Alwin began his arduous trek to the center of the classroom, which consisted of roughly ten hops, but who's counting? It definitely wasn't Alwin because as he hopped on over, a myriad of worries plagued his mind. What was Bion's Core Skill? Who was going to win? Would his friends think of him less if he lost? Would the class laugh at him when they realized that he still had no idea what his Core Skill did? Would Milvus judge him? Maybe he was overthinking things again.

"We meet again, Alwin," said Bion.

"Well yea. We live and learn in the same place, we meet each other all the time. That's kinda how school and dorms work," replied Alwin.

"Well, I was trying to set the mood, but guess you aren't that quick on the uptake," said Bion.

"Set the mood for what? We're just sparring."

"I have a proposition for you. I win, I get Uchronia, and if you win I'll leave you alone, for now. What do you say?"

"I say, it's up to her not me," said Alwin, as he turned to look at the girl in question.

"I'm not anyone's property. Go screw yourself," said Uchronia.

"Language, Uchronia," said Milvus. "And Bion, stop all this nonsense. All of you are on the same journey to help better monster-kind. I don't want any infighting or other petty conflicts dividing us. Friendly rivalry is acceptable, however."

"Fine," said Bion.

"Introduce yourselves to the class," said Milvus, as he continued to check up on Galeo and Tess.

"Name’s Bion and my Core Skill is called Mechanize. That dumb, I mean Dark Slime across from me is called Al-lose."

"My name's Alwin, not whatever you said just now and my Core Skill is called Devolution."

"Well after this fight, you'll definitely be an Al-loser."

"Just fight," sighed Milvus, as he shook his triangle head.

"Mechanize!"

The air hummed with the cacophony of machinery whirring and gears turning as Bion's transformation unfolded before Alwin's eyes. Alwin found himself caught in an internal debate. On one hand, who was stupid enough to let their opponent transform without any sort of pushback? On the other hand, this was too cool to interrupt. So, he stood there, wide-eyed and slack-jawed, realizing that, yep, he was definitely stupid.

From within his dark, squishy form emerged mechanical parts, each one glinting silver under the light. They expanded and twisted around him, a ballet of gears and cogs in perpetual motion. With each clang and whirr, his once dark squishy slimy body vanished beneath a shell of metallic intricacy. In the span of a few seconds, his slimy and blobby body was gone, now encased in an exoskeleton of constantly rotating parts, save for the area surrounding his eyes. There, a sleek black visor had formed, concealing his gaze from the outside world.

As the transformation ended, a pang of regret began to grow within Alwin. Well, there was no helping it now. Alwin had inadvertently engaged in the dreaded stare-off, where both parties simply stared at the other in silence. Technically, Bion did make a move, but it was a transformation so it didn't really count. Additionally, Alwin could have attacked during the transformation sequence, so all the blame for not ending the stare-off lay squarely on him. Oh, the horrors of doing the thing he swore never to do.

"I know I'm that good-looking, but you don't have to gawk at me," said Bion.

"Gross. I was just thinking about something."

"Yeah, about how I'm going to beat you."

"Actually, it was about—"

"Dark Tackle!"

Darkness rushed out of Bion's body. As it spread, the darkness swirled and clung to the gears that covered the slime, staining them with an inky hue. Like a black blur, he streaked across the classroom, heading straight for Alwin.

He hopped out of the way, dodging the tackle with ease, but not before letting out a high-pitched shriek.

"Crying like a little baby now?" jeered Bion.

"No... that was just my battle cry," said Alwin.

Bion charged toward Alwin with another Dark Tackle. At the last moment, Alwin rolled to the side, letting out another shriek. Bion was a bit off in his calculations, and a second later, the black blur smashed into the wall with a sickening crunch.

Rising from the ground, Bion shook off the damage with a slight quiver in his hops. The cracks in his armor filled in and healed with a strange noise, like nails on a chalkboard. Bion glared at Alwin, at least that's what he thought it looked like. The visor was doing a pretty good job of hiding any tells.

