Chapter 181: X-Force


    <span style="font-weight:400">“So does this mean Bear technically won?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Is that really important right now?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’m just saying, I put a lot of money on this bet. So I think it’s relevant….”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Drake heard whispers around him as his consciousness began toe back and the sounds came into focus.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What was that anyway? It’s kind of scary just how strong he’s gotten. I mean he was strong before but that was on another level.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Drake struggled to open his eyes, the blurred visages of people around him.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You think it was only scary for you? I lost control of my body for a moment…” Drake eked out.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Drake!” ire shouted, her hands wrapping around his neck ufortably.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Drake looked around and saw that he was still encased in his spells from earlier.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“No one thought it was a good idea to get these off of me?” Drake asked.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Jacqueline stood over him and shrugged, “We didn’t know if you’d go full psycho mode again, damned bloody idiot you are. You nearly tore out your own guts there ya brilliant knob. Don’t be doing it again, I got a week cooldown on this spell ya know.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Noted,” Drake grumbled, as he dismissed the cage around him and struggled to bend to sit upwards.


    <span style="font-weight:400">With a little help from ire, he found himself upright, his party grouped around him.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Where’s Bear?” Drake asked.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Right here bro,” Bjorn said from behind him.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Drake looked at the ground, embarrassed that he had lost his mind and body for a moment.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Sorry about that man, I don’t know what happened.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“All good. If I was going to go out, rather it be by you than someone else,” Bjorn shrugged.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“That’s morbidlyforting…” Drake sighed.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Drake, what exactly happened?” ire asked.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’m not sure… I heard a voice and then got a splitting headache. Oh, is Shigure alright? I might have gone a bit overboard with him.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I am fine,” Shigure scoffed from the side, “Thest blow was substantial but I managed. More importantly, are you going to be a problem with those outbursts?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Drake frowned.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I don’t know. I’ve always had something eating away at the back of my mind, but this is the first time something has <i><span style="font-weight:400">said</i><span style="font-weight:400"> anything to me. I feel like Eren right now….”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Who?” Shigure said, confused.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Never mind, not important. But I think for now, it’s safe to say I won’t be doing any more sparring. If I do any practice it will be on my own,” Drake exined, his face wincing from the pain in his abdomen, “Ah… this is going to sting for a while isn''t it…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">He received a smack to the back of the head.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Of course it will, you dolt! You nearly killed yourself, again!” Natto yelled from his shoulder, “How can you still do such things!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hey. This one wasn’t really my fault…” Drake said wearily, “Took everything I had to stop myself from going out of control. Know anything about that?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Natto pursed her lips with her arms crossed, “I have an idea, but I do not have enough information on Race Changes while inside the tutorial, even at E-Rank I do not believe I will have enough ess. As I have said, Primordial races are very special, most starting off at C-Rank when born.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Primordial?” the group said in unison, questioning expressions on their faces.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Drake scratched the back of his head, “Oh, guess I forgot to mention. I changed races to an Asuran. Oops?” Drake chuckled, sticking out his tongue.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“So you’re in my same boat then huh?” Bjorn sighed.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Not exactly,” Drake said, “I had a total of six stones forced into me thank you. And you somehow have resisted or dyed your change until E-Rank. Whatever Dragon Bitch did to me forced me to change, or I just wasn’t as mentally strong as you were. But it’s the former of course.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah of course,” Bjorn smirked.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What doth this mean for the rest of us, my Lord? If thou is to say we should part ways or distance ourselves once more….” Theodore said, looking grim.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Drake shook his head, “I’m not, I’m passed trying to micromanage you all. You are grown adults and you will make up your own minds. That said, I’m not sure if or when I’ll have another…. Episode.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Some of the group looked concerned but ire clung to Drake firmly, her eyes saying ‘I’m not going anywhere’.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Drake smiled and looked at the group, “But if it makes you all feel better, it seems that only really strong opponents trigger it. So you all have nothing to worry about since ya know, you’re all weak.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Not cool,” Tom frowned.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It’s a joke Tom, but you all are objectively weaker than I am. It’s kind of why we are doing all this training in the first ce, remember?” Drake struggled to stand up, even with ire’s help, and addressed the group again, “Don’t let my freaking out stop you all, back to it, we only have a few more weeks of this before you are sent out into the world. I’ll be observing.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">ire helped Drake to a seat he summoned from his inventory and pulled a simr one from her own, sitting down next to him.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Drake looked over, “Thanks, but you need to practice as well. Now that I’ve thought about it we never did talk about where you are going to end up once we get out of here did we?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">ire pursed her lips, slightly annoyed that Drake was deflecting from his problems and pain again, but gave in and answered him.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’m towards the center of the United States, the Idaho area… I’m not sure where I’ll be once we leave though. The introduction told us severals werebined to make our new one… So we might even be further apart.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Drake smirked as he moved his mask, “Miss me already? We haven’t even left the tutorial yet.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I just don’t know if you are going to get yourself into trouble again while I don’t have my eye on you,” she frowned.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hey, I’m supposed to be keeping you out of trouble, not the other way around.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“And you are doing a great job…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“So are you,” Drakeughed, pointing to his stomach that was now exposed through the hole in his robes he had carved out himself.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Fine, we both are terrible at it…” she smiled.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Drake motioned to the rest of the group that was finding pairs, “Go on, I’ll be fine over here. I think Bear and Shigure want to talk anyway.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">As if waiting their turn, both Shigure and Bjorn kept a sidelong gaze on ire and Drake, not wanting to interrupt.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Disgruntled, ire reluctantly got up, “Fine, but no more stupid stuff. You hear me!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Aggressive, I like it. Reminds me of yesterday night,” Drake joked wiggling his eyebrows.


