"Well, I'm not finding anything that stands out but then again I don't really get how this place works." Sora jumped down from the roof edge. He turned toward the others. "Do you think they can manipulate the buildings?"
"It's my understanding that everything is programmed and there are set parameters." Harry folded his arms. "I don't think there's going to be any false buildings or anything like that. They wouldn't want to waste the programming on it."
"Yeah." Al was sitting on the condenser.
"Well this didn't really help us, did it?" Sora leaned back on his heel and crossed his arms in thought. "Okay, uh…"
His comm went off, startling the three boys. He pulled it from the thigh pocket of his cargo shorts. "How do I… oh, yeah!" He hit the button. "Sora here."
"We're in the tunnels. I doubt once we get deep in the comms will work." Riku's voice was distorted. "Where are you?"
"Scrooge's ice cream shop."
"What are you there for?" Riku spoke sternly. "You should at least be to the synthesis shop by now."
"We were scouting the area." Sora suddenly hit his forehead. "The synthesis shop! Of course."
"What?" Harry frowned before the beginning of understanding kicked in. "Synthesis as in creating things?"
"Uh huh." Sora nodded. "I bet you Ani has something waiting for us there."
"Well now that you finally figured that out," Riku sounded bored. "I'm counting on you to handle Ani. We'll keep Dante busy here."
"What makes you think Dante's there?" Al asked.
"Who better to take out a half angel than a half demon?" Riku laughed but it sounded forced. "Anyway, Ed and I will be cut off for a while but if you guys get in any real trouble, I'll know."
"Whatever." Sora rolled his eyes. "You know I can handle anything."
"Yeah." Riku's voice was soft. "Keep sharp, guys."
"Same goes for you."
The comm suddenly cut off and Sora frowned at it for a moment. His worry was obvious but he smiled anyway. "Well, let's get this over with. Ani won't wait forever."
"He definitely isn't the most patient Jedi in the world." Harry was looking a bit discerned. "You realized we won't be able to avoid his trap."
"Why do you say that?" Sora tilted his head.
"He'll know that we'll realize the shop is the logical place for him to set something up. Master isn't stupid, he'll still use it cause we can't avoid it. He'll lay out several triggers outside the shop. We're going to hit something."
Al had a thoughtful look on his face. "He'll cover the surface routes but what if we went below?"
"Below?" Harry asked in confusion.
"Yeah. We'll make a tunnel and go under the street."
"You can do that?" Sora perked up considerably.
Al nodded. "Which direction do we need to go?"
"There's an alley behind the building across from the shop. We can start there where the hole wouldn't be so obvious and go north. That would bring us to the courtyard outside headquarters."
"That should work." Harry was also looking considerably brighter. "I doubt Master knows enough about alchemy to consider that."
"Let's go then!" Sora turned with a bounce.
"Is he always like this?" Al whispered over to Harry.
"Yeah. His negative moods are really short lived." Harry watched the spiky haired brunette hustle off. "Makes for a nice change from the other two's near constant angst fest, doesn't it?"
Al grinned. "Yeah."