I repeat that the following characters are parodies of the hundreds of fics here originally written when the series first came out and are not to be taken seriously. I also want to say QUARANTINE, DAMN IT QUARANTINE. Eventually these chapters will have names. Maybe.

Some Experience Necessary

1.3

The air conditioning behind those dark doors took the youth's breath away, made that chill a little worse. It was easier to go along with Flick then to fight him – who knows, maybe he'd find his own variant of Hardin. No hang on, that was a horrible thought. Raven grimaced, momentarily swayed by the thought of the pink haired lioness stalking her prey…it was hardly surprising why Lord Prozen rarely had anyone else on his staff…

He balled his fists and tried to compose himself as Flick moved softly across the thick carpeting and turned a corner by the main admin desk to head into the long corridor where most, if not all, teachers found a moment of solace from the threat of students. Raven actually stopped for a moment, caught in protocol.

It was an easy thing to say that Raven held most of the military in contempt, but that wasn't true. He held idiots and time-wasters in contempt – and that was most of the people he knew who followed the flag and the royal dick-face who was causing most of the trouble to begin with. Common sense wasn't a prerequisite of staff for some reason, and having to bail out his fellow students…and watch the fallout from those that were actually serving in the field left little of his humanity intact.

Ah well. How did the old saying go? Papa told me there'd be days like these…Ha. Mix with mediocrity and see what happened…crap. Always crap…

Straightening his jacket and trying to compose his mind as best he could, he waited for Flick to reappear. Apart from the click of typewriters and the rumble of the administration's kettle getting ready to boil, it was eerily quiet. The bunker really did quieten the noise outside, although – he peeked at the old clock on the wall – it wasn't quite break-time yet. Even so, you should've been able to hear the gun range, surely…?

Time stretched on, and Flick still didn't reappear. An itch was at the small of his back, and Raven decided it was time to sit down as opposed to remaining in the standard military 'at rest' position. Great for show, but the staff behind the desk didn't seem to care.

Across from Raven lay the school's achievements, stuffed in an old battered wooden showcase with a glass front. Oppressing, actually. Another sly glance at the staff and Raven realised he wasn't being watched, so he leaned forward to peer closer, pondering if there were any familiar names.

Shubaltz featured heavily. He chuckled evilly. Not one Prozen. Although that made a lot of sense.

"Mr. Raven Prozen!" The shout made him jump. Flick was peering around the corner, brows furrowed and eyes glittering with feral malice. "Come along please!"

Raven stared at him. "You went all that way without knowing-?"

"Ju-shut up, you impudent little br-boy." Flick corrected himself quickly. Behind the desk one of the secretaries shot him a dark look and huffed into her report. "I haven't got all day, and you are certainly eating away at your chances of getting out of this little mess like I don't know what!"

The youth did his best not to stare at the frustrated man, as Flick had managed to achieve the next stage of purple – he put Raven in mind of something about to explode. Flick exploded on various occasions because of his short fuse, but most of the time he could be ignored. This time however, well. Raven wasn't going to risk it.

Saying nothing else, Raven followed him down the hall to the room at the very end, larger and full of tables that he suspected were normally used for staff meetings. The whiteboards were still covered with various bits of half information, hurriedly wiped out as people were ushered from one place to the next – none of it made sense, but then it wasn't supposed to. It was the secret language of teachers, taught to them as they embarked on their horrific journey to teach the young and irresponsible.

Seated – and in some cases lounging in this room were a selection of people that Raven had never seen before. He automatically drew himself up, hands behind his back and feet slightly apart to show he was serious, and waited for Flick to finish his slimy apologies to the adults that were there. Three, from the looks of things. One from the school board by the look of that jacket with the patched elbows, one from the military (not someone he knew, so possibly either paperwork or retired judging by the strained jacket) and a woman with messy steel grey hair pulled back into a bun. She looked like a teacher too, but she looked too bright-eyed and alert to work there.

They were all seated and looking in control. Around them were four girls, who made up the lounging portion of the room, all staring at him. Painfully young, was Raven's first thought. Very much up the emperor's alley was the second…

It was the woman that spoke first. Quiet, school-masterly tones, better suited for those first coming into school. "Good morning. I presume that this is the young man we've been told about?"

"Yes, yes." Flick muttered dismissively. "For God's sake, boy, stop looking like you're going to kill someone."

Raven couldn't help it – he shot Flick a filthy look, getting a giggle from one of the sitting girls.

"We have heard you are amongst the best in your class when it comes to mission work and carrying out specific orders." The woman spoke, meeting Raven's curious gaze. "I would like you to lead my four charges here into their first battle, to watch over them and record their progress."

"Why?" It slipped out.

The man in the patchy jacket scratched at his rather messy beard. "Because they're highly talented and have just come into our care, thus needing the best training we can give. Rosalita." He indicated to the girl leaning up against the wall with fiery red hair and a sneer. "…lost her family to a bandit attack or possibly a band of militants and joined the military to get…" He consulted his notes. "Revenge."

Raven gawked.

"To her left is Harmony." The silvery blond girl was attempting to scowl but came across as being constipated. She was just as thin as Rosalita, but not with her prepubescent curves. "…She just sort of…turned up. We have no idea where she came from except for a tube. From somewhere." He peered over his little glasses, tapping the side of his nose. "Very mysterious."

The gawking was joined by an eye twitch.

"…and seated in front, would be Grace. Grace is the daughter of one of our diplomats." Grace was a sleek-haired tanned girl who watched Raven with big crimson eyes and thick lashes. She put him in mind of a hungry cat. "Trained in the basic of fighting arts, she's testing a new zoid today. Which leaves us with…"The man then indicated to the girl seated beside him, her hair a mass of pale green curls that framed her pixie face delicately. "Lumin-La."

The giggly one.

"Lumin-La is a Zoidian, found-"

"What?" Raven spat out. Oh Gods, no.

"A Zoidian, there's no need to wor-"

"Forgive me, sir, but you're breaking a level three protocol by bringing a Zoidian into a public area and on top of that into an official mission!"

"Afraid you can't do anything?" Flick gloated.

Raven's eyes were fierce. "No. Standard military rules state that a Zoidian must be held within protective custody until their abilities are measured and quarantine has been established."

Lumin-La flushed unpleasantly, her eyes wide with embarrassment, shame and possible tears. "I-I didn't know. I just woke up, and-"

"Who was the team taking care of you?" Raven snapped, not at all moved by feminine weakness. "Why on Zi did they allow you out-"

"She's not a dog you know." Snapped Rosalita, finally moving from her position of indifference at the wall.

Grace cocked her head to the side, those lashes making an almost audible hiss as she blinked. "What is a Zoidian anyway?"

Raven fought down his first impulse to shake everyone within the room and turned quickly on his heel, stalking out of the room and down the hall as fast as he could and ignoring the yells from Flick and the various adults. He didn't stop until he reached the outside world, taking a deep, clean breath of air and reaching into the pocket of his uniform pants to draw out his communicator.

They weren't really allowed on campus but his psychiatrist had suggested it to the school counsellors that – well, in cases like this – something needed to be countered, he had to contact someone.

So he did.

Or at least tried to.

Three secretaries and a put on hold later, he was told that the person he was searching for was out, but had been made aware of the situation and had noted that there was nothing to be done.

With a heavy heart, Raven listened to what the last secretary had to say, taking it all in until it made a big stone at the bottom of his gut, and then disconnected, walking, or perhaps shuffling, back into the office.

This wasn't going to be good at all.

~To be continued!