After President Velara left, four Beastcorp troopers marched in, led by a stern captain. They organized the new tamers into lines of four, disregarding beast ranks for now.
The tamers walked orderly in these lines, muttering to themselves in excitement as they were led through the massive infrastructure of a Beastcorp base tower.
The more David saw, the more awestruck he became.
Despite the memories he now possessed, seeing neon machineries and cybernetic coordinations such as these was absolutely exhilarating.
They passed through a high-security gate where massive kinetic doors opened with a hiss, revealing a cambered atrium beyond.
Inside, David saw Drone Bees— bee type mechbeasts used for heavy infrastructural work —buzzing quietly along tracks overhead, repairing suspended modules that housed aether armors for Divers.
A group of handlers in reinforced suits directed a team of Loadhorn Beetles into a gravity elevator, their footfalls shaking the floor as they ascended toward launch decks above.
To his left, a plastic transparent tunnel overlooked a subterranean arena, hexagonal and scorched. Sparks still danced across the floor where a training simulation had recently ended. Two troopers below were dragging a charred mechbeast frame onto a mag-lift, taking it to the mechveterinary.
David's Red Lizard, still on his open palm, made a croaking whimper as it watched.
"Yeah, I hope it'll be okay too."
Moments later, the journey was brought to an end, and the new tamers waited in line before a set of retractable panels.
Once the captain explained the order of events, the tamers began to go through the doors four at a time, the first in each of the four lines, to receive their licenses.
David patiently waited in line, holding the tiny Gutterling closer to his chest. The lizard's tail twitched lazily, occasionally flicking against his wrist.
He tried not to give it any attention, though the poor lizard was clearly trying to get any at all from him.
Each time a new set entered the license room, the line adjusted and David moved forward, careful l with the mechbeast on his hand.
"So… what's your deal, kid?"
David's head snapped up, noticing the back of the tall, blond haired man in front of him. His hair was tied to a long ponytail braid that he hung over the left of his massive broad shoulders.
"Huh?" David responded with the only thing he could.
The man didn't turn. "Coming here with a Gray Rank Egg, and now bonded with an ordinary Gutterling. What do you think is going to happen to you in this place?"
David pondered briefly, then quipped, "I get a decent bed and better meals at the Academy?"
The man scoffed. "So that's all you're after, huh? A life away from the streets."
He said nothing for a while and David just stared at the back of his head.
"Naturally, I understand. But Beastcorp isn't anything like you'd expect. You might see that Gutterling as a ticket to a new life, a life that even if mediocre compared to others, is still better than what your life used to be. But trust me kid, the competition is going to get to you."
"These people… none of them care about you. The boy and the princess with the Black Ranks, that's who they care about the most, and that care fades as the rank lowers. And you have the lowest of all. You'll find out soon that the growth of your mechbeast is entirely in your hands."
"Aether chips, cultivation modules, food and nutrition, even evolution triggers, all of it are controlled by Beastcorp. And all reserved for high ranks, not for the likes of you."
Finally, he looked over his shoulder, his blue eyes catching David's gaze.
"Don't go into this thinking it's child play. You're not going to achieve a damn thing with that Gutterling, so it's best to steer clear of trouble or clashes with high ranks." He faced forward again. "For your own good."
"Next!"
David watched as the man strode through the doors, his red coat sweeping the floor. His Mechbeast— a yellow rabbit with a lightning-bolt tail —scurried to his shoulder, and gave David a curious gaze.
'Who the hell was that guy?' he thought.
He stood there for a while, unable to get the man's words off his head. Then the door opened again, and he was directed to go in.
Entering the room, he searched around for the man, but could not find him. Instead, he caught a glimpse of the black cybernetic license card a girl held, with an aether chip that had been given to her as well, having 25 units of aether.
Aether chips were Beastcorp's method of monopolizing the aether crystals they mined all over the world. They packaged them into chips that protected humans from the toxic rays of the energy.
These chips usually contained aether in units, with the highest being 5000 and the lowest being 5.
Aether chips were sold almost in every mechbeast commercial shop, but they were also given for free to every new tamer after their licensing.
However, the amount of units one was given depended on the rank of their mechbeast.
Beastcorp vehemently refused to spend big on low-potential beasts.
The room around him had the sterile efficiency of a futuristic registry. There were silver panels by the walls, and a soft violet glow emitted from thin light conduits tracing the ceiling.
By the four panels, two officials in uniform waited. For David's panel, it was a portly man with half-lensed glasses and a scanner tablet, and a gray-haired woman with a neutral expression and the weary gaze of someone who had done this too many times.
"Name?" the man asked.
David hesitated for a moment, then replied, "Jethro Merrick," as he stepped onto the small platform.
"Heh. So you're the one with the scrap, eh?"
David didn't say anything.
"Get on with it, Pat." The woman gestured David toward a curved screen in the wall. "Stand still. Face forward. Do your utmost best not to move."
David positioned himself stiffly, lowering the Red Lizard out of frame. The platform adjusted with a hum, scanning his posture.
As he waited for the flash of light, Darren heard a tiny buzz zip past his ear.
Bzzztt.
A fly.
It landed on his chin, feather-light.
He did his best to ignore it, fighting against the itch from the depths of his soul, remembering the woman's orders. He needed only a second and the photo would be taken.
Only a seco—
The Red Lizard's tongue shot out like a bolt of rubber.
It slapped him right on the chin, smacking the fly and jerking David's head back in sheer surprise.
"Gkk—!" he yelped, raising his hand instinctively.
Click.
The camera flashed.
David snapped his head to the woman. 'Now? That's when she takes the picture?'
On the screen, his passport photo loaded: mouth mid-squirm, shoulders squeezed as he tried to slap away the Red Lizard's tongue, still halfway stretched to his face.
The silence that followed was broken by the faintest cough— from the fat man —clearly trying not to laugh.
David, who was still dumbfounded, watched as the bluish cybernetic card was handed to him. He stared at the horrid image of his terrified face in the passport.
Jethro Merrick
Sector Twelve Indigene
Class E, Black Rank
"Wait. Hold on. Can we take the passport again?"
The woman shook her head. "No retakes. Official system record."
David groaned under his breath, and when remembered whose fault this was, he glared at the tiny mechbeast on his hand.
The Red Lizard just looked back at him with those beady eyes, entirely unbothered, and then, it nodded its head.
'This crimson devil…'
"Here's your aether chip."
Darren glanced up, taking the thick, black card-like device. It reminded him of sim cards but bigger, with a bright purple glow at its center.
The pulse was faint.
David looked down at it, then backed up, confused.
"Wait... just five units? Bronze Ranks got twenty-five."
The woman looked up from her screen. "Resource distribution follows what President Ardent already explained. Higher Ranks receive higher allotments. This is the way it is."
David stared at her, then at the chip. "I mean I know that, but you guys aren't even giving me much of a chance here."
But the woman had already dismissed him. "Move through the hatch. You have a one week preparation period, during this time you'll be notified of the Rift assigned to you for your training."
David clenched his jaw. The Gutterling let out a faint chirrup and nodded slowly, as if agreeing with the woman.
He pocketed the chip and license card.
"Next!" the man called.
Taking one last look at the place, David stepped through the hatch and into the world beyond.