"Come here you."

With another Dark Tackle, Bion headed straight toward Alwin. The familiar pitch of a screech reverberated through the room as Alwin tumbled out of the way. Dammit, Alwin had to come up with a strategy, or at the very least stop screaming like a little baby whenever Bion came hurtling his way. His reputation was in a free fall right now,

Alwin took his gaze away from Bion, searching for inspiration, and looked around the room. Galeo was awake again, and Tess was regaining consciousness. Uchronia had a stern face, while Gus was munching on another muffin. How many muffins did the guy smuggle from the cafeteria? There had to be some way to come out on top, and brute force didn't seem like a viable option. The guy was covered in armor for Pete's sake. Again, who was Pete, and what was up with his sake?

The only thing that damaged that weird gear armor of his was the wall, and Alwin was definitely not stronger than a wall. Well, at least that's what logic told him anyway. Crashing into a wall wasn't exactly on his to-do list.

Bion zoomed toward Alwin again, intent on tackling him to the ground. Alwin leaped to the side once more, this time following it up with a roll. Alwin didn't understand why he had to do that, but it looked cool so he did it anyway.

"Is dodging the only thing you can do?" taunted Bion.

"No... I can dodge with style," said Alwin.

Another Dark Tackle followed Alwin's smartass remark. He scampered out of the way again, his throat beginning to hurt from all the yelling. There had to be some way to win this. Actually, what were the win conditions?

"Milvus, sir. What are the rules of this fight?" asked Alwin.

"Introduce yourself and your Core Skills, and try not to hurt each other too much," said Milvus. "Should you really be asking this now?"

Alwin rolled out of the way of another Dark Tackle, a thud echoing through the room as Bion crashed into the wall. Well, that question-and-answer session was useless. Or maybe he just didn't ask the right question. The rules were as useful as a penguin in a flying competition. Well... unless the penguin had a glider, but that's beside the point.

If the rules were useless then there were basically no rules. Anyway, Alwin had some semblance of an idea. It was a shot in the dark, a gamble. But it was a risk he was willing to take. What's the worst that could happen?

"GUS!" Alwin shouted. "IF YOU HELP ME IN THIS FIGHT, I'LL GIVE YOU MY LUNCH!"

Before Bion even had the chance to make a snarky remark, Gus' voice rang through the room. "STATIC POUNCE!"

Gus' fur stood on its end, static crackling throughout the air. The air tensed with energy, sparks of electricity arcing out of his coat, sending a faint humming sound into the room. Like a cannonball, he shot forth, launching himself into Bion.

An audible crash echoed throughout the room as the pair collided.

As the electricity surged through Bion's metallic frame, a tortured cry was wrenched out from his lips. His body convulsed as the energy surged through every gear and cog, disabling his mechanical features. With a sharp fizzle, his suit of gears fell apart, collapsing onto the floor. A faint trickle of smoke emanated from the metal plates as they lay scattered on the ground.

The broken plates of armor that lay on the ground vanished in a cloud of particles. Bion got up and shook himself, a few lingering sparks of electricity still jumping around him. A scowl was plastered on his face as he glared daggers at the duo.

"Why is he here? This is supposed to be a one-on-one," exclaimed Bion.

"To be fair, there was nothing in the rules saying you can't get help," said Alwin.

As the tension thickened in the air, the pair slowly pivoted to confront Milvus. He released a resigned sigh and simply shook his head. "Alwin is technically right," he said.

"But this isn't fair!"

"Well out there fairness gets you killed, just take this as a learning experience," Milvus sighed.

"But—"

"No buts, Bion. Can you still fight? If you can't, I'm going to announce the match over," said Milvus.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

"Of course, I can still fight. You think that weak little charge can take me down!" shouted Bion.

"Then carry on," said Milvus with a smile.

