"Are you crazy?" yelled Sean. Using their "true forms" in the selection course will be an automatic disqualification due to the massive surge in cosmic energy that enhances the physique of Sellardraxians to perverted levels, not to mention that a Sellardraxian in his or her "true form" is essentially a beast on rampage and losing most of their rational behaviour.
Louis ignored his protest, his human features completely gone now as his body morphed into the shape of a monstrosity matching that of the deepest nightmares of sailors in the pre-Enlightenment era.
Cosmic energy flared, bursting from his skin like a sunken supernova. The water boiled and pulsed, forced away in rings of water as if the sea itself feared what was coming. The sharks froze for a split second, instincts shrieking in languages older than time, telling them that this is someone, or rather something, that they absolutely should stay away from.
His pupils dilated until only twin rings of red remained. His neck gills flared open wide, becoming black slits rimmed with silver, greedily pulling in water as if to drink the ocean itself. His legs fused and elongated, armor-like scales erupting across his flesh like volcanic growths. His arms bent back unnaturally, splitting into massive tendrils covered in bioluminescent glyphs that writhed with intelligence and madness.
Then came the crown, what had once been a simple crest fanned into coral growths lined with glowing veins.
The back of Louis' now massive body back split open, revealing giant win-fins, as if a blue whale developed "wings" like a flying fish, glowing faint blue like distant galaxies.
He looks almost like Kun Peng from Chinese myths, an auspicious beast described as a flying whale.
That is, if you ignore the giant, 3-5m long tentacles that have sprouted from his body, swatting angrily all over the area, and his lower body, which has transformed into a giant serpentine form with fins.
He looks like a fusion of a Kun Peng, giant squid and monstrous sea serpents, a reminder of the full name of the Lita subspecies of Sellardraxians — Leviathan.
Louis' voice was gone now. Only sound left was a deep, infrasonic rumble — a roar so low it shook bones and made sharks convulse.
Vera's breath caught in her throat. "That's not Louis."
"No…" whispered Albert. "That's the thing inside him, and all of us Sellardraxians have something like this inside us."
The bull sharks fled in chaotic spirals, but it was too late.
Louis, or what remained of him, slammed his tail into the sea, creating a localized tidal surge. Tentacles burst from his back like blooming anemones, impaling, grabbing, tearing through the sharks like kelp in a typhoon.
Louis spread his fins out, each 4m long, leaping out of the water, temporarily gliding through the air.
"The Kun Peng spreads its wings," muttered Sean, looking at the majestic awe of the "true form" of Litas, almost like the auspicious beast in Chinese myths.
Yet here, Louis is both, an auspicious beast for the cadets, but a beast of calamity for the sharks.
Louis smashed back into the water, sending huge splashes and shockwaves all over, Sean and the remaining cadets immediately hold on tightly to each other, ensuring that the wave do not sweep them away.
A deafening stillness followed, broken only by the hiss of evaporating seawater and the faint hum of Cosmic Energy residue still lingering in the air.
Then the blood surfaced.
Crimson clouds spiraled outward like smoke trails, dyeing the ocean red. Fin fragments and twitching cartilage bobbed listlessly in the water, remnants of apex predators turned into chum in mere seconds.
Sean gritted his teeth, barely able to process the brutality. This wasn't just another true form. This was something much more feral.
All Sellardraxians had transformed before. That was part of their nature. They all tasted the raw, wild power that came with unleashing their lineage: the Avis soaring as winged beasts, the Lin writhing in dragon winds, the Inari speeding like rockets across the battlefield.
But such raw and destructive power? That's new.
Louis floated above the water briefly, bioluminescent glyphs along his tendrils slowly dimming. His monstrous wings, somewhere between the fins of a blue whale and the gliders of a flying fish, extended across the sky like stormfronts. The crown atop his head pulsed.
Then he collapsed back into the sea, water erupting around him in a thunderous splash. Moments later, he resurfaced, humanoid now, panting.
Louis' red eyes scanned the horizon, until they locked onto his squadmates. But there was no fury. Just exhaustion, and relief.
"You dumba**" said Sean, shocked. "You just earned yourself a DQ!"
Louis coughed up seawater, then grinned with blood-stained teeth. "Worth it."
"Let's go," said Ariel, recovering from the shock. "We still need to make it to Blackstone."
The gang swam forward as fast as they can, arriving at the island in 15 minutes, just in time.
