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The Assignment

Chapter 3: School Life I

Alastair stepped into the classroom and quickly ran an inquisitive eye across it. The teacher's desk was in the center of the front of the area and there were about forty desks stretching from front to back. Almost all of them were occupied except for a two in the back and one at the front, directly facing the teacher's.

'Full house...' He thought to himself absently.

He immediately spotted Fara Phoenix near the center of the room, surrounded by the same individuals from earlier so it was safe for him to assume they were her friends. The dark auburn furred vixen was deep in conversation with them and she looked safe enough for the moment. The teacher was sitting at her desk, some sort of tan furred feline, possibly a cougar, and all the students were chitchatting idly so it looked like he wasn't late for anything important. Slowly, their chatting started to die off as they saw the human standing in the doorway.

The teacher looked up from her computer when the noise level died down and shifted her muzzle to the door, and subsequently dropped it when she saw the human standing there. However, he gave her credit for quickly composing herself and standing up.

"You must be the human student." She clarified, more for the benefit of the class than for her, as all the staff had already been informed of him in advance.

In return he simply nodded his head. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the whole class staring at him and speaking in hushed whispers. All the stares were setting his fighting instincts on overdrive and he had to refrain from seeking cover at one of the empty desks, instead choosing to stand at parade rest. 'This is worse than my first day in basic training.'

She mimicked his nod. "I am Ms. Larson, the homeroom teacher."

Alastair stood silently, watching as the teacher became uncomfortable. 'At least I'm not the only one.'

"Uh..." The cougar scratched under her chin until she had an idea. She was probably the first lylatian teacher to have a human student. "Ah yes, why don't you introduce yourself to the class. Usually it's for first years and this is a senior course, but I think it would be a good idea. Tell us your name and a few things you like to do."

'Shit.'

"Yes of course, ma'am." He nodded his head slowly. He looked cool and composed, but behind his back, his hands were tightly clamped together and his heart was beating rapidly. He was barely able to keep the nervousness out of his voice. Something about the predatory eyes of the lylatians made him unexplainable perturbed. "My name is Alastair Black; I'm a transfer student from a small military academy back on Earth, our home planet. I served a year in the auxiliaries stationed on the military space station orbiting Saturn as a fighter pilot. My family died in the first system war when I was five and I have no known relatives. That was why I was selected for this relocation as there is nothing tying me down. I enjoy physical conditioning, martial arts, and flying." He spun a short tale with very little truth to it, but it was what he had in his documents. It was extraordinarily tame compared to his actual past. But judging from their looks it was something special. Most of them regarded him in awe.

"That is...an interesting background, Alastair." Ms. Larson said quietly, a look of pity on her muzzle.

Alastair was confused. What was there to be sad about? There were plenty of factual stories from more unfortunate people. He was hardly anything special.

"Any questions for, Alastair?" The teacher asked, looking to the class.

'Damnit.' He had been hoping to sit down right after.

A paw was raised near the center of the room and Alastair noticed that it was the same orange furred vulpine that was near Fara Phoenix earlier today.

"Yes, Fox?" The teacher asked.

Alastair held back a disbelieving chuckle. 'His name is Fox? That's very original.'

Fox looked to Alastair. "You said you were an auxiliary fighter pilot?"

"Correct."

The vulpine nodded thoughtfully.

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"So you must have been sixteen when you were doing that."

"Correct again."

"Your people allow kids to fight that young?"

"I...was a special case."

Fox nodded again. "Did you ever fight?"

"....A few times." Alastair answered simply.

"Have you ever k-"

"THAT's enough questions from you, Fox." The teacher cut in abruptly in a slightly alarmed tone. There had been a collective groan from all the students at that.

"Yes Ms. Larson." The vulpine accepted a little reluctantly. He had been really curious to have his next question answered.

"May I sit?" Alastair asked, turning to the teacher. He did not want to be in the limelight any longer.

"Yes of course, wherever you would like." The feline nodded easily, gesturing to the three empty seats.

He studied the selection and chose the chair in the far back left corner. It was the most tactically advantageous one and he would be able to keep an eye on the entire classroom and thus his objective, without attracting more attention than necessary.

With his seat chosen he walked down one of the aisles and sat down. The desk was a little small, designed for smaller lylatians rather than a human. But discomfort did not matter to him. What did, was that it would hamper his swiftness if he was forced to take action.

Things settled down after his introduction, although it was quite obvious that most of the class was not paying attention to whatever the teacher was talking about. They were far too busy sneaking glances at the human in the back and whispering to each other.

