Unknown Welcome (V)

Daulton and Kiyro went to the counter where all the trays were left for the kitchen people to pick

up and clean. Then they walked out of the cafeteria and headed for their destination, where Angela had stated for them to meet.

"You are going to like what we are going to next."

"That is?"

"We're going to go play the game. Do you remember that giant egg machine? That's what we are going to go and play in."

"I see." Kiyro was interested in what the giant egg had to offer. Was it exactly like the Sense gear, or was it even better?

Kiyro and Daulton passed through large glass windows where hundreds of other Embryo Type II machines were placed. Most of them were filled with people already playing in the game of Growth. They stopped in front of the glass door as it automatically opened by itself. Angela was sitting in a chair in front of a desk with her legs crossed over. She twirled around on her rotating chair and faced them.

Ten Embryo Type II machines were in the same room in two rows of five. From a closer look at the Embryo Type II machine, he noticed a couple of peculiarities about the Machine. First, it looks like a chicken egg with a fetus in the middle of it. A good portion of the Embryo was made of glass that one could see into it.

The most interesting part of the Embryo Type II Machine was that it got snippets of its pictures through the player's eyes, taking in their virtual adventures. It did not compare to his O.M ability to record everything in real-time. He noticed, for some reason, that even the Embryo Type II could not record anything in the game of Growth. He assumed that something was blocking the outside recording from being able to take place.

Five of the Embryo machines were mainly filled with people he did not know, except one. In one of the machines closest to the wall was Will. He had to double-check to see if his eyes were not playing with him. It was Will floating in the Embryo Type II machine playing the game of Growth.

"You are late by five minutes. Make it a habit of coming here on time, Mr. Lee and Mr. Koga. We have a schedule that we need to follow." Angela clicked her ballpoint pen a couple of times in irritation. "Go get washed up in the next room. Your clothes are waiting for you there. Mr. Daulton, show him the way."

"Yes, mam."

Daulton motioned him towards the small hallway, where it was split into two directions. One way was for the female, and the other was for the male. Daulton pushed the door open for the door that lead to the male bathroom. When Kiyro stepped inside he was quite amazed at how nicely the bathroom was built. They were showers that were divided for personal use. Hanging on the walls across the shower were the black suits that Kiyro saw other players wearing inside the Embryo.

"Soap is on the wall. Towels are over there next to the suits. Whenever you are finished, just go back out."

"Is this all necessary?"

"So. I'm guessing that they don't want stinky suits or their precious water being contaminated. In all honesty, you start to feel disgusting after you stay in the suit for long periods. That's why we take another quick shower and let them deal with sanitizing it for the next use."

"It's that bad?"

"Yea. The longest one ever stayed inside was forty-eight hours nonstop. It became so unclean that they installed a filtration system so you could use the bathroom if something like that happened again. With that being said, let's get this over with. You look as if disaster struck and been living out in the wild for days."

"That's not too bad. Here I thought someone hadn't changed out of his clothes and his underwear for a month."

"I feel like I'm going to throw up the food I just ate just hearing that." Kiyro thought he would hurl.

"My bad. I didn't mean to. I recommend taking a long shower, but the lady with a stick up her ass might come in here to drag you out if you take too long."

"I'm not sure I would like that."

Kiyro went ahead and started to peel off his dirty clothes. Now that he thought about it, he had not changed from his rough tumble with the two people last night. Looking down, his clothes were dirtied and even ripped in some places. He placed them in the basket as he stepped into the shower. A hot jet stream of water hit his bare skin, making him wince backward. He wasn't expecting hot water to be the first thing to hit his skin. Usually, he would experience a jet of cold water, then slowly hot.

Kiyro took a quick shower, slipped into his new clothes, and returned. Angela was busily maintaining three Embryo Machines for use. He wondered who the third person was going to join.

"Well, Mr. Koga, it seems you are ready to do a test trial of the Embryo Machine. There are a couple of things that you need to know. The first rule is that in-game or real life; no one is allowed to tell where this academy is located or anything about it. If you fail to follow this rule, you will die."

Kiyro shifted uncomfortably. He is as not too keen on dying anytime soon. But, he needed a way

out of this place and found his brother.

"The second rule is that every two weeks, there is going to be an evaluation that you need to go and attend. You will have a supervisor you need to contact and relate your information. Finally, the day is divided into three categories. You will play the game of Growth for the first nine hours, and for the next three hours, you will be taking classes. You can take your meals in between, and the rest of the hours include sleeping and your own free time. This Machine will be specifically your Machine. No other people could use it because it would be registered to you. Now go in and step into the Machine, and we will start."

Reaching up towards the Machine, Kiyro pulled himself in. He felt odd being enclosed. The Sense Gear came down onto his head and clicked onto his suit. He felt an electrifying feeling throughout his whole body as if it had become one with the Machine.

"You'll have enough space to move around inside the Embryo unit."

The glasses of the Embryo machine slowly came down and covered his vision.

"Your supervisor will be Angel." Angela looks over his shoulder behind her. "Here he is."

Kiyro's eyes became wide with alert. He held in a gasp when he saw Angel. It was the same man that he saw in the game world. No, he knew that time was not just the game world but the real world.

The man wearing the same suit as Kiyro, with his hair slicked back and a silver cross dangling on his side, stepped towards Angela. The glass closed and locked into place, keeping Kiyro and Angel on the other side.

A killer playing the game? Kiyro couldn't help but wonder why this man who had murdered so many people would go into the game world. What was his reason in the first place to even come here? Did Angel remember who he was at the college?

"Well, what do we have here?" Angel smiled as he looked directly at Kiyro.

Kiyro felt a shiver run down his whole back as he froze. Luke's warm water splashed around him as it slowly began filling up. He could see Angel and Angela talking among themselves over something he had difficulty hearing because of the rush of water streaming in from all sides.

"New blood?"

"You could say something like that." Angela nodded. "I'm surprised that you are here so soon. I thought you didn't want to take part in this experiment."

"You know me. If I find something interesting to participate in, I'll go in head first. I can see why

BlackStar takes an interest in this game."

"Really? I find it fascinating as well. You could say it's like a second world."

"A second world shall be to the people, but our goal is not to live in this virtual world. We got things that we need to do."

"Yes. I've been keeping track."

"That's wonderful to hear." Angel stared at Kiyro curiously.

"How-?" Kiyro mumbled, astonished that he would meet the same guy he had met by chance. He remembered it as if it was just yesterday that he felt almost sucked into Angel's devilish words. Whether it be fate or coincidence, he had met this man now three times. Now his fate was entangled directly with Angel, who was his supervisor. Their eyes made contact, giving Kiyro the shivers.

The world around him slowly became black. His eyes droopy as Kiyro is brought into the game of Growth. The last thing that stuck in his mind was what he would do now.