Anthony slowly closed the book, his hands carefully gliding across it as he puts it down on the table next to him again.
"See, I never understood why you always got into the mood for fighting so quick. Considering you see a lot of people as weaker than yourself. Almost like they're ants." As Anthony said it, he slid his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose, right after a calm dusty grey aura enveloped him. He walked forward, with each step sand started to form underneath his shoes out of the aura. The sound of his shoes stepping on the rocky sand filled the silent room, Tyler got in front of Tyrell and put his hands up, prepared for a physical confrontation. What seemed like normal ants crawled out of the sand Anthony was walking on, they scattered across the room quickly, crawling on the walls and through the holes in the windows. Tyrell felt a small tickling sensation on his right leg, as he looked down there were multiple ants running across it. His face tensed up, he started breathing heavily and moved his hands towards them to swat them away, but at the last second, he stopped. Tyler saw his hesitation and swatted the ants off of his leg for him. They ran across all of the computers, cables and the digital whiteboard behind Anthony.
"But even ants, smaller than most things we ever come across..." Anthony stopped right in front of Alfonso, looking up at him with his eyes that seemed devoid of life. The more ants that appeared, the bigger they got, until they reached the size of 5 centimeters. The sound of their feet hitting the wood floor became louder as more of them kept coming out. His aura expanded and filled that section of the classroom, the sound of their feet suddenly got less and eventually disappeared as the light from outside coming into the classroom became dim. The sounds of the ants crawling on the window became louder, after a few seconds the sunlight that lit up the entire room previously, was completely gone. "Can still become as big as your worst fear, when they band together." The group looked at the window, what they saw could only be described as a moving veil of darkness, seeing nothing but ants running across it, not letting a single ray of sunlight through. Tyrell and Tyler took a step back. Tyrell, shaking his head, looked around trying to find a way out of the situation.
"I-It's okay right? They're just ants! How dangerous could those be?" Tyler said. Anthony slightly smirked.
"Yes indeed, normal ants aren't that vicious... But these, these are bullet ants."
Tyler saw one of them climbing on the side of his face, getting closer to his eye as it inevitably touched his eyebrow. He slapped it off immediately, taking a few more steps back while grabbing Tyrell by his jacket's hood.
"Don't worry you two, he's just bluffing like always." Alfonso let out a giggle, he put his fists together, his orange-brown aura filled the rest of the classroom and overthrew Anthony's. His Gigantopithecus's hand came out of it and grabbed his shoulder, showing its head and upper torso, towering over both of them. As it violently grunted and grumbled, Anthony rolled his eyes, taking off his glasses and putting them back on again, sliding them back onto the bridge of his nose. His aura dissipated. The bullet ants, now covered in it again, withdrew.
"Fine. I'll let it go. I lost interest in you and your group anyways. This dumb blabbering baboon spoiled my appetite. Try not to bring his tiresome attitude around me again, I deal with it on the regular in class anyways." Anthony declared, he walked back and picked up the book. He walked out of the classroom, closing the door behind him. Tyrell looked at Alfonso and patted him on the back, Alfonso looked back at him and roughly slapped him on his. He slighlty yelped, almost falling forward.
"Damn you're strong, watch out with that. You might break my spine. Thanks for what you did just now, you didn't have to do that. But yet, you did. Why?" Tyrell asked Alfonso. He stared at him for a moment and giggled.
"I just liked the fact that I could challenge four-eyes again. Helping a few crybabies was just a bonus."
"Heh, I guess I can't argue with that logic. Even though I don't appreciate you calling me a crybaby. Anyways, we gotta go. Let's dip, ty." Tyrell said as he threw up a peace sign towards Alfonso and started walking out of the classroom, Tyler followed after him and waved him goodbye happily. They walked out of school and waited for carmen on the corner of the school's street. Tyrell's phone got a notification, it was a text from Carmen.
Carmen: 'Hey, I got detention after Scuro bit Mr. Brown because he got too close to me. Go home without me, my mom is probably going to throw the fridge at me when I come home later, so having you there with me won't be incredible. I'll talk to you tomorrow though!'
Tyrell: 'Again? This is like the third time this month as well. Normally you're good at telepathic anima communication. What's going on lately?'
Carmen: 'He's just protective, plus, I've been training it for a while, but you wouldn't know. You don't show up to anima classes.'
Tyrell: 'Yeah, but you know why I don't. Anyways, give Scuro a kiss for me if you survive. We're going to Critter right now, I'll see you tomorrow.'
He put his phone away and started walking through the city with Tyler. They walked towards the park and saw someone under a beaten down cloth laying next to the park's entrance. The sign on the entrance read "Critter Park" "Free use of summoning allowed", the person laying there noticed them walking past. They lifted up their cloth and got on their knees, putting their hands together in a praying manner. Tyler looked at them in distaste, he kept walking. Tyrell looked at the person in pity, they had bruises all over them, dirt as well and their hands were covered in a weird white dust.
