Those who claim to control the gods are in fact controlled by the gods. - Alexander Irvine, Philosopher
Chapter 1: The Tale Begins! Enter Virtual Reality!
It seemed like just an ordinary day at the Tokyo International Airport. The escalators were packed as Japanese citizens either returned home from an international adventure, or as some were preparing to start their journeys, particularly to the "fascinating" land known as America.
For a group of six teenagers, they were about to depart on an American journey that would never be forgotten. They finally spotted a digital arrival-departure board and started checking for their flight.
One of them, a blond teenager with brown eyes, scanned through the flights until he finally spotted the one he and his friends were searching for.
"There it is! Domino Airport- it sounds just like the lab mentioned in that letter you got."
Jounouchi turned to the slightly younger, yet far shorter, friend beside him. He was dressed in his school uniform- a blue jacket with a white undershirt and blue pants- but also wore what appeared to be a small, golden pyramid on a rope necklace. What stood out about him was his hair- blond bangs that rested on his hairline, and black, spiky hair with a red-magenta outline. His bright purple eyes caught sight of the flight Jounouchi had pointed out.
"SIC Domino Labs. I think you're right, this looks like the flight."
Honda folded his arms as he took note of the arrival-departure board. "It must not be a very big lab. Domino sounds like a small city, so there's probably nothing else there."
Anzu, one of the two girls in the group, paged through the brochure they had received, pointing to a building on the SIC flyer.
"Doesn't the building look futuristic? SIC is a famous overseas game company, isn't it?"
Her classmate, Bakura, nodded.
"Yes, and no. It's a new, American-run game company that started here in Japan, but it's already become a major player. They have a research lab over in America, and that's the one we've been invited to, I believe." Anzu nodded, and Bakura continued. "Although it's relatively new, it's gotten pretty big by releasing a bunch of innovative games. They've been using 3D images and virtual reality research to create some amazingly life-like environments."
"It sounds a lot like what Kaiba's company does," Jounouchi commented, although his tone suddenly turned sour when he mentioned Kaiba's name. Yugi grinned awkwardly and pulled out his folded invitation from a pocket on his jacket.
"Let's see... according to this invitation, they're doing exactly the same kind of work as Kaiba Corporation." Yugi began to read directly from the invitation. " 'SIC has incorporated cutting-edge technologies to develop next generation virtual reality technology. SIC hopes to work in the field of games to perfect this technology using the wildly popular Duel Monsters. SIC plans to further develop the technology through gameplay.' "
He glanced up at his friends, his familiar, excited smile on his face.
"Their technological goals may be scientific, but if they're using Duel Monsters, I want to get a look at it!"
"Me too," Anzu agreed. "This is so exciting! But why did they let us come?"
Yugi explained further, "I think they sent invitations to everyone who ranked well at the Duelist Kingdom and Battle City tournaments."
Once again, he started to read from the invitation.
" 'In order to test the new Duel Simulator, "Kingdom", SIC is sponsoring a test trial. And respectfully ask for your assistance in helping us make "Kingdom" the best game it can be.' " Yugi winked at his friends. "It also says to bring friends if you want. Naturally, I thought of you guys right away!"
"That's very kind of you," Shizuka replied. She had pretty auburn hair that fell to her waist and soft gray eyes with a spark of green. Her voice was very soft and melodic. "... but, I'm not very good at playing Duel Monsters..."
"It's no problem, sis," Jounouchi reassured, wrapping a loving arm around his younger sister's shoulders. "I can give you some of my advice while we're on the plane! Just so we're all clear, I'm here because I did so well in the tournaments."
"Oh yeah?" Honda asked in a skeptical tone, raising an eyebrow. "Then where's your invitation?"
Jounouchi released his sister and frowned, placing his hands on his hips. "They must have sent it to the wrong address!"
"Yeah, sure." Honda replied sarcastically. "At least we know that Yugi is here as a finalist."
"That's it!" Jounouchi snarled, holding up a fist. "Come on, Honda! I'll take you, right here and now!"
Honda held up his fists and glared at Jounouchi, until Anzu stepped between them and pushed them each apart with one arm. "Stop it, both of you! This is no time to fight! Look, the plane's already arrived. Let's get going."
The six friends gathered up their carry-on luggage and made their way onto the plane. It appeared to be a fairly private flight, although Yugi recognized the familiar duelists Kajiki- known for his love of the ocean- and Esper Roba, the "psychic" machine duelist.
So, Aibou, where are we off to today? Asked a voice within Yugi's mind.
"Well, mou hitori no boku, we're going to take part in a virtual reality game. It sounds different from the card game version of Duel Monsters that we're so used to playing. I think we might actually have to do some of the work, not just the monsters!"
The voice in his mind could be heard chuckling. Perhaps. Do you know what roles we'll have to play?
"I'm not sure, but I guess that we'll find out once we get into the game. Wouldn't it be something if you wound up as the hero of the game?"
