Special Report: The Light of Regression

Chapter 2
Third Sighting: The Tournament

Special Report: The Regression Light

Third Sighting:

The Tournament

“Before we continue, professor, I had been curious about one small detail,” James asked curiously.

“Yes, Mister Deveraux, what is it?” Professor Nine asked calmly.

The news anchor took a moment to probably to collect his thoughts and figure out how to approach the subject that was on his mind.

“Professor, in all the videos I have seen on this mysterious object, the down-sizers in question are never overly panicked over their suddenly change, why is that?” James asked calmly.

You raised ah eyebrow at the nickname that the news anchor just gave the people affected by the orb’s power. Something about calling those poor people ‘down-sizers’ didn’t sit well you. Thankfully, you weren’t alone in this feeling, as Professor Nine let out a tired sigh and looked at the news anchor with a small glare.

“Please, Mister Deveraux, don’t call those poor victims with such a term. It degrading and sounds a little racist,” Professor Nine replied calmly.

James looked down at his papers, a small frown on his face. He looked genuinely ashamed for the term he used. You smiled at this glad that the anchor wasn’t some arrogant-type who thinks everything he says is right. The anchor looked at his guest, with genuine shame in his eyes, and sent a silent message to the professor. The professor got the message, and nodded, smiling slightly. After this, the professor regained his composure, and addressed the question he was given shortly before.

“…To answer your question, Mister Deveraux, all the victims entered into a state of bliss during their regression, and continued after their reached their new age,” Professor Nine said calmly. “It does wear off after a couple of hours, but otherwise, the victims are fine.”

“State of bliss…like when one’s on painkillers…?” Daisy said quietly, and quite suddenly.

Startled, the two males looked in the direction of the female anchor. Daisy, for her part, had lowered her head, tying to hide the blush spreading her cheeks once more. It was clear that her co-host and the professor had forgotten about her until she had spoken, and truth by told, you would have forgotten about her to, if the camera wasn’t position so all three were in the frame.

After a moment, the shock wore off, and the professor smiled a small smile. “Actually, Ms Nancy, that’s more accurate then you realized.”

The female anchor looked at the professor, offering him a soft smile and then looked away quickly. You couldn’t help but notice that Daisy Nancy seems more like a child talking to a crowd for the first time, instead of a grown woman trying to do a job. You filed this into back of your mind, and returned to the special.

“What do you mean, professor?” James asked curiously.

Professor Nine looked at the male anchor and offered a small smile of his own. “Well, to put it simply, the mind entered into a state of bliss, as I mentioned before, as the regression starts, probably to ease the victims into their younger bodies. Take the cheerleaders from the video for example. A pair of twins had separated themselves through their haircuts. That ended when they were regressed into little girls and they haircut turned into matching styles. What would you think of such a situation, Ms. Nancy?”

The shy reported gasped softly and nearly dropped her papers, when she heard her name. She looked over at the two men, confusion clearly written all over her face. It was clear to you that she wasn’t giving her full attention to the conversation her co-host and the good professor were having. Still, it also was clear that she heard some part of it, as she replied, only with a slight temble in her voice.

“W-Well, I-I w-would be h-humiliated, p-probably?”

Professor nodded, and said calmly, “Well that’s what most forks would think. After all, the twins had worked hard to separate themselves from each as they grew older, only to have that taken away when they suddenly found themselves barely above first grade. But they, as you saw, took it in good humor, and even playfully tickled a friend when she found it funny to see the twins with such haircuts.”

James nodded, clearly understanding what the professor was saying. The room fell into an easy silence as the main anchor looked at the papers in his hand, clearly thinking about his next words.

“I know this is probably a question you get often, professor, but I believe our viewers are just as curious as I am,” James said, looking at the older man. “Just how far and deep does the change go?”

The professor laugh slightly at this, and then replied,” You are corrected, that is the most common question I am asked. And I believe you would understand it better when you watched the video of the third known encountered with the mysterious object.”

James nodded and looked forward, probably at a screen that you couldn’t see. The screen faded to black and was quickly replaced with a new scene. The person filming this was clearly new; it took a few moments for the picture to come into a decent view. Once the person behind the camera had a good handle on the item, he or she began to look around.

It was some kind of large convention hall, with many people of different ages gathered around tables. The cameraman got close to one of the tables and saw that two kids, around 14 and 13 respectively, was playing with a series of cards, with different color outlines. The camera pins up and a banner came into view. On the banner, in bright letter were the words “Magic: The Gathering: West Side tournament.”

The cameraman, bored with looking at the banner, began to wonder the hall, lazily looking at the players. Soon, the cameraman came to a table where two adult males were playing a match. One was playing with a desk of blue colored cards, and the other was playing with a desk of black cards. The cameraman turned to the play using the blue desk, and you studied the guy.