Alastair just tuned them out and focused on any possible threats. None of the students struck him as a terrorist, sure they were all obnoxious, especially that blue and red feathered avian, but they did not go off on his internal radar as hostile targets. Alastair pulled up his comms bracer and ran a scan of the nearby area. The device didn't pick up any known weapons signatures or encrypted transmissions. He did however; detect a rise in local communicator use. But he did not give that too much thought.

The class period eventually ended and the students began to file out, glancing back at him as they left. He waited until Fara got up to leave with her friends and after another minute of waiting he stood up from his seat and exited. The next class he was supposed to sit in was Lylatian, the equivalent of an earthen language class from what he gathered.

It was short walk away and he entered the classroom while it was mostly empty. The vixen and two of her associates arrived before him and took seats near the left side of the classroom. The instructor was another feline, this time a large muscles male panther standing by the doorway. It was interesting though, unlike his previous teacher, the panther was not that alarmed at his presence.

"Transfer student?" Was all he said as he raised an eyebrow and twitched a whisker.

"Yes sir, names Alastair Black." He replied simply.

The panther nodded. "Well than Mr. Black, you can call me Mr. Caroso. Sit anywhere you like. Class will start shortly." The obsidian furred feline gestured openly at the array of seats.

Alastair nodded and excused himself, choosing to sit in the back right corner this time. Other students began to troop in and a few were from his previous class. News must have traveled fast around the school, because it looked like most of the lylatians that entered the classroom had been expecting him to be there. Those that didn't stared at him all the way to their seats. Soon after they sat down began to converse animatedly with their friends.

He detected a commotion near his objective's desk and glanced over, placing a hand casually inside his jacket to the pocket where his sidearm was sequestered. But it was nothing more than a conversation between her, the canine from before and the toad as well. He took his hand out from under his jacket and allowed himself to relax. The terrorists shouldn't attempt something at the school, it would be too public. If anything, they would try right after or before.

Even with the threat debunked he allowed himself to listen in on their conversation.

"Oh come on, Fara. Just look at him. He's sitting there all by himself."

""Bill has a point. We could at least try."

There was a sigh. "I don't know guys."

"I'm just going to go try."

He watched as the pittbull got up from his chair and walked over. Instantly, all eyes locked onto their impending confrontation and He once more placed his hand inside his jacket. If necessary, a blade to the jugular would take care of him. Alastair had studied lylatian biology and knew where to aim for maximum damage and blood flow.

The canine stopped in front of him and stood there awkwardly. It looked like any sudden movement would set him off.

A small evil side of him was tempted to scare the dog in punishment for disturbing him, but he quickly strangled the childish thought. Instead he sat in silence and decided to wait him out.

Eventually the canine folded in to the uncomfortable silence.

"What's up?" He greeted casually, tail thumping uncertainly behind him. The canine oozed uncertainty and looked like he was starting to rethink his hasteful action.

"The sky..." Alastair stated mater-of-factly.

The dog chuckled weakly at that and stuck out a paw. "Heh got me there. My name's Bill."

Alastair stared at the proffered limb for a moment before accepting the shake. "And you know mine I assume."

"Yeah Alastair right, pretty exotic."

"I am an alien after all." He held back the desire to roll his eyes. 'This guy's your everyday genius.'

"Right...so..." Bill shuffled his feet. The class bell chose that moment to ring and he shrugged, his meager attempt at a conversation halted. "I gotta go sit back down."

"You do that." Alastair replied as the canine walked away.

'Strange. What had been the point of that? And why does he look so familiar?'

Alastair put the short meeting out of his mind and tried to find a way to make time pass faster. He was not used to sitting around for so long. There was nothing really to pay attention to, class wise, since it was only the first day. And there was nothing else for him to really do until something happened.

After a time, class was over and everyone cleared out and into the hallway. Mr. Caroso bid him goodbye and Alastair left. His next class went pretty much the same way, except the teacher, an older vixen, asked that he introduce himself. He told his rehearsed story and received the same response as before. In that class there had actually been work for him to do, just some basic calculus that he had barely any trouble with.

The bell rang once more and class was dismissed. He pulled up his schedule and noticed that it was now time for lunch. '

That's going to be buckets of fun...'

It was easy to find the lunchroom; all the students were congregating in the same direction. He just had to ride the wave. He was also starting to get accustomed to the constant whispering and poorly concealed stares, he just numbed himself to it and focused on getting through the day. Alastair was eager to get the school day over with. Then he could get back to his real job.

