"Let's try that again."
Ravinok instructs Reyn as he watches on from the window.
The cube stands before Reyn again, motionless, yet seeming to reach out to him.
He takes a deep breath and a step back. Winds up his fist and releases all his physical power onto the wall of metal.
His hand shatters is an eruption of blood and bone.
He lies on the floor, snot and tears flowing. Writhing and screaming in pain.
"Hmmm… interesting." The doctor ponders.
Reyn once again opens his eyes to a Black-Light room, the shimmers emanating from the darkness, healing his broken appendage.
The pain in his hand is mostly gone as aether fuses and fixes his flesh.
"Didn't expect to see you again so soon, Mitchells"
The distorted voice is familiar to Reyn, he welcomes it warmly.
"I take it you're not a bio-kinetic, then?"
Reyn chuckles.
"Nah, kinda wish I was though."
"Trust me, it sucks. Punching things is way more fun."
The men laugh.
"So you figure out your ARCH-type?"
"Um… not really."
"Oh… oh. Ok. I'm sure you'll figure it out in no time."
"Yeah, thanks."
The man's words remind Reyn of his circumstances and why he finds himself once again in need of healing.
"Well, that should do it Mitchells. Take it easy out there. Can't keep seeing you under these circumstances."
They both chuckle.
The archaner finishes his work and bids Reyn farewell as one of Ravinoks assistants removes Reyn from the dark room.
They move through the training facility and meet Ravinok in a new location.
A gymnasium featuring all manner of exercise and training equipment and at its center a very large and professional-looking fighting ring.
Ravinok appears in the ring and beckons Reyn over.
He struts toward the doctor, his stride confident, but his mind abounds with apprehension.
The doctor inspects him closely as he enters the ring. Squinting as he contemplates.
"You ok? That was not a pretty sight."
Reyn smiles and nods, holding up his healed hand and fluttering his fingers.
"All good, doctor."
"Good, good. You have me worried, Mitchells."
The doctor approaches Reyn, who straightens his stance and raises his chin.
Ravinok stands before him, an immense figure, his grey, balding head sits flush atop a short neck. He strokes his stubbled chin as he inspects Reyn closely.
The doctor quickly cocks back his hand and violently slaps Reyn across his face, sending the young man to his knees.
Reyn looks up at the doctor as tears swell in his eyes, clutching his flaming cheek.
The doctor stares at him sternly.
"Apologies, boy. A test. Experiment. Crude, I know. But such is science."
He helps Reyn up to his feet.
Reyn wipes his face and straightens his appearance. Standing erect before his assaulter.
"Yes, sir!"
"Good, good. You must be able to handle this much. For we must learn, we must experiment. This is science, Mitchells. Sometimes it is a painful endeavor. And it seems for you, it may be even moreso."
The doctor grabs Reyn's shoulder.
"But within you boy, I sense something. Something strange. Something powerful. The aether, she whispers to us. But to you… she speaks in a different way. And I think when you learn to listen… you will find she sings a beautiful song."
The doctor's seriousness fades and his smile returns.
"For this. We need to experiment. Reactions! We need to see reactions. We must prod and poke and beat at your body until the aether sings within you, yes! This is the old way. Before GAIA. Before all the machines. When we had to pull the aetherics out of you through pain! Stretching the mind to its limits through physical stimulation!"
Reyn shudders. The doctor's allusions fill his mind with new, frightening possibilities.
A familiar figure enters the gym behind the doctor and makes his way to the ring.
"Oh, Mr. Justice. Perfect timing. This is the boy. Lunara's boy! Reyn Mitchells."
Rick Justice enters the ring, his presence feels intimidating to Reyn. Rick stares at Reyn intently and greets with a nod.
"Good to meet ya, Mitchells. Lunara couldn't shut up about you."
Reyn flusters, but quickly greets the man with a nod and formal welcome.
"Mr. Justice here is gonna help us with a little experiment, Mitchells. It's simple. The aetherics stem from our subconscious. It's primal, raw. So what better way to provoke that sensation than with good old fashioned fist-a-cuffs, ha?"
Reyn's eyes widened.
"You will fight Mr. Justice, here. Man-on-man. But Mitchells, for this to work, for it to really work. You need to fight my boy! Mr. Justice is a bio-kinetic. He can greatly increase physical strength and resistance. Not just of himself, but so too of others."
Justice snorts, his muscles seeming to flex as he intently surveys the gymnasium.
"Yes, sir!"
"Good, Rick will boost you, this will allow you to survive his punches. But it will still hurt. A lot." The doctor giggles.
"Yes, sir!"
"Relax boy. Just remember the goal of this experiment, yes. Reactions. We want to see what it takes to release your aetherics. Inputs and outputs. Cause and effect. Once you understand it, you control it!"
Reyn nods a stern approval and turns his attention to Rick Justice.
The doctor speaks a few more words of encouragement and instruction before swirling away.
Reyn and Rick stand alone in the ring facing each other intently.
Rick's dark skin glistens under the blistering gym-lights. He spreads his stance and crosses his arms, flexing every muscle in the process.
