The morning came with a harsh ring of the academy's dawn bell shattering the fragile peace of the dorm. Jethro jerked awake, eyes wide, hair disheveled as he panted heavily.
He looked down, seeing Scorch still nestled by his pillow, blinking sleepily. To his left, Kekius stretched with a groan, already radiating his usual determined energy. To his right, Oand emerged from his bunk, rubbing his eyes.
"Alright, roomies!" Kekius declared, punching the air with enthusiasm. "Today's the first school day! Who's excited?"
Everyone stared at him. Dash and Ben, already pulling on clothes, exchanged a look before sighing dismissively. "Weirdo."
Kekius heard them but ignored it, his attention shifting to Jethro. "Woah. You look like you just wrestled a cat."
Jethro looked up at his messy hair, frowning. "I just had a nightmare. It happens."
"Well, freshen up quick so we can get on the school tram in time." Kekius urged. "First days are always the best. There's this air of excitement that you'll feel, especially once you step in the main hall."
He picked his Brain Turtle, which was doing its very best to get away from him. "Hey, Cogsworth! Are you excited for the first day? Mhmm, you silly little turtle? Plan on making any friends."
The mechbeast looked at Jethro like it was asking for his help.
"Hey, Dash!"
Jethro glanced over at the other two boys. Ben was behind Dash who was putting on his clothes nonchalantly.
"So what's the plan? Do you really think you can convince Eryn to get us into Knight Faction? All the top new tamers will be there."
Dash sighed, walking past Ben. "Hey, I told you already. I can do it. He's my cousin, and besides, I wouldn't want to be in any other Faction than Knight."
Jethro turned back to Kekius. "What are Factions?"
Kekius stared at him. "Eh? You mean you seriously don't know."
"Are you gonna tell me or not?"
Kekius beamed. "Of course I'll tell you." He then launched into an explanation as they all dressed in casual wears. Jethro found something in the orientation package— though it wasn't really his style, he made it work.
"Think of Factions like… super-focused academic teams. Houses. It's meant to facilitate teamwork and growth as tamers, but things get pretty competitive a lot of times."
He put on his boots. "You get selected by a Faction Leader during the New Tamers Draft. But the whole deal? Resources! The Factions are a way for the Academy to share resources to the students."
"You see, everything runs on Merit Points. If a member of a Faction achieves something notable like winning a competition, answering a professor's tricky question, or acing a test, they earn Merit Points for their Faction. Merit Points can also be gotten from inter-faction challenges, games and stuff like that."
He adjusted his goggles on his head. "The points rack up all month. At the end, each Faction gets resources allocated to them based on the amount of points gathered." His eyes sparked. "The resources are really pivotal stuff— like aether chips, premium mechbeast synthmeals, access to restricted training sims, off-city travel permits, cultivation modules and even priority mission assignments."
Jethro paused, a synthmeal packet halfway into his pocket. "Even if you're Grey Rank?"
Kekius's enthusiasm dimmed a little. He scratched the back of his neck. "Well, the Academy allows Factions some level of discretion, but the overall rule is to allocate resources according to the tamer's mechbeast rank. But there are exceptions."
Jethro launched down from the bed. "Exceptions? What kind of exceptions?"
"If a particular tamer brings in a huge haul of points for their Faction," Kekius explained, "the rules practically demand they get a significant share of resources, regardless of beast rank."
Jethro listened as he swung a jacket over his shoulders. His mind immediately traced to the impossible task laid out by the screen last night.
He was certainly going to need those resources to stand any chance of evolving Scorch into an Infernal Dragon. "So what you're saying is that all I have to do is gather a lot of points for my Faction and I get a lot of resources allocated to me despite being bonded to a Red Lizard."
"Exactly!" Kekius confirmed, grinning.
"Hah! What is this? Dreamland?" Ben laughed as he walked past them towards the door, his Electric Kitsune standing on his shoulder. "Do you really think you would get any points at all with a Red Lizard? Stop being hopelessly stupid, and accept the life of mediocrity you're bound to live in the Academy!"
