I walked around the Sunnydale Zoo with Buffy looking at the different animals in their cages. We just walked around looking from cage to cage before a gang of bullies.

"Oh, look. It's Buffy and all her friends," the leader, Kyle, said making the others laugh.

"That's witty," Buffy said.

"Very," I agreed.

"Do you ever wonder why nobody cool wants to hang out with you?" Tor, another part of Kyle's little gang asked.

"Just thankful," Buffy told him, shrugging her shoulders.

"Were you this popular at your old school? Before you got kicked out?" Rhonda, one of the two women of the group, asked bumping shoulders with Buffy. The group laughed again as the continued their way leaving the two of us standing alone.

"Careful! She might beat you up!" I wrapped my arm around her shoulders.

"Don't worry, Buffy," I said. "You still have us."

Sometime later we were at the elephant cage, Buffy reading the plaque as I just stared at the large animal before Xander and Willow ran up to us.

"Hey! Buffy! Liz!" Xander greeted us.

"You missed it!" Willow said sharing the same grin as Xander.

"Missed what?" Buffy asked her confused.

"We just saw the zebras mating!" Xander told us before nodding to Willow. "Thank you, very exciting."

"It was like the Heimlich, with stripes!" Willow said.

"And I missed it. Yet somehow I'll find the courage to live on," Buffy laughed before we all began walking in the direction they'd come from.

"Shame, really. I'm crushed to have missed zebra sex."

"Where were you?" Willow asked us.

"Uh, we were looking at the fishes," Buffy told her.

"Was it cool?" Willow asked and I gave her a look.

"Creatures covered in scales swimming in their own filth?" I asked sarcastically. "Very cool."

"I'm feelin' that you two are not in the field trip spirit here," Xander said.

"Well, it would... It's nothing, I... We do the same zoo trip at my old school every year. Same old, same old," Buffy explained.

"Just be happy you don't have to fill out worksheets on everything in the zoo," I told them. "Everything's a learning experience in London."

"Buffy, this isn't just about looking at a bunch of animals. This is about not being in class!" Xander said and Buffy and I shared a brighter look.

"You know, you're right! Suddenly the animals look shiny and new," Buffy said and I nodded.

"I'm suddenly sad to have missed the zebra's mating."

"Gotta have perspective."

The four of us were walking by the Hyena House when we saw Lance ducking under the yellow tape with Kyle and his gang.

"What are Kyle and his buds doing with Lance?" Willow asked.

"Oh, playing with him as a cat plays with a mouse," Xander said.

"What is it with those guys?" Buffy sighed.

"They're obnoxious. Professionally," Willow told her.

"Hope they get paid good," I joked making the redhead and blonde laugh.

"Well, every school has 'em. So, you start a new school; you get your desks, some blackboards, and some mean kids," Xander said.

"Yeah, well, I'd better extract Lance before..." Buffy started saying but Xander stopped her.

"I'll handle it. This job doesn't require actual slaying," Xander told her following the foursome and Lance.

"You don't think we should follow?" Buffy asked after a short time passed.

"Kyle and those guys are jerks, but they're all talk. Mostly," Willow told us.

"Why don't we..." I said pointing into the Hyena House.

"Yeah, why don't we?" Willow agreed. We ducked under the tape and started in, but we were caught in the act by the zookeeper.

"Oh, hold it, hold it, are you blind, or are you just illiterate? Because hyenas are very quick to prey on the weak," he told us.

"Oh, w-we were just gonna take..." Buffy started saying, but he cut her off.

"You're not going in there. Anyone that does is in a world of trouble," he told us.

"No, no one's going in there," Willow said covering for Xander as the three of us ducked back under the tape.

"Why is it off-limits?" I asked him.

"It's a quarantine. These hyenas just came in from Africa, so keep out. Even if they call your name," he told us, cocking his eyebrow.

"What are you talking about?" Buffy asked him.

"The Masai tribesmen told me that hyenas are capable of understanding human speech. They follow humans around by day, learning their names. At night, when the campfire dies, they call out to a person. Once they separate him, the pack," he snapped his fingers in our faces, "devours them."

Willow, Buffy and I walked from the bar to a table with Buffy's soda and croissant, Willow's raisins, and my own soda.

"I thought Xander would be here by now," Willow said looking around for her oldest friend

"Hmm, that'd make him on time. We couldn't have that!" Buffy said sarcastically.

"Did he seem upset at all on the bus back from the zoo?" Willow asked us.

