Chapter 2: First Day “Amazing Hope, your voice is beautiful!” a middle-aged human teacher exclaimed. The other students in the class were in full agreement, applauding and cheering the young coyote-antelope mix. Smiling, with a hint of a blush, Hope quickly went back to her place in the class while the rest of the choir auditions took place. Only hours into her first day, Hope was rapidly gaining friends already. “Hey Hope,” one girl next to her asked, “Where are you from anyway?” “United States, up along the Atlantic coast, pretty far north,” Hope replied. “Wow that must have been a long trip, where are you living now?” “Still there, I haven’t moved or anything,” Hope said. “Wha-?” the human girl asked, before shaking her head confusedly and changing the subject, “what class is next for you?” “Physical education I think.” “Oh man, that is lousy, I hate it.” “Well, I hope it is like exercising like me and my dad does,” Hope said, not listening to her friend’s tone. Minutes later, Hope was quite nervous. She had only heard of baseball a few times, and had never seen it played, but now she was batting. What she had managed to watch was starting to fail her. “I hope you’re ready,” the boy pitching jeered, “I’ll go slowly for you.” The pitcher deliberately made a slow wind-up and tossed the ball, a mocking smile on his lips. Hope’s trained senses picked up on the ball early, and flicking her wrists, she touched her bat to the ball. With a deafening crack, the upper half of the bat had been reduced to a milky white powder. The ball was gone; nobody had even seen it fly away from the bat. “I got a hit!” she thought to herself, “now I got to run!” Taking off from home plate, Hope was around second base before the pitcher could turn his head to look for the ball, and at home again before he turned back. As she trotted back down to the rest of her team, she felt a bit of sweat on her head as the entire team had similar expressions. All were slack-jawed and wide-eyed, making no real sound, but stunned at the feat. “What?” Hope asked, “I barely touched it, horrible hit,” she said before sitting back down. Meanwhile, across the facility, Vixy had been released from her last class. The redheaded vixen had carried herself through her years at the Prime Center both as an exemplary student, and certainly the most popular among the students. Vixy had wildly deviated from her parents, the Crests of Fire and Darkness, both of them strict and intense warriors. Though her strength and fighting abilities were unimaginable to that of any normal human or fur, Vixy had become more involved in working in the school, and establishing a more reasonable lifestyle. She kept in frequent contact with several of the other Crests, especially Ambar and Pulsar, who provide the financial assistance for her schooling. However, as she neared the end of her school years, Vixy found more and more time to hone her other skills, namely gaming. For as long as she could remember, Vixy had held numerous titles in all forms of games throughout both the Prime Center and Prism. As she made her way towards a lounge, looking for someone to play with, she turned to see someone running toward her. The human boy was someone she only vaguely knew, much less ever talked to. “Vixy!” he shouted, “Hey how are you?” “Oh, I’m okay…Meshisham-san?” “Hey, that is Meyshsiam, can’t you get it right?” “Oh, sorry I guess, look I have to get going now, bye.” “Oh, okay, bye Vixy!” He shouted after her. A few hours later, Hope was walking out of the Prime Center, her backpack slung lazily over one shoulder. “See you tomorrow Shin!” she called out as he walked past her. “Bye Hope! Say, do you know how to get around this city?” “Sorry, the last time I was here was about…seven or eight years ago I think.” Shin growled and tried to navigate the city, as hordes of students flooded out the building. As Shin pondered over his directions to his apartment, he overheard some voices of somewhat older girls. “Hey Vixy, are you going out with us tonight?” “Sorry, not tonight, somebody is moving in to my apartment, I am going to help them move in.” Shin saw several girls departing, and Vixy moving away from them. “Ok, let’s find this place,” Shin mumbled to himself, setting off away from Vixy. As he walked away, Shin heard a small commotion behind him, “did you see that? It looked like a comet or a meteor!” Closing his eyes, Shin could easily sense that it was Hope, taking off and heading back home. While Shin searched the city, Vixy was excitedly heading up to her room, wondering if her new roommate was there yet. Opening the door, she saw several boxes of things piled neatly in a corner. “Oh, these must be her things,” Vixy said, kneeling down to read the name on the side. “S…sh…n, heck I can barely read this. Maybe her name is Sheena.” Nodding her head, Vixy looked about the apartment, which was liberally strewn with clothes, “yikes, I better clean this place up a bit…” Vixy mumbled to herself. Setting to the task, Vixy had gotten bored about twenty minutes into cleaning and finally settling for moving the balance of the clothes into her room and closing the door. “I better get myself cleaned up too,” she said to herself as she walked into the small bathroom and turned the shower on. “Hi dad!” Hope cheerily yelled as she opened the door to her family’s home. Walking