Yessss...finally a chapter of decent length and back to normal storyline for you guys. Sorry its taken me forever to update on it. I know some of you are kinda impatient. Heres Chapter 14 for ya.

Dark Days of School

Chapter 14: The BCT

Alex frowned as observed the ice forming on the very tips of his whiskers. It was now early December and snow covered the ground in a thick white blanket. The fox boy was highly disappointed that school wasnt cancelled today. They didnt even have a delay!

Alex's normal attitude had returned since his overnight stay at Ferion's empty home. Thoughts of the feline of course still wandered into his mind every now and again, but he sent them away and focused on whatever it was he was doing. Of course Cyn and Aramaine knew nothing of what happened that night; Alex had no plans of telling them either.

Dan had left after only on week of staying with his son; once again in the same way as before. The only difference was that this time the boy's father left him a letter and an old ID card which read Lightshadow Military Defense Development right above Daniel Matthew Rastok. The letter read:

To Alex

I'm sorry that I have left you again and in the same way as before, but I saw it as easier on all of us to do it this way. I hope that old ID card will atleast help to give you a little bit of info on why I disappeared so many years ago. Even though I may be gone again I wont forget you Alex. I hope that you grow up to be strong. I doubt that we will ever have much contact again. Your mother has done such a good job of raising you all these years, and I know that she will continue to do so. Alex I hope you can forgive me for everything that I have put you and your mother through when I disappeared. I didnt want you involved with everything that you would've inevitably become wrapped up in. Please take care my son.

Your Father

Dan

Alex always had that ID card in his pocket. He wouldnt forget his father either. Most of the time he pushed the thoughts of him out of his mind though as he did with Ferion. He just needed to concentrate on school work for the time being.

Again the fox shivered in the cold as he stood out infront of his house, his heavy bookbag weighing him down a little, waiting on his school bus. His whiskers were now about frozen half-way up. It wasnt long though before a low rumbling told Alex that his bus was near. Even shorter he saw the yellow behemoth come around the corner of the next street and began to come right down his own.

"Atleast I'll manage to catch the bus this time." he muttered under his breath.

Alex's heart skipped a beat when bus two rumbled right on by him.

"H-hey!" Alex shouted after it. "Come back!" The fox reached down and scooped up a rock into his hand, quickly chucking it after the bus as hard as he could. It sailed in a beautiful arc...right into the back window of the bus causing a massive crack to spider-web itself across the once clear surface. He heard tires screeching on asphalt and began to contemplate whether or not he really wanted to ride the bus today. Eventually his feet carried him to the halted vehicle.

"Kid what the hell do you think you're doing?" shouted the unfamilar voice of an equally unfamilar bus driver.

"Errr...catching my bus." The fox replied.

"I dont have a stop registered here!"

"Well you do now!" shot back Alex and he climbed onto the bus, scanning the seats and taking his usual place beside Cyn. She looked rather agitated.

"Alex..."

"Cyn..." Cyn chuckled and shook her head.

"You do realize you are going to be in so much trouble for that right?"

"Meh...like I care about school property."

"Atleast you've started caring about your grades." Cyn said as the bus now got underway again.

"I still cant believe everything was above a C." The two continued their usual conversation together as they travelled to school.

Alex let out a loud yawn as he sat in Algebra 1. Ms. Nacari was now their permanent teacher, atleast for the rest of this year. She was going on about graphs or something; Alex wasnt paying her the least bit of attention. Cyn poked him in the side but he grunted and pushed her away. He put his head down and proceded to fall asleep for the remainder of class.

Alex and Cyn left Algebra and said their good-byes as the fox boy headed off to Rotash's class room. He stepped through the door and suddenly something struck him different. There wasnt the usual "welcoming" insult from Brad. The wolf was in his seat, but he wasnt really paying attention to Alex. He seemed to be in a daze. Alex knew he could totally take advantage of this moment considering Rotash wasnt in the room at the moment. He decided to play headgames with him instead though.

"Bradley Nacari!" He said in a voice that was surprisingly similar to the tiger teacher's.

"Huhwha?" Brad shot up in his seat and looked around only to see the fox snickering. "Oh funny, fox freak. Go sit in your seat gay boy; I dont feel like messing with you today." This comment from Brad totally took Alex off guard. He was acting very odd. Alex shrugged it off and considered it a blessing rather that he wouldnt have to deal with Brad today.

Second period as well as his next periods flew by. At lunch there seemed to be a buzz in the air about something. It took Alex a moment to find the crowd gathered around the bulletin board. He shoved his way through them to get a good look at what all the commotion was about. Then he saw it.

