"Welcome to The Box…. officially."
At least that's what Rex thought he heard. Like everyone else, he was too busy marveling at the technological military masterpiece of the training facility.
It was a city of black metal and steel beams and pistons and train-car railways and eatery streets. Hummer-like four wheelers roared down the streets to other ends of the facility holding cargo and students. Gun-smiths sat at stations prepping weaponry and building new firearms. Sword-smiths sparred with their coworkers to test the quality of their blades. They moved like water. Perfectly in sync with the function of their power suits and personal physical ability.
Aviators wore greased tank tops as they worked on chained up fighter jets and jet-suits also called gundams.
On the upper floors, stealth teams and sharpshooters worked diligently.
Near Rex, a team of K-9 unit soldiers jogged with their hounds.
At least that's what he assumed they were until he took a longer look.
"What the hell is that?!"
"Cerberus Shepherds…. genetically modified and crossbred with….. lions, tigers and direwolves." Imani said.
"Oh yea, I remember hearing we've been able to bring back some extinct species from the ice age after the Mana Flux in the north and south changed a Drift Soldiers Necromancy powers." Victor said from beside Rex.
"He went from being a controversial bounty hunter to a beloved hero of sorts now that he can bring back the dead instead of simply manipulating it. He better make the best of it before the next Mana Flux." Imani replied.
Rex was still stuck on the "dogs". They were nearly as large as ponies with massive shoulders and sabered fangs. The males had black fur and golden stripes with thick spiky manes and long fleshy snouts. They had eyes like cats but barked like dogs. The sole female among them was more leonine in body and had a ten foot long tail with no stripes. He couldn't imagine seeing one running through the jungle.
"Wait until you see the birds Marksmen use." Victor said.
"Oh I think I'm good actually." Rex replied as they fast walked deeper into The Box.
They passed a few more easily discernible stations. Combatives had a suspended ring where hulking upperclassmen wore handwraps and helmets as they went to martial war in sanctioned rounds as coaches and other students shouted commands. Another was some reactivity course where students stood in front of a screen that spit images of certain monsters and people that required specific reactions. A student failed as Rex walked behind them and they got hit with a focused bolt of electricity from a wire wrapping their arm.
The other stations where behind a clutter of gateways and set ups he couldn't comprehend. Not that he needed to, the berrics sat at the backend of The Box.
They were two large steel domes. Far simpler in design compared to the rest of the place. They were even rusting at the edges. Behind the windows in the door he could see students moving around inside.
Specialist Sunder and Corporal Green stood on opposite ends, both occupying one berrics. At the top of each a flag waved. One had a snake with beautiful bright eyes. The other had a jaguar with massive claws and fangs.
"Girls, your sleeping quarters are here. The Anaconda Berrics. You're part of the class known as the Scale-Skins. Sorry Titus, you're not invited….. if I catch you in here you get two in the chest and one between the eyes." Corporal Green said.
The class giggled. Except Titus, of course.
"Get in where you fit in, ladies." She said.
The girls disappeared.
As Imani passed Rex, he caught wind of her vanilla scents a final time.
"Boys, you belong to the Jaguar Berrics. We're the Spot-Back Boys, understood?"
"Yes, Specialist!" The boys replied.
"Alright, get the hell inside and pick a bed. Also, I heard one of you has an item waiting for you. Wherever that is, is your bed."
Rex felt like he was about to start foaming at the mouth.
"Move it!"
The boys took off. Hunter was the first inside, his blonde faded hair was like a golden flame under the industrial lights. The tattoos on his neck slithered with eyes that shined like cats in alleyways. Next in was Victor who was knee deep in conversation with Frank and Marlon.
Rex didn't want to talk to either of them. Or anyone for that matter until he got what was his.
Upperclassmen laying in bed or wrestling their friends turned their attention to the students.
"Ayeee fresh meat!" Someone yelled.
"They look soft."
"Like baby shit."
Someone hopped off their bunk bed and landed in front of Rex.
"Hey, shortstop—"
"Watch out." Rex slipped past him and continued walking down the berrics hallway.
The entire bottom floor was filled. His Inheritence Ability wouldn't be there. At the back of the berrics, doors to the showers on the left and right bordered a stairway. Hunter had already made it up. A handful of upperclassmen saw Rex's earlier interraction and began following like attack dogs.
"Ohhhh we got a hotshot!" One of them yelled.
Rex rolled his eyes, "I hope this ability works like Victor's Tigerflame. I'm feeling like renovating."
When he reached the top floor, he found a number of students settling in as they stood at the foot of their beds pouring out their bags and filling their lockers.
The floor was faded blue tile with paintings of jungle flowers, guns and swords. Sunlight shown through the windows spaced all down the walkway. Each bunk bed frame was topped by some aspect of Drift-Soldier combat in the form of a metal medallion.
And each bunk bed was taken.
He traveled to the end of the berrics where the door into the showers loomed like a shield. He was no longer looking for a bed and more so looking for a place where he could fight with less of a disadvantage. A wall at his back was better than a student.
Walls didn't punch.
He reached the back of the berrics at the last bunk.
The upperclassmen moved like a horde of zombies after the last beating heart at the end of the world.
