Contemplating what to do in this room while immobilized was hard. Just then, my thoughts were interrupted by a loud cracking noise overhead, "Welcome to Provectum! My name is Zak Branch, and I will be your guide on this lovely day. Please get out of your beds, careful with the wires, and step outside. Wait there for further instructions."
An intercom! I wasn't dead! That realization made me happy but also a little confused. If I wasn't dead, then where was I? But questions could be asked to this Zak person later. Getting out of this place was key. The steel cuffs holding my arms and legs snapped open and I carefully stepped over the many wires in the room. There was a soft hiss sound to my left. As I watched in wonder, the left wall slid open, making a doorway. The outside corridor seemed suddenly dark and foreboding. But what else was there to do? I had not choice. Stepping outside, I was surprised to see that I wasn't the only person here. In fact, there were around twenty of us. Some were of different ethnicities, male and female, some looked as if they were only 10 while others looked something closer to my age, 15.
"Hey! Watch where you're going!"
One boy yelled at a younger boy who had just emerged from his room and bumped into him.
"You wanna fight? Evidently you don't know who I am! I am James Peach, the one who almost cleared Immortal Takedown Online, one of the hardest VRMMORPG's ever!"
James Peach. I recognized that name. He wasn't in my block, but back in Seishin, we once had a VR match with some other schools, and he was on one of the teams. Evan beat him easily though, so I hadn't really thought much of it. Come to think about it, could we all be...players of ITO?
"Now, ladies and gentlemen, quiet down please! The boy you have just bumped into will be your instructor, Tam Leaves. Please treat him well. He will be guiding you through the basics of your abilities and how to use them. You'd better listen up! Because a week after today, we'll be transporting all of you to your final destinations!!"
Confusion was evident. Not only with what he meant by abilities but also about where we were and how we got here. But the one thing that had me wondering was....what was our final destination?
Just then, the mysterious young boy spoke up. He wore a gray jumpsuit not unlike most of our white ones, though over it he wore a dark coat with a matching backpack; on his legs were a pair of old fashioned work boots with steel tips.His dark brown hair was mixed with some strands of white, which gave him a mysterious aura. But most evident, he wore an expression of arrogance and it was clear he thought we were under him.
"Alright! My name is Tam Leaves, but you can call me Instructor Tam. I am, as Zak said, your instructor. I understand you are very confused; I will ask you to withhold your questions until after I am done however. I will now go over a few rules in this place!
1. Your questions will be answered by me.
2. You shall address me and Zak by Instructor or Sir.
3. Mealtimes are at 7:00 am, 1:00 pm, and 7:00 pm! Be there or starve.
4. The sparring rooms will be open from 6:00 am to 5:00 pm! Do not stay in there after hours or you will be harmed!
5. The most important rule, do not try to escape! There is no way out of this facility until a week from now.
6. No violence outside of friendly spars will be tolerated. Rulebreakers will be eliminated by force if they do not settle down.
Are we clear on these rules?? After you have memorized these rules, please follow me! I am going to give you the grand tour of our facilities that we will be using for the next few days!"
There was silence all around. Were we supposed to trust this guy who looked around 12 years old? Was this all a joke, some cruel way to laugh at us? Was this a reality TV show? Or, had we been trapped in a game?
"Hey Kid! You said we could ask you any question, right? Then answer this, where the heck are we and why the hell are you trying to tell us what to do?"
The larger boy from before yelled at the younger instructor who was already walking away. When he didn't respond, James made a fist and charged at Tam. Without even looking back at him, Tam raised his hand and caught the punch. Then turning around swiftly, he performed a brutal uppercut into James's chin, knocking him into the opposing wall. Looking back at Tam, I noticed one thing; His right arm was covered in strange metallic webbing. As if he realized that I was staring at him, Tam quickly turned around, smoothly tucking his hand into his coat pocket.
"Don't stare, it's rude. Now, come along! Also, someone care to carry Mr. Peach? He'll be out for a few minutes."
Tam led them down a hall and then to another white room. He gestured for us to sit down. Wary that this could be a trap, I tried to look for an exit, but the door we had entered from had already closed. Seeing no other choice, I sat down on one of the benches scattered around the room. Then, Tam spoke up.
"Earlier, Mr. Peach tried to ask me the question, 'Where are we?'But, he wasn't polite enough. But now that we're all here, I'll tell you. This world is your true reality. The one you were all in a few hours ago is a fake one created to emulate a world full of technology. The reason all of you played VR's in that game was to develop your powers in preparation for this world."