Alwin couldn't believe that actually worked. Milvus even gave him the okay to carry on. This was amazing, except for the part where he had to go without lunch. Alwin's stomach gurgled, and the thought of going without food for the afternoon nearly brought a tear to his eye.

"Mechanize!" Bion shouted.

The familiar assortment of gears and parts sprang out of his body, shifting and interlocking with each other until he was covered in a fresh new exoskeleton of gears.

"Don't get cocky because of that cheap shot," said Bion.

"Yea! Don't get cocky!" a voice came from behind Gus and Alwin.

Alwin turned around and saw Brie, the owner of that voice. Oh great. There goes the numerical advantage.

"Buzz off, Brie," scowled Bion.

"But-but-but, I'm trying to make things fair for you," she stuttered.

Bion paused, he looked at Gus and Alwin, then looked back to Brie. "Fine," he muttered.

Dark Slime and Furball versus Dark Slime and Furball. Who was going to be the winner of this fight? Well, it definitely wasn't going to be the opposing Dark Slime and Furball. Alwin had an ace up his sleeve, metaphorically speaking of course.

"Uchronia!" Alwin shouted. "Don't you want to give this Dark Slime a piece of your mind?"

"I really want to do that to both of you, but I'm not participating in this," said Uchronia. "It's a two versus two now, fight fair and square."

Well, that plan went bust. Fight fair and square? That was a good proposition by Uchronia, but too bad for her there was one fatal flaw with that suggestion. Alwin was a slime, and slimes were round! Fighting fair and square was never an option! Fair and round was where all the action was at.

With that thought, Alwin was glad that he had a second ace up his other sleeve, metaphorically speaking again of course. Alwin wondered if the academy provided playing cards or some sort of entertainment. Only being allowed to eat, sleep, and study seemed like such a snooze fest. Wait, where was he going with this? There was a fight to be had, and it was time to bring in the big guns, literally.

"Flintlock!" Alwin shouted. "You still owe me a favor, remember? Now's the time to repay it."

"I guess I did say that. Although, it was more of a figure of speech," said Flintlock. "Plus this seems like a big leap from scooching to the side a tad bit."

"You get to shoot again?" Alwin pleaded.

"Saddle up, pardner. You had me at shoot."

Flintlock the Furball sauntered up next to Alwin. The cowboy wannabe spat on the ground, before giving a cheeky grin and winking to his opponents.

"You're going to have to clean that up later," said Milvus.

"Oh, sorry teach," said Flintlock.

With a holler of his skill, the musket appeared above his head, the barrel glinting under the light of the classroom. With a smirk, he leveled the weapon at Bion.

"When I win, victory is going to taste all the more sweeter," said Bion.

"Taste? Sweeter? Static Pounce!" Gus said as he leaped towards Bion again.

Darkness twirled around the gears, tainting the cogs in a black hue. Bion streaked across the classroom like a black blur, launching himself straight at Gus. The pair collided in a flash of electricity and the noise of grinding gears. Sparks of electricity jumped from Gus' body, arcing out and lancing into Bion. Grunts mingled out from their lips as they bounced off each other.

"I'll handle Ms. Brie over here," said Flintlock, aiming his musket at the Leafling.

"Wait, wait, wait. I still can't revive yet," stammered Brie.

"That's alright darling, I'll just keep watch over you while they duke it out."

While Flintlock held Brie at gunpoint, Gus and Bion were duking it out. Colliding at high speeds, neither willing to relinquish their assault. The crackle of electricity mixed with the screech of grinding gears as the fight carried on. Now came another hurdle Alwin had to overcome. What was he supposed to do?

Flintlock's fight with Brie was technically settled and it's not like him fighting together against her would do anything, the goal was Bion after all. But honestly, Alwin was terrified. Between the darkened gears and the volatile electricity, a nagging fear clawed at his mind. His instincts screamed at him, telling him to stay the hell away from the fight, at least a good distance away from it. And listen to it he shall, as he simply hopped over to Uchronia and joined her to spectate the fight.

