"Hey, Jethro? Wake up."

"Wake up!"

Jethro sprung out of his bed, exhaling with force and some desperation. He pulled his upper body to a sitting position, while his head hung low, chest heaving.

It was that nightmare again. Why wouldn't it stop?

"Jethro? You alive in there?" Kekius's voice, tinted with earnest curiosity as always, cut through the haze of Jethro's thoughts, snapping him awake. Jethro turned to his left. Kekiius's round face was inches away, brow furrowed. He was most likely standing on his Brain Turtle's shell again.

Beside Jethro was Oand, his eyes and forehead, the only thing visible above the bunk pod. Jethro turned to his right, and there was Dash and Ben, both staring at him. Their faces had the same expressions; varying degrees of confusion and suspicion. Jethro was also confused.

His body was still wracking in pain, singing a symphony of agony that was specially composed by Security Chief Otis's fists and those colorful mushrooms on his back. And now, his mind was still adjusting after that terrifying nightmare.

This confrontational staredown by his roommates wasn't helping.

"What are you guys doing hanging on my pod like that?" he asked, his witty voice still mugged by drowsiness.

"We were trying to wake you up," Kekius explained. "The tram would soon be here and you're still sleeping."

Jethro grimaced sleepily. "Was sleeping."

"More importantly," Dash drawled, leaning against the pod frame, eyes locked on the mechlizard lying on Jethro's lap, "what the hell happened to that?" He jerked his chin towards the lizard.

Jethro followed his gaze, looking down to his lap where Scorch was perched on, staring back up at him, bulby red eyes blinking. As expected, he was black. And big.

Not as big as a conventional combat mechbeast, but bigger than most Grey Ranks and Red Lizards.

Ben sneered. "Looks like someone dunked the reject lizard in engine grease. Or did it finally crawl out of the trash compactor where it belongs."

"That doesn't explain why it's bigger, Ben," Kekius interjected. "It almost looks like it evolved. Or is evolving."

"That's not possible!" Dash snapped. "Grey Ranks don't evolve!" He looked extremely displeased and defensive after pointing that out, proceeding to shoot Kekius a glare. "I thought you were the smart one, Dreamlake?"

Kekius didn't respond.

"If it's not evolving, then what's happening?" Jethro asked. He carefully pushed himself up to kneeling position on his pod, placing Scorch before him. "What the… What really is this?" He traced his fingers on Scorch's new metallic scales, studying the lizard as if seeing him for the first time that morning.

"You mean you really don't know what happened to him?" Kekius asked.

"Of course not," Jethro lied, not taking his eyes off Scorch, shock and surprise simmering in his eyes. "He's bigger. His scales feel stronger too. This is weird. Did he… molt or something in the night?" He infused his voice with just the right amount of baffled innocence.

Dash's eyes narrowed. "Molted into a completely different color and gained ten pounds overnight? Right."

"Stranger things have happened," Kekius added.

"Are you even sure that's your lizard?" Ben snapped.

"Pretty sure I would've known right away if it wasn't. I can still feel him in my Core."

"Whatever. Your Core is weak and stupid anyway because it's bonded to a scrap. Maybe it's not functioning well."

Dash's gaze swept over Jethro, lingering on his face and the stiffness in his movements, even the faint eyebags beneath his eyes. "You look like you had a bad night. What the hell happened to you?"

Jethro looked at him, their eyes locking in a cold staredown. "Bad dream," he replied nonchalantly. Then he turned to the rest. "Alright now. Show's over. Scorch is my responsibility. I'll figure out what happened to him on my own."

He swung his leg over the edge of the pod as Kekius and Oand got down to the floor. Once Jethro's feet touched the floor, he felt the strain of his muscles and pain of unhealed injuries all over his body. Groaning, he stretched.

Kekius was staring at him long after he stopped. "What?" Jethro asked him once he noticed.

"Oh nothing!" Kekius suddenly realized himself, cheeks turning pink. "It's just from a curious, scientific standpoint, I find Scorch's change to be exciting. Red Lizards usually remain in one form for the rest of their development. Do you feel any different? Any stronger? You might have unlocked new Skills because of this!"

Jethro stared at him. He had almost forgotten that Kekius was the son of the most renowned mechvet and scientist in the entire world. Also, his mechbeast was a Brain Turtle, which meant his Intelligence and Dexterity stats must be extremely high. If anyone was going to find out that Scorch was actually evolving, it would be him.

Jethro had to be careful.

"No," he replied. "I mean, I wish. But I don't feel any different and I didn't unlock any new Skills. Are you saying that I will though?" He pretended to be excited.

This turned the tables on Kekius, causing him to be cautious of getting Jethro excited over something based on his own mere speculation. "Eh…?" Kekius smiled nervously, waving his hands. "Oh, I don't know anything for certain. I was just asking, okay?"

Jethro pursed his lips, feigning disappointment. "Alright then."

Guilt struck Kekius when Jethro turned away.

He shuffled towards his orientation package, pulling out the fresh clothes he had opted against wearing last night. As he shrugged off his undershirt, he caught Dash's eyes peering at him. The boy looked away after, though his suspicion was clear for Jethro to see.

This lie would be hard to keep up. Especially if he kept returning with bruises all over his body like he did now. Fighting in this world was way too difficult for Jethro to keep up with. And he was getting tired of having no offensive options. Last night had been a stark reminder that dodging and hiding only got you so far against someone who wanted to hurt you.

He really needed to start fighting back. But the only thing he had to form an attack was shredded inside his orientation bag.

Jethro pulled out the beam gloves his father gave him. The one mini-gauntlets capable of projecting focused aether energy pulses were now little more than scorched relics. Another thing Decterion took from him.

"Whoa, are those… beam gloves?" Kekius exclaimed behind him. He hurried to Jethro, drawn to the tech like a moth to a bulb. "This is homemade not industrial and yet… the pre-Collapse models are proper. Did you make this, Jethro?"

Jethro raised a brow at Kekius's enthusiasm. "No. My Dad did."

Kekius gazed at the gloves like he was in love, even Cogsworth, his Brain Turtle began to crawl forward in interest. "That's so awesome. He must be really good at aether and technology infusion. I can see the different scraps he adjoined to help make this."

Jethro looked at the gloves, but admittedly, he wasn't Kekius. He couldn't see what he saw so he had no idea what he was talking about. "They were burnt in the Rift incident. I don't think it will work again." He made to toss the back into the box.

"Wait!" Kekius's hand shot out, stopping him. "I can fix it for you if you want."

Jethro paused, then turned fully to face him, surprised by the offer. "Are you serious?"

"Yes! I have a Skill that lets me fix any mechanical gadget. It depends on the level but I can fix your beam gloves for sure."

Jethro stared at him, feeling an epitome of hope rising. His offensive problems were coming to an end. "Do I have to pay you?"

"What? Of course not."

Jethro frowned. "Then I'll owe you."

"Jethro—"

"Don't worry. I'll pay it all back."

Kekius cradled the gloves like sacred artifacts as he watched Jethro head into the bathroom.

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