The Reality Chapter 12: Friend or Foe

Even though it was not a school day because of the winter break, the Headmaster had woken me up at 6AM. Rustling around a little before I had sat up I could smell the coffee that the headmaster had already started brewing. I perked my head up a bit, the smell was great. It had been a long time since I had smelled coffee.

"That coffee smells so good." I said lazily.

The Headmaster replied. "It tastes as good as it smells, and no, you can't have any."

"Ok I guess I'll just go back to sleep." I said to him, flopping down on the bed.

In a stern voice the Headmaster spoke up. "Get your butt out of bed before I make you get up."

With a sigh of annoyance I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I grabbed some clothes and a new diaper and headed off into the bathroom to get changed. I walked out of the bathroom with my ears drooping a bit and my tail dragging behind me. I plopped down onto my bed and laid there for bit trying to get the energy to do something. The Headmaster had gone to the bathroom and was taking a while in there so I decided to drink some coffee while he was not looking. I poured it into a cup and quickly drank it and rinsed the cup out before he came outside. Fastest cup of coffee I had ever had and it was hot. The Headmaster came out of the bathroom just as I had sat back down. He went to his bag and grabbed a few things out of it.

"So I have something for you Kyoga, you will have to wear it as long as we are in this city." said the Headmaster.

I replied. "What is it? What if I don't want to wear it?"

"You have no choice in the matter if you wear it or not. It is only while we are in this city that you have to wear it though." He replied.

He walked over to me and put a collar around my neck. The collar was green which was the best thing about it, he had put it on pretty tight and it had a lock on it as well so I could not take it off. It was like he knew what I would do when he was not looking. I tugged on the collar a bit to see how loose it was. If it were any tighter it would be choking me.

"Why do I have to wear a collar? It's embarrassing." I said

"Well, as you know, most parents put collars on their cubs for multiple reasons. The biggest reason they do it is because they have a tracker in most of them. Yours has a tracker in it as well. Today Ren will be taking care of you, so I put this on just so I can know where you are. It's all just to be on the safe side." He responded.

I sat there waiting in the room, normally I would have eaten something by now and I was starving. Just a minute or two later we heard a knocking at the door. I went to open it up and Ren was standing on the other side. I let him into the room and he took a seat. He remained quiet for a few seconds until I finally spoke.

"So Ren you needed me for something is that right? Well, what is it?" I asked.

Ren replied. "Well we can't actually discuss this unless we are at the hospital so I believe we should get going soon just so we can get started."

"We should get something to eat too, I'm starving." I said.

Ren replied. "We will eat there if that's ok with you."

I nodded my head, and then we got up and left the hotel. We rode a buggy that headed towards the hospital, which took about twenty minutes. Once we got there we walked in and went into the cafeteria where a bunch of the nurses and a few doctors were eating food. I stood in the line and got something to eat. Two nurses sat down beside me and Ren and started talking with us.

"Oh Ren, who is this cutie with you today" The lady asked. She seemed familiar though.

Ren replied. "Suzy you know him, its Kyoga, his markings are just covered up is all."

"Oh! I haven't seen you in what feels like forever. How are you Kyoga?" Suzy asked me.

I replied. "I'm good. I have been able to make a few friends at the Academy and was asked to come here for a while so I accepted it. Nothing much has really happen other than that."

"Do not forget your grades are also really good as well." Ren stated.

I said. "Well I used to be really bad when it came to school and other academics. But recently as in since I have woken up I've been better at them."

Suzy replied "Well at least if you keep your grades up, you should not have a problem fitting in and getting a good job when you're of age. I'm also so proud of you that you're fluent in our language now."

I nodded my head and soon after I had finished eating, Ren got up. I did as well and we started to walk around the hospital until we got to the elevator. We took the elevator a few stories up, and then walked towards a door. I was told to wait outside the door as he went in. I could hear Ren's voice and someone else's voice while waiting on the other side of the door but I could not hear what they were saying. I heard the ok to come into the room, so I opened the door and walked in.

It was the room I had lived in while I was here. The small cub sized table was in here and Ren was sitting down at it, and so was another cub but he looked older than me. He was a wolf with white fur. My heart started racing as I had saw what was on his face. He had a marking on the left side of his face imitating how mine was. It could have just been a coincidence but I for some reason knew it was Lex my old friend. I stared at him my paws and legs were shaking a bit. I slowly walked over to the table and sat down not saying a word.

Ren spoke up in English and said. "So Lex, I would like to introduce you to Kyoga. He will be assisting me for a week or two."

My heart started to race faster as his name was mentioned. Lex said. "Great now not only do I get helped tutored by a child, but by someone who has the name I hate the most."

"Why do you hate my name so much?" I asked him.

Lex responded. "The reason why I hate that name so much is because of my brother. Sorry, I mean old friend, which I used to have. He left me and his girlfriend, who would have been his wife soon, to put himself in a cryosleep so he could live when they found a cure for cancer. The worst part about him leaving was the night before he left he had slept with her. About a month later she found out that she was pregnant with his child. If I were to meet him right now I would kill him make him feel the pain she had to endure."