"About what?" Buffy asked her curiously.

"I dunno. He was quiet," Willow told us.

"We didn't notice anything," I said sharing a look with Buffy as we sat at a table.

"But then again we're not as hyper-aware of him as, oh, say, for example, you," Buffy said smiling at our friend.

"Hyper-aware?" Willow asked guiltily.

"Well, I'm not constantly monitoring his health, his moods, his blood pressure..."

"130 over 80!" Willow grinned and we laughed.

"You got it bad, girl!" Buffy said amused.

"He makes my head go tingly," Willow told us. "You know what I mean?"

"I remember the feeling," I said.

"But it hasn't happened to you lately?" Willow asked me and I shook my head.

"Not recently."

"Not even for a dangerous and mysterious older man whose leather jacket you're wearing right now?" Willow asked me and I smiled down into my soda.

"I said recently," I reminded her.

"Angel pushes your buttons, huh?" Buffy asked me.

"Only in the technical form of the term," I told her. "The only problem is that he's never around and when he is he only talks shop. Besides, I can't be in a relationship anyway."

"Why not?" Buffy asked me confused.

"There he is!" Willow said excitedly.

"Who?" I asked her.

"Xander!" I turned and we watched as Xander checked out a girl on the way to our table.

"Girls!" he greeted as he joined us.

"Boy!"

"Sorry I'm late, I... just forgot that we were gonna be here," Xander told us before tearing into Buffy's croissant. "Hungry!"

"Xander, you still want me to help you with geometry tomorrow?" Willow asked Xander as he drank from Buffy's soda. "We can work after class..." He gave her a thumbs up.

"Yeah. What is this crap?" Xander asked Buffy.

"Well, it was my buttery croissant," she told him.

"Man, I need some food! Birds live on this!" he complained. The three of us shared a look before looking up at him. "What?"

"What's up with you?" Buffy asked him.

"Did something happen?" I added.

"Did I do something?" Willow asked him.

"What could you possibly do? That's crazy talk. I'm just... restless," Xander told us.

"Well, we could go to the ice cream place..." Willow offered.

"I like it here," He told her pointing to the table and looking around before leaning towards Buffy and sniffing her hair.

"Okay, now what?" Buffy asked him.

"You took a bath."

"Yeah, I-I often do, I'm actually known for it," she told him while sharing a confused look with her.

"That's okay."

"And the weird behavior award goes to..." Buffy said. We followed Xander's gaze to see Kyle's gang walking into the Bronze. "Oh, great. It's the winged monkeys." Kyle's gang walked up to us and had some sort of stare down with Xander before moving away from us and going to another table.

"Y'know, I don't understand why you're sitting at our table," Kyle said to the kid who was sitting at the table with his friends.

"Yeah, shouldn't you be hovering over the football stadium with 'Goodyear' written on you?" The four of them laughed together, as they normally did, but the strange part was Xander joined them in laughing until he turned to the three of us.

"Kid's fat."

The next day we were in gym class when the weather decided to go downhill temporarily.

"Alright, it's raining, all regular gym classes have been postponed, so you know what that means:" Coach Harold held up a large rubber ball and I rolled my eyes between Willow and Buffy. "Dodgeball! Now, for those of you that may have forgotten, the rules are as follows: you dodge." He tossed the ball to Buffy before blowing the whistle around his neck. The two teams moved back from center court before he whistled again commencing the ball throwing. I dodged or caught the oncoming balls before throwing the balls back at the other team trying to get them out. A few seconds later just Kyle's gang, Xander and Lance were left across from me and Buffy. Buffy and I shared a look before staring down the other team. They looked at us briefly before Kyle's gang and Xander turned on Lance. I watched confused as they threw their balls at him and he falls to the floor.

"Hey!" I shouted at them a moment before Buffy and I went to help Lance up. I got between Lance and the five of them before Xander and the others left.

Later on in the day, once the weather was better, Buffy and I were sitting down in the Quad trying to console Willow after Xander had bullied her.

"I've known him my whole life," she told us with tears in her eyes. "Well, we haven't always been close, but he's never..."

"I think something's wrong with him," Buffy told her.

"Or maybe there's something wrong with me," Willow said.

"Willow you can't think like that," I told her tucking her into my side.

"What are you talking about?" Buffy asked her.

"C'mon. He's not picking on you. He's just sniffing you a lot. And he hasn't even touched you. I don't know; maybe four isn't company anymore," Willow said.

