Catharsis

a MACROPHILLIAC short story

by David J Rust ©1997


     "C'mon Tyler, size doesn't matter..."


     Tyler Fox slowly shook his sleek, angular head as he reached to toss his 
Calculus textbook on the top shelf of his locker.  "Yeah, right Drew; easy 
for you t' say."ÊÊBrushing a wayward lock of black hair out of his red-furred 
face, the four-foot-tall bipedal fox looked up at his equine friend.  "You're 
nearly as tall as any human; me, I can barely reach their shoulders!"


     Drew Davenport shook his head vehemently. Ê"Look, that's not important.  
Sure, I'm almost five-foot-six, but that doesn't mean anything!  Trace, Brian 
and Jen like me for who I am, not how tall I am."


     "You always mention them.  God, Drew!  You only have three human friends 
and you use them as examples to make excuses for the rest of their sorry 
race...  They made us, remember?  I mean, we'll never be their equals unless 
we do something about it!"  Tyler hopped down off the thick "Introduction to 
Biological Chemistry" and "World Philosophers: Aescelus through Descartes" 
and looked up at his friend.  "And you can deny it all you want, but even if 
I were human, I'd still be teased for my size."


     Tyler's un-shoed toe claws flicked idly as he picked up his books and 
watched Drew's face.  The larger equine was indeed tall; probably even big 
enough to make it to the High School football team next year.  It always 
seemed to Tyler that the herbivores grew bigger than foxes, wolves or 
felines; and it made him feel ... deprived.


     "Tyler, how can you say that?  Look, humans made us as manual 
laborers..."


     "And sex-objects", injected the bitter fox.


     Drew nodded, continuing, "...and sex-objects.  But we were freed over 
two decades ago!  You and I have never had to work in factories or animorph 
shelters.  We have it just as good as any human."


     Tyler rolled his eyes as he started walking towards his eleven o'clock 
sculpture class which he shared with Drew.  "You can't believe that.  I mean, 
look at us!  How many animorphs -of any species- hold high positions in Dow 
Chemical, Microsoft or Kineti-core?  How many animorphs are elected mayor or 
senator?"


     "Those will take time, Tyler.  Who knows?ÊÊMaybe you'll be the first!"  
The equine had long-since learned to soothe his smaller friend's temper with 
assurances of his own ability.  Truth-be-told, Drew honestly did believe that 
Tyler may one day become mayor of Madison; he was the smartest student at 
East High, human or otherwise.  It was only the fact that Tyler -like all 
foxes- was so short, that he felt inferior.


     Tyler smiled wickedly, showing a partial smile of pointed teeth. Ê"Yeah, 
right...  Me, as mayor.  They'd have to raise every podium in the city at 
least two feet..."


     The horse shook his head and patted Tyler's shoulder comfortingly. Ê
"Look, being short isn't that bad," he said, changing the subject from the 
volatile racism track to something a bit more neutral. Ê"Besides you're as 
tall as any fox in the eleventh grade."


     "You see many here?" asked Tyler with a sigh.  "There are five of us in 
the Vulpine Student League and that makes up more than half of the whole 
school population!  There are far more Cougars and Rabbits here than anything 
else."


     Drew nodded as the two walked into the dusty, workshop environment of 
the ceramics, pottery and sculpture rooms.  The soft, earthy smells of the 
area helped assuage Tyler's mood somewhat; it was a soothing place to be and 
he enjoyed this class much more than any other.  As the two sat, Tyler put 
his paw on Drew's knee and looked up at his friend.


     "But even so, humans chose to make us the heights we are...  They 
purposely engineered your people to be smaller than they are; can you imagine 
what it would be like to be the size of a non-animorph horse? ÊYou'd be 
fuckin' huge!"


     The snort of laughter that met Tyler's assertion surprised him.  "Oh, 
come on!  Humans didn't make Equines small because they wanted us inferior!  
It was a leg-structure issue...  Look, it was easier to engineer smaller 
mammals; that's it!"


