|Izunako|

The bed I was sleeping on was stiff and hard. I had no idea where I was. All i knew was that there was a large hard object on my legs. I opened my eyes to look. It was Sylandria holding some sort of egg. "Get up." Her voice was harsh and she had an enraged look on her face. I seemed to be already wearing the MDF uniform, some kind of stiff dark grey T-Shirt along with light grey combat fatigues. When I got to my feet, she thrust the egg into my arms, It was moderately warm and quivered slightly. "Follow me."

"First tell me what we're doing," I said to her.

"We're going to meet the Commander." We walked next to each other in silence, and eventually reached the Commander's quarters. The door opened slowly and I placed my right hand on the hilt of my sword while cradling the egg with the other arm. The large room was dark. It was also extremely cold, which drove me to my knees. Sylandria was fighting the weakness she felt. She helped me up as the cold bit at my body.

"Sorry about that, recruits. Thought you were the Frost group." The Commander kept the room dark. "You're Inferno, aren't you?"

"Yes," Sylandria snapped. "So stop trying to kill us with the damn air conditioning!"

"Seems like it's only you. Your friend here doesn't seem to mind." I did mind very much. It hurt to be in this temperature… Sylandria growled, but said nothing. "Koru. Examine them."

"Yes, Master," a cold and obedient female voice said from the darkness. I heard Sylandria draw in a sharp breath and I wondered what the Commander meant by "examine"... I felt something touch me, but I didn't stiffen. I felt the gentle brushing of fingers and a soft tail across the curves of my body. Even down there… which made me shiver slightly. I recognized the soft and gentle fingers as well as what she said to be a catgirl. Yes, Master… She finished as she brushed against my chest. "The female is a human with the power of Inferno, as she is unnaturally warm. She has moderately large breasts, and has a slightly weak build. She has the capability to run at above average speeds while maintaining accuracy in weapons." How did she figure all of this out just by touching Sylandria?! "The male is a human and dragon hybrid also with the power of Inferno. He has a muscular build with the ability to wield heavier weapons more easily than others. He is slow, but has the capability to be extremely powerful." She started whispering. "He does not like his legs touched. The female does not like her chest touched either."

The Commander stayed silent. Then they turned on the lights. She was a sharp-looking 24-year old with moderately small breasts. "The name's Kagusi Dragoon." She grins happily at the sight of the two Inferno before her.

Sylandria's face was still red from when Koru groped her. "Izunako Raekaga and Sylandria Haigazu." The dragon and the tsundere…

"Nice to meet you two. We need all the help we can get in taking back humanity's past." She stayed quiet for a second. "I have someone for you to meet." The Commander went into the room connected to hers and brought out a young girl wearing an oversized hoodie and purple beanie that went over her eyes. "My younger sister. Sugusi Dragoon." The young girl looked up at me and Sylandria after she pushed up the beanie.

"Hi…" she said shyly. All of us stayed silent until Sugusi spoke up again. "The egg you're holding… can I hold it…?"

I was surprised, but I let her hold the egg. She seemed excited. She flipped it around in her arms, and then-

|Sylandria|

She dropped it. The girl dropped the egg on the ground and it smashed open into a mess of shards. "Sugusi!" The Commander snapped at her young sister.

"I'm sorry…" the girl repeated over and over while staring at the ground and trying not to cry.

I heard Izunako make a weird noise, somewhere between surprise and cringing. He looked at his left arm and said, "It's okay."

"Okay?! She just killed your-" He held out his arm for us to see. There was something latched onto his arm. It was almost a foot long, with blotchy pale blue and yellow skin. Its eyes were closed, and its wings were tiny and near useless.

Sugusi walked up slowly to him and reached out to pet the creature, but it opened its eyes and nipped at her fingers. "I-It's a female dragonmander."

"Female?" Izunako asked quickly. He looked like he was thinking hard. "I have a name for her. Ashley." Izunako placed her on a table and she cried out for him. It was something like "Nyaaaaaah!" He kneeled in front of the table and Ashley stumbled towards him slowly until she fell onto his arm. Izunako smiled broadly. The Commander walked over and didn't pet Ashley, but ran two fingers down the length of her body.

"Izunako. You are going to be assigned as a Monster Hunter Class 5. Sylandria, you will be assigned as his partner."

"What?! He has Ashley!" I said.

"Ashley is not combat ready and will not be that way until around 3 years from now, depending on her growth." The Commander countered sharply.

I threw up my hands in exasperation and looked to Izunako. "I'm fine with it, so we're partners now." He held out his hand, and I took it. His face turned red, and I laughed.

"Partners till the end, kid!" We both laughed.