He entered the lunchroom and had to admit, it was pretty damn big. A thousand students could, (and did), fit inside, there were rows upon rows of tables and most were already full of young lylatians with their meals.

Alastair was hungry, (he hadn't eaten since the MRE he had a few days previous), but he didn't plan on eating any of the school food. He didn't trust any food he didn't prepare himself. So instead he looked for an empty table that was close to his charge and sat, waiting for lunch to end.

*********

Fox watched the human as he took an empty table and sat down. He didn't get any food. He just sat there, staring off into the distance. The vulpine felt bad for Alastair. He couldn't imagine having to go to a school full of aliens. And he certainly couldn't imagine doing it on his own. From what he gathered, the guy didn't have any guardian, just his lonesome self. 'Poor guy...'

"He looks so sad." Fay said empathetically from her seat next to him.

The whole group was at the table, Fara, Miyu, Fay, Bill, Falco, Katt, and Slippy. It was their tradition to all sit together for lunch.

"He looks more lost than anything else." Miyu pipped in with her belief on the matter.

"Can you imagine, being the only lylatian in a school full of humans?" Slippy shivered as he picked at his small pyramid of corndogs.

"I tried to talk to him, but he's a tough nut to crack." Bill added wistfully, recalling his awkward failure of introducing himself. "He's certainly a strange one I'll give him that." He added with a mumble as he picked at his homemade sandwich.

"Maybe he just wants to be left alone?" Falco muttered. "I know I would if you came around."

That elicited a round of chuckles from the group. "But for real, maybe he just doesn't want anybody bothering him."

"Maybe...." Fox mumbled thoughtfully to himself. "I want to know more about this fighter pilot business...sounds pretty crazy."

"Yeah, pretty young age for that." Falco agreed.

Both had a passion for fighters and that roused their curiosity for the human transfer student.

"I for one think he's lucky." Fara finally entered their conversation glumly as she attacked her salad with unchained ferocity. "All I want to do is fly ships and he's already done that."

"Yeah, but he's all alone. He doesn't have any family. That's not very lucky to me." Fay refuted with a frown.

"What do you think's running through his head right now?" Miyu wondered as she flicked her tail and studied his blank expression, her paw holding up her chin. She looked like a cat scrutinizing a particularly juicy mouse.

"He's probably just bored." Falco replied.

"I think he's scared." Fay suggested. "I know I would be."

"Maybe he's hungry." Slippy suggested.

"Of course you would think that Slippy." Bill said with a boisterous chuckle as he forcefully patted the smaller toad on the back. "Food's all you can think about."

"No." Slippy denied with a pout. "I'm just saying, he doesn't have any food with him and he might not have money for lunch."

Slippy's suggestion did make sense actually, now that they thought about it. It was possible that he didn't have any lylatian currency.

"Well...now I feel a lot worse." Fay whined. "He's probably sad, scared, lost, and hungry."

Falco groaned. "If he is, he's about to have it worse."

"Why, what's going on?" Fara asked curiously, looking up from the meager remnants of her salad.

"Wolf." Fox growled in response as he grimly watched his rival nearing the lone human's table, accompanied by his two meatheaded lackeys, Panther and Leon. Wolf had been his nemesis since middle school, and they were always butting heads. Fox despised his arrogance and selfish nature while Wolf couldn't stand Fox's goody two shoes ways.

"W-what do we do?" Slippy stuttered.

"I say we go give Wolf and his goons a thrashing!" Bill exclaimed, getting ready to stand up.

"No, we should wait until something happens. Otherwise we could make it worse." Fox ordered.

"Is that really a good idea?" Fara asked uncertainly.

"I hope so." Fox replied as the lupine and his companions stopped in front of the human's table.

The rest of the lunchroom had gone silent. Wolf's reputation was well known and well founded. So seeing him head towards the new human's table meant that something was about to go down. And they were all curious to see what would happen.

**********

Alastair had noticed the wolf and two friends long before they decided to meander over to his table. They just felt off to him, he could feel impending violence leaking off their auras and he knew that a confrontation was fast approaching.

As they got closer he reached a hand into his jacket. It was possible that they were terrorists about to make their make but it was highly unlikely. If anything they were thugs that wanted to throw their weight around. It mattered not; if they tried anything they would regret it...severely.

The trio stopped at his table and the lunchroom's silence was deafening. Alastair focused his attention on the table, seeing if they would just leave. But it was not meant to be. There was a loud bang as the wolf slammed his paws onto the table and leaned towards him.

