Chapter 17: Come again?

Our overpowered friend just got eaten and now we were next. 

"I'll teleport, just get close to me! Quick!" Marg was calmer than I thought she'd be. But her voice sure wasn't.

"We can't leave him!" I yelled back, hysterically. Though our time was short, I did want to respect him by carrying back his body at least.

With an exasperated sigh, she glared. "Well, I can't fight without any weapons so blast that thing with gamma or something." She still wanted to teleport. 

"What if he's still-" I didn't get to finish.

The seal roared louder than I thought and just launched itself straight at me. It almost looked like it was in pain. But it also looked like it wanted to eat me.

"Oh boy." I didn't have time to worry about others. If I didn't act, I'd end up just like Clyde.

I focused my breathing and waited. If I could focus enough gamma on a single point then heating up some atoms of a seal and ending its life shouldn't have been a problem. 

But as I was about to do so, a hand popped out of the seal's stomach with a crunch and the seal looked back in horror. I too looked in horror and disgust.

Red liquid oozed out of its stomach and the poor thing groaned. Its groans were loud and clear for a minute: Even I felt pity for it. After that, our Angelmen friend tore through the monster and made his appearance yet again. 

Should I be relieved or disgusted?

I couldn't pick.

What the hell was wrong with this guy, anyway? He just had to get eaten and then he also just had to tear through things.

"EWUUU!" Marg wasn't thrilled to see this.

I wasn't either. "So you're alive?" It wasn't a question but I felt stupid not to ask. 

"Yeah, it kind of sucked. I've to take a shower." He was literally bathed in blood and other sorts of liquid I'd rather not say. 

He walked out of the seal and the seal breathed its last. I really felt bad for the thing. Given the chance, it would have surely eaten us all, but then again, we weren't doing justice to it either. Maybe I was just being hypocritical. 

"Uh-huh!" There was no doubt about it. "So how are we going to go back again?" I asked. This seal was big and we needed serious muscle power to take it back. Besides, walking through the blizzard was going to be a chore too.

I looked at Marg and she winced.

"I think I can manage but-" She winced harder. "It'll be tricky and we'd have to leave one of you behind."

I was pretty sure she was just saying that because didn't want to be near Clyde.

Now, I winced. "You know-"

"I wouldn't mind. Besides, I have to back and take a shower first. I'll let you two handle the instructor." Clyde backed out. "Instead of flocking to me, girls would just run away if they smelt something as vile as this," he said under his breath.

I really wanted to thank him but considering all of this happened because of him, I figured it was best to just leave him be. Besides, the guy wasn't the least bit concerned about anything other than girls.

"Alright, let's go." I really wanted to get out of this scary place anyway. So maybe being a little selfish wasn't so bad.

I and Marg went closer to the seal. "This thing won't come alive would it?" I spoke to no one in particular. I'd heard of such Mutors which were basically immortal. They'd come alive no matter how many times you killed them.

There were even immortal people. I had no wish to meet either type. 

"Oh don't worry about it. I made sure to squash everything inside." Clyde was paying attention to his leather jacket but his witty remarks weren't really helping.

I grimaced subconsciously. This guy was brutal. "You sure you don't mind?" I asked out of concern. Concern, for my own wellbeing that is.

"Yeah, no prob." He waved us bye.

I closed my eyes as I stood next to Marg. Clyde was overpowered and considerate: kind of. Maybe I should have treated him better. And I would have too if he wasn't a drop-dead wannabe womanizer.

"You can open them now," Marg whispered and we were right back at the entrance. "They'll take it from here." she pointed.

Teachers and students alike came running to see our catch. Apparently, this seal was a big deal.

"Whoa! Well done lads!" Some of the teachers were really going crazy. "She was the leader of the seal pack!"

'What is a seal pack!?'

They were even treating Marg as a lad, meaning they really had gone crazy.

Eventually, the crowd cleared and our instructor came to us. "Well done, but where's Clyde?"

I looked at Marg and she just looked at the other direction. This wasn't helping. So I sighed and sucked up. "He stayed behind so we could transport this quicker. He should be back shortly." Of course, I made half of it up but it was better than saying he just wanted to take a shower so he could impress gals.

The instructor brought out a small Holoscreen. "Let's see Team Cylde…. 95 points." He announced the points and apparently we'd gotten the highest marks.

I did like it but… since when was this Team Clyde? No one told me, he was the leader!? Why!?

I saw the other kids getting graded too but apparently, the second-highest was just shy of eighty. Meaning, we were definitely top of the class. It wasn't that surprising though. I mean all of us had whacky powers, so maybe that's why?

There were an awful lot of scores below twenty though. I guess Mutors came in all shapes and sizes. I even saw a cat out there. I definitely felt bad for the cat, but this was life and death we were talking about. Failing a test meant my support was gone and I'd have to die. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration. 

"Alright people, get close," the instructor shouted. "This was supposed to be a one-week thing. But I kind of finished grading all of you today. So you can take the week off of practical classes."

Maybe this guy wasn't so bad. I was basically free this week then. Everyone was relieved, myself included. This was the first week of the course and we were free. Nothing could have made me happier. 

But then he had to open his mouth again. "So be sure to turn in your homework by next Friday. And here-" He handed over some papers to everyone. I hadn't seen actual printed paper in years. Books these days had holographic ink anyway, so this was rare. It sure didn't ease my mind though.

I might have misjudged the instructor. He wasn't some cool dude. He was just another dumb dick who just wanted to laze around.

Sigh.

The homework was roughly twenty hours of work. Today was Saturday so I basically had a whole week to complete it. It wasn't a big deal but it was surely going to kill a lot of my time. The students behind me must have felt the same.

With a solid grin, the instructor left us hanging.

"What'd I miss?" And with that, our Angelmen friend was back again. He looked pretty clean too, not to mention happy.

"That was fast." Marg made a muffled remark.

"Nothing." I didn't care anymore anyway. "We just have more work."