     Tyler shook his head. Ê"It's all over their culture Drew...  Words like 
'giant', 'huge', 'titanic' and 'colossal' are synonymous with power, prestige 
and respect.  And what do they call the powerless people?  'Weak', 'shrimp', 
'tiny'...  It's in their whole culture:  Bigger is Better!"


     "Oh?ÊÊWhat about dinosaur analogies?"  Drew stood and walked over to the 
rack of tools near the door as more students filed in.  Waving to them, he 
noticed their pointed effort to ignore his gesture.  It was true that humans 
tended to ignore animorphs, but it was changing ... slowly.    "There are 
lots of times when you see the words 'giant' or 'huge' referring to something 
that's too large for it's own good...  It's all in how you look at it..." he 
continued.


     "You should try listening to Drew, shrimp," taunted a voice entering the 
room, "you'll never be anything more than a little fox anyway..."  Greg 
Albrecht sauntered in, slinging his books on a shared table next to the one 
where the two animorphs sat.  The East High senior was large, but overweight.  
His nearly six-foot-tall body massed more than twice Tyler's weight and he 
was a blocker on the school's football team.


     Tyler's political debate with Drew shriveled up almost immediately.  He 
glowered internally as he suppressed a snarl.  "Whatever..." he muttered 
noncommittally to the laughter of the larger human.


     "What was that?" snarled Greg, menacingly.


     A scowl darkend Drew's face as the equine turned to the newcomer.  
"Knock it off, Albrecht."


     Greg smiled to Drew and blew air through his nose in imitation of a 
horse snorting.  Turning back to Tyler, he chuckled and pressed the issue. Ê
"Come on, shrimp, I couldn't hear you from way down there..."


     Embarrassed by the attention and trying to ignore the derisive stares of 
the other students in the class, Tyler tried to suppress his rage.  Greg had 
been his tormentor for the past two years -beating him up and teasing him 
mercilessly.  In all honesty, he didn't know what he'd done to deserve such 
ire, but he usually categorized it as unbridled racism.  Desperate, he 
glanced at the clock, wishing for the final bell to ring and summon the 
teacher to the room.


     Greg stood up and approached, his shadow falling over Tyler as he 
cracked his knuckles.  Drew stepped forward and stood just a few steps away 
as Tyler glanced at Greg with the determination of someone who wasn't going 
to let on how scared he was.  "Leave us alone, Drew," he said, calmly, still 
wishing for Ms. Lunde to come in and start class.  "I can handle this..."


     Greg just looked over his shoulder and smiled. Ê"Yeah, horsie...  Leave 
me and the shrimp alone..."


     Tyler growled in a low, canine tone; his toe-claws scraping menacingly 
against the smooth, dust-covered tiles of the floor.  As Greg turned back 
from Drew to face Tyler, the small animorph sprang forward, his fist smashing 
into Greg's over-sized gut with a satisfying >whoof< of surprise from the 
bully.  For a second, it seemed that everything was going to work; a 
surprised cheer went up from a few of the other students in the room and 
Tyler stepped back with a grin at Greg's astonished expression.  He flexed 
his fist again, ignoring the bruised feeling in his knuckles.


     Silencing the scattered chuckles and cat-calls with a withering glance, 
Greg quickly grabbed Tyler by the shoulders and swung him around into the 
chalkboard nearby, scattering both chalk and erasers.  Tyler swung his knee 
up quickly and tried to connect with the larger boy's groin, but was spun 
away again by Greg into another wall.  Drew leapt forward, grappling with 
Greg.  Straining, the short horse tried to pull the larger boy off of his 
small friend.  Greg laughed and began to push Drew away as well...


     "Hey!  Stop that!  Stop that NOW!" boomed the voice of Ms. Lunde.


     The towering, six-foot-two art teacher stormed into the room and grabbed 
the two boys, easily pulling Tyler away from Greg's grasping arms.  Tyler 
continued to struggle and strain as his teacher pulled him towards the 
storage office to calm him down.  Greg just smiled and waved with a mocking 
twiddle of his fingers.


