AUTHOR NOTES
Right, after a two week break it's time we got back into the spirit of uploading parts for the story once again.
If you want to know what I've been doing all this time, the last week was spent dedicated to daily uploading pages for an intermission comic - "The Theoropolis Guide to Fan Writers", which is currently on display at my Deviantart archive right about now. It may be a little bit more random in comparison to the fic, but I hope it works well enough to serve as a refreshing intermission.
And now we move onto the next part in line. Towing in the mutant goose at the end of the previous chapter was fun, though the reasoning behind its implementation was because the whole thing with Fletch getting attacked by a goose was not too dissimilar to me getting attacked by a goose on my grandmother's farm as a little girl. I didn't face any major casualties, luckily enough, but it did leave me with some pretty tense memories though.
Still, let's think of the current situation. Someone has ran off with Cortex's prisoners, which by now we found out that Ariel has prisoned Crash and Cortex's purpose in maintaining them was protecting them from whatever the emperor would do to them. This aspect will be explored in a little bit more depth in this part, so I hope it goes down well enough.
Thanks again, and let's hope I get a few more regulars as a result :)
Peace out,
-Rexy-
It didn't take long until the rainy season started to kick in. For days at a time, the water started to pour down among Fort Pearl's streets, leaving various streams and crooks to form among the concrete roads.
Some of the water was drained away into the sewers. Some of the others were left to flow further down the street and form giant puddles near some of the lower parts of the town. It could be almost perfect for just about anyone to go down there and splash into them with Wellington boots on their feet.
But that wasn't what I was feeling. I was left to sit near a window and look out towards the dreary sky, seeing the raindrops trickle down the glass panels really slowly. I sighed as I looked down towards the ground.
"I take this is bad weather to buy some pasties, huh?" I sighed to myself.
"You're right. It's hard to do anything at a time like this."
I looked to my left, and I saw Akumi making her entrance into the room. She too looked just as distraught as me, thinking that we would struggle to make the best of our days with the heavy rainfall.
She came to sit next to me by the window. Her reflection was seen just as clearly as mine, and her expression showed a look that didn't quite seem any more cheerful than mine. But eventually, her eyes lit up and she took one look at me.
"Hey, I've got an idea! We can get mother and play Monopoly! You might invite Han over - he seems like a very nice guy too!"
"I can't invite Han", I replied. "He's staying with his grandpa at the other side of the county."
I then sighed as I looked to the right. The ornaments started to change a lot as time managed to go on – a few china pots were shifted around, and amongst our photos, there came a simple snapshot of Han and myself, standing in front of the school gates.
It was a reminder that I had to make me think of a friend that was there when I needed someone to talk to. And if there was anything learnt from his experience around me, it was to make sure that optimism is the answer to everything.
"But still, a three person Monopoly is not a bad idea. It'll be fun to be able to look onto you guys, genuine mother and sister in tow!"
She paused before whispering to me. "Genuine?"
Akumi looked at me once more, except this time her eyes didn't quite seem as full as the usual. Her face somehow started to turn white, even though her cheeks continued to remain being their usual deep red color.
Eventually, she started to show a quiver upon her lips, leaving her to look straight down and her pigtails to end up hanging over her face. That was telling me that she was ready to face another one of those days again.
"Fletch..." she spoke with a weak tone.
"What?"
"I think, with the way you said we were genuine, I should mention the truth."
That was something that I wasn't expecting to hear from her mouth. I've known her since I was born, as well as that I'm aware of a mental weakness that she isn't aware of yet, so what else was I to know about her?
"The truth?" I asked, looking confused.
"I'm not as genuine as you think, though your mother would be though."
She then recomposed herself and made her walk towards the sofa, her hands starting to twitch even more. Once she got there, she sat down onto it, and then sprawled out onto it upon her stomach, her eyes showing a more insecure glance.
"This is something I've learnt for the past two years, and now I think you're old enough to understand as well."
I never thought I'd see some knowledge come out from her mouth, but I decided to try and take it in anyway. I looked around and saw a small wooden stool near the coffee table; picking it up and moving it towards the sofa I settled down and looked on at her.
I then waited patiently for whatever words would come out of her mouth. She tried to speak, but there was something about her shaking limbs that was telling me that it would be so difficult for her to express herself.
She tried again, and again, and again. And in all those instances, she started to show a more shaken glance than the usual. And just like that, she lowered her head with her pigtails covering her head.
"Akumi!"
I jumped off the stool and sat onto the couch, being careful not to sit on my elder sister. I placed a hand upon her, stroking her back gently, hoping to calm her down. But then, she raised her head and looked at me with what looked like a zombie-like expression.
"I..." she recomposed herself again. "I was adopted."
"What?" I screamed with fright.
