Darren Murphy enters the viewing room of a lab run by a researcher called Doctor Brausman. Darren is a middle-aged blonde man in a tweed suit, who was recently promoted to the rank of Inquisitor by the empire. Due to his promotion, and much to his displeasure, he has been instructed to take on a ward into his household, a shifter ward to be particular. Darren has not had a good history when he has interacted with shifters before, his experiences with them has made him distrust any that he must interact with. Yet he was here, being forced by law to take one of them as a ward, this drums up a lot of complicated feelings for him.

Dr Brausman on the other hand was quite excited to show off his research to another individual. The doctor is an ebony skinned man with a bald head, his eyes were hidden behind glasses, and his chin was hidden behind a short black beard. He wore a lab coat, but not because he was in a lab, he wore it everywhere. He enjoyed thinking that people would give him respect if they thought he was an important scientist. The reality of this was rather different as people were put off by his odd choice of fashion. As Mr Murphy enters the room, Dr Brausman does not even turn his head to greet him, his gaze focused on the inhabitants of the stone room on the other side of the glass he is standing in front of.

“You’re late Mr Murphy, I have had these subject standing here for a few hours now.” Said Dr Brausman.

“My office is on the other side of the city doctor, though if I am being quite honest, I was not exactly in a rush to get here.” Mr Murphy annoyedly replied as he walked up to the glass panel, his eyes gazing across the children standing before him. “Are they ready for whatever it is you need to show me then?”

“Of course, though to be quite honest I don’t really need all of them here,” Dr Brausman grinned widely. “Since you have become an inquisitor, I only have one that would be worthy of you.” Dr Brausman hands Mr Murphy an informative sheet, displaying information on the child referred to as 0076. “This one has a lot to offer you, he is a prime example of the shifter species!” The doctor’s excitement was obvious from the expression he held on his face, an expression that was not matched by Mr Murphy.

“It’s still just a kid though, right? I don’t see how he can be special.”

“That is why I have organised this demonstration for you, a short combat experiment to prove to you that 0076 is quite remarkable.” Dr Brausman gestures through the glass at the children. Standing against the wall were 7 small shifters, each with a number ranging from 0071 to 0080 tattooed onto their left cheeks. Numbers 0073, 0075 and 0079 were missing from the ensemble. All except 0071 and 0076 leaves the room, the two that remained stand facing each other on opposite ends.

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0076 is a young boy, he looked like he was around the age of 13. His hair is orange in colour, with a black streak though it, similar to a tiger’s stripe. His nose is wide and shaped like that of a tiger, the nails on his hands and feet are long and sharp, black in colour. His eyes are a shade of yellow, with a cat-like slit for an iris. He is a shifter, his actual age is only 6 years old, though due to his race, his body matures twice as fast as the average human, though he will only live half as long. His lineage can be traced back to a powerful tiger lycanthrope. 0076 has spent his life in this facility being praised for his strength and the purity of his breed, because of this he has become arrogant, and his posture shows this.

Across from him is 0071. A tanned girl who looks like she is around the age of 12, though in reality, she is about the same age as 0076. Her hair is a mixture between white and black, with her white hair sitting atop her black hair, which is tied up into a ponytail with some string she ripped off an old shirt. Her nose is shaped similar to that of a dog or a cats, her eyes a shade of warm orange, also with a cat-like slit for an iris. She is smaller than 0076, though not by much, she is confident in the outcome of this test, she is here to lose. That is not to say that she will not try to win, but from her experience, she has sparred with 0076 a lot, and until recently she has always won, because 0076 is stupid. She is worried that, since this is an important occasion, her opponent will take things too far and seriously injure her. She has a feeling of fear and anxiety welling up in her chest, her instincts telling her not to do this, but she is doing her best to hide these feelings. She has learned that it is best to maintain an agreeable expression, or to have none at all, that way people are less likely to annoy her.

Dr Brausman knocks on the glass to grab both of their attention, and with a wide grin on his face he exclaims, “Begin!”

0076 rushes towards 0071 as fast as he could, hoping to get in a quick and decisive strike. But he wonders, should he make this quick, maybe he should draw it out, make it entertaining, show off to the kind doctor and the man who will take him away from here. His thoughts end as he receives a hard thunk to the side of his head, quickly sending him to the floor. 0071 kicked him across the head, she knows what he is planning, he does the same routine every time and never learns from the mistakes. 0076 stands up and reaches out for her, but far too slowly for her to not react to it. 0076 takes a knee to the bottom of his chin, his sharp teeth rattling in his mouth, his eyes rolling to the back of his skull. He keeps forgetting how nimble his opponent usually is, and it is making him look bad, it is making him look weak. 0076 clenches his fist and rushes at 0071, however she nimbly spins out of the way and sweeps at his legs, forcing him to fall.

“I thought you said that 0076 was impressive” Darren scoffed, trying to antagonise the doctor.

“Oh don’t worry, the show is just about to begin, the reason that 0076 is my prime candidate is because he has matured enough to use something the others cannot.” Dr Brausman chuckles under his breath.

“and what would that be?”

With a wide grin the doctor exclaims, “Shifting…”