Baraq stood there motionless, his eyes quaked as the words echoed in his mind
'Ability E-, Affinity nil'
Mr Rochester looked at Baraq and understood what he was going through, but he didn't pity Baraq nor was he sad for him
Mr Rochester was proud of him instead, as Baraq's eyes stopped quaking in an instant and instead were set alight by a brilliant burning light, a desire to overcome this obstacle
Mr Rochester smirked and touched Bar's shoulder firmly and looked him in the eye
Bar understood and nodded resolutely and made his way back to his seat
'No matter what, I will be the hunters Aegis'
Mr Rochester cleared his throat and then addressed the class "It looks like all of you have potential to be great hunters,but before you can fully undertake the programme there's one more test we'll have to do"
The faces of every student lit up instantly and they began chatting between each other excitedly
Mr Rochester smiled "Time for your class selection!"
All the students cheered all except Baraq who was a bit confused
"Ok all of you, except Aiden, make your way to the Gymnasium at the back of the school, I'll join you shortly"
Everyone in the class hurriedly sped out of the class, to excited to get their classes
Bar on the other hand took his time battling his confusion. As he entered the hall way he found Paul struggling to walk as he used the lockers and walls for support
Bar moved to his side and helped him steady himself on his feet
"Thank you" Paul smiled as he regained his balance
"No problem" Bar smiled at him
"Your Baraq right?"
"Yup"
"I'm Paul, Paul Rivers" Paul extended his hand
"Baraq Sequina, You can call me Bar"
Paul smiled weakly "I really appreciate your help"
"It nothing but, Why aren't you stable walking? for sure you would have had better stability during the physical trials?"
Bar had been wondering about Paul ever since he went up to get his abilities ranked
Bar knew that for him to pass the preliminary trials and be accepted to the programme he would have had to have a pretty high evaluation
So why wasn't he able to walk properly?
Paul laughed jovially "That's because I recently acquired my complex"
"Oh, you went through a Adaptation"
Adaptations where unique mutations that occurred in the body of Morphs who recently acquired their complexes. These mutations varied from non-functional changes to hair and eye color, to functional changes like increase in body mass, hair, teeth, height and even in the way Morphs behaved
"Rightly so, mine is functional as I was pretty scrawny before so my body may have not been able to handle the strain of my abilities"
Bar nodded
"But...if you don't mind me asking, what abilities did you get?"
"Just two abilities, increasing the hair on my arms and legs and improving my eyesight"
"Cool"
Paul smiled "It's actually nice to have someone talk to like this and not to take advantage of me"
Paul trailed off lost in his thoughts. For a few minutes before realizing that Bar was still walking with him
"Sorry, sorry was just thinking...by the way I never saw you in school and even graduation, are you from a different Coalition?"
Bar's face tensed and he looked away "Yeah...but it's a sore topic. Long story short, I'm home schooled"
Paul kept quiet and looked ahead as they were about to exit the school through it's back entrance
"Well let's toss that topic aside, do you like playing 'Zero Break'?"
"Oh you mean that FPS? I love it..."
As both boys exited the main building complex to the grounds at the back a figure flew past them and skid to a stop, drawing a line in the ground followed by a huge commotion in front of the gymnasium
******************************************************
Mr Rochester and Aiden sat in silence, staring at each other. Mr Rochester knew he had to engage in this discussion, but it was a difficult to find the right words to set it into motion
Mr Rochester tapped his fingers in the desk, a serious expression etched on his face. If one should come in to the room at the moment they would think that he was about to chide Adrian for doing something downright stupid
"Aiden...drop out of the hunter program"
"Why?"
"Because its dangerous..."
"Is that so?"
"Aiden this isn't a game, If you go on with this decision..."
"I'll fair better than the rest" Aiden interrupted "You know the Coalitions value human hunters due to them not having to put up with the virus' drawback"
"Do you even understand what you're saying? Human hunters have the highest casualties, even if they could beat Morphs they wouldn't be able to best beasts who have no conscience nor morality"
"But you did"
Mr Rochester stopped talking after hearing Aiden's words. His body trembled for a bit and he bit his lower lip as he turned his head to look out the classroom windows
"How much do you know?"
"As much as the guild does"
"Then" Mr Rochester looked Aiden right in the eyes "You know why I'm trying to stop you"
"Yes, but you turned out fine"
"That's not the point!" Mr Rochester hit his fists on his desk. He always kept his past as a hunter secret as he knew that if it leaked out it would lead to several complications like this one for instance
"Do you know what I had to through? the constant trauma I hide, the things I do to keep myself sane? If you do why do want to go ahead and ruin your life!?"
Aiden took a deep breath and looked up, he knew that the day where he would have to face reality would come
"Cause I..."
Before Aiden finished his sentence a boy rushed into the class.
"Mr Rochester! There's a fight going on in the Gymnasium between the two hunter classes!"
Mr Rochester sighed and looked at Aiden "We'll finish up later"
Both Aiden and Mr Rochester made their way out of the room and to the Gymnasium
"Interesting"
A man walked out from the back of the class has his skin returned to its former pale color. He moved his hand through his combed blonde hair and looked at the ceiling with an evil smirk on his face
"Poor, poor Rochester, what secrets do you have?" He chuckled "I hope they can help me get my way..."
He looked at Rochester's chair "and get rid of you once and for all"
******************************************************
Damian panted as he looked at his body. Blood oozed out if different small circular openings on his body. He looked back and saw Shayla staggering to get back on her feet and he felt his blood boil
He looked in front of him to see the mocking laughter of the other class of prospective hunters and the two leaders in front of them
"Is that all you've got?" one of the leaders snickered "common make this more fun"
"I doubt they can" the other leader said as he walked towards Shayla "But at least we can trash them"
"Not on my watch!"
Damian ran forward towards the leader in front of him and a sharp pain permeated his whole being. he looked down and saw an enlarged proboscis pierce his stomach
The proboscis retracted quickly and Damian collapsed on the floor his face and body becoming pale
"You know I never liked the taste of blood but yours is surprisingly sweet" The boy hummed
The boy's mouth returned to looking normal and he cackled
Shayla ran towards Damian to see whether he was alright but was swiftly kicked in the stomach by the other boy "Don't forget about me!"
Shayla was pushed backwards and as she looked upwards the boy was coming down with an axe kick
Shayla closed her eyes waiting for the kick to connect
Thud!
Shayla opened her eyes and saw Bar standing in front of her using a shell to block the blow
Bar removed his shield then grabbed the boy by his leg and slammed him into the ground before reforming the shell on his arm and trying to bring it down on the boy's face
Bar spotted movement in the corner of his eyes and quickly blocked the proboscis that almost hit him. Bar's Shell cracked and blood ran down Bar's nose
Bar grabbed the proboscis and pulled the boy towards him and bashed him in the head with the shell which broke and deformed as the boy was sent tumbling into the other class
Bar took the boy that tried to kick Shayla by the collar and tossed him towards the other class then helped Damian to get back on to his feet
"What's going on here!?"
Mr Rochester rushed in and saw how roughed up Damian and Shayla looked and glared at the other class
"What happened!?" he roared
"Calm down you brute" an arrogant sounding voice said
A man wearing a Hawaiian button up shirt with the top two buttons undone with neat blonde hair and crystal clear blue eyes leisurely walked towards Mr Rochester
Mr Rochester frowned when he saw him
"Logan..."