Orange and red painted the sky, an assortment of pink and purple clouds accompanying the end of another day. The evening wasn't busy at all, no cars ever passing by as a young fox, around 16 years old, lay in the street, gazing up at the majesty hovering overhead. As a cloud began to blot the sun, the boy closed his eyes, thinking about the days that had come to pass.
Just yesterday, the boy was sitting in class, a junior in high school, working on some homework with the extra time the teacher gave the students in class, wanting to get it done so he wouldn't have to worry about it at home. He had a black tipped tail and black tipped ears to accompany his blonde fur. He wore a pair of jeans and a basic baseball tee, the arms red and the body charcoal gray. As he worked, a couple classmates came up to him. ``Hey, Mike!'' one of them piped up. The boy looked up at them with a smile, his red and green eyes lit up. ``Hi there,'' he said happily. ``I was wondering about this question...'' they handed him their work to look over what they could be doing wrong. Mike chuckled a little and showed them, ``You're just messing up on the simple math is all,'' he said as he pointed to his own work on that question. Soon enough, more students came up to Mike and they all crowded around, the conversation derailing off the schoolwork and into discussions of school politics, fashion trends, typical high schooler worries. Mike enjoyed hearing their conversations as he started getting back to work, keeping one ear on the discussion and the rest of his focus on his work. Just as Mike finished, the bell rang and it was time to go to the next class. Almost immediately, everyone scurried like mice back to their desks to collect their things and rush off to class. It was looking like an awesome morning, and potentially a great day for Mike.
Soon enough, the bell rang for lunch, Mike heading out to his usual lunch spot. He was a little surprised to see some of his classmates waiting there already for him, but he beamed and giggled a little as he went to join them. ``So, anyone else have a hard time with Mr. Schumer's exam?'' a jaguar asked before stuffing his face with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. ``I think most of us had a hard time,'' came another's voice, a tiger said, the girl munching on some leftover spaghetti while eyeing Mike. ``Well, except for him.'' Mike chuckled a bit as he replied, ``It wasn't really that hard...was it?'' before digging into his own meal, a school lunch, but it wasn't bad. ``No, only if you're a dummy like those two,'' another fox remarked, the group laughing a bit. Mike was about to take another bite of his meal before his eyes wandered a bit, seeing a girl sitting alone, eating lunch and looking a bit flustered. He stared a bit at her, having never seen her before. She was a red furred wolf, with flowing black hair and blue eyes, wearing a blue striped sweater and what looked like gray sweatpants. Suddenly, there was a tiger's paw waving in his face and he jumped a little. ``Hey, Mike, did you fall asleep with your eyes open?'' she asked. He started blushing and he shook his head. ``S-sorry, kinda spaced out there,'' he said, the jaguar looking over in the direction he was looking, immediately spotting the girl and he looked back at Mike. ``Looks like you just became a lovesick puppy,'' he teased, ruffling his head as the other two looked and made cooing noises. Mike pouted a little at that. ``Hey, hey, go talk to her,'' the tiger said, giving him a nudge in that direction. ``Wh-what? I can't do that! I don't even know her!'' he exclaimed, blushing immensely as everyone tried getting him going. ``Well, there's a first time for everything,'' the other fox boy said, smacking Mike's rump to get him going. He yelped at that and covered himself fast. ``All right, all right!'' he glared a little at him, walking in the direction of the girl.
As he approached, the girl saw him from the corner of her eye and started to look a little defensive. Mike was blushing quite a bit as he walked up to her. ``H-hi...'' he said sheepishly, the girl slowly looking up from her meal into his eyes. They said nothing for a moment before Mike gulped a little and asked, ``M-may I sit down?'' She nodded slowly, her red fur unable to hide her own blush as he sat there next to her. ``M-My name is Mike,'' he said, feeling a bit flustered himself as he rubbed the back of his head. ``H-hello...'' the girl answered back. ``My name's Carmen...'' Mike started blushing more, not thinking he would even get this far. ``Why did you come over here?'' she asked him. ``W-well, I...'' he started to answer. ``I-I saw you were lonely and I didn't want you to be.'' She looked at him again, saying nothing but a small smile started to cross her face before she finally said, ``Th-thank you.'' Mike gave her a sheepish grin. ``If... if it doesn't bother you, I'd love to know more about you,'' he said. ``I... I would like to know more about you too,'' she said with a blush, reaching out and taking a hold of Mike's paw. He looked down at that, a little embarrassed but smiling happily.