Outrage, surprise, even more strangely, joy, was written among the faces of my fellow players. Though in different contexts, we were all thinking the same thing, powers? What powers? Tam continued.
"I know some of you-oh forget it all of you are probably confused about this, that your life was all a lie. But yet, the events you lived through over in the game were perfectly real. Each memory, each day you woke up in that world, were definitely real. Yet, everyone around you was just the same as you, an avatar made to look like your real bodies. But why we have gathered all of you by taking you out of the Virtual Reality and waking you up to reality, is because we have recognized all of you as ready for life in this world, for this world is much harder to live in than the technology laden lifestyle you are used to. Now, I'll get to another issue you're probably wondering about; how you're alive. All of you here but you should be dead, correct?"
There was a general clamor of assent.
"The reason for your deaths was to fully release your minds from the Virtual reality and allow yourselves to fully integrate into the real society, where you will be transported at after this training week. Moving on, here are your beginner coats and training supplies. You will be able to keep these after this training week, so keep them safe, as these are probably the last pieces of advanced technology you'll see in this world."
Tam walked to the nearest wall and pressed his left hand against it. Immediately, a screen appeared where his hand had been. Pressing a few more buttons and the wall opened, revealing racks of white coats, helmets, gloves, and other items.
"Each of you will get one coat, one pair of sparring mitts, one helmet, two practice blades, one R-armor set, and one pair of boots. Is that clear?"
As we nodded in unison, a crackling sound came from behind us. As we turned around, we were enveloped by a giant cloud of smoke. Emerging from the smoke was none other than James Peach.
"Which bastard did this to me? How do I shut it off? Someone! Help!!"
It was evident that something was happening that Tam had anticipated, since he calmly walked to another wall and issued a series of commands into the new screen that popped up. Meanwhile, now that the initial smoke was clearing up, we could see what James was yelling hysterically about. His hands were on fire. By waving them around, he was cutting large gashes in the floor and walls, which immediately started to mend when they were hit. The problem was that even the walls were starting to give out. Tam, apparently finished with his call, stepped toward James.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I advise you to step back. Mr. Peach, if you do not cease your screaming and hand motions this instant, I will have no other choice but to eliminate you for the safety of all the other trainees here."
By this time, James was already out of control. Stopping his hand waving, he instead put both hands straight forward and charged at Tam.
"Tam! You're the only one who could've done something to me when you punched me earlier!! Now, tell me how to turn it off before I accidentally kill you!!"
While James was shouting threats, Tam took out a small black canister, opened it, and shook out a small gray pill. Quickly swallowing the pill, he put his hands out as if to mimic James's actions, but instead of shooting flames, he shot out the same metallic webbing as we had seen before. The webbing continued to flow until they covered Tam's hands like a pair of steel boxing gloves. While James charged at him, Tam motioned and said,
"Since Mr. Peach seems to be on a rampage, and the schedule has been disrupted, I suppose I'll cut to the chase: This world has seven primary elements to work with. Each of you have the one you have used before to play ITO. With practice, you can manipulate your element in any way you wish. What I'm doing right now is concentrating the element of steel into glove form. When you just start manipulating your element, you will only be able to produce a small amount, but with practice, you can create more complex objects."
Then, swiftly ducking under James's flame-throwing hands, he threw a flurry of fast and accurate punches into James's stomach. Knocked back, but also obviously determined not to lose, James clenched his hands into fists, the fire as a result rising further to cover his hands like Tam's but in gloves of fire. With a loud battle cry, he jumped, dodging Tam's first punch but not his second. As he flew backwards, Tam thrust out his hand as a large, seemingly limitless metal rod shot out of his gauntlet and flew towards James.
"When you can produce enough substance of your element, then you can start training to harden or soften it. In this case, the rod I'm firing at Mr. Peach is like a cannon, that is, it's very heavy and completely solid."
As the metal rod hit James, we could all hear the large Crash! as he flew into the wall by the force of the impact. This time, he struggled to get up. But as he attempted to get back on his feet, Tam concentrated hard, and this time, he used the gloves to shoot out numerous steel chains. As James struggled to get free, Tam calmly walked over to the screen he was speaking to earlier and nodded once. Immediately, a door opened on the side of the screen. A pair of armed guards marched in, grabbed ahold of James, and quickly left, the door disappearing behind them. Tam then walked over to the equipment again, and continued his lecture as if nothing had happened.
"The art of controlling elements is one that even I haven't mastered yet. But don't worry, I'm sure most of you will be able to soon create your own fighting style and transformations after we distribute the equips. Any questions?"