"It's true. I've never met my birth parents face to face. I don't even know why they gave up on me either!"
Her eyes then started to look very watery. There must have been some instance about that experience that would make things look difficult for her to cope. To me, that feels more like general anguish than the more uptight outbursts I often see from her.
But I still didn't quite understand. How could she end up being adopted? And even if that did end up being true, her parents must have been really cruel to leave a moderately retarded yet kind figure like Akumi amongst unfamiliar surroundings.
But now that I thought of it, the idea of people leaving her behind because she had an autistic disorder can be explainable. It could be very heartless and sadistic, but nonetheless her trials were still starting to make sense.
"Gee, I never knew that before", I said with shock. "But this is a real shock to me."
"It was to me too. Finding out that you're catered by a family with no blood links is like your whole childhood being a lie."
She started to sigh with a frown. I couldn't help but feel just as painful inside as she was, trying to figure out exactly how she could have felt when she was told all about this for the very first time. With a light blink I went towards her and placed a hand underneath her chin, trying to get her eyes to light up again.
"Whatever you do, don't take it as badly as I did two years ago", she advised me.
I gave her a promising nod, making sure that I will try not to take it as bad as possible. But I still have concerns that my mother would somehow remind me about this all over again at precisely the wrong time and place.
Whichever happens, it was then that I knew how she has ended up feeling the way she feels on a regular basis. Whenever she would be able to let it all slide in the end would remain to be seen, however.
I still felt that she faced a cruel time in the past few months. Bitterness could rage the air had it not been for her kind hearted nature. But I still think that in the end, she needs to learn to control that bitterness and channel it in some form or other.
And with the way this rain is going, so should I.
---
Day 4
Senatorial Housing, Philip Cosmopolitan District - 10:15PM
The night started to settle in a lot more around the varying districts of the city. By then, the sky was entirely a navy color, with the moon being obscured by cloud lining and various stars starting to poke straight through the dark canvas.
The Philips Cosmopolitan District managed to counter the lack of light by having bright glowing lamps igniting the way through to the Senatorial Housing. By then, most of the residents were already inside the audience room, sitting calmly.
Many of them were discussing several debating issues among one another, all except one person – the King of All Cosmos. The amount of on-going discussions prior to the meeting's purpose left him to stand up and call out towards the group.
"Silence, everyone!!"
The group suddenly stopped talking amongst one another. He then sat straight back down into his chair as he managed to do so, and as that happened he looked among his own surroundings, the electric lights making things easier to see within the night setting.
There were two empty seats in the entire room, one of which being the obvious disappearance of Senator Cortex, and the other being an empty stool that was often occupied by the Queen of All Cosmos. He gave out a light sigh and started to address the senate.
"It has come to our attention that Senator Cortex was responsible for the kidnappings and trying to overthrow Ariel's throne! We just don't understand how that came to happen like that, do you Peppy?"
"I'm not too sure of this either", replied the hare, "but that's the information I got back from Fox. The problem is, the hostages that Cortex kept are no longer with him but have been taken elsewhere by another kind of figure. I haven't heard too much on the matter to be sure yet."
"Never mind that, I can't believe Senator Cortex stuck us up like that!" Murfy retaliated while shaking his fists.
"Yeah!" imitated Duckula. "Who invited him on the Senate anyway?"
"It's rather a decision that was made by the Emperor himself", informed the King, "but now seeing Cortex's newfound unreliability we need to seriously re-evaluate his position. However, without Ariel, we can't even do that, so we need to think of something to restrain him by for the time being."
All of a sudden, a door was heard swinging wide open. The group looked straight ahead, and saw a shadow make its way inside. It stepped into the light – or rather, she – and showed herself as the Queen, her eyes and mouth showing a feeling of shock.
"Stop press!"
The King stood up once again. "What is it now, our Queen?"
She started to shake, leaving her to make a walk towards the group while taking a series of cautious footsteps straight towards the table. Once she got there, she placed her hands upon the wooden worktops and looked out to everyone.
"I've just seen some kind of giant purple monster swoop over the city! It was going right across the skies at a blistering speed!"
"A monster?" Samus asked, looking puzzled.
"What kind of being would unleash a monster onto the city?" questioned Lara. "We haven't had one of those incidents in years!"
"I don't know", the Queen replied. "But it looked serious. It would swoop into many random directions, and then... and then..."
She tried to speak again, but before she could even do anything, she started to whimper in her speech before looking straight down towards the ground. Nearby, Clank jumped down from his seat and walked straight towards her.
"Please recompose yourself, ma'am. You can easily get your message across."
She looked down at the robot and his confident expression. The robot's confidence left him to end up looking straight down towards him, showing a faint quiver upon him as she continued to look straight down.
