''What's up guys!'' It was Carmen. Tyrell threw a peace sign and Tyler waved with a smile on his face. The short girl, wearing a white cap and an all-black tracksuit quickly made her way to them. She gave Tyrell a hug and Tyler a fist bump. They started walking towards the city center.
''How you doing?'' Tyrell asked Carmen with an arm around her neck and a smirk.
''I'm good Ty. Just a bit nervous about the exam. I mean i studied but, what if i try my best and still fail? I'ts just a scary thought.''
''Oh c'mon Carmen we all know that you won't fail. You work too hard for that. Have a little faith alright? Because i do. But...If you do fail, I'll give you a few hugs to cheer you up." He started chuckling. She playfully slapped the back of his head and kissed her teeth.
''Shut up. Even though your peptalk worked you're still annoying.'' Tyrell grabbed the necklace out of his pocket and swung it in front of Carmen's face.
"This is yours. And don't start that 'don't buy me anything' crap again." As she saw it, she gasped and grabbed it with no less than stars in her eyes, making small noises of excitement. She immediately started hugging Tyrell and he hugged her back just as passionately. Tyler laughed and slapped them both on the back of their necks.
''Hey lovebirds we're here. Let's go get some sandwiches and go home because looking at you two makes me nauseous. It's like looking at an old married couple." He sticks out his tongue and starts to run into the city center, knowing that would piss Carmen off. She started chasing him, clenching her fists with veins popping up out of frustration.
''You're dead when I catch you pendejo!" Tyrell laughed and walked the center in with them looking at Tyler dodging Carmen's punches and slaps. She calmed down after a while and they walked towards the Deli. They ordered their sandwiches and walked out of the city center. Tyrell was eating his shrimp sandwich and got the usual disgusted look from his friends. He kissed his teeth and tried to ignore them, but they looked at each other and laughed at him.
"Why do you eat so much food with fish? It's like you're a marine predator catching their prey when you eat, plus your teeth are crazy sharp. And doesn't that make your breath stink?" Tyler asked, getting closer to Tyrell's face, flaring his nostrils.
''Shut up and let me eat my sea food alright? I'm not complaining about you always gulping down your food, almost without chewing. You don't even enjoy anything you eat that way so don't judge me and check yourself." He said as he ignored him again. Carmen shook her head as she listened to the conversation and grabbed some chewing gum, putting it in Tyrell's pocket.
"Not you too. Don't gang up on me with that smelly breath shit." They all started laughing again. As they passed an alleyway Carmen heard someone yelling and stopped walking. She grabbed Tyrell and Tyler's shoulders and pulled them back.
"Damn Carmen- what's going on? Why'd you pull my shit back like that?" Tyrell said, looking at her and Tyler confused. She started walking towards the sounds as the boys walked behind her, now with confused looks on both their faces. As they got deeper into the alley, they saw the silhouette of two people having a conversation. Carmen squinted her eyes to see what exactly was going on.
"Look don't make this harder than it has to be. The only thing you gotta do to stay unharmed is give me that purse. I ain't gonna ask again." A black man with an afro mohawk and a jacket with claw marks on them was mugging a woman. He had a knife in his hand and pointed it at her neck as he was grabbing her purse. Tyrell, knowing what Carmen was about to do, grabbed her shoulder. As she turned around, he was shaking his head to stop her from taking action.
"I know what you're thinking. But let's call the police instead so we all get out of this unscathed. We don't get involved in violence, remember? And I especially don't want you in danger..."
Carmen sighed and grabbed Tyrell's hand and smiled. She let go and started running towards the man. Tyrell facepalmed, Tyler reached for his phone.
"Hey, get the fuck out of here!" Carmen would be screaming out while coming closer. As he looked at her the mugger ripped the woman's purse out of her hands, sprinting towards the other side of the alleyway. Tyrell, being torn between contacting the police or going after the mugger, ran towards the woman to see if she was okay. Tyler and Carmen went after the mugger to try and get her purse back. The mugger saw a fire escape and jumped over the railing, running up towards the rooftop. Carmen was right behind him, as she slid underneath the railing and clapped her hands. A pink aura bursts out of her body covering the staircase as she ran up as well. A few small bushes and patches of grass grew out of her aura onto the base of the fire escape and the bushes started shaking aggressively. A small amount of big honey badgers jumped out of the bushes and started running with Carmen, one of them started climbing up the staircase from the side of it. The mugger got closer to the rooftop as one of the badgers jumped towards him through the fire escape's openings. He fell down onto one of the stairs and avoided the honey badger's biting and scratching. Tyler, after contacting the police, stopped at the bottom of the staircase and clenched his fist, looking down and grunting out of frustration.