(5 minutes later)
Louis stood in front of Jay and Nanami, in a new set of uniform now, facing them straight in the eyes. Sean, Eddie, Albert, Vera and Ariel looked away in guilt, knowing that Louis violated the rules of the course for their sake.
"Explain yourself," said Jay sternly.
"Sir! We had a collision with a whale shark during our swim! Some of my comrades had opened wounds and bled, which attracted bull sharks over. We tried to fend them off with conventional means, but it did not work, so in desperation I transformed to chase them away."
Jay's brow creased. "And you're aware of the regulation you violated?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then why?"
Louis' fingers curled tightly into fists. "Because at that moment, I wasn't thinking about rules. I was thinking about survival—theirs. Not mine."
Nanami stepped forward, arms crossed, her tone laced with mocking curiosity. "Do you regret it?"
Louis glanced at the group behind him. The ones who were still standing here because of him.
"I don't."
With trembling fingers, he tore the number plates from his gear and offered them to Jay.
"If I get cut, then so be it. I'll try again next year. But if one of them had died, I'd never get a chance to make that right. I'd rather throw away my shot than throw away their lives."
Sean winced, jaw clenched. He knows how much this chance of being in the UNSSD SOC meant to Louis, and how painful he must feel at the moment.
Nanami tilted her head, eyes glinting as she sauntered closer. "You're a real fool, Number 42," she whispered, voice honeyed with sultry. "You honestly think they'd risk for you?"
"All I know is that I need to be a soldier my comrades can entrust their backs to," Louis said, tears glistening in his red eyes.
Nanami sighed with a smile "Oh darling ~ you are so cute, and naïve."
"But sometimes," said Jay, pasting the number plates back onto Louis. "It's the naïve ones who reach the finishing line."
Louis is shocked. "Sir…I…" he stammered.
"Down! 100 push ups!" yelled Jay in a grin.
"Yes sir!" smiled Louis, giving a salute and starting his push ups.
Sean and the rest are relived, putting down their worries.
Nanami turned away with a laugh. "If he keeps this up, I might actually start rooting for him."
Jay folded his arms, watching Louis push through each rep, exhaustion be damned. "He's not the strongest. Not the smartest. But that kid has heart."
(10 minutes later)
"Stand up! World of the hungry and the slaves! Those who are branded by a curse!" sang Clara in Korean, coughing out the horrid tasting sea water while toiling away with her sit ups.
"Louder!" roared Herbert with a loudspeaker.
"A red flower has bloomed in our bosoms. A faith is born in our hearts!" continued Giorgio in Italian. His voice deep, almost operatic despite his trembling body.
"Let speciesist ignorance be ended. For respect makes the empires fall!" sang Sean loudly in English, grunting as he did sit ups at the coast of South Africa, tides mercilessly hitting his face as he did them, singing the anthem of UNSSD loudly, ensuring he is in tune.
The new task after swimming is for all the cadets to sing the anthem of UNSSD, a variation of "The Internationale", chosen as it is the most universally translated song in their mother tongues, while doing sit ups when showered by waves. Each cadet is to sing a line in their mother tongue. Any discord in pitch, lyrics, or transition between languages, and they would all be forced to start over. Again.
And this is already the 5th attempt.
"Don't say we have nothing; we shall be the masters of the world!" howled Eddie in Chinese.
"This is the final struggle, let us group together and tomorrow," continued Louis in French, grimacing as he rose up.
"Number 42, aren't you American? Why are you singing in French?!" roared Herbert.
"I am Cajun, sir!" replied Louis. "French is my mother tongue!"
Herbert nodded. "DID I TELL YOU TO STOP?" he roared at the remaining cadets.
"With the Internationale, the world will rise up!" continued Vera immediately in Russian, painfully doing her sit-ups.
"Then we gather at the whale. Victory, we know we shall achieve!" sang Carl in Norwegian
"The Internationale, shall certainly be realised!" sang Albert in Chinese, grunting.
"No higher power will save us. No God, no Kaiser, no tribune!" sang Ariel in German, carrying such fire in her voice that one would have forgotten that the DDR is gone.
"To redeem us out of misery, only we ourselves can do!" sang Erika in German, albeit with a Swiss accent.
The cadets sang on. Louis heaved a sigh of relief, they are finally singing in tune, in sync, and connecting the lyrics properly.
The segment finally finished when the last cadet finished his part singing in perfect Malay.
And with that, all of the remaining cadets collapsed, panting heavily.
They did not have time to rest unfortunately. The fall in whistle is blown, and they all rushed into formation, panting heavily, uniforms heavy from absorbing water and they are caked in sand.
