Awaken. The lights above are unbearable as you stare into them uncontrollably. There is no movement in this place, you are like a stone. The lights above you seem as distant as heaven itself. Is that where God lives, above in those lights? You have no memory, no idea of what is below, so only what above catches your interest. Those lights, the blank canvas by which you may paint the portrait of reality. Your reality.
The lights are interrupted, a great darkness above you. It is a face, bespectacled and taciturn. It looks down on you with detached curiosity. There are words being spoken, you can partially make them out.
"Subject-, is stable. - will be prepared to be sent to the academy."
A second face appears; the light is obscured almost entirely now. Their voices are indistinguishable, yet they are all that exists in this growing darkness.
"Will subject be able to fulfill mission -?"
"Physical functions are optimal. Subject has the capacity to - the target."
"Subject will be placed away from target. Target exists elsewhere, - will be difficult."
"Subject is prepared. Target exists in Ra Yellow, Subject in Slifer Red."
"Failure is not an option."
"Now awaken, and fulfill your purpose."
A boy of dark complexion and short stature awakens on his bed. He bolts upright like a frightened animal. He scans the room suspiciously. The scene preceding having just played out in his mind. Where does it come from, he wonders? Why couldn't he remember its significance? Who were the voices and what was their plan? Who could the target be?
Before he could think any further into those questions, the door burst open revealing two boys around the age of fifteen. One slightly shorter than the other spoke slightly below a yell.
"Dan get up! We have to go to school."
"Oliver do you need to be so loud," the other boy's voice radiated empathy.
"Nonsense! We can't afford to miss a single day of classes! It's a little weird that he isn't up anyway. Usually he doesn't even wait for us."
The boy on the bed sat up with fading tension. That name, Dan, it had roused an understanding within him. That was his name, his identity, and whatever the dream was it could wait.
Dan was a student at Duel Academy, the premier school for students learning to become professional duelist. Students from all over the world dreamed from childhood to be accepted into this school. The opportunity to go to class was not lost on any student who had earned that privilege.
Along with the memory of who he was, Dan also now knew who they were. Oliver and Marty were his roommates, his classmates, and ostensibly his friends. Both were similar in quite a few respects; they were brunettes with blue eyes. While all three boys were short, Marty was amazingly so. At 5'1, his meek nature stood out even more. The freckles on his face made him appear even more childish. His eyes had a faded quality to them that could almost project sadness. He was quiet, reserved and a stark contrast to Oliver. Oliver, a few inches taller was brash, loud, and always looking to find the next adventure. Despite them having very similar eyes, Oliver's eyes radiated energy. At times it seemed as though you were looking into two suns as you stared at them. Dan appeared to tower over the boys by virtue of being merely slightly below average height.
Dan took his school items which had all been meticulously laid out the night before, and followed the boys out of their room. Oliver was quite animated today and seemed especially keen on talking to Dan.
"You seem off Dan," Oliver said, "you're listening way more to me today rather than just being all robot mode like normal!"
"Did something happen to you," Marty added.
Dan couldn't answer that question, the last few days, maybe weeks were blank. Fuzz details of meeting these people float through his mind, unattached to any broader story connecting them together.
"I guess I'm just in a good mood," he said. It felt as though he had not spoken for years.
"See! Even your voice sounds different!"
Oliver continued to regale the two with stories of his exploits while they had been apart. They walked at a brisk pace as they began to near the academic buildings. As Dan looked upon all the scenery around it felt familiar, but that he was looking upon it all with new eyes. The students, the trees, the animals everything was seen in a new light. Dan could see a certain student from some distance away. She had reddish brown hair and a very sour expression. It appeared as though she was looking towards them. She was walking towards them at a pretty swift pace. This would probably not end well.
"Marty Adams," a voice cried out.
All three boy's attention was on the girl standing before them. Her cheeks had turned slightly red from the exertion and she was breathing a little harder than usual. It was easy to tell that she was well put together from her clothing. Her dress was free of wrinkles or creases to a startling degree. Her hair was brushed and composed, one would even call it formulaic. Her green eyes pierced into you with their color and intensity. The girl before them seemed as though she had stepped out of a teenage fashion magazine, save for one feature. The grimace on her face was a mix of emotions, disgust was clear, however a certain level of excitement could be seen in the tension of her eyes and hands.
"It took me some time to find you National champion," she said, "but I want my payback now!"
Marty shrank at the words of the girl and he began to position himself behind Dan and Oliver. Dan recognized these details and they seemed to add information to the mess of memories he possessed. Marty was the best duelist of students their age from the US. In fact, all three of these people had been at that tournament. The girl before them was Jane Steiner, the person who had lost to Marty in the final. She was well known for being headstrong and proud.
"Back off Jane," Oliver interjected, "if anyone is getting payback its me!"
Jane stifled a chuckle as she heard Oliver's words.
