The helicopter touched down at 12:47 AM.
Kai stepped out, boots hitting concrete. Cold wind bit at his face—sharp, carrying the smell of industrial chemicals and something else. Ozone, maybe. Or just the sterile absence of anything living.
The facility sprawled before him. Concrete and steel. No windows. Just flat grey walls rising from barren ground, lit by harsh sodium lights that turned everything sickly orange.
Dark Nebula.
He turned back to the helicopter. Retrieved the carrier.
Gumball meowed inside—confused, frightened by the noise and movement.
"It's okay," Kai said quietly. "We're here."
Wherever here was.
Doji waited at the entrance. Same grey suit. Same calculating smile.
His gaze dropped to the carrier. One eyebrow raised.
"You brought a cat."
Not a question. An observation.
"Yes."
"Interesting choice." Doji walked closer. Peered through the carrier's mesh door. Gumball pressed against the back wall, ears flat. "An emotional anchor. Something to preserve the self while we refine everything else."
He straightened. Adjusted his glasses.
"We'll allow it. For now."
For now.
The implication hung heavy.
"This way."
Doji turned. Walked toward the entrance. Kai followed.
The door was solid steel. No handle. Just a keypad and retinal scanner. Doji input a code—too fast for Kai to track. Pressed his eye to the scanner.
Beep.
The door opened with a hydraulic hiss.
Inside was colder than outside.
***
The corridor stretched endlessly. Grey walls. Grey floor. Fluorescent lights overhead casting everything in flat, colorless illumination.
Their footsteps echoed. Kai's. Doji's. The faint scratch of Gumball shifting inside the carrier.
They passed other corridors. Branching left and right like a maze. Kai glimpsed figures in some—bladers training, scientists in white coats, armed guards at intersections.
Everyone moved with purpose. No one looked at them.
One corridor had a window.
Kai glanced through as they passed.
A training room. Bare concrete. A single blader inside—young, maybe seventeen. Shirtless. Covered in sweat and bruises. Launching his beyblade again and again against a target.
Missing. Every time.
A voice over intercom—clinical, detached: "Again. Faster."
The blader launched. Missed.
"Again."
Launched. Missed.
"Again."
The blader's hands were shaking.
Kai looked away.
They continued walking.
Another window. Another room.
This one had a person strapped to a chair. Electrodes attached to temples. Screens displaying brain activity.
A scientist making notes on a tablet.
The person in the chair wasn't moving. Eyes open but vacant.
Kai kept walking.
Finally, Doji stopped at a door. Unmarked. Identical to dozens they'd passed.
"Your quarters. Basic but functional. You'll have access to the training facilities, cafeteria, and medical wing. Everything else is restricted."
He opened the door.
The room inside was small. Bed. Desk. Chair. Sink. Toilet behind a partition. Grey walls. Grey floor. One fluorescent light overhead.
No windows.
"Make yourself comfortable." Doji's smile didn't reach his eyes. "Training begins at 0600. Don't be late."
He turned to leave.
Kai pulled Black Dranzer from his pocket. Held it for a moment—warm metal, familiar pulse—then set it on the desk.
Doji paused in the doorway. Glanced back.
Saw the beyblade.
His smile widened slightly. "Clever."
He walked over. Picked up Black Dranzer. Examined it briefly.
"You'll get this back when you've earned it." He pocketed the beyblade. "0600. Don't be late."
The door closed.
Lock engaged with a heavy clunk.
Kai stood alone in the grey room.
Set the carrier down. Opened it.
Gumball emerged slowly. Sniffed the air. Ears still flat.
Explored the small space. Found nothing interesting. Eventually jumped onto the bed. Curled into a tight ball.
Watching Kai with wide eyes.
Kai sat on the floor. Back against the wall.
Closed his eyes.
And felt it immediately.
The absence.
Black Dranzer was gone. No pulse in his pocket. No weight. No presence.
Just... nothing.
The relief was immediate.
I can breathe.
For the first time in weeks, the pressure was gone. The cold waiting beneath his thoughts. The hunger pressing at awareness.