     Drew looked from Greg to Tyler and stepped forward frantically.  "Ms. 
Lunde!  Wait!  It's not Tyler's fault! ÊIt's Greg's!  He..."


     Ms. Tyler turned to him and nodded curtly, still pulling the still-
struggling Tyler towards the storage room. Ê"Not now, Drew.  Let's just get 
this one calm first and then I'll deal with the rest of this." ÊShe shot a 
withering glance across the room at the football player and then pulled Tyler 
into the storage room to cool down...  Drew grimaced as Greg glared at him 
menacingly.


=====


     "Tyler?ÊÊTyler!  Wake up!"


     Drew's voice shattered the blackness that had enveloped Tyler's mind and 
forced him to wake, surrounded by dust and boxes of clay and dye.  "What...?"Ê
he asked blearily, trying to get his bearings.


     "You must've fallen asleep after Ms. Lunde had you clean up back here - 
you slept through class.  C'mon, Ty, it's lunch time..."  In the background, 
the noon-time bell finished its incessant ringing.


     Sadness and regret over the confrontation quashed the small fox's 
appetite and desire to go to any other classes.  "No, Drew..." Tyler 
responded, wiping the clay dust from his eyes, "I don't want to.  I'll just 
get beat up again..."


     "That's no way to talk; Greg won't hurt you. ÊI'm here now."  Inwardly, 
Tyler bristled at the tone his friend used.  Sighing, he just looked dejected 
and shook his head. Ê"You're just tired, that's all..." continued Drew, 
patting Tyler's shoulder.


     "No, I'm not, Drew. ÊI feel fine;" he answered honestly.  He actually 
felt quite good; almost energetic, but his mood filtered his bodily health 
with a layer of depression.  "I'm just giving up."  He cocked his head and 
looked up at his friend.  There was something odd going on; something not 
quite right in the room.  Drew went on trying to reassure him; his kindly 
platitudes going unnoticed as Tyler tried to gauge what exactly felt out of 
place in the current situation.  His clothing felt tight and confining; even 
his over-sized MidwesterCon '97 T-shirt was clinging to his shoulders like a 
muscle-T.  His legs itched in their shorts and, still listening to Drew, he 
stood.


     Tyler watched, startled as the horse's expression changed and his voice 
slowed to a crawl.


     Tyler was taller.  He now stood easily at the height of Drew's neck, his 
normally-loose clothing taut on his wiry, muscular frame.


     "Wh..what's going on?"  Nervously, Tyler looked around at his feet to 
see what he was standing on.  His red-furred toes were splayed widely on the 
floor the same as Drew's hooves.  He looked up at his friend and gulped. Ê
"I...I'm taller..."


     Drew nodded dumbly, looking over Tyler as if his friend were suddenly 
some strange, alien being.  With a rush, Tyler suddenly felt his body tingle 
and become awash with an odd, comforting warmth.  It made him feel good and 
stronger as he felt his shirt tighten and his shorts pull up against his fur 
more snugly.  "Ohhh... I ...ÊI can feel it!  Drew!  I'm growing!"


     "L...lets get you out of here..." stammered the startled horse, and took 
Tyler's hand without waiting for an answer.  Tyler and Drew quickly ran out 
of the storage room and through the delivery door at the rear of the 
clustered art rooms.  Outdoors, the day was bright and clear; very warm for 
such a late-Autumn day.  The gym classes weren't out on the athletic field 
yet and the empty delivery area that flanked it was isolated as Tyler 
assessed his situation.


     He was now nearly Drew's height; his powerful and lithe physique blown 
up and made to look much more buff and powerful. Ê"Drew; what's going on with 
me?"


     Drew just shook his head.ÊÊ"I don't know, Ty; seriously, we should get 
you to a doctor!"


