The room was almost pure white in decor. It did in fact look like a laboratory as its name suggested, though there were many large spinning chairs, office desks, and mechanical objects. Part workshop, part garage, and part scientific research facility with a dash of comfortability. Several silver fridges were stacked to the right side of the wall which hummed with energy.

The voice that had welcomed Yugai in swerved their spinning chair 180 degrees to face his guests and beamed a sharp grin full of almost fanged teeth. His appearance was incredibly striking and as Yugai’s eye absorbed the information before him, he took a step back from slight apprehension. His style of dress was certainly unique and had punched its way into his mind, this man would live in his memories forever. His voice continued to be loud and full of energy.

A slight country accent now dominated the airwaves. Yugai knew from listening that he was from, or at least spent a fair bit of time in the Kansai region.

“Yo! The name is K-Y-O-U-M-A, Kyouma! I’m the 3rd ranked host in all of Olympus, pleased to meetcha mate! Newbie, I expect great things from you! We haven’t had a Metal Form Disciple work under us before, so I’m darn right curious to see what you and I can do together! Be a lad and be my new lab assistant! I’ll show you the wonders of the world in exchange!”

Kyouma had hot and bright pink hair done in the shape of a spiky mullet that had been combed back, and long lashes of hair scraped against the back of his neck. Covering his eyes were orange goggles that you’d expect to see from a snowboarder, and under them, you could barely see two big yellow eyes that jolted back and forth. Inside the canals of both of his ears were shiny black earpieces that were completely wireless. The lobes of his ears had silver rings pierced through them and travelled up the back to the halfway point of his ears as a whole. Overall he didn’t seem much older than Yugai, if he was, a person would assume there would only be a few months or as maximum a single year of difference.

His chest was partially exposed down the centre from his neck to his abs but draped across his shoulders and his sides was a dark blue Hawaiian shirt with white hibiscus flower patterns adorned across it that was left unbuttoned and opened. His waist and thighs were mostly covered by yellow trunks that would not look strange at a poolside. On his hands and his feet were white ceramic gloves and boots respectively. They looked like they had just been taken out of some sort of science fiction film, the type of armour a futuristic soldier would wear when they run into a battlefield. His appearance was a tiny bit of a mess but he seemed at home with his own particular brand of chaos and the confidence it brought him in the presence of others.

“Uh…” Yugai was caught completely off guard. This man was very different to most people he had met in this club, let alone his entire life. He wasn’t ready to react to someone with such a joyful and direct way of addressing others. It felt like he was staring at a person who can never stop moving, never stop thinking, never stop showing his passions. “Milo, right? What a good name you’ve chosen! Perfect! Maybe with a little work you can actually use the Scarlet Needle! Hmm, we’d need to turn your sting red, increase the pain it dishes out and act as a projectile…” The shocking youthful man leapt out of his chair and offered his right hand forward for a friendly handshake.

Yugai managed to shrug off his rust and stretch out his own right hand in response. “Nice to meet you…” Their hands met together in the middle with a powerful clasp. “Guwaaaaggghhhhu!” Yugai fell to the floor face first and yet his arm was still connected to the arm of the other man. The smell of burning smoke spread through the air while Yugai jittered across the floor like a fish out of water. Eventually, Yugai was able to get back up and the very first thing his eyes went over to was the hand he held before. Within the centre of the ceramic glove he had embraced, was a shock buzzer. “W-what… the… hell!” He screamed as he threw his body straight up and stared down the prankster who decided to sucker punch him on their first meeting with a cruel gag.

Despite the fact, he had just harmed his new associate and that said associate was absolutely furious, Kyouma continued to smile with his fangs. “Feeling any better?” Those three words disarmed Yugai completely. He had felt somewhat cold earlier but now the heat had returned to his body. His cheeks flushed, he could feel his blood pumping with warmth. His feet started hopping in place as he stretched his body out almost out of reflex. Every joint in his body moved one after another, he was limber now and felt wide awake despite the beating he took minutes before at the legs of Kentarou. A smug and confident look bolted across all of Kyouma’s body.

“You’re next line is, what did you just do to me!” Kyouma covered his entire face with his right hand while pushing the front of his body forward and was clearly having a blast. Yugai blinked as his body settled down from the surge of power he had been given. Kyouma stood still as if frozen in that pose and if he would break it, he’d become dust in the wind. Hakuro tilted his head to the side and looked more curious than frustrated. Raimon sighed and walked over to Yugai and whispered into his ears. “Please, just humour him. He’s always like this.”

