I heard a young girl scream. Somehow, I was able to make out her words with crystalline clarity.
"Somebody… Somebody… please help me…!" her voice cried out. I could feel the fear that dripped through her quivering plea in every nerve in my body. Yet, when I looked around at my surroundings, it was as though I was looking through a thick, white bedsheet, and I could barely make out the outlines of a few trees. What was this, a dream of some sort?
The lab table I woke up upon was cold to the touch. My eyes remained shut as though they never wanted to open ever again. I could feel the heavy weight of clothing on my body, which was odd, as usually, my clothing was far lighter, or at least, so I thought.
I could hear the distant echoes of voices bouncing around. I heard a woman's voice make an exclamation, somebody's name, I believe. She was probably calling for her superior, or for a coworker. She said another sentence or two, but it was incoherent in my jumbled mess of a mind. Then a man yelled back a quick response. Another sentence lost to gobbledygook. The woman responded this time her tone was much more calm, as though she were attempting to explain something.
As my head began to clear I could understand a few of the words in the man's response, "... Research… hasn't been in vain… enough for today… to work for us… this subject can't use psychic powers… decent duelist on our hands."
I opened my eyes slowly, preparing myself for the eventual attempt to get up from where I lay.
There was another exclamation from the woman before she suddenly cried out, "The subject's eyes have opened!" Apparently, nothing got past that woman.
"When he can walk, take him to his room." the man replied. "But make certain that none realize that he lacks psychic abilities. I would rather avoid risking any potential leaks."
"Affirmative, sir," she responded. I liked her voice much better than the man's. He seemed too accustomed to being in control and wielding power. Her voice was more comforting and soothing, almost clinical. I could hear fairly heavy footsteps as the man walked out the door.
I slowly raised myself to a sitting position on the lab table, only to nearly fall back down from an intense headache and nearly blacking out. I could feel somebody's arms catch me before I went back down hard. I could only assume that they were the woman's.
"Careful there. We don't want you injured against hard metal, do we?"
My eyes cleared and I saw the woman staring me intently in the eye. A look of worry passed over her eyes as I came back to attention. She had light, shoulder-length, strawberry blonde hair and light brown eyes.
"And to what do I owe the pleasure of waking up to a pretty face?" I asked when I was finally able to form sentences.
She blushed slightly, "My name is Seria, and you are?"
"Um… Wilhelm, Wilhelm Jernigan."
A slight frown pursed her lips for just a brief second before her smile came back, "Let me get you a pillow, a drink, and some aspirin. Once your headaches clear I suspect that you will be able to walk again. ."
"Thank you, ma'am. If I may be so bold, where are we?"
"Just Seria, Mr. Jernigan. I'd rather not go by ma'am, and we are both inside of the Arcadia Movement. Just as soon as you are ready I'll take you back to your room."
It was then that I noticed that she and I were wearing the same attire: black shoes, white pants and shirt, and some sort of loose garment draped around our necks going over both our anterior and posterior sides. The only difference was that where my attire sported a large purple band down the center, her garments had a large cerulean band.
"Huh, alright then, Seria." I laid back down once she'd retrieved the pillow and aspirin.
A few hours later I was walking without any trouble, and Seria guided me towards my room. When we got inside there were two other guys in there.
"Mr. Jernigan, welcome to your room. If you find yourself in need of anything feel free to ask your roommates, but if anything strange happens to you then don't hesitate to come find me."
"Understood, Seria."
"For now, here's a deck that you can use. We should be able to build a custom deck for you later when we've seen what type of play style suits you the best. This deck, however, has already been built so do be careful not to mess with the cards too much or to mix them up with other decks. Anyways, Sayer will be arriving shortly to give you three instructions, and so I must bid you adieu." I nodded my head in response.
One of my supposed roommates stepped up to me, the one with darker hair and glasses, and said, "A pleasure to meet you, I'm sure. I'm Okita, and I'm certain that you and I will get along just smashingly!"
I could already tell that we weren't. He was far too cheery to be good company as a roommate.
"Anyway, we only just arrived here ourselves, so we probably aren't capable of answering too many of your questions. For that, we beg your forgiveness."
Then the other, a blonde, stepped forward, "New brain on the block? My name is Liquid, so what shall we address you by?"
"Wilhelm Jernigan," I answered quickly. I realized that I didn't like engaging in small talk.
