Ku Do-Yeon looked at Rama with an expression of panic as the experimental device continued to beep, activating a dizzying sequence of lights along one side. Next to Ku Do-Yeon her sister was equally pale with fear as she stared at the device, glancing between it and the furious face of Rama. The woman had rushed across the room as soon as she had noticed the device being attached to the South Korean, and was now closely inspecting it. She held the Korean’s arm up as she looked at it from every angle, checking every wire and strap. Besides the three of them a small robot whirred about, beeping in frustration as it tried to reach the device it had previously been working on.

  “Doesn’t appear you damaged it.” Rama stared intently at the device, dropping her voice to a normal volume as she did “And it doesn’t appear that it’s damaged you. Yet.”

  “Yet?” Ku Do-Yeon looked at the device on her arm in barely controlled panic, her cold and silent exterior melted away.

  “Yet.” Rama let go of Ku Do-Yeon’s arm, and frowned “Alright, take it off. Before something stupid happens.”

  “How exactly are we defining stupid.” Jacob asked cynically, standing at the edge of the table “What exactly is that thing.”

  “An experimental equipper, obviously.” Rama glanced over at Jacob with mild annoyance. He saw her eyes momentarily flash downwards towards the journal, before meeting his gaze again. He doubted the rest of the room caught the glance. “We’re testing multiple casting platforms.”

  “Multiple casting platforms?” Ku Do-Yeon’s began tugging at the metallic straps holding the experimental equipper to her arm, which didn’t budge.

  “Are you a parrot or a person? Yes, multiple casting platforms.” Rama’s aggravated tone and expression slowly melted into one of sarcasm as she watched the South Korean struggle “Having difficulty with the straps?”

  “It won’t come off.” Ku Do-Yeon offered her arm to Rama again, who began pressing buttons and pulling wires. The metallic straps refused to budge, and even appeared to tighten slightly, digging into Ku Do-Yeon’s flesh. She gasped as it did, then quickly regained her composure. As time passed she was slowly collecting herself, the initial terror wearing off after discovering what the equipper was designed to do. Equippers were common after all; she had arrived to the tour wearing top of the line models, which sat on the table where they had been removed.

  “Indeed, it will not.” Rama sighed, then looked to the robot next to them. “We’re gonna need removal techs, summon them from the testing areas please.”

  The robot beeped, and rolled off. Rama sighed, and placed a hand on her forehead in frustration.

  “Removal techs?” Ku Do-Yeon had regained much of her confidence, but still asked the question hesitantly. Rama’s temper had subsided, but it was a distinct possibility that the wrong question would set her off again.

  “Yes, it’s a design flaw in the strap system.” Rama didn’t remove her hand as she replied “We added automated straps to make it quicker to put on, but the motors have an annoying tendency to jam. Nothing has worked yet to get it to release besides removing it manually, which takes a while. Besides that and one or two bugs though, it’s basically ready for release. Once the outer shell is added of course, we can’t release anything ugly. Maybe after one or two more tests.”

  “So everything else on this thing works?” Ku Do-Yeon starting eying the device more carefully, gently tracing the wires from the various buttons and displays.

  “For the most part, yeah.” Rama leaned against her walking stick and looked in the direction the small robot had rolled off to “I’d say it only has a month or two before we put it in production.”

  “And it’s not going to blow up?” Ku Do-Yeon looked back at Rama with suspicion, who shrugged.

  “Shouldn’t. Hasn’t blown up before. At least not in that version.”

  Ku Do-Yeon nodded and began pressing a few buttons. The beeping on the equipper stopped, and the lights began blinking in a more controlled sequence.

  “Mind telling me what you’re doing?” Rama dropped her hand and looked over at Ku Do-Yeon in mild amusement.

  “This is a testing room.” Ku Do-Yeon said confidently “I’m giving it a test. It’s almost done anyways, let’s see just how good it is.”

  “Competitive casters are the target demographic.” Rama glanced down at the equipper as she muttered a bit under her breath, before sighing and looking up at Ku Do-Yeon “I really wish you wouldn’t, we don’t have it quite right yet. You have no idea what it’ll do.”

  “It’s an equipper.” Ku Do-Yeon looked at Rama like she was an idiot “It casts cards. And as long as it casts cards, then I’m interested.”

  Ku Do-Yeon pressed another button on the side of it and three small platforms shot out of the equipper; two on either side of the arm, and one just above the wrist. “Are those…”

  “Casting platforms.” Rama sighed “As I said, multiple cards. It’s designed to allow you to place down multiple cards at once, then the machine will cast them in the correct order for the match you’re playing. It’ll be great for education, it’ll revolutionize how duels are taught and tournaments are trained for.”