     Tyler looked at himself, not answering for nearly a minute as he tried 
to observe the actual growth.  "A doctor?" Tyler repeated, focusing again to 
the conversation, "what could a doctor do?  Shrink me?  C'mon, get real!"


     "But maybe they could do something!" Drew explained, looking into 
Tyler's eyes as the smaller fox continued to grow - matching the horse's 
height.


     His friend scowled and crossed his arms, his clothing was almost 
painfully tight across his chest and groin.  "Why should I?" asked Tyler 
brusquely.  He flexed his limbs and felt his strong muscles ripple beneath 
his well-toned, red body fur.  He watched his arms expand as he felt himself 
grow another few inches, now able to look evenly at Drew's forehead.  "I like 
being taller!  Why should I want to stop?"


     "You could get too big!  You could hurt yourself ... or ... or others!"


     Tyler laughed derisively. Ê"Why should hurting others bother me?ÊÊYou're 
the only one I fucking care about in this whole, damn school!"  Tyler smiled 
as he continued to grow.  Slowly, he passed six feet tall and walked closer 
to his friend, the rush of his size increase intoxicating him as he hugged 
the smaller horse. Ê"This is great!  Oh God, it feels so good!"  Drew 
struggled against the now-larger animorph, but slowly looked up instead into 
the eyes of his friend.  Tyler watched the face beneath him meet his own; 
smiling with his toothy grin at the smaller herbivore.  "Now you're the cute 
one, tiny..."Êhe said in a low, whisper.


     A slight whinny escaped  Drew's muzzle as he looked up at his enlarged 
friend.  Already, the tight shirt and pants stretched over Tyler's expanding 
physique were showing signs of tearing completely free.  From the expression 
on Drew's face, Tyler could tell that the look of wild abandon in his own 
eyes was unsettling to the smaller equine.


     "Tyler!  Come on...  Y...you're scaring me!"


     "Oh?ÊÊBecause I'm so much bigger than you?"  He licked his lips slowly, 
"or because I'm finally getting what I want?"  Tyler smiled as stitches began 
to rip; his clothing coming completely torn and split.  Without letting go of 
Drew, the young fox shook the remnants of his shirt and shorts from himself, 
revealing his strong, furred and naked body to the much shorter equine.  He 
chuckled as he stroked his friend's shoulders fondly. Ê"Now I know how I 
always looked to you, tiny," he said with a low mrring sound.


     Standing up to his full height, Tyler looked down at the much shorter 
equine and smiled. Ê"Cute." he said firmly, and looked towards the school. Ê
The earlier experience that left him in the dusty storage room swam back to 
his mind and he smiled coldly.  "But right now, I think I need to find Greg,"Ê
he said simply.  Letting go of Drew, Tyler turned and strode back towards the 
building.


     Drew shook his head, his muzzle working soundlessly as the implication 
of Tyler's words sank in.  Without a word the seven-and-a-half-foot-tall fox 
ducked under the delivery door's frame and reentered the school.


=====


     The hallways were still empty during the lunch break as Tyler -stark 
naked and still growing larger- walked through the sculpture area of the art 
classrooms.  It felt surprisingly good to feel the air brush through his 
fiery red fur and caress his body.  It was like those naturist camps that 
animorphs used to go to when he was a kid.  He'd not gone to one in years, 
but the old feelings came back to him vividly.


     How could he have ever been so small, he thought, looking down at a 
pottery wheel.  It was humiliating!  No one loved a midget fox; no one...  
Looking down, the wheel gradually became symbolic of what he used to be; 
weak, friendless (except for Drew, he reminded himself as an afterthought), 
and scared.  With violent anger, he kicked outwards, knocking the small wheel 
aside and asunder.  Satisfyingly, the tool was reduced to a heap of wood, 
stone and metal joints.


     Sharp ears pivoting, Tyler suddenly turned his head towards another 
noise of something breaking.  Eyes narrowing, he glanced towards the ceramics 
drying room.  Maybe the vibration of his vandalism caused something to tip 
over in there?