"Then I'll call you Willie. Good to have you on board, friend." I tried to maintain focus on the conversation, I really did, but I guess that I had still been suffering from the effects of sleeping on metal. I just sort of… let my mind wander.
"Oi! What're you staring at the abyss for? You do have a brain, right?" Okita asked suddenly.
"Yes, I do have a brain," I responded after a few brief moments of thought.
"Then what's that guy's name, Willie?"
"Um… Okita?"
"Don't say it like it is a question, but yeah, that's right. So how are we feeling now?"
"Good enough, I suppose."
"Well, get some rest until we receive our instructions. You can have the couch over there in the corner." The couch in question was pretty nice, and it looked as though it saw little or no use. I sat down, but it wasn't long before Okita shoved a duel disk in my face.
"Care for a game to pass the time?" he offered.
"Let me rifle through my deck first, then I'd love to duel you," I replied.
"That would be excellent." Okita strapped on his own disk and walked to the other side of the room. I spent a little bit of time with the cards given to me, just enough to figure out the strategies. Too many machines and psychics for my liking, but it was workable. I strapped on the duel disk given me and turned to face Okita.
"Are you ready for this?" he asked me hesitantly.
"Shut your trap and set some instead." was my response.
Wilhelm: 4000
Okita: 4000
"As the new roommate, you may claim the first move, if you'd like," Okita said.
"I would like that, thank you." and I drew.
Wilhelm: Turn 1
"Remember, no psychic shenanigans allowed, no messing up the room," Okita warned me.
"I wouldn't be too worried about that, but first I'll summon Mystic Tomato in attack position!"
Mystic Tomato: 1400/1100
"Next I'll set a card and end my turn."
Okita: Turn 2
"Then I draw." Okita paused for a moment. "Very well, I'll start off by activating Red Medicine to increase my life points by 500, then I'll activate Different Dimension Capsule, removing a card in my deck from play for the next two turns."
Wilhelm: 4000
Okita: 4500
"And why can't I see the card, if it is removed from play?"
"Because I get to remove it from play face-down. Anyways, I'll set a monster and end my turn."
Wilhelm: Turn 3
"I draw, and then I'll summon Genex Neutron into attack position."
Genex Neutron: 1800/1200
"Next I'll play Shield Crush, to annihilate your set monster!" Okita's monster shattered into dozens of fragments. "Now to have both Mystic Tomato and Genex Neutron attack you directly, and there's nothing that you can do about it, is there?"
"You are correct, there is not." Okita staggered slightly as he took the damage.
Wilhelm: 4000
Okita: 1300
"And I'll end my turn, but not before Neutron's effect activates and I add a machine-type tuner to my hand from my deck. For now, I choose Genex controller." I showed Okita the card that I'd selected so that he could verify.
Okita: Turn 4
"Then once again I will draw!" Okita cried. "I'll start this turn by activating Domino Effect, and then I set another monster in defense position before ending my turn."
Wilhelm: Turn 5
"So be it, I will draw, then summon Genex Controller in attack position."
Genex Controller: 1400/1200
"But it won't be around for very long, as I'm tuning it with my Mystic Tomato to summon Psychic Lifetrancer!" both monsters transformed. Genex Controller turned into three bright rings that enveloped the four stars that were once Mystic Tomato before disappearing into a flash of white light. Out of the light came a woman who looked slightly more machine than human.
Psychic Lifetrancer 2400/2000
"Now, Genex Neutron will attack your face-down." Light pulsed from the gun that was Genex Neutron's right arm before releasing an orb of energy towards the face-down monster. The card flipped up to reveal a small man in a lab coat and a massive hat covered in lightbulbs. It didn't stand a chance and was utterly destroyed.
"Next my Lifetrancer will attack you directly, ending this duel." The psychic cyborg stretched forth her hand and unleashed a wave of destruction with her mind.
Wilhelm: 4000
Okita: 0000
Okita paused and looked at his Duel Disk for a moment before bursting into laughter, "You're amazing! Never before have I been so utterly beaten! I suppose that I'll just have to train a little harder for next time."
Liquid, however, seemed to be less impressed, "Seriously? Duel me and I'll show you how this is actually supposed to work. You just got a lucky hand, that's all."
Unfortunately, Liquid didn't get a chance to even strap on his duel disk as that was the moment when a man in a green and black suit strode into the room.