"You again little mouse? I don't have time to deal with children today, let the adults talk."
"We'll see who the mouse is after I beat you!" Oliver activated his duel disk in a rage.
"What are you stupid? Fine, I could use a warmup anyway!"
Jane: 8000
Oliver: 8000
"Go first little mouse, I'll give you the courtesy," Jane said.
"Fine! I draw, and first I'll summon Jurrac Stauriko (500/400) in attack mode!"
The flaming dinosaur appeared on the field in front of Oliver. The holograms of the monsters seemed able to emanate the effects of heat.
"I'll place two and end."
"I draw, and play Defender of the Ice Barrier (200/1600) in defense mode. Next I'll play Medalion of the Ice Barrier to add an Ice Barrier monster from my deck to my hand. The one I choose is Prior of the Ice Barrier (1000/400), who allows me to special summon him to the field if I already have an Ice Barrier monster on the field. Then I'll set one and end."
In a flurry of action, a fox and man, both bearing the same icy symbol arose from nothing to take their place in Jane's command. A large card laid face down behind them.
"My turn," Oliver said drawing his card, "First I'll activate Royal Decree. So all trap cards beside this one are now negated.
"For both their fiery attitudes they're playing quite conservatively don't you think?"
Dan recognized that Marty was talking to him during the duel.
"I guess so," Dan said cautiously, "why do you think that is?"
"Well Oliver is pretty cautious about Defender's effect so he knows he cant actually get rid of any of those monsters. It looks like they both want to control the back rows first before they actually engage each other. Oliver is at a disadvantage with that strategy but he has to get rid of those back rows and get some monsters in the graveyard so he can start directing the duel by his terms."
"Whoa that's a lot of information. Do you think Oliver will win?"
"Honestly, probably not. Jane is a better duelist than him outright. And I don't think his deck does well against Jane's. But I guess he can't just let things go. He did lost to her at Nationals."
All of the duelists involved were American, including Dan, that was something he was realizing. But what he couldn't puzzle out was what exactly was the target or the subject? Looking down at his jacket he could see that it was red, just like his dream had said. The jackets of all the others were also red, that meant Slifer. But the target, who ever that was, was in Ra Yellow. Dan realized Marty was looking quite expectedly at him now and felt flustered.
"Right, uh, that's a really good analysis I think. Maybe you should be Oliver's advisor."
Marty seemed to beam slightly at the praise, and Dan noted this. Unsure of what else might jog his memory, Dan continued on in conversation.
"So why do you think Jane is so intent on dueling you right now Marty?"
"Well I guess now that she found me, she can't wait to duel me again."
"I guess that could be true, but don't you think its weird? I mean she's so proud shouldn't she have lost other times while she was here? Especially since she's in Slifer."
"That's true, but we're Americans all of us, and being the best American seems to mean quite a lot to her I think."
"I don't know," Dan said, "maybe she has a crush on you or something."
"What? Why would you be so mean to someone you have a crush on?"
Dan could only shrug, but it seemed that he might have struck a nerve as well.
"I would never be interested in her, not in the slightest! Besides, I'm not even… interested."
Dan could sense there was some subtext to that last comment, but as the duel reached its crescendo he couldn't tease it out. Oliver now had a large flaming dinosaur similar to a tyrannosaurus. Meanwhile Jane now possessed an icy dragon. These two titans prepared to do battle as Oliver's monster rushed forward.
"I play my trap card Half Unbreak," Jane said, "now Gungnir can't be destroyed by battle and damage I take is halved."
Just as the dinosaur reached its target a swarm of bubbles surrounded the monster. As the monster attacked with its flaming jaws all it could get were bubbles. The dragon underneath unharmed.
Jane: 50
Oliver: 800
"Now its my turn," Jane said, "and playtime has ended for you now kid! I activate Gungnir's effect. I discard two to remove two cards from the field. I'll pick your Giganoto and your one face down. Then I'll attack you directly to win!"
The dragon's eyes flashed with a mystical power as it began to gather together its icy strength. With a blast of frigid air it blew away the dinosaur and the card in front of Oliver. Then full of rage it charged towards him unleashing a full blast of icy breath. The force of the attack seemed to push Oliver to his knees. The victory was enough to bring a pretentious smile to Jane's face.
"Aww, you're bowing to me now? Nice to see you understand how things work now."
"Shut up," Oliver said as he rose back up to his feet, "no one even wants you here! Why don't you just leave us alone!"
"As if I care about any of your opinions! I'll do whatever I want! But fine! After such an easy win against you, I would probably wipe the floor with Marty. The company you keep says a lot about you after all."
Jane turned towards the school building and walked away. She held her head high as if a queen of a foreign nation.
"Be ready if I get bored enough to duel you Marty."
Dan helped Oliver to his feet as the three stared at the figure fading into the scenery.