"Thought you were bailing on me today, little gremlin" he looked her dead in her eyes and held back his laugh. Carmen hit the back of his head and kissed her teeth. After grabbing their books and bags, they walked out of the classroom, heading outside. They passed the classroom the other students went into, going through the emergency exit. The exit led to the lake by the school, they walked through the grass field and sat down on the big stones. Tyrell got silent all of the sudden, Carmen noticed this and got a bit closer to him trying to read what was going on in his head.
"Not going today either huh?" Carmen asked him, poking him on his cheeks carefully.
"Nope. But you knew that already. I don't have a reason to go to Beast Care. I never summoned it in the first place, so I don't need to know anything about it." He stood up, walking towards the lake. A small breeze would traverse the area, making little waves in the water as it started glistening because of the sunlight hitting the surface. He bent down and put his right hand into the water, moving it around. As he made ripples in the water, he saw a small shadow in the depth of the lake. His face got closer; the shadow became bigger the closer his face got. Carmen got off of the stone and slowly moved towards him, curious about what he was doing.
"Hey ty, are you okay?" she asked, moving her hand towards his shoulder.
"There's something in the water..." The shadow grew as big as almost half of the lake, as it started shaking violently. Tyrell, as if in a trance, looked at it even closer. His breath got heavier with each breath that went in and out. His eyes widened; a huge open mouth full of rows with razor sharp teeth would come out of the lake and closed right in front of him. He screamed, loud enough for the people in the neighborhood to hear and fell back. His feet were moving before the rest of his body, his lips were quivering, his body was shaking with fear, and his forehead was covered in sweat. Carmen grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him around.
"Tyrell?! What's going on?" she asked, looking him directly in the eyes.
"I... I saw it again..."
"While you're awake? Has that ever happened?"
"No, it never happened before. What's going on with me lately?" he asked himself that question, he got up and walked away from the water towards the school's main entrance. Carmen sighed and ran after him. Just then, Tyler and Alfonso walked out of the main entrance.
"For real?! I never expected that from you to be completely honest." Alfonso said.
"Yeah, I take jiujutsu classes a few times a week! Self-defense is important when you're normal."
"I like jiujutsu, mostly because it's a part of MMA. But I like fighting a lot, in general." he said with a big grin on his face.
"We should spar sometime!" Tyler said enthusiastically. Alfonso looked at him for a few seconds and busted out laughing.
"What's so funny? You don't think I can take you on?"
"Obviously you can't. Even without me using any anima techniques. Good luck little guy, I've never lost once in my life. You won't be the first." he said with a smirk. Tyrell and Carmen walked over to them. Alfonso nodded his head towards the two of them and Tyler waved at them excitedly.
"Who's this?" Carmen asked Tyrell.
"This is Alfonso. He helped us out earlier today in the cafeteria, he's chill." He said sighing and biting on his cheek from inside his mouth. Tyler saw this and stepped forward to get closer to him.
"What's going on Ty? You're chewing on your cheek again. What happened bro?"
"Nothing, it's just...I saw something that shouldn't be there. You know the dream I usually have, right? Instead of me seeing it while asleep, I saw it by the lake."
"Wait, really? That's new. What do you think it means?"
"I don't know. I need to figure it out though." Alfonso heard this, he put his hands on his neck and put his head trying to ignore the conversation. Tyler looked at him in confusion.
"Do you know something about why it's happening? Or someone who could help?" Tyler asked him. Alfonso kissed his teeth and nodded his head.
"Yeah, I know someone. I don't like him though, because he's a know-it-all nerd and on top of that he's a weakling. His name is Anthony, he's in my grade. That guy usually hangs around in the classroom with all the computers. I bet he's there now." Alfonso said reluctantly.
"Well let's go see him. I need to know what's going on before it messes up my head. You comin' too Carmen?" Tyrell asked as he looked at her shrugging his shoulders.
"I'm going to Beast Care, I skipped a lot of lessons already and if I skip more, they'll notify my mom. She's going to kill me if she finds out. Please keep me updated though okay?" Carmen hugged Tyrell and started walking over to the main entrance again, waving Alfonso and Tyler goodbye.
"So, that's the girl you wanted to fight the dumb dude over earlier in the cafeteria with that stupid monkey huh?" Alfonso asked Tyrell while giggling and pushing his shoulder into Tyrell's side.
"Man shut up. But yes, that's the girl. I'm a pacifist, but I couldn't bare to hear what they were saying about her. I had to act in that moment, without hesitation." As Alfonso heard him saying this, a huge smile appeared on his face, he let out a few chuckles and patted Tyrell on the back.
"Now that's something I can respect! You must be strong huh? What kind of anima do you have? I want to fight you to see how strong you are!" he asked Tyrell with sparkles in his eyes. Tyrell shook his head and started walking towards the other side of the school.