As the two started talking, the room got quiet. Mike blinked at that and looked around, his eyes landing on a small group looking directly at them: they were all wolves, one of them staring at them menacingly. He was brown, wearing some rather fancy clothes, dress slacks and a suit. He smirked darkly at the two. Carmen's eyes lowered, Mike noticing as the three walked over to them. ``So, looks like the creep finally has a friend,'' the leader said, his gaze focused on Carmen. Mike looked at her, his eyes widened at the remark as Carmen said nothing. ``I thought I told you that you were meant to be alone, girl,'' the wolf pressed, leaning into her with a devious smirk. Mike just stared at them, listening to the wolf continue to tease and belittle Carmen before taking a deep breath. ``C-come on, Carmen,'' Mike said, standing up and helping her up. ``Let's go somewhere else.'' The wolf smirked. ``Oh, where do you think you are going?'' he asked, patting Carmen hard on the head and making her grunt a little. Mike started to growl a little but just as he was going to take Carmen away from there, the wolf flipped her lunch out of her paws, sending it careening to the ground. Mike's right paw balled up into a fist as the wolf laughed. ``What a klutz!'' he exclaimed as he started walking, only to be stopped when he felt a paw grab his arm. He looked back to see Mike there, an angry look on his face. ``What do you want, kid?'' he remarked, wrestling his arm out of Mike's grip. ``Apologize to her, and buy her a new lunch,'' he said firmly to the wolf, who responded in turn with a chilling chuckle. ``Oh look! The freak has a knight in shining armor!'' he exclaimed, ribbing his two friends who started laughing with him. ``Listen kid, you want to be a hero, that's all fine and dandy. But...'' he narrowed his eyes at Mike and leaned in. ``You're barking up the wrong tree.'' Mike replied with, ``I don't think I am. I'm not going to stand here and let you be a bitch to anyone just because you feel like it.'' One of the other wolves whistled and looked over at his leader, the insult seeming to make the smirk even stronger. ``Oho, you're definitely looking for a fight,'' he said, looking around. ``You hear that?! Someone wants a fight with me!'' He then looked back at Mike and grabbed him by his collar. ``Perhaps we haven't met. I'm Arikado,'' he said. ``I happen to be the son of the city commissioner, and you are rabble.'' Mike growled a little and chopped Arikado's paws to get him to let go. ``I wouldn't even care if you were a king!'' he retorted. ``You will not treat people with disrespect for your sick kicks!'' Arikado rubbed his paws and growled a little. ``Oh?'' he got a little closer to him. ``I dare you to take your best shot, then. Because that's the only shot you're going to be able to take.'' Mike's eyes narrowed, the two looking to be at a standstill there, the whole room silent for a few moments as the two felt the tension between them getting ready to burst.
``What's going on here?'' came a voice from the doorway of the lunchroom. Given the whole room was in silence prior, the entire room looked over at the doorway to see a red dragon wolf with blue streaks in his fur. ``Mr. Adams!'' one kid exclaimed. Things were bad enough that a fight was looming overhead, but now the principal was standing right there! Arikado looked back at Mike with a devious smirk, then started walking over to Inferno. ``Oh, Mr. Adams!'' he exclaimed. ``It's such a tragedy! That kid over there is trying to pick a fight with me!'' he pointed straight at Mike, who grunted a little at this. ``Mike?'' Mr. Adams looked in the direction Arikado was pointing. ``Yes sir! I was just passing by with my friends when that clumsy girl dropped her lunch and he wants me to buy her a new one! Now, I would have been more than willing to buy it if they had asked nicely, but he just started demanding I buy her a new lunch! And I was going to tell him to ask nicely, but he won't have it! Now he wants a fight with me! I'm not one to want to get others in trouble, but I just want this to stop!'' Mike grunted a little to himself as he heard this, looking around at the rest of the students in the lunchroom. Not a one, not even the classmates he was having lunch with before could even look him in the eyes, just away with grave expressions. His eyes widened a little noticing this and he looked at Carmen, who could only look down and sniffle a little. `They're scared...' he started thinking. `They don't dare contradict him...and he's the accuser, how can I fight that...' His thoughts were broken by the sound of the principal's voice calling to him. ``Mike,'' he said a little firmly. The boy looked over at him, a little scared. ``Is that true?'' he asked. Mike's mouth stayed a little open. More than anything, he wanted to explain that that wasn't the case. That Arikado was lying to him to save his own skin. But... what could he do if nobody else was going to back him up? He slowly lowered his head, refusing to answer. Mr. Adams sighed at that, seeing that as admission of guilt. ``Come with me,'' he said sternly, turning and walking out of the lunchroom. Mike gulped as he followed, the room remaining in dead silence. He took one look back to his classmates, who still couldn't bear to look him in the eyes, then at Carmen, who slowly picked up her ruined lunch to throw it away, looking like she was going to cry, and he took a sigh, exiting the lunchroom to follow Mr. Adams to his office.