Gone.
He exhaled slowly.
But beneath the relief—
Longing.
Sharp. Unexpected.
I miss it.
Kai opened his eyes. Stared at the grey wall.
Tomorrow, everything would hurt.
He closed his eyes and tried to sleep.
***
0600 came too early.
The intercom crackled. Doji's voice filled the room.
"Training hall. Five minutes. Don't be late."
The speaker cut off.
Kai stood. Splashed water on his face. Changed into the training clothes left on the desk—black, utilitarian, no identifying marks.
Gumball watched from the bed.
"Stay here," Kai said. "I'll be back."
He left food and water. Locked the door from outside.
Walked through grey corridors following illuminated arrows on the floor.
The training hall was massive.
Concrete floor. High ceiling. Equipment everywhere—weights, punching bags, obstacle courses, beyblade stadiums. At least thirty people training. Some alone. Some in groups. All moving with desperate intensity.
Doji waited at the entrance.
"Good. You're punctual." He gestured toward the far end. "Your instructor is waiting."
A woman waited at the entrance.
Tall. Blonde hair pulled back in a severe ponytail. Muscular but curved—the kind of build that came from years of brutal training. Thick thighs. Arms that looked like they could snap bone. Scar running down her left cheek.
Eyes flat and cold.
She looked Kai up and down. Once. Clinical assessment.
"Kai."
Not a greeting. Just identification.
"Yes."
"I'm going to break you." Her voice was flat. Matter-of-fact. "That's my job. You will hate me. That's expected. But you will obey me. That's required."
She turned. Walked toward an empty section of floor.
Her stride was efficient. Predatory.
"Run."
Kai stared. "What?"
"Run. Around the perimeter. Don't stop until I tell you to."
"How long—"
"Until I tell you to stop."
Kai started running.
The perimeter was maybe two hundred meters. Easy.
First lap: fine.
Fifth lap: breathing harder.
Tenth lap: legs burning.
Fifteenth lap: vision swimming.
"Keep running."
Twentieth lap: chest heaving. Muscles screaming.
"Faster."
Twenty-fifth lap: stumbled. Caught himself.
"FASTER."
Thirtieth lap—
He collapsed.
Hit concrete. Gasped. Tasted copper.
The instructor walked over. Looked down at him.
"Stand up."
Kai tried. Legs wouldn't cooperate.
"Stand. Up."
He forced himself to hands and knees. Then feet. Swaying.
"Run."
"I can't—"
"RUN."
Rage flared. Hot and sudden.
Who the fuck—
He ran.
Anger fueling movement. Every step a defiance. Every breath a refusal to quit.
I won't break. I WON'T.
Five more laps before collapsing again.
This time she waited thirty seconds before speaking.
"Stand up."
He did. Barely.
"Weights. Over there."
The weight section had barbells, dumbbells, machines.
She pointed to a barbell. "Deadlift. Ten reps."
Kai approached. Examined the weight. Looked manageable.
He gripped. Lifted—
Nearly dropped it immediately.
What—
The weight was absurd. Far more than it looked.
"Problem?" The instructor's voice was flat.
Kai gritted his teeth. Lifted. One. Two. Three.
His back screamed.
Four. Five. Six.
Vision tunneling. Frustration building.
This is impossible.
Seven. Eight—
He dropped it. The barbell hit concrete with a thunderous clang.
The instructor walked over. "You stopped at eight."
"I can't—"
"You stopped at eight. That means you do twenty."
"What?"
"You failed. Failure has consequences. Twenty reps. Start."
Kai stared. "That's impossible."
"Then die trying."
She walked away.
Kai stood there. Breathing hard. Body already exhausted.
Fury built in his chest.
This is insane. She's insane. This entire place—
But refusing meant what? Being sent away? Ending up like that vacant-eyed person in the chair?
He gripped the barbell.
Fine.
FINE.
He lifted.
***
He didn't remember most of the day.
Just fragments.
Pain.
Weights too heavy. Runs too long. Exercises designed to destroy.
