THE ROYALS

Chapter 4: Princesses, Holograms and the Truth Behind Fairy Tales

Merida lay in her bed, tossing and turning. She couldn't sleep after everything that had happened that night.

After the introduction and the general orientation, Snow White had preceded to tell them about their training, which was stretched over three weeks. The first week was all the basic training. Introduction to weapons, fitness, field combat etcetera. Merida had almost made up her mind about skipping the first week. It was all amateur stuff and she was no amateur.

The second week would be vital though. They would be tested to find out which position on the squad each member was suitable for. Merida was hellbent on getting Commander. She was rather confident she would get the position. Though the Ice Queen, Elsa, was someone to look out for. She was could prove to be a nuisance, especially since she had a superpower. It was extremely rare for any princess to have a superpower.

Merida groaned and sprung off the bed. Sleep was evading her. She made her way in the dark to her dresser. There on top of it lay a metallic orb the size of an orange. It had indentations all across it.

They had been given the orb before leaving the headquarters. Snow White, nor the others, had told them it's use. The only instruction they received was to not open it till the next morning.

Merida examined it in her hand. Running a finger along a indentation in its middle. She was curios about it. She was going to open it. It was practically morning.

Merida twisted the orb. The two halves came apart, and inside was a smaller orb, one the size of a grape. She picked it up and noticed a small white button on it. She pressed it and the smaller orb started shaking violently in her hand. In shock, she dropped it to the ground.

A second later, the orb started emitting a ray of light. That Ray grew into a figure. Merida was blinded by the sudden burst of light, but when she opened her eyes, she saw herself standing in front of her.

Merida couldn't comprehend what was happening. "Who are you?", she asked. The identical girl in front of her smiled. "I'm you", she said.

"Huh?", was all Merida could say. What was going on? "I'm your hologram.", the girl replied.

"A hologram? So you're not real?", Merida asked.

"Nope. Not really. I'm just a three dimensional image of you.", the girl replied.

"Oh! That's so cool!", Merida exclaimed. She ran a hand through the image's face, the image pixelating wherever Merida's hand touched.

"I would request you not to do that as it tickles", the image said, a little annoyed.

"Alright", Merida said.

"So,", the image went on,"now that you have already opened me. Let me brief you on what my purpose is. You are to use me as a substitute every time you are on a mission or simply with the Royals for any purpose. You can control me and feed me information through the Oromist, to which you will have to be connected constantly when I'm activated. Because I am a hologram, I do not function on my own. All my actions, everything I do, everything I say, is information that has been fed to me. Through the Oromist, I can access your memories, through which I will learn how to behave and talk like you do. Every time there is a situation when someone might find out I am a hologram, for example, if someone is about to touch me, I will immediately contact you through the Oromist, and you must give me information on what to do in such situation. When you wish to deactivate me, press the white button again.", the image explained.

"Oh holy willow! I thought you would never stop talking!", Merida exclaimed. The image rolled her eyes. "Has that action been fed to you too?", Merida asked. "Yes", the image replied.