He snorts.
"So, how do you wanna do this, boy?"
Reyn stands apprehensive.
Rick Justice is one of, if not the most combat effective biokinetic on Earth. He is a legend of the gate defence.
"Did they not teach you how to speak at that fancy school?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Good, so how do you wanna do this, boy?"
"Whatever suits you, sir."
Rick snorts.
"Good!"
He quickly weaves one of hands in front of himself as his ARCH-unit lights up.
Reyn feels a new sensation rolling through his body. His muscles tense and his bones seem to thicken with aetheric energy. He feels light and powerful. His entire body tingles in anticipation. His physical strength and resilience greatly boosted by Rick's aetherics.
"Like it?"
"Yeah, this is awesome!" Reyn exclaims, his astonishment relieving him of his formality.
"Good, let's see what you can do with it."
Rick launches forward in a flurry, he leaps across the ring in an instant, landing firmly before Reyn. His body quickly twists back as he loads his fist with power and throws it at Reyn's face. It wraps firmly against Reyn's nose before he has a chance to blink.
Reyn's head flicks back and his entire body is lifted off the ground and twistingly flung across the ring. His ascension clears him of the top ropes and he lands tumbling across the gym floor sliding to a halt.
Rick snorts.
"The fuck they teach at that school?"
Reyn lay for a moment in silent contemplation as the aetheric boosting works intensely to maintain his bodily functions. His nose is dripping blood and his muscles and bones are pounding with pain and excitement.
He calculated.
The options, possibilities and probabilities. Causes and effects. Trying to compute his best course of action. His anxiety begins to set in and all possibilities start feeling impossible.
He breathes.
Four seconds in. Four seconds out.
"Reject the Impossible!" He whispers to himself, tearing off all notions of doubt and forcing a new confidence into his mind.
Reyn stands up slowly as Rick looks on, unimpressed. He wipes the blood from his face and peels off his suit jacket.
"Victory or Death!" He tells himself again.
All anxieties now replaced with his mother's inspiration, he runs toward the ring filled with conviction.
Rick snorts.
Reyn jumps, clearing the top ropes and lands in the ring with a boom. He tenses and relaxes his muscles, flicks and folds his appendages and twists his neck.
"I'm ready!" he declares.
Rick snorts.
Rick launches toward Reyn like a bullet and meets the boy with a roaring fist to his abdomen. Reyn blocks, but the force knocks every molecule of air from his lungs and rolls him across the ring floor gasping for air.
He quickly pulls himself up and prepares for the next assault.
Rick approaches again, but Reyn manages to dodge the fist flying at his ribs. He skips around Justice, then quickly launches at the man with a fully loaded punch.
Reyn's hand approaches the man with fury.
With almost precognitive agility, Justice slips his head around Reyn's hand. Weaves then ducks below him, and launches a furious fist aimed at Reyn's chin.
Reyn watches in vain as the veteran's punch moves to meet him.
He closes his eyes and braces his mind for what is to come, accepting the inevitability of it.
But as skin meets skin, Reyn finds himself gently floating.
He stares up at the sky while taking a deep breath and releases the longest sigh of his life.
"FUCK!"
He grips his head in bewilderment, trying to make sense of his predicament.
He lays there motionless. Deep in thought and computations. Trying to understand his aetheric connection and how to control it.
~ POP ~
The bubbles of possibilities begin to rise from his subconsciousness.
He hesitates to leave the ocean surface, remembering his previous expedition into the depths, and the near-death experience that left him with his arm fused to metal.
He lays there for what seems like hours, calculating his options, trying to make sense of things.
He relents. His mind is unable to make sense of the situation or the paths that lead him to his subconsciousness.
He only has one path now. One way forward.
"Victory or Death!"
He quickly dives below the surface and begins surveying his options. Cognizant that he is limited in time and scope.
Choices float by him and he struggles to decide. Some show him escaping Rick's punch in impossible ways. Warping or phasing or morphing.
How would he explain these reactions, he thought.
It had to make sense. It had to be possible.
Other choices showed undesirable options. Scenes that turned his stomach and made him question the limits of reality.
He moves through the ocean, his indecision besieging him as he calculates and computes the consequences of each choice.
Before he could decide, he again finds his movement starting to strain. Panic begins to beset him.
He relents and grabs the nearest suitable bubble.
A blinding pop brings him back to reality.
Rick's punch connects and Reyn is lifted off the ground again. He hits the floor in a pile.
Reyn resents his choice. But it was possible. It was plausible. It wouldn't raise questions. He needed time to figure out his ability. To control it and to ensure he could prove he was not a liability to GAARD.
Rick snorts.
Reyn winces in pain as he collects himself off the ground. The fight before him is secondary to the thoughts now plaguing his mind. He struggles in vain trying to make sense of his ability.
Rick approaches again.
Rick's punch launches Reyn against a corner of the ring, planting him deep in the cushioned pylon.
Reyn gasps for air while his mind still tries desperately to open a doorway to his subconscious. To the possibilities hidden within.
The fight goes on and Reyn is mercilessly punched and tossed around the ring. He finds himself a bloody mess by the end of the experiment.
