Chapter 181: X-Force

"So does this mean Bear technically won?"

"Is that really important right now?"

"I'm just saying, I put a lot of money on this bet. So I think it's relevant…."

Drake heard whispers around him as his consciousness began to come back and the sounds came into focus.

"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."

Drake struggled to open his eyes, the blurred visages of people around him.

"You think it was only scary for you? I lost control of my body for a moment…" Drake eked out.

"Drake!" Claire shouted, her hands wrapping around his neck uncomfortably.

Drake looked around and saw that he was still encased in his spells from earlier.

"No one thought it was a good idea to get these off of me?" Drake asked.

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."

"Noted," Drake grumbled, as he dismissed the cage around him and struggled to bend to sit upwards.

With a little help from Claire, he found himself upright, his party grouped around him.

"Where's Bear?" Drake asked.

"Right here bro," Bjorn said from behind him.

Drake looked at the ground, embarrassed that he had lost his mind and body for a moment.

"Sorry about that man, I don't know what happened."

"All good. If I was going to go out, rather it be by you than someone else," Bjorn shrugged.

"That's morbidly comforting…" Drake sighed.

"Drake, what exactly happened?" Claire asked.

"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."

"I am fine," Shigure scoffed from the side, "The last blow was substantial but I managed. More importantly, are you going to be a problem with those outbursts?"

Drake frowned.

"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 said anything to me. I feel like Eren right now…."

"Who?" Shigure said, confused.

"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 explained, his face wincing from the pain in his abdomen, "Ah… this is going to sting for a while isn't it…"

He received a smack to the back of the head.

"Of course it will, you dolt! You nearly killed yourself, again!" Natto yelled from his shoulder, "How can you still do such things!"

"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?"

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 access. As I have said, Primordial races are very special, most starting off at C-Rank when born."

"Primordial?" the group said in unison, questioning expressions on their faces.

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.

"So you're in my same boat then huh?" Bjorn sighed.

"Not exactly," Drake said, "I had a total of six stones forced into me thank you. And you somehow have resisted or delayed 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."

"Yeah of course," Bjorn smirked.

"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.

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."

Some of the group looked concerned but Claire clung to Drake firmly, her eyes saying 'I'm not going anywhere'.

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."

"Not cool," Tom frowned.

"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 place, remember?" Drake struggled to stand up, even with Claire'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."

Claire helped Drake to a seat he summoned from his inventory and pulled a similar one from her own, sitting down next to him.

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?"

Claire pursed her lips, slightly annoyed that Drake was deflecting from his problems and pain again, but gave in and answered him.

"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 several planets were combined to make our new one… So we might even be further apart."

Drake smirked as he moved his mask, "Miss me already? We haven't even left the tutorial yet."

"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.

"Hey, I'm supposed to be keeping you out of trouble, not the other way around."

"And you are doing a great job…"

"So are you," Drake laughed, pointing to his stomach that was now exposed through the hole in his robes he had carved out himself.

"Fine, we both are terrible at it…" she smiled.

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."

As if waiting their turn, both Shigure and Bjorn kept a sidelong gaze on Claire and Drake, not wanting to interrupt.

Disgruntled, Claire reluctantly got up, "Fine, but no more stupid stuff. You hear me!"

"Aggressive, I like it. Reminds me of yesterday night," Drake joked wiggling his eyebrows.

Claire's face turned scarlet before she ran off, smoke practically coming out of her ears.

Shigure and Bjorn took that as their cue and walked over, Shigure with a slight scowl.

"Have you no tact…" he spat.

"She knows how I am, I don't apologize for it," Drake smiled.

"Mystery how you managed to not have her stab you in your sleep," Bjorn laughed.

"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."

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.

The day was waning quickly and dusk was falling swiftly.

Drake summoned fireballs to light the area for the rest of his group, the white fire illuminating the space brilliantly.

"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.

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."

"Then what do you want, bro?" Bjorn asked.

"I just want you both to do what we had planned, 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."

"You already know my position on the matter," Shigure offered.

Drake nodded and turned to Bjorn.

"I'm up in Canada bro, near the Yukon. It's more than a few steps away from you," Bjorn chuckled.

Drake pursed his lips, "And that isn't including the new space that might be there thanks to the other worlds being assimilated 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."

"Oh, what's that?" Bjorn asked.

"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.

"That's a dumb name bro," Bjorn chuckled.

"I agree, it's rather childish," Shigure nodded.

"Hey…" Drake gasped in faux hurt, "Are you insulting my naming sense?"

"Yes," both replied.

"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…"

"What thing?" Bjorn asked raising a brow his expression serious.

"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."

"That bad huh," Bjorn scoffed.

"All that and a bag of chips, like family-sized."

"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.

Drake looked to Bjorn, waiting for him to make the decision to answer or not.

"The race my skill stones will turn me into is a Titan," Bjorn explained, "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."

Shigure's mouth opened and hung there for a minute, before he shivered, "This is true?" he asked looking over to Drake.

Drake nodded, "Yup, every word. But we're not ganna let that happen right?"

Shigure paused for a moment, his arms hanging on his swords by his hip as he thought. Then he nodded.

"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.

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.

Both Shigure and Bjorn looked at Drake incredulously.

"What?" Drake asked.

"I am not saying that," Shigure sighed.

"Yeah man, I'm used to you being cringy but Deadpool? Really?" Bjorn laughed.

"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….!"