Chapter four
(Sept 19th Friday)

It was two more days until the rain had finally stopped. The students who had decided to play sick were found out and school was becoming more-less normal again. From Saturday through Sunday the students were allowed off campus, and could virtually go anywhere they wanted to. They were however given special injections of a tacking fluid, as to ensure they did not get lost or were gone too long. It was not a painful process, and the liquid was not harmful, but the students did not enjoy the lack of privacy it made.

On Friday though it was a nice day. Grace enjoyed it a bit more for the reason of her switching her art-class with gym. This gave her two sets of gym, but she did not mind after the bore she found in her art-class.

As usual, Rynk was there too.

“Hey Grace!” She waved in her cheerful disposition.

Grace was getting a bit ticked at Rynk showing up every single time something like this happened. Well… not every time. Every time but one. It was getting a bit weird.

“Are you following me, Rynk?” Grace asked, trying to sound more confused than annoyed.

“Nope. I’ve always had two gym-classes. I LOVE P.E. Especially the rope-climbing.” It was true. Rynk was fairly good at it as well. Anything involving running jumping and especially climbing would have her all over it. You could tell by the light grey T-shirt she wore that stated brightly “PARKOUR”.

The shirt seemed to erk the vixen. It was a loud shirt, a statement shirt. “Don’t you think that’s a bit… overkill?”

“Huh?” The lynx gave a confused stare, one ear flattening and the other standing upright.

“The shirt. Its…”

Rynk quickly checked herself frantically. “I-It’s not showy or something is it?”

“W- No! No, no.” Grace spun her head about, looking for the words. “Er… I dunno it just looks… over-trendy, like you’re trying hard to fit in or something.”

“It does? How many people like parkour?”

“Well it’s pretty popular CURRENTLY, again a trend.”

“Oh… I’ve just been a parkourist for a while and I thought I’d put it on a shirt since I liked it. Should I change or something?”

Grace waited for an offended tone to arise but all the lynx seemed to chord was a confused one. Rynk was genuinely unaware of how this looked… or was Grace blowing it out of proportions?

The vixen glanced around to the other students to see if anyone was starring. They did not seem to be. Perhaps it was just her? Well it stood out to her, and she certainly thought it could be improved. At the moment it did not seem to be a large enough issue so it did not need further addressing. However Grace did wonder where Rynk got the shirt.

“Where’d you get it? Did you have it when you got here?”

“… I just asked if I should change it but okay. I got it from the school with credits. O-Oh!” Rynk half-grinned, “I started a lingust class-“

“You mean linguistics?” Grace corrected.

“Yeah that word,” Rynk chuckled, “I’m learning English now… trying to. It’s kind of hard.”

“That’s nice I guess… wait what were we…”

“Shirts I think.”

The two were called further into the group of students for P.E. before the conversation could continue. There was a group game that the instructor, Mr. Zkizophertosian, whose name no one could remember, said that every student had to play at least once. It was called Dodge-ball.

“Uh… I’m guessing it involves balls that you dodge but what’s this game?” Rynk asked.

Grace was a bit off-guard for this one. “You…’ve… never played Dodge-ball?”

“Neeeeeeeeeope.”

“Why?”

“Didn’t get the time, wasn’t around many people, bleeding to death, running, parkou-“

“Wait, wait, wait. Bleeding to death?” Grace tried to not look at the anklet on Rynk’s foot that would always weird her out by the amount of blood stained onto it.

“Kidding, mostly. So what’s this game?” Rynk said. With a straight face she said it, though Grace did not believe her. Sadly it was too late, because Rynk had already changed the subject.

“Well uh…” Grace scratched her head. “Well I don’t know if we’re doing the circle way or the one where we’re all against a wall, but basically one person… or more have a ball, and they try to hit the other people with it. If you catch a ball thrown at you the person who threw it is out, if it hits you you’re out, and if it misses you can pick it up and throw it at someone else… just make sure you through it at the opposite side.”

“Really? Cool. When we sta-“ *RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!* And the game began.

A red-blur when right over Rynk’s head. Her very large ears fell just in time to not be hit, but it went straight into Grace’s face instead.

