Chapter Nine:

-A few days go by—

"Tyler! It's time to wake up bud!"

Tyler pulled the blanket back over his face. Fletch chuckles. "don't think so. Come on. You need to get up." Tyler sighs. He rubs sleep from his eyes. Fletch rubs his back gently. "listen bud, I've got an errand to run this morning. Your mother will be the one getting you ready. Okay?" Tyler nodded his head slowly. "okay daddy." Fletch smiles. He gives Tyler a small kiss on the forehead. "I'll see you later on this afternoon." Fletch leaves his son to get dressed. Tyne was already downstairs making breakfast. Fletch hugs Tyne from behind. "I've got to go. I'll see you at the site." Tyne nods. Fletch then slaps her across the ass which causes her to turn around. She slaps him across the arm with a towel. "Fletcher!" she growls. Fletch laughs. He sticks his tongue out at her. "it's not my fault that you have a nice ass." Tyne rolls her eyes. "whatever." Fletch wraps an arm around her waist. "come on babe, you can't be that mad at me." Tyne keeps her gaze away from him. Fletch could see her smirking slightly. "See? You aren't even mad. Girl quit playing." Fletch pulls away from her. She swats at him again. "Just get going Fletch." Fletch smiles at her. "Love you." He blows her a kiss. She catches it. "Love you too."

Tyler heads downstairs. "mom, do you have Bastian's breakfast ready?" Tyne hands Tyler a plate. Tyler smiles. "thanks. I'll be right back." Tyler walks down the basement stairs. Bastian was up. He sat on the edge of the work bench. He looked up at Tyler. "back again eh?" Tyler nods. He hands Bastian his breakfast. "you seem to be healing nicely." Bastian waves his hand. He makes the fork float up to him. He takes a bite of an egg. "mhm." He grunts. "and soon, I'll be out of this place. I'm tired of being held prisoner." Tyler sits up next to him. Bastian moves slightly. He continues to eat. "where are you going to go?" Bastian rolls his eyes. "where do you think? Far away from here." Tyler frowns. He stares down at the ground. "Oh." He swings his feet out in front of him. "good luck." Tyler slides down from the bench. "I'd better get upstairs. Momma may tear you apart if she sees me with you." Bastian waves his hand dismissively. "begone. Have fun where ever it is you go. Ya da Ya da."

Tyler and Shay ate their breakfast together. Tyler grabs his backpack off the hook. He wasn't looking forward to having to go back. Liquid courage suddenly coursed through his veins. He wasn't going to let those bullies get the better of him. Tyne gets the kids loaded into the car. She then pulls away from the house. Tyler and Shay's school sat a few blocks down from the house. Tyne pulled up into the front entrance. She parked behind a minivan. "have fun you two. Learn something." Shay slides out of the car first. Tyler slides out after him. He gulps painfully. "bye momma!" he shouts over his shoulder. The both of them watch as their mother pulls away. Shay takes his brother's hand as they walked up the steps. There was a group of kids standing out in the front yard. Tyler kept his brother close to him. The playground sat to the right of the school. Shay went off to play with his friends. Tyler found a nice quiet place to sit down. He watched as some of the other kids played together.

Bastian took his plate upstairs. He sighed as he sat down on the couch. What was a former assassin to do on a day like this? Maybe I should check up on Tyler? Ugh no! That kid isn't your problem. You're only using him after all. But what good does he do me if he's hurt? Alright Bastian, go and check up on him. It's not like you're getting soft or anything, right? Bastian closed his eyes. Dark feathers began to grow on him. He flew out the window. "now, where is this kid located?" He used his senses to detect Tyler's aura. He flew to Tyler's school. He circled the grounds a couple of times before landing on top of the swing. The swing jiggled underneath him. Bastian let out a snort of disgust. He fixed his gaze on Tyler. Tyler continued to sit underneath the tree in peace.

The school bell began to ring.

