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Hello there, readers! I'm back with a new chapter of The Fox's Path! Once more, this chapter was proofread by the wonderfully amazing Trismegistus Shandy, and if you haven't already, be sure to give their stories a read! Enjoy!

Taylor was sitting at her desk in Alchemy 101, trying to stay focused and occasionally failing. Normally, she was so enraptured by the amazing magical substances and properties that they were studying that paying attention wasn't a problem for the teenage vixen, but today her mind kept wandering. She kept thinking about Shaun and the trip that he was going to be going on in just a week, and the potential dangers that her adopted brother was going to face. She knew that the Badlands were a strange and inherently dangerous place, full of odd and hazardous environments, some that seemed to defy even this world's laws of nature. But she had been hearing more and more about how patrols were being accosted by the creatures of the badlands with greater frequency. Taylor gave a slight shudder at the mental images of some of the very life forms she had learned about that called the Badlands home, including the Abomination and the Voider she had encountered herself.

And they're just going to send high school students out there? Taylor wondered to herself once again as she halfheartedly scribbled some notes from Mrs. Savant's lecture, the gazelle's voice droning on to her drooping ears. Presently Mrs. Savant was holding up a bird cage made of a strange green metal. Inside was a gelatinous blue orb that floated in the exact center of the cage.

"Now class, you should always exercise caution when extracting a sample from an enigmaspore. Normally, they are very docile; however, once agitated, they can become quite aggressive," Mrs. Savant said, before reaching in between the bars of the cage with a hoof and giving the orb a prod. Taylor, as well as the rest of the class, were now fully focused on the orb, which started to ripple while making a high-pitched growling sound. Mrs. Savant quickly withdrew her hoof just as the enigmaspore's skin split open in a horizontal line revealing a blue-gummed mouth and a set of razor-sharp fangs. There was a writhing mass of oily-black tendrils in its mouth that started to reach out, feeling around. The second one of them touched the green metal of the cage, however, there was a loud hiss and the tendrils immediately retracted, the mouth closing, and the flesh of the creature rippling once more before appearing to harden. The gazelle teacher reached back in and tapped a hoof-finger onto the new, shiny shell, making a dull thud sound.

"As you can see, the juvenile enigmaspore is more prone to growing a temporary shell for protection. Older ones are much more likely to redouble their efforts at attacking whatever agitated them in the first place, especially any one of the five different types of what are believed to be females. Now class, find yourselves a lab partner, and I'll start distributing the cages housing the adolescent enigmaspores." Mrs. Savant seemed oblivious to the silent open-mouth stare she was receiving from her class. After a few moments, there was a scraping of chairs and grumbles as everyone shuffled about. Jeremy took a seat next to Taylor, smiling nervously at her. They didn't get much of a chance to chat before a large green cage was set before them on the desk, with an enigmaspore that was twice the size of the one that had been used in the example.

"Alright, class, get at least three vials ready, along with some gloves, and be ready with an extraction tool. Oh! Also, don't forget to take notes!"

Taylor got out the clear liquid vials while Jeremy put on his gloves, holding a shiny metallic tool that looked similar to a syringe, but with what appeared to be a small silver suction cup at the end. Taylor put on her own gloves just as Jeremy opened his mouth to speak.

"S-so... uhm...h-how are you doing, Taylor?" Jeremy nervously asked, this being the first time he'd had a chance to speak to the vixen without Lily hovering nearby since she had been released from the hospital.

"Okay, how about you?" Taylor asked.

"I'm fine... I just... I w-wanted to say th-that I'm sorry, though..." Jeremy said.

"Why though?"

"... It was my idea to go to the museum..." Jeremy said as he slowly started to push the suction cup end of the extractor tool through the green bars of the cage.

"Jeremy, you couldn't have known that I was going to be attacked by a Voider," Taylor said softly.

"I guess..." Jeremy said, still sounding remorseful.

"Also... you were pretty brave," Taylor said, the insides of her ears turning a pink as Jeremy looked at her quizzically; "instead of just running, you held onto me and tried to pull me away... I never did say thank you for that."

Now Jeremy was the one to blush, the corners of his mouth turning up in a smile while the wings hidden inside his backpack were wriggling frantically in excitement. "N-no problem... uhm... I w-was w-wondering... if m-maybe--"

Taylor and Jeremy both jumped as a deep growl came from just behind them. A beaver girl was looking terrified while holding her own extraction tool as her blue dragoness partner looked on in shock. They both jumped back from the cage as the black tendrils from their enigmaspore shot out and slammed into the side of the cage. It did so repeatedly, each time letting out a horrendous screech whenever the tendrils made contact with the metal. After a few minutes, it slowed its efforts before retracting the tendrils and closing its mouth, it too hardening its skin to a shell.

"Clara, Leanne," Mrs. Savant said with a sigh as the two girls winced at their names being called, "you'll both have to return just as school lets out to collect your samples."

