Beast Soul

Alphonso walked inside the bathroom and immediately moved towards the sink. "Mr. Carrick, or whatever that creature is, escaped this room without even opening the door!" He knelt down and began looking under the sink as he continued, "And that means this place isn't a normal bathroom. It's got to have a secret pathway that leads elsewhere!"

Alphonso stretched his hand out and began touching the pipes underneath the sink. "And if there's a secret pathway, then that means that there's also a secret door. And if there's a secret door, then that means that there's also a secret button to open the door. So, let's search around the bathroom. There's not much to look inside this room, so I'm assuming it's going to be a bit easier to find the button."

Max and Gerald nodded their heads and the three began searching for the secret button.

"I can't believe we're searching for a hidden button that opens a secret pathway inside our physics teacher's bathroom…" Gerald mumbled under his breath as he let out a soft chuckle. "It's pretty funny if you think about it.."

"I'm just glad that we didn't end up seeing the guy naked!" Max said with a smile as he began lightly touching the walls of the bathroom, trying to find if there are pressure pointed buttons hidden underneath them.

"Yeah, you and me both, bud.." Alphonso replied as he began turning on the faucets, hoping that it might unlock the hidden pathway, but it only released water, much to Alphonso's disappointment.

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask you.." Gerald said as he lifted the lid on the toilet and searched for any secret buttons near it before slamming it shut and turning around. "But do you have a plan on how to even beat this guy if he suddenly attacks us?"

Max looked at Alphonso, who in turn looked back at him and shrugged his shoulders. "That's why we have Max, right?" 

"Is that the only plan you have?" Max responded with his hands on his hips as he raised one of his eyebrows. "Relying on my superpower? And nothing else?"

Alphonso looked back and forth at Max and Gerald before responding with frustration, "What? What's wrong with that? It's the best plan, isn't it? I mean, you literally have superpowers! I don't think it gets any better than that!"

"But it's- it's like a one step plan. I wouldn't even call it a plan." Gerald explained, and Alphonso waved his arms in the air and in a frustrated tone, replied, "Well, do you have any better ideas, huh?"

"Well, no.." Gerald couldn't say anything, as he really had no clue as to what they could do if they really did encounter the monster in human's clothing. But then again, it's not like he was on board with this whole plan either. "You have to understand that planning takes time, right?" Gerald said.

"I don't know about you, but if there's a monster disguising as our physics teacher and no one's even found out that it's not really a human, then that means sh*t has already hit the fan!" Alphonso kneeled down and began looking on the floor for any hidden buttons underneath the tiles. "We really have no time to think and make plans."

"What do you mean 'sh*t has hit the fan'?" Gerald looked at Alphonso and asked, confused about his words.

Alphonso let out a long and heavy sigh before opening his mouth to speak. "It's exactly how it sounds. These monsters have found a way to hide amongst the people, and this would make it almost impossible to figure out who's a human and who's not. And the fact that these monsters can imitate humans so well means that they're also intelligent, and that's definitely not a good thing."

Alphonso stood up and looked at the mirror that was right above the sink with raised eyebrows. He lifted up the mirror that was stuck onto the wall, revealing a small switch underneath it.

"Found it!" Alphonso said with a smile on his face and turned to look at Max and Gerald, who were still unsure about what to do. 

"Are you guys ready?" Alphonso asked, and Gerald and Max hesitated, unable to give a quick answer.

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"Sh*t! Sh*t! Sh*t!" Harold cursed out loud as he ran through the small alleyway, heading in the direction of Mr. Carrick's house, which was still about five minutes away. 

"These morons are making me worry for no reason!" Harold said, frustration evident in his voice as he dashed through the narrow alleyway, stepping on puddles of mud and splashing it all over the dirty road as he ran.

He didn't know why, but he could feel that something was about to go wrong, and he knew that he could provide help, given that he too was now a superhuman, much like Max.

"F*ck! What the fuck do I even do when I get there?" Harold said to himself as he turned a corner. He ran on the sidewalk that was right next to a baseball ground. Harold only knew that he could grow thorns out of his hands, and most probably his body as well. But those are not exactly something that'd be useful against enemies who use long range attacks.

"I guess Alphonso really was right about there being no time to make plans.." Harold couldn't help but bit his lips as a bitter smile formed on his face, and he continued rushing forward.

Right then!

"Look out!" Harold heard someone yelling loudly at him, and for a second, he felt a sharp pain pass through his brain, making him turn his neck around instantly, and he saw a baseball flying straight for him, moving through the air with incredible speed!

'Ah, sh*t!' instinctively, Harold raised both his hands and used it to cover his face, when suddenly, from the palm of his left hand shot out a sharp thorn, which shot through the air like a bullet and collided with the ball, causing a small explosion and resulting in the baseball being destroyed in the process!

WHAM!

Harold lowered his hand and stared at the destroyed pieces of what remained of the ball with shock in his eyes. He then turned his gaze towards his hands, and after taking a deep breath, a smile blossomed across his face as he opened his mouth to speak. "Huh… Well I guess that's going to be helpful."

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"You should learn to control your 'inner beast' a bit more, Noah…" Augustus stopped and turned around, keeping his gaze on the fallen Noah who was lying on the destroyed floor and continued. "It'll definitely help you in fights, but it may also end up clouding your judgment, which will only cause you pain in the future."

Augustus twisted the doorknob and opened the door as he finished speaking and stepped out of the building. "And don't worry about today. I promise you, we'll definitely meet again, and we'll have our fight." Augustus left with a loud chuckle, waving his hand at Noah before disappearing from his gaze.

Noah closed his eyes and let out a sigh. 'I guess that could've gone even worse..' Noah said in an attempt to console himself, but it didn't have the desired effect. 

'What do you mean it could've gone even worse?' All of a sudden, a familiar voice entered Noah's brain, and he let out a sigh of defeat. He instantly recognised the voice. How could he not? After all, it was his own!

"Where the f*ck were you?" Noah asked, questioning the doppelganger Noah about his whereabouts for the last few hours. Noah had almost come to the conclusion that he had been completely absorbed into his mind already, which made him a bit paranoid. But now that the doppelganger was back, Noah felt both relief and annoyance. Relieved that the doppelganger hadn't been successful fusing with his mind, yet. And at the same time, he was annoyed that he had to listen to the words of the doppelganger just after getting an a** whooping from a powerful opponent. It wasn't exactly what one hoped to receive after one of the worst defeats of his life.

'I don't know, alright?' Doppelganger Noah replied in an instant. He sounded like he was mad and frustrated. 'I just became conscious, and I found myself getting my a** beaten by another monster! Suffice it to say, I'm not having a good day!'

'He's becoming more and more like me…' Noah couldn't help but feel as though it was the doppelganger Noah who was receiving more and more of his features and not the other way around. 

"What did you think?" Noah asked doppelganger Noah, who replied, "What? About the guy who just beat you?"

Noah nodded his head, and doppelganger Noah let out a long and heavy sigh before continuing, "..You should probably listen to his words and stay far away from him. At least for now."

"What?" Noah couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"I'm not joking..." Doppelganger Noah continued, and his tone became serious. "He's not your average monster!"