To his left, Titus angrily scrubbed lotion against his scales as he sat in the bottom bunk. To his right, Hunter ripped his way through his locker until he came out with a black suitcase in hand. On it, a note read.
"To Kalico Rex. The Totem's Awaken. Fear zero….."
Rex looked at the approaching upperclassmen down the hall once and then back to Hunter.
The second his thin fingers touched the clasps holding the suitcase closed he lunged.
Hunter groaned as Rex slammed him into the wall.
"The fuck are you doing?" Rex took top mount and punched him in the face so hard his nose broke.
Hunter's head smacked against the tile floor. He was unfazed and punched up at Rex.
Rex leaned sideways wildly, causing him to smash into the locker on his right. He caught Hunter by the arm and rolled backward, throwing him out into the walkway. From the ground he slid his suitcase under the bed, hiding it from the others and got back to his feet.
Just as he did, Hunter got up as well.
"You don't get it, do you?"
"Enlighten me, jackass." Rex slyly grabbed ahold of the bunk bed frame.
"You're prey, Kalico. Act as scared as you should be. You have nothing, own nothing, belong nowhere. You're a stray, given the opportunity of a lifetime. Why do you waste it trying to embarass me."
Rex's face twisted in pure confusion, "What are you actually talking about?"
Hunter snarled, "You're an idiot. I'll show y—"
"Man, shut the hell up and fight." Rex interrupted as the upperclassmen neared.
Hunter's eyes widened in embarrassed rage and he ripped off his longcoat. He wore a tanktop and jeans. His entire body was coated in tattoos. They all moved and had even begun to rise from his skin with dark electrical sparks.
"Fight! Fight! Fight!" The upperclassmen acted like children.
Hunter raised his arm to Rex.
The snarling wolf tattoo on his forearm rose up as an actual wolf made of dark fiery ink with yellow eyes. Like a shadowy wraith it lunged for Rex, snarling gunsmoke.
Rex jumped, using his hold on the bed frame to pull himself up onto the top bunk.
The wolf crashed into the wall, denting it from its mass.
Rex grabbed the stiff pillow from the top bunk and threw it at Hunter's face. Silently, he jumped with it.
Hunter caught the pillow. Before he could throw it aside, Rex came crashing down, drop-kicking him with the pillow.
Hunter flew into the circling mass of students. Angel wings of fiery ink exploded from his back, pushing him back to his feet.
"Come on, blondie. Handle our lightweight." One of the upperclassmen said.
"Working on it." Hunter put a hand on a tattoo on his left shoulder and pulled a black katana out of his marked skin.
"All this because I spoke to Imani?" Rex asked.
"You're ruining structure. Structure keeps people alive."
"So you're teaching me that by….. trying to kill me?" Rex asked.
"Enough talking!" Someone pushed Hunter.
He went with the boost and slashed at Rex. Rex backed up and yanked the bunk bed. It slid across the floor with a metallic screech and intercepted the sword swing.
Hunter stumbled as his blade got caught in the metal.
Rex punched him in his broken nose. He stumbled backward grabbing his face.
Rex ripped the sword out of the frame and slashed at everyone surrounding him.
"Back up! Watch the fuck out!" Rex was more than tired of waiting and sometimes you had to show people you had claws instead of telling them.
The crowd dispersed.
The upper floor went wild. Other recruits got up and cleared the area. Upperclassmen shoved them aside and pushed at eachother.
After a while the pandemonium ceased. Students sized eachother up. Caught their breaths. Waited.
Rex's ink sword melted. "Now, I don't know w—"
A snowball hit him in the chest. At least that's what he thought it was, but it was strong enough to knock him off his feet. He hit the ground, in the small space between his bed and locker. Where he once had Hunter.
Oh how the tables had turned.
He opened his eyes to find a upperclassmen standing over him. He was tall. Too tall. With spiky brown hair dyed with white tips. He wore a leather winter coat with a fur hood. Odd wardrobe choice considering they were in the South American jungles.
"You seem to have a problem understanding how things work here." He said then pointed at himself, "Specialist. I earned this rank. Kobe Cobalt, look me up." Then he pointed at Rex, "New Recruit. Not even a private. Probably never a Drift-Soldier. We haze you, and you thank us for letting you get to sleep at a good time. At least that was the idea. But I got something for you."
He grabbed Rex and threw him into the center of the walkway.
Rex hit the ground in the fetal position. As he unfurled, the students found the suitcase in his hands.
"What ya got, rookie?" One of the closing in upperclassmen asked.
Victor mounted the stairs with Titus, "Rex?!"
Rex opened the briefcase.
"Come find out."
A necklace laid on a felt platform inside. Something primal. Made of hemp and vine binds interwoven with animal teeth and spotted furs. A purple gem sat at the center of a flower locket.
Without a moments hesitation he put it on as the upperclassmen closed in. As Victor approached.
No one reached him.
The second the necklace was on, he exploded with purple flames. From the necklace energy bloomed in the shape of a panthers head, wrapping his own as he screamed at the pain of the necklace burning into the skin of his neck and chest.
From outside the berrics it looked like a bomb went off.
When the smoke cleared, Rex was gone.
A massive paw print was seared into the floor where he once sat.