Uchronia, Brie, Flintlock, and pretty much the rest of the class gave Alwin a look that could only be described as, 'Really? What were you doing? Why weren't you fighting? What was wrong with you?' And last, but definitely not something Alwin tagged along at the end just to make himself feel better, 'That's the greatest idea I've ever seen in my two days of life.'

This was definitely awkward, to say the least, or maybe he shouldn't say anything at all. In fact, Alwin would rather focus on the fight. Brie and Flintlock looked at each other, then Alwin, then back to each other. They both shrugged in unison—or at least tried to, given their lack of shoulders—before hopping back to the sidelines.

Alwin's move was so powerful that he managed to make Brie retreat back. It was definitely something that he had calculated way in advance, that was the true Alwin way of doing things. Yup, all his moves were absolutely planned out. He was one step ahead of the game, a tactician with the sharpest of minds. No way did he simply get lucky.

Anyway, what was happening in the fight now? Alwin had no idea, he was too busy having an internal monologue to actually pay attention. Now was as good of a time as any other to check back in.

Gus was battered, bruised and barely hanging on as he squared off with Bion. The static on his fur had disappeared, his fur coat was frayed in various places, with bits of dust and debris tangled in. His breaths were coming out in ragged pants, as he tried to catch his breath.

On the other hand, Bion looked just as menacing as before. Gears as black as the darkness that surrounded Alwin before his birth with nary a scratch on them. Despite the exhaustion and strain that Gus showed, Bion stood straight and tall, showing no sign of fatigue.

Well, this was a problem, a problem that had to be solved, or else Alwin would be on the receiving end of those Mechanized Dark Tackles that Gus had been generously taking for him. Between his regular Dark Tackles and Bion's Mechanized one, it was clear who would win the battle.

It was time to execute another strategy that would maybe, probably, hopefully, work. Gus continued to pounce on Bion, while the latter returned the attacks with a flurry of Dark Tackles. All the while, Gus muttered the word 'Lunch' continuously under his breath.

The clapping of his large slimy cheeks would give away his position so hopping wasn't an option. Instead, Alwin performed a series of super stealthy stealth rolls, that would leave him virtually undetectable to anyone important. Unfortunately, for him, the spectators weren't of importance, so they all stared as Alwin rolled his way to the teacher's desk where Milvus was still attending to Galeo the Furball and Tess the Leafling.

"Alwin? What are you doing?" asked Milvus.

"Strategy for winning against Bion," said Alwin.

"Good luck?" said Milvus, the confusion in his voice almost tangible.

With a nod of thanks, Alwin turned back to face the underside of the teacher's desk. The underside of the desk featured a set of drawers to his right, while to the left was a large panel of wood that housed a variety of buttons and dials. As interesting as that was, it wasn't what Alwin was looking for. What he needed was hidden away inside one of those drawers.

Alwin was sure whoever hid what he was searching for was attempting to use reverse psychology to trick any would-be pursuers. Yes, because no would one think to look for Small Healing Pills in a drawer specifically labeled Small Healing Pills. But, Alwin was smarter than those tricky little hiders.

After cursing his lack of hands, Alwin grabbed the drawer handle in his mouth and wrenched the door open. There lay the secret to his victory. Red spherical pills—also known as Small Healing Pills, in case someone wanted to add a redundant statement that served no other purpose but to take up space in the narrative. That someone was Alwin.

He just hoped that Gus wouldn't mind if the pills were a little wet. Scooping them up with his tongue, Alwin rolled his way back to the battle. Gus was sprawled out on the floor, breathing heavily as Bion stood in front of him.

"Now where's that Al-loser," said Bion, hopping towards the tired Gus, the clink of his gears ringing through the air with every hop.

"I'm here," Alwin announced, with a mouthful of pills.

