Orientation Day (3)

After finishing their paperwork, the new team of three, Rem, Fezz, and Primm, went to get lunch.

As they walked through the Academy grounds, lots of their fellow students were heard asking others to make the team with them.

Rem and Fezz were at a loss for who they could add to their group, but Primm sent out a few messages and confidently told them she would take care of it.

Getting lunch, Rem and Fezz sat at a table outside on the patio of the cafeteria. He felt a looming presence behind him as a full shadow blocked the sun. Turning to look at the shade source, Rem saw a fatty looking down and smiling at him.

"Hello?" Rem said.

"Hi." the portly meatball sun blocker cast a big smiled down.

"Can I help you?" Rem asked. To him, this kid reminded him of Mr. Potato head.

"Fries!" Primm happily cried. The rotund tater turned around when he heard his name. As he turned to look at Primm, a small thin boy with black hair, black-rimmed glasses, and an Academy uniform with pants that only reached right above his knees appeared.

Rem and Fezz were both surprised; they never realized another person was there. The girthy giant completely concealed him.

"You made it, Fries!" Primm beamed at her friend.

"Yeah, I brought "Icky Bob" with me." Fries said while pointing at the small quiet boy who pushed his glasses up with his middle finger.

"Oh, Icky! You came too, great! This team is shaping up well." Primm said happily.

"This is Rem and Fezz."

"Icky?" Fezz asked.

"Yeah, his name is Ichabod, but everyone has always called him Icky Bob," Fries said happily. Icky just stood there quietly.

"Doesn't it bother him?" Rem asked.

"It's better than being named after a sleep cycle," Icky said as a matter of fact.

"Hrhh..." Rem's eyes opened wide; what's with this kid suddenly making fun of his name?

Fries saw Rem's irritated expression and laughed while slapping him on the back.

"Don't mind Icky; he doesn't have much of a filter and doesn't mean anything by it. He says what he thinks!" Fries laughed happily.

"That doesn't make it any better, and you're laughing." Rem thought bitterly, casting the walking mountain of jello a vexed look.

Fezz laughed at Rem. He loved it when his childhood frenemy got perturbed.

Rem looked at Fezz with a sharp glint and an evil smile.

"I'm sorry, it's just I get Fezzed up with people making fun of my name."

A look of surprise and irritation spread across Fezz's face. The other three group members looked surprised at Fezz for a moment before they started laughing at him.

He was never good at expressing his emotions with words, so whenever a war of wit was waged, he almost immediately lost his cool and started heating up. His face turned so red that steam seemed to come out of his head.

An evil laugh escaped Rem's mouth as he gave Fezz a disdainful look.

Rem looked at the clock on his cell phone, "we only have twenty minutes until lunch is over. I guess we'll have to hope for the best for our last two members."

"Don't worry, our last two members will be here soon," Primm said with her hands on her hips and her chest thrust forward. Like a heroine who swore to save the castle and vanquish the enemy, she proudly stood.

"I'm sorry if we're late," a deep and throaty voice sounded behind Primm.

Everyone looked at the sound of the voice they heard. Instead of seeing a giant manly creature, they saw a tiny girl followed by a tall severe girl.

"One's little and cute, and the other is like an immortal ice fairy. Not bad!" Rem thought to himself. He now had three girls in his sights. Which one should he pursue?

The tiny girl in the lead wore a green sprite-like dress and had blond hair. Her eyes sparkled like sapphire, and hovering over her shoulder was a cute frog creature flapping its wings.

The girl behind her dressed in white martial robes and walked with her eyes half-closed.

Her hands were clasped in front as she walks forward like an ancient cultivator attuned to the universe.

Hanging down from her side was a beautiful sword.

Primm ran excitedly to the two girls and threw her arms around them. Even the severe-looking girl in white robes cracked a smile and hugged her.

Leading the two girls back to the group, Primm introduced them.

"Everyone, these are my two best friends, Animina, a beastmaster, and Seforia, a soul master.

Seforia, the girl in the white robes, nodded her head slightly.

"Hello." the deep rumbling voice they heard earlier now came out of the frog.

All of the boys were surprised by the hovering frog that seemed to talk for the dainty Animina.

"Don't be too surprised. Animina was born mute and can only speak through her tamed animals. Her bird frog used to be a tadpole and had the cutest little voice, but yesterday it leveled up." Primm seemed amused by the event while Animina blushed slightly.

After everyone was introduced to each other, Icky Bob produced team contracts for everyone to fill out to register their team.

Rem reluctantly filled out his form while looking dissatisfied the entire time.

Once all of the contracts were filled out, Icky Bob spirited them away.

Fries picked up on Rem's attitude about the team contract and started grumbling.

"What's wrong with this guy? If I didn't know any better, I would think we didn't meet his standard or something."

Primm giggled while looking at Rem. Fezz, who was very straightforward, filled them in on what was going on.

"Rem doesn't like working with others; he thinks he can make systems by himself.

We're dead weight for him; if the rules didn't force him to work with us, he wouldn't." Fezz said bluntly.

"What?" Fries was clearly displeased.

The other new members of the team were clearly dissatisfied with hearing the problem.

Icky Bob was returning after turning in their paperwork when he heard Fezz.

"I was just as shocked as the rest of you.

It occurred to me that someone with such a high opinion of themselves must have already completed a significant number of systems on their own.

Guess how many systems he's completed," Primm asks smugly.

The rest of the group started to wonder if maybe this person was some genius. If he could create a system all by himself, maybe he had a reason to feel dissatisfied.

"Go ahead, Rem, tell them how many systems you've launched."

"None," Rem said, half embarrassed and half irritated by Primm's question.

The rest of the group's mouths dropped and looked at the arrogant boy with shock and derision.