I looked back at the big guy as I caught my breath. The last bits of red fading from my vision.
"You okay now?" G.Hernandez tilted his head sternly while squinting at me.
"Yeah," I said breathlessly, "Just tired. If it's alright with you, I'd like to go to my room now."
The little gym was completely silent. Some people had their watches held up as if they were recording the fight. I was slowly set down, and the big man's grip loosened on me. If it weren't for the fact that I'd just tried to kill Conrad I would feel great. I actually didn't have an ounce of rage left in me.
I glanced down to the corner of my vision.
39 minutes before camouflage is forcibly disabled.
Victory in combat 25xp awarded. 30/100 until level 3.
Passive skill deactivated. Some stats lowered.
I looked up at the big man, and then at Conrad. Conrad had a big chunk ripped out of his shirt, and looked like a deer in headlights. I looked at my left hand, and the chunk of his shirt was still in my hand. I waved it at him with a smile before dropping it, and giving him a serious look. I rounded on G.Hernandez.
"You're strong for your size," G. Hernandez looked almost stunned by the complete 180 the fight had taken.
"Can I have my room number?" I looked up at him, "I'm too tired to deal with his shit right now." I pointed my thumb back at Conrad, "Sir."
"You can call me Goliath," Goliath Hernandez smiled down at me as he handed me a folded piece of paper, " I hope we see more of each other."
I unfolded the page quickly, and lucky me there was a map on one side. I looked for the cafeteria. Found it, and then traced my finger over to the skirmish room. Which was where we were. I took off at a fast walk.
My skin stung, but I had bigger worries right now.
"Hey kid," Goliath called out, "I can take you to the infirmary."
"No thanks," I glanced over my shoulder, "I'm good. Just need some sleep."
I slammed through the doors, and crossed the cafeteria quickly. I got a lot of funny looks in my scorched shirt. I could actually feel air on my burns through the literal holes that had been burned into my shirt. I walked into the reception area, and out the doors into the open courtyard. I turned to wave off the occasional, are you okay, and powered through the doors into the first year dorms.
My burns actually started to hurt less as I kept walking. Into the first year dorms, and straight to the elevator. Up the elevator went to the second floor. Down the hall. I passed several open doors, and thought it was kind of odd.
Then I got to my room, and found another open door. I stepped in praying to god that it was a private room. There were two doors on one side, and one on the other. I walked to the one door, and tried to open it. The door didn't budge an inch.
My clothes were on one of the desks that were in this main area of the room. I wrapped them up in my arms, and went to the other side of the room. I tried the door closer to the hallway first. It opened easily to toilet next to counter with shower at the end. It was actually a decent sized bathroom.
I went to the last door, and looked it over carefully. There was a small scanner by the door. I started messing with it, and a message appeared on the door itself.
Room reserved for Ethan Burk. Scan bar code then input gene code.
Well I'm not Ethan Burk. I went back to the other side, and looked over the piece of paper again. No bar code. I looked at the watch that they gave everyone. I held it up to the scanner, and it beeped.
Input genetic code.
I hesitated. What if the scanner told them my genetic code wasn't human? It looked small, but it could transmit to the door. I looked at the countdown in the corner of my vision.
2:15. 2:14. 2:13.
I didn't have time to think about it. I pressed my finger into the scanner, and the door clicked open. I stepped inside, and clicked the door closed behind me. I dropped my clothes into the drawer under my bed, and pulled the burnt shirt off. I looked around the small room.
There was a single simple bed with the drawers underneath it, and two chutes in the wall. One was for dirty clothes, the other was for damaged clothes. Both were clearly labeled. I put my damaged shirt in the damaged shirt chute, and pulled my pants off to check for damage. They looked no worse for wear so I set them in the dirty clothes chute with my underwear.
I closed both chutes, and they both locked with a little red light indicating they were in use. I was looking over my half healed burns carefully when my camouflage wore off. It was disorienting to shrink so suddenly.
"Guess I should have paid more attention to the countdown," I mumbled as the pitch of my voice got higher, "I was kind of hoping this part was a dream."
My heart actually felt like it sunk. Stuck back in my tiny size. I looked up at my bed. The mattress was right at my heads height, and I didn't want to sleep on the floor again. I looked down at my hands, and scaly chest.
I'm stronger in this form aren't I? Why don't I try jumping up there? I dropped my hands back down for balance, and tensed my legs. I pushed off hard, and over shot the bed badly. I slammed into the wall head first at full force, and slid down to the bed.
"Well," I huffed, "At least I'm on the bed."