/Duel Universe
/Author: The Cowboy of Oklahoma
/Ch 42: Prodigy
/word count: 2368
Human Encampment
Akiza Izinski III woke with a migraine. Holding her head in her hands, she was sure it would fall off if she let it go. As she made her way to the wash, she thought the lights were a bit too bright. That is until she switched on the light over the sink.
"OOOOWWWW!" She screamed.
"Her adoptive big sister, Shelly Carson, shot out of her bed and moved quickly towards the source of the noise, "Aki!? Aki, what's happenin'!?" She sounded concerned.
"My eyes!" She screamed for what she was worth, "my eyes are burning up!"
Shelly checked her sister, saw nothing was wrong, besides her eyes being very bloodshot, then began to stifle a laugh.
"It's not funny!! I'm serious! This hurts!" She wailed.
"I'm, I'm sorr…" she snorted, "...I'm sorry, but it's what ya' get for gettin' wasted shortly after yer' birthday," she said.
"Ow! What am I supposed to do about it?" She asked.
"Well, first off, yer' goin' to need some liquid to help you wash these toxins out yer' system. Then some food to help yer' body push them along quicker," she explained.
"I'm never drinking again!" She said unconvincingly.
"Did ya' eat last night before drinkin'?" Shelly asked.
"No. I didn't want to puke it all back up after drinking," she explained, "I heard that's how some people get sick after drinking, so I decided that, 'if I drink, I'm not tossing back up my lunch."
"Well, that's where ye' went wrong. Food helps clear yer' system faster and reduces how drunk ye' feel later. Now drink," Shelly said as she handed over a glass of water, "then eat breakfast."
"Uh, fine," Akiza accepted and drank slowly, then moved to the kitchen, got some toast and butter, then sprinkled it with cinnamon sugar, and ate hungrily. Then Shelly reached for the light switch, "don't even think about it!"
Shelly stopped reaching, then her lips began to turn skyward, stretching into the Cheshire grin.
"No! NO! Goddamnit!! Sis!" She hollered as the lights came on.
"It's all part of the experience sis. First ye' drink, then ye' feel sick, then ye' get tortured by yer' friends and family," she said laughing.
Baddeck
Cpt, Ka'an Freeman was expecting some charts as the bridge was quietly focused on the task of monitoring their sector of space. A few operators called out in clear tones about basic functions and minor adjustments needed, it was all background noise at this point.
"COB, you have the bridge," he suddenly got up and walked off the bridge.
"Aye, sir," Julian Garrack responded and went back to overlooking everyone's work.
Then a sailor spoke up, "COB, Radio, ground wants to know why Cpt Freeman is onboard," they said.
"He's the captain of the ship! Why does he need a reason to come aboard?" He asked incredulously.
"Ground says that the captain has not yet reported back in for duty and that General Marcellus wants a word with him," the operator paused, "in person, sir."
Garrack wasn't a fan of politics or bureaucrats, "fine," he turned to a sailor standing watch, "go and find the captain, and inform him that he's wanted planetside," COB commanded.
"Sir, that could take a minute. The captain didn't say where he was going, shouldn't we use the overhead…," the sailor started but was cut off.
"If I wanted to use the squawk, I would have reached for it! Now go and find the captain and inform him of the situation on the ground!" COB barked.
The sailor promptly saluted, turned, then went through the hatch, quickly disappearing.
The operator looked questioningly at the sailor beside him, then spoke up, "uh, sir? Why didn't you use the speakers?"
"The captain has his reasons for whatever he's doing. That man has saved so many of our lives, even before he was named captain of this vessel. So if I can give him a few extra seconds of peace, I'm giving them to him any way I can," he explained.
The rest of the crew went silent, turned back to their tasks, and carried on as if nothing had happened.
I was making my way to my quarters, if looking at charts and diagrams wasn't distracting enough, I had decided to have a look around the ship. Not that I expected there to be a problem, but a captain's duties weren't something to be taken lightly. Not that I had been here to do any of this for the past few weeks. My impromptu vacation turned into a self-exile, then a harrowing escape from death. My return wasn't much better, my duel with Shelly had just added more questions to an already confused mind. Bah! Why was I so hooked up on this situation!? So a couple of women, or more, that copilot made it clear she was wanting some…, STOP IT! I'm just no good with women. There! I admitted it…to no one in particular.
As I walked along the mostly empty corridors, I saw the occasional body in a bunk getting some sleep, cooks working in the mess hall, technicians tweaking a bundle of wires, and engineers monitoring the engines, adjusting settings to keep them operational. I kept walking until I heard footfalls coming from down the corridor where I had just been. They were hurried, but not expedient.
The runner came around a corner and saw me standing there, "sir! Ground has requested your immediate return and General Marcellus requests an audience," they said while breathing heavily.
"And why wasn't I called with the overhead?" I asked.
"COB didn't say, sir."
"Hm, very well. I'll be there momentarily. Send for transport once you're back on the bridge," I ordered.
"Aye, sir!" They saluted and turned to head back.
"Well this isn't what I wanted to do today," I said to the bulkhead.
Spirit Castle
One uneventful trip back to the surface and I find myself standing in the foyer of the castle this little side venture started in. Apparently General Marcellus and Dark Magician Girl, the ruler of this land, funny, she's never really said what her official title here is. Queen? Empress? President? Whichever, they've been in talks ever since the message was sent for my swift return. I hope they finish up quickly, I'm bored and don't really want to be here right now. The doors leading to the throne room\council meeting hall finally cracked open and General Marcellus stepped out into the hall followed shortly by the ruler of the realm herself.