The man, about 27, 28, wasn’t anything special. He was thin, but not underweight, and he has an albino skin tone, which want really well with his blue eyes. He has a small square jar, and the grin he was sporting showed that a tooth in the upper right corner of his mouth was missing. The other thing about him was his head; it was shaved bold, suggesting he was prematurely bolding. He was wearing a pair of kakis shorts, black high tops, and a Magic: The Gathering T-shirt under a red plaid shirt.

The cameraman down at the game and took notice of the score between the two players. The blue player was clearly in the lead, with 16 point to his opponent’s 12. The camera pinned to the blue player, and held out a thumb- up, which was barely in the view of the camera.

“You get this! So smoke this turkey and moved on,” the cameraman said, revealing the person to be a boy.

His friend turned to the camera and flashed a confident smile before turning back to his opponent. He drew a card, and played it after a brief look at the field. The blue player was about to attack, when a suddenly burst of light draw the cameraman’s attention upwards. The entire hall fell into silence as a familiar object appeared over head.

Like before, you watched as the orb began traveling over the large crowd, shining it prism light down, just like in the last video. The cameraman followed the orb, clearly festinated by the light. The light passed over him a few minutes latter, and the man shiver slightly, the sound of his teeth chatting being caught by his camera.

“Man, was that ever a weird feeling,” the man muttered dryly to himself as he turned his camera to continue following the orb.

The orb hovered to the players that the cameraman was just watching, and shined it light down on both of them. The light seemed to scan the two players, who had gone back to their game, bored with the show. Suddenly, the light began to contracted, focusing it attention onto the blue player. Soon, the light was entirely on the blue player, and the orb pulsed three times as it slightly smaller. The orb then entered into the player through his back. The player didn’t even acknowledge as the strange object entered him, and finished his turned.

The player started to glow as he looked at his opponent, impatiently waiting for him to start his turn. The black player, however, wasn’t in the mood to play anymore. He was too focused on the person before him as he grew younger at a steady rate.

“Well…c’mon, I don’t have all day,” the regressing man said impatiently.

The black player didn’t hear his opponent, his mind obviously not allowing him to process anything at the moment. The man turned his camera to his friend and watched as he steadily changed. Like the cheerleaders before him, an afterimage was left behind each time the man got younger. Unlike the cheerleaders, noticing his changes was a little harder.

You narrowed your eyes as you tried to count the number of afterimages that has appeared since the man started to regress. There were two, no three afterimages, meaning that the victim was around 25, 24 at the moment. You watch as the newest victim continued to grow younger, trying to see the changes as they happen.

As the blue player grew a year younger, his hair started to grow out again, revealing a patch of sandy blonde hair. The hair, which was thin around the middle and the front, grew out slowly as he turned 22.

“C’mon!” the blue player said, clearly frustrated by his opponent’s lack of concentration. “Whose cares I’m getting smaller…take your turn!”

The black player become irritated at this, and was determined to beat the stuffing out of the cocky man. The game resume, though the cameraman continue to looked at his regressing friend.

As the player got another year younger, his hair thicken slightly, but not enough to be outright noticeable if the camera wasn’t so darn close. As another year was lost, the man’s hair bloomed, quickly growing to cover his forehead. The cameraman pulled away slightly, and you noticed something odd about the man. He was squinting as he looked at the cards on the table. He looked at his own hand, and you noticed that he was having trouble seeing his card. The man went down to age 19 and a pair of green framed glasses appeared in front of his eyes.

The regressing man paid this sudden change no mind as he did something with two cards on the field, and use another one from his hand. The now 18-year-old threw a cocky grin at his opponent, who looked ready to yell. It was becoming clear that the regression wasn’t effecting his concentration on the game.

The game the regressing man was play continued, like nothing happened. The man’s regression, unlike the cheerleaders, was more subtle. He got slightly thinner and smaller as he quickly passed through his teen to his preteens, and finally childhood. The biggest change during the man’s regression was his hair. The hair want through numerous styles as the man passed back through his years. Hairstyles included but not limited to, spike, mushroom, Mohawk, and others until it settle on a mop top that nearly covered the kid’s eyes.

The blue player bottom out at age eleven as the many afterimages began to collapse into each other. The player didn’t even respond when the last of the afterimages collapse into him; he just started his turn, and played as he glow brighter for a belief moment. After the glow faded, the cameraman studied his friend through his camera.

The former adult wasn’t that much different then before. He’s shorter, but probably two to three inches taller then your normal eleven-year-old. His chin was also slightly smaller, but that was too expected. Surprisingly, his outfit was nearly left unchanged; only his plaid shirt had gone though a heavy change. The article of clothing had morphed into a blue, sleeveless summer jacket, with a water drop behind the “Magic: the Gathering” logo, which had moved from the shirt to the jacket.

The biggest change, however, was the chair the former adult was sitting in. It had gain longer legs, allowing the kid to look his opponent in the eye, and still be comfortable. There were even small steps so the boy could get into the piece of furniture more easily.

The former adult gave his opponents a cocky grin as he played a few of his cards, and his opponent gawk as he noticed that he somehow lost. A number of emotions ran across his face, but mostly anger show on the face of this clearly sore looser.