That would be interesting... but let's just wait and see how this game works before we decide who the 'hero' will be.
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"I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this..."
He was a handsome teenager, approximately the age of seventeen. He had a slender and tall build, and he was dressed in black leather with badass belt straps on his arms and legs. He wore a white sleeveless leather jacket over his black leather attire, and had a card-locket, with a picture of his younger brother inside, draped around his neck. He had smooth, chestnut brown hair, with bangs that rested just above his eyes - icy blue eyes that froze enemies. Nothing- no emotion- could be detected from them.
"But Seto, you never have bad feelings about anything!" his younger brother said. He had messy black hair that fell past his shoulders and had gray eyes that still held childhood innocence and youthful bliss.
"We've been trapped twice in virtual reality, and here we are- about to take a trip over to America to test out ANOTHER virtual reality program."
"Yeah, but BOTH times we were trapped, it was here in Japan, where people actually knew us and had reasons to take us out. We're going to America, where nobody TRULY knows us like the Big Five and Noa did, so nobody has a reason to try and kill us!" Mokuba reasoned.
"I guess you have a point."
"Told you so," Mokuba teased. "The heat's just getting to you. Come on! I've packed the Blue-Eyes Jet with our suitcases, and we'll have air-conditioning and packaged peanuts!"
He grabbed his brother's hand and tugged him over to their private aircraft. Seto took the pilot's seat, while his younger brother sat behind him with the luggage.
"We've got a fourteen-hour flight ahead of us, including one stop. You're sure you're ready?" Seto asked.
"Yep," Mokuba replied. "Plus we could always stop in Hawaii."
Seto started the engine, drove down the runway, and gradually made his ascent into the sky. After flying manually at a set height for half an hour, he logged coordinates for a stop in Hawaii, and then set the plane to autopilot. He gazed down at the Pacific Ocean below him. When taken from such a distance, it could only be seen as ordinary sea water; but with coral reefs and the Mariana Trench below the surface, nobody could see how deep and incredible it really was.
Seto read through the invitation for a second time, but it was this time he noticed that it was addressed to "the President of Kaiba Corporation" rather than "Seto Kaiba".
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After the Kaiba brothers made a brief pitstop in Hawaii, they flew through the night, sleeping in the plane on autopilot, until the sun came up as they reached the "1-hour until arrival" mark.
They made their landing at a public airport, where they had requested a private hangar to keep their jet. A representative of the company was there to greet them, introducing himself as the temporary chauffeur and escort for the young gentlemen en route to the SIC facilities.
At last, the limo pulled to a halt, and Seto paid the driver before he drove off. Seto stared at the futuristic building, shining in the sun in its next-generation glory.
"This is the SIC research facility? What a cheap-looking building."
"And it took forever to get here!" Mokuba complained, walking over to his brother.
"I know. If this didn't have something to do with Duel Monsters, I would have turned them down right away."
Mokuba glanced up at his older brother.
"SIC does the same kind of work as our company, but it's an American company, right?"
"Right." Seto replied. "Their involvement in Duel Monsters is not something they advertise. But the company is world-renowned overseas for its incredibly realistic imaging and virtual reality technology. It's not really a game company. It's more like a scientific center for imaging technology research."
"But their technology may be able to help improve the Duel Disk?" Mokuba asked, winking at his brother.
Set smirked.
"That's the impression I got. The invitation says they want to show me a new product and discuss a joint venture. It sounds like they're ready to test their prototype. Let's just see what they have to show us. We can figure out what we want to do after that."
At that moment, a representative from SIC walked over to them.
"Thank you for coming, Mr. Kaiba. My entire staff and I would like to welcome you."
"Isono?" Mokuba gasped, recognizing the man.
"Hmph." Seto folded his arms. "I didn't expect to run into you here. So this is where you've been working since you left KaibaCorp."
Isono's eyes fell to the ground. "I did enjoy working for you, Mr. Kaiba."
"Whatever relationship we had ended when you left KaibaCorp. I don't care what you do with your life. All right, let's get this over with. What is it you want to show me?"
Isono straightened his posture, as if he was still an employee to the guest before him.
"It's right inside, sir. If you'll just follow me..."
He lead Seto into the building, where ceramic teal tiles ran across the floor, and the walls were made of solid, green marble. He wandered past a few employees, including a few female ones who stared after Kaiba as he walked past, or grinned at his adorable little brother.
At last, Isono lead them into the testing room, where there were many pod-like devices scattered across the room. A large shell covered each one, but they appeared to be chairs where a person sat to enter the virtual program. On the second floor, several scientists stared down at the Kaiba brothers, particularly Seto. Their faces were emotionless, and they wore large goggles that shielded their eyes. Isono turned his gaze upward towards them.
