Chapter 2 - Status of Reincarnators

The sun's rays reflected off the bright, almost white, pink walls of Esther's room. There was not much furniture in her room, and the rays reflected like a stream from the window seemed to be trying to show the clutter everywhere, especially in this simple room.

Clothes in various, random positions were the main cause of this said clutter. There was not a single item other than clothes in sight. Just to the right of the automatic, handle-less, cream-colored door, a white sweatshirt and a dark purple, vertically striped, black bolaro thrown over it stood out.

The comfort of no one being home was evident in the underwear hanging over the lamp on the nightstand, the same color as the door.

Since her mother's departure, Esther had almost imprisoned herself in a busy work and sleep tempo. It was obvious that she did not take care of her room at this pace or could not find the time to take care of it.

The picture frame on the bedside table was facing towards the bed. There was a family picture in the frame. It was a picture of a family they had once been happy with. Before going to bed, she looked at it longingly.

In this room full of longing and depression, the sun's rays were concentrated on the silver pearl-like sphere on the bedside table. As its rays reflected, it presented a very pleasing sight to the eye.

The sphere was small and devoid of roughness. It was probably the smallest creature in the room. Yes, this mysterious orb was alive and even something everyone knew about. A... bakugan!

Of course, it was natural not to realize what it was at first. Bakugans normally had a surface with indentations and cavities. From these indentations and gaps, the bakugan would have a view even in ball form. But more importantly, they were able to change from ball form to a compressed, miniature version of their original form!

This bakugan, however, did not appear to have any gaps or indentations. Its surface was clean, like an egg.

It was extremely weird, but... well, what was normal about James?

On the topic of James, the uncomfortable heat of the sun had finally woken his mind. What he could see could be summarised in one word.

Darkness.

This darkness made James think at first that he might be in someone's pocket.

It was a very appropriate thought considering recent events. It was Fox who stopped him when he was terrorizing like a monster. And Fox had brought back to life what he had eaten. So technically speaking, his transformation into a bakugan had harmed almost no one.

Still, James was sure it had had a huge impact on everyone, even the Bakugan Resistance.

Come on, there have been cases of people/bakugans consuming someone or throwing them into the doom dimension, which technically means killing them. But a direct death? There was often no such thing. Moreover, it has never been seen so consecutively.

Thinking about it, he wasn't sure whether to feel proud or guilty. Then he decided to focus on the current situation.

Logically, he must have been in ball form and probably in someone's pocket. After all, Fox had thrown him to a certain person.

But he couldn't feel himself moving at all. He could feel a cold surface underneath, or somewhere he guessed it was.

This sensation disproved the idea that he was in a pocket. The fact that he was not moving in any way suggested that he was in a fixed place. He grunted as his attempts to move became fruitless.

He began to think about what he could do. It was like he was trapped. He could not move in any way. He couldn't even feel any limbs.

'Wait a minute... I'm looking at things the wrong way.'

At that moment, he entered a state of realization. His limbs were different. That meant there was more to learn!

It was no different to a baby learning to take a step. Of course, it didn't mean that it would take as much time.

Since his limbs were different, wouldn't it technically be enough for him to try to push himself?

He thought about it, but wasn't quite sure how to go about it. Pushing lightly on his waist or chest, he tried to move his muscles or something he thought was a muscle. The result was a slight dizziness.

But he had succeeded! He felt that he was moving, even if it was a centimeter. The place where he felt the surface had become different! 

While he was proud of this, the only thing that was seen from the outside was the slight shift of a tiny sphere.

Still, for James, it was a big step. All he had to do was to repeat this step with time and care.

And so he did. He moved slowly and unobtrusively. As a result of these movements, something similar to scales fell off.

It was like a bird shedding feathers. These scales accumulated just below the sphere, and when this happened... 

James began to see things!

The light dazzled his eyes as each flake gave him a whole new view. It was a marvelous experience for him to gain a whole new perspective.

But even when the scales stopped falling, it would be wrong to say that he could see fully. He had a limited field of vision. It was like wearing glasses with narrow vision.

The clearest thing his eyes could see was that he was in some kind of room. But everything was so big that he just stared for a moment in astonishment.

Even if he knew, it was a different experience that he could see with his eyes. He felt so small in this huge space that he did not know what to do at that moment.

What should he really do? His plans had always been to avoid falling into this state until now.

First of all, he had to gain freedom of movement. Bakugans were normally free to some extent in their mini-forms.

But he couldn't do it right away. There was nothing to be gained by standing still. So he decided to do the best thing he thought he could.

He was going to roll!

Of course, there could have been other reasons, but this was the best one he could hold on to. But this time, instead of going forward, he tried to see if he could go in a different direction.

As he tried to push himself in a different direction, his worldview became even stranger. As he slid upwards and slightly to the right, he made a slight roll towards the lamp.

As such, it was inevitable that he did not see the underwear on the lamp.

'Black.'

Since it was his first time to observe a woman's underwear, he did not know what to feel.

In the end, if he could, he would shake his head from side to side. He decided to push himself away from the lamp. It would be best to get out of his sight. Dude, this was really embarrassing!

