In the dim glow of the underground workshop, something impossible was being born.
Steel skeletons lined the walls, scraps of future-tech tossed across tables like puzzle pieces. Holograms floated in midair—schematics, equations, and simulations, dancing in cold blue light. At the center of it all stood Reo, a soldering pen in one hand, his gaze fixed and cold.
Doraemon watched silently, clutching a clipboard.
"You're building faster than I've ever seen anyone work," he said, a note of disbelief in his voice. "This level of technology… even in the 22nd century, we don't attempt to merge consciousness with hardware."
Reo didn't look up.
"I'm not building for today. Or for tomorrow. I'm building to survive what's coming."
He tapped a crystal node into place, and a sudden hum filled the room. The device flickered to life—an intricate helmet shaped like a crown of thorns, with neural tendrils extending like roots from the back.
Mindforge: Prototype Zero.
A machine that could connect one mind to another.
A weapon forged from empathy and precision—a blade to cut through dreamscapes.
---
Meanwhile…
Caius stood in a black cathedral made of thought.
This was no place in the real world. This was between—a fracture in the multiversal firmament. Where discarded timelines drifted like ash, and corrupted echoes wept for their creators.
He knelt before something ancient.
A statue with no face. Just eyes.
Thousands of them, carved into stone.
The Watcher of Lost Futures.
"I offer my pawn," Caius whispered, and shadows moved around him.
From the void, a girl stepped forward.
She was no older than Reo, dressed in a cracked school uniform that shimmered between states of decay. Her eyes glowed violet, and her smile was something broken.
"Name?" Caius asked.
The girl tilted her head. "Asuka."
He nodded. "You were once his best friend."
Her grin widened.
"Let me remind him of what he left behind."
---
Back at the Workshop
Doraemon scanned the finished device.
"The Mindforge… This isn't just tech, Reo. This is a bridge between souls."
Reo strapped the helmet to a mechanical dummy, hooked it up to a dream-sim interface, and closed the lid.
"Then it's time to walk across."
He stepped into the second helmet—the receiver—and activated the link.
A flash of light.
A breath caught in his throat.
And then—
He was inside.
---
Within the Mindscape
He stood in an endless city, floating above a sea of glass. Skyscrapers shimmered like memories. Every footstep echoed across decades.
Then he saw her.
Yua—except not.
This version of her sat on a bench, reading a script. Her hair was longer. Her eyes dimmer. A dream projection. A memory he hadn't known he held.
He walked toward her.
But before he could speak—
A voice echoed.
"Hello, Reo."
He turned.
Asuka stood in the middle of the street.
His blood ran cold.
"I killed you," he whispered.
She smiled. "Did you? Or did you just forget me?"
The dream city shifted. Buildings bent. Sky cracked like porcelain.
"I remember everything," Reo growled. "You're not her. You're his trick."
Asuka's eyes flashed. "And you're still just Nobita Nobi, hiding behind someone else's genius."
A blade of shadow formed in her hand.
And then she charged.
---
Reality – Outside the Mindforge
Doraemon saw it first.
The readings spiked. Neural sync dropping. Reo's vitals fluctuating.
"Damn it—he's under attack."
He reached for the emergency shutdown.
But the Mindforge sparked violently.
And began to glow.
---
Inside the Mindscape
Reo dodged Asuka's first strike. She moved like lightning, every swing forcing the dream around them to warp. Glass broke. Roads curled into spirals.
Reo fought with nothing but memory.
Until—
A door appeared behind him.
He recognized it.
His childhood room.
Inside… something waited.
He dived toward it.
Asuka slashed across his back, but he fell through the door—
And landed in a different place.
A temple of silence.
Where a younger Nobita wept at a desk, scolded by his parents. Broken. Worthless.
Reo stood over him.
Then knelt.
"I'm sorry," he whispered to that version of himself. "But you're never going to be that weak again."
He turned.
And the Mindforge glowed inside the dream.
Armor formed around his limbs—silver and blue, glowing with symbols of forgotten timelines.
A weapon appeared in his hand.
The Forgeblade.
Coded not from rage, but clarity.
And as Asuka burst through the wall again, shrieking like the ghost of every regret—
Reo swung.
And the entire world shattered.
---
Back in Reality
He gasped awake.
The helmet smoked.
Doraemon yanked the connectors free.
"You were down for five minutes," he panted. "But your brain registered a week of activity."
Reo wiped blood from his nose. "I saw him."
"Caius?"
"No," Reo said. "The thing behind him."
He stood, legs shaking.
"And it remembers me."
---