"It looks like that little squirt was right, there is a skinner going to this school!" The lupine chuckled in cynical amusement and looked down at the seated human.

Alastair ignored him.

"Hey...skinner..."

The wolf slammed a paw next to the human's hand, claws grating on the metal as he leaned in closer. "I'm talking to you. Don't you know? It's impolite to ignore people."

Alastair looked up from the table and into the lupine's blazing purple irises. The wolf was covered in mangy grey fur and had a white stripe running down his head and an outfit of clothes that matched his aggressive mentality. Alastair did nothing and continued to stare in an obvious challenge. He had faced down ruthless warlords, drug cartels, and a variety of terrorist groups, so he refused to be cowed by some pathetic school bully and his meager attempt at intimidating him.

The wolf chuckled mockingly, turning to the chameleon to his left. "Would you look here, Leon? This human's got quite a pair of balls on him." He shifted his attention back to Alastair and grinned savagely. "Are you challenging me, skinner? Because you know, I've met your kind before. And from what I've seen they're all a bunch of sackless assholes."

It looked like the lupine desired a fight, and Alastair would be happy to oblige. He hadn't had a good one in quite some time.

Slowly, the human stood up from his table and relaxed his muscles as he readied himself. Alastair noticed that the lylatian was almost the same height as him. It was quite impressive actually, most tended to be on the shorter side from what he noticed.

"You are challenging me!" The wolf said in disbelief, looking back to both his friends. "Can you believe this Panther? The guy wants a fight."

"You posture too much and your threats could use a little work. I've heard better from my dead uncle." Alastair scolded his opponent with a disparaging sneer.

At that the lupine was enraged, how dare some human punk talk to him like that. He was the power in this school and he was going to make sure the little shit would know that. Barring his fangs in a howl of rage, he prepared to attack. "Why you little FUCKER!"

He reeled a paw back and swiped it towards Alastair's face as hard as he could. The human easily dodged it, leaning back and letting it fly through unoccupied air. Alastair caught the overreaching paw and pulled it towards him, upsetting the wolf's center of balance. As he tripped forwards, Alastair delivered a powerful fist into his gut, lifting him into the air and throwing roughly him to the floor in a pile of tangled limbs.

Everything froze as soon as the lupine hit the ground and both his friends gaped in disbelief. No one had ever beat wolf, especially with one hit.

As soon as they recovered their mental faculties they attacked. "You'll regret that skinner!" The reptilian warned and threw a heavy handed punch his way. In response, Alastair lifted a hand and deflected the momentum of the attack into the feline next to him. The lizard looked shocked when his fist cracked into his friend's muzzle and not the human. But he wasn't given any time to contemplate what he did because Alastair backhanded him with a fist, sending him crashing down to the floor next to the wolf.

Yet the panther wasn't done yet and after he recovered from his blow he sent a kick into Alastair's chest. The human caught the cat's booted hindpaw and used his augmented strength to lift him into the air and over his shoulder to smash the feline into the table, knocking him out instantly.

"THAT'S IT YOU'RE DEAD!"

Alastair looked over his shoulder and saw that the wolf had regained consciousness and charged him at full speed.

Before the furious lupine could do anything Alastair flung his right hand out and enveloped it around the wolf's esophagus, cutting off his inarticulate roar. Then he lifted the wolf up in his hand and brought his muzzle up to his face, the wolf's shoes dangled uselessly in the air, unable to reach the ground. Throughout the entire fight the human's expression had never changed from one of indifference. But on the inside his blood was aflame and it took everything within his power not to crush the lupine's larynx in his merciless grip. He had to forcefully remind himself that he was just a school bully and not a terrorist. As annoying as he and his friends had been, they did not deserve to die. Besides, he would fall his mission if he killed them. He had never failed a mission before and he had no desire to do so now.

"Listen to me mutt." Alastair snarled sinisterly. "If you so much as approach me again and attempt to accost me for no good reason, I will leave your flea-bitten carcass on the floor! Are we clear?" He increased the pressure on the wolf's throat.

The lupine nodded rapidly, genuine terror in his eyes as he choked out. "Y-yes."

"Good, I'm glad we came to an understanding." Alastair said with a satisfied nod and casually released the wolf onto the floor where he clutched his throat and started to cough gruffly.

Alastair turned away from the three disabled thugs and walked out of the silent lunchroom.

*********

"....."

"........"

".................."

