Chapter 6: Trouble at School
Location: Lakewell Academy, School District, Freedom City
Date: Monday, January 5th
Time: 7:42 A.M.



Nothing eventful had happened on Sunday. Nothing out of the ordinary; just going to church and then hanging out at home. Kyle had waited all day Saturday and all day Sunday for Mancer to return, but he never did. He didn't return in a sleep-vision those two nights, either. Kyle even began to wonder if Mancer was going to come back or not... But then he decided that he shouldn't be thinking about those things. He was sure that Mancer would be back at some point... Surely he would be. Also, Kyle had kept a sharp eye out for any signs of Vice or his team... Or even other villains, for that matter. He never did see anything, though. Kyle needed to focus on more present matters now, however. It was Monday, and that means it was back to school for Kyle and his friends.


"Ugh... I don't like school..." Kyle grumbled a bit, following Kagen towards the double front doors of the large school. The school was indeed very, VERY large... Even large enough to have its own District in Freedom City. The school and its many stadiums and courtyards made up the entire School District. It was called Lakewell due to the fact that the school sat beside a giant lakeside.

"Neither do I, Kyle... I know some people like school, but I certainly don't think that we do," Kagen agreed with Kyle, following him into the school's giant, long hallway. The hallway was lined with tall lockers, and the floor was littered with other students sitting around, backpacks, notebooks, and just about anything else that was school-related. "On another note... Where did you brother and sister go? I thought that they were walking with us while we were walking to school."

"I honestly don't know... I think they stayed out in the front courtyard," Kyle replied. He turned back around and looked out the front door, seeing Avina and Daniel both standing outside by a bunch of other students. Avina stood with a small ground of others girls; mostly likely all of her friends. Daniel stood with a mixed group of boys and girls; probably most of his friends. "Yeah, they're outside, Kagen."

"Alright then," Kagen continued walking with Kyle through the hallway. He looked around, as if expecting something or someone to show up at any moment. "Where do you think good ol' Red Rocket is?"

Kyle chuckled at what Kagen said. Red Rocket was the nickname of the bully that liked to push Kyle and his friends around a lot. The bully's real name was Joshua Langtide, but Kagen and Kyle liked to call him Red Rocket due to the fact that he had red fur and white racing stripes and star tattoos all over his body. Even though the nickname COULD be considered a cool one, the bully absolutely hated it. "There's no telling. He could be anywhere... I'm sure that he's here today, I just don't know where."

"True. He's probably busy messing with some other people or something... I feel bad for those other people if he IS, though. He's just a big brute..." Kagen said, turning his head to look at Kyle. However, because he wasn't paying attention to where he was going, he quickly wound up crashing into another student. They both wound up falling backwards onto the floor, landing hard on their rear ends.

"Hey, hey! Watch where you're going, fox!" The student growled, giving a angry glare at Kagen. The student appeared to be a jet black bat with large ears. He wore dark tinted sunglasses, a grey sweat-shirt, and grey jeans. He had wild, frizzy hair that seemed to stick out in just about every direction, and he wore two silver ear rings in each ear. His black-silver wings folded angrily against his back. A small glint of silver also came from the bat's hands, although Kyle and Kagen didn't get a good look at what it was.

Kagen stared at the bat for a brief time, somewhat shocked by the bat's appearance. He didn't know why, but he almost felt as if he had met this bat before. He remained slightly, not really knowing what to say to this mysterious bat.

"Well? Are you going to say something or just sit there with that stupid look on your face?" The bat asked with a growl, slowly getting up to his feet. He glared down at Kagen, now towering over him due to the fact that he was standing and Kagen wasn't.

"Hey, you ran into him as well, buddy! It's not all his fault!" Kyle growled at the bat, swinging his arm to the side slightly in anger. "You should watch where you're going, too! Maybe you could have avoided Kagen then!" He studied the bat's face angrily, and was a little bit surprised to see that he could almost recognize the bat's face as well. If he didn't know any better, he could have mistaken the bat for Devin of the Dark Horses gang.

