It was like something had punched Ari in the head.

The world spun on its axis with no warning. Nausea gripped Ari's stomach and double-knotted it. Her ears rang, pulsing against her skull. Her knees wobbled and she crashed to the floor. Kena moved in a flash, fiddling with tiny equipment at Ari's side and then she was tapping away on her flesh.

"What did you do?" she wanted to shout, but all that came out was distorted noise. It must only be distorted to her, for Kena muttered something in reply, and then a sharp pain pierced into the fold of Ari's arm. She cried out.

"Ari!"

Relief swept over Ari. "Mina?!"

That was no doubt her sister's voice. Ari fought to sit up. Kena cursed, grabbing tight onto Ari's thrashing arm and keeping it in place.

"Mina? Mina!" Ari said frantically. She was here? At the far end of the hall, opposite to where she had entered, stood a familiar silhouette that caused relief to dampen the panic and vertigo. "You need to get out of here!"

"What are you doing with her, Miss Scientist?" demanded Mina. Her little voice was fierce and unlike anything Ari had heard from her before.

"We need to get out of here, Mina," said another smaller, desperate voice, one Ari found somewhat familiar. "Come on."

"Not without my sister! You let her go now, Miss Scientist!"

Ari fought to keep her vision in focus. Kena muttered something incensed under her breath, drawing more vials of blood with deft fingers. Ari jerked and pushed herself up, energy renewed. Mina needed her.

"Leave her be. We need to go!" The other girl's voice became more forceful and the two girls began to squabble. Ari tugged out the needle in her arm. Kena tutted, her eyes flashing.

"You've got your blood. Now Mina and I are leaving," Ari said, breathless. The world swam in and out a little less as her head regained control.

Kena's lips curled. "We'll see about that."

Her hands reached round. Ari raised her arms, bracing herself. If Kena wanted to sedate her with energy, electric batons or whatever, she could rebound it. To her surprise, Kena took out only a small remote control about the size of a thumb. She squeezed it. Ari held her breath.

Nothing happened.

It seemed to come as a surprise to Kena, too. Narrowing her bespectacled brown eyes, she raised the device and pressed again. Nothing.

"What's going on here?" she said to herself, straightening up. She flashed Ari a sour look. "Sacrifices have to be made, Transformer, and ours will be one of them."

"Not everything requires sacrificing," Ari said, getting up on shaky legs. She wiped the trickle of blood off her arm.

"Don't be ridiculous. There is no great gain without significant sacrifice. That is science." With that, Kena swept off up the curved stone steps again, white coat tails flapping, and vanished in the darkness. Her footsteps echoed for several more seconds and then disappeared into the light background hum.

There was a small explosion behind Ari. She spun around, having forgotten about Mina. To her horror, smoke emanated from one of the smooth walls surrounding the arena. A glowing light came from the girl who was with Mina and, to Ari's horror, Mina stood with her legs in a steady stance, facing her head-on.

"Mina, get out of there!" Ari yelled, running forward. "You're too weak to—"

Even as she took two steps, she knew she was too late. She wouldn't reach the two in time, not even if she were to discharge the remaining energy in her necklace and dash for it. The girl – Ari remembered her as the User she'd escaped from during her fight with Hine, the one who was transplanted the ability ripped from Gray, the Illuminator. Light glowed in one of her hands and shot in a straight line aimed directly at Mina.

The blinding light hit Mina head on. For a moment, her whole silhouette lit up. Ari shouted her name, but never heard her voice leave her mouth. Then, almost by miracle, the light continued beyond Mina and hit the wall behind her for a second time. Ari's jaw dropped. She'd never seen Mina phase at will before. It was always after lots of crying, frustrations, and repeated fail attempts.

"Let me deal with this!" Mina said, panting. She didn't dare to take her eyes off the other girl. "You lied to me, Ilia! You said you wanted us to escape!"

"I do!" Ilia's voice cracked in desperation. "You don't understand. She'll kill me!"

"Who?"

Ilia didn't respond, and instead blasted at Mina again. And again, Mina phased through the electromagnetic waves, leaving another charred hole on the steadily-blackening arena wall behind her.

"You don't have to do this," said Mina, with a new maturity Ari could never visualise in her. "We can both get out of here."

"You might be able to," said Ilia with a whimper. She raised her other hand. Ari couldn't see what was on it. "You have your precious sister. Not everyone is so lucky."

"I can be that. I'll look after you until you get better. I'm stronger now and I didn't need anything to make me that way. You can work for it, too."

"Liar!" she shrieked. "You're all liars! You promised me a new life with a transplant and now look at this!"