"You think this has something to do with us?" Buffy as motioning to the two of us.

"Of course."

"No. That still doesn't explain why he's hanging out with the dode patrol," Buffy told her hopping off the railing she'd been sitting on. "Something's going on. Something weird." She started walking away, but stopped when Willow called out to her.

"What're you gonna do?"

"Talk to the expert on weird."

"Xander's taken to teasing the less fortunate?" Dad asked us after we'd told him everything that had been happening to Xander.

"Uh-huh."

"And, there's been a noticeable change in both clothing and demeanor?" he asked.

"Yes."

"And, well, otherwise all his spare time is spent lounging about with imbeciles."

"It's bad, isn't it?" Buffy asked him.

"It's devastating. He's turned into a sixteen-year-old boy. Course, you'll have to kill him,"

"Dad, we're serious," I told him.

"So am I. Except for the part about killing him," Dad told us and I sighed. "Testosterone is a great equalizer. It turns all men into morons. He will, however, get over it."

"I cannot believe that you, of all people, are trying to Scully me," Buffy said exasperatedly. "There is something supernatural at work here. "Get your books! Look stuff up!" She shoved books in her face.

"Look under what?" Dad asked taking the books from her.

"Isn't that your department?" I asked him.

"The evidence that you've presented me with is sketchy at best," he told us.

"He scared the pig," she told him and Dad gave her a look. "Well, he did..."

"Buffy, Elizabeth, boys can be cruel. They tease, they, they, they prey on the weak. I-i-it's natural teen behavior pattern," he told her.

"Wait," I stopped him. "What did you just say?"

"Um, they tease," he started but Buffy cut him off.

"They prey on the weak. I've heard that somewhere bef..." the two of us shared a look.

"The Hyena House," I reminded her.

"Xander has been acting totally wiggy ever since we went to the zoo. Him and Kyle and all those guys, they went into the hyena cage. Oh, God, that laugh..."

"You're saying that, uh, Xander's becoming a hyena," Dad laughed at us.

"I don't know. Or been possessed by one?" she offered.

"Not just Xander, all of them," I corrected.

"Well, I-I-I've cer-certainly never heard of, uh..." Willow chose that moment to storm into the library.

"Herbert! They found him," she told us.

"The pig?" Buffy asked her.

"I didn't know he was missing," I said.

"He's not," Willow told us. "He's dead. And also eaten. Principal Flutie's freaking out."

"Testosterone, huh?" Buffy asked my dad before he headed towards his office.

"What're you gonna do?" Willow asked him.

"Get my books. Look stuff up."

We spent the next few hours researching everything we could about the hyena's that had been brought into the zoo.

"Wow! Apparently, Noah rejected the hyenas from the Ark because he thought they were an evil impure mixture of dogs and cats," Buffy told us.

"Hyenas aren't well liked," Willow told her.

"They do seem to be the schmoes of the animal kingdom," Buffy said joining the two of us at the table.

"Why couldn't Xander be possessed by a puppy or, or some ducks?" Willow asked.

"That's assuming 'possession' is the right word," Buffy told her.

"I don't doubt it is," I told them.

"Oh, I'll say it is," Dad told us coming from the cage. "The Masai of the Serengeti have spoken of animal possession for, for generations. I... I should have remembered that."

"So how does it work?" Buffy asked him.

"Well, apparently there's a, a sect of animal worshipers known as Primals. They believe that humanity, uh, consciousness, uh, the soul, is a, is a perversion, a dilution of spirit. Uh, to them the animal state is holy. They are able, through trans-possession, to, to, um, draw the spirit of certain animals into themselves," Dad explained.

"And then they started acting like hyenas."

"Well, only the most predatory of animals are, are of interest to the Primals, so, uh, yes, yes, that would fit, yes," Dad told us.

"So, what happens to the human once the spirit's inside?" I asked him.

"If it goes unchecked..." Dad handed Buffy an open book and she took one look at the page before slamming it shut and jumping off the table.

"I gotta find Xander." Willow and I leaned over and opened the book to the bookmarked page. I took a shaky breath as we stared at the picture. It was a picture of people with limbs torn off, heads missing, and other massive injuries.

Willow and I were watching footage of feeding hyenas on the PC before looking up as Buffy dragged Xander in.

"Hurry up. We gotta get him locked up somehow before he comes to," Buffy told us.

"Oh, my God, Xander! What happened?" Willow asked her.

"I hit him," she told him.

