Chapter 7: Takashi Mirai: Origin
Summary: When hope is snatched away, despair sets in. Despair can overtake you, bury you until you can't see the surface. But good friends can pull you out as long as you're willing to reach out to them.
3 Years Ago
A now eleven-year-old Psy-Soldier is awaiting in his room for his day to start. Much has changed for him, now that he's willing submitting to the experiments. His powers have grown exponentially. He can now, to a minor degree, sense the emotions of those around him, and can generate Psychic vortexes the further he taps into his power. But most noticeable of all is how powerful the cards he manifests have become, far exceeding what he could do three years ago. For example, he is able to call upon Obnoxious Celtic Guardian to slice clean through stone walls.
Finishing the obstacle course, Psy-Soldier wipes his forehead of sweat and takes a drink of the water bottle offered by a male scientist, who was observing up close. The familiar voice of the commander comes from the speaker on the wall.
"A new course record, every day I just grow prouder of you." Psy-Soldier smiles up at the camera the commander is watching him from.
"Thank you, sir! I have to be the best so we can forge that brighter tomorrow, right?!" The commander chuckles over the speakers at Psy-Soldier's enthusiasm.
"That we do my boy, report to your amplification training and we'll see if we can get you even stronger!" Psy-Soldier salutes the camera.
"Yes sir!"
/RFSXPL/
Psy-Soldier sits in a chair with a helmet on his head. The helmet is connected to many different machines with wires. The head scientist was monitoring the data, he's been trying to learn the names of the scientists here, but they always tell him to call them "sir" or "mam" so they can stay anonymous. The commander told him to do as they say when Phy-Solider questioned, so he stopped asking. The head scientist speaks up shaking him out of his thoughts.
"Alright you know the drill. Sit tight and let the machine do its job. Who knows, today might be the day we make another breakthrough." Psy-Soldier nods, and the scientist starts the machine. The helmet gives him a jolt that knocks him out, as the machine begins trying to boost his power.
/RFSXPL/
Scenes flash in his mind. A white light clashing with a cloud of darkness.
A city torn apart by an explosion, people on one side flourishing while the other half live in the trash.
A war between two alien civilizations.
A single world split into four that fight for supremacy.
Duels that take place in Cyber Space with virtual avatars. A.I creatures called Ignis being at the center of many conflicts.
/RFSXPL/
Psy-Soldier's eyes snap open. The helmet and machine that they are hooked up to are sparking with smoke billowing out of them. The scientist is looking at him with wide eyes.
/RFSXPL/
2 Years Ago
A now twelve-year-old Psy-Soldier has just finished beating his tenth opponent, who is being carted away after he collapsed. This year the commander saw fit to test him against living opponents, Psy-Soldier was reluctant at first but soon grew numb to brutalizing his opponents, knowing he may need the skills in the future to create the perfect world he longs for.
A lot has happened since he overloaded the machines a year ago. After explaining what he saw the scientists observed the data and theorized he may have been getting a glimpse into the future, or at least possible futures. With permission from the interested commander, a lot of the manpower has gone into developing a device to peer into his mind, the hope being they can recreate the experiment and determine if the visions were real.
Today was the day they planned to test their newest attempt after four previous failures. Making his way to the testing room, no longer needing to be escorted, he braces himself and prays that this time it works.
/RFSXPL/
Having been strapped into the helmet once more, he is knocked out by the shock and begins having visions.
Silhouettes of a human and dragon fused to become a guardian, fighting the one they once protected.
Two men riding motorcycles on a track as two dragons fight above them.
A boy and alien forging a powerful friendship.
Two people, a man and a woman both split into four people.
A bond between an A.I and a man are tested in a final battle.
A legion of Psychic Duelists marching through a town killing the residents as the voice of the commander laughs in the background.
His eyes snapping open in fear, he turns to look at the scientists who are staring at him. He feels their fear and anxiousness, what he doesn't feel from them is surprise. The machines are still working, so he was manually pulled out. In a moment of sheer panic, Psy-Soldier lunges forward to escape the room, barreling past the scientists in front of him, but before he could reach the door, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck, and then darkness.
/RFSXPL/
Psy-Soldier wakes up in a position he hasn't been in since he started cooperating with the experiments; strapped to a table. He tries to break free, but is no match for the metal restraints. As he stops to rest before trying to get out again, a monitor on the wall in front of him that he didn't notice earlier, comes to life. On the screen he sees the shadowed figure of the commander. Psy-Soldier looks up at him with a pleading look.
"That wasn't real right? We're trying to create a peaceful world, right?! We're not going to hurt innocent people, right?!" The commander sighs shaking his head.
"My poor Psy-Soldier, still so naïve to the world. We are going to create a peaceful world, but to do that civilian casualties are almost guaranteed. It's a sad but it's reality."
"How can a world be peaceful if it's built on a pile of bodies?!" The commander sighs again.
"You have to understand the is all for the greater good."