inside, she threw her arms around her father’s neck as he came to meet her. “Hi, Hope, how was school?” Her father, Kayin, looked into her eyes, the same shade of green as his. As soon as he asked how her day was, Hope gave Kayin an hour long recap of everything that happened to her. Smiling, Hope continued to excitedly talk to her father while he prepared dinner for the pair. Hope Ravenhurst, daughter of Kayin and Grace the Love Crest, herself was an odd mix of traits, much like her father. She had the hair, eyes and tail of her coyote father, but also the build and antlers of her antelope mother. She also was very strong, but never violent. The Love Crest was very strong in her, and her passion for helping others and making friends was only matched by the resolve she showed when she had to defend those she loved. “So dad, how do you think mom is?” “She is just fine, Hope, she has her work to do, she wants to get stronger too,” Kayin said, smiling at her, but secretly wishing he could be with her. “Finally!” Shin exclaimed, trudging up the stairs, “I thought I would never find this place.” The roundabout route Shin took to reach the apartment was a long and very tedious walk. When he reached the door, Shin could hear water running on the other side, and decided to enter quietly and not disturb anything. “Just put my key in…and…my key,” Shin said to himself as he tried to locate the key to the room, finally remembering that he had left it inside the vest in the apartment. “Just great,” he groaned as he raised his fist to knock on the door. Vixy was stepping out of the shower, wrapped in a towel, when she heard the sharp rapping at her door. “That must be her!” she said, walking towards the door. “Hi!” Vixy said excitedly for a second as she opened the door and saw the teenager tiger boy. “Oh,” Vixy said as Shin turned his head, “I thought you were someone else…” “No,” Shin said, “I think this is right, you see I have to come here to…” “Sorry, pal, I am not interested in buying, now if you’ll excuse me,” Vixy said, closing the door. With the door closed in front of his face, Shin stood for a moment, dumbstruck, and then tried knocking again. With an irritated sigh, Vixy opened the door again. “Look, what is it that you want?” she demanded. “I think I am supposed to be here.” “What? Man you little salespeople are tough to get rid of. Look, I am in a towel, and I do not want anything! Get out of here.” Vixy slammed the door shut in Shin’s face, and punctuated the statement with the sliding sound of a lock. Gritting his teeth, Shin brought his arm back again and knocked at the door much harder. The added force, plus Shin’s strength knocked the door clean off of its hinges, sending it crashing to the ground. “Look,” Shin started, walking inside over the door, “for goodness sake, just listen to me!” “I get it now,” Vixy said, her tone growing angry, “you’re one of those creepy kids who just wants to gawk at me!” Shin’s face flashed red for a second, “no, get a hold of yourself. I have this…” “Pervert!” Vixy shouted, throwing a punch. The impact surprised Shin, the force of the blow throwing him into the wall, shaking a few items off the shelf onto the ground. Not wanting to hurt Vixy, Shin jumped away from another punch, the vixen completely out of control. Shin, trying to both dodge punches and explain his presence, lost his footing as she moved backwards, crashing into a heap on the floor. “Look, for one second, listen to me!” Shin shouted as he kicked across the floor. “Shut up!” Vixy yelled, “Do that and get out of here!” “Look, I am supposed to be LIVING here!” Shin’s statement slowed Vixy for a second. “What? Wait a sec, are you sure?” “Of course I’m sure, look!” Shin replied, handing Vixy a letter from Ambar saying that Shin was indeed, Vixy’s new roommate. “Oh…well…” Vixy said, “Sorry, I guess.” Shin could only stand dumfounded as Vixy apologized and turned into her room, the entire apartment nearly destroyed. “Uh…” he stammered. As she dressed, Vixy was fuming, “I can’t believe this! They make me stay with some guy I barely know, what is going on here?” Bursting out of her room, Vixy’s anger was not concealed. “Look, I know you have this letter for you to stay here, but I don’t know if it is going to work. Just, a guy and a girl in one apartment are not good, no good at all.” “What do you suggest I do then?” Shin asked back demandingly. Suddenly a new voice answered before Vixy could. “Shin, you’re going to stay here.” “What?” Vixy said, “Lily? What are you doing here?” Lily, the second-in-command at Ambar Enterprises, and Ambar’s right hand was standing in the ruined doorway, a stern look on her face. “Yes, Vixy, he is staying here. Miss Ambar and his mother and father already made an agreement for you to give him a room, you have the space anyway.” “But,” Vixy complained, “I am not running a boarding house here! I have my own things to handle too!” “Actually,” said Lily in a matter-of-fact tone, “if you are going to kick Shin out, Ambar has told me to cut off all funding you are receiving now.” This caused Vixy to stand, wide-eyed and slack-jawed, “A-a-all my school money?” “I’m afraid so. Come on,” Lily said after a silence, “this won’t be so bad, only for a year at the least.” “Yeah, one easy year in hell,” Vixy grumbled to herself as Shin set about unpacking his things.