"Time for you to live up to your name. Dark Tackle!"

Bion zipped towards Alwin, dark energy surrounding the gears that comprised his body. The clank of his hops on the ground echoed loudly through the room. Alwin stood there, he was ready. He was prepared.

"Gus! Protect me and you'll get something to eat right now!" Alwin shouted out while spitting out the pills into the air like he was spitting out sunflower seeds.

Almost as fast as the electricity that ran through Gus' coat, he sprang forth. With a leap, he caught the flying pills in his mouth, gobbling it all down. The wounds that covered his body sealed up as the magic of the Small Healing Pill flowed through him.

Bion, surprised by the sudden movement of Gus, tried to change his trajectory. A moment too late as Gus crashed into him, electricity arcing between their bodies. Bion was launched backward by the force of the attack, skidding across the ground till he came to a halt next to Alwin.

"Hi, Bion. I'm just gonna go now," said Alwin, as he performed his stealth rolls toward the edge of the classroom.

In a flash, Bion got back to his feet, his gears already beginning to rotate. Before he could do anything though, Gus slammed into him with another Static Pounce. Bion flew through the air, hitting the ground hard before crashing into the wall. The sickening crunch of his metal plating rang out, the sound reverberating throughout the room.

Those darn gears were getting in the way. If only there was a way to get rid of them. Then it hit Alwin, but it hit him nowhere as hard as how Gus had been hitting Bion.

"Gus! Have you tried eating his gears? It might be tasty?" shouted Alwin.

"Tasty?" Gus muttered, his eyes lighting up at the mention of the word.

His jaws snapped down onto a few gears, the mechanical parts crunched and whirred as his teeth dug through them. A muffled grunt escaped his lips as he turned around to spit the remains of the gears onto the ground.

"Blurgh! Too bitter," Gus said.

"Stop biting my gears!" Bion roared.

"Keep biting them! Then you can win and have lunch!" Alwin replied.

"For lunch!" shouted Gus.

He chomped down on Bion's gears again, sending a spray of shards into the air. His jaws tightened, then slackened, before snapping back down for another bite. Bion was mortified, the remaining gears on his body vibrated under the strain of the damage. The class gasped, unable to tear their eyes from the ferocity of Gus and Bion's brawl.

Alwin cheered on from the sidelines.

"That's the ticket! Keep going Gus, you've almost won!" Alwin shouted.

As the Furball made his way through Bion's armor, there were fewer and fewer gears, until only a fraction of it remained on Bion's body. Finally, after several more bites, Gus reduced the last of it to a pile of broken pieces on the floor.

"Alright, now finish the job," said Alwin, eager for his victory.

"STATIC POUNCE!," shouted Gus.

Gus bounded across the ground, leaving behind a trail of sparks, and leaped high into the air, his entire body crackling and buzzing with electricity. With a slam, he landed on the helpless Bion. The crackle of electricity turned to a snap, as the current surged through Bion. Smoke began to rise from Bion's body, his movements slowing to a stop.

When the fight ended, Alwin leaped up and cheered. He couldn't believe his plan worked. He couldn't believe that he won without even throwing out a single hit. Most importantly, he couldn't even believe that he had won. Alwin was sure that he was going to lose and become some sort of laughingstock. Instead, he turned Bion into Bi-off.

"Alwin wins? I think," said Milvus, hesitating as he declared Alwin's victory.

A paper tentacle slithered across the classroom to reach Bion's unconscious body. The appendage twisted around and wrapped itself tightly around the Slime. The class watched as he was carried back to the teacher's desk, where Galeo and Tess had finally recovered from their injuries.

"Good job, everyone. I hope you all got to know more about your classmates after this friendly match. Although I must say this is the first time I've witnessed such unorthodox methods," said Milvus, looking at Alwin. "After lunch, I will introduce to you all the most important technique every monster should know. Dismissed."