    <span style="font-weight:400">ire’s face turned scarlet before she ran off, smoke practicallying out of her ears.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Shigure and Bjorn took that as their cue and walked over, Shigure with a slight scowl.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Have you no tact…” he spat.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“She knows how I am, I don’t apologize for it,” Drake smiled.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Mystery how you managed to not have her stab you in your sleep,” Bjornughed.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Well, being a handsome and funny man helps. And we’ve only slept in the same bed once so far,” Drake scoffed, “But to the point. I don’t know if I have a handle on this anymore.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Drake looked down at his wound. The skin had healed but the pain from the fatigue of it being healed was still fresh. Remembering the splitting pain in his head also made him wince, even from the vague memory.


    <span style="font-weight:400">The day was waning quickly and dusk was falling swiftly.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Drake summoned fireballs to light the area for the rest of his group, the white fire illuminating the space brilliantly.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“And what are we supposed to do about it? When you were in control we stood no chance. You expect us to handle you if you go on a rampage again?” Shigure asked skeptically.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Drake shook his head, “No, I don’t think I’ll go on a rampage again as long as I don’t fight directly. I think what spurred it was the heat of the battle when Bear challenged me. I can’t say for certain though, and Natto isn’t saying anything either.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Then what do you want, bro?” Bjorn asked.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I just want you both to do what we had nned, help everyone get stronger, and cap out their proficiencies on their skills before we leave as best you can. I’ll do my best to get a firm grasp on my own problems without getting into any fights. But what I want to get underway is figuring out how we are going to meet up outside the tutorial. I still need to talk to the rest of the group but I’m stationed in New York, on the East Coast of the United States. And I can only guess how out of whack everything will be once we return.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You already know my position on the matter,” Shigure offered.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Drake nodded and turned to Bjorn.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’m up in Canada bro, near the Yukon. It’s more than a few steps away from you,” Bjorn chuckled.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Drake pursed his lips, “And that isn’t including the new space that might be there thanks to the other worlds being assimted into ours. Unfortunately, Natto is also moot on most of the information involving things outside the tutorial. But, I do know about a quest to start system-sanctioned towns and I have the perfect name for mine.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Oh, what’s that?” Bjorn asked.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Reunite,” Drake replied, “It also happens to be the name of my guild from an old friend, I’m hoping they find their way there once I get the name out. I’m sure they’re going to be a handful for the world just like me,” Drake smiled.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“That’s a dumb name bro,” Bjorn chuckled.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I agree, it’s rather childish,” Shigure nodded.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hey…” Drake gasped in faux hurt, “Are you insulting my naming sense?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yes,” both replied.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Fine,” Drake sighed, then looked at Bjorn singling him out, “I know I can’t keep an eye on you when the tutorial is over man, but promise me you’ll keep yourself safe and in check until I find you, or you reach me alright? I don’t want to have to find you as that thing I saw…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What thing?” Bjorn asked raising a brow his expression serious.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“That voice I heard. That tried to get me to off you. It messed with my head and showed me something. I guess it was what you would be if you went through the racial change. Let’s just say it wasn’t pretty. And I don’t think something like that…. I don’t think I’d be in a position to hold back man.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“That bad huh,” Bjorn scoffed.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“All that and a bag of chips, like family-sized.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You spoke of racial changes before, what exactly is the race Sir Bear is meant to change to? Is it a Primordial Race like yours?” Shigure asked.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Drake looked to Bjorn, waiting for him to make the decision to answer or not.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“The race my skill stones will turn me into is a Titan,” Bjorn exined, “Apparently they are at the very top of the list for bad guys in the multiverse. If I reach E-Rank, I’ll turn and destroy the world. And everything else in our system.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Shigure’s mouth opened and hung there for a minute, before he shivered, “This is true?” he asked looking over to Drake.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Drake nodded, “Yup, every word. But we’re not ganna let that happen right?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Shigure paused for a moment, his arms hanging on his swords by his hip as he thought. Then he nodded.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Surely a musclebound idiot and I can manage enough to keep you from destroying everything. Drake has not failed us so far, despite the odds and hate…” Shigure coughed.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Drake chuckled, and pushed out his hand, “Good, then it’s decided. Grow strong enough to stay alive and keep Bjorn from destroying the whole world. Go, X-force!” Drake shouted.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Both Shigure and Bjorn looked at Drake incredulously.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What?” Drake asked.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I am not saying that,” Shigure sighed.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah man, I’m used to you being cringy but Deadpool? Really?” Bjornughed.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Why are you both ruining the moment? Just go with it! Fine whatever,” Drake frowned, bumping his own fist, whispering to himself, “Go X-force….!”