An hour of those same confusing sounds being exchanged between the two men passed, until the foreign man walked to the back of the room and leaned against the wall with his arms crossed expectantly. The boy's "trainer" was left alone with him. He pointed to a man standing by a large machine with at least a hundred switches and levers and said, "Turnu la deponejo de akvo sur kaj aldoni malgrandajn kvantojn de ektoplasmo."

The boy watched as a large, human-sized tank in front of him began to fill with water. It was basically a deponejo de akvo in a different room. It was just that when the man told them to add ectoplasm that he grew scared. Ectoplasm burned furiously in his system and it was enough to make him scream. Thankfully he was always submerged in it so no one could hear him. But he was chained to the bottom of the tank, which meant that his lungs lost a ton of oxygen. They had to keep raising and lowering the amount of ectoplasm in the tank so he could breathe. It didn't necessarily prove that he had been screaming, but it definitely suggested it.

"Leviĝu," the man said, grabbing they boy's arm and pulling him out of the chair. "Estas tempo por akiri en la deponejo de akvo."

No, no! He didn't want to go in the deponejo de akvo! Especially not with ectoplasm in it!

"Ne estos aero tiel vi devas spiri en la fluida. Ĝi estas plena de oksigeno do vi ne dronos," the man said as he dragged the boy into the deponejo de akvo.

Which fluid was he talking about? The ectoplasm? A special water? And they weren't going to let him breathe air, but the fluid? Then they say he wouldn't drown despite that?! Were they crazy?!

He was stopped in the middle of the deponejo de akvo, where four chains rested limply on the floor. The deponejo de akvo wasn't full enough to prevent the man from hooking him up to these chains.

Suddenly the boy was aware of machines with slender tubes sticking out of them. He knew in that same instant that the chains weren't the only things he would be hooked up to during Projekto Nivelo Up. That is, if he survived Projekto Nivelo Up... He wondered how long it would take. Hopefully shorter than the other projects...

The man positioned him in a way that he was facing forward for all the other scientists and English-speaking observers to see him. The man bent down and clipped the chains tightly to the boy's rings—all four of them. The added weight on his hands was painful—those chains had to weigh a ton. He knew that when he was completely submerged in a water and ectoplasm mix that the chains would be nearly weightless and he could lift his arms without worrying about the rings tearing out. It would be a slight relief since he didn't have to stand on the sides of his feet.

He felt his heart pounding when the man left the deponejo de akvo. He didn't know when the ectoplasm was supposed to enter, but the fact that it would caused him to brace himself—an instinct that he had never been able to ignore or overcome. It was the one thing he always followed, even if he was told to relax. Thankfully they expected him to tense up and he was never punished for it. However, he had been forced into overriding the fight or flight instinct. He never actually fought back, but he did struggle and try to run. The fear had overwhelmed him numerous times, but at long last that instinct faded. It was a long time ago, though, and he rarely acted up. He obeyed to the best of his abilities and that was usually enough to satisfy these scientists.

He felt the water's current brush his legs as it rose. Backing up, he resisted the urge to curl into a ball—another instinct. He'd only half-overcome it though. Whenever he heard a bell, he couldn't resist that instinct and dropped down, curling into a defensive ball. He stayed that way until someone forced him out of it. The bell was bad. The bell was an auditory signal to him that caused him to expect pain when he heard it.

His back hit the corner of the deponejo de akvo and he spread his arms out to steady himself as the water continued to rise, throwing him off what little balance he had. Anyone else would be embarrassed...but he was not "anyone else". He was Eksperimento 428. And Eksperimento 428, right now, was too busy pressing himself up against the wall to be embarrassed—an emotion, by the way, that he'd never known.

He felt the chains for his feet start to lift up and took one foot out of the water; drawing in what could be his last moments in life. They said he wouldn't drown but he was told to inhale the water! How was that not drowning?

He could do nothing but wait as he kept an eye out for any green clouds—ectoplasm in the "special water".

