Journal entry 2:
The Council of Zoalords decided that I could not live among humans. They told me I was too different.
I get to have a room of my own, but when I turn thirteen I'll start my training as a soldier of Cronos. One of the Zoalords told me that this was the better path for me, that if I tried to live as a normal human then I would never be accepted. There were Lost Numbers in Cronos like me, only they were created when their optimizations failed. I was an experiment done without authorization from Cronos' lead scientist, Dr. Hamilcar Barcas.
They said that I'll be prepared for when the time comes for me to join the Lost Numbers. I'll go into some form of training to get me fit and to learn what I can do as a Lost Number.
They also gave me a name to go by: Rhea.
Lost Number Zero, Rhea, awoke earlier than any other kid her age would. Today she will join the Lost Unit Commandos of Cronos. It was nearly the crack of dawn and she was already dressed in her usual tank top and cargo pants when someone knocked on her door.
"You awake yet, kiddo?" a man asked through the door.
She opened the door and said, "More awake than the rest of the team I'll bet."
"Up and early eh?" the guy said. He looked to be around his thirties with a scar on his face. His short brown hair was sleeked back and Rhea could tell he must have been the leader of the Lost Number Commandos. "Good. You'll fit right in."
"I take it you're Aptom?"
"Yeah," he grunted and motioned her to follow him. They started walking down the hall and he continued, "Look, Little Miss White, there are not any other kids your age here in Cronos, especially as a Lost Number. Training you may be different. Honestly I don't approve of a thirteen year old kid being a soldier."
"I don't expect special treatment or anything," she told him. "I expect you to push me to the limits of my endurance."
"Good answer kid 'cause I am not some whimpy scientists that'll give you a break every fifteen minutes. You will train twice as much. You will find out what it means to be unique in Cronos."
"If I don't then I'll get killed."
"A nice way to put it, but correct all the same."
The rest of the team was waiting for them at the end of the hall. There were only three other Lost Numbers. One of them was tall and skinny. He had black hair and veins popped out on his face as a result to his optimization. Another was fat, as in could take up an entire bus seat fat, and he had no hair, not even eyebrows. The last one wasn't as fat, and he did have some brown hair. All of them, including Aptom, wore their uniforms except Rhea.
"Well, here's the newest of our team," Aptom said. "Rhea, this is Somlum," he indicated the skinny guy, "Dyme," the fat guy, "and Gelpess," the potbelly Lost Number nodded.
"Welcome to the team, Rhea," said Dyme.
"You sure about this, Aptom?" asked Somlum. "She looks like a regular kid with her attire." At that Rhea extended her thirteen and a half foot wings. "I take that back."
"Exactly why she's with us," Aptom smiled. "I've seen her train. She'll give us all a run for the money."
"With what the docs put her through?" Gelpess said as though he didn't believe Aptom. "I doubt she'll get to go out on a mission any time soon."
"How about we find out?" Rhea suggested. "Let's go to the training field and find out."
Aptom and the rest of the Lost Numbers trudged into the mess hall for lunch. They were all dirty and sweaty. How in the hell they ended up losing to a kid in capture the flag they didn't know.
Rhea was reluctant to join them. She tried to go back to her quarters and fix her own food, but Dyme had dragged her with them by the arm to the crowded mess hall. Several of the Standard Zoanoids began to taunt them as soon as they set foot in there, but they didn't direct their insults to Rhea. Some of the Zoanoids greeted her like an old friend.
"Hey Rhea!" a Hyper Zoanoid, Gaster if she remembered correctly, called out. "You think you can give bug boss here a few pointers on flying?"
"Shut it, Gaster," the Hyper Zoanoid leader, Zx-Tole, said and a number of Zoanoids laughed with Team Five. Even Rhea and the Lost Numbers laughed.
"Hey, you have to admit that she is good at being sneaky," the biggest of the Hypers, Derzerb, said with a grin. "Remember when you tried using a megaphone during training exercises?"
"And his voice got distorted to sound like Darth Vader," Gaster tried not to laugh.
"And it blurted out random comments when he turned it on to use it," the bald Hyper, Elegen, said and they all busted out laughing.
"Keep it up and I'll make you all run laps until you get dizzy," Zx-Tole said and they quieted down to snickering.
"Random comments?" Aptom asked in a whisper to Rhea.
"As random as random can get, like 'the cow says moo'," she told him and the Lost Number team suppressed their laughs as best they could.
"I'll get back at you eventually," Zx-Tole promised Rhea like he did many times before.
"Keep dreaming, bug man," said Rhea as she got her food and sat down at an empty table. She noticed that many of the Standards were talking and she heard many of them making bets. Oh Lord, here we go again, she thought as the rest of her team sat with her. "Expect something before dinner," she warned them.
"What might that be?" Gelpess asked.
"Just listen to them," she pointed to the Standards behind her making bets.
The rest of the day passed without incident until they were about to go to dinner. As Rhea predicted, something happened as they were heading to dinner. Aptom entered the hall first and was slapped in the face by a giant water balloon.
"Gotcha—" Zx-Tole's smile faded and he was dunked into a five gallon trash can seconds later while everyone howled with laughter. Rhea was hugging herself she was laughing so hard while the rest of Team Five nearly fell to the floor.
"I guess you're good enough to keep if you can give me an excuse to do that to a Hyper Zoanoid," Aptom told Rhea with a grin. "Welcome to the Lost Number Commandos."