Mike stood across the desk from his principal, finding it hard to look in his eyes as the man watched him. ``Mike, what were you thinking?'' he lightly scolded him. ``You've never acted this way since I've known you as a freshman.'' Mike winced a little as he listened to him. ``I'm honestly really surprised at you, kid,'' Mr. Adams continued. ``And very disappointed. You know better than that. I know you do.'' Mike sighed a little at that. ``Y-yes sir...'' he finally replied. ``Now...as for your punishment...do you have any plans after school?'' Mr. Adams asked, to which Mike replied with, ``I-I was supposed to be helping the seniors out with their float for homecoming,'' he said, rubbing his arm. ``Well...you're going to have to change your plans,'' he said. ``You have detention after school with me.'' Mike winced at that and slowly nodded. ``Y-yes sir...I'm sorry...'' he said. ``There's no need to apologize,'' Mr. Adams answered. ``I'm sure this was a one time thing, but you know I cannot let it slide.'' Mike said nothing at that, the bell ringing for passing period. ``Now, go back to class. I will see you after school.'' With a sigh, Mike turned and walked out, heading to class in silence.
After school, Mike sat in the middle of the detention room, Mr. Adams at the desk and keeping an eye on the kid as he worked on what little homework he had left. Once he had finished, he looked out the window from where he was sitting and sighed. `Today's not my day,' he thought as he rest his head on the desk. He soon felt himself closing his eyes, nodding off for a moment before he felt himself being shaken by Mr. Adams. ``Hey kiddo, it's time to go home,'' he said. ``Detention is over.'' Mike stretched a little as he sat up, looking at the time. Definitely, detention was over. He yawned and got up, the principal watching Mike as he stepped out of the room, a bit groggy but well enough to start the journey home.
The next day, Mike found himself back in class, thinking about the day before. He sighed a bit, working again on his homework since the teacher gave them time again. ``M-Mike...'' one of his classmates came up to him and he looked at her. ``W-we're sorry we didn't stand up for you,'' she said. ``We all feel terrible about what happened yesterday. We all know you got detention when you didn't deserve it.'' Mike gave her a comforting smile. ``It's okay, Jess,'' he said. ``I can't be mad at you guys. I know you didn't want to see me punished.'' She cracked a small smile as she went back to her desk. He had to admit, though, it still kind of bothered him that nobody even tried to help him. He would have spoken up if he knew others would've vouched for him. He sighed and went back to his work. ``Well, well,'' came a very unwanted voice from the doorway, Arikado standing there and walking over to Mike's desk, the class going silent again. Mike saw him and grunted a little, lowering his head and going back to his homework. Unfortunately, the teacher had stepped out for a moment to make copies for her next class, which was probably when Arikado picked his moment. ``What a naughty, naughty boy!'' he teased, patting Mike on the head roughly. Mike tried to do his best to ignore him, simply keeping his eyes on his homework. Arikado lowered himself down to Mike's level with a smirk. ``What did I tell you?'' he remarked while staring at Mike. ``You can't beat me. I get what I want.'' Mike didn't say anything as he kept working. Though he could feel Arikado getting closer to his face, that horrid smirk appearing in the corner of his eye. ``Admit it, you want to hurt me so bad,'' he said. ``But you know you can't! You know why? Because I'm above you.'' Mike replied in turn with silence, focusing only on his work, though it was feeling like the seconds were becoming hours as he felt Arikado's eyes like daggers. Suddenly, he saw his book fly off his desk and land on the floor with a thud, Arikado having shoved it off to assert himself. Mike sighed to himself, but remained silent as he got up to get his book. As he did, his homework went flying next. Mike closed his eyes for a moment, but started picking stuff up where it landed while Arikado knelt down to his eye level. ``That's right, you little bitch. All you can do is this,'' he said to Mike, the fox taking a moment to look at Arikado, into his eyes. He could tell his silence was absolutely pissing Arikado off. Then the bell rang, time for passing period for everyone to head to their next class. Mike simply got up and put his things in his backpack, slung it over his shoulder, and headed to the door. He stopped for a moment to say, ``It's nice to see you're doing well, Arikado.'' He then walked out to go to his next class. At lunch, he tried looking for Carmen, but he couldn't seem to find her, his heart sinking a little.
