NOVEL NEXT A Differnt Veiw of Things.
'Thoughts'
"Speech"
-Before Annie's and Jack's Duel-
4 adults sat in front of multiple screens, the main screen showing the whole of the arena. 6 smaller ones show different angles of the arena, 3 for each side. A laptop lies in front of Dr.Romach, displaying streams of data. Dr.Romach rapidly taps his foot and grins as he watches the kids prepare themselves, occasionally typing something on the laptop. The parents waited with bated breath, as they watch the main screen.
"AH! I truly love this part of my job, witnessing the beginning of a duelist life. Will their talent carry them through their first duel? Will they crash and burn, forced to sharpen their skills to compete with their peers? Will I witness the start of a rising star or just an average duelist's first struggle? AH! I can't wait to see how this goes!" Romach's grin grew as he continued talking, a mad gleam in his eyes.
"Ah Hm!" Romach was brought back from his thoughts as Jack's mom gave out a fake cough. "I think that's enough Mach, those are our kids you're talking about, we appreciate it if you do not talk about them like that."
"Ah! I apologize, Kate, I tend to get too excited doing my job."
"I'm aware, I worked with you plenty of times to know how absorbed you can get. Especially when it comes to anything to do with duels."
"That's why I hate it when my team is forced to work with yours. Takes forever for anything to get done." Jack's dad grumbled.
"Hush dear, it's not that bad."
"HA! That's why I like to work with you, Drake! Your blunt honesty makes things so interesting, especially with how the others react! They always have the funniest reactions!"
"HMP! Well, let's not waste our time with that discussion."
"Especially with the duel starting, we don't want to miss our son's first duel. Right, dear?" Drake, just gave a nod as he gave his full attention to the main screen. No one said anything as the duel began. 'Hmm, a pretty rookie mistake on Jack's part, with attacking with a monster with suck low attack against a face-down card.'
"Hmm, EVO, I haven't seen that archetype in while." The silence was broken by Annie's dad. Upon hearing that, Jack's parents nodded, both having a hard time remembering the last time they saw anyone use EVOs. Romach laughed and faced him with a grin.
"Well you won't be the only one Jacob, EVOs have fallen in popularity recently in favour of archetypes like Monarchs or Dinosaurs. As EVOs don't have the best time with clearing the opponent's field." Romach's grin grew as he brought up Jack's other options with this laptop. "His other choices were Dragonmaids and Kaijus. When I saw his options I thought for sure that he would choose Kaijus, as they're pretty popular nowadays, especially with young boys. I was pleasantly surprised when he did chose the least well know of the three, you don't see a lot of young duelists do that these days."
"Hmm, what a trio of options. Why did the quiz choose those 3 to give him?"
"Ah, Kate you know I can't answer that. I'm not authorized to give out that kind of information, even if you're his mother." Answer Romach, giving Kate a playful smirk.
"HMP! I know that! Sheesh, I was just curious." She crossed her arms, glaring at Romach. "But that does make me wonder what Annies choices were." Jacob nodded in agreement.
Romach gave a nod as he typed away on his laptop, bringing Annie's options up. "Her choices were Elemental HEROs, Utopia, and Stardust. Hmm, they all play pretty similarly. Yet goes about executing their strategy differently. However, I can't figure out why she went for HEROs out of the 3." Romach frowned, "I really thought she would go for Stardust." The other 3 adults laughed upon hearing that.
"Well, I'm not surprised my little hero would choose that deck. She adores the HEROS cartoon, she would spend her whole weekend watching it." Jacob gave out a nostalgic sigh. "I remember before she learned that there is a HERO archetype, she wanted to be a superhero herself. And after she learned about the HERO archetype, she was dead set on being a professional duelist using them."
"Ah what an interesting story, I can appreciate someone choosing their first deck using that kind of reasoning. No wonder my guess was off." Romach and the others returned their attention back to the duel. Kate smiled when she saw her son getting into the duel.
"Ah, I'm so glad Jack is enjoying himself. Same with Annie, I could tell they would make great rivals. Don't you agree Jacob?"
"Yea! I can already imagine them facing off with each other in the academy, it will be just like how we used to be like, right Drake?"
"Hmph! I wouldn't go as far as to say we were rivals, Jacob."
"Ah, come on Drake. Don't say that, we would constantly face-off with each other, wouldn't that make us rivals?" Jacob gave Drake a teasing grin as he rolled his chair to Drake, and wrapped an arm around him.
"Yea, Honey you can't deny that you guys would face off at least once a week, back during our Academy days," Drake responded with a huff, turning his head to face the screen, avoiding making eye contact with the others. The others just laughed once they saw how red his ears were.
They continued to watch the battle, occasionally chatting about what they thought of the duel. This lasted until Annie gave her Flame Wingman the command to attack, ending the duel.
"WHAT A EXHILARATING DUEL! I can't wait to see how they duel once they improve, I bet that they will be just as fun to watch!" After grabbing two wristwatch-looking devices from the desk. Romach practically jumps out of his seat, running to greet the new duelists. The parents are close behind, ready to congratulate both kids on how well they did.
When they entered the room with the arena they found both kids shaking hands, Jack with a pleased smile and Annie with a wide grin.
"That was great Jack, we should duel again soon!"
"Yea that was fun, I would love to duel you again." The parents smiled at the sight of their kids getting along. However, they did frown a bit when Romach interrupted such a heartwarming scene.
"YOU TWO DID GREAT!" Romach's shouting caused both kids to jump a bit. "I can tell you two will be great duelists in the future!" Annie puffed her chest up at the praise, and Jack gave a shy smile as he scratched the back of his head.
"Leave the kids alone Romach, can't you tell you're embarrassing them?" Kate shook her head at his antics.
"You can't blame me, Kate. I was just so excited after watching the duel. But I agree that I shouldn't take more of your kid's time." Grabbing the two wristwatch-like devices from his lab coat, he presented both to the kids. "Don't be shy, these two are for you both." Looking over the devices Jack came to a decision.
"Annie you should get the first choice as you did win."
"Really!? Thanks, Jack!" Annie with a bright smile gave Jack a quick hug and then looked over the devices Romach is holding. Finally deciding on the red one, leaving the green one for Jack. After giving the devices to the kids and showing them how to put them on. He started to guide both families out of the facility.
"Those devices are called duel watches, they let you quickly register into arenas. They also expand to cover your arm and turn into a duel disk. Your parents should be able to show you how to do that, so I won't go too much into that. They can store a digital version of your decks so you can play against people in a digital format. They also have many small features like making and receiving calls, but I won't spoil too much on what they are." Once they reach the main entrance, he turned around and give the kids a warm smile.
"I'm looking forward to seeing how far you two can get. I bet it would be quite the sight." The kids nodded, both having pleased smiles. As the kids and family were leaving Romach remembered one last thing. "Oh, I almost forgot, as new duelists both of you are both given 25 free packs from the DM stores, just use your new duel watches to show that you are new duelists. Have a nice night you two."
After both families said their last goodbyes, Romach walked back to the duelling room. Opening his laptop he looked over the data. "Hehehehe, to think I would find two kids with the potential of awakening the ability to see them." With a wide smile, he leaned back against his chair. "I truly can't wait to see how far they go, maybe I would finally see the result of the project DS after all these years." Closing his laptop and picking it up he stood up. "I should write my report before it gets too late." Romach turned off the other machines in the room before walking out of the room.