For about a week and a half, Denzel kept on training with Grayson at Grayson's house, trying to synchronise with his Eagle, but each time he tried, it seemed more difficult.
Ted contacted him once but he ignored the call, waiting to see if Ted might actually text him to apologise, but, Denzel didn't get any form of a message from Ted.
There were only two people that helped him when he stayed at Grayson's place; Grayson who although he didn't completely trust, had gotten a little closer to him, and he wanted to wait to know Grayson more before he could know whether to count him as someone he could trust.
The other person that helped Denzel out was Zoey. Denzel had explained the whole situation to both her and her boyfriend, and her boyfriend was beginning to understand the whole thing. Initially, when Oliver found out that Denzel was M.D, he resented him, but with the whole thing Zoey told him about their encounter at Mountaly, Oliver was no longer bent up about the whole Denzel thing.
Denzel met up with Zoey several times. Knowing she was an animal researcher, he told her to get the strength and drawbacks of the animals being acquired by the Zoo Keepers.
He guessed their animals using Grayson's opinion, the mask each of them wore. Denzel didn't want to accept that opinion, he felt it was strange for them to reveal their animals that way if they really did know about the whole weakness thing, especially when the one with the snake mask, Sony, kept on shooting out webs.
Nonetheless, Denzel told Zoey to continue with the research with that impression, and since Sony and Ryder were sent to get him twice, he told her to focus more on the weakness of a snake and a Rhinoceros.
"I would tell Oliver to mix up something for the snake, but you would have to get Cinnamon, garlic and lime... Also, Snakes hate the smell of smoke, so you might want to have some smoke grenades," Zoey told Denzel the last time they met. Zoey's boyfriend, Oliver, was a chemistry student, working towards his goal to become a scientist. Thus, knowing Chemistry, he was good at mixing chemicals and acid to create something fascinating, and that was why Zoey left that work to him.
"What about the Rhinoceros?" Denzel asked Zoey, taking a look at some things she wrote down in a book.
"Ohh that? I can't say much about a Rhino, but, if the Rhino Beast really possesses the attributes of his animal, that would mean that he would be scared of being threatened. Rhinos lose it when they are frightened, so that might make him act abnormally, and Rhinoceros don't have good eyesight, so that guy's sense of smell would be superb. You might want to get something with a very concentrated smell, might as well ask Oliver for that too,"
Those were what Zoey told him, and Denzel got himself little bags that he could hang like pockets around his waist so he could keep those few things that he might need.
When Denzel saw how hard it was for him to synchronise, he continued training himself, so he could rely less on Mical. He sparred with Grayson each time, and that was when he saw the similarities in the way Grayson and Leia fought. They were both skilled, and Denzel never won him once. But of course, Denzel kept getting better and stronger, he was a quick learner when it came to combat.
A week and a half after he woke up from his slumber from his defeat with Sony, he went to see Zoey.
"Denzel, how are things going? Heard anything from those Zoo Keepers?"
"Naa, they haven't been around me lately, maybe they are planning something huge, I might have to be careful," Denzel said, he walked towards the window Zoey rested on, and stood beside her.
"Is there anything you want me to do for you?" Zoey kept looking up, at the beautiful look of the sunset at that time, she loved it.
"Nothing much, just thought I would drop by, hope it isn't a problem?"
"No problem... I am only asking because I would be out of Hilldale for some days, I want to know if there might be something you want me to do before I leave,"
"You are travelling? Work?"
"Yeah... I might use about a week there," Zoey didn't take her eyes off the sky, she smiled a bit as she looked at it.
Denzel also looked out, at the sky to see if she was looking at something particularly.
"If you leave, is your younger sister also departing with you?"
"Nope, she would be here, Oliver might want to drop by too,"
"By the way, what have your sister has been up to?"
"Huh? Why that all of a sudden? Nothing much, she goes out a lot and comes back whenever she wants to, I can't tie her down," Denzel looked at Zoey, but Zoey didn't take her eyes away from what she was looking at.
"You might want to know of her whereabouts, it would be safe for her,"
"I know about it, she tells me that she goes out with her friends. Why are you so worried about my sister by the way?"
"She... Nevermind, it is just best to do that,"
That was when Zoey took her eyes off the sky, she looked at Denzel, trying to understand what he meant.
"It's just... My sister's life has been kind of tough, so I don't want to make things hard on her. She deserves more--"
"That's why you have to watch over her. But since Oliver is around, things should be okay, he should be able to protect her."
"From what? Is there something about my sister that you aren't telling me? She is old enough to take care of herself,"
"Tch..." Denzel hissed, he didn't want to induce some dispute between the sisters. "Nevermind, I am just worried about her that's all. So, is it mountaly you are off to again? I am not going to be around to save you from those wild animals," Denzel smirked a bit, looking at Zoey as he spoke. He saw that she wasn't at her best, she was obviously worried about Emily. She could tell that the way Denzel smirked was fake.
"Zoey? Did you hear what I said?"
"Huh? Yeah, I did. If you claim that you are only worried about her, then it's fine... I was worried that she was maybe attacked or something. I can't take her with me... Oceandire isn't that far, but I feel she would be fine,"
"Oceandire? That's where you are off to?" Zoey could notice the amazement in his eyes.
"Yeah, is something wrong?"
"No, just... that's where my family stays normally, I only school here, if they see the news, they might probably hate me by now..."
"Would you want to come with me?" Zoey asked Denzel, stretching her hand at that moment.
"I would think about it, I have some things to take care of here, with my friend so I am not sure."
While Denzel spoke, he could feel his phone vibrate in his pocket, and he pulled it out of his pocket, taking a quick look at it.
"Ah- Speak of the Devil," Denzel smirked a bit. "Zoey, give me a minute,"
Denzel walked out of the room where he was with Zoey. He picked up the call, taking the phone to his ear.
"Hey, Ted, I guess that would mean you saw my text... How have you been? You didn't even call to check up on me-"
-"Yeah I saw it, and that's why I called, to let you know that I would be away from home."-
"Huh? Are you travelling?"
-"My Dad wants to have a word with me, so I would be visiting him at where he stays now, that's part of the reasons why I wasn't able to check up on you,"-
"Ohh, your dad, guess we would have to talk about it later then,"
-"Yeah, Bye,"-
Denzel heard the beep from the phone and he took it away from his ear, placing it back into his pocket. Looking at him, anyone could tell that he was thinking about something, then he walked back to the room Zoey was in.
"Zoey, I would be leaving now," Denzel said to Zoey.