The instructor's voice. Always calm. Always cold. Always *there*.
"Again."
"Faster."
"More."
Never satisfied. Never impressed. Just demanding.
Like a slave driver who'd perfected her craft.
Kai's rage grew with each command. Each impossible task. Each failure punished with more impossibility.
I hate her.
I hate this place.
I hate—
Other trainees around him. Some pushing through. Some breaking down.
One carried out on a stretcher.
No one helped anyone else.
By hour six, Kai couldn't feel his legs.
By hour eight, his hands were bleeding from gripping weights.
By hour ten, the rage was the only thing keeping him moving.
Finally—
"Stop."
Kai collapsed immediately. Face-first onto concrete.
The instructor's boots appeared in his vision.
"Tomorrow. 0600. Don't be late."
She walked away.
Kai lay there. Breathing. Hating.
Eventually stumbled back to quarters.
Gumball ran to him. Meowed. Concerned.
Kai collapsed onto the bed.
Gumball climbed onto his chest. Purred.
Kai's hand moved automatically. Stroked his head.
The only thing that didn't demand. Didn't push. Didn't take .
Sleep claimed him instantly.
***
The days blurred together.
0600. Training. Pain. Collapse. Repeat.
Running until lungs burned. Lifting until muscles tore. Fighting until vision tunneled.
The instructor never praised. Never relented. Just demanded more.
Her voice became the soundtrack to his existence.
"Again."
"Faster."
"Harder."
And beneath it all—rage.
Building. Accumulating. No outlet except the training itself.
Every rep fueled by fury.
Every step powered by hatred.
I'll show her.
I'll show all of them.
I won't break.
Other trainees disappeared. Some graduated. Some washed out. Some just... vanished.
Kai endured.
Every morning, the same routine.
Every night, collapsing with Gumball.
The kitten became his anchor. The only thing that didn't push him toward breaking.
On day seven, Kai noticed his body changing.
Less mass. More definition. Muscles adapting to constant abuse.
His hands were rough now. Callused. Scarred.
His face was harder. Leaner. Eyes sunken.
He looked at himself in the small mirror.
I look different.
The thought was distant. Unimportant.
On day ten, the training shifted.
Mental conditioning.
Isolation chambers. Four hours alone in darkness. Complete silence.
At first, it was peaceful.
Then maddening.
Time lost meaning. His mind circled. Obsessed.
Black Dranzer.
Where is it?
When do I get it back?
He reached for the connection.
Nothing.
Just absence.
The longing intensified.
When they let him out, he was shaking.
The instructor observed. Made notes.
"Better. Tomorrow, six hours."
The rage built higher.
On day fourteen, something snapped.
Sparring session. Hand-to-hand combat training.
His opponent—another trainee, bigger, more experienced.
They grappled. Struck. Blocked.
Then the other trainee landed a solid hit. Kai's ribs.
Pain flared.
And the rage—
Exploded.
Kai moved without thinking. Grabbed the arm. Twisted.
Snap.
The trainee screamed.
Kai stood there. Breathing hard.
Staring at the man writhing on the ground.
And felt—
Relief.
Pure. Overwhelming.
Like pressure releasing. Like something that had been building for weeks finally finding outlet.
Breaking feels good.
The thought was quiet. Disturbing.
Destruction feels good.
The instructor approached. Examined the injury. Signaled for medical.
Looked at Kai.
"Good. You've stopped hesitating."
She walked away.
Kai stood alone.
Hands trembling.
Again. I want to do that again.
That night, back in quarters, Gumball approached him.
Sniffed his hand.
Flinched.
Kai froze.
"It's okay," he said quietly. "It's me."
Gumball sniffed again. Cautious.
Then pressed his head against Kai's palm. Purred.
But the hesitation had been there.
Kai sat on the floor. Back against the wall.
Gumball curled in his lap.
He stared at nothing.
Two weeks. Feels like months.
***
On day twenty-one, late at night, the silence of the room was a weight Kai couldn't shake. He sat up, the movement disturbing Gumball, who shifted beside him and let out a soft huff before resettling into sleep. Kai didn't look down.