"Guys I contacted the police! They'll be here in a few minutes. Don't worry." He said, looking at the woman whose purse had just been stolen. He gave her a thumbs-up with a nod. The mugger got up and ran up the staircase again while still dodging all the attacks from Carmen's vicious honey badgers, Carmen was close behind him. As he got closer to the rooftop, one of the badgers would be there waiting for him, biting at his face and trying to grab onto him. The scratches would cause a few cuts on his arm as blood ran down his body, but the bites were narrowly dodged. He jumped to the side and grabbed the edge of the rooftop, pulling himself up, as the blood dripped from his upper to lower body. Once he got up on his feet the mugger would run towards the other side of the rooftop's edge and Carmen would jump onto the rooftop a few moments later, as her badgers also arrived. As he reached the other side of the rooftop, a police siren could be heard getting closer. He looked at the wounds and looked back towards Carmen as she still approached him. The badgers would be aggressively grunting and rattle-roaring, walking next to her and growing more unpredictable by the second.
"Th-this ain't over yet you hear me?! I'll get you back for this, y'all know you shouldn't mess with the Carnivore's business. We run this part of the city!"
As he was distracted, one honey badger snuck up on him from the side and bit the side of the purse, taking it out of his hands. The mugger would kick the badger away and take a leap from the rooftop. Carmen's eyes widened as she ran towards the edge and saw him falling at a fast pace. The mugger would put his open hands next to each other and intertwine his two thumbs, in the midst of the fall. A light grey aura covered him, and a strong gust of wind was released around the area making the windows of the buildings close by shake. A big vulture would spread its wings as it came out of the aura, peeking its head out and opening its mouth to let out a hissing sound and grabbed onto the mugger's shoulders. The large bird would fly upwards, now flying above the rooftops. Tyrell and Tyler would run out of the alleyway, looking at the mugger making his escape. The police cars would drive into the street as the mugger's vulture flew into the clouds, slightly separating the clouds as it escaped with its user. Carmen sighed and walked back to the other side of the rooftop and clapped her hands again as her badgers slowly disappeared into her pink aura. Except for one.
"Thank you, mi bebés. You guys had my back so go relax. But you!" She said to a fully black honey badger, coming up to her and rubbing its body against her leg, proceeding to sit next to her and look up with their tongue out of their mouth.
"I know, good job on getting the purse. Here you go, Scuro" She grabbed a peppermint out of her pocket and bent down, Scuro ate it and licked her hand. She clapped her hands again, her pink aura surrounded both of them and he disappeared. She walked down the staircase and walked out of the alleyway to speak with the police. A tall, muscular policeman in a navy-blue jacket with a logo saying 'SAUF' on its shoulder and bulletproof vest walked up to her.
"Ma'am, may I ask what happened here exactly?"
"Me and my friends tried to stop someone from hurting that woman over there. We tried to do the job you guys are supposed to do. He was an anima user." She said as she pointed at the woman, looking at the policeman and noticing the logo. She squinted her light brown eyes and tilted her head.
"Thank you for your cooperation. Anything else i should know about the user?"
"He had a mohawk and a jacket with a claw mark on it. Or kind of ripped into it, I guess?"
"Shit. Carnivores probably. I'll take it from here, try to stay out of trouble. Alright?"
"Yes sir." Carmen said in a sarcastic way, saluting him and rolling her eyes. Tyrell ran towards Carmen and embraced her with both of his arms bringing her in close and tight, being afraid of the possibility that she could've been hurt. He then let go of her and looked her straight in the eyes, smiling with still a somewhat worried expression.
"I'm glad you're okay. I was worried, especially when I saw that crazy guy jump off from there. I thought he beat your ass for a second."
"Don't worry everything is alright Ty. I really appreciate you looking out for me though."
"Phew okay– Now, that was really dangerous Carmen! He had a knife and for all we know he could've pulled a gun out on you. You could've gotten hurt or even worse. We didn't even know if he had an anima or not and what it could've been if he did. You know how I am when violence is involved. I don't want either of you to be close to it. I want you to promise me you won't do something reckless like that again and just call the police next time."
He put his hand on both their shoulders, looking at them seriously, yet afraid of the possibilities his dear friends could be exposed to.
"C'mon Ty that woman was in danger. I couldn't have just sat back and did nothing. What if we kept walking and she got hurt, and we could've done something about it but didn't? Look, I understand what you mean and yes, I promise that I won't do something reckless like that again. But please understand me too when I say that sometimes we need to help people however we can." Carmen said as she and Tyrell both looked at Tyler.
"You guys know I won't. After all someone without an anima is not very useful in fights anyways. We were lucky he just had some kind of nasty vulture, but he could've had a huge mammal type spirit animal too. So, I promise you I won't do something stupid." He said, showing them how he's crossing his fingers.
"You always do that when you promise me something. I never know if I should trust that or not."
Tyrell said as he laughed it off and shook his head. He gave Carmen a hug and patted Tyler on the shoulder. The three started walking back into the city. They passed the street Tyler lived in, Tyrell gave him a fist bump and Carmen waved Tyler goodbye as they kept on walking. Tyler put the keys in the door, looking back at the two of them walking away. He sighed, his smile changing into a frown and his eyelids lowering, showing a sign of exhaustion.