Tyler got to his feet. He ran inside. His class was located on the other side of the building. He ducked and dodged his way through the crowd. He reached his classroom. Dunbar sat at his desk. "Tyler Kurosaki, glad you could join us." Tyler smiled slightly. He hung his backpack on the hook in the back of the class. He pulled out one of his notebooks. The late bell went off. Dunbar got up from his desk. He closed the door. "alright class today we will be learning about some of Chuggington's history. It's important that you guys know the history of the place ya'll are growing up in. Open your textbooks and turn to page 48. I'll need a volunteer." No one in the class raised their hands. Dunbar scanned the classroom. "Tyler, why don't you read first?" Tyler gulped. "y-yes sir." He looked down at his textbook. "Chuggington started off as a steam-powered town. It looked just like a western town located in the states. It had a small population of 60 people. A railway system went right through the center of town and was responsible the growth of economy." Read Tyler. "very good. Please continue." "The town had a history with train robberies. One of the most famous thieves of all-time was Travis Itsugia." Dunbar nodded. "Tala, your next."

Bastian landed on the window sill outside of Tyler's class. He could barely make out what they were saying. He watched as their teacher wrote something on the board. Tyler leaned his head against his hand. He tried his best to pay attention to what Dunbar was teaching. One of the kids threw a pencil at the back of Tyler's head. Tyler felt it bounce off him. Tyler turned around. He rubbed the spot where the pencil had struck him. A couple of kids turned away from him. Tyler shrugged. He decided to shake it off.

The bell rang again. "okay kids remember to read Chapter 2 tonight. I want you guys to do questions 1-10 and turn it in by Wednesday which is your next A-day class. Tyler, I need to speak with you before you go onto your next class." Tyler nodded. He sat down at the front of the room. Dunbar leaned on his desk. "how is your family doing? Has your mother come yet?" "yes sir. Everyone seems to be doing okay." Tyler fiddled his pencil. "Have you ever thought about enrolling in this year's media fair? Skylar says your art skills are fantastic." Tyler looks down. "I wouldn't say I'm that good." Dunbar places a hand on Tyler's shoulder. "I think you can do it. I want you to enter this year. This year's themes is inner demons." Tyler nodded. "okay. I'll get to work." He then grins. "I think I know how I'm going to do it. See you later Dunbar!" Dunbar grabs Tyler's arm. "Hold on. Let me write you a hall pass first. I don't want you to get in trouble."

The next few classes went by slowly. Tyler was amazed that he managed to get through half of the day without getting picked on. He didn't get his hopes up though. He sat at his usual place by the window with his lunch. He popped the lid of the container of soup he had. He reached into his bag and pulled out a spoon. "Well, well, well if it isn't the teacher's pet." Sneered a voice. Tyler lowered his spoon. "what? You aren't going to talk runt?" Tyler shakes his head. Don't try to give him power. Keep your mouth shut. You don't need this. The boy grabbed Tyler by the back of his shirt. He raised his fist. "speak runt." He snapped. Tyler kept silent. The boy then slammed Tyler down on the table behind him. "I SAID TALK!" Tyler looks down. He begins laughing. "what's so funny?" Tyler feels a rush of heat hit him suddenly. He places his hand on the bully's arm. Tyler concentrated his powers to his hand. The both of them smelt flesh burning. The bully cried out. He yanked his hand away. He held his wrist. Tyler got back on his feet. Tyler's eyes had changed color. He waved his hand. A heat wave erupted out of him knocking the brutes backwards. Tyler stood over his attacker. "what's the matter? Scared?" asked Tyler in a chilling voice. The bully gulped. He quickly got back on his feet. "now if you don't mind, I was trying to eat my lunch." The bully dipped his head over at his friends. "you're a freak." He spat as he ran off.

Tyler sat back down at the table. He closed his eyes. He was finally able to calm down. Bastian watched through the window. A small smile formed on his beak. He was impressed. Tyler finished his soup. He tucked the empty container back into his lunch box when a note slid out of it. Tyler opens it up.

Ty,

Hey baby boy, I packed some soup for you lunch today. I hope you don't mind. You may want to look in the bottom of your lunch box. Your sister made something for you today. Well two things. She wanted to make sure you had gotten it.

Have a good day today okay? Remember that you have a loving family waiting for you back at home.

-Mother

Tyler smiles. He searches the bottom of his lunch box. He found a small white box and a necklace that had their father's dragon on it. A small tear came to his eye. He slid the necklace around his neck. He opened up the box to find a chocolatey desert that his sister had made. Taya was trying her hand with baking. Tyler took a bite of it. "not bad."