  Ku Do-Yeon tapped her deck box, and it spat out three cards. She tapped her equip deck, and it spat out another. She looked over the cards, frowned, and returned one of the cards to the main deck. It spat out another, and she nodded satisfied. She examined the equipper and began placing the cards into it, lining them up into the correct slots for each type.

  “It’s almost impressive.” Stan suddenly appeared next to Jacob with his wife; Jacob jumped slightly, cursing under his breath that he had been caught by yet another jump scare. “Just how little some folks listen.”

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  “Can’t say I’m much better.” Jacob replied “Given how personally acquainted we got with Laverne and Shirley earlier.”

  “That was different.” Stan shrugged “Rama was being a lot more cryptic with that one. This time it feels like she’s being pretty obvious.”

  Jacob grunted. Ku Do-Yeon looked up from where she was fiddling with the equipper, noticing everyone staring at her.

  “What?” Ku Do-Yeon raised an eyebrow “I’m not going to cast anything dangerous, I know what I’m doing.”

  “Sanity’s a love of mine,” Rama said dryly under her breath “Who’s long since gone away.”

  Ku Do-Yeon adjusted a few more settings, then pressed a large silver button on the side of the equipper. It beeped several times, before the pads began to glow from small light strips on their sides. The strips of light framed each card in a blue light, glinting off the slightly reflective surface of the Corporate Cards Ku Do-Yeon had placed. The first one blinked green, and there was a small bell noise as the card was cast. A small dagger appeared in Ku Do-Yeon’s left hand, which lightly crackled and popped as it moved. Ku Do-Yeon smiled as she looked at the dagger, and gave it a few light swipes through the air. Small lines of electricity followed it as she moved it, and she laughed a little.

  “Well it definitely works!” Ku Do-Yeon chuckled, swinging around the Static Dagger she had cast a few more times, being careful to avoid her sister “This thing works great.”

  “So far.” Rama subtly took a step back, but Ku Do-Yeon wasn’t paying attention to anything other than the equipper. The second card blinked green, and a series of dancing lights appeared throughout the room, dancing overhead in a delicate pattern. Ku Do-Yeon had cast the spell card Field of Stars, a Happy Card Co. card that was helpful against Dark Type creatures. Ku Do-Yeon looked up in wonder for a moment, seemingly entranced by her own card.

  “So if she’s entranced by her own card, does that make her a dark type?” Jacob quipped.

  “I keep dealing with stupid and I’m going to become a dark type.” Rama replied under her breath, raising an eyebrow at Jacob.

  The third card on the equipper blinked green, and Ku Do-Yeon’s original equipper suddenly flew upwards. It smacked into then high ceiling above with a clang, and Jacob raised an eyebrow. Ku Do-Yeon had cast the snare card Reverse Gravity next; she must have set the equipper to the South Korean school standard turn order. During the academy he knew a few students in the underground societies who played some matches with that order in their first few semesters. It was supposed to make it easier to understand the base effects of each type of card, though Jacob had always preferred the modern international turn order.

  “So be it.” Rama said grimly “No turning back now. We’re gonna be dealing with stupid.”

  The final card caster blinked green, and the machine chimed. Nothing happened for a second, and Ku Do-Yeon tapped it. The machine still didn’t cast the final card, and she frowned. She placed a hand on the card to remove it, and was suddenly surrounded by an impenetrable beam of light. The room was filled with a warm golden glow from it, and Jacob shielded his eyes from the intensity.

  “Is that supposed to happen?” Stan gritted his teeth as he shielded his eyes. His wife hid her face in his chest, both unable to look directly at the light.

  “I don’t think so.” Jacob squinted, but couldn’t look directly at the blinding glare. He could very faintly see the figure of Ku Do-Yeon inside the light, but couldn’t see what she was doing.

  "Help me!” Ku Do-Yeon’s voice came out distorted from the beam of light, and the silhouette appeared slightly stronger in the glow. Her body appeared to be shifting and morphing, growing slightly in size. Ku Do-Yeon began to cry out: a horrible, distorted sound that resonated at a strange frequency. Cracking sounds echoed through the room like strikes of lightning from the beam, and the silhouette grew taller. Ku Do-Yeon let out a sound somewhere between a scream and a cry, a noise that became monstrous as it continued. The shape inside the beam began to contort, jerking in unnatural movements as the shape began to change.