When the ball stopped sticking to Grace’s face, she took on a scowl that gave the perfect impression of what her next action would be. The student who threw it, was too busy laughing.

Grace slowly clutched the ball in her hands, her fingers digging well into its rubbery surface, stepped back, then leaped forward, sending the ball hurdling straight into the lower stomach of the boy.

And the games began.

Grace herself was doing very well at hitting every single student on the opposite side before they could even aim at her, while Rynk was simply trying to dodge what she could. She was surviving fairly, but then a ball came straight at her face.

In a split-second, Rynk had back-flipped into the air, and was currently standing on the side of the wall as if she was spider-girl. In short, the ball missed.

“CHEATER!!” A student yelled as he launched a fire-ball at Rynk from his hand. Rynk simply caught it in the palm of her hand, squeezed it hard, and defused it. She landed, then with a glare, walked up to the boy and held up her hand for him to see the burned-through skin, revealing metal bones completely untouched.

“You wanna do that again, sewgut?” She hissed. The boy make a muffled nose-blowing of a laugh, not caring about the insult, and finding it less than intimidating. He was less than phased.

“What’s going on here?” The instructor blared as he walked over.

“Hotshot decided to blast a fireball at me because I was walking on the walls.” Rynk informed. Her tone was becoming much darker, much less chipper than her normal tone. Her voice seemed almost as if it was a different person’s.

“You can’t walk on the walls!” The boy yelled angrily.

“Why not?” The lynx-girl questioned with a toothy-half-snarl. “I’m sure you could’ve hit me- oh wait you DID!”

The instructor remained silent until deciding upon his next action. “Whether or not climbing walls is against the rules, attacking another student definitely is. Now for the time being walking on the walls should be fine, but let’s avoid the ceiling. Wanna keep it fair. Understood?”

The boy was not pleased but nodded. Rynk kept her glare on the student but nodded her head also. Grace could not decide whether to strangle the boy, or if Rynk was overreacting… both, she thought to herself.

The instructor began to walk off before Grace called out “Uh, Coach, her hand’s kinda burned through!”

The instructor had not noticed an actual injury, and quickly turned around, taking Rynk by the hand and examined the wound.

“I’m FINE!” Rynk tugged her hand free and walked off a bit. The instructor put her out of the first round, and sent her to the nurse regardless. When Rynk came back into the sport, her hand was back to normal health again.

“Metal bones, sticks to walls, regenerates. Any more powers?” Grace called to her. Rynk was too busy throwing rubber balls to hear her, which was of course what she wanted Grace to think, and of course Grace saw through it.

“No one with ears that big would not be able to hear that.” She muttered under her breath.

Eventually Grace noticed Rynk’s attitude become less dark, and she got back to her smiling side soon enough. After the class was over, Grace approached the lynx.

“You okay, Rynk?” Grace asked as they wiped off some sweat with a few wet towels.

“Me? Fine. Why?” Rynk inquired, completely oblivious.

“Well you kinda went darkside on that kid. I mean, yeah he was a jerk, but-“

“I didn’t hurt him. I just showed him what his ‘gifts’ can cause.” Rynk started to walk off, slightly ticked, but Grace grabbed her shoulder lightly.

“Rynk, what’s wrong? Did something happen?” Grace couldn’t really believe she was trying to comfort Rynk. Not that she was a mean person, just the fact that she wasn’t use to being the supportive one in their little Duo. But Rynk’s face was angry, and this was not close to what Grace had seen before.

“Nothing, happened. I just don’t like him.” Rynk shrugged Grace off and walked off.

“What was that about?” Grace thought to herself. She did not know enough about the lynx to make a valid assumption. Rynk never spoke about her lifestyle, parents, finances, family; anything. It caused Grace a brief amount of irritation, wishing she knew more, but she had to ask herself ‘Why do I care?’

Grace did not care much before. She still saw the lynx as a somewhat annoyance. Was it just curiosity, or was it concern? A short, yet slightly devious idea sprouted for Grace about sneaking in and getting Rynk’s file, though she imagined it would be much harder to get Rynk to ignore it if she did. But then the school would probably kick Grace out. She did not want that risked.