     Curious, he cocked his head and strode purposefully across the dusty 
floor.  Another sound of breaking pottery reached his ears as he leaned down 
to poke his muzzle  into the room.  It smelled of dust and clay -like the 
rest of the department- but another scent was in there as well ...  Greg.  
Smiling to himself, the now-nine-foot-tall fox hunched over and stepped 
through the door.


     The large room on the other side was filled with widely spaced rows of 
shelves for the slow drying of finished student projects.  The whole area was 
easily big enough for Tyler to stand in -even the rows were wide enough-, but 
he kept double-bent anyway, sneaking past shelves of artwork towards the 
smashing sounds.  Glancing upwards, he saw that the ceiling was still safely 
high - at least another ten feet over his head.  The rear-most row of 
shelving gradually gave way before Tyler's vision as he peered cautiously 
around to where Greg stood, checking hand-printed ID tags on the various 
pieces of artwork.


     Tyler glowered as he saw several of his own pieces of pottery lying 
smashed on the floor of the room; tipped off of their shelves by the 
vindictive vandal before him.  Greg's hand rose again, identifying Tyler's 
little statuette of Isis sculpted to resemble a cougar.  Although the human's 
face was hidden, Tyler could already imagine the smug, self-satisfied look on 
it as he carried out his vengeance against the fox.


     With a clearing of his throat, Tyler stepped forward, looming powerfully 
as Greg jumped at the noise.  The stillness of the room seemed heightened and 
tomb-like as the former tormentor's eyes gradually rose up the menacing form 
standing before him, arms crossed.  An uncharacteristic snicker of amusement 
escaped Tyler's lips as he looked down at the pint-sized bully, Greg's eyes 
staring and mouth agape in astonishment.  "Well, what do you have t' say for 
yourself?" asked the large fox with amusement.  Casually, he slid his right 
paw down his side, resting it on his hip.


     Greg only continued to stare while his voice stammered incoherently.  
Gulping with nervousness, he tried to speak. Ê"T....t...tyler?" he managed to 
ask, pointlessly.


     The huge fox snorted and cast his head about slowly. Ê"Don't see no 
other Vulpines here..."


     Feeling -suddenly- that discretion might be the better part of valor, 
Greg gulped and darted down the row he was standing in, trying to get past 
Tyler and make his way to the distant door.


     Amused by his small prey, Tyler let Greg get past as he continued to 
grow, now easily eleven feet tall.  "Who's the shrimp now, Greg?" boomed the 
expanding animorph.  His huge paws splaying wide on the tile floor of the 
drying room, Tyler flexed his huge muscles and sprinted after Greg; his huge 
strides covering much more distance than the fleeing bully.  The echoes of 
Tyler's heavy footfalls thudded firmly in the increasingly narrow rows of 
ceramics, his shadow growing longer to envelop Greg as Tyler gained ground 
and reached forward to grab the fleeing human by one shoulder.


     Extending his small, blunt claws, the fox dug in and held Greg from 
getting out the door.  Quickly, he moved his other paw and gripped the half-
sized human firmly, pulling and lifting his squirming body up into the air 
like a child. Ê"Well, what have we here...?" asked Tyler rhetorically.


     "Let me go!  Fuckin' fox!  Put me down now!"


     Tyler's eyebrows rose slightly in surprise, a low chuckle escaping his 
chest. Ê"Put you down?  Who's gonna make me, Greg?  You?"ÊÊHe looked calmly 
around the room, noticing he still had plenty of room to grow and could still 
fit out the doorway if he crawled.  "You never listened to me when I asked 
you to stop.  Why should I be any different?"


     "Th...this can't be real!  Y...y...you're h..huge!"


     Tyler grinned, purposely opening his muzzle wider and revealing his 
powerful, slender teeth. Ê"Nice of you to notice ... shrimp."  Purposefully 
threatening, the young fox ran his slender tongue around the contours of his 
muzzle, licking his lips and smacking them as he pointedly looked down at his 
small (and progressively smaller) prey.