Looking around, Tam was about to go on when a tall dark skinned boy stood up. Respectfully raising his hand as if he was in school, he waited for Tam to answer.
"Yes?"
The boy looked as if he was in some great internal conflict, but finally asked,
"Instructor Tam, I was from the same Virtual School as James Peach, so I'd like to know where he'll be taken next."
Tam looked pleased that he was being called Instructor. Then, to the taller boy, he answered,
"As of his current actions against me, he will be held in for questioning for a few days. After that, it's up to the higher ups what happens to him. That reminds me, let's line you all up for equipment!"
As we lined up for equipment, Tam walked back to his screen and resumed a chat with whoever was on the other end. Strangely, I got the feeling he was sneaking glances at me...
After everyone got their equips, we of course wanted to try them out, but Tam returned to the front of the room and signalled for everyone to be quiet.
"Since everyone has gotten their equipment and understood why you all are here, I will now continue the tour and show you your training rooms and the other facilities."
Turning to the wall with the screen still visible, he activated the door, which slid open to reveal another hallway. Taking a left, we reached a set of double doors which Tam opened by voice command. Next, we came to a series of smaller rooms. Pointing to one side, Tam said,
"Those are for the boys, and the other side's rooms will be for the girls. Each room will have two trainees. The rooms have two beds, one desk, and one weapons rack. The showers are at the end of the hall. One is provided for each gender."
"Moving along, here are the training rooms.."
Tam gestured to a cluster of rooms at the end of the hall.
"Each of them have weapon racks as well as different types of sandbags, targets, weapons, armors, and a refreshment bar, free of charge. Training room hours are as following, 6:00 am to 11:30 pm. There are three mixed gender sparring rooms, and one male and one female only sparring room. The refreshment bar is operated by pressing ones' right hand on the panel next to the touch screen after selecting on the screen what you want to eat or drink. After around 10 seconds or so your meal or drink will be ready. The panel under the screen will then retract and the meal will be offered to you on a plate. We currently stock the delights around the seven cities, so take some time to familiarize yourself with each cities' dishes."
Taking a sharp left around the last training room, we arrived at a large room with double doors all around it.
"This is the cafeteria, the only place where we still serve the Virtual reality-type meals. Basically, this place serves your familiar pizza and meatballs. It has everything from udon to vegan salads, so feel free to dig in! Cafeteria hours are as follows: 7:00 am to 8:30 am, 1:00 pm to 2:45 pm, and 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. If we finish late and the cafeteria has already closed, please feel free to go to the training rooms for some snacks."
"This concludes the tour of the facilities we will be using for the training week. Any questions?"
The tall dark skinned boy from before raised his hand.
"Instructor Tam, you said these are the facilities we will be using. Does this mean there is more to this place than just training facilities?"
"Yes, but the main portion is dedicated to training. Now moving along, we are going to assign roommates."
As I stood in line, I had a feeling Tam was trying to get us away from knowing what this place was all about. And there was also the whole metallic element molding that he had showcased on James. In the lecture, he stated there were only seven elements, water, ice, fire, stone, lightning, wind, and plants, but he never mentioned metal. This gave me two theories. The first was that metal was a fusion of elements. The other was slightly more likely and fit the situation; the metallic element was one the higher-ups did not want to tell us about, and was most likely a drug enhanced elemental state. This was supported by Tam's usage of a pill before engaging James.
"....And last but not least! Ryumei Raiden! Your roommate will be Agni Joshi and room number of 201! Now that everyone has a roommate and a room number, you will have two hours of free time before lights out! My room is the one at the very end of the corridor. If you have any questions feel free to knock on the door when the green sign is up! Everyone is now dismissed!"
A little more interested to take a quick tour by myself instead of wondering who my roommate was, I quickly walked down the hall of rooms. As I did, I spotted several things worthy to take note of. While this was a training facility, there were no fitness rooms like the ones found in Block--- no, the virtual world. The concept was still hard to grasp, that my life so far had been a blatant lie basically, and Mr. Hikari and all the Seishin Staff were most likely just AIs created by these people. The other small details I noticed included a lack of plants around the facility, and also a lack of people. I had already noticed earlier, the small dark bulbs on the ceiling and had deduced their security purpose. But even if Tam was strong enough to take on James who didn't have any training in his element, could he take on all of us when he wasn't prepared? As I finished my thoughts, I found myself standing back in the trainees' hallway. Walking into my room like all of the other kids, I lay back in my bunk staring at the ceiling, wondering what the future had in store for me.