"It flew to the White Dragonfly district, covering a third of it in a dark purple cloud! Then all of a sudden it decided to retreat to some place far away. I just don't understand what's going on."
"But the White Dragonfly is my district!" Peppy shouted from the other end of the table. "How could something have gone wrong at a time like this?"
Peppy managed to get up from his seat and looked out towards the window. The view of the city was still obscured by a means of shadow, leaving him to reach towards a nearby switch. He flicked it on, lighting up the garden lights outside.
And it was there that the city view was placed around him. Right ahead was the White Dragonfly district, and true to her word, a painful purple cloud was seen covering it as if it was smoke from an incense fire.
"Holy..." he whispered fearfully.
A sweeping monstrous figure was seen hovering its way high into the sky, yet it didn't hang around the district for long. It then managed to fly and take refuge beyond the city's barriers, residing in a place hidden deep amongst the forest.
His expression remained focused upon the White Dragonfly district itself, covering itself in a thicker cloud with each passing moment. The looks of it started to make his face turn paler and paler.
"Senator Hare!"
Snake brought himself up from his seat and made his rush straight towards the Senator. He tried to look on at him, and it was there that he saw that Peppy was starting to show a deeper expression of shock, with his hands hanging tightly upon his body.
The hare ended up taking several staggering steps backwards, moaning as that happened. All that Snake could do was reacting by making his walk straight behind him, outstretching his hands as he did so.
And there, Peppy fainted into his arms, his legs sliding upon the floor as he did so. Snake then carefully placed his head upon the floor and went around the other side of the hare, taking a light grasp around his shirt and looking upon his face.
"Senator Hare, are you okay?" Snake tried to speak to him.
"We think this has come to a shock to him", the King sighed as he shook his head. "We suggest that you take him to the lobby and leave him to recover."
"I'm on it, Chancellor."
Snake gave off a firm nod before looking down towards Peppy once more. He stood up and made his way to the back of his head, took a hold of him by the shoulders and tried to drag him around the room.
Lara and Samus soon managed to chip in by coming near Snake and lifting his legs and torso respectively. Then, once he was firm in their grasp, all three of them left the room by the standard doors utilised by the Senate.
The King's expression started to look grim as he looked on at the three departing from the room. Though he managed to discover that Senator Cortex was behind the force that would overthrow the Emperor, only fate would know what turn of events the dark cloud over the White Dragonfly district would bring.
---
The White Dragonfly district was seen settling into a deeper shade of darkness, with only the lit torches from earlier in the evening casting light towards the streets. Not a single entity was seen making its walk down the fine tarmac-covered paths.
In the middle of a plaza near the canal area, there was a sewer lid, lying steadily in the middle of the road. It was soon seen shaking slightly, before moving its way towards the left and showing a black hole underneath it.
From underneath it, Fletch managed to bring his head up, making his way out from the hole and climbing up on all fours. The rest of the group managed to follow, soon breaking their stances into runs deeper into the district.
"We have to keep moving!" Fletch commanded the group around him. "The sooner we get back to Fox's gang, the sooner we can share our findings!"
"Fletch, calm down. It's not as if they will be dropping dead any time soon", replied Darkwing, shaking his head. "That's only for replaced girlfriends and 17th century stage characters."
Darkwing placed a hand onto Fletch's shoulder as he ran, and he managed to provide a light smile as he did that. But in spite of that, his expression didn't change from the glare-like look he had while running.
They went round several corners, and eventually they made their return to Blaze's tailors. Fletch made a stop at it, and the first thing he noticed about it was a purple cloud making its way above the building, as well as several smashed windows.
"HQ..." Fletch whispered quietly with a quiver in his lip.
Cortex looked on at the structure with a similar shocked expression. "This looks... almost barren if you ask me."
The group looked on at the exterior of the building. And they saw that various bits of rubble were falling from the walls and the ceiling, almost as if the entire building was going to be an ancient ruin that would soon collapse.
Fletch and Sora both ran towards the entrance together, stepping over the fallen door and going inside. A light mist was seen covering the room, making their viewpoint hard to look around entirely.
"Fox! Blaze! Spyro!"
Sora tried to call for his comrades, in-between gasping for breath thanks to the intensity of the mist. But no matter how powerful his best efforts were, there was nothing heard inside other than the sound of small crumbling rocks.
Fletch tried to creep his way around the building, trying to look for any personnel. But all that he managed to find was the copter pack that Spyro used, unfolded and looking as if it needed maintenance thanks to its position underneath a fallen piece of wooden scaffolding.
"It's no use", Sora said pessimistically nearby. "They don't seem to be here."
"But who would ruin a place like this anyway?" Jade asked with a concerned tone. "It's almost as if whoever came into here was looking for something."
Fletch looked on at Sora and Jade, both of them looking as concerned as each other. The two of them soon managed to walk their way inside, being careful not to end up in any dangerous portions of the ruined building.
