"Man, this is good." Hops whistled a sigh of satisfaction, as he finished the last drops of beer in the bottle.
Not even getting up from the couch, he carefully aimed it at a bag near the kitchen in the back of the apartment before throwing it across the room. It just barely went inside, as it clinked with the other garbage inside. Grinning, he stretched his arms out and was about to take a nap on the couch, when he heard a sharp knock on his door. Guess someone wanted to talk about that noise from above, he figured, as he heaved himself up.
"Who is it?" he called from behind.
"Jamal." a deeper than usual voice called out.
Opening the door, Hops was greeted with instant fear. Jamal stared down at him, but not even in a friendly manner or anything, and Hops could see him gripping the bag he had on him so tightly that his hand was starting to smoke.
"You good? I hope this wasn't about what happened in Fuishem." Hops forced out, as Jamal welcomed himself in.
"Ula's done with me." Jamal said back instantly, not even looking at him, as he temporarily sat in one of the chairs, before pulling a piece of paper.
"Dang, that's, that's tough, man. Um, I'm sorry that happ-" Brat quickly stuttered.
"I'm done with that bitch anyway. It's going to be for the best soon enough." Jamal said with no remorse.
Hops's eye opened in fear, as he slowly sat back down in the couch. He could tell it was that bad if he was talking like that. But he also realized that Jamal was definitely not in the right mindset at the moment, and needed some immediate mental help right now.
"Uh, before I ask questions, can I ask why you came here?" Hops said, noticing in the back Brat and Fonda peeking from behind the wall, hearing Jamal speaking.
"Well, now that I have nothing to lose, I'm going to personally kill Youden, then myself. Cause why not." Jamal grinned back at Hops.
"Ok, you know what. Let's not do any of that right now, how about it?" Hops lightly smiled back, before rushing towards the door and instantly locking it. "You need help, I'm just going to say it."
Hops had his back to the door, as Jamal finished marking something on the paper he had in his hand, before putting it back in the bag, and then getting up.
"Move out the way Hops. Don't make this harder than it has to." Jamal said, as he began walking towards the door.
"Fonda! Brat! Help me here!" Hops cried out, to which the two rushed behind the door to tackle Jamal.
Jamal just turned around, as his left arm instantly ignited in heat, causing them to stop in front of him.
"Literally move towards me again, and I will personally burn this entire apartment complex down with you all inside, until there's nothing but bare bones left." Jamal simply noted, as he quickly created a small fireball floating above his hand.
No one moved, except for Hops, who slowly moved his hand towards a conveniently placed beer bottle he was going to drink later. It'll be necessary to miss this for my literal survival, Hops knew, as he slowly grabbed the top of it, and began bringing it towards Jamal.
Instantly, he felt a hand over his throat, causing him to drop the bottle, breaking the glass and the beer leaking everywhere. Looking ahead, he could see Jamal's eyes glowing orange, as he felt his throat starting to burn up.
"I told you not to move. Now, I just might have to kill you too." Jamal barely grinned, as Hops clawed at his hand.
"Jamal, you got to stop." Fonda rushed to push him off before Jamal shoved her against the wall, knocking her out cold.
Brat just watched in shock, as Hops was struggling for breath, and he could see steam coming out of his mouth. No, he had to do something. Digging deep inside, he could feel the fur pop through his skin, as he rushed towards Jamal.
Jamal turned around, to see Brat growl at him, as they both collided, breaking down the door, and Hops released from the grip, to which he struggled to move towards the kitchen for water. Meanwhile, the duo broke through the rails set in place, as they both broke through the stairs before reached the cool pavement.
Brat could barely move out the way, as Jamal lit his fist again, and punched him hard in the face, causing him to stumble to the side.
"Damn! I told you not to touch me!" Jamal roared back, as he ignited his entire body, before looking around, to see his bag thrown to the side.
"I won't, let you leave, Jamal." Brat coughed out some blood, before slowly steadying himself. "We, we were your friends."
For a second, Brat could see Jamal's fire wane a bit, before it quickly roared back to life, and him laughing. Welp, I just might die here, Brat knew, as he quickly got on all fours.
"Oh we were. We were." Jamal chuckled to himself, as he grabbed the bag. "But I won't be needing them anymore."
Brat continued to watch, as Jamal formed a large fireball the size of a cart in front of him, causing him to tense up in worry. This was going to be it. But before he could react, his eyes widened in fear, as he aimed at the apartment and fired it.
"No!" he cried out, as it imploded onto the structure before it slowly began to lick across the building.
"Well, you have two choices now. Help the people in there, or kill me, because if you try, I will kill you before then. Good luck." Jamal snickered, as he began to walk past him.
Brat just stood in place, as Jamal moved past him, before looking back the building and then him. He had to think quick, he focused quickly, until a loud scream quickly made his mind. With that, he quickly rushed back up the stairs, to see Hops struggling to carry Fonda over his shoulder.
"Get everyone out of here. I got Fonda." Brat promised him, as he relieved the pressure once he grabbed her.
"Dam-, yeah." Hops barely had the energy to speak, as he began to make his way through the complex.
Not hesitating, Brat quickly moved down onto the pavement, before placing Fonda across the street. Jamal, Brat was still worried for him after everything before he climbed back into the apartments to help the rest of the people inside.
.....
Walking down the mountain road, Jamal didn't even look behind him, knowing that no one was going to challenge him, since they were used to him helping them, and assumed something was up. Just his luck or rather in his favor.
Pulling back the paper, he checked the map he had, as he set a route for Youdenio City. If he guessed correctly, it could take anywhere from a week to two months if he had to traverse through the entire region carefully or carelessly until he reached the city. Then he would do what he had to do, and then give up from there.
"Once you lose everything you had in life, you become someone with little flaws." he muttered to himself, as a carr zoomed past him down the road.