, you made moves that would cripple my strategies,” I explained. “You removed our monsters from play, knowing that my strongest combos involved either removing my own monsters from play, or summoning every removed from play monster and hoping that my monsters would outnumber my opponent’s. You destroyed my ‘Soul Absorption’, knowing that I relied on it to restore my lost Life Points. Then you summoned a monster that is nearly impossible for me to destroy. But there was one move that not even you could overcome. I summon, ‘Gren Maju Da Eiza’!”
I saw fear flash in my opponent’s eyes. Behind me, a burst of heat and flames erupted from the ground, and a massive beast emerged. It was red in color, with a torso much like that of my ‘Great Maju Garzett’, massive claws, and a lower body that resembled the body of a snake or centipede. It had broad purple wings, attached just behind its shoulders.
“As you know,” I explained, “my monster’s Attack is always equal to the number of cards that I have removed from play times four hundred. I have fifteen cards removed form play. Fifteen times four hundred is six thousand!
“One attack,” I said, “and it’s over.”
Hiro looked me right in the eye and said, “Then attack. It’s about time this duel ended anyway.”
I nodded. Hiro nodded back. “Attack,” I commanded, “with Vile Claw!”
‘Gren Maju’’s right claws were wreathed in swirling black energy. He thrust them forward, piercing the sphere in ‘Saturn’’s chest, and tearing right through the monster’s spheroid body and out the back.
Smoke poured from the wound, and the once-mighty machine shuttered. After a moment’s pause the machine monster exploded from the inside out (1000+2800-6000=0).
My monster disappeared. The holographic screens all around us began to flash my name and final Life Points.
Hiro walked up to stand right in front of me. “So you did it,” he said, “you won. You can take care of the Soul yourself now. There’s nothing left for me to do.”
“So that’s it,” I asked, “you’re out of time?”
“Yeah,” he replied.
“And you aren't taking the Souls with you? We have to keep them here and protect them ourselves?”
“Unfortunately no,” he replied, “I won't be taking the Souls with me. I don't have enough power as Hiro to do that, but if you can guard the Souls until the end of your lives, and you don't pass them on to new wielders, they will fade with you.
“Don’t worry,” he told me, “I said that you're strong enough, and I meant it. And don't worry about me, either. Thanks to you, I got to leave that tomb in Egypt and have a life. I made friends, and dueled against strong opponents. I got to live again. That’s more than I ever expected. Thank you.”
Without another word, Hiro disappeared, leaving behind wisps of black smoke that dispersed in the air. I felt like someone was squeezing my heart, and I had to stop myself from reaching for the place where he'd been.
My friends ran out to meet me as the elevated arena lowered back to the ground and the holographic displays faded. I took the cards left in my deck and combined them with the cards in my Graveyard and deck box, put them away, replaced my Duel Disk on my arm, and deactivated it.
I looked around. The platform had finished lowering. I stepped down from it, and it lowered back down beneath the stadium floor.
People were cheering. Anyone with even a basic understanding of Duel Monsters could have picked up on just how serious those last few turns had been. They'd seen what my chances were, and they'd seen me defy the odds and come out on top. This was my big break. Soon news of the Duel Force Tournament, as well as videos of the duels, would be flooding the internet. If I was lucky, I’d get a call from someone wanting to sign me as a pro. It was all I wanted.
Almost.
Karen was talking to me, but I didn’t hear her. I couldn’t pull myself away from her eyes, her smile. Every gesture was magic. I had opened my mouth to speak, when a man in a black suit stepped up to my side and said, “Excuse me sir, but CEO Seto Kaiba has just arrived, and would like to see you. If you’ll follow me please.”
I looked to Karen, not knowing if I should stay or go.
“What are you waiting for?” she asked. “Go and find out what’s going on.”
I smiled and nodded, and the man led me toward the waiting room door, and my future.
The suited man led me through the waiting room, back to the interior of Kaibaland Tower through which we had entered. We reached an elevator near the front door, and the man said, “Mr. Kaiba wants to meet with you in private, so he’s asked me to remain here. Take the elevator to the office floor. Security has been told to let you through. Walk to the end of the hall. Mr. Kaiba’s office will be straight ahead.”
“Thanks,” I said. I pressed the button on the elevator panel, and the doors opened right up. I stepped inside. The topmost button was labeled “OFC”. Out of habit I thought, Guess that means office, right pal? It was a few moments before I remembered that Hiro wasn’t there. I felt alone.
I took a deep breath as the elevator sped upward. It wasn’t long before the doors slid open to a circular entry way with three corridors branching off of it. There was a semi-circular desk ahead of me and to the right, just next to the corridor straight ahead. There was a man at the desk. He ignored me.
I walked straight, down the corridor and up to the door at the end. I knocked, and I heard a harsh-sounding voice call, “Come in.”
I opened the door and found myself in a huge office. Its entire back wall was a huge window overlooking the city. There were bookshelves lined with books against each wall, and potted plants in each corner, but the room seemed impersonal. Seto Kaiba was obviously not someone who had much of a personal life. He was strictly business.