"Oh, great... Now you're just going to stand there with that crazy look on your face as well. Idiots," The bat said with a roll of his eyes. He shoved past Kyle, and continued walking down the hallway without saying another word.

"...Did that guy look as familiar to you as he did to me...?" Kagen asked quietly, turning his head to look at Kyle.

"What? Do you mean the fact that he looked kind of like the Devin guy from the Dark Horses team...?" Kyle asked quietly, walking over to Kagen. He held his hand out to his fox friend, a slightly concerned look in his eye.

"Yeah, exactly," Kagen replied, taking Kyle's hand. He pulled himself up to his feet, using help from Kyle. "There's no way that could be Devin, though... Right?"

"I don't think it could be... I mean, Vice and his team seem to be pretty secret. It would surprise me if they just started appearing in public with no reason..."

"True... I suppose I can understand that. I guess it would be pretty surprising if one of the Dark Horses gang members just showed up in our school, huh?"

"Yeah. I also think it would be very unlikely..."

"Yeah, I agree with that. It would be pretty unlikely," Kagen agreed.

"Hey, are you alright, Kagen? Simon saw you crash into that bat guy," A boy's voice spoke behind them. The voice belonged to a somewhat short, scrawny looking wolf. He had thick fur as white as snow, and he had dark red eyes. Although, his entire eyes were red. They had no pupil or actual eye. There were just what could be the called the whites of his eyes, although they were red instead of white. However, you couldn't see his eyes due to his thick white hair bangs, which covered his arms almost completely from sight. It looked almost as if he had no eyes. Also, he wore a baggy white t-shirt, baggy black jeans, a small black vest over the t-shirt, a red tie, and white and black sneakers.

"Oh, hey, Cas... I didn't see you," Kagen said, turning to look at the white wolf. "It's great to see you. And, yes, I'm alright."

"Hi, Cas! Nice to see you!" Kyle said, also turning to face the wolf. A friendly smile grew on his face quickly. "How have you been doing?"

"I'm glad that you're doing ok, Kagen... And, I've been doing fine, Kyle. I've been trying to help SCP-000 get over his psychotic disorders yet again," Cas replied.

"Oh yeah... I forgot about that. How's SCP doing? Is he still under a bunch of stress?" Kyle asked.

"Yeah, he is... He's still stressed out that none of his doctor appointments are helping him. I can't say I blame him, though..." Cas said. "It's pretty bad right now, Kyle. He was talking to himself all night last night. I swear, it's crazy when he does that. It's almost like he's talking to an entirely different person that's in the room with him!"

"I know... I think I've heard him talk to himself before..." Kyle said, nodding his head slightly. "Do you think he's ok?"

"I honestly don't know. He doesn't seem to have any medical problems... Just this hanging psychotic thing," Cas replied. "He's been to countless doctors, but it doesn't seem to be getting any better."

"Man... I'm sorry to hear that..."

"Yeah, I can't stop worrying about him..."

"Ahem... I'm still here, too, you know..." Kagen said, looking at Kyle and then at Cas. "I mean, I really care about SCP's condition as well, since he's my friend, too... But I'm feeling just a bit left out, guys."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Kagen... I got busy talking..." Kyle tried to apologize, turning to face his fox friend.

"I could see that."

"Uh... Let me guess, you're angry at me, right?" Kyle asked quietly, his ears slowly laying back against his head.

"No, no, not at all, Kyle," Kagen tried to assure his hedgehog friend. "I just felt left out of the conversation."

"We're sorry, Kagen... Do you need to say something?" Cas asked, feeling bad for leaving Kagen out. "Should we just move onto another topic for you?"

"It's whatever you want to do... It would be nice if we could move onto another topic that I can join, though."

"Alright, then let's do that," Cas replied. "Hm... Now... What to say..."