He stared at the grey wall, his mind a carousel of the last three weeks—the training, the blinding pain, the white-hot rage, and always, the hollow ache where Black Dranzer used to be. It was all spiraling together into a single, jagged realization.
I've been...
The thought formed slowly, like ice freezing over a lake.
Fighting.
Always fighting. He was fighting the instructors, the exhaustion, the hunger, and the cold. He was fighting the very darkness he had once sought. He was a wall of pure resistance.
His hands clenched.
That's why it never works.
A memory surfaced, unbidden—Doji's voice, smooth and poisonous: "You're trying to cage a storm."
"Can't cage a storm," Kai whispered into the dark. "Can't dam a river."
He looked at his hands—scarred, changed, trembling slightly. "Stop resisting."
The words left his mouth before he realized he'd spoken at all. Kai blinked. His gaze drifted—past the wall, past the shadows—until it landed on the mirror above the sink. Something moved in his peripheral vision.
He turned fully.
His reflection stared back, but it was wrong. The eyes in the glass were a vivid, predatory crimson, with no trace of grey remaining. And the reflection was smiling. Kai's own face felt like stone.
"You've been fighting," the reflection said. Kai's own mouth didn't move, yet the voice vibrated in the small room. "Always fighting. Always resisting. That's why you keep losing."
Kai stood up, drawn to the glass. As he approached, the crimson-eyed version of himself tilted its head, watching him with an unsettling hunger.
"You can't cage it," it said quietly. "You know that now."
"I'm not—"
"You are," it interrupted, the smile widening into something jagged. "Even now. The training, the pain... that's not punishment."
A pause.
"It's preparation."
"For what?" Kai's voice was a rasp.
"For letting go. Stop fighting what you are," the reflection whispered, its hand rising to press against the glass from the inside. "Ride the current. Channel the flood. Become what you were always meant to be."
Kai flinched, but he didn't look away. He felt a pull, a magnetic gravity toward the red gaze in the mirror. He reached out, his palm meeting the glass. Their hands aligned perfectly—flesh against cold reflection.
"The truth," the reflection answered his unspoken thought. "Tomorrow, everything changes."
The reflection blinked.
In a heartbeat, the image snapped back. Kai found himself staring at a tired boy with dull grey eyes and a hollow expression. There was no smile. No crimson. Just silence.
Kai stepped back, looking at his palm as if he could still feel the phantom heat of the other hand. He looked at the mirror one last time. He knew what they were doing now. They were breaking the resistance so that when Black Dranzer returned, there would be nothing left to fight. Just flow.
He lay back down, the certainty settling heavy and dark in his gut.
Gumball curled instinctively against his side, a small spark of warmth in the freezing room.
Kai closed his eyes. For the first time since arriving, the resistance died. And for the first time, he slept without dreaming.
***
Morning came.
0600.
The intercom crackled.
"Training hall. Five minutes."
Kai stood. Dressed. Left Gumball sleeping.
Walked through grey corridors.
The training hall waited.
The instructor waited.
"Run."
Kai ran.
But something was different.
He didn't fight the pain.
Didn't resist the exhaustion.
Just ran.
When the instructor said "Faster," he didn't hesitate.
Just ran faster.
When she said "Weights," he lifted.
And he didn't fight the strain.
Just lifted.
The rage was still there.
But not fighting against the training.
Fueling it.
At the end of the session, the instructor approached.
"Something changed."
Not a question.
Kai met her gaze. "Yes."
"Good." She turned away. "Tomorrow will be harder."
Kai nodded.
He wasn't afraid.
He walked back to quarters.
Gumball greeted him.
Kai sat on the floor.
And waited.
Because soon—
Black Dranzer would return.
And when it did, everything would be different.
End Chapter 12
A/N: Hey everyone,
Welcome to Arc 2!
Thanks for sticking around and reading so far—it means a lot.
This arc will cover full metal fusion, so get ready for some intense stuff.
As always, I'm all ears for suggestions and feedback. Let me know what you think!
Thanks again for reading.