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.
By the time Flashback had concluded his tale, Zs had returned to the group in his clean clothes.
Patches snickered, "Hey, Zs! The Kaminoan janitors just stopped by and wanted to express their gratitude for you mopping the floors for them. They said it's never looked better since they were new." He teased.
Zs grunted tiredly, pulling out his bunk next to Null's and flopping down on it. "Good night..." He groaned into his pillow before pulling his bunk back in so he could sleep.
"Give him a break, Patches." AZ-83 scolded, "He's probably beyond exhausted."
"Hearing you lecture me makes me beyond exhausted too." Patches smirked when he made his witty comeback.
AZ-83 wasn't even going to attempt to argue with Patches on that. He had tried a few months back, but that yielded absolutely nothing. It was best to drop it and leave it. He set the clothes he was holding on the floor again since Adrenaline was in bed and couldn't destroy his work.
Vis read an old rulebook, which he found fascinating, despite the opinions of his brothers. He adjusted his glasses as he read because, occasionally, they would begin sliding down his nose.
Subtle and Patches sat on a bunk together, talking about the day's events.
Flashback laid down, mumbling what he had learned that day so he could recall the information better.
And Ember looked down at AZ-83, glancing at the clean clothes below and back at 83. Clutched in his right hand, Ember held a few matches he took from who knows where. He was clearly trying to exercise self-control in this scenario when a fire was just a match drop away.
AZ-83 looked up and almost predicted his intentions by studying his intense stare at the stack. He snatched up the clothes and moved them to a safer distance with a quick "Hmph!"
Ember sighed. Well, there went his fun. He decided to get some rest early.
AZ-83 nodded, muttering to himself after he saw Ember's bunk slide in, "That's right... I'm not going to let you burn through your clothes again- This is the thirty-forth time- in three months."
Circuit looked up from his studies, "Thirty-four times he's done that?! Yeesh, Ember..." He chuckled.
"Indeed, thirty-four."
"You've been tracking how many times he's burned through things?" Circuit asked, amused, setting aside his datapad. He laid on his stomach, facing AZ-83 as he kicked his feet up and down.
"No, I've been counting how many times Lafa's yelled at me about him burning all of your clothes." AZ-83 corrected.
"You miss being in Lafa's service, don't you, 83?" Circuit said softly, looking down at him sympathetically.
"I do. Running tests was my specialty, and I felt more useful when I provided Lafa Re with assistance. It was nice having quiet while I toiled away at my scientific analyses." AZ-83 sighed before proceeding to "pace" back and forth, "But apparently, Sala was all she needed. Not some droid who followed her every command she barked at me- It's baffling to me what she did- to toss me to the seas of human destruction to be nothing more but a service droid. I am meant for better things than to replace burnt tiles, wash and replace clothes, clean untidy spaces, and sit around with my thoughts of scientific grandeur." He ranted.
"I understand you completely, 83. Welcome to my world, where I deal with 'the apocalypse' on a daily basis, 24/7." Vis spoke without turning from the text he had his eyes glued on.
Everyone in the squad, except Null and Zs, turned in his direction with looks of dismay.
Vision looked up because it had become quiet- more or less since AZ-83 had become mute. He adjusted his glasses, "On that note, I feel exhausted. Therefore, I'll turn in for the night. Sleep well!" He said sheepishly, activating his bunk and sliding in.
"YEAH, RIGHT, VISION!" Patches scoffed.
"To be frank with you all, 'apocalypse' is a perfect descriptor for the lot of you," AZ-83 stated boldly and without a thought about the retaliation from the notoriously hot-headed Patches.
Patches' eyes twitched, "COME HERE, YOU ROTTEN LITTLE JUNK PILE!" He yelled at the droid, furiously climbing down the ladder after him.
AZ-83 began to flee from Patches' pursuit, screaming for help as he ran down the halls with the fuming cadet hot on his trail.
Circuit couldn't help but laugh, "Poor 83'... Patches will probably bust him up if he isn't more careful."
Subtle smirked, smugly looking towards Vis' bunk, "Now, look what you've started, Vis! Poor 83' is going to get torn to scraps."
Vision moaned, faking exhaustion to get out of that situation.
AZI-83 continued his escape from Patches, winding around many hallways in an attempt to shake him, but Patches wasn't. He kept on speeding after his "quarry."
"Give up, mechanical menace! Just a quick dent to your operating systems, and we'll be done here!" Patches shouted, beginning to get tired from chasing him.
AZI-83 looked behind himself at Patches before slamming into someone. He looked up at the Kaminoan he collided with, instantly using that victim of the chase as a barrier between himself and Patches.