"...You said something about Simon when you first walked up, right?' Kagen asked, trying to think of something to start a conversation with.

"Yes, I did. He's the one that saw you run into that grey bat, but of course, he didn't want to come talk himself, so he just kind of sent me over here," Cas replied.

"Figures. Simon's not very social at all, is he?" Kyle asked.

"No, he isn't social at all. He doesn't even talk to me or SCP very often, even though he's almost always with us," Cas replied.

"Why exactly IS he always with you? Even though he hardly ever talks?" Kagen asked,

"I honestly don't know. I think it's because he's bored and has nothing better to do or something like that... He doesn't have any family to really go see, or at least not any living near his house. Plus, he doesn't have a girlfriend or anything like that to spend time with him... So I think he considers us his friends and hangs out with us almost all the time," Cas said, shrugging his shoulders slightly. "I don't know."

"I guess that could be why... Oh, and, how's his gun training coming along? Simon is the one that keeps all those different guns, right?" Kagen asked, trying to remember if Simon or SCP-000 was the one that liked to use guns all the time.

"Yeah, Simon's the one. He doesn't carry it around here at school, but at home or when we're walking around town together, I swear that he carries a shoulder-bag that is just FULL of those things. He tells me that he has a BUNCH of different types of guns. He even has his own personal shooting range set up at his house," Cas replied.

"Wow... Gun fanatic?" Kyle asked.

"Yep, exactly." Cas turned away from Kyle and Kagen a bit, raising his hand up slightly as if to say bye. "Well... I better go get my books out of my locker... I'm sure school will be starting soon. I'll see you guys later!" With that, he quickly began walking off down the hallway, away from Kyle and Kagen.

"Bye, Cas! See you some other time!" Both of the teenage boys called after the white wolf. Kagen then turned his head to look at Kyle. "Cas is a pretty cool guy, don't you think?"

"Yeah, he is. He's really nice, too," Kyle said with a smile, turning his head to look at Kagen. His ears suddenly stood up when he began hearing a familiar sound; the sound of boots thudding down the hallway, coming towards them. "...Please tell me that's not who I think it is..." Kyle whispered quietly, closing his eyes.

Kagen closed his eyes tightly as well, obviously having the same thought as Kyle. He felt a strong hand grab his shoulder rather tightly, and opened one eye. His ears layed down slowly when he saw that the hand was red with white star tattoos on it. "...Yep... It is..."

"What's up, wimps?" A deep voice asked. The hand and voice belonged to none other than Joshua Langtide. He wore a smirk on his face as he spun grabbed Kyle along with Kagen and spun them both around to face him.

"Leave us alone, Red... We didn't do anything to you," Kyle retorted, an angry frown showing on his face. He stared up at Joshua, who was almost a foot taller than he was. He tried not to feel intimidated by Joshua, but he found that rather difficult.

"You know I hate that little 'Red Rocket' nickname, Waktini." Joshua said, releasing a growl as he said Kyle's last name. He bent over to stare right into Kyle's bright red eyes with his own steel-colored eyes. Kyle felt like he was about to melt under Joshua's stare; it scared him. It really did.

"Oh gosh, I'm in trouble..." Kyle squeaked in fear, not trying to sound sarcastic. He pulled his head down slightly, almost wishing that he could just disappear from sight. He was really scared.

"Why can't you like that nickname, Red...? Doesn't it sound cool to you...?" Kagen asked, fearing for his and Kyle's safety. He was trying desperately to get Joshua to leave them alone, or at least calm down over what Kyle had just said.

"I'm not afraid to hit you along with Waktini, Danny," The bully growled, slowly moving his head to stare at Kagen.

Kagen's ears laid down at the mention of his middle name. Danny. He hated that name, although he never knew why he hated his own middle name. "I don't like that name..."

