Shirts, shorts, skirts, and dresses flew across the expansive room as the young kangaroo dug through the dresser.

"Ew, gross, ugh, no way, NO!" He slammed the drawer shut and collapsed to the floor on his back, still undressed.

"Mooom! Can we go to the mall?!" he shouted out. An older kangaroo female poked her head in through the open door and looked down at the young boy. 

"You'll need to find something to wear; you can't go out with no clothes on, Ticker! Find something to wear, and I'll have Alv get the car ready." she said, as he rolled his eyes. As she left the room, he hopped to his feet and grabbed a handful of clothes, going to the mirror.

Ticker stood in front of the mirror, looking over his tan fur with its white tiger striping. He smiled as he looked up at his ears, much bigger than the other roos for sure, but frowned a bit as he remembered he was also much skinnier and far shorter than any of his friends. He sighed and set the clothes down, lifting up a gray dress with pink stars. 

"Ew...I didn't buy this..." he said, throwing it aside and picking up the next one, an all black dress. "I guess if these are my clothing options, I may as well look like I'm in mourning!" he chuckled, tossing it aside as well. He went through several more before settling upon a plain white shirt and jean shorts. "Guess this will do for now..."

"Make sure you keep a close eye on him, Alv. Weird things have been happening lately, and his father wasn't much older when he came into his own." Tickers mother said quietly to the elder human male in the foyer. 

"I understand. You need not worry ma'am, hes going to be perfectly safe with me." She took his hand into her paws and smiled up at the man in the fine black suit. "Thank you for everything you do for us Alv..." Ticker rushed into the room just then, skidding to a halt right next to Alv. 

"Can we go now?! I wanna sit in the front!" he exclaimed, bouncing in place. His mother placed her paw on his head to cease his bouncing. "You'll sit in the back where it's safe, as usual. And, be sure to be a good boy for Alv okay?" He looked up at her from under her paw with a frown "You aren't coming too, mom?" he whined softly. She leaned down pulled him into a hug. "You know I have a lot of work to do here Ticker. You and Alv go have fun, and make sure you buy some pretty clothes!"

Alv held the rear passenger door open for the cub and waited as Ticker reluctantly climbed into the back seat of the car, looking forward to the tinted partition separating him from the front of the car, and the world around him. Alv circled that car and opened the drivers door, to find Ticker sitting buckled up in the front passenger seat, grinning at him. 

"Theres just no winning with you is there, young Tok?" Alv chuckled, and sat in the drivers seat as Ticker shook his head firmly. "Nope! You're too slow, Alv! You won't tell mom, right? I hate sitting in the back, I wanna see the other cars and the big buildings!" Alv chuckled and shook his head gently as he started the car. "I won't tell, but you sit still and behave." Ticker smiled and nodded, with a serious expression on his face as he looked out the front window.

It wasn't long before the cub was back to bouncing in his seat and pointing out the nice cars and shuttles, both wheeled and hovering, as well as the tall buildings in the distant inner city. 

"Gaia...The city is so beautiful, I wanna go there..." he said, but Alv shook his head as he focused on the road. "The city is dangerous Ticker. Too many of my people there don't appreciate your kind being around. It's safer we stay out here, with the other kin." Ticker sighed and placed both paws against the side window, putting his nose to it. "I guess..."

It took them a half hour to reach the mall, and another ten minutes to find somewhere to park. The mall was rather large, the only one outside of the city, and packed with Kin but very few humans were ever seen at the location. Alv walked silently beside Ticker as the young boy hurried through the place with a bounce in his step. 

Ticker rushed into one of the most fashionable stores for kin his age and came to a dead stop before rushing over to the females clothing area. Alv looked down at him curiously, and seeing that Ticker was clearly upset he kneeled beside him. 

"Whats the matter young Tok? Usually you'd be trying on outfits by now." he asked calmly. 

Ticker sniffled and rubbed his eyes. "The boys at school made fun of my dress last week...They said only girls wear those..." 

Alv took a deep breath and sighed. "Look here, Ticker." He placed his knuckles under the roos chin gently and raised the cubs head to meet his eyes. "You wear what makes you feel most comfortable. No matter what the other boys say. So, today I don't want you looking at what has the coolest patterns or is the most popular, I want you to find something that makes you comfortable. Okay?" Ticker smiled softly and nodded, then ran to the girls clothing department.

Alv stood by and watched as the little roo ran around the store, grabbing various outfits and rushing to the dressing rooms only to toss them on the racks defeated. After an hour had passed, Alv began to notice that more humans were around the mall, and a feeling of unease rushed over him. 

Ticker was still in the dressing rooms when it started. A small faction of humans from the inner city had gathered in the Kin mall, and started shooting. 

Alv rushed to the dressing room and shoved open the door just as Ticker was about to do the last hook on his overall shorts. Alv didn't give the cub any time to speak, quickly grabbing him up and rushing out with the crowd. 

"Whats going on?! Why are we leaving?" He shouted as Alv ran through the mall with Ticker held close. 

"Just be quiet and keep your eyes closed Ticker, everythings going to be okay!" Alv shouted shakily, but Ticker didn't heed his words and looked around him. Kin were running alongside the two, many carrying children just as Alv was. The nearest was a mother rabbit, with her daughter held close to her chest. 

The bullet pierced the mothers spine, and exited from her daughters cranium.

"NO!" Ticker shouted in tears. Everything stopped. 

The girls blood hung in the air, Alv stopped running, time had come to a complete halt. "Stop it, stop it, stop it!" Ticker shouted, punching Alvs chest as tears streamed down his face, his eyes closed tight. "Make it go away! I don't want this!"

Everything around him became a blur, and suddenly he found himself in the dressing room once again, still wearing the outfit he had tried on before finding the overalls. He kicked the door open and ran outside, rushing past Alv outside of the store. 

"Hey, where are you going Ticker?!" Alv shouted, quickly following behind him. Ticker burst into the security office and ran to the guard. 

"Guard! Theres humans out there with guns and they're going to kill everyone and a young girl is going to die and I don't want to die and I don't want anyone else to die and you need to stop them please!" he shouted as he broke down sobbing. The guard was reluctant to believe him at first, but as the kid collapsed to the floor in tears he decided it would be best to take caution, and called backup.

Alv had kneeled beside Ticker after catching up, and pulled him close. "It's okay little Tok, nothings going to happen, everythings going to be okay..." he said as he rocked the small kangaroo, trying to comfort him. 

The backup was on its way when the shooting started. The guard had locked up the security office, leaving Ticker and Alv safe inside, and most of the mall had been evacuated. Still, there were casualties before the faction could be quelled. Alv held Ticker close throughout it all, covering his ears, but Ticker could still hear the screams. He had been there already, seen everything. As soon as the very moment time had last stopped for Ticker came to pass, he began to shake violently in Alvs arms, and all went black for the young roo.

"He can't stay here, Ada. I can't take him away from you, but if he stays here he's never going to be safe. I know of a good college, highly protected, and only the best teachers. They can teach him how to control it. If he does that again...You know what could happen, Ada. You've se-" 

Alv was interrupted by Tickers mother, shouting through her tears. "I KNOW! His father...I didn't want this for him..." The two were standing outside of Tickers room at the hospital, and hadn't noticed that he had not only woken up, but was standing in the doorway watching. 

"I want to go..." he whispered, looking up at his mother. "Please...I don't want to do what dad did. Please let me go mom." She covered her mouth with both paws and choked back a sob before dropping to her knees and pulling him in close. Alv stood beside the two for a moment, before placing his hand on Adas shoulder. "I'll go make the arrangements, Ada. He's going to be safe there. I promise."