"I can't understand any greater good that means hurting more innocent people. I thought that's why I was suffering, so no more innocent people had too! Was it all a lie?!" The man sighs, even through the screen the boy can feel the disappointment the man radiates.
"You had so much potential to be a good soldier and I do despise losing a valuable asset. But I suppose I could only hold onto your loyalty with idealistic promises for so long."
The boy's eyes widen and begin to water. "So, it really was just all lies."
"I guess there's no point in lying to you anymore is there? Most of it was lies yes, making an army of artificial Psychic Duelists was absolutely true. I was hoping to bring you, one of the original Psychic Duelists into the new age, but we clearly got what all we're going to get out of you willing or alive." With that the feed cuts off as the boy wails in anguish.
/RFSXPL/
The scientists had come back in. Their new orders were to get all the information from his visions that they could, whether he lived or died no longer mattered. If he did die, they were to perform an autopsy, and experiment on his body. They told him this with with a small amount of glee, as they are no longer limited in what they can do.
It has almost been four months; each second of each day had been excruciating. They had apparently learned of different power sources from his vision and had immediately begun developing methods to combine and improve upon them to make an ultimate energy source. At the same time, they were making a machine that used the energy source to materialize the unknown cards they had started to see in the visions. Powerful cards with summoning methods never heard of before.
It was the day they tested the machine that his life changed forever. The man was supposed to be here in person for the test of the machine, this is the first time he would be here since the boy arrived. On the day of the test the boy was snapped awake by the sound of the compound's alarm. While trying to regain his bearings he heard the panicked voice of the head scientist over the speakers.
"All personnel evacuate the compound immediately! The core is overloading! Current readings estimate a blast radius of 9.4 miles! Do not try to grab any of your belongings estimated time till detonation is 10 m-" The warning was cut off as the compound began shaking violently, there are sounds of screaming. He suddenly feels waves of his psychic energy covering his torso and head before the boy is consumed by a bright white light.
In the middle of the desert region of Ténéré, a once mighty hidden compound was replaced by a 15-mile radius crater of glass.
/RFSXPL/
Maximillian Pegasus had been having a normal morning, enjoying a nice glass of red wine with his favorite cartoons. His peace had been interrupted by the distressed call of one his assistants, saying one of the satellites he uses to observe the Sahara, one can never be too safe with all the magic and shadow games shenanigans after all, had picked up something. Apparently, there was a massive explosion in the Ténéré region. His curiosity piqued, he had boarded his private jet to Niger, and then his helicopter the rest of the way. Arriving at the lip of the crater by sundown, he noticed something odd.
"It's been almost a day since the explosion and yet…" He pulls out binoculars and looks across at what he can see of the crater. "There doesn't seem to be any sand accumulation." He gets a giddy smile. "Ooo, this looks like it's going to be interesting." Getting back in his helicopter, he flies to the center of the crater. Upon exiting, he comes across a sight that makes his smile vanish.
Laying in the the center of the crater is a boy, who couldn't be older than 12 or 13, in a tattered gray jumpsuit. The boy himself was worrying enough, but what made Pegasus truly disturbed was the fact that the boy's arms and legs were gone. He had lost his arms from the shoulder down, and his legs from the knee down. The stumps of his limbs looked like they had been cauterized. Shockingly enough though, despite clearly losing the limbs in the blast, the rest of him, outside of old scars, looked perfectly fine.
He was about to call one of his men to carry the boy away to be buried, when he noticed another shocking fact, the boy's chest was rising and falling, he was breathing! Instead, he frantically called his men to get the boy medical attention. As they were carting him away, Pegasus decided to investigate the center of the crater some more. As he moved his flashlight around, he saw something peculiar lying on the glass of the crater, a Duel Monsters card. Even more shocking, it wasn't one he had made; it even had a white border.
Looking around there was another, and another, and even more. By time his men were done collecting them a day later, the boy now safely resting at his manor, there was somewhere around 10,000 cards. Many he had never even heard of.
/RFSXPL/
"I was apparently asleep for two weeks after that, and when I came to, it took another week to even get a word out of me. When I finally started talking, he asked my name. When I told him I didn't have one, you know what he said to me? 'Well why don't you pick out a name for yourself?' He figured I may not have ever got to make decisions for myself, said he could see it on my face and with the way I talked."
"After thinking about it for a few days I knew I wanted my name to mean something, be a representation of my hopes and dreams, the dreams I held onto my entire time in the compound. Takashi Mirai, Prosperous Future. Because I still want to make the world a better place for everyone, especially the next generations to come after us! If what I saw really were possible futures, and not glimpses into other realities, I want to make sure to prevent the tragedies I saw!"
Takashi looks up for the first time since he started going into his history and sees the look on his friends faces. Chumley and Syrus are both crying, Alexis is covering her mouth with a horrified look, and Jaden is just looking at him with sad eyes.