"Oh, really? Now you know how I feel, wimp." Joshua roughly jerked Kyle and Kagen apart from each other, about to jerk them back together and send them both crashing into each other. Kyle and Kagen braced themselves for impact, closing their eyes tightly. With Joshua's brute strength, this was really, really going to hurt.

"Hey, leave them alone, freak." A male voice spoke. Kyle and Kagen opened their eyes just in time to see a grey-furred hand shoot up and grab Joshua's shoulder tightly. They were surprised to see that the hand had some kind of silver metal hand guard, which meant that the hand basically had metal knuckles.

"What the-" Joshua let go of Kyle and Kagen quickly and turned around, but before he even knew who or what had hit him, the metal covered hand was slammed hard into his face and jaw, knocking him out and down onto the floor.

Kyle and Kagen just stared in shock at the knocked out bully on the floor. That had happened so fast; in a matter of seconds, to be exact. They didn't even really know what in the world had just happened.

"What an ugly freak," The attacker commented, looking down at Joshua. The attacker was none other than the grey bat that had ran into Kagen a short while before. The metal hand guards must have caused the small silver glint that Kyle and Kagen had seen before.

"W-Wait a minute! You're the bat that ran into me! Why are you suddenly helping?!" Kagen asked, utterly shocked.

'Hey, calm down, fox." The bat said flatly, turning to face Kagen. "Just thought I'd help. Big ugly freak didn't know what hit him." He added, slowly taking the hand guards off. He put the guards in his pockets, then raised his head back up to look at Kagen and Kyle. "My name is Trenton."

"Oh... Ok... Nice to meet you then, Trenton..." Kyle replied. This must not be Devin, then... But he sure looked like Devin, though. "Thank you for the help."

Trenton nodded his head, but he didn't say anything back to Kyle. He turned away from them, about to walk off again.

"Hey, wait! You're just going to leave? Just like that?" Kagen asked, somewhat surprised that Trenton was just going to walk away without saying anything else.

"I don't really have anything else to say, I suppose. I'm sorry that I don't," Trenton said, turning his head back slightly to look at Kagen. "I suppose I'll see both of you later in class." He said, before walking off into the hallway.

"...He still kind of reminds me of Devin... Don't you think?" Kyle asked, turning to look at Kagen.

"Yeah, he still does as far as the way he looks... But, if he WAS Devin, then why would he be helping us? He just saved us from the meanest bully in the school," Kagen pointed out.

"True... He really did help us. ...Speaking of that..." Kyle turned his head, looking down at the knocked out bully on the floor. "What should we do about big Red? We shouldn't just leave him here..."

"Uh... Uh... Then how about we take him to the nurse or something...? And tell the nurse that we just found him like this or something?"

Kyle's ears stood up when he began hearing Joshua mumble a bit under his breath. "...No, he's fine... He's waking up..." He said, backing away from the bully slowly.

"...Perhaps we should get out of here before he REALLY wakes up, then..." Kagen said, also backing away from the bully slowly.

Kyle and Kagen both turned and began moving quickly down the hallway, hoping to be far away from Joshua when he actually woke up. They both continued down the hallway quickly, and didn't stop until they reached their classroom.


Class seemed to go by quickly, and luckily, Kyle and Kagen only had one class with Joshua, and he didn't get enough time to do anything to them. However, Kyle and Kagen DID notice that they had quite a few classes with the new mysterious Trenton. The more they looked at him, the more that he began to look like Devin to them, but surely it wasn't the same person, was it...? They didn't believe it was... But it still did make them wonder and hold their guards up slightly.

"Do you think we should talk to him...? Maybe... Maybe he could be our new friend or something. I mean, if we find out that he ISN'T Devin..." Kyle said, walking out of the school front doors with Kagen. It was the end of school.

"Maybe... I don't know if I trust him yet, though. Since he DOES look so much like Devin..." Kagen replied. He turned his head, and noticed that Trenton was sitting a litte ways away on a stone statue in front of the school. He seemed to be studying something written in his notebook. "Speaking of Trenton... There he is."