Ari hesitated. Ilia's distraught state made her at risk of surging. At the same time, she didn't want to interfere with Mina's fight, much as it tore her apart to stay on the side line. Ilia blasted Mina with both hands, but again the attack fell short. Each time Ilia generated a wave of energy it visibly depleted her. Her shoulders sagged and her limbs trembled with each attack. Mina, however, was just about holding her own also. Her breathing became more ragged, her face pinched.

As if running out of options, Ilia forego any more magical fighting and flung herself at Mina.

Mina collided with her. They landed on the floor in a tumble of fists and hair. Ari sprinted across the stadium, no longer caring about Mina's independence. Kena had disappeared, promising something more. Ari had a feeling it had something to do with the monsters, the destroyed states of Users, that she hadn't yet subdued. The girls cried as they landed frail punches and light scratches, neither of them doing much damage in their weak and tired states.

Ari grabbed Mina by the back of her loose shirt and tugged her back. The long brown hair became ensnared in Ilia's fingers. A quick jolt of electricity sent the other girl reeling and howling. Ari yanked Mina up, brushing her messed hair out of her face. Mina's cheeks were pink, her eyes bright.

"You interfered!" she said, indignant.

"We have to get out of here. There's no time for fights." Ari pulled Mina across the arena to the corridor she had arrived from. She cast a wary eye at the spot where she last saw Kena. Whatever was the scientist up to now?

"No... I have to take you back!"

Ari turned and reacted just in time. A blast of white light nearly blinded her. She spread her hand wide. The warmth engulfed her arm; the energy swerved and poured into her absorbent skin. The radiation converted to core energy, sending her levels surging. Ari ebbed out a tiny spark back. It shot across the arena and hit Ilia, who cried out and her body twitched, landing on a heap on the floor. Holding onto the rest of the energy for a little while longer, Ari directed it above her head, pushing Mina further down the corridor. A low rumble overhead accompanied the cracking of the stone archway. The fragments wobbled and then collapsed, separating them from Ilia. Dust rose in the air, making Ari's eyes water.

"... will kill me!"

"We need to get out of here," said Mina in a whisper.

"Tell me about it!" Ari squinted down the corridor as the two dashed further and further away from the dome. The lighting got worse, if that were at all possible. She missed the halogen lights of March City. Everywhere here was flickering century-old lightbulbs and dead LEDs. "You know the way? Where's the quickest way out?"

"This way." Mina took Ari down another corridor. The place was a maze, endless apparently empty corridors with sealed or collapsed metal doors and cameras glinting at every corner. Ari didn't short-circuit them in case she needed the extra energy, although their wiring could come in useful if they came across more foes. She pushed against a rusted metal door that eventually scraped open. "There's an emergency ladder somewhere about here—"

"Well, well. You really are a traitor after all, Mina."

Mina froze. Ari squinted through the semi-darkness. Mina was right; there were ladders in this tall, long room that went up level by level. Each level had one ladder leading up to the next. The air was dusty and stagnant as if no fresh air had passed its lips since the dawn of time. On the first block, atop the first ladder, stood a girl with a side ponytail, her hands on her hips. Behind her, a tiny mouse of a girl peeked in uncertainty.

"Vexi." Mina's voice trembled ever so slightly.

"You're another transplant, I take it?" Ari said.

"I'm one of the stronger ones in the group and that's all you need to know, Transformer."

"You were weak once too, Vexi, before you got transplanted," said Mina.

"You shut up."

Mina quivered. Ari put a hand on her sister's shoulder, glaring up at the haughty girl.

"It's okay to be useless, you know."

Vexi bristled. Even in the dim darkness, Ari was sure the girl had turned some kind of purple.

"Just as expected from an arrogant high-achiever. Every word lacking any sort of thought for anyone but yourself. It'll be great if we switched places and I can beat the hell out of you whenever I fancied, just because I'm more powerful. Scumbag."

She reminded Ari of Hine, but her moral axis seemed more deviated.

"I don't tend to do that for a hobby, believe it or not."

"You can yak all you want," said Vexi, every word dripping with disdain. "But I'll beat you today, then you'll see why we're superior. You'll submit to us and admit defeat."

"It... really doesn't bother me that you're stronger?" Ari frowned. "I don't know why you guys have such an agenda against me. You and Hine, mainly. I've done literally nothing to you."

"Your very existence is a reminder of why people like us were never meant to thrive. People like you take all the top places and we starve. It's all your fault!"

Once again, Ari was tempted to remind her it was actually Administration's fault, but she didn't want to incense her any further. Vexi seemed to calm down on her own.

"But I know your secret. See, you need an energy source to fight. You're the Transformer, not the Generator. You don't have the generating ability of the energy Users. Without a source of energy, you're useless." A grin spread across Vexi's face. "Which means in a closed environment like this, you're entirely useless."

The air was shattered by a crack. Mina shoved Ari aside.

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