As the one with the least energy, my job was to harass Drake after everyone was in her final position. I let go of Drake's arm and danced around Drake, slashing him at will with my claws.
Drake's mouth was wrapped up by Kayla, but he managed a garbled laugh. "Wrong." He freed his mouth and roared into the air. Kayla screamed as she struggled to keep him tied up.
Careful. He's likely strong enough to take you on all at once.
Drake brought his limbs closer to his body, his silvery body tensing.
Oh shit! "Run!" I screamed, but it was too late.
Drake caught Claire dive bombing with his free tail, stabbing her with the point of his tail like a spear fisher hunting prey. Claire shrieked and tumbled to the ground.
He ripped his arm out from Mia grasp, then batted her away before grabbing Kayla with the now free claws. Kayla refused to let go, but Drake tore her off his neck with brute force, tossing her in another direction. He smashed his rear legs together, once, twice, then three times before Stella and Nikki were tossed aside as well.
Julie and I were the only ones left. I backed away slowly.
"And now, your turn," Drake said. He smashed Julie into the ground over and over. She tried to escape, but he caught her with his jaws and continued battering her against the ground.
"Julie!" I ran towards Drake, Phase Shifting through a swipe of his claws. When I was right underneath his neck, I activated a Claw Whirl.
Drake promptly smashed his entire upper body into the ground, trying to smother me. I had no choice but to Phase Shift again and retreat to safety.
ENERGY: 535/600
I still had most of my energy, but I had no illusions about how little that really was. I was sure that a single direct hit from Drake could zero me instantly.
Julie was still caught in Drake's jaws. Stella tried to approach, but Drake's angry tail kept her at bay. We could only watch as Drake smashed her over and over into the ground.
The fuck? He has to stop soon. How much more can she take?
I think he's waiting…
Waiting for what? Oh no. Julie wasn't going to—
Julie unmelded, slipping out of Drake's jaws. Drake smoothly caught her in his claws, then pinned her against the ground, in a display of controlled power. A silver talon pressed against Julie's throat.
"What do you do against overwhelming odds?" Drake asked again. His gleaming silver eyes blinked once. "You die." He pressed his talon into the floor next to Julie's neck, burying the talon at least six inches into the hard surface.
Then, Drake unmelded. He turned to survey our Beastforms. "That's the lesson you still need to learn." He spat on the ground. "I've gone over your records over and over. A bunch of punk kids who got lucky." His eyes returned to Julie. "You should all be dead. All of you."
Julie crawled to her feet. "I'm not afraid of dying."
Drake slammed her back onto the ground. His hand was on her neck, squeezing tightly. Julie's face grew red.
By now the rest of us had unmelded. I rushed forward, but Drake glowered at me. I stopped.
"You don't get it, soldier. Your job isn't to die. It's to die when your commanding officer fucking tells you to." Drake leaned closer to Julie's face and screamed. "Get that into your thick skull! You don't get to decide when you die!" He let go and stood back up.
"Lesson's over," Drake said. He walked out of the training room.
We watched in silence.
Mia moved first, running over to Julie. "Julie, are you okay?"
Julie got up and pushed Mia's hand away. "I'm fine." She glanced around. "What?"
"Uh, anything you want to talk about?" I asked. I gave Stella a prodding look.
"We're here for you," Stella said, "if you need us."
"Yeah!" Nikki said brightly.
Julie shrugged. "Nothing. Just family stuff."
Claire raised an eyebrow. "Drake's related to you?"
"What?" Julie smirked. "No, not like that. My older sister served with Drake." Her smile vanished. "She…she's gone."
"And Drake thinks he's your big brother or something?" Nikki asked. So she wasn't a complete ditz.
"While the rest of us have to suffer his bullshit because of that?" Kayla stomped away.
"He had a point, though," Mia said. "Everything he's done is for a reason, even if it's not always pleasant."
Mia was right. Drake was an asshole, but he wasn't a pure asshole like Staccato. Everything had a purpose. Even those freaking needles.
Julie shook her head. "No, you don't get it. My sister died saving Drake."
None of us knew what to say to that.
Julie shrugged. "Whatever. Loved the bonding time, but I'm out of here." Julie waved to us and left.
The rest of us drifted towards the exit as well. As we were leaving, Mia caught up to me.
"Dustin!" she called out.
I stopped to wait for her to catch up. "Hey, Mia. What's up?"
"How are you coming along with evolutions?"
"One sec." I blinked.
NEXT EVOLUTION: 91%
"Pretty close," I said. We had missed a good chunk of training right after the Staccato incident. Plus, we hadn't done much direct sparring since Drake had taken over. He seemed to prefer running drills and exercises for now.
"I can still help you with sparring sessions, if you want." Her smile left two cute dimples on either side of face.
"Oh right!" I had forgotten about the arrangement from so long ago. "Sure. I'll take you up on that. Just not tonight. Dr. Hill wants to meet and…" I really needed to sort things out with Zoe. "I have to take care of some business. Avatar stuff." I pointed to Zoe, who purred.
"No problem," Mia said cheerfully. "They can be fussy sometimes, can't they?"
"Totally," I agreed.
"I'm pretty lucky. Koopie doesn't really give me a hard time."
"You hear that, Zoe?" I asked out loud. "Koopie's a good turtle. Not like you."
Of course not. I'm not a turtle.
Mia giggled. "I'm sure Zoe is wonderful in her own way."
Hm. I approve of this one as a breeding partner, too.
Zoe!
I get a say in the matter, of course.
"Dustin?" Mia gave me a questioning look.
"Right, right. See you later!" I ran down the hallway, not looking back.
Zoe, stop it. It's not funny anymore.
I'm not trying to be funny. I'm excited…but I'm sorry if it upsets you. I can explain.
Hold on until we get back to my room.
Dr. Hill's appointment would have to wait. I reached my room, then plopped myself into my chair. Zoe curled herself in front of the doorway. We stared at each other.
Alright, what is it, Zoe? What's gotten into you?
Zoe hesitated. I told you before that I'm a princess.
I'm lucky, I know.
Yes, you are, but that's not where I'm going. I also told you that only higher Chimerics can reproduce.
Yeah, like bees.
Zoe stared at me with her large eyes. The pupils were circular, like a human's rather than a cat's.
And…? I asked, unsure where Zoe was going.
Do you know how queen bees work?
Only queen bees can make more bees. They make a bunch of workers.
And how do you get new queen bees?
I'm not sure. Some new queen gets born and has to start a new colony.
I'm a princess bee. A queen-bee-in-waiting. Regardless of my upbringing, my strongest biological urge is to populate a fresh environment.