"Hello little one...do you have some spare change...so I can get some food? I haven't eaten in days..." The person talked slowly and seemed not entirely conscious. Their fingers were twitching and every so often they'd hiccup, moving their body like something wanted to burst out of them. He stuck out his hand in compassion, getting closer to what seemed like an addict. Tyler grabbed Tyrell's hand and walked into the park with him. Seeing someone like that made Tylers stomach turn, he tightly gripped Tyrell's hand and started walking faster.
"Hey Tyler slow down! What's up with you and pulling me away? And what's with the rush all of a sudden?"
"It's nothing. Those people are just... They're not worth helping. If you give them a dollar, they won't use it for food, but for something way worse. At the end of the day, you'll only be enabling them." Tyler stopped walking for a second, clenching his fist and looking down, letting go of Tyrell's hand.
"What? How'd you know?"
"I just do. Trust me on this."
"He was sleeping on the street, it looked like he was beaten half to death. You're always the person wanting to save everyone, but just now it was the opposite." As the conversation went on, Tyler's arm got so tense that it got to the point of his veins were showing.
"I know what I'm talking about." Tyler said as he started walking away.Tyrell went after him. The park was brimming with both people and animals, there were spider monkeys and lemurs jumping from branch to branch in the trees. Two kids, laughing and smiling, ran past the duo while playing tag. Many kinds of birds were making nests, singing and flying about all over the place. There were many trees covered in vines, leaves and other kinds of plants. The walking trail was filled with animal footprints, and most of the concrete laid there was being taken over by nature once again, as were the benches and park lights. Fresh air filled the entire park, being seen as a safe haven for most people and their animas. Lots of people walking with different type of dog breeds, but without any leashes or muzzles. The boys passed the fountain in the middle of the park and just then, they saw a hooded man talking to someone. Both of them steadily walked towards a tree near the two shady figures. Tyrell took a closer look, the hooded figure had a clawmark on the left side of their shoulder. This startled him, looking almost exactly like the one the burglar from the day before had. The figure gave the other person a handshake as he looked around, putting his hand back into his pocket, but another bag fell out. The person walked away, the hooded figure did the same thing. Tyler stepped out from behind the tree and grabbed the little bag off of the ground. In it were a few tablets formed in the shape of a cat's head. Seeing it made him hyperventilate, Tyrell came up behind him and put his hand on his shoulder seeing if everything was alright. Not even a second later, Tyler crazily yelled out after the hooded person.
"Hey!" Hearing him, the hooded man looked back and started running towards the opening in the trees next to him. Tyler ran after him and so did Tyrell. The man with the clawmark quickly evaded any obstacles in the way, jumping over any large rocks in the way and side stepping away from trees. Seeing a railing, meaning the end of the park is near, he jumped up and landed on it, stepping down and dashing to the right. The two, following him closely, fell down when trying to get over it. Tyler got up, brushing off the dust from the fall and helping Tyrell up. They quickly rushed to find the hooded man, turning a corner and finding a man on the ground selling candles and perfume on a traditional Arabic carpet.
"Hello my friends! Want any vanilla scented candles-" Tyler cut him off, they proceeded to walk past him, going down the street as they looked around for any sign of him.
"Tell me why we're doing this again? Do I have to remind you about the time I told you not to do anything dumb?" Tyrell said, trying to get Tylers attention. He didn't respond, putting up his finger to shut him up for a second. After a moment they noticed him walking into an alleyway on the other side of the street. They crossed the street and found him running to the other side of the alley. As he reached the end, a huge bison carrying a large number of bags and jewelry would step in front of him, walking with a woman. The hooded figure jumped up, climbing over it and jumping down, continuing to run. The woman and bison kept on walking, the duo got to the end as well and continued to chase him.
"We can't lose him!" Tyler screamed as they got closer.
"What's with you today?!" Tyrell responded. They passed a sign saying, 'The Zoo', and the man looked back. There were two big wooden double doors, covered in scratches and blood. He opened the doors and rushed in. The two came in after, their feet plunging into puddles of water as they ran through, loud thuds and yelling could be heard throughout the corridor, the man passed tens of doors as he ended up in front of the one at the end of the passageway. He opened it and entered, closing it behind him. For a second, the loud noises could be heard more clearly. The two looked at each other and stopped right in front of the door.
"Listen Tyler, I don't exactly know what's going on, but this place seems dangerous. We should leave. We chased him down as much as we could." He said backing up from the door.
"I know it's dangerous...but I can't just let it go like that. I do a lot of dumb, impulsive stuff, believe me I know, but this is...different." Tyler's tone of voice surprised Tyrell, it was one that he had never heard before. He closed his eyes and sighed, rubbing the back of his head and biting his teeth over and over again.
"Fine. But after this, you won't try to do anything to put yourself in danger right?" Tyrell asked with a small smile. Tyler chuckled.
"Yeah, I promise." He said, showing him his crossed middle and index finger. Tyrell nodded and opened the door.