Yugai nodded and opened his mouth. “What did you just do-!” He turned on a dash of acting as if the awkward pause between them had never existed. “Bwahaha! You’re dying to know, aren’t you!?” Kyouma returned to his hectic animated self the moment Yugai had chosen to march to the beat of the man’s drum. “Y-yes! I need to know!” Yugai was going to commit to playing the part, he had to fit in after all.

“Well then, allow me to explain to you rookie!” Kyouma finally broke his pose and motioned his right hand to his left shoulder and pulled it with blinding speed that Yugai could not track with his vision. A blur of blue covered his eyes and when it vanished there was now a pure white within his field of view. The Hawaiian shirt was gone and now a white labcoat was draped on Kyouma’s body, though it was still unbuttoned and left open… but once his eye settled down he realised that the two outfits were one and the same. The shirt was reversible and if you were to stare you’d notice the blue on the inside and Yugai absorbed that information and responded with a look of childlike wonder. “That was so cool. You’re cool.”

Kyouma cackled with mad and rambunctious laughter with his head pointed to the ceiling with a gleam in his eyes. Raimon was not amused, he had been impressed the first time he had seen the trick and even used his own magic to perform a similar wardrobe change that had equally impressed the boy; but the novelty sort of wore off, at least for him. He was, however, not getting irritated, he had already understood long ago that trying to fight the current of Kyouma was a fool’s endeavour. He did however notice that the cat on Yugai’s shoulder twitched uncomfortably. “Just let it go. It’ll be worth it in the end. Believe me. Just be patient.” The cat gave the boxer a sceptical look but held its jagged tongue.

“What I just did to you, I name it the Ki Pulse Booster! General I use a ratio of 8:2 in Ki and Mana I inject a bolt of these energies into the body of another via electric shock! It transmits my energy into any other possible recipient. Your body was low on Ki, so I helped even out your body ratio with a bit of my own. You should feel warmer now, many say it’s much like someone changed your batteries. You feel fresh, recharged, and ready to take on the world! Though people tend to have a rather hard crash within roughly three hours.” The rough and casual talking method Kyouma had employed earlier had altered considerably into a far more formal, direct, and focused style but the bouncing and boisterous energy remained despite the change.

“You should just have enough energy to listen to my lectures and go through our practical experiments.” Kyouma’s eyes fell on Hakuro next. “Sorry, but for obvious reasons, I think it’s better if I instruct him on the basics of magic. Besides, he’s a lot more average. I can tell you are usually very selective with your choice of Disciples. So this is new ground for you. Watch and learn, old man.” The researcher fired a smugness that could smother even the most narcissistic of beast and men. Hakuro’s hairs stood on end and he flashed his fangs and snapped his tongue. “I do not appreciate your tone, boy.” The feline predator was losing his patience.

Raimon sighed and addressed the Mystic that rode on Yugai’s shoulder yet again. “...Trust me. Just, let it go. Trying to teach this man the meaning of respect is useless. Surely you’ve met people with such abundant amounts of free will before? Always as much as a pain as they are a delight. Be the bigger, better, and wiser man, Hakuro.” The cat held its pose for a few seconds but then let its rage slip away, having lost all amusement in it and grumbled. “Very well. Continue. Just don’t ruin him.”

“Good on you mate! You elderly beings tend to be way too… fundamental and stubborn. It’s refreshing to see one of your kind be so flexible! Like a cool summer breeze by the beachside. I’ve got to be impressed with how easily you adapt. You’ve earned my respect, Hakuro. It takes a lot of emotional maturity on your part to swallow your pride.” A deep crack resembling coughing or choking left the mouths of everyone present besides Kyouma. That was such an extreme backhanded compliment that even Raimon who was used to his co-worker’s antics could not help but feel uncomfortable and Yugai despite his lack of worldly experience knew how severe a blow had been struck. However, all three dumbfounded males could not express concern or anger because of one tiny thing.