It only took minutes for the water to rise to his neck. It seemed like only a few seconds, and part of him hoped that something would clog the water so his head would stay free. He knew it wouldn't work that way though. These scientists and observers were very precise with everything. Nothing ever went wrong here. It never had and never would. Any chance of getting out of the deponejo de akvo was already dashed.

He drew in one last breath of air before the water came up above his head. By instinct—which would probably please them—he used his heels to jump off the floor. He pressed the backs of his wrists against the top of the deponejo de akvo, but the glass didn't budge. As expected, they planned it thoroughly. There was always a way in, but they were the only way out. And he could feel his lungs shriveling up and twisting, begging him for air. But instead he was told to breathe the water. Instinct—their lucky day—told him to hold his breath for as long as possible, but that time was being used up quickly. The chains prevented him from doing anything more than touching the glass. He was suddenly aware of an uncomfortable sensation around his legs and looked down. It was a green cloud—ectoplasm.

He immediately panicked and began pulling at the chains with his wrists. As if suddenly realizing this wouldn't work without the use of his hands, he began moving away from the ectoplasm and using his teeth to pull and bite on the chains of his hands. It hurt to so much as tug on the rings, but ectoplasm hurt a thousand times worse than anything they'd ever done to him. It was an unbearable burning sensation throughout his entire body, like something even hotter than lava was entering him and burning holes everywhere in him. It hurt just that bad each and every time and the aftermath consisted of violent coughing, involuntary muscle clenching, sometimes spasms in his arms, and an insane amount of shakiness. And that wasn't even mentioning the sensation left behind after he was brought out of the ektoplasmo ujo—the feeling of fire licking at his nerves and searing every organ, muscle, and bone he had. It felt like fire but the truth was, his body temperature dropped harshly. He became cool—not icy, but cool. It was so strange that it burned so horribly, yet his core body temperature was much lower than it ever should be. Then, thankfully, it rose again in about an hour and the burning stopped completely.

He felt the ectoplasm enter the holes in his hands and feet, slipping right under the rings and straight into the wounds. So this was the reason for the new rings—it wasn't just the rust, they were preparing him for Projekto Nivelo Up. The new rings made the holes "renewed", so to speak. They were fresh wounds, vulnerable and painful. As if the wounds themselves weren't painful enough...

He felt the green torture move into his system. It burned. IT BURNED!

He opened his mouth and screamed out. He realized too late that the air had escaped his lungs and he was forced to take a breath. Had he not been in so much pain, he would've expected his lungs to plead with him for more air, more oxygen. But they didn't. The water really was special. It really was breathable. His lungs didn't complain until the ectoplasm invaded them, too. His eyes, his sweat glands, tear ducts, nose, and the holes from the rings... The ectoplasm was everywhere, filling his entire body. Even deluded it was extreme and indescribably agonizing.

His voice didn't travel through the water/ectoplasm. It was because of that that he could faintly hear someone give more orders. Despite those orders being given in Esperanto, he couldn't make out what they were saying—the water/ectoplasm wasn't carrying enough sound. Thankfully, he already knew, no more orders would be given to him. He couldn't do anything. He was chained up, underwater, and trapped inside a deponejo de akvo. And even if orders were given to him, he wouldn't be paying much attention—if he actually heard them.

He frantically tried to swim away from the green, evil...toxins that infected his body. Never once had they deluded the ectoplasm and even now it made no difference; it hurt worse than words could tell.

He felt another sensation, this time the feeling of sandpaper against his skin, float around him. As much as he didn't want to open his eyes with the ectoplasm—which burned even without the gritty stuff, let alone with it—he did. A navy blue color was now entering him. Blue and green polluted the deponejo de akvo and any clarity of pure water was gone. He felt the puffs of blue brush up against his eyes and shut them tightly. He already knew Projekto Nivelo Up was going to be painful but this was just... This was... This was torture! It was torture! Sandpaper and ectoplasm combined, plus being forced to breathe that in only to get the burning sandpaper into his lungs so it, too, could spread to the rest of him, was nothing short of pure hatred for him.

