[CG]

By the time the school finally got into view, Eduardo was no longer crying, luckily. He was still in his mother's arms, chewing on one of his hooves in his teeth. He too had sharp teeth like his mother, but given he was only around six years old they weren't as frightening as his father's. Gonzalo had massive incisors, and a massive pair of horns atop his head. He was an intimidating looking man, which was most definitely an advantage in the ring not only psychological-wise, but physically, since they could do some real damage. But for now, Eduardo was but a small comparison to what he one day might become, cradled in his mother's arms.

Who happened to see the black car that had almost knocked her down drive off again. She growled lowly, but said nothing as she finally reached the school oval and began to cross it. As she walked across the oval she passed another parent who was walking their child. This was a bird, but somehow looked like a living plant at the same time. It was a he; similar to that of a peacock only instead of long feathers he had leaves of all sorts of colours over his wings, and tail. He was deep blue more or less, with splashes of yellow, gold, red, and white on his leaves. He paused to stretch his wings out, his under feathers being coloured like that of a tropical flower.

Besides him was his daughter. She was very different to what you would normally call 'normal' in this world. She had the head of a palm tree, long green leaves for hair. Her beak was red and kind of bumpy, and her body was that of a small plane. It had a blue top, white underneath, and a red line running from her neck to the tip of the planes tail. Meanwhile her feet and legs were orange, shoeless. In fact she was more or less naked, like her father.

He glanced at some of the older students at early morning play, ruffled his feathers a bit before walking on. His daughter paused to watch the kids for a moment before hurrying after him. "Well, have a good day Coco." he said as he reached the chain link fence which the students would pass through to get to their classrooms. Coco smiled up at her father,

"Co co coco coco!" she replied, her sentence constructed of that one singular word. Her father understood her, no worries. He smiled, before spreading his wings and flew off into the sky and out of sight. Coco waved him off with her foot before spinning around a few times and hopped on after some of the first years. Coco hopped on past Wilton, who had to stand back and stare at her for a few moments. Wow, some of these students were odd looking to say the least. Back there he had spotted a short, almost pencil thin boy covered in soft green fuzz with only one big eye atop his skinny body and black skinny arms and legs. Now, some bird... plant, airplane creature was in his class too? At least he wasn't the oddest looking one here.

There was quite a crowd gathered at the first years rooms, the students were gathered amongst each other mostly, talking, making quick friends on the first day. There were some parents also gathered, who just wanted to see their children off properly. Wilton observed some of them, who seemed to know one another fairly well. One mother stood out from the rest easily since she was quite big (especially to a first year), with horns and sharp teeth. She had a dress on, light pink with white flowers on it. Stood by her, all but clinging to her leg was obviously her son. She seemed to sense someone was looking at her, and her eyes cast downwards and their eyes locked.

Wilton gulped and automatically looked away, knowing it was rude to stare at others. In a world wholly populated by sometimes quite strangely designed beings, you were taught early not to stare. A slug like creature could very well save your life one day, after all. He suddenly heard a voice, obviously belonging to one of the mothers. "Well hola little muchacho." she said, her voice surprisingly warm and calming compared to just how monstrous she looked.

He turned his head slightly to look at her again, reminding himself not to stare. "H-hello ma'am." Wilton stammered.

"You is starting school today for first time too?" she asked.

Normally, Wilton wouldn't speak to strangers. But that was when he was out and about, here, it was school. She wasn't a predator or anything bad like that, she was a mother just like his was. He smiled slightly, fidgeting with the straps of his backpack. "Yeah... oh, my name's Wilton. Sorry I forgot to say it." Wilton had been taught, as well as never to speak to strangers, to properly introduce yourself.

"Is big day, si..." Flaca nodded her head in a wise way, before turning slightly and put one of her hands to her son's back. "This is mi own little muchacho, Eduardo. Eduardo, say hola to Wilton."

Eduardo stared at Wilton in silent terror as he still clung to her dress, blinking his large eyes before staring down at the ground and managed to squeak out faintly, "Hola Wilton."

"Forgive him, he is shy." Flaca smiled a bit before standing up again.

"Oh it's okay." Wilton replied, looking up at Flaca before back to Eduardo again. He smiled, as friendly as he could. This other kid looked to be the type bullies will have a field day with; he had seen TV shows all about bullies; another factor that made him uneasy about going to school. But the kids in TV always worked it out in the end, why shouldn't he?

Then the bell rang, signalling the start of classes. The parents that were there (mostly mothers) hugged, kissed and waved their children goodbye. Some were more mature then others, waving back, some shed some tears... Eduardo didn't like the sound of the bell at all so he let out another strained squeak from the back of his throat and he dug his hooves into Flaca's dress before burying his face against the fabric. Flaca sighed before lifting her up into her arms again, "Eduardo, we discussed this. You is having to go to school now!" she said gently, but still with that firm authority mothers had.

"No!" Eduardo said, muffled by her fur since he now buried his head into the area to the side of her face.

Wilton smiled sadly, before getting a small idea. He stood up as straight as he could. "I'll stick with you Eduardo, it'll be okay!"

Eduardo sniffed before lowering his gaze to the red boy, weighing his options. His parents had been telling him for a long time now that school was when he went to learn things with other kids his age. Neither could be there with him, but he would make friends. Something Eduardo had yet to make since the big move here.

Flaca smiled warmly, "There you see? You already have a friend." she very slowly lowered Eduardo onto the floor, before kissing him on the forehead. "It will be over before you know it. Buenos Dias Eduardo."

Wilton and Eduardo watched her leave. Wilton even gave the nice lady a wave, before looking at Eduardo. He was the spitting image of her in practically every way. His fur wasn't curled like hers, more or less straight and shaggy. The one eyebrow that sat atop his eyes was the thickest he'd ever seen, especially on someone so young. Whilst he didn't have sharp fangs like her, he did have some pointy looking teeth; but nothing as dangerous. He wore a white short sleeved shirt, actual suspenders that kept his grey slacks up and black shoes. Both were indeed a sight to take in. Wilton turned around, before tapping Eduardo on the shoulder. "C'mon Eduardo, can't be late."

Eduardo emitted a small whine but slowly turned and followed Wilton into the classroom.

[to be continued]