  “What’s happening to my sister?!” For the first time since entering the factory Amaryllis spoke, crying out in a soft voice to Rama. She stumbled back away from the light, holding up a hand to block the glare like the rest of the tour group.

  “She’s reaping the reward of her actions.” Rama sighed “I told her she really shouldn’t use that thing.”

  “You said it was basically done!” Amaryllis cried back “Just one or two bugs.”

  “Yep.” Rama replied, stepping backwards as the shape in the glow continued to grow “That’s one of the bugs.”

  The glow began to fade away, revealing the form within. Where Ku Do-Yeon stood a horrible monstrosity now waited, breathing heavily. It was at least eight feet tall and glowed with golden light, ebbing as the monster breathed. Crystalline growths covered every single surface, which appeared vaguely in the shape of the human it had been before. Clumps of Ku Do-Yeon’s dark hair sprouted at odd angles from the creature’s head, providing a stark contrast against the golden crystal around it. Small stars glowed where her eyes had once been, while razor sharp crystals replaced her forearms and calves. Her hands and feet were gone entirely, and small patches of fabric stuck out at odd angles throughout her form.

  "If that’s a bug, I don’t want to know what a problem is." Jacob lowered his hand and grimaced.

  “It’s like something out of a horror film.” Stan breathed in sharply as he lowered his hand, and his wife clutched his arm in terror.

  The creature looked around, and Jacob recoiled at it’s gaze. The entirety of the being was wrong, and he could sense a deep sense of sorrow and pain in its look. It knew it wasn’t supposed to exist. Any other understanding however had been stripped from it.

  “It happens every time.” Rama placed a hand on her forehead and sighed. “They always turn into creatures. Oh well, we’ll get it on the next version.”

  The monstrosity roared, a sound that split the boundary between animalistic and digital. Distortion ran underneath its voice, and the creature whipped it’s head around to look at Rama as it did. Where before there had been sorrow in its gaze rage now lived, all of which was directed at the Wonder Corp. Founder.

  “Violaku-” Amaryllis reached out to her sister and touched a crystalline arm. There was an explosive BANG, and the South Korean woman went flying backwards with a massive burst of life. Amaryllis hit a nearby wall, and there was a sickening sound as her head hit it. She fell in a crumpled heap to the floor, and a small pool of blood began to appear below her in several spots.

  “Holy shi-” Stan never got to finish his statement as the creature roared once again, swinging a massive crystalline arm at Rama. The woman deftly leapt upwards, leaping above the arm and landing on the conveyor belt. The creature roared and swung once more, and Rama jumped higher this time, twisting and turning in the air until she landed directly behind Jacob.

  “Alright officer.” Rama said sarcastically, grinning broadly behind Jacob “Time to make an arrest.”

  “Me?!” Jacob looked at her incredulously “It’s your factory!”

  “Better be quick about it, that creature looks angry.”

  “Oh for fucks sake.” Jacob looked over at the creature, which stared at him with a nearly uncontrolled rage. He made a mental note to start compiling potential legal violations in his mind; this had to be against at least half a dozen international declarations. Sensing danger his deck box whirred, automatically dispensing cards. The equipper at his side beeped as it powered up, triggered by the cards being released.

  The monster leaned forward and roared, the sound causing the walls to vibrate slightly. Inside the crystalline formation of its mouth Jacob saw a circular row of what appeared to be teeth, and he sighed. He didn’t know what algorithm inside the machines insisted on giving everything razor sharp teeth, but it was quickly losing its intimidation factor. Behind him Rama didn’t budge, and he saw in his peripheral vision Stan and his wife quickly moving to stand behind him as well.

  Jacob frowned grimly, and drew his cards.

  thing that her equipper just created. No, she isn’t going to jail for it. Is it fair? No. But in Rama’s defense, she was pretty clear about telling Ku Do-Yeon not to use the equipper. Legally, it’s not her fault that thus far almost none of the tour guests have chosen to listen. For those who are curious the creature card Ku Do-Yeon tried to cast was Crystal of Light, a simple lower level monster used by Happy Card Co. casters as the base for more complicated spell-based strategies; the card acts like a battery on the field, transforming light into energy that can be used by other cards. Ku Do-Yeon is the most prominant Happy Card Co. caster on the current international circuit, though she is controversial amongst fans of the company for mixing in a fair amount of FateCo and Wonder Corp. cards into her decks.

  trust in the cards…

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