“Now hold on, you brat!” the black player said angrily, slamming his hands onto the table. “You must have cheated!”

“Dude, you really went there?” the cameraman asked with a hint of confusion in his voice. “You have been playing my friend here for nearly 16 minutes. Don’t go throwing stuff like that just because he got younger!”

“Yeah, don’t be a sore loser, you dweeb,” the former adult player said in a raspy voice and gave his opponent a raspberry.

The blue player gathered his belongings, and jumped down from his chair. The boy wonder off, looking for any ongoing matches that interested him. The cameraman looked at his friend’s beaten opponent and notice just how angry he was. He just left the sore loser to stow in his juices as he went to catch up with his friend, taking the chair with him, feeling like he was going to need it.

What followed next was clearly an edited video, showing the regressed player against others, and beating them with somewhat ease. The last scene show the former adult playing in the finals, and sweating as he played some sort of card, only to have his opponent block his move and somehow turned around, beating the regressed player

The video ended after that, and the news room came into view. You looked at the anchorman trying to get a beat on his reaction to the video he just watched. The man’s expression was completely unreadable as he turned too looked at the professor next to him.

“I’m sorry I don’t quite understand, professor,” James said, sounding a bit confused. “The victim was showing playing a card game. What does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, Mister Deveraux, as you may have noticed, the changed in his psychical age didn’t effect how he played,” Professor Nine said calmly. “In fact, from the reel you saw, he had no trouble until the final round.”

“So, you’re saying that he had kept the skills and knowledge about the game without any problem?” James asked curiously.

“That’s correct,” Professor Nine said as he nodded slowly. “Shortly after learning about her husbands change, the wife called my department, and we quizzed the boy about his changes.”

You again leaned closer to the TV, eager to hear this just as much as the anchorman and woman were. The professor took this as a good sigh and continued with his lecture.

“…We were surprise to learn that he can clearly recall all of the cards’ names and what sort of role they play. He could also recalled how many tournaments he played on, how many decks he built or change, and the numerous arguments he had with his ex-wife over his little hobby. After we confirm that he retain the knowledge about the card game, we moved onwards and tested him in different ways.”

“What kinds of tests, Professor?” James asked curiously.

“Two simple math tests, actually…one below the grade level of his younger body, and one above it,” the professor replied calmly. “The victim actually scored a prefect score on the lower grade test. But he did worse on the higher grade test then during his first time taking it, due to nauseated-induced headaches.”

“Why is that, Professor?” James asked his curiosity clearly growing.

Professor Nine looked away from the anchorman, clearly having some sort of debate with himself. James left the man to his thoughts, probably knowing, or at least guessing, that he would come to his own decision. He remained like that for nearly a minute before sighing, and looked at the camera again.

“Well, this is just a theory some of my fellow researchers are using, but we believe that not the memory is effect, but the experience behind it is, like it somehow been lost,” the professor said hesitantly.

“…I’m afraid I don’t follow, professor?” James said doubtfully. “The experience is lost?”

Professor Nine took a deep breath, and exhaled it. You could tell that the professor was clearly thinking over his next words, and lean back into the chair, waiting for the older man to respond.

“Think about it in this sense, Mister Deveraux,” the Professor said slowly. “The brain is like a machine and experience is part of the machine. When a part of the machine is broken, it can cause certain…‘problems’ and that result in victims had trouble recalling certain memories due to the experience connecting the memories are no longer there.”

“Professor, I know next to nothing about the human brain, but that sounds a lot like brain damage,” James says uncomfortably.

You frowned as you thought over these words. You had a relative who suffered brain damage in an accident a few years ago and knew from experience what brain damage was like, and it did sound like brain damage. The sound of the professor’s voice brought you back to reality.

“We actually thought a similar thing, and even gave him a CAT scan,” the older man said calmly.

“And what was the result?” James asked, clearly becoming more uneasy with this conversation.

“The scan show that the victim’s brain wasn’t damage in any sense of the word,” the professor said uneasily. “In fact, another test revealed that the victim was able to recall things from his first childhood, like what his mother favorite perfume was, or his father’s favorite Sunday outfit, as well.”

James looked away from the professor and at his papers. It was clear to you that some things didn’t click with the news anchor, and really, they didn’t click with you. Still, you weren’t any sort of doctor, and let the things slid for now as you got comfortable. James looked at the professor, ready to say something. Nine stopped this by holding his hand up.

“Mister Deveraux, we can go back and forth on this all evening, and not have a clear answer,” Nine said, his voice almost completely void of any emotion. “But the truth of the matter is that we don’t have enough data on the orb itself to know what exactly it does to one of its victim. So please, let move on before we both do something we might regret later.”

The side of James’s face twisted slightly as he looked at the professor with an uneasy glare. He looked the camera after a minute and tried to put on a professional smile, though you did notice that it did seem force.

“We’re now taking a short break, and when we return we will discuss more about this unusual phenomenon,” James said, clearly still uneasy about the conversation he just had.

 

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