"I see, well it looks like I will be going through a difficult time then." I said quietly.

I took off my cloak with my paws shaking badly and I walked over to a sink and took my shirt off. I ran the water and started washing the fur paint off of me without them seeing what I was doing. I hid the back part of my neck so they could not see that part either. My paw was on the back of my neck shaking.

I said. "Remember how I would always say in the future these will be the good old' days." I then turned around and faced Lex and Ren and said. "I'm sorry Lex."

Lex yelled. "You fucking bastard! I'm going to kill you!"

He got up and ran across the room, then struck me in the muzzle hard. I took the hit and stayed standing. He grabbed me and tossed me onto the floor and began beating me without hesitation. I just stayed down and let him hit me; I was no good after all I had put them through. The beating did not last too long as Ren pulled Lex off of me. My face did hurt a lot though. Before I knew it there was a nurse picking me up and placing me in a wheelchair and taking me somewhere.

I was dazed. I could not hear anything that the nurses or doctors were saying. I had been lost for a while until I snapped back to reality because I got jabbed with a needle. I noticed myself in the mirror. For what was a short time to get beaten, my fur was covered in blood and so was my pants from my nose bleed and my body was shaking a lot.

"What did you just give me?" I asked.

The doctor replied. "It's just something that's going to help you relax."

"But when doctors say relax it normally means to make you sleep." I said.

The doctor said. "No, this won't make you fall asleep. Do not worry."

Before I knew it my body had started to get weak, I was not tired but everything stopped hurting and it became difficult for me to move my body. I ended up just lying on the table. They started to clean me up as I lay there. After they had finished changing me and put me into some clean clothes I had heard the door open. I was able to look over and it was Ren and Lex. Ren walked up to me and so did Lex.

"Now Lex, say sorry to Kyoga," Ren demanded.

Lex replied. "I will never say sorry for anything I do to him."

Ren hit a button, and said "Well we discussed what would happen if you did not obey me."

Lex yelped. He was being shocked by a shock collar. He began to speak through the pain "Bastard! Stop that."

Ren just hit the button again. I spoke up, "Ren stop it. You are just causing more problems by doing that he does not need to say sorry to me for anything."

"I'm still keeping it on him until he learns how to behave properly. So clean up your language there, boy." Ren stated.

Lex said. "It should not matter how I speak. I am eighty years old after all, I can use whatever words I want. Besides the bastard got less than he deserves."

I was put into a wheelchair and then Ren brought me back to Lex's room so we could help teach him the language. Lex did not seem interested in it at all. But I guess his only reason for going into a cryosleep was to tell me I was stupid and to beat the crap out of me. Ren and I tried helping him learn for a few hours until I gave up. I am not a teacher; I just wanted to help an old friend. He was not interested in learning it. By this time, whatever drug was helping me relax had worn off and I could move easily again.

"Ok I'm done for today I can't take it anymore. Lex if you're not willing to learn the new language, then don't. Have fun in your new life where no one will understand you." I said as I walked out of the door.

Ren chased after me. "Hey Kyoga, I will try to get him to be more willing to learn. So, will you please still come here and help me with it? You don't have to; I just thought it would be a good way for you to atone for what you did wrong."

I replied. "Yeah, I'll still try to help I just want to take a small break. He has me really frustrated right now."

"I understand. Maybe you should get something to eat in the cafeteria and then come back so I can take you back to the hotel." Ren said.

I nodded my head then went on to find the cafeteria. I definitely lost my way in the hospital; I could not find where it was and began looking for someone to help me find it. I walked for another few minutes and stopped in the middle of the hallway. I let out a big sigh because I was a bit frustrated. Just as I was turning around someone had bumped into me, knocking me to the ground. They helped me get up, and I turned to look at them. She was a tigress about the age of seventeen, I would assume. She had long brown hair and the typical tiger stripes everywhere and she also had blue eyes. The last thing I noticed is her paws were feral like mine.

"I am so sorry little one, I was not watching where I was going" said the tiger.

I responded. "Oh its fine, I should not stop in the middle of the hallway like that. My name is Kyoga by the way."

"Oh, my name is Sasha. I guess I should have mentioned that earlier. I see you're a Returnee just like me, Kyoga." She said.

I asked "What do you mean by a Returnee?"

"That's the humans who have undergone the reawakening and the gene reconstruction. I believe there are three of us now. I was the first one. I have actually been looking forward to meeting you." She said.

My stomach grumbled, and I said. "You don't know where the cafeteria is, do you? I'm starving."

"Oh I do know where it is, just follow me." She said cheerfully.

She led me through the hospital to the cafeteria. We started some small talk, trying to get to know each other better. I started to talk about what I did when I was a human and it turns out she was actually a fan who listened to my music thirty years after I went to sleep. She seemed like a really nice person. She never mentioned why she herself went into the cryosleep though.