School Battle Club Team Final Roster

Captain: Alexander Rastok

Senior Fighter: Bradley Nacari

Junior Fighters: Cynthia Tsarnian, Lucas Rally, Kyle Dazey,

All team members must report to Mr. Rotash's room today after school for updates on upcoming events.

Alex could hardly believe it. He was the team captain. Now he knew why Brad must be so down. He had taken his position from him. A huge grin was on the fox boy's face as he strode back to his usual table. Cyn and Aramaine already had their usual seats. Both looked at him quizically as he plopped down between them

"Whats got you so happy?" Cyn said first.

"I am the Battle Club Team Captain." Alex replied.

"No way!" Cyn said.

"How'd you manage that Alex?" Aramaine spoke now.

"Well I guess when I totally kicked Brad's ass that Rotash saw I was the prime fighter. Cyn is a Junior Fighter for our team."

"Really!? I am!?"

"Well...yea. Brad is the Senior Fighter though." The three remained silent for a moment as it sunk in.

"So thats why Brad seemed so down in third period today." Aramaine finally said.

"I would think so. I mean...I finally get to show everyone Im better than he is."

The rest of lunch passed quickly, talk of the Battle Club filtering through the air again. The lack of news about it had made the students think that it was cancelled, but with this new bulletin the buzz about it had resumed throughout the day. The rest of the day was passing by rather quickly for Alex in anticipation of the Battle Club meeting this afternoon. He couldnt wait to get back into action.

3:30 rolled around and the final bell rung. School was finally over. Alex ran down the hallways to Rotash's room, weaving in and out of the crowds. When he arrived into the room there were already two other students in the room. One was Brad and the other was a mouse boy he hadnt met before. Brad was sitting atop his desk, the mouse boy stood towards the back of the room. He seemed rather shy. The three waited in silence as the two other members of the team arrived. Cyn walked into the room first, followed by a german shepard boy. Rotash was soon in the room after them. The tiger teacher, whose stripes were of course in different arrangement, wasted no time in beginning to layout their meeting for them.

"Good to see you all here today." Rotash said. "We need to go over a few things as far as the Battle Club. The first matter of business will be practice days. Wednesdays and Thursdays are the easiest for me to be here. If anyone cannot make these days or if they will pose a problem to other educational activities or home life please let me know now." No one spoke. "Good then. Our practice days will be on every Wednesday and Thursday and additional days that will be optional. Secondly, I want to talk to you about the BCT. BCT stands for Battle Club Tournament. All the schools within Katina City will be competing in this. This being the first tournament I would really like to see the trophy in our school. It would highly raise morale for further Battle Club fighters too. Any questions about the tournament?"

Alex's hand shot into the air.

"When does the tournament start?" The black fox said.

"We get a month to train and practice then we'll begin the tournament on January 15th."

"What are the basic rule of the tournament?" came the voice of the german shepard boy.

"Ah Kyle, nice to finally see you. Anyway...the tournament will consist of a singles branch and a doubles branch. They should be pretty much self-explanatory. The tournament will go on for four days. The first two days will be all singles matches and then the last two days will be all doubles matches."

"But sir...we have five team members..."

"Im very aware of that. The Captain goes two ways."

Alex saw Brad mouth "I knew it." to him. Apparently the wolf was back in his usual mood. He shrugged it off for now. There would be plenty of time to get back at Brad in practice.

"Any other questions?"

"What about a team name?" came the voice of the mouse boy. Alex knew him now to be Lucas.

"I havent decided on that yet."

"I like Team Arctic" came Brads voice.

"I think it should be Team Shadow because our Captain has black fur." Kyle said. Cyn nodded and Lucas merely sat there. Brad clearly didnt agree.

"Vote for Team Arctic?" Rotash called out. Brad and Lucas raised their hands.

"Vote for Team Shadow?" Alex, Cyn, and Kyle raised theirs. "Its settled then. Team Shadow it is. Now...that settles all business matters for our first meeting. Any final questions?" When no one spoke Rotash nodded and slipped his hands into his pockets. "Then I guess I call our first Battle Club meeting to a close. Be sure to be here tommorow after school for the first practice." The five nodded and slowly filed out of the class room.

Brad was the first out and had disappeared by the time Alex and Cyn had gotten into the hallway. The two of them slowly walked out of the school where their parents had been wiating for them. It hadnt even occurred to Alex or Cyn that they would've missed their bus, but apparently Rotash, or some other administrative member, had informed their parents to pick them up. The two friends parted ways for the night. Alex talked excitedly with his mother about the BCT the whole ride home.