     "HELP!  H...HELP ME!  Please!"  Greg started shouting and screaming as 
he kicked and struggled in Tyler's grip.


     It was odd.  As Tyler glanced down at him, Greg seemed less an equal and 
more like an unruly child ... or some small, struggling animal like a non-
sentient rabbit or squirrel.  He wasn't worth Tyler's time; he was an 
annoyance ... a tiny, struggling, loud annoyance.  Moments of clarity were 
rare to Tyler; something that didn't happen except while studying or 
exploring a new idea.  That such a revelation -so intrinsic and fundamental- 
should reveal itself to him at this moment, sent a rush through his body.


     Snorting in derision, Tyler dropped Greg firmly on his ass, the bully 
falling down in a half-crouch against a shelf of pottery.  The close quarters 
of the room grew tighter around Tyler as he grew past thirteen feet tall and 
planted his right foot firmly on Greg's chest.  He grinned as he pressed his 
blunt claws down, pushing menacingly against the bully's shirt; tearing it 
slightly.


     With a pronounced gasp of pain, Greg stopped his shouting.  The wind had 
no-doubt been knocked out of him by the sudden drop and impact.  "No one's 
gonna hear ya, tiny,"Êchuckled Tyler, "Who'd help you anyway?ÊÊNo one likes 
you.  And even if someone did come to save you, I'm bigger than any of 
them..."


     "In size, maybe..."


     Tyler turned to the source of the voice.  Drew stood in the doorway, a 
frightened look barely suppressed on his brown, equine face.  "Let him go, 
Tyler.  You don't need to do this."


     "Yeah?ÊÊHe deserves it!"ÊÊTyler kicked the side of Greg's body with his 
free foot for emphasis.  "This fuck-head's been torturing me for years now!  
If not for me then for all the other animorphs out there he beats up and gets 
away with!"


     "That's not fair, Tyler." he answered, stepping closer, "Look, I don't 
know what's happening to you, but if you hurt him you'll just be like all the 
others you said were mean because they were bigger.  You'll be part of that 
problem."


     The words danced around inside the fox's head, mocking him as he glared 
at his friend.  "You're just scared of me!  Just like Greg!"ÊÊHis huge, heavy 
foot pressed down harder on the struggling bully's chest, the faint sounds of 
his whimpers of pain reaching both animorph's ears. ÊHow easy it would be 
soon to just step down ... slowly... and listen to his rips pop like twigs.


     Drew nodded silently. Ê"You bet I'm scared, Tyler!  I'm scared of what 
you're becoming ... but not because of how big you are; because of how cruel 
you're getting.  I ... I'm your friend Tyler; and you're the best friend I 
could imagine.  Don't do this ... don't make yourself into a murderer."


     A huge boom sounded as the shelf behind Tyler was pushed by the fox's 
growth into another, sending a cascade of pottery down in shattering pieces 
of half-dry clay.  The second shelf tilted precariously in the resulting 
clouds of dust, not tipping over, but losing it's contents to the floor.  
Still, Tyler's fifteen-foot-tall body grew. Ê


     "You don't know what it's like, Drew...  You can't!"


     Drew nodded. Ê"Yeah, you're right again. ÊI don't know what it's like.  
But do you know what it's like to see your best friend turn into a killer?"


     Tyler closed his eyes quietly, his rage against the school, the bullies, 
the society bubbling around in the back of his mind.  Absently, he pushed his 
clawed foot forward slightly, pressing through Greg's shirt and puncturing 
his flesh shallowly.  He could almost feel the beating of his prey's heart; 
the insignificant creature below his foot whimpering and pleading for it's 
life.  Greg squeaked in pain, tears running down the sides of his face in 
fear.


     Tyler grimaced as Drew's words sank in; the contrasts of who and what he 
was and what he was becoming running through his mind like unruly children on 
a playground.


     His eyes opened.


