NOVEL NEXT Report
'Thoughts'
"Speech"
Kate absentmindedly walked through the facility, looking for Dr.Romach to give him the daily report on the experiments. She has been worried about her son. Mostly about his newest interest in being a trader, she doesn't have anything against them but they tend to attract the attention of the unsavoury kind. 'I hope this is just a phase, I don't want him to be targeted for having cards others want. I don't think he's strong enough to protect himself from people that rather challenge him for his cards than trade for them.' She thought back to the discussion she had with her husband the night before.
"Honey, do you really think we should encourage Jack's goals of becoming a trader?"
"I don't see anything wrong with it. If he is old enough to have his own deck. Then it shouldn't be a problem for him to be a trader."
"It's just that traders are often targeted, and I don't think Jack is ready to face those kinds of challenges."
"He should be fine, Jack is smart enough to not be tricked. Also that Annie girl is always with him, she isn't the type of person to abandon a friend."
"That's what I'm afraid of, both of them can easily be ganged up against. And I don't see either of them running from any challenge if that happens."
"Hmm, how about this. I'll talk to Jacob about giving them a bit more training. While we both can teach them when we can?"
"-Sigh- Ok, that's probably all we can do. I'll rather not force Jack to stop trading, it's been a while since he found something he enjoyed doing. And being a trader can help him when he becomes a professional duelist." Kate was knocked out of her thoughts when she found herself in front of Dr.Romach's main lab. As she was about to open the door, she heard Romach talking to someone. Deciding to not interrupt him, she chose to wait. When she stopped hearing voices she opened the door, and the sight of a room full of computer screens and machines greeted her. Romach sat in front of the main computer typing away as he looked over lines of data. "Dr.Romach I'm here to deliver the daily report, sorry if I'm interrupting something." Romach spun around on his chair and greeted her with a wide smile.
"GREETINGS KATE! You came just in time, I just finished talking with some associates." That caught her interest, as Romach rarely socializes with others outside his main fields.
"What were you talking about?"
"We were talking about a side project I'm been taking part in for the last couple of years."
"Ah." Kate nodded, 'It makes sense that it was about his research in the end. That's the quickest way to get his attention.' Kate walked towards Romach and handed him a stack of papers. "Here are the results of the experiment on hard light projections." Romach nodded as he read through the reports.
"Ah, it's great that the project is going well. I can't wait until we can introduce this tech to duelling." Kate frowned.
"That's the other thing I'm here for. The higher-ups are conflicted about introducing this to the duels. Their afraid of the backlash that might come from parents of young duelists if their kids get injured by the tech. And I can see where they're coming from as a parent myself." Romans's ever-present smile turned into a deep frown.
"That's a problem, we can't have them think that. I'm sure I can convince them to change their minds.."
"You sure? It's not like this tech can't be used in other fields, and I also think it's dangerous for young duelist to have their hands on this kind of tech." Romach sat there in silence for a moment before he smiled at Kate.
"Don't worry about that, I have a plan that can idiot-proof this tech. Trust me this will revolutionize duels, have I ever been wrong when it comes to Duel Monsters?" Kate thought back to all the past projects Romach participate in and couldn't think a single time his ideas ever went wrong.
"-Sigh- Fine but you have to be the one that has to convince the higher-ups to change their minds on this, ok?" Romach laughed.
"No problem Kate! Just leave the convincing to me, and all you have to do is continue getting results in the project."
"Got it, just don't make me regret agreeing with you."
"NONSENSE! This will bring duelling to a whole level. And from what I can see from the data, we'll have people duelling using hard light technology within the next 5 years!" Kate nodded and after saying goodbye to Romach, left the room. When Romach couldn't hear any more footsteps, he turned around and started typing away on his keyboard. A bitter frown formed on his face. Taking a USB from his pocket, he plugged it into the main computer. After downloading some files onto it, he got up and shut down the machines.
"This should do it." Holding up the USB he smiled as he laughed. "Let's see if this can change their minds, I was hoping to save this for later. But this is too important to ignore." He stood up, stuffing the USB into his pocket. As he left the room and walked towards the higher-up's office, he started to murmur to himself. "Everything is progressing how it should be. To think I would be alive to witness the project succeeding." He took out a pocket watch, opening it up to reveal a photo inside. "Your dream will finally be realized, just like I promised it would. Just wait for a bit longer." Closing up the pocket watch, he placed it back into his pocket and took an elevator up. Romach smiled the whole way up, his laughter can be heard as walked towards the office of the higher-ups.