My Werepanther System: Starting with Nine Lives

His name was Frank.

The boy Rex choked out.

Frank Irons. No Inheritence Ability. Apparently he came from a long line of gun-smiths and sharp-shooters. His family held the most marksmenship medals of any family combined.

Not that it mattered. Hitting still targets with the guns you made is easy. Rex kept that thought to himself when the boy woke up.

He didn't try anything else with Imani and Victor sitting beside him. But Rex knew better than to think it was over.

Another lesson learned on the streets. In the concrete jungles of Red-Wood City— sometimes called the blood woods. Revenge wasn't a choice, only a matter of time. And it was like fire. It could spread and leave anyone burned.

So for the rest of the ride, Rex kept a hand in his backpack, fastened on the blast-knife hidden inside.

Imani and Victor talked about things he couldn't relate to at all as a homeless teen so he casually stayed to himself, content with watching Imani slyly watch him anytime Victor started talking.

It went that way for half an hour. Slowly the shocked students adjusted to the social upset. They had bigger fish to fry anyway. Even Imani had warmed in the time since, but not by much.

"So, how did you two meet. You seem… unlikely allies. The rich tend to lack sympathy for the poor, and the poor tend to resent them for it." Imani said, obviously trying to get Rex back into the discussion.

"Well, for starters, I was adopted into the Fauve Family."

"Most are." Imani replied.

"Were most child-slaves?"

Imani blinked emotionlessly, "I'll have to brush up on my statistics, but I don't think so. I see how that could give you sympathy."

Victor shook his head, "No. That's not what our friendship is based on."

"Then why did you say it."

"To show you shouldn't judge a book by its cover." Victor replied, "Rex views me as an equal."

Rex raised an eyebrow.

"A person." He added. "It's refreshing. But also everyone else I was friends with really just wanted to be friends with my family."

"Struggling from success." Imani said as she looked at Victor, "And struggling from failure." She turned to Rex.

"Who's struggling?" Rex asked.

"You're wearing handmedowns."

"Your zipper is open."

Imani's eyes flew down to her lap. The type of pants she wore didn't even have a zipper.

She looked up to find Rex and Victor staring at eachother as they tried and failed to hold in their laughter.

Hunter stirred behind them.

"If I had your deduction powers, I'd tell you how your heart-rate spiked." Rex joked.

"I have no such powers." Imani replied.

"Your eyes are literally glowing and spinning." Rex said.

Victor giggled.

"Does he live outside?" Imani asked.

Victor shrugged his massive shoulders, "He doesn't tell me about his life."

"Socially reserved and ruthless, remember?" Rex said and winked at Imani.

She fought against her smile again and instead rolled her eyes. "They're retinal biometric data loggers by the way. RBDL's for short."

"Sounds like a cheat code." Rex commented.

"So does explosions of fire and healing waves." Imani replied.

Now it was Rex's turn to roll his eyes. As if it was his ability and not Victors.

But she didn't say it to Victor.

"Anyway, have you been to Fort Amazonia?" Victor asked Imani.

"Yes. My mother was given a walkthrough when they had their one hundred year anniversary a few years ago. They let me run the obstacle course in the jungle."

"Jungle?" Rex was back in the conversation.

"Fort Amazonia is stationed in the untamed jungles of the Amazon in South America. It's so large a number of Drift Dimensions go uncompleted. So when they open, the monsters fester and learn to live there. The ecosystem and creatures there have been living on earth for generations. Elves, Orcs, Wargenoids, Dwarves, even goblins. They're all unique to that environment. Very dangerous. Only Recruit classes with a significantly high number of Inheritence Ability users go here."

"Sounds like we're in for a challenge." Victor said casually.

"Some of us…. Others, not really." Imani replied.

"You mean others like me?" Victor asked.

Imani shook her head, "No, smart ones."

Victor pretended like he was shot. Rex chuckled.

"When you entered the train, you didn't have the proper fear response to seeing mutual combat. Even though Hunter is a high level Drift Armament user. You probably don't feel any fear towards combat anymore. That's a weakness. Your strength is neutering your mind. I wouldn't be surprised if you routinely make beginner mistakes in combat." Imani said.

Rex immediately remembered baiting Victor in the air and forcing him to use his powers in a sparring match. "Not bad…" He thought.

Victor squinted and smiled at her, "I like you, Imani."

"You like what you see, not what I am." Imani said and looked out the window as the world blurred by.

"I like that you're like Rex."

"How so?"

"Honest….. unfazed, ruthless." He joked on the last part, mocking Rex's student report.

They all shared a quiet laugh.

Rex turned and let his head lay against the window. They had twenty minutes left.

The bullet train carried them over the Port-City of Atlantis— once known as the Atlantic Ocean, before it was monopolized by the EMRA and turned into a floating military manufacturing plant. Black glass skyscrapers and transparent testing globes glimmered under the sun as they moved in a blur. Beneath the city massive creatures swam and made Rex's stomach twist.

As a city boy, he had a deep seated fear of oceans. He'd have to lose it if they were headed to South-America. To a jungle of all places.

His fear shifted to excitement. Just in time for the train to skirt to a halt.

"Looks like we're early." Victor stood up.

Imani turned to face Rex, "It's highly probable I'll see you again."

Smoothly, she rose from her seat beside Rex. Lithe leg muscles stretching the fabric of her black suit pants. She smelled like vanilla and ocean salts. He watched her exit the train with her braids swaying against her backside.

"Wait— is that how you say see you later?"

Imani kept walking.

Rex laughed off her awkwardness but remained seated, hand tightened in a death grip around his knife as Hunter, Frank and Marlon got up from behind him and pushed their way towards Imani.

"See you inside, Kalico." Hunter spat as he exited the train.

"Yea…. anyway." Rex got to his feet once the train emptied. The second he was off, the bullet train was flying off down the rails into the distance until he could no longer even see it.

With it gone, the world behind remained visible. Changed. New.

The train station was like an unfit gun attachment on the fire-arm that was South Americas jungles. Above the canopy and intense bushes splotched in colors of greens, golds, reds and purples, black metal railings and stairs rose up to meet the railways spinning through the jungle and into the densely packed cities on the other side.

Back behind the train station, a massive black metal box stood out like a sore thumb. It had to be over eight hundred feet tall and at least double that in width. A metal titan. Military branding and insignia's were painted on the smooth surface. Suddenly it moved, like a tank. Slow and heavy as trees fell and winged monsters took to the skies. Mounted turrets shot them to ash heartlessly in it's slow pursuit.

Up closer, two figures flew in on jet propulsion boots wearing the newest edition Dungeon-Diver armor powered by refined Mana-Crystals based on the clean blue glow beneath their metal shells.

They landed and faced the students. A boy and girl. The boy had two sheathed swords at his hip. The girl had a dagger and handgun. 

The boy spoke, "Welcome to Fort Amazonia, Recruits. Today's all about orientation and gear-fitting. Which will happen in dear old jungle jaws behind us." He pointed to the moving building. 

The girl reiterated, "That's The Box. Get in, suit up, follow the rules and you might come out the other side as a Drift-Soldier."

Rex's heart was on fire, "Let's go."