Later that day, after school, the whole school was pumped; homecoming game was tomorrow and everyone was excited for this evening's pep rally. Mike had volunteered his time to try and help with preparations, since he felt guilty about leaving the seniors hanging the day before. As he got ready for the pep rally, he was met by one of his teachers, a tabby named Ms. Wilson. ``Hey Michael,'' she said warmly, sitting next to him. ``I've heard you've been having a rough time.'' He looked at her and gave her a small smile but sighed with a nod. She rubbed his head, saying, ``You'll be okay, kid. High school can be hard, but it's not a permanent thing.'' He smiled a little at that. ``Th-thanks,'' he said, Ms. Wilson nodding with a smile. ``Well, I have to get ready for the relay, though I wish they wouldn't do it anymore,'' she blushed a bit. ``I fall down every time.'' Mike laughed a little at that. ``What's so funny?'' she asked, puzzled. ``It's my first time at one of these,'' he said. ``I wouldn't mind seeing that.'' She gasped and lightly noogied him, making him yip. ``I never figured you to have a mean streak!'' she replied, though she was smiling brightly. ``I'm glad I could make you feel a bit better, kiddo.'' Mike nodded at that and let his eyes scan the audience coming in as Ms. Wilson got up to go. He sighed a bit to himself, kind of relieved he didn't see Arikado there, but still didn't see Carmen. `I hope something didn't happen to her...' he thought as he started up the gym stereo system to get some music going while everyone waited for the rally to begin.
Once the rally was over, Mike started heading home, a small smile on his face. Indeed, watching Ms. Wilson fall flat on her face, though he felt bad for laughing afterwards, was a rather... interesting pick-me-up, and everyone there was so cheerful it was hard not to feel it rub off on him. Mike sighed a bit to himself, looking up at the sky as he walked home. It was starting to get sunset, the fall wind blowing by. Suddenly, a sharp pain entered the right side of the back of his head, making him grunt and rub the spot as he heard a clatter on the pavement of the road he was walking on. He looked down in the direction of the noise, then his eyes followed the direction it came from until... there he was again. Arikado, this time with those goons of his again. Just like at lunch the day before, the wolf stood there with a smirk, though much darker than before. `H-he followed me...' Mike thought as his eyes widened. Arikado took one step toward him, resuming the taunts from earlier. ``You really think you can ignore me, dumbass?'' he asked, the goons giggling a bit at their prey. Mike grunted a little and winced. ``I don't take lightly to being ignored,'' Arikado continued, getting closer to Mike. ``Only bitches ignore me, but then, I suppose that's to be expected.'' Mike felt his left brow furrow, lowering his head. ``And now you refuse eye contact when I expect you to give me that respect?'' Arikado demanded with a sharp whistle. ``Boy, you're pushing me to my limit.'' Mike closed his eyes, feeling like he was unable to control his own body as he felt it slowly take his backpack off his shoulders, dropping it on the ground. ``Is that a challenge, boy?'' Arikado noticed, his smirk beginning to warp into a snarl. Mike finally raised his head, his face expressing nothing but the utmost loathing spirit rising within him. ``I'm pushing YOU to your limit?'' he asked, his eyes narrowing. ``You're so stupid, you can't even make any good taunts, you disgusting piece of trash!'' The goons had long stopped their laughter, their faces gone blank as they watched the two. Arikado began to roll up a sleeve. ``Oh, this is going to be fun...'' he said. ``I'm gonna kick your ass so bad your own parents won't even recognize you when I'm through!'' Mike's right paw balled into a fist. ``You're gonna have to stop me first!'' he shouted, throwing that fist right at Arikado. The wolf simply lifted a paw and caught the fist, Mike's eyes flinching as Arikado stared him down. His eyes appeared almost red now, giving Mike's fist a little twist, causing his arm to follow and he felt his knees buckled a little. Next thing Mike knew, a sharp pain entered his groin as Arikado rammed his leg right into it, causing Mike to double over. Mike started shuddering a bit now, feeling very sick suddenly. After a few moments, he couldn't take it anymore and finally threw up from the kick, his vomit splashing a bit on Arikado's shoes and pants. The wolf growled and flinched at that, glaring at the fox as he reared a fist back. ``You little punk!'' he barked, lifting Mike's head and landing a solid punch to his left eye, effectively sending him down onto the ground. Before Mike had a chance to react, Arikado's group pounced on him, grabbing