"Ho....ly.....shit........" Falco mumbled quietly in complete and utter disbelief. "D-did I just see that right? Did that just actually happen?" The avian looked around to his friends, beak gaped open.

"That human just wiped the fucking floor with Wolf, Leon, and Panther!" Bill clarified with a shit eating grin on his muzzle, the pitbull's tail wagging violently. "Did you see that?!" He picked up and threw Panther! How awesome is that?!" Bill fist pumped enthusiastically. "It was about time someone taught that asshole a lesson!"

"The only one who's ever managed to beat Wolf was Fox!" Slippy exclaimed in amazement.

"That was quite impressive." Miyu said thoughtfully, tail flicking languidly. "He must be very strong." There was a hint of hunger in her observation. The human had unwittingly placed himself on her radar. She now had her sights set on him.

"So much for being scared." Fay muttered with a sigh, her fleeting romantic fantasy utterly shattered.

"That was a lot of anger for one guy to have." Fara said to herself. She could see it in his eyes. His face may have been free of emotion but his eyes were anything but. She could feel the murderous rage in them from her seat across the room. It made her shiver just to think about it. And Miyu was right. There was a lot of primal power in his actions.

Fox had been quite up till this point. He was busying thinking about how Alastair had dealt with wolf. That level of destruction was something he expected from a hardened black-ops warrior rather than a cadet from a military academy. He fought like some of the mercenaries he had seen working with his father. He was starting to think that not everything about this Alastair character was plain to the eyes. There was a lot hidden that he felt the need to uncover.

Fox knew one thing for certain however.

The human had just made a reputation for himself.

*********

Alastair stared at his reflection in the mirror of the boy's bathroom. Now that his anger had cooled down he realized how much of a mistake he had made. He had been far too close to losing it. And it was the first day of his assignment to boot. He could not afford to be making such grievous errors so soon or ever.

'Stupid, stupid, stupid...a rooky mistake!' He scolded himself harshly.

He was highly trained and could have handled the situation with far more efficiency. His attacks had been sloppy and full of anger. While true he was in no real danger from school bullies, such tactics could prove fatal on a more experienced foe, such as a NVR terrorist.

'I'm such an idiot!'

The worst thing of all that came from this was he had garnered attention to himself, even more than for just being a human in a lylatian school. It was entirely possible that his exploit would be on social media sites all over the extranet before the school day was even over. And any competent terrorist group would see him for what he truly was if they happened upon them. It was an inexcusable failure that he would have to report to command. And he was not looking forward to it at all.

"Uh....h-hello."

Alastair turned to the frightened and pitiful sounding voice and saw a young tiger striped feline, except his fur was white and black rather than orange. If his estimate was correct the kid was no older than fifteen. Whatever his age may have been, he was standing in the bathroom with Avitus, awkwardly flicking his striped tail.

With a sigh the human turned away from the mirror and focused on the kid. "Yeah?"

'What the hell does he want?' Now was not a good time to be disturbing him.

The white tiger clutched his bag tighter to his chest. "Uh....I...uh....just wanted to say thank you...and apologize"

'What?'

"What are you talking about kid?" Alastair asked in confusion.

"Wolf and his friends always picked on us younger students. And so seeing him getting his butt handed to him today....thank you." The kid replied with a weak smile, tail flickering uneasily behind him, but then he frowned. "Also, I was the one who told Wolf about you, he made me do it."

Alastair was confused. All he had done was simply defending himself (albeit with excessive force), something like that didn't deserve any thanks. And it was hard to blame the little guy for folding into the lupine's pressure. He didn't have years of combat experience and training to rely on.

Seeing the confusion on his face, the kid elaborated. "What you did will put Wolf out of the picture for a little while, at least until his pride is restored. And that gives us a much needed break. So thank you...for kicking wolf's ass."

Not knowing what else to do, Alastair nodded slowly and replied. "You're welcome. And don't worry about telling that Wolf guy, I understand."

The tiger's tentative smile broadened. "Thanks, and my name's Scout, what's yours?"

"Alastair."

"Nice to meet you, Alastair." The kid said as he turned and left the bathroom, leaving the human to his thoughts.

'Curious....'

********

His next class after lunch was physical education, which should be easy for him. It would be no worse than an average day back in basic training. After the bell rang he stepped out into the hallway and headed towards the outside of the school building. The PE center was outside near a large open field. It was a small circular building, big enough for what he assumed to be the boy's and girl's locker rooms and the coach's office. It was probably the only class of the day he was the least unenthusiastic about going to. It would provide him a perfect environment to train and maintain his more physically demanding skills.