"With what?" I asked him.

"A desk." Willow opened the cage door and Buffy drug him in.

"He tried his hand at felony sexual assault," Buffy told us.

"Oh, Buffy, the hyena in him didn't..." Willow started saying, but Buffy cut her off.

"No," Buffy assured her. "No, but it's safe to say that in his animal state his idea of wooing doesn't involve a Yanni CD and a bottle of Chianti." Buffy locked the cage. "There, that oughtta hold him. Where's Giles?"

"Dad got called away to a faculty meeting," I told her.

"What are we gonna do? I mean... how do we get Xander back?" Willow asked.

"Right now I'm a little more worried about what the rest of the pack are up to," Buffy told her.

"The rest of the pack were spotted outside Herbert the mascot's cage. They were sent to the principal's office," Dad told us making us all turn to him.

"Good! That'll show 'em," Willow said but dad remained silent. "Did it show 'em?" Dad still didn't say anything.

"They didn't hurt him, did they?" Buffy asked him.

"They, uh... ate him." We were all stunned by the news. I leaned on the table as Willow sat in the chair next to me.

"They ate Principal Flutie?" Buffy asked him.

"Ate him up?"

"The, uh, official theory is that wild dogs got into his office somehow. There was no one at the scene," Dad told us.

"But Xander was with you. Right?" I asked Buffy who nodded.

"Oh!" Dad said seeing Xander in the cage. "Uh, well, that's a small mercy."

"Giles, how do we stop this? How do you trans-possess someone?" Buffy asked him.

"I-I'm afraid I still don't have all the pieces. Um, the accounts of the Primals and their methods are a bit thin on the ground. There is some talk of a-a-a predatory act, but the exact ritual is, is, um... The Malleus Maleficarum deals in particulars of demonic possession, which... may apply..." Dad looked through a few pages of the book he picked up. "Yes, one, one should be able to transfer the spirits to another human."

"Oh, that's great. Any volunteers?" Buffy asked sarcastically.

"Oh. Good point," Dad said.

"What we need to do is put the hyena back in the hyena," Buffy told us.

"B-but until we know more, uh..."

"What about the zookeeper?" I asked them. "He told us they were under quarantine. What if it was a bit more than that?"

"We should talk to him," Dad agreed.

"Okay," We all started to go, before stopping. "Oh, wait, somebody's gotta watch Xander."

"I will," Willow volunteered.

"Will, are you sure? If he wakes up..."

"I'll be alright. Go," Willow assured her before holding out her hands for the keys. Buffy thought about it a moment before handing the keys and grabbed her coat.

"C'mon," Buffy told us and we followed her to Dad's car.

When we got to the zoo, we explained to the zookeeper what had happened and he didn't seem too happy about it.

"The students have been possessed by the hyenas?" he asked us.

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"We're really, really sure," Buffy told him.

"Y-you don't seem enormously surprised by this," Dad noted.

"The zoo imported those hyenas from Africa. There was something strange about them from day one. I did some homework... That particular breed is very rare. Totally vicious. Historically they were worshipped by these guys..." he told us.

"Primals," Dad said.

"Yeah! Creepy guys! Now, they had rituals for taking the hyena spirits, but I-I don't see how that coulda happened to your kids."

"Uh, we don't know exactly how the ritual works. We know that it involves a, um, um... predatory act and some kind of symbol," Dad told him.

"Predatory act? Of course. That makes sense. Where did you read that?" the zookeeper asked and I shared an annoyed look with Buffy.

"Do you have Sherman Jeffries' work on, on cults and on..."

"Guys?" I called out giving them a look.

"Sorry," dad said.

"Look. I think we may have enough information so that together we could pull off a reverse trans-possession," the zookeeper told us.

"What do you need us to do?" I asked him.

"We've gotta get those possessed students over to the hyena cage right away. I'll meet you there. We can begin the rituals," he told us.

"W-well, we can guarantee one of them, but there are four more, and we have no idea where they are," Buffy explained.

"No, I wouldn't worry about that. After hyenas feed and rest they will track the missing member of their pack until they find him. They should come right to you." My eyes widened.

"Oh god!"

"Willow!"

When we found Willow, she was being attacked by Heidi. Buffy quickly grabbed the fire extinguisher and ran up behind the girl and hit her on the back, knocking her down and out. Willow came out of the room she was hiding in and ran to us. Xander got up from the ground and rushed Buffy. She kicked him and he fell into the hall.

