Beast Soul

Inside the old gymnasium.

Noah walked left and right as Adrian knelt next to the unconscious bodies of A.J. and Gabriel and examined them. He was making sure that they weren't pretending to be unconscious to launch a surprise attack on Noah. But fortunately, they both seemed to genuinely be unconscious, which made Adrian let out a sigh of relief.

He then turned his gaze towards Noah, who was walking from one side of the gymnasium to the other and said, "You know, you seem extremely different from the Noah I fought in the junkyard."

"Do I?" Noah said with a surprised tone as he stopped in his tracks and turned around to face Adrian, who nodded his head. 

'Huh, I didn't think anyone other than me would've noticed it, but I guess I was wrong..' Noah thought to himself as he scratched his chin. He knew that he had to be careful with his behavior. There's nothing wrong with having small behavioral changes, but people might get suspicious if there's a vast difference. And Noah didn't want too much attention on him.

"You do seem different to me." Adrian, who didn't know what Noah was thinking about, continued to talk as he walked towards Noah, who had crossed his arms across his chest and was curious as to what Adrian wanted to say. Was he talking about how I had improved when it comes to combat? 

"And what makes me different from the Noah of a few days ago?" Noah asked as he squinted his eyebrows. 

"Aside from your increased strength, I'm not totally sure…" Adrian placed his finger under his lip as he thought for a few seconds before replying, "But I think it's your confidence."

"My confidence?" Noah raised his eyebrows as he spoke, and Adrian nodded his head. 

"You seem a lot more confident in your actions and your speech pattern. The you who had fought me a few days ago wouldn't have been so hot headed and aggressive," Adrian explained why he felt that Noah had gained more confidence over the past few days, and Noah scratched his chin.

"You're saying that I wouldn't have fought these two?" Noah asked, and Adrian shook his head. "No, you most definitely would have." He then continued, "But you wouldn't have needed me to tell you not to fight in the hallway of the main school building, which was what you seemed to want to do."

Noah's eyes widened. 'Sh*t! He does have a point!' Noah bit his lips as he realized that he really had been getting a bit too confident these days. 

'Is it because of the merging, as mentioned by the doppelganger?' Noah thought, and all of a sudden, another thought came to his mind. 'Wait, when do I know the merging is completed? Would I even be me then? Would I realize that a merge has happened?'

He stared at his palms as he continued to think, 'What if the merging is already done?' 

Noah scratched his head. 'Come to think of it, I haven't heard a lot from my doppelganger today. Don't tell me that he's already merged with me?!'

Too many questions had entered Noah's mind, and with no answers to respond with, he felt as though he was losing his mind. 

"Are you really Noah?"

"What?" Noah turned around to look at Adrian, who had asked that question, with a shocked and confused expression on his face. 

"I mean, ignoring how you somehow made improvements to your strength within a short period of time, I don't think I've seen anyone change their behavior so drastically, especially in such a short amount of time…" Adrian said while looking down at the floorboard of the gymnasium, and Noah squinted his eyes. 

"People change their behavior all the time," Noah replied, and Adrian nodded. "Of course they do. But not this quick. Unless you're acting like you've changed, which I don't think you are."

Adrian paused just for a second, taking a short glance at Noah before continuing, "It's just.. after what happened back at the junkyard, I've been questioning almost everything, and everyone." He walked towards the wall and leaned on it. "I know that most people don't deserve to be looked at suspiciously, but I can't help it. Not after what I saw that day. That shouldn't have happened. That creature shouldn't have existed. And yet it did. And now, I can't look at anything the same way anymore."

"Are you asking me if I'm a monster?" Noah decided he had enough of the roundabout questions and asked him straight. Adrian shook his head. "I'm asking if you're Noah or not."

Noah didn't reply immediately, and instead clicked his tongue. He rubbed his hand on the back of his head as he opened his mouth to speak, "I don't know either. I don't think I ever was Noah. Not for a who. Even when I met you."

Adrian's eyes widened. But he didn't interrupt Noah's words, who continued, "But I do know one thing. Is that no matter who I am right now, I do remember who I was before. I do remember the person that you met. And even if I may have changed my behavior as of late, I still can recover my past. So I'm asking you, do you think it matters who I was?"

"... I guess you still haven't tried to kill me. So I suppose you're alright… Noah.." Adrian said as he flashed a nervous smile on his face, and right then!

Twack!

A loud noise of someone opening a door was heard from the outside, and Noah's ears twitched. He turned his gaze towards the entrance of the gymnasium and whispered softly under his breath, "Our guests are here.."

Adrian also tilted his head towards the entrance of the gymnasium as he put on a serious expression on his face.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

The sound of footsteps approaching could be heard. Noah tried to figure out the number of enemies that he'd be facing by analyzing the footsteps, and a sinister smile blossomed across his face. 

"Well, well, well… I thought they'd have underestimated me and pulled up with a few henchmen, but to think they'd actually brought over forty…" Noah cracked his knuckles and rubbed his neck, as he got ready to fight. "I guess they're not so stupid after all!"

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Noah and Adrian watched as a large group of men wearing white shirts and black pants entered the gymnasium, facing the two teenagers with serious expressions on their faces.

Two young men stepped forward and stood right in front of the group of men, implying that they were a step above the rest. 

"Are you the King?" Noah turned his gaze towards Nelson, who was standing next to Dax. "I'm afraid the King doesn't have time to meet you, Noah Pemberton." Nelson said as he put on a pair of black gloves with an innocent smile on his face. "So you're just going to have to be content with us." Adrian couldn't help but feel a chill run up his spine as he listened to Nelson's words.

"Ah, and here I thought I was about to meet the King. That's a shame.." Noah replied as he let out a sigh of disappointment, but his expression was soon replaced by a calm one. 

'What's this feeling?' A sense of nervousness enveloped Nelson as he watched Noah. Was he feeling scared? 

"Oh well," Noah whispered his words softly, but for some unknown reason, everyone could hear him. "I can always make him take some time off."

His eyes flashed for a split second, and the room felt cold all of a sudden.

--------------------------

"So kids, the reason for Newton's laws of motion.." 

Max watched Mr. Carrick carefully as he took his class, his eyes scanning the teacher's every single move. But alas, he could find nothing that made him suspect that he was someone 'abnormal.'

"Are you sure that he's a monster?" Harold asked as he took a bite of his protein bar. The gang was sitting around their lunch table during the break time when Max had mentioned the shockwave feeling that he felt when he met Mr. Carrick. "Maybe he's just a hybrid, like us.." Alphonso muttered to himself as he grabbed a donut and chewed on it.

"Maybe the shockwave really was just a general warning, like the spider-s*nse.." Max said with a frown.

"But what if he really is a monster, though?" Gerald said, and everyone tilted their heads towards him. "What if he really is a full-fledged monster. Not a hybrid like us. But a complete monster."

"How can that be?" Harold asked with widened eyes. "I mean, he talks like a human being. Heck, he even taught us physics today. You've seen those creatures. They can't even say a single sentence properly."

"But what if one could?" Gerald replied almost immediately. "Not every single monster. Just one." 

The others looked at each other. Max had a frown on his face as he rubbed his chin. 

"I feel like things are going to get a whole lot more difficult..."