"We've asked the president of Kaiba Corporation here today so that he can evaluate SIC's latest invention. All of us here at SIC are very excited about today's test. We're looking forward to collaborating with Kaiba Corporation on game technology development."
"Hmph. Let's cut to the chase, shall we?" Seto asked, interrupting Isono. He turned around in surprise and faced his former boss. "You need investment capital to sell your technology. You want to use Duel Monsters to help you sell it because you need a product tie-in, right?"
"... ... ... ..." Isono was silent.
"And you figured you could use me since I've invested so much money in Duel Monsters already." Seto glared at him. "Well?"
"... ... ... ..." Once again, Isono was at a lack of words.
"Your silence speaks volumes." Seto replied. "As it turns out, I need some new tech anyway, so I might as well take a look."
Isono walked into a small office underneath the stairway to the second floor, then emerged carrying two devices that looked exactly the Duel Disks used in the Battle City tournament. He placed one into Mokuba's hands, and one into Seto's.
"Is this it?" Mokuba asked, slipping it onto his arm.
"Yes." Isono replied proudly. "This is SIC's latest simulator. Code name: "Kingdom"."
"Just what are you trying to pull?" Seto asked accusingly, putting his device onto his arm. "It looks just like our Duel Disk!"
"This is just a prototype." Isono explained. "We're only using the Duel Disk for packaging reasons. It's all original SIC hardware on the inside."
"How is it different from the Duel Disk?" Seto asked, still skeptical.
"For starters, "Kingdom" is not set up to use cards. The disk is just a terminal to the Duel Monsters world which is created by the SIC super computer. By allowing players to enter the world, the game can support multiple players at the same time. The world has already been constructed. We'd just like you to play the game as you normally would."
"It sounds like a network game or something." Mokuba commented.
"I see. It certainly sounds different from the Duel Monsters we know today." Seto stated.
" "Kingdom" is a fantasy world. The card monsters there are alive." Isono couldn't help but smile briefly when he noticed Seto suddenly appeared interested in hearing more. "The empire that rules that world is currently dealing with a population on the brink of revolt. The two of you will join that world and try to complete the game. Of course, you'll both participate in the game as different game characters. The game is currently set for a few hours and we'll be recording your play data from here."
"It sounds fun!" Mokuba exclaimed. "Let's play!"
"Okay..." Seto agreed hesitantly. He went and sat down in one of the pod-chairs, next to the one his younger brother was in. There was a slot on the side of the pod's wall to place his Duel Disk-clad arm into. Doing so, he noticed the walls and ceiling suddenly lit up with electrical currents, then his surroundings faded to black and he lost sensation of everything around him except for his own thoughts.
Something about this doesn't feel right. Isono is up to something... It's no coincidence one of my former employees is involved. After all, he headed up development of the Duel Disk and the Duel Computer.
His surroundings suddenly began to brighten.
SIC... that has to stand for something, but what?
The virtual reality program was almost done loading.
Wasn't that other guy's name...
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Isono had finally put the game into running, but he didn't appear too happy about launching the program.
"The program is running?" asked one of the scientists.
"Yes, sir..." Isono replied in a solemn tone.
"Well done," praised another one. "Now keep an eye on things, hm? We don't want anything to 'go wrong', now do we?"
Isono glanced down at the ground.
"Of course not."
Hidden by his sunglasses, his eyes burned with defiance and regret.
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Year 336 of the Sygh-Varths Empire.
After 300 years of ruling the Rondeval continent, the Sygh-Varths Empire is faced with a crisis.
Since the 12th Emperor, Haysheen, ascended to the throne, corruption and brutality have spread through the Empire. The people feel suppressed, but their complaints have fallen on deaf ears.
Haysheen and a select group of his underlings have been living in the lap of luxury. Their lavish lifestyle, supported by heavy taxation, has pushed most of the populace to the brink. People on the fringes of the Empire have responded with rebellion and revolt.
And at the capital city of Sygh-Varths...
ZAP.
... trouble? Kaiba wondered, noting some of the more technological sounds around him in the foreign atmosphere.
KINGDOM SIMULATOR OVERLOAD
SAFETY LOCK ENGAGED. BEGINNING TRANSITION TO MODE-2.
... TRANSITION TO MODE-2 COMPLETE
KINGDOM SIMULATOR LOCK-IN MODE ACTIVATED
"What the...?" Kaiba questioned out loud. Suddenly, he felt hard blows to his head, chest, and stomach.
"UGH!"
With a painful grunt following the blows, Kaiba found his world fade out into darkness.
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"... ba..."
Kaiba picked up a very faint sound in the corner of his mind.
"... ... Kaiba..."
Someone was calling his name.
"... wrong?... Kaiba..."
He sensed cold rock underneath his cheek and his vision slowly returned. Kaiba's consciousness had returned.
"Kaiba! What's wrong? Please look at me!"
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Thanks for reading! Reviews are greatly appreciated and encouraged!