"Run!" Dad shouted when we saw the other three from the pack. They came running at us and we ran back into the classroom and locking the door behind her. The pack pounded on the door but couldn't get in and soon left.

"I think they're going," Buffy said.

"They could be faking it," Willow suggested.

"No, they're hungry. They'll be looking for somebody weak. I'm really sorry, Will. I didn't know they were gonna come after Xander," Buffy told her.

"It's okay," Willow told her shaken.

"We must lead them back to the zoo if we're going to stop this," Dad reminded us.

"And before their next meal. Guess that's my job," Buffy said.

"You shouldn't go alone," I told her. "I'll go with you."

"Well, individually they're almost as strong as you, Buffy," Dad reminded her. "As a group they're..."

"They're tough, but I think they're getting stupider," Buffy said. "You guys go to the zoo and we will bring them to you."

"Be careful," Dad ordered.

"We will," I told her.

Buffy and I ran through Sunnydale before we heard someone screaming in fear. We followed the scream to the pack attacking a car with what looked like three people in it. Buffy grabbed Rhonda and threw her off the hood and to the ground. She climbed to the roof and did an in-to-out crescent kick, knocking Kyle off while I kicked Tor's legs from under him and grabbed Xander's legs and pulled him from the car. He turned and growled at me.

"Didn't your mom teach you?" Xander turned to stare up at her. "Don't play with your food. C'mon. You know what you want." Buffy jumped off the car and the two of us started running down the street to the zoo with the pack close behind us.

As we got to the tape cutting off the Hyena House, Buffy and I just ran through it.

"They're right behind us!" Buffy called to them as we continued to run. We stopped at the entrance to the Hyena cage to see Willow tied up and the Zookeeper holding a knife to her throat.

"Buffy, Liz, it's a trap!"Xander grabbed us from behind and the three of us fall to the floor with the pack surrounding us.

"YU BA YA SA NA!" I stared up at the pack as they stared at the zookeeper and their eyes all flashed green. I looked at the zookeeper in time to see his eyes flashed green before he turned towards Willow and growled. He dropped the knife, grabbed her head and moved to bite her.

"Willow!" Xander shouted out. He got up and charged the zookeeper, knocking him down and away from Willow. The pack got off us and we sat up and watched the zookeeper punch Xander away from him. Buffy got up and punched the zookeeper away from the pair. The zookeeper charged at her and she grabbed him and tossed him close to me. I grabbed his arms and held him down by force.

"Now what?!" I shouted before he threw me off him. I quickly stood up and backed away from him towards Buffy. He charged at us, but Buffy got under him again and tossed him into the Hyena pit. He tried to climb out but was dragged down by the Hyena's before Buffy and I could get to him. Xander rushed to Willow and untied her hands. A door opened and I sighed with a smile as Dad emerged from the storage room. I rushed to his side and hugged him tightly.

"Uh, did I miss anything?" he asked and I laughed.

The next day at school, we were walking across the quad telling Xander about his exciting time as a member of the pack.

"I heard the vice-principal's taking over till they can find a replacement," Willow told us.

"It shouldn't be too hard to find a new principal. Unless they ask what happened to the last one," Buffy said.

"I hope no one's that stupid," I said.

"Okay, but I had nothing to do with that, right?" Xander asked us as we started to climb the stairs.

"Oh, right," Buffy assured him.

"You only ate Herbert the pig," I told him.

"I ate a pig? Was it cooked and called bacon or..." The three of us shook our heads.

"Oh, my God! I ate a pig? I mean, the whole trichinosis issue aside, yuck!" Xander groaned.

"Well, it wasn't really you," Buffy told him.

"Well, I remember I was goin' on the field trip, and then goin' down to the Hyena House, and next thing some guy's holding Willow and he's got a knife," Xander told us.

"You saved my life," Willow said grinning at him.

"Hey! Nobody messes with my Willow," Xander said hugging the redhead as Buffy and I watched with a smile.

"This is definitely the superior Xander," Buffy said.

"No substitutes allowed," I agreed.

"I didn't do anything else, did I, around you guys or anything embarrassing?" Xander asked and the three of us share a smile, debating what to tell him.

"Nah!"

"Not at all," Willow said.

"C'mon. We're gonna be late," Buffy reminded us while taking my arm and Willow's hand.

"See you at lunch," Willow called back to him.

"Cool! Oh, hey, goin' vegetarian!" I laughed at the obvious lie before talking with Willow and Buffy about anything else.