His worldview was changing rapidly as the feeling of shame caused him to push and push harder. 

His roll in the direction he was traveling became faster and faster. In the distance, a sphere was clearly visible, moving on its own, first to the right and then to the left.

Since the speed of movement was even faster than before, his worldview also accelerated and he began to feel nauseous.

'S-Stop! I can't stop! Please stop! My stomach...!'

Although he suddenly realized that he had pushed himself too fast, James, unfortunately, couldn't stop until he hit the foot of the picture frame.

Bang!

*Low Budget Glass Shattering Effect*

The fate of the picture frame was sealed with James' push. The glass shattered and the valiant frame just died.

James himself naturally fell to the ground when he hit it! When he fell, he couldn't stand it any longer because the nausea and dizziness were too much for his body.

Silver particles could be seen scattered around as his mind once again fell into darkness.

... 

With the sound of the door sliding open, the LED lights in the ceiling of the room came on brightly.

The lights were dim and, unlike the sun, they were incapable of radiating heat, but the clarity of this light was enough to disturb James.

He muttered in a hoarse voice.

"What in God's name?"

He felt uncomfortable as he was dazzled by a brightness like his first meeting with Heaven, but what he saw when he opened his eyes fully left him speechless.

Esther had him between her fingers. He was no different from a giant to her now. He could see her huge blue eyes. She was looking at him, her eyes closing and opening from the need to sleep.

Even though she was looking at him, it was more like she wasn't looking at him. She looked that sleepy.

It was the first time James had ever seen anyone so close. He had to admit that it was an extremely horrible experience.

Yet, at the same time, he found it intriguing to be able to see so much detail of someone. Tt was never technically possible to be that small in size.

Regardless of this terrifying moment, he could clearly pick out the flaws and good points of a human - no, a vestal being.

Of course, it only took him a few seconds to think about it. Immediately afterwards, he tried to call out.

"Esther! Hey! Can you hear me!?"

Unfortunately, Esther put him on the bedside table without paying any attention to him, while her voice sounded muffled to him.

Then, she switched off the lights, threw herself on the bed, and fell asleep.

***

It was just another day at Trinity Medical Centre. The extra excitement of the last few weeks and the fatigue that came with it could be seen on the faces of everyone from security to the receptionist. The old peaceful yet eerie silence of the hospital had disappeared. And they were not at all happy about it.

Since neither a disease nor a major accident happened easily, everyone was at ease. It would be absurd to have a major accident in a colony where every building was carefully constructed.

But contrary to all these thoughts, 'The Appearance of Bakugan' had caused many accidents, even if they were minor!

The number of vestals they took care of after this accident was excessive! Minor abrasions were not a problem. But those who thought that something had happened to them after this incident, patients who made strange requests, were very annoying and wasted effort.

For all these reasons, everyone was tired, but at the same time, they were relieved. Because they had sent almost all the patients in good health.

Almost...

The doctor walked slowly but surely down the corridor. His hurried and nervous steps made it difficult for the nurse behind him to follow him. While rubbing his wrinkled forehead with his right hand, he looked at the tablet in his left hand.

He asked in a stern voice:

"Is he awake yet?"

The nurse next to him hurried over and quickly nodded anxiously:

"No, sir."

The doctor sighed. He stopped his steps when he reached a certain room. It was no different from any other door. At least to the casual eye. If one looked carefully and observed the interior, one could see a young man lying inside.

The doctor paused before opening the door and asked:

"How are the readings on the machine?"

The nurse hurriedly looked down at the tablet she was cradling in her sleeve and then answered:

"They are normal. There are no problems. I have sent you the result of the MRI."

The doctor nodded his head. When he opened the door and entered, his eyebrows involuntarily furrowed at the sight he saw.

Beeeeep! Beeeeeeep! Beeeeeeeeeep!

A young man was lying unconscious on the bed. The first striking detail was that his arms and legs were completely covered with bandages. Immediately after that, the arteries and cables connected to him were noticeable.

His head was resting on the pillow and he was unconscious. His unease could be seen in the furrowed brow. Although he was unconscious, it was clear that he was in pain.

The doctor looked at his tablet and sighed.

This young patient was the most serious patient he had seen in a long time. The damage to the nerves in his brain was no joke. There was also a terrible amount of damage to the nerves connecting his ears and eyes. A little more delay and he could have been blind, deaf, and completely immobilized!

He was lucky. He had no idea what this young patient was going through, but he had to admit that he was both very unlucky and very lucky. With the latest technology, a critical level of this damage has been treated.

However, this did not mean that they had completely solved everything. The brain damage was extremely serious. For this reason, it was never clear when he would wake up. The doctor took a look at the results, but when he saw that there was no improvement, he hung up.

Everything now depended on this young man and his will to wake up. The doctor was aware of this.

He glanced at this young man's name and muttered.

"Ryuu huh? I hope you wake up, young man."

Although he had no hope, he walked away after saying these words, which he said every time he checked like a ritual. There was nothing that could be done.