The next day…

Saturday was a nice time. The school was much less crowded, much less loud, and perfect for exploring, getting ahead in school for, and of course, sleeping. A lot of the students were gone, but a few stayed behind.

Grace woke up at TEN A.M. and though she did want to run off for the day, she also was extremely curious about what was up with Rynk. She sadly did not know where her dorm room was, and spent an hour searching for her.

As she walked she saw the Australian fox, Craiger, walk by, and quickly turned her head away from him. He noticed her, but walked on.

She found Rynk outside, climbing up the side of the building. There was one other student doing the same. Grace assumed it was a spider-mobian, or some anti-gravity-type, but they were both getting out of view so she quickly yelled “RYNK! YO!!”

Yo? She wouldn’t be repeating that word any time soon.

Rynk quickly looked down while yanking herself upward, causing her arm to shift just enough to the side to miss her mark. She began to fall but quickly used her feet and claws to latch on to the wall again. The force of her body suddenly stopping caused her to lose her grip however with a slight stinging pain adding on to this, and she fell slamming knee and foot onto the pavement. It caused a small crack on the floor with Rynk repeating “ow” under her breath as she rose up. She shrugged it off, and turned to Grace. “Wazzup?”

“Rynk, what got you so upset yesterday? And can we talk inside? The sun’s really bright.”

“You’re not gonna let up about that I’m guessing?” The lynx sighed.

“Nope.”

Rynk sighed then started inside, motioning for Grace to follow. Rynk leaned up against a wall with her arms crossed and said “What do you want to know?”

“What did he do that got you so ticked off?” Grace asked again, getting slightly annoyed by all the repeating of that question.

“Aside from jump to conclusions, yell at me, attack me, use his powers illegally, and looking ugly?” Rynk asked teasingly, though her face was more annoyed. “He just reminded me of someone.”

“Who?”

Rynk looked up at Grace then down again. “Grace, I don’t exa-“ Rynk could not finish her sentence because Grace was currently hiding behind her back now. Rynk turned her head around the school and saw Craiger walking by.

“Honestly! What’s so wrong about a cute ausey guy?! I don’t even have those on my dimension!” She questioned as she removed her hiding-place position. “… Wait he’s from Gei si- oh whate- !” Grace was already gone. “Grace?” Rynk turned her head and saw Grace walking up to a teenage-aardwolf male student.

Rynk curiously follows of course. “Hi.” Rynk waves with her cheerful-self coming back.

“Hello.” The wolf greeted in a slightly shy, yet socialable tone.

“Do you know him, Grace?” Rynk inquired.

“Uh yeah… y- you could say that.” Grace answered nervously. She did not want to go one about their past, but Dante apparently did not know that.

“I used to know Grace from a long time ago. Back when she was uh…” Dante realized himself that this was not a good topic, but Rynk had already guessed part of the truth.

“living on the streets?” Rynk asked. Both of them turned their attention to her a bit more just then.

“How did you…” Grace was half surprised only by this seeing how Rynk had made a few hints about knowing already, but she did not expect it so soon.

“Imma guess you two were friends back when you lived with parents, then you either moved, or ran away maybe? And met up again, then left ‘cause one of you did something wrong?”

Both mobians froze. Only one conclusion arose. Rynk had already known about them years ago, or at least looked them up, or something. But when asked, her reply was simply “I’m imaginative… wait I got it right?”

Grace did not believe Rynk was really THAT imaginative. No one could be. Right?

“… I really did guess that.” Rynk repeated. “I knew a lot of people with stories like that. Mine’s not too far off anyway.” Dante was about to question this further when Craiger walked up to them.

“G’day mate, Sheela, and Croikey.” He chuckled. Grace cringed at the greeting, grumbling to herself “Two of them now…”

“Another new friend?” Dante questioned.

Craiger chuckled. “Hardly. G-R-A- er I mean,” Craiger remembered the tongue-threat and decided to lay off the joke for his own good, “Grace gave me a somewhat wide birth.”

“I know that feelin-“ Dante was pulled aside by Grace before he could finish. The female fox and male wolf turned aside from the others to their own private conversation.