Seto Kaiba was sitting at his deck in a high-backed chair. His desk was wide, made of some kind of obviously expensive dark wood. But even as I took in all of these details, I noticed one more important detail, that being that Kaiba wasn’t alone.
I walked up to the desk and shook Kaiba’s hand, trying not to sound star struck. “Mr. Kaiba,” I said, “it’s an honor.”
“The honor is all mine,” Kaiba replied, though he seemed somehow just short of genuine. He gestured to the other figure in the room, “I’d like you to meet my, uh, associate Maximillion Pegasus.”
Pegasus shook my hand and said to Kaiba, “We’ve actually met.”
Kaiba leaned back in his chain, interlaced his fingers and said, “I don’t believe in small talk, so I’ll get right to the point. Mr. Pegasus and I, in a joint effort, have set in motion a project that will further the dueling community all over the world. I recently acquired a small island off of Japan, on which we have constructed a school dedicated to teaching all things Duel Monsters. This Duel Academy will offer courses in everything from professional dueling to card design. You have become well known in the United States. You have become something of an icon, in fact. Some people are even calling you the Yugi of America. If you were to attend the Academy, it would no doubt inspire other American Duelists to attend, following your example.”
“As my colleague has already mentioned,” said Pegasus, “dueling itself is not the only focus of Duel Academy. My role in this project will be to provide criteria for programs in card design and conception. My hope is that the graduates of this Academy will be the next generation of my staff at Industrial Illusions.”
“We want you to enroll,” said Kaiba. “You will be older than the majority of the other students, as they will mostly be High School age, but we can make your enrollment worth your while. You will be guaranteed a place in the school’s largest dorm, and a career in the International Professional Dueling Circuit upon graduation.”
I couldn’t believe it. It was more than I could have hoped for. It was almost perfect.
I thought for a second, and then I said, “I’ll do it, but only under one condition. I want to be able to bring someone else along.”
I made my way back down to the sitting room where my friends were waiting, minus Max of course.
“What’s up?” asked Tucker. “What did Kaiba want?”
“Not just Kaiba,” I said. “Pegasus was there too! He and Kaiba are building a Duelist’s school on some island that Kaiba bought with his gazillions, and they want me to attend. They think of me as some kind of celebrity!”
“Really?” Sarah asked, as if picturing me as a celebrity made her head hurt.
“You gonna do it?” Tucker asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “I mean, they’ve got this whole thing set up where if you graduate, you get a chance to go straight to the pro circuit! It’s some high-school-slash-prep-school thing, so what, four years? No problem! I’ll get to learn something, and think of all the strong opponents that I’ll get to beat!”
Everyone was excited. Everyone except for Karen. I saw her walk, sulking, out the interior door and into the tower lobby.
“Guys,” I said, “wait here.” I followed Karen, leaving the others to wait and wonder.
“Karen, wait up!”
She stopped and turned, glaring at me and demanded, “What?!”
“What’s your problem?” I asked.
“What’s my problem? It’s you, John, you’re my problem! I thought there was something going on with us, but if you’re willing to just go away without even talking to me, then I must be wrong.”
“But this isn’t just about me -.”
“I mean, after your duel you’re two seconds from saying that you love -.”
“Will you just listen?!”
She crossed her arms and stood waiting, “Fine, talk.”
“This isn’t just about me,” I said. “This is about both of us. I want you to attend Duel Academy with me!”
She scowled, “How many times do I have to tell you. I don’t want to be a Duelist. I want to -.”
“You don't want to be a Duelist," I said, smiling softly, "because you're afraid that the more you duel the more likely it is that that dark part of you that Yami pulled out of you will come out again, even though the rest of us trust you. You know that that darkness is a part of you, just like," I hesitated, "just like mine is a part of me, and you're scared."
Karen looked me in the eyes, flashing with sadness and fear. Karen didn't discuss that part of herself. She hated that part of herself. But I didn't. Her past didn't matter to me.
"So instead," I continued, allowing myself to get excited again, "you want to design cards, to create rather than destroy. But that’s the thing. A whole division of the school staff is devoted to teaching game design. You can come with me, and if you do well, you’ll get a chance to join Pegasus’ creative staff!”
I watched as all of the fear and anger melted from her expression. “Really?” she asked. “And Kaiba wants me?”
“Not Kaiba,” I said, “Pegasus himself. When I mentioned your name and that you wanted to design cards, he seemed really happy. And I told Kaiba that he didn’t get me without you. No me, and no American publicity for his new school. So of course he said yes.”
She was speechless. Her eyes began to tear up.
“Oh come on,” I said, “don’t cry. I don’t know what to do when my girlfriend cries.”
Karen let out a sarcastic sort of chuckle. She smiled over her shoulder at me as she turned to walk away, and said, “I’m not your girlfriend yet. If this Duel Academy thing works out, then we'll see.”
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