"The reason I'm telling you all this is because me and Mr. Pegasus believe Titan was hired by a surviving member of the people who experimented on me." Takashi sighs. "It's more than likely the commander himself, knowing he was supposed to be there, I held onto hope that he was killed in the blast. I only survived because my enhanced powers instinctively protected the vital parts."
"But it looks like he's still out there, and he dragged you four into it. For that I'm deeply sorry." Takashi bows his head. He stays like that for a minute before looking up to see Jaden in his face with a serious look.
"Takashi, I'm not going to pretend to know what you're going through, but don't apologize for something out of your control." Takashi's eyes widen and he looks over to an equally serious Alexis.
"He's right Takashi, I might have been kidnapped last night, but you were held and tortured for years for as long as you can remember. You didn't cause this to happen Takashi, you're a victim too!" Syrus jumps in wiping his tears.
"Yeah! You've been through so much it; it just makes me want to be better so I can help you instead of standing off to the side while you're hurting!" Chumley stands up with a solemn look having wiped his tears.
"I've had some rotten luck trying to be a duelist and was on the verge of giving up. I became cynical and mocked people for trying to get out of Slifer Red. But you've been through so much and you are still kind. You have seen the worst people have to offer and you still try to see the best in everyone! I promise, I'm going to be a better friend to you guys!" Takashi stares at Chumley with a shocked look. "Takashi! If your dream is to make the world a better place? Well, I may not be the world, but you inspired me to be better, to be the best I can be!"
At the end of Chumley's speech Takashi looks around at the others, tears beginning to form in his eyes. Then for the first time in years, the barriers Takashi had put up around his emotions came undone and, letting out a wail, Takashi began sobbing. As he cries out, his friends come over to him to give him a comforting hug.
/RFSXPL/
The shadowed commander is going through files and charts on his computer. "Hmmm his power has stagnated since being taken from my care, what a shame. He had so much potential, but his heart was too soft to bring it out, even against a man threatening the lives of his friends, he still held back." He looks through the data for another minute when someone knocks on his door. "Come in."
Entering the room and giving a salute, is a tall man with black hair that forms a single front facing spike, almost like a horn pointing forward. "Commander sir." The commander raises his hand.
"At ease Viper. What do you have to report?" Thelonious Viper lowers his salute.
"The scientists believe the planned modifications to the former assassin; Titan, can be done before the first year at the academy are over." The commander nods.
"Good, good, but be sure to remind them there isn't a current deadline so not to rush it. He may be a prototype, but I'd prefer him to work as intended. After all, I want our next model to be beyond our current hopes, not the baseline the first failed to meet."
"Yes sir!"
"Now, how is your duelist pet project Axel Brodie coming along?"
"He's shaping up nicely. I'm not sure we will be able to ever fully bring into the fold, but even if he's working with incomplete knowledge, he could still prove a valuable asset."
"What makes you believe we couldn't turn him?"
"He has a rough exterior, but on the inside, he has lines that I don't believe he'll ever cross, even for the greater good."
"Hmm, that certainly sounds familiar."
"Sir?"
"Do be careful Viper, keep him in the dark as long as you can, but the moment he shows even a sign of figuring out the truth, don't hesitate to kill him. Rebellious pet projects have a way of coming back to bite you when left unchecked." Viper's face turns cold.
"Understood sir." The commander nods in satisfaction.
"Anything else to report?"
"Yes, actually. As soon as we finished here, they, wanted to see you." The commander gets a chilling smile hearing that.
"Of course. Can't have my partner waiting for me. You're dismissed, Viper." Viper salutes and makes his way out of the room. Once gone, the commander sighs, getting out of his chair. He makes his way to the door thinking.
"You always need something don't you, Yubel?"
/RFSXPL/
Having calmed down, Takashi promised to answer any extra questions they had tomorrow, but asked if he could be alone in his room for the rest of the day to decompress. His friends understood, and wished him well when exiting his room, Takashi thanking them for everything. Once alone Takashi goes to lay on his bed, staring up at the top bunk, tapping his bed with his fingers and occasionally taking deep breaths to steady himself.
Eventually he drifts to sleep. He has a recurring nightmare of his, one where the compound members find him and drag him back into the lab. It always ends the same, he's strapped back to the table, to be shocked, poked, prodded, and cut into for years until the shadowy commander comes in to kill him. He wakes up shaking and needs his medication to calm himself.
But tonight, the dream played out differently, as they were dragging him away, he felt himself get grabbed and pulled from their grasp. Shocked he turns around and sees Jaden, Syrus, Chumley, Alexis, and even Bastion, who wasn't here today. They were all smiling at him, having freed him from the compound's grasp. They turn to glare at the approaching compound members before holding out a card each, banishing them in a flash of light. Their smiles return as they guide Takashi away, towards what he could see now was Duel Academy behind them.
Back in the real world, for the first time in years, Takashi sleeps with a small smile on his face.
So Takashi's history is now known. The Commander is in league with Yubel. What do they hope to get from each other. Zombie Cyborg Titan? And how is exposing the friend group to the evil hidden in the world alter their destiny?