Taylor heard both girls mumble "Yes, Mrs. Savant," before they took their seats. She and Jeremy shared a look before he renewed his efforts to collect a sample, going in even slower and much more cautiously than before. The cup of the syringe made very gentle contact with their enigmaspore's flesh. Taylor and Jeremy both held their breath and waited. So far, nothing. Jeremy then pressed down on the plunger with his thumb, and the hollow part of the syringe began to fill with a glowing magenta substance.

After it had filled all the way, Jeremy quickly removed the tool from the cage, which seemed to finally catch the attention of their enigmaspore. Like the two previous ones, it split open to reveal the hideous black writhing tendrils, letting out a vicious growl, before it started to slam the tendrils into the side of the cage where Taylor and Jeremy were. The bat and the vixen leaned back, watching as the cage shook a little with each hit. And, once more like the previous two, it slowed its efforts at attacking, and hardened into a thick shell.

"Very good, Jeremy," Mrs. Savant praised, the pair only now realizing that she was standing right next to their desk.

"Uh... th-thank you, Mrs. Savant," Jeremy said, taking a moment to look down at the filled syringe. Under her supervision, Jeremy filled up the three vials, Taylor quickly putting the rubber stopper on them once they were full.

"Excellent work, you two," Mrs. Savant said before going over to another desk. "Those of you who successfully collect your samples, be sure to properly label them," she called over her shoulder. The rest of the class went by, with several more students failing to collect their samples, and one mouse boy getting the sample splashed on his arm, having to quickly scramble over to the washing station to begin scrubbing it out, pink smoke trailing from his arm. Taylor and Jeremy then took notes as they used one vial of their sample to run some of the tests that Mrs. Savant put before them on the board. Soon enough, all the cages were stacked in one corner, all of the enigmaspores in their shells, and it was almost time for them all to head to their next classes.

"Now, an important thing to remember is that the younger enigmaspores that you've all worked with today are dangerous, but the full-grown ones are downright deadly. Thankfully, it is only rarely that they are ever encountered anywhere outside of the Badlands." Taylor's ears drooped at that, just before the bell rang. She made her way towards the door along with the other students out into the hall, Jeremy walking beside her. He noticed her ears and her drooping tail and frowned.

"Worried about Shaun?" he asked, guessing correctly.

"Yeah..." was Taylor's response as they both made their way to Remedial Energy Manipulation.

"I heard that they're gunna have an armed escort, along with an escort from the Mage's Guild," Jeremy offered, sounding hopeful.

"I know, my uncle Ben is going, along with my new big sister Molly... but... there's still a lot of dangerous creatures there..." Jeremy was silent at this as they took seats next to one another, just as Mr. Bloome entered, the otter once more wearing a pressed three-piece suit and tie.

"Good afternoon, class," he said as he stepped towards the board and began to write down a series of runes, "today we are going to be working on focusing our second sight." He finished writing the last of the runes on the board, there being sixteen in all, and turned towards the class with a smile. "Now, for those of you who do not know, 'second sight' is what we call it when you attune your senses to sense magic, in this case in a visual way. Now, it can be a little hard the very first time, but it gets much easier afterwards. Once we get started, you are each going to look at one of these runes. They are all technically written correctly, but they are all missing something that throws them completely off. Your assignment is to figure out and correct each one." The magi looked around, scratching his chin with a playful smirk on his muzzle, before selecting a scrawny cheetah boy in the back.

"Dave, why don't you come on up." There was a sigh as the boy stood up and shuffled to the front of the class. He took the marker that the magus handed to him. "Now, just focus like you do with your rune stones, but without closing your eyes. Just pick any one of the runes and make the correction that you think it needs."

Dave rolled his eyes but nodded, clearly wishing that he was doing anything else. He selected a rune in the middle of the board, and stared at it for a few minutes. He then reached out with the eraser end of the marker and wiped away an angle on the rune, re-drawing that part with a curve. There was a bang and a flash, and Dave stumbled backwards, his face covered in soot, the rune he had 'corrected' now smoking.

"You were close, Dave, but don't feel discouraged. You just need some additional practice." Dave chuffed as he wiped the soot away from his watering eyes and took his seat.

"Alright, how about Taylor goes next?" Mr. Bloome offered, catching the vixen's attention. She gulped and nodded, slowly standing up and walking towards the offered marker. She took it and then stared at the board. She took a deep breath, and focused. It took her a few seconds, but then she was able to start "seeing" the runes on the board. They were all softly glowing, except parts of them were sputtering light. As she looked at the sputtering part of one rune, which was shaped like an x with a quarter circle at each end, she spotted flashes of shapes at the ends. They added to the rune, making it shine brighter for a brief moment, before flickering once more. Cocking her head, Taylor reached out and traced the marker over the missing parts, trying to make sure she was copying it correctly. Once she had finished, the glow became steady and bright... but there was no sudden flash or smoke. Taylor relaxed, the second sight fading, and the runes losing their light, except for her rune, which was now glowing a soft electric blue.