     Drew still stood there in the doorway, less than half his height, closer 
now to a third of his size, looking up with determination on his face.  
Determination to help Tyler ... no matter how tall he was.  Gulping once, the 
giant fox looked down at the crying bully under his foot.  Feeling the small, 
trapped body pressed firmly beneath his weight, he shook his head and slowly 
lifted his foot. Ê"Get out, Greg.  Run."  A single, large tear ran down 
Tyler's face as his pent up rage was cheated of it's release.


     Greg got up as quickly as he could and -limping- pushed past Drew and 
ran out the door.  Tyler closed his eyes again, tightly, and hung his head in 
impotent fury.  "It didn't matter, Drew," he said with a snarl.  "It didn't 
matter how big I grew; I couldn't kill him..."ÊÊFaintly, he could hear Drew's 
hooves clicking on the tile floor, backing away.


     "Uh, Tyler.  You should get out of here..."


     Tyler continued, uncaring. Ê"I couldn't get bigger than who I am, 
Drew...  I failed to become a monster..."


     "Uh, Tyler...?"


     "I wanted to be a monster, Drew... ÊI wanted to have those little bugs 
fear me!"ÊÊAnother crash of a shelf went over, it's contents destroyed in the 
wake of the growing fox.  Well past caring, Tyler felt the ceiling against 
his head as he bent over, pushing up with his shoulders.  "Size does matter 
Drew... ÊIt always will; but it can't change who I am!"Ê He paused and 
growled through his teeth, "And that just, plain sucks..."


     Tears now streaming down his cheeks and muzzle, years of humiliation and 
teasing swam before his mind's eye as he heard the tiny horse turn and run 
out of the room.  Enraged, Tyler smashed his fist upwards, shattering through 
stone and wood into open air!  And still, Tyler grew; pressing his shoulders 
against the damaged ceiling, he pushed upwards, breaking out into open air -
getting bigger even more rapidly.


     He heard fire alarms go off in the building below him as he continued to 
swell; past twenty-five-feet-tall ... past thirty!  He opened his eyes and 
looked down as his chest cleared the hole in the art classrooms' roof and he 
expanded to the point where he could look down on the whole school.  Kicking 
outwards with one huge paw, he shattered his legs free of the small building, 
little students and teachers bolting from the structure like rabbits onto the 
athletic field.  He knew Drew was down there somewhere, and that was all that 
kept him from kicking at the fleeing humans.  Instead, he raised his huge paw 
high; it's shadow casting down over the school as it shrank away from him, 
below waist-height.  Powerfully, he drove his foot downwards, feeling 
plaster, stone, wood and furniture splinter, crush and shatter beneath the 
mighty blow!  Enraged, Tyler continued to stomp around, his huge feet 
slamming down again and again, stomping through math classrooms, chem labs, 
the parking lot...  


     Sixty feet tall...  Seventy feet...  Eighty... ÊNinety...!


     Cars, busses and bicycles were trampled as the hundred-foot fox released 
a decade of rage and hatred; his eyes blazing as he reduced East High School 
to rubble...


=====


     Drew looked down at Tyler, resting his hand gently on his sleeping 
friend's shoulder.  His soft, black mane draped over his shoulders like a 
cloak as he sat down on a nearby box of dyes.  Tyler had obviously fallen 
asleep back here after Ms. Lunde assigned him to clean up as punishment for 
the fight.  Drew sighed and listened to the rush of students going to the 
lunch room outside.


     He'd skip lunch, of course; he'd sit here and wait for Tyler to wake up 
so they could talk and he could offer his support to the young fox yet again.  
He glanced at the book Tyler had been reading before he'd drifted off with a 
smile.  He snorted slightly and smiled. Ê"Making Your Dreams Come to Life - A 
Guide for Magickal Exploration".  Who knew Tyler was interested in such 
things?


     Shifting his weight slightly, he noticed that Tyler's mom must've over-
washed his T-shirt again; it looked too tight on him...


The End