Chapter Text
“What is it?” Cody whispered quietly from where he lay, perched upon one of the lower pods with his head hanging over the edge to regard the small creature currently glaring up at him, “Ten-oh-four do you know?”
The other cadet, CC-1004 from one of the neighboring squads, only continued to frown at the reptile in confusion. “I don’t think I’ve read anything about a daemon like that,” he began slowly, silently combing through his brain for any particular fauna that matched the small daemon curled at CC-1010’s boots, “Obviously she’s some sort of aerial predator, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one with this particular build.” The large group of gathered cadets immediately exploded into discussion, each one shouting over the other. If CC-1004 had never heard of the animal before than it was sure to be something special.
Something nudged at Cody’s side and he glanced around in time to see Rex dive onto the pod beside him, wriggling his smaller body into the small space and managing to elbow his older brother several times in the process. “What’s going on?” the blond asked quietly once he’d settled in, looking down at the daemon causing all the fuss.
“Ten-ten’s daemon settled, we’re trying to figure out what she is,” Cody explained, watching the younger cadet’s eyes widen in awe.
“But won’t they get...” Rex paused, glancing around uneasily before lowering his voice, “won’t they get separated if she’s settled in the wrong form?”
The discussion around them quietened, all of the troopers around them instinctively reaching out to touch their daemons, and Cody noticed the way his own daemon pressed up against him, shivering at the thought. Cody wasn’t sure what would happen to CC-1010 – he'd seen many cadets have their daemons taken away for less, but CC-1010 was fortunate enough to be in command track and be one of Alpha-17's learners – but regardless, Cody wouldn’t let anything happen to his squad mate's daemon. He’d promised Rex years ago that he wouldn’t let anything happen to him or his daemon just because they were both ‘different’, and it was only right that he extends that promise to the troopers he lived, fought, and would potentially one day die beside.
CC-1010 scoffed loudly before Cody could consider his response, his chest puffing up at the mere notion. “Let ‘ em try, I won’t let anyone touch her,” he growled, lifting his chin defiantly in that certain confident manner that only CC-1010 had a way of doing. Cody wasn’t entirely sure where his squad mate had developed his rather bold, stubborn personality – the Kaminoans didn’t exactly foster an environment that encouraged such a self-assured mindset – and while some of the trainers found it troublesome, many of them approved of his self-assured nature.
His daemon let out an approving chirp, grinning at her Other as she clambered up from the floor and onto the pod CC-1010 was currently sat on. Cody couldn’t help watching in awe as the creature silently moved from the ground, her pristine, white hide almost glistening in the lights above. She was larger than all of the other daemons gathered, already almost as big as any of the cadets nearby when sat on her hind legs, her large wings alone able to dwarf her clone counterpart. When stretched to her full height, Cody had no doubt that the reptile could stand tall above even Prime.
“I think she looks like a dragon,” Rex quietly muttered from Cody’s side, leaning into his brother slightly, “like the ones Ninety-Nine used to tell us about.”
“There’s no such thing as dragons, di’kut,” CC-5052 rolled his eyes, his daemon huffing out a chuckle at Rex’s suggestion. “Everyone knows that’s just a dumb story he tells to the littluns to keep them happy.” His statement received several murmurs of agreement from the other clones and daemons. Everyone had heard 99’s fantastical stories of powerful beasts and brave Mandalorian warriors and, while CC-1010’s daemon did appear quite similar to the flying lizards of legend, none of them actually believed they were real.
“Wait, he has a point.” The other cadets turn to look at CC-1004 who had magically materialized a datapad from seemingly nowhere and was tapping at the screen in rapid-fire. “While they’re presumed extinct now, there were originally dragons native to Arkania .” he hummed, pulling up an image on his datapad of a sketchy drawing. The creature was a sleek reptile with large wings and spiraling horns and spines that lined its scaly hide.
“Huh...” CC-1010 trailed off watching as his daemon hissed happily, pleased to know that she now had a name to put to her new form, “guess that just means I have the best daemon.”
Its silent for only a moment before the whole room explodes into outraged shouting. Cody sighed, resting his head in the palm of his hand as his brothers began to each try and yell over one another, while CC-1010 merely sat back and watched smugly at the ensuing chaos.