"Excellent, Miss Spring." Taylor blushed at the praise and at the use of her new adopted last name. She took her seat as Jeremy flashed her a smile, suddenly finding that it was his turn. Jeremy was the fastest of everyone, only taking two seconds after selecting a rune before correcting it. His started to glow with a green light, Taylor suddenly smelling a fruity scent. The process repeated, with other students taking longer, and some others making mistakes that led to disastrous effects similar to Dave from earlier. Soon, there were nine smoking runes on the board and seven glowing ones in total, each a different color.

"Alright, now we're going to be taking notes on the subtle differences between the runes as they had been to how they should have been written. As well as what happened when they were incorrectly changed." Mr. Bloom noticed more than a few wincing sooty faces. The class got started as the otter began to walk them through, going over the nuances of the different magical runes. It was nearing the end of the class when they finished their notes.

"Now class, your homework assignment for tonight is to bring in three runes correctly written using your second sight along with at least two paragraphs per rune about what each rune you selected means magically, and its effects. Also, I want you all to read up on chapter thirty-five, specifically the section on how to make alterations to an already correct rune in order to turn it into a completely different rune. And you will be expected to demonstrate this in class tomorrow." The students started to flow back out into the hall, Jeremy following Taylor. He had opened his mouth to speak when he was cut off by a voice.

"Tay-tay!" Lily called, rushing over to her sister and pulling her into a hug. "I'm so sorry I missed escorting you from your last class, I was in the guru kepala's office." Taylor let out a wheeze as the hug from the she-wolf lessened, now capable of getting air in.

"It's okay, Lily, I made it just fine... but why were you in his office?" Taylor asked, curious. Lily looked away, Taylor already recognizing the facial expressions that showed Lily was about to put on her innocent act.

"Someone may have poured a potion on the P.E. teacher's chair that caused them to become immune to gravity... for a little while... and suddenly everyone assumes it was me!"

Taylor rolled her eyes but smiled. "And you truly had nothing to do with it?" Taylor asked incredulously.

"Of course not! I mean, yeah sure, I hate having to run sprints while everyone else gets to take a break, so naturally I would have a motive, but it wasn't me this time!" Lily said, looking away.

"Uh-huh. And why were you running sprints?"

"Because I'm being singled out! All for making just a few innocent comments about the teacher's new furcut..." Lily smiled mischievously at that. Taylor let out a sight only to notice that Jeremy was standing a bit away from the two, looking at Lily nervously. "So I take it that you got into trouble?"

"Nope, there isn't enough evidence to prove that it was me, so I just got a chewing out," Lily said proudly. "Welp, let's get you to your next class!"

Taylor was surprised as her paw was taken by Lily, who started to lead her away. Jeremy trailed after them. Thanks to the weird schedule that Taylor still had yet to get used to, she was now standing before her Algebra 101 class, Lily still holding her paw and standing before her, protectively.

"Okay, Lily, thanks for walking me to class, I got it from here," Taylor said, removing her paw from her sister's grip. Lily's tail wagged happily before she said her goodbye and headed off towards her own class.

"Your sister is really protective of you," Jeremy observed as they both entered.

"You have no idea," Taylor mused. Jeremy went over to take his seat by his friend, Preston. The green dragon yawned and gave a wave to Taylor, who smiled and returned it, taking her seat. Magus Soloman entered, and gruffly quieted everyone down to get them focused on the day's lesson, which was identifying and categorizing different mathematical equations for different lesser deities' influence in the material world. Taylor tried to focus, having been able to clear her mind of the negative thoughts and worries that she felt not only for Shaun, but also for Ben and Molly. But now they were returning, and Taylor couldn't help but think of different types of horrors descending upon them.

She scribbled along with her notes, halfheartedly paying attention. As she scribbled, she started to incorporate different runic symbols as necessary, her notes starting to sparkle, just like everyone else's. But since she wasn't paying as close attention as she should have been, her paper started to smoke a little. Taylor let out a shriek at the sudden bang, her paper shredding itself into a series of tiny pieces, which each turned into pink flower petals.

"Well, Miss Nico--erm, Miss Spring," Magi Soloman said, the large puma walking over to her desk with a gentle smile, turning to glare at the few snickers he heard, "it's not every day that a student makes her notes do that. Usually when something like that happens they just burst into flames, hence the fire extinguisher." Magi Soloman hooked a thumb over his shoulder at the bright red fire extinguisher by his desk that Taylor had noticed and been wondering about.

"But it's nothing that can't be fixed," he said with a snap of his fingers, a pink spark flashing as he did so. All of the petals rose into the air and swirled together before becoming the page of Taylor's notes. He then took a pen and corrected her rune, which then glowed normally. "There you go, Miss Spring."

"Th-thank you, Magus," Taylor said with a blush.

Magus Soloman nodded and went back to walking his class through the lesson.

I gotta stay focused... and... maybe something will happen and Shaun won't have to go... yeah... something like that is bound to happen... Taylor thought as she resumed taking her notes.

And there you have it, readers! Please feel free to leave a review!