Herbert climbed onto a jeep, Nanami started the engine.
"We shall bring you all to somewhere nice, FOLLOW UP!" he roared,
At the blow of the whistle, they bolted after the jeep, running all the way inland, for almost 4km when they stopped in front of an obstacle course.
"Alright, sweethearts," Nanami purred, pacing in front of the cadets with a sly smile and hands behind her back. Her form-fitting tactical shirt was half-zipped, with a 511 Tactec plate carrier worn tightly, just enough to hint at danger and allure all at once. "Let's warm up with push-ups. Full form, no cheating. I will notice."
"Here is the next segment. A simple obstacle course. Three to a group. You all pass, or none of you do. Fail, and you get to start again. Just think of it as bonding." she continued, gesturing to the obstacle course. It consisted of a rope ladder that leads up to a specialised ladder which is made up of giant wood logs. To climb it correctly, one must wrap all 4 of their limbs on a log first like a sloth before they can proceed to the next one.
The cadets exchanged nervous glances.
Nanami tilted her head, her voice honeyed but sharp. "But surely this isn't difficult for a bunch of elite candidates?"
Her eyes scanned the group like a cat spotting a mouse. "Show me how hard you can hold on."
"YES MA'AM!" replied the cadets in unison.
"Alright then," said Herbert, gesturing to the other instructors, who then poured pails of detergent over all of the equipment.
"You gotta be—" cursed Louis internally, the difficulty just went up from a simple exercise he can do with his eyes closed to one that may actually screw him over, given their fatigue and the frictionless surfaces.
"Numbers 9, 31 and 39!" roared Herbert. Sean, Ariel and Albert stopped their push ups and went up to the course. The rest of the cadets continued push-ups. They are to do until their numbers are called to start the course.
Sean stepped onto the platform, carefully grabbing the rope ladder, it is slippery as he had expected.
He climbed up, reaching the first log. He wrapped his limbs all around it carefully, using every ounce of energy to pull himself up to the next log. Albert followed after him.
"Gosh! This is too slippery!" he groaned, almost slipping had Ariel not caught him.
Sean pulled himself to the top log after a painful climb, lowering his leg down as an extra pivot for Albert to use to circumvent the problem of slippery surfaces. Albert then carefully climbed up, hooking himself tightly while also holding on to Sean. Once Albert cleared Ariel climbed up to his former position, suddenly, she slipped, losing her grip and almost falling had Sean and Albert not caught her at the last second. Heaving a sigh of relief, the trio continued their progress, starting their way down.
"Numbers 23, 42 and 101!" yelled Nanami. Carl, Louis and Clara headed over to the course, climbing up.
Some cadets started losing momentum, their push-ups slowed, their breaths ragged.
Carl went first, launching himself onto the slippery ladder with practiced momentum. His movements were sharp, decisive. He climbed like a ghost with a debt to collect. Clara followed, quiet and composed, her face unreadable as always.
Louis, however, hesitated at the base. He stared up at the towering logs now glistening like oiled deathtraps.
Nanami crossed her arms, tilting her head in amusement.
"Having second thoughts, sweetheart?" she cooed. "Don't worry. I'm sure the logs won't bite. I might, though."
Louis flushed a deep red, almost as red as his red eyes, biting his lip as he began climbing. The rope ladder swung with each movement, and his boots slipped more than once. Still, he pushed upward, teeth clenched, knuckles white.
Clara reached the first log. She gripped it with all four limbs like a disciplined spider, ascending steadily. Carl, already one log ahead, glanced back only once, to confirm neither of them had fallen behind.
Louis reached the log behind Clara's, but the moment he shifted his weight, his right leg slipped off entirely. A gasp escaped him as his torso jerked forward.
"LOUIS!" Clara called, bracing herself.
"I—I'm fine—just—uhh—slippery!"
Nanami raised a brow, licking her lips slightly. "You alright down there? Would you like me to come… assist?"
Louis didn't answer, he was too busy struggling to hold on. His entire body trembled from the effort. His arms felt like wet noodles and his chest burned.
He could hear Nanami chuckling softly behind him.
Louis turned toward her voice instinctively.
Clara smacked the back of his head. "Focus."
She turned to the next group with the grin of a lioness. "Who's next?"
Suddenly, a commotion startled all of the instructors and cadets, and they turned to see to their shock that the ladder had fallen apart and collapsed, burying the cadets under the logs.