Art was the last class of the day. His art class was upstairs on the second level of the school. Skylar was getting a still life project together for the class. "Afternoon guys. Go ahead and get your sketchbooks out. Today is kind of a free day. You either have your choice of working on this still life or working on a side project. Those of you who are working on the media fair this year will also need this time to work." Tyler pulled out his sketchbook. "Tyler, has Dunbar spoken to you yet about the media fair?" "Yeah, he did." Skylar nods. "good because I really think you should enter. Your artwork is fantastic." Tyler looks down at the blank page in front of him. He tapped his pencil in thought.

Bastian took up a perch on one of the trees outside. He watched as Tyler scribbled something down in his sketchbook. He could see the look of concentration on Tyler's face. The skies above the school darkened. Bastian flew away from the tree. He headed back to the house.

Tyler packed up his things for the day. He waited for his brother near the front entrance. "hey runt!" shouted a voice. Tyler turns around only to be met with a fist to the face. Tyler's body slammed against the door. He wiped the blood away from his lips. "You didn't think I would let you get away with burning my hand did you?" Tyler growls softly. "it was an accident, Kratos." Kratos smirked. "I don't think so. You seem to have forgotten your place here." Kratos kicked Tyler in the stomach. He then spiral kicked Tyler into the door. Tyler coughed up blood. He held his stomach. He groaned quietly. "you little freak. Runts like you don't belong in these hallways." He kicked Tyler again. He kept kicking Tyler over and over again. Tyler could feel something inside of him snap. His control was slipping. "stop." Kratos laughed and kept going. Tyler's eyes turned red. "I SAID STOP!" Fire erupted out of Tyler. Kratos howled as him and his buddies caught fire. The wall near Tyler caught fire as well. Tyler got to his feet. He charged at Kratos. He punched Kratos straight in the jaw. He sent him tumbling backwards. Kratos caught himself. Tyler stood growling at him. The fire alarms suddenly started to go off. The alarms were enough to snap Tyler back to his senses. Tyler realized what he had done. He took off running away from the building.

Fletch was the portable when he heard Tyne's cellphone go off.

Fletch: Foreman Kurosaki

?: hello Mr. Kurosaki, I'm Principal Brownsen and I've called to inform you to pick up your kids. A fire broke out in the hallways.

Fletch: I'm on my way.

Fletch hung up the phone. He ran outside. "Tyne!" he shouted. Tyne looked up from her work. "we need to leave. Now. The kids are in danger." Tyne paled. She quickly rushed over to her car. She drove away from the construction site with Fletch behind her.

Shay waited for his parents. Tyne parked in the middle of the street. She ran over to Shay. Shay ran into his mother's arms. "where's Tyler? Is he okay?" Shay whimpers. "I don't think he came out." One of the other kids approached them. "I saw him run off." Tyne looked at them. "where?" she asked. "off towards the woods." Fletch nods. "I'll go after him. You wait near the car with Shay." Fletch runs off in the direction of the woods.

"Tyler!"

"Tyler!"

Fletch paused at the top of the hill. He noticed that the branches between the bushes were broken. He bent down to inspect them. Dark specks of red speckled the leaves. Fletch wiped some of the dark specks off the branches. He smelled his fingers. "Blood. He must have come this way." Fletch made his way carefully down the hill. He got to the bottom of the hill where he found more blood. There were drag marks on the ground. Fletch picked up the pace. He let his vision change. The area around him turned a dark blue. There was a faint yellow trail in front of him. He followed the trail to another hill. A huge yellow spot appeared in middle of the hill. "Tyler!" Fletch climbed up the hill. His vision returned to normal. Tyler laid in a pool of his own blood. Fletch carefully laid his jacket on Tyler's wound. He then lifted him up.

Fletch ran back to the car. He laid Tyler across the back of the car. Tyne gasped. "Ty!" Fletch slams the passenger door shut. "Take him to the hospital. I'll follow behind you guys." Tyne nods. She gets Shay loaded up in the front of her car. She drove away from the school. Fletch followed in behind them.