As they chatted, Rynk and Craiger had a small chat as well.

“So… does she still hate me?” Craiger inquired in a slightly sincere tone.

“You only met yesterday. Don’t get too upset, she was having a bad day.” Rynk said with a nudge.

“True…” The fox agreed. They waited until Dante and Grace finished their conversation then approached them.

“Anyone up for some burgers?” Craiger offered. “Off-Campus of course, that is unless you’ve got classes.”

“I’m up for it.” Dante shrugged.

“Me too.” Rynk seconded.

“I’m out.” Grace sighed.

“Me too.” Rynk seconded.

“Wait, you don’t have to stay because of me, Rynk.” Grace assured.

“Yeah I do.” Rynk chuckled. “You’re my only friend in this school.”

“So you’re going to choose me over some cute Australian fox, and my old… f-friend?” Grace had to force friend in there. She was still recovering from having Dante back in her literal life.

“Oh so I’m cute again?” Craiger teased.

“I WAS TALKING THROUGH RYNK’S VIEW!” Grace snapped. Craiger took a step back. She turned to Rynk again. “Seriously. I’ll be okay. Go have fun.”

Grace turned to leave, but Rynk still followed. Craiger and Dante had walked off. Grace didn’t even notice Rynk still being there for a second.

She turned around and felt an all too familiar feeling. Both of them did. It was more than a week ago that Grace attempted to ditch Rynk rather abruptly, so why was it she always wanted to be around Grace? Was it a big-sister kind of deal? Grace was at least two years older than Rynk, so it could be possible, and Rynk was almost always alone when not with Grace, or when finding a brief play-mate, which did not happen too often.

“Rynk, what is it that makes you want to stay around me? Do you want me to say I’m sorry?” Grace pleaded.

“Well an apology wouldn’t be exactly a bad thing I guess,” Rynk answered, “but I just like being with you. Well that and you wanted to talk the first time before the boys butted in… Oh! That and I’m wondering when you’re finally going to stop looking at my anklet and ask what it’s about.”

Grace looked up with guilty eyes. “You noticed, huh?”

“Actually everyone stares at it.” Rynk muttered. “But it’s better than starring at something else.”

Grace nodded. “So what IS the story about that?”

“What can I say?” Rynk shrugged. “I’m a street Urchin…” The lynx turned aside with a bewildered look on her face. “Wow… never actually called it that before… huh.”

It hit Grace but softly. She did not consider this option immensely but it hardly surprised her. She was only barely familiar with the term “street urchin” so she had to clarify. “Like… live on the streets-type person.”

“Yep, me. All my life. No parents. No frien- well… mostly no friends. I even had a little vigilante-name.” Rynk informed.

“Vigilante? You’re a super-hero too?” Grace asked in disbelief.

Rynk chuckled though this sounded more like a cynical chuckle, a sarcastic chuckle. “Hardly.” She said in a droll tone. “I just beat up people that tried to wrong me. I’d make little moon shapes on them after I wasted em as my calling card I guess you could say.”

Rynk…a murderer, and street urchin. How did this compute? Grace sure didn’t know. She did know however that this creeped her out. It felt a bit like the feeling someone would get in a mystery, a horror. You search for the killer only to find that they have been the person around you the most… and Rynk did seem a bit on the obsessive side around Grace.

To say the least, Grace took a step back. “What’s wrong?” Rynk asked with a concerned tone.

“You killed people?” Grace asked lightly. She was no stranger to seeing death, even causing harm, but… she did not expect…

“Not on purpose!” Rynk defended. She could see what was happening with Grace’s mind, how the perspectives had changed. She needed to convince her. “I had to survive! They attacked me! They were trying to put me back in… in…” Rynk shuddered with her eyes shut tight as if it was getting extremely cold inside.

“Back in?” Grace new she shouldn’t press more, but she did.

“… Never mind. I’ll… I’ll see you tomorrow I guess.” And with that, Rynk walked off. Grace didn’t chase after her. She knew that Rynk would probably just get mad or hostile. She didn’t blame her. Whatever happened during Rynk’s life was not pleasant, and Grace knew unpleasant.