As he walked the hallways, he noticed that the other students were giving him far more space before and seemed to eye him with more caution.

'Fan fucking tastic...'

Alastair crossed the field and entered the PE building. Inside were packs of both male and female students conversing before heading to their respective locker rooms. He had no time or desire to mingle and so he cut a path through them and entered the male section.

'Oh god....'

The smell of the large open room reminded him of a zoo he had fought in three years ago. During the battle he had been forced to take cover inside one of the exhibits as a patrol screen searched for him. The best he could describe that smell was dirty, sour, eyewatering, and most of all severely unpleasant. 'Don't they wash this place?' If they did they would probably need a power washer and several gallons of bleach and any other disinfectant they could get their paws on.

Alastair saw the coach's office near the doors and made his way to it. More than likely he would need a gym outfit. He knocked firmly and backed up, waiting for at least three minutes before it opened and a very grumpy looking lion stood in front of him.

"What do you want?" He demanded gruffly.

"I need an outfit sir." Alastair did not want to be disrespectful. After all, he would have to deal with this guy for a long time to come.

"Eh, I suppose you're going to need a pair of shorts without a hole in it?" The feline grunted disinterestedly as he scratched at his mane. It looked like he did not care much about the fact the kid he was talking to was a human. In fact, he just looked bored.

"That's right sir."

The cat muttered under his breath and rolled his slitted eyes. "Wait here..." He closed the door abruptly in his face and Alastair waited for what seemed like an eternity before it opened again. He tossed the pair of clothes in his paw at him and Alastair barely caught it. "Don't lose them; it's the only pair we got." And with that encouraging order, the feline closed the door to his office.

Alastair shrugged and turned away, heading to the aisles of lockers. By this time other students started to file in boisterously, shouting and tussling with each other as they walked inside. Alastair paid them no mind and walked all the way down to the back corner of the lockers and chose the one farthest from the doors, and the furthest place from whatever the source of that godforsaken smell was. He studied the little metal cabinet built into the wall.

It looked like each locker had a ten digit code that the user picked. He entered in his combo and it was saved down to the pad as the light blinked green and there was a soft click. As he started to get ready to undress, he heard a multitude of familiar voices approach.

**********

"We should introduce ourselves, try to be friendly."

"I don't know Slippy, he doesn't seem like he wants any friends." Bill replied to the toad's suggestion as they headed towards the lockers holding their PE outfits.

"Maybe he just didn't want to talk to an ass like you." Falco retorted with a chuckle, and promptly received a light slug in response.

"If there's any ass here, it's you!"

"Calm down Bill, I'm sure he was just joking." Fox came in as the mediator, holding his pas up in the air as he turned to Falco. "Come on man, tone it down for once, it's the first day of school."

"Alright sure no problem, Fox." The avian muttered.

"Good...now that we got that out of the way, where do you guys want to set up shop?"

"How about somewhere away from this smell." Slippy groaned, clutching his nose in an effort to keep it out.

"I agree with the toad, I don't know why the school never cleans this place up. It smells like death and ass!" Falco grumbled as he copied the toad's movement, holding his beak and taking shallow breaths.

"The back!" Bill suggested quickly, heading towards the very end of the locker room with his friends in close pursuit.

They made it all the way down to the end of the area and the smell lessened to a much more tolerable level. "Gah, that's better." Fox exclaimed as he released the breath he had been holding inside.

"Hey look, it's the human!" Slippy whispered loudly.

Fox looked up and saw that the human was there, standing at the last locker in the row and shuffling with his cloths. It looked like they managed to find him an outfit without a tail hole. 'That must have been hard.'

"What do we do?" Bill asked his friends in a hushed tone.

"How about nothing?" Falco replied as he took a locker across from the human and started to get changed without a backwards glance. He didn't get what the big deal was about the human. Sure he kicked Wolf's ass and the lupine's two friends as well in the process. But besides that and his strange appearance the avian didn't see why everybody was in an uproar.

Slippy shrugged uncertainly and followed the avian, taking the locker next to him. Bill chose one in the same area but farther from the human then the others. He didn't want a reoccurrence of his awkward conversation. He would leave the introductions to Fox, he was always better at it then he was.

Fox gathered his courage and walked over to the human, taking the locker right next to him. As he put in his code the vulpine glanced over. Alastair was folding his leather jacket neatly and placing it inside his locker. Fox decided now was as good a time as any.