"He doesn't talk to anyone about his anima. You'll get used to it. I've known him for like 8 years, he still hasn't really opened up about it to me." Tyler told Alfonso, shrugging and following Tyrell, so did Alfonso. As they walked into school, they approached the stairway and walked up to the third floor, looking for the classroom filled with computers. After the group reached the last few classrooms at the other end of the school, which were filled to the brim with plants, bushes and flowers, they stopped once they noticed a figure sitting down in one of the classrooms through the window. Tyrell spread his arms out to try and signal the group to stop walking, Tyler stopped immediately and darted his eyes towards the figure. Alfonso pushed away Tyrell's arm and walked up to the classroom door, kicking it open with a blank look on his face.
"Hey Ant! These two wanted to speak with you about problems with one of their animas. Thought that you'd be the perfect nerd for the job." Alfonso walked further into the classroom. As Tyrell and Tyler moved their heads into the classroom, they saw a small built, caucasian kid with glasses and a bob cut sitting on a chair in the front of the classroom. The windows of the classroom had various cracks and holes in them, due to vines growing across and through them. In his hands was a big book with an animal's footprint on the cover, it looked like it had some wear and tear on it. He was reading it, murmuring the words to himself quietly. As Anthony looked up, he slowly closed the book putting it on one of the tables next to him. Tyrell and Tyler entered the classroom right behind Alfonso as the group walked up to Anthony, his face looked like it had almost no emotion, almost lifeless. His eyes couldn't be seen due to the sunlight reflecting off of his glasses, Tyrell got a bit uneasy and tried to speak to slice through the room's silence. But before he could utter a word, Anthony stretched out his hand.
"What's going on with you and your anima?" Anthony asked Tyrell.
"Well, usually I keep seeing it in my dreams. And after I see it, I just wake up. But today I saw it in the lake, it wasn't real but for a second...it felt like it. It attacked me and immediately after that it was gone. It was huge, it almost filled up the whole lake." After hearing this, Anthony grabbed the book he had just put down, flipping through the pages.
"What even is that book about?" Tyler asked, sticking his head out from behind Tyrell.
"It's the school's encyclopedia. There's a ton of information about anima animals, their history and guides on how to use them. I got it from the library in the school's basement. But what you're describing, sounds like a repression problem." The group looked confused, all of them raising their eyebrows.
"The hell's a repression problem?" Alfonso asked, scratching the back of his head.
"It's something that occurs if an anima user doesn't summon their anima. It basically means that your anima is trying to get out forcefully instead of waiting for you to let them loose. They can appear in your dreams or in hallucinations." Anthony said, pushing back his glasses and flipping further into the book.
"Wait, hold up a second. You're telling me that eventually it's going to come out regardless of me holding it back?!" Tyrell said in a worried tone.
"That's also how people find out they have animas in the first place, and what it is specifically. But usually after the first encounter, they experiment with it and grow alongside it, like a normal user. But you, you never summoned it before, have you?" Alfonso looked at him, eyes wide open in surprise.
"You're telling me you've never summoned it? Not even once? How come?" Alfonso asked Tyrell.
"Like I said, I'm a pacifist. Which means I don't use my anima either. It's too dangerous and could get people hurt."
"But what even is it? If you're so opposed to using it, it must be badass. Right Tyler?" Alfonso asked, checking to see what Tyler's reaction was. Tyler whistled and looked away towards the window, trying to escape the conversation.
"You're kidding me! Even he doesn't know? I thought you knew him better than everyone else."
"I mean yeah but- Look I've been bothering him with this whole anima thing for years. He doesn't budge, and part of that means he doesn't tell me what his anima is either." Tyler said, grabbing a chair and sitting next to the window. Anthony started flipping through the pages as he heard them.
"Since I'm curious now too, I'll just try to find out by myself. You said you were over by the lake right and it attacked you when it came out of it? That narrows it down to amphibians, reptiles and fish." Anthony kept looking through the book, eager to find out what he didn't know. His eyes almost glistened with curiosity.
"Dude, stop. I don't want anyone to know what it is, much less talk about it." Tyrell said, his face got serious, his hands got out of his pockets, and he took a step forward. Anthony looked up from the book for a second, and then went straight back to flipping through the pages. Tyler noticed Tyrell getting annoyed as time went on. Alfonso smiled and chuckled, he moved his hand in a way of signaling Anthony to proceed.
"Looking at your appearance, you have sharper teeth than most people, possibly meaning it's a marine predator. And since you don't want to do something as much as summon it, you're probably worried about its size." Anthony said smirking.
"I'm serious Anthony, cut it out." Tyrell started clenching his fists out of frustration. Tyler put his hand on his shoulder and tapped it, trying to calm him down. Alfonso's smile slowly disappeared, sighing and taking a few steps forward, ending up in front of Tyrell.
"Alright stop it nerd, fun's over let's just let him be." Alfonso said, trying to get Anthony's attention, but he put the book right in front of his face.
"You also said it almost filled up the whole lake, which means its size is probably prehistoric. Which would narrow it down even more." He kept flipping the page but after a few more seconds, he suddenly stopped. "Keeping all that in mind, your anima most likely is-" Alfonso stomped his food on the ground, cutting Anthony off.
"I said, fun's over." Alfonso said with a bright, yet almost creepy smile on his face. The sides of his mouth could almost touch his ears, and his canine teeth were on display more. He put his over each other and turned his head slightly.