She gave me a sideways glance but addressed the general directly, "thank you for your insight general, I shall pass your ideas along to my subjects and the machine clan work crews in orbit."
"Thank you, your Highness. I'll take my leave and handle the other situation that has developed," he gave a curt bow.
Dark Magician Girl gave a curtsey and went on her way, the general turned to me and his expression flattened out completely, "follow Captain," it wasn't a suggestion.
I fell into step to the left and behind the general as he briskly walked away from the throne room.
"Sir? What has happened that I should be called back from the Baddeck so quickly?" I inquired.
The general didn't respond but kept up the pace, which I followed easily. We went for what I thought was the same landing pad I had just arrived from, but then he took a turn for a side hallway and walked at the same pace without fail.
'Okay, this is beginning to get a little weird. Where were we going?' I thought to myself.
General Marcellus finally stopped in front of a room I have never been to before and rapidly knocked on the door.
A few seconds later and a panel slid open revealing a pair of yellow, glowing eyes, "General," was the deep-voiced response, then the door opened.
When we stepped in, the room was completely dark, except for a single beam of light pointed straight down onto the head of a human tied to a chair I presumed to be in the very middle of the room. The man slowly lifted his head and my shock at who it was, was extremely evident.
"BENSEN!!"
He saw me and just chuckled, "hehehehe, well, well, well. Lookie who we have here(?) Big hero man of the hour. Bet you thought blasting me to the next time zone over, or whatever these creatures call time is, should have killed me. But you see, you're going to have to do a lot better than that to get rid of me!"
"Let me ring your scrawny little…!" I moved forward only to be grabbed by the monster guarding the room, and held away from the prisoner' "let me go! I'm going to kill him for good this time!"
"STAND DOWN CAPTAIN!!" The shout from General Marcellus caught me a little off guard and I went limp, "Major Bensen has…"
"NO! He is not a major anymore! I absolutely refuse to accept that this man's rank has been reinstated!! No, sir!!" I interrupted.
The general took my stance on this for a moment before continuing, "Bensen was found by a wing of dragons during a patrol. He was, as he says, almost three hundred miles away in what we would consider another time zone. Captain, you blasted him across a continent and he survived. We, humans and monsters alike, think it has something to do with him wielding those special cards."
"I don't care! I'll kill him for what he did!" I strained against the large monster holding me back.
"That's enough, Captain!! If you can't control yourself here, I will not allow you to go on the mission to eliminate this threat that gave Major Bensen his new-found powers!!" The General barked out, and it caught me off guard.
"Mission? What mission, sir?" I asked.
"The Major has been talking and with mages confirming his words to be true, we now know of these fiends that gave him those cards and his ability to survive his ordeal," he explained, "and he's agreed to lead a task force to their exact location."
"Okay, so what sort of task force are we going to be sending there?" I inquired, "fifty duel soldiers, duel monster backups, and enough transports to…"
The general looked to Steve and then back to me, Steve just smirking, "we…aren't sending such a large task force to handle the situation."
"What!? What do you mean we're not using a large force!? We need to send in a large enough force to make those fiends think twice about ever pulling a stunt like this again!" I demanded.
"I hear you, captain, however, Major Bensen refuses to lead anyone there, other than you, Commander Carson, and her adopted sister.
'No. No. No!' My mind reeled with even the thought of doing that to Shelly and Akiza again. To put them in a situation where they could be hurt, or captured and tortured like they were before, "No, sir! I will not agree to such an idiotic and blatant plan for Steve to try and kill us while we will be completely outgunned and outnumbered! And to ask for a civilian to join us, sir? Don't you see what this is? He's just wanting to reenact the situation that happened at the Oceanica! He's not going to lead us to their base! He's just using this information to get back at me for kicking his sorry ass in our duel! He was almost completely untouched and I came in with next to nothing and I beat him!" I explained.
Steve had shifted slightly in his seat, which creaked as he did. He scoffed, "it was a fluke. I had that duel won if you hadn't of shown up. And I suspect that I would've had a nice little prize if I had. A little something called, The Winged Dragon of Ra?" He taunted.
My eyes went wide as I turned to face him, "what? How do you know about that card!? You've never even laid eyes on it!" I demanded.
"Oh, I felt something when she and I dueled. It was almost as powerful as the power I held, but she wasn't a true practitioner of the art. Whereas you and I have a much lengthier history in dueling. 'A young prodigy', you were called. Oh, you never won a tournament, but they couldn't stop talking about you! 'He's a champion in the making!' 'He was taught by previous champions!' 'The kid's going places!' And then there was someone like me, just another bump in the road for all you 'champion level' duelists. I've struggled every day of my life, and dueling was no different! I made it to the top ten multiple times! Top eight! Elite four! 'The second-best duelist in the entire world!' But still, I barely got recognized when compared to the 'number one prodigy' who had never even been in the circuit! Never went to tournaments! Who never even dueled professionally!! They could only, EVER, talk about you!! The one duelist the world over knew that 'when he begins his career, he'll be someone to keep an eye on!! AND YOU NEVER DID!! Instead, you suddenly shifted gears and started a military career and left the dueling world scratching its collective heads. Nobody could fathom why you would leave a life of glory, honor, fan praise, and dumb sluts showing you their tits just for a chance to fuck!" He ranted.
I just stood there dumbfounded. He was a champion duelist? I never knew. I breathed a sigh, "you don't get it. Yes, I had some good teachers to help give me a boost in the world of dueling, but then the war broke out and I just couldn't sit there thinking that men were dying while I stayed far away from the conflict, girls, fans, private plans, …safe. It just wasn't me. I just knew I needed to go and do more than just exist. I needed to contribute to the peace you 'champions' enjoyed. You were safe and I was good at my job."