"Hey, do you remember me?"

The human looked over to the vulpine and examined him with his steely blue eyes. "Yes, you're Fox Mccloud, the guy that asked the questions."

Fox chuckled awkwardly. "Heh...yeah that's me."

Alastair nodded and turned away, focusing back once more in his locker.

Fox stripped out of his clothes and slid on the gym shorts and shirt. He picked at the shirt as he tried to get it to sit comfortably on his fur. The rough material always managed to get caught on his fur and irritate it.

As he finished he looked around and saw that his friends had just finished up and that the human was just in the process of taking off his shirt. The vulpine's eyes widened in shock as the human's torso was revealed.

'Holy shit!'

Alastair's chest was packed with streamlined muscle. But most surprising of all was the myriad of old and fresh scars on his front and back that his furless body could not hide. It looked like the human had traveled through hell and back and Fox wondered how a teenager could develop such an abundance of scar tissue.

If the human noticed the looks he was getting from Fox and his friends he chose to ignore it as he slid out of his pants and finished changing into his PE outfit. Once he was done he closed the locker door slowly and primed the coded lock.

With that done he sat down at the bench next to his locker and started to wait for the dismissal bell that would let them know to head out to the fields.

Fox decided to sit beside him and tried to figure out a plan to get him to talk.

Yet it seemed that the human had anticipated his motives.

"What do you want?"

Caught a little of guard, Fox searched for a response. And after a few moments he found it. "I just wanted to talk. I know what it's like to be thrown into a new environment."

The human huffed questioningly.

"My family used to live on Papetoon, but we moved to corneria a few years ago and I remember feeling completely lost. But thanks to the friends I made, everything worked out."

"I'm not here to make friends." Alastair grunted dismissively.

Fox frowned. 'What's this guy's deal?'

"Then why are you here?"

At that, the human sighed. "Fine...what if I was?"

Fox's frown was immediately lifted. "That's the spirit! Let me introduce you to my friends." 'Finally, progress!' The vulpine lifted a paw and brought it in a sweeping motion from right to left. "That's Slippy, then there's Bill and Falco, the two blockheads that can't seem to get along." Fox added knowingly.

Alastair inclined his head briefly in each of their directions, what must have been his version of hello.

"Stick with us, and we'll help you get acclimatized. After all, it must be hard getting used to all of this." Bill added with a cheerful smirk.

The human nodded again and sat silently, much to their chargin.

'Back to square one...' Fox thought with a sigh.

After a minute of prickly silence, the bell rang and they could hear the other students shuffling out of the locker room.

"We better get going." Slippy suggested, standing up and turning to leave. He looked pretty eager to leave.

Fox and the others got up and started to exit the locker room when the vulpine turned back to the human and smiled. 'Come on, let's get going."

After a moment, Alastair nodded and rose from the bench, walking over to stand by Fox. The vulpine's grin increased.

********

Alastair followed Fox out of the locker room with a ponderous expression. Why these lylatians insisted on befriending him baffled the human. What was the point? Why did they care so much? He preferred it when they kept their distance. But, they also provided an opportunity for him. He knew from observation that this Fox character and his friends were close with Fara Phoenix, and so if he managed to get...close to them, then he would be able to stay closer to his charge without drawing unwanted attention.

'None of this had been in the briefing.'

He sighed and stepped out of the locker room and into the bright sunny field. It smelt of freshly cut grass and pesticide. 'At least that horrible stench is gone.'

Alastair spied the coach at the opposite end of the field, the rest of the PE class lined up beside him. On the other side of the field there was a lioness and the line of girls in. He could see that Falco, Slippy, and Bill were already hightailing it to where the coach was.

"Come one, we don't want to be late!" Fox called out behind him as he started to run.

"Why?" He asked curiously as he jogged alongside the vulpine.

"Mr. Darion doesn't like it when students are late. Believe me. We don't want to be last ones there. How about a race? Loser gets to deal with the coach's wrath." Fox chuckled as he increased his speed and started to fly down the field.

Alastair felt a small measure of excitement course through his system. As uncomfortable as he was with all of this, the human never turned down a challenge.

He pistoned his legs forward and threw everything he had into sprinting to the coach and outrunning Fox. Tufts of grass flew in the air as his boots ate up the distance between him and the vulpine. He could hear Fox chuckling to himself as he ran and look back over his shoulder, ready to drop a smug boast. But when he saw the human rapidly approaching any words he might have said caught up in his throat and he gulped.