A smile with closed eyes and such pure and genuine adoration. To Kyouma, he had meant it only as a word of praise and not in any shape or manner an expression of ill will. “Okay so, let’s go to experiment number one! The Use of Everyday Tools in conjunction with newly found Magic. Since you’re a Metal Form practitioner… ah right. It’s actually quite simple. A pencil and paper should be more than enough to suffice for the basic explanation.” The eccentric scientist ran over to a table and pulled a pencil and a few sheets of A4 paper from its top drawer. “Oh, yes, do remember when I’m wearing the labcoat side do refer to me as Hakase, as in professor. Hakase, got it memorised?” He beamed another fanged grin as he opened his topaz eyes with glee.

Kyouma placed the basic materials on a table nearby and gestured to a seat for Yugai to take, who did with a nod and he started to brim with curiosity. This madman was extremely entertaining and now he just wanted to see where the show was going to go next. Kyouma clapped his hands together and rubbed them with anticipation. “Okay, so it’s really simple. Just try to draw a perfect circle with this pencil.”

Yugai was baffled. “That’s… almost impossible. I think even artists would find it hard.” Hakuro was taken aback by Yugai’s understanding of the task he had been given by the professor, but he was even more surprised by the ingenuity displayed. This was a perfect exercise for a Metal Form Disciple to learn and know their basic limits, the cat realised his student needed a little push. “Do it Yugai, I have faith in you.” With those words, the boy was filled with a do or die attitude and undertook the daunting task, taking the pencil in his right hand and started doing his very best to perform a perfect rotation on the paper before him.

Kyouma chuckled as he paid attention to the paper being drawn on. “The Pygmalion effect. Well, I expected that it would be particularly effective on him. He’s the type that works well with praise. Good, very good.” Kyouma tapped the side of his orange goggles twice. Yugai drew circle after circle. None were quite right just yet, but with each attempt, he got slightly more precise and accurate. The experiment was proceeding just as everyone expected it to. Once he got particularly close… “Stop. Here. Try this.” Kyouma dropped a pen on the table.

It was a shiny grey and thick pen. With the press of a button, it revealed itself to actually be a pencil or sorts, but instead of granite, it was some sort of silvery material. Yugai looked perplexed but took the new pencil from the researcher and stared down at a piece of paper before him before starting again. Swish.

A perfect circle.

“Oh…! I did it! I did it!” Yugai leapt out of his chair and pranced around like a bunny before sititnf down again. Kyouma snickered. “Okay. Now do it again with the regular pencil.” Yugai nodded and dropped the silver pencil and took up the standard one and tried again. Close, but not completely correct. “Boo.” Yugai was upset at himself.

“Yugai, what is metal?” Kyouma’s fangs gleamed under the golden lights. “...Metal is… metal, right?” Yugai tiled his head to the right as he pondered the question. “Metals are generally malleable, they can be chemical, alloys, or compounds. They come from the earth itself. They can be solid or liquid, like most things in the world. Stretch your understanding. Don’t limit it to the concept of metal in your head right now. Think of it as anything that can naturally be found within the ground. Any sort of mineral also works. Broaden and redefine the very concept.”

Yugai nodded, he took a deep breath and closed his eye and tried to come to a new understanding. He was the type of person to do as others said, for better and for worse but in this situation this trait of his helped him in tackling the problem. He opened his eye again and saw the graphite in the pencil as a type of metal. He moved his right hand from the left to the right in a single circular motion.

A perfect circle.

“I did it! Yeah!” He raised his free left fist to the air in triumph. “That’s one of the basic lessons on understanding. A fundamental part of your Form. Now let’s move on to more complex ways of using the Transmute skill…” Kyouma was in a hurry to continue to the next and more interesting stages of the experiments he had lined up but the champion chose that exact moment of triumph to intervene with a voice as stern as steel. “Stop. Do it again, this time with your left hand.”

Hakuro and Kyouma raised an eyebrow, though the former couldn’t quite exactly do that he held the same sentiment and a similar expression. Then their looks changed to bewilderment.

Yugai began shaking uncontrollably. The pencil dropped from his right hand. Bullets of sweat fell from his forehead onto the white paper and staining it black. He gasped for air, almost hyperventilating in panic. Raimon picked up the fallen pencil and forcefully put it within the boy’s left hand and used his strength to make a grip. This only caused Yugai to suddenly look pale and frightfully sick in addition to the rest of his sudden problems.

“Do it. Now. That’s an order.” The boxer would not take no for an answer...