Jethro only looked at him with a raised brow as he walked past. Dash followed after with a taunting smirk on his face and his Desert Cheetah beside him which gazed at Jethro silently.
"Morons," Jethro muttered once they left the room.
Kekius gave him an appraising look. "You're holding your own better than I expected. I mean Oand had it worse because he was alone with them before I— wait, Oand?" He peered at the corner of the room. "Hey, Oand?!"
Jethro followed his gaze.
There they saw Oand standing— hiding. His head was drenched, dripping rivulets of a chocolate drink that dripped down to his clothes.
"Oand!"
Kekius hurried to him, Jethro close behind. They pulled the fragile boy from the corner and saw he was almost crying. Kekius's eyes narrowed. "They did this to you?"
Oand nodded miserably, avoiding their eyes. "Dash wanted my chocolate drink, but I wouldn't give it to him. So Ben took it and dumped it on my head."
Jethro's face squeezed. This reminded him so much of many similar events in the foster homes he stayed in. Boys bullying weaker boys, and him having to play hero. The scene was so familiar that it made him squirm in disgust. He hated bullies.
"I have a spare shirt." Kekius said. "Come on, let's clean you up and we can head on to the tram, okay? We'll be a little late now but it's fine!"
Jethro only stared, surprised or maybe inspired by Kekius's unapologetically kind and warm character. He waited for them to be done in the bathroom, and when they finished, all three of them took their mechbeasts— Scorch, Cogsworth, and Froggy out of the dorm and boarded the yellow-and-black automated tram.
Once they got in, Jethro caught the whispers immediately, though thankfully most students were too engrossed in their own chatter to pay them much mind.
His gaze swept the scene, registering the diverse mechbeasts rather than the faces of their tamers. Because of last night, he could now control when the screen appeared, but his curiosity still slipped out on some occasions, forcefully summoning the crimson scene.
Jethro, Kekius and Oand took a seat together. Moments after, the tram took off, gliding silently through the breathtaking expanse of the academy city. Jethro and Scorch peered out of the cool window, absorbing the impossible scale of cybernetic beauty.
Although at that moment, he wasn't much bothered with the awe, his mind only raced with logistics.
'I don't think there's a flame forest or active volcanic zones in this whole city, bud. We're going to need a travel permit, and a lot of credits to charter transport out of the academy.'
He couldn't believe he had barely started and this evolution stuff was already costing him credits.
"Jethro…" Kekius silently called him. Jethro turned his head slightly.
"Would you mind telling me why you want to be a Riftwalker?" the boy asked, a warm, small smile on his face.
Jethro looked back at the window. "Who says I want to be a Riftwalker?"
Kekius looked genuinely surprised. "You don't? Why not? It's the greatest thing a person could possibly be."
Jethro raised an eyebrow. "Is it?"
"Yeah." Kekius nodded, his gaze thoughtful. "It's the pinnacle! Standing for something bigger than yourself. To fight for Nebulon, stand shoulder-to-shoulder with heroes like Lake Orchid, Fenris Harkson or the Crimson Shield. There is no greater honor, nothing more fulfilling than serving and protecting your home… with comrades who all believe in the same cause. United by our love and duty."
His gaze dropped. "That's why I want to be a Riftwalker. Because I believe in the cause, and I believe in fighting for it. As a united people."
Jethro didn't say anything. He found the idealism… interesting. Admirable, even. But distant. Like looking at a painting of a feast while starving. Clearly, both their circumstances in life had led them to believe very different things.
"Let's all end up in the same Faction, Jethro," Kekius added, hope softening his voice. "I'd like that a whole lot."
The tram slowed and stopped smoothly at the base of the colossal academy building, and right in front of the monumental entrance was a well dressed man with a Mushroom Lizard behind him. "Welcome to the Academy, New Tamers!" he exclaimed with joy.