him by his arms and holding him there as Arikado walked over and straddled his chest, his face devoid of anything but wrath as he started to pummel Mike's face, not giving him a moment to breath as a left fist struck Mike's nose, then a right into the side of his face. All Mike could do was squirm helplessly there, grunting and yelping while he felt different parts of his face experience dull and sharp pains, then his nose began to feel wet as one more punch broke it, making it bleed, Mike's ability to struggle fading fast. Soon enough, Mike could only just lay there as he watched fists flying into his face. He could feel his sight beginning to darken, each punch making it harder for him to remain conscious. Just as he felt his spirit fade away, he could barely see, but Arikado seemed to stop himself from throwing the next punch. The two wolves holding him looked at Arikado in confusion. The leader of the pack dropped his fist, saying, ``I've gotten tired of beating a wimp that can't even fight back.'' He slowly got up off the limp fox, staring down at him with a blank expression. ``You talked big game, and I knew you couldn't follow through, but I was really hoping you would make things interesting,'' he said, raising a foot and driving it straight into Mike's stomach, grinding it a little there for a moment before pulling it off and turning to walk away. ``We're going,'' he said, now heading off, his goons getting up and following him.
Orange and red painted the sky, an assortment of pink and purple clouds accompanying the end of another day. The evening wasn't busy at all, no cars ever passing by as a young fox, around 16 years old, lay in the street, gazing up at the majesty hovering overhead. Mike breathed heavily, coughing up a bit of blood as he turned his head over to the right. A wilted flower stared back at him, a lifetime of sitting in the sun with no protection or care having come to an end. He then turned his head once more, looking back into the beautiful sky above. He could feel his breathing slowing. As a cloud began to blot the sun, he started closing his eyes, thinking about the days that had come to pass, slowly losing consciousness.
``...h...kid...'' Mike began to hear a voice calling to him, his eyes slowly starting to open lightly. The assortment of colors painting the sky had long faded, a dark blue hovering now in the moonlight. There was a silhouette there, calling for his name. It almost sounded like his principal. ``Mike...can you hear me...'' the voice was a little stronger this time, but before he could try to answer, he faded back into unconsciousness.
The next time Mike opened his eyes, the scene was almost completely white. He was lying in a hospital bed, wrapped up in a sheet as his eyes shifted around to see he was hooked up to a machine, then the back of Mr. Adams' head in the door window, his ears perking a little to hear the conversation going on outside.
``It's a good thing you got the boy here when you did,'' came a doctor's voice. ``His intestines were nearly ruptured, but as long as he rests, he'll heal up.'' Then Mr. Adams' voice, ``That's a relief...'' Mike felt his heart sink a bit more, thinking about what had happened and worried about what his parents would say when they found out. ``By the way,'' the doctor's voice came again. ``You said you're his principal. Have you contacted his parents to let them know what's going on?'' He could hear his principal grunt a little, then a sigh. ``Did you see on the news? The Elderith apartment complex catching fire?'' ``Yes, they're still talking about it right now,'' came the doctor's voice. Mike's eyes widened as much as his spirit would allow, which wasn't much. That was where he lived. ``That's where his parents lived,'' came Mr. Adams' voice, confirmation of Mike's thoughts. ``I checked the records. They haven't been confirmed to have escaped.'' Mike's heart felt like it was about to burst at this point. ``I see... so the boy's now an orphan,'' the doctor said, a moment of silence before that voice came again, ``I'll have to see about getting him into an orphanage then, my duty as a doctor.'' ``That won't be necessary,'' Mr. Adams' voice came again. ``I'm going to see about getting adoption papers drawn tomorrow. I'll take care of him.'' ``That's probably a good idea,'' the doctor replied. At this point, Mike looked straight up at the tiled ceiling, almost looking like a void as he started closing his eyes to rest. As everything faded to black, Mike's voice came in again, an internal monologue to himself. ``I...I think that's the day I stopped smiling.''
This is the first episode of an alternate universe. In this universe, Mike is a high school student struggling to overcome the hurdles life has thrown at him. He will soon see exactly what his future has in store for him.