He didn't even open his eyes for this one, but the newest liquid felt like pins and needles pricking him everywhere. Suddenly the ectoplasm on its own was a fluffy cloud. Each sensation was equally as painful as the next and with each breath it only got worse. It couldn't be called a deponejo de akvo anymore, nor could it be called an ektoplasmo ujo. He didn't even know what to call it!

He raised his arms in an attempt to save the rings in his hands from suffering the same fate as his feet. But writhing had only served to mix the concoction together and it had spread throughout the entire...um...deponejo? "De akvo" couldn't be added to the end of it since it wasn't even water anymore. Who knew what it actually was...

He didn't know exactly what happened, but he felt something inside him change. He was starting to hear better and his body felt lighter even though it was in...whatever this was. And other things inside him just... Something was wrong. This wasn't how he normally felt.

Suddenly he felt the needles, sandpaper, and fire being sucked away from him. The gravity was increasing on him, which meant the liquid was emptying. At first he thought Projekto Nivelo Up was complete and he was being let out, but then he heard people yelling in frenzy. He refused to open his eyes for fear of the feeling of sandpaper and needles.

Then he realized he didn't need to open his eyes to know what was wrong.

They had messed up. Something went wrong. Projekto Nivelo Up was incomplete and either he was going to die, or—

The thought couldn't even be finished. It was harder to feel because of the burning ectoplasm still rampant in his body, but an intense heat had already reached him. Almost immediately after he became aware of that heat, he was pushed back. He felt the rings being pulled on and before it had time to hurt too bad, the chains broke off completely and he felt himself being slammed through the glass walls of the deponejo, the shards tearing his skin on the way out. He felt himself crash through another hard object—the ceiling of the building... He had never once been outside this building before, so feeling fire underneath him and coolness on top of him was incredibly new.

He opened his eyes as the liquid flung off him. He had imagined himself to be in a much higher position in the sky than where he was. It would hurt when he came down though...

And it was only about a second before that happened. The ground hurt like crazy, but at least he was out of there. Although... He looked back to see a burning building. He wanted to stay there. Naturally, not while it was bursting into flames, but if they could just rebuild it... If they could just give him back his cage... That cage was his safe haven and now it was gone. The only thing he had ever known was gone. The only family he ever had was gone. Everything he knew was gone. It had literally turned to rubble, some of the pieces still raining down over what was left of the building.

Suddenly he was aware of his lungs screaming and screeching, wanting to be able to breathe again.

The liquid wasn't just liquid, as he discovered while slipping in his coat of slime. Projekto Nivelo Up had its dire side effects, as had been ensured by the scientists who studied him. His energy was low and he couldn't breathe—the slime was stuck in his lungs.

He used his wrists to pound on his chest, successfully expelling some of the slime. It still burned, pricked, and gritted, but at least his lungs were getting their well-deserved freedom. Without more of that slime to breathe in, this was it. He was positive that the scientists had a pump or something prepared for when the project was done, but whatever they had now was lost to the explosion.

He quickly noticed a slime trail left behind. His guess was that he had been thrown into the air from the force of the explosion. This slime was what saved his life. Had he not been covered in it, he would've burned to death. As for the fall, the slime spared him some major injuries by causing him to glide across the ground—

The ground... The outside... He was outside...

He looked down at the puddle of slime he had coughed up. Under it was what he assumed to be herbaro. He ran a forearm over it. It really didn't matter about the slime coating the ground now had—he was still a little slick himself.

He pounded his chest again when his lungs interrupted this amazing new experience. The slime was stuck in them. They were full of it and getting it out was like throwing up—you couldn't breathe until it stopped coming.

He opened his mouth all the way and hit his chest again, hanging his head and hoping for the best.

Hope... He finally had that...

A/N

Well now. ;) Let us all see how Danny fares now that he has nothing to go back to.

Thank you so much for your reviews! This is a pretty quick update, by the way, and I've neglected one of my other stories for too long a time now. The next update won't come until two more updates are made: one for Flowers Will Grow and one for Whatshisface. After that, this story can take center stage. Luckily, though, I've been bombarded with new ideas for each of these three stories so updating them? Not a problem. :) You won't have to wait long.

I really hope you liked this chapter!