Surge Squadron: Defective

Chapter Five: Races and Chases

After the dinnertime hour, Null's squad came back to their bunks to rest for the night. Since another day of training was over, the batch of boys forsook their formalities of maintaining figure and order. They scrambled for their room, racing as fast as they could. All except for Zs, of course.

Zs had given up on the competition halfway through and had resorted to clinging to Adrenaline's pantleg, letting him drag him through the halls on his stomach.

A few Kaminoans were run into, which they didn't appreciate. The small minority that escaped the waves of cadet chaos unscathed looked at the scene with shock, annoyance, and a dash of amusement.

Surprisingly, despite having to drag along an exhausted burden, Adrenaline held the front of the pack. He laughed as Zs was screaming at him, pleading for him to slow down so he wouldn't get slammed into a wall and have his breath knocked out.

The cadets behind Adrenaline and Zs got a full view of the action. They laughed together, finding this very comical.

Soon, it was the final stretch for the door. Everyone put on a burst of speed.

AZ-83 could hear those wild cadets coming from a mile away, seemingly. "Dear me... My perfect order is about to get plagued again!" He dashed to save the folded clothes, quickly scooping them into his arms, standing ready for the clone boys to bust in and let his whole work of cleanliness go to waste.

Adrenaline sped through the door, trying to skid to a stop.

"ADRENALINE! SLOW DOWN!" AZ-83 yelled, about to get bowled over by the youth's recklessness.

Luckily, Adrenaline slipped, wiping out on his front, at AZ-83's feet. He smiled up at him, "Hey, 83! I won again!"

"I see that..." The droid sighed, glancing at poor Zs, lying on the floor, supposedly recovering from being dragged several yards. "Did you drag your poor brother all the way here?!"

"Not all the way here... Just about halfway." Ad grinned.

"Adrenaline." AZ-83 placed his hands on his sides, "I don't think your brother enjoyed mopping the floors of this city with his person."

"I didn't... I feel like I'm going to hurl...." Zs moaned, still lying motionless on the floor, waiting for his head and stomach to settle.

The rest of the squad fought their way in, panting. Vision had taken up the rear of the pack.

"Vis is the smelly bantha!" His squad laughed, as it was the daily game that they raced not to get that unappealing title.

Vision stuck out his tongue in protest, "How mature!" He shouted back sarcastically, climbing up to his bunk.

If AZ-83 could've rolled his eyes, he would have. "Zs? Brush yourself down and turn in for the night, okay? I just changed those sheets, and I don't want some filthy, disgusting pathogenic material you mopped up on those disgusting walkways to infest your fresh bedsheets." He paused, "You know what? Just change. That's a safer bet." He tossed a pair of clean clothes on the floor beside Zs.

Zs got up slowly, stumbling a little as he bent down to pick up his clothes. He then plodded off slowly as if he were being led to his execution.

Circuit watched him go, snickering softly. He walked over to his bunk, climbing up with his datapad, studying over more content.

The rest listened to Flashback tell a story he had recently heard from that day.

Null listened from his bunk, smiling at his brother's narration. He loved hearing stories. Listening to tales gave him imaginary "eyes." Although he never knew what the things mentioned looked like, he liked to let his imagination roam free, visualizing, from his perception, how each subject would appear. Null's visualizations were on the spectrum of the abstract. Yet, each one was a treasure to him.