"Hm... Do you think we should talk to him? I mean, we can keep our guards up... If we discover that he really isn't Devin, then maybe we can ask him to be our friend! We can still be cautious, though..." Kyle said, looking at Kagen.

"Well... I suppose we can talk to him..." Kagen said. He slowly and cautiously walked over to Trenton. "Um... Hello? Trenton, was it...?"

"Yes, that was my name..." Trenton replied quietly, still reading the notebook. He quickly shut it, and then turned himself to face Kyle and Kagen. "Hello again."

"Hello... Again, thanks a lot for saving us from big Red," Kyle said.

"Red... Is that what you call him?" Trenton asked with a small snicker, slowly sliding himself foward and off of the statue. He let himself fall, landing hard and perfectly on his feet.

"Yeah, we call him Red Rocket... He absolutely hates that name," Kagen replied, snickering a bit himself.

"What a big baby," Trenton laughed to himself for a bit more, before staring at Kyle and Kagen with coal black eyes that seemed to stare right through them. Trenton sure was mysterious, alright. "Anyway... Is there something you need from me?"

"No... We just wanted to say hello. You really helped us, so... We were thinking... that maybe we could hang out some time...? Just here at school... You know, as friends or something," Kyle said.

Trenton was silent for a short moment, then he nodded his head slightly. "Sure, I suppose we can do that sometime... Can't hang out right now, though. I'm sure my family is waiting for me to get home."

"Now that you mention it... We should probably be getting home as well." Kagen said, looking at Kyle slightly. "Anyway, I guess we can see you tomorrow, Trenton. Since tomorrow is Tuesday, after all."

"Yeah, I suppose you can. Anyway... Bye now. I have to be going," Trenton said. He turned away from Kyle and Kagen, and walked away, quickly departing from school grounds.

"Well, I think we do need to learn a bit more about him before we say that he's not Devin... I don't think we need to say anything about ourselves to him, though. Just in case he IS Devin," Kyle said, turning to face Kagen.

"Agreed."

"Anyway... Maybe we should head home now... I just need to get my brother and sister," Kyle said. He turned away from Kagen, looking at his brother and sister, who were standing near the entrance of the school; talking to friends as usual. "Daniel! Avina! Kagen and I are going home now! Are you two coming? Or are you going to stay here and talk for a while?"

Avina said good bye to her friends quickly, then she turned to face her golden furred brother. "I'm coming, Kyle! I don't know about Daniel, but I'm coming!" She quickly jogged down the school steps and over to Kyle and Kagen.

"I'm coming as well..." Daniel called. He also said good bye to his friends, then he slowly walked over to meet up with his family and Kagen.

"Alright then... So we're going home in a little group, then," Kyle said, turning to walk away from the giant school.

"Hey, wait a minute." Avina said, squinting her eyes. She could see a quick moving person coming towards their location. The closer the person got, the more that she began to realize that the person looked like a tiger-lynx; I2.

"I2...? What could see be doing there...?" Kyle said, more to himself that anyone he was standing next to. There was a good amount of concern and slight worry in his voice. "I2, did something happen? What's wrong?" Kyle asked when the female tiger-lynx stopped in front of them quickly.

"Kyle, Ruby is gone. I can't find her anywhere," I2 said, getting a reaction of pure shock from the golden hedgehog and his family and friend.

"Ruby's gone?! What happened to her?!" Kyle asked along with the other three people with him. They were all shocked at the fact that Ruby was apparently missing.

"I don't know. All I know is that she's missing."

"Well, we have to find her, then! We have to look for her!" Kyle exclaimed, worried about Ruby's safety now. He quickly ran off into the distance, apparently not stopping to wait for anyone else.

"Kyle, wait! We can help you!" Kagen called out before following Kyle as quickly as he possibly could.

Kyle didn't know what could have happened to Ruby, but now he was very determined to find her and make sure that she was alright. He didn't know what could have possibly happened...