"Stop! That's enough Rick. Give the boy a break, ha!"
Ravinok suddenly appears in the ring, gripping his brow and shaking his head.
Reyn lays on the floor. His breathing ragged and his body covered in blood and bruises.
Ravinok starts with a long sigh.
"Nothing? Nothing at all, Mitchells?"
"No."
Reyn coughs, refusing to divulge the happenings in his head.
"So strange! Your ARCH-unit, it did definitely activate back there. There was definitely something. But no reaction?"
The doctor gently helps Reyn up and assists him out of the ring.
"You have truly perplexed me, Mitchells. It has been a long time since I have been so confused. So… lost."
The doctor continues to lead Reyn through the gymnasium and they slip into another Black-Light room.
He lays Reyn down on a soft, cushioned surface in the darkness and sits himself down on a chair nearby.
"Your aetherics, boy. Truly an anomaly. More than 20 years working on this aetheric science, but the data you produce, I've never seen it. How I wish I could climb inside your head."
The doctor chuckles and Reyn squints nervously, trying to find him in the impenetrable darkness of the Black-Light.
"But you know, Mitchells, I have been doing science for over 50 years. And my experience has molded me into who I am. The search for knowledge. Understanding. Ha! I live for one thing now. Understanding the science. This is my purpose. My truth. Call it fate or destiny. It makes no difference. What is important is understanding your truth, when you do, you know what is possible within you. For me, this allows me to help save mankind. To win this war."
Reyn hears the clatter for chair legs as the Direct wobbles himself closer.
"For you, it's the same, no? You want to help. Like your mother. Save the innocent. Protect our planet. Is this not your purpose? I sense in you a powerful purpose, a truth, Mitchells. And for a man of facts and figures… decisions based on feelings. This is foreign to me. But in you, I feel… something. Do you truly not feel it, boy?"
Reyn's mind burns. The doctor's words resonate deeply. But his doubts and anxiety refuse him the release of confession.
"I'm sorry, doctor. I don't know…"
"Reyn, listen to me. Whatever you hold inside you, that is your purpose. Your truth. You should not hide it, boy. Celebrate it. Revel in it! That is who you are, all you can ever be."
Ravinok moves closer, his sweet-tainted breath washing over Reyn.
"I'm a man of science. All I seek is truth. And if I can help you find yours… please Reyn Mitchells, allow me this privilege."
Reyn could not see it, but he felt the doctor's warm smile hover over him.
A firm slap finds his shoulder and he hears the doctor disappearing in a trickling of particles.
Reyn lay in silent contemplation, considering the doctors words and advice.
His thoughts and emotions pull and push at his psyche as he tries to make sense of everything that is happening to him.
His thoughts about his aetheric ability grow deeper. It's true potential and the power he would wield once under his control. The power to wield possibilities.
His head hurts as he strains his mind further and further, trying to conceive every variable.
And then a revelation hits.
Choices.
More so than possibilities, his ability opened up to him an endless ocean full of every possible choice.
And, the consequences that followed each one.
One wrong choice could lead to tragedy. It could lead to disaster. It could unravel the very fabric of reality.
The cacophony of thoughts and emotions overwhelms him and he starts to slip into a mental panic, struggling to control his heartbeat and breath.
"You ok, Mitchells?"
A familiar voice pokes out of the darkness, startling Reyn.
"Y-Yeah." Reyn struggles between heavy breaths.
"You sure, looks like you're freaking out here."
"No. I'm fine. I was just lost in thought."
"Ok. Let me help you with those bruises. I can see Rick's done a number on you."
"Oh… yeah, didn't stand a chance."
"Don't think there are many that do. What did you do to upset him?"
"Nah, it was part of a test."
"Test? What kind of test needs a recruit to get their ass kicked by Rick Justice. Are you sure you didn't piss someone off?"
Reyn chuckles.
"It's my ARCH-type. Ravinok can't figure it out and I can't figure out how to control it. He thought a fight with Rick might help me activate it or something."
"Ah, I guess that makes sense. So what is your ARCH-type?"
"Uh..."
"Say no more, I get it. Who am I to judge, right? You've never seen my face and I'm constantly staring at yours. Oh, did I ever tell you, you look just like your mom? The eyes especially."
"Oh… uh, no, I don't think so."
"Yeah, just like her. Which is why, I'm sure whatever's going on with your ARCH-type, you'll figure it out. Even if it's through pure stubbornness and spite." The voice chuckles.
"Your mom… man, she was a force. I think even the director was scared of her. Once Lunara got an idea in her head, there was no stopping her."
Reyn forcefully smiles in response.
"You'll be fine Mitchells. Reject the Impossible, right?"
He laughs as his aetherics work through Reyn's body.
"You know she hated that catchphrase. Didn't even know why she said it in the first place. She said it just popped out, out of nowhere, when Fennec had their backs against the wall in the Bangkok battle. And, you know, the rest is history. Spread like wildfire. Now it's our official motto. Crazy, right!"
Reyn looks up in surprise. The revelation suddenly triggered a deep seated memory.