'Shit, he's fast!'

Alastair allowed himself a small smile as he blasted past Fox and blazed a trail across the field, passing Falco, Slippy, and Bill.

"What the f-" He heard the avian choke out as Alastair zipped past him.

Alastair slowed down as he approached the line of students and jogged to a stop near the front of the line. He could feel faint trickles of sweat pour down his face and his heart was pumping in a fast steady rhythm. The excess energy slowly ebbed out of him and he was thankful for his genetic enhancements. Otherwise it would have been extremely unlikely for him to pass Fox or the others. The short sprint made him feel more relaxed and laid back, but not much. It was just enough so that he was slightly less uncomfortable with his situation.

He looked to the left to see the coach standing there with a faintly impressed expression on his muzzle. "Get in line."

It looked like it only carried to his features though.

Alastair nodded and turned to the line, slipping in next to an orange tabby cat and an anteater, judging by the long proboscis on his face. Soon, the others managed to arrive and file in. First was Falco, then Bill followed by Slippy. Fox was the last one to make it. He had been too far back to catch up in time, and he had been seconds behind Slippy.

Fox's posture stooped as he realized that he was the last one to make it and he bore a grimace as he approached the coach.

The lion tutted in disappointment and looked down at the vulpine. "What happened back there, Mccloud?"

Fox shrugged.

The coach shook his muzzle. "Looks like a first for you, Mccloud. You know what this means."

Fox nodded with a wince. "Yes coach."

Alastair was starting to feel a slight amount of guilt...a very slight amount. He had technically cheated, not that they would know that. But all was fair in love and war.

The lion turned over his shoulder and barked out orders to a cat and a mouse standing in line. "Tom, Jerry, go get the ring."

The two nodded superfluously and rushed to the small shack that Alastair had failed to notices on his way over. But he did notice all the eager expressions on the other student's muzzles and he felt trepidation build inside him. 'What the heck is the ring?' The simplicity of its name and the reaction the students had at its mention did not set his mind at ease. He watched as Fox groaned and slumped. So he knew for certain that it was not something pleasant.

His wondering was answered when the cat and mouse returned with a small rectangular pad, handing it to the coach who took it with a wide grin.

'I thought it was a ring.'

The cat turned to the line of students and tossed the pad onto the ground as he started to speak. "It looks like Fox has volunteered himself for a bout in the ring, but who could possibly rise to the challenge?" As he asked, the small pad began to split open and assemble into the vague form of a boxing ring.

Instantly, Alastair's foreboding rocketed upwards and he felt a pang of unease. 'Don't you dare!'

Yet he watched in helpless finality as the Lion's eyes sifted through the line of students and settled in on him with piercing precision. 'You! Human, since you were the first one to make it. It's only fitting that you be the contestant."

'Motherfucker!'

All around him, hushed whispers from the students began to rise as they considered the prospect.

"The human's going to fight Fox!"

"Dude, it's going to be epic!"

"Who's going to win?"

"My money's on Fox."

"Ten creds says he whoops the human's ass!"

'Twenty says the human wins!"

"Deal!"

The lion growled and motioned forwards. "Come on kid, we haven't got all day.

Alastair held back a groan and stepped forwards, heading towards the ring to stand next to Fox. The vulpine smiled weakly at him.

"Looks like we both suffer the coach's wrath anyways?" Fox chuckled forcefully.

Alastair nodded with a small grim smile. "So it would appear."

Fox looked to his left and groaned, slapping a padded palm onto his muzzle. "Ugh, I didn't think it could be worse, but I was wrong."

Alastair looked in the direction the vulpine had and saw that the lioness coach and all the female PE students were making their way over. In the group he spied out Fara and her friends. 'At least I could keep a better eye on her.' He thought morosely.

"What do we have here, the ring, and on the first day? You're starting a little over the top my dear." The female lion drawled as she stopped beside the male. It was safe to assume that they were a mated pair.

The coach shrugged. "Got to keep them on their toes, and I wouldn't mind a little show."

'That's...a little messed up.' Even he could tell that, and he was a mercenary.

"Well in that case I think we all would like to tune in." The lioness replied with a grin.

"Alright, get in the ring!" The coach ordered and the duo climbed in. The ropes of the ring were made up of beams of energy that were hard to the touch without shocking them. All of this seemed a little crazy, but Alastair supposed that it was a military academy after all.

"Good luck." Fox muttered as he walked to the opposite corner.

Alastair nodded at that and took his place. 'This is one crazy ass school.'