They kept searching, looking under parts of fallen scaffolding and being careful not to get struck on the head by falling piles of sand-like rubble. There was still nothing found. It was almost as if all hope could be lost.
"Look over here!"
The shout caused the group to look towards the other side of the room, where Joanna was seen standing near a wall. Various torn pieces of cloth were seen covering it, which she was seen tearing down as easy as spider webs.
"What is it?" Ratchet asked her as he surveyed the wall.
"Look here!" Joanna reacted by pointing at the wall. "It looks heavily damaged, but I can make a message out of it."
She pulled away several slabs of the cloth, eventually seeing what looked like a clouded set of lines shown upon the wall. She kicked it, allowing some of the rubble to end up sliding off and onto the floor like sand from a sandcastle.
Further kicking left some of the decaying rubble to fall more and more, causing a series of small piles to end up forming on the floor. After several moments, she stopped and took several steps back.
Right in front of them, there was a message etched into the wall with burn marks, as if they were etched onto there with a powerful flamethrower. The words "FIND COCO" were readable among the wall.
Spidey made a steady turn straight towards Joanna. "So you're saying they must have fled to the diner?"
"It's a long shot", Ratchet sighed before Joanna could even speak, "but I think that must be their only choice."
Ratchet lowered his head, with his ears slightly pointing into the air as he did that. For what he knew, Fox and his gang could be in grave danger, yet resulting in the falling of Blaze's tailors could just decrease anyone's spirit.
But he looked up again and started to pass a light smile. He looked on at Joanna, whom looked on at the wall with a proud glance. He knew that without her, they might have never known where Fox might have been.
"You know Joanna; I'm starting to respect you more and more. You're showing more logic rather than being egoistic about everything."
Ratchet outstretched one of his arms, hoping to take a light grasp onto her hand as he did that. And then he did, providing a light handshake between the two of them. He soon made his walk outside as that happened.
Joanna, however, looked far from amused as he looked on at Ratchet. How he could find a way to trust her for something like that was something that escaped her mind. With a light scowl, she took a light grasp upon her pistol while sustaining from withdrawing it.
"You've just earned a foe for the next two months, lombax."
With a light growl, she walked outside, stomping her feet steadily among the gritty grounds of the ruins, with the resulting rubble trailing up into the air in a gaseous form, hoping to blend in more with the mist.
The rest of the group soon made their way outside, leaving them to look behind them at the ruin that was left behind. Whatever managed to happen to cause the collapse would be anyone's guess at the moment in time.
Yet there was still an important task to tackle and follow on from. Fletch looked down at the unfolded copter pack gadget, and then at the ruined building. With the considerations in mind, he knew for sure that there will be a return to the Diner for more reasons than one.
---
About 10 to 15 minutes passed, and the Rosemary Fields district was looking significantly cleaner than its more upper class counterpart. It was just as peaceful and quiet, with barely any sign of any disturbances to make the surroundings uneasy.
In that time, the group made their way past the checkpoint from the White Dragonfly district, walking straight back into the wide-spaced plaza not too far from the diner itself. There they managed to see its sign, lit up in bright blue and white neon lights.
They made their steady walk across the plaza, wading between the fountains that managed to stand within it. As soon as they reached the stairs, they looked ahead of them and saw… the door being wide open.
"You deranged pussycat!" screeched a mid-tone male voice. "Get out of my way!"
Upon the shout of the voice, Cortex made a gasp, using his hands to cover his mouth and his skin to turn a significantly paler shade of yellow than the usual. That caused Fletch to turn to him with a blink of concern.
"Ripto's here?" the Senator whimpered. "But how?"
"Ripto?" Fletch asked Cortex with a perplexed tone.
"We were a team, trying to usurp the throne from Ariel together. I don't have much time to explain as Ripto could hurt just about anyone!"
The Senator then pointed straight towards the door, before trying to break into a run, unfortunately leading into him tripping up upon the nearby slope and rolling down it like a hedgehog in the gutter of a pinball machine.
The remainder of the group managed to take it easy down the slope before making their dash straight towards the diner itself, being careful not to step onto Cortex on the way down. As soon as they were all set, they started to break into a faster dashing speed.
"Hang in there!" Fletch cried out as he continued to dash.
Several seconds later, they reached the door. They made their way straight inside, with their eyes showing further determination upon the dim lights. Yet, oddly enough for them, the light was just as dim inside as the moonlight outside.
They steadily made their way inside the diner, focusing on around the dark surroundings around them. As soon as they reached the center table, their attention was paid towards the door holding the room of mirrors.
Blaze was seen standing in front of it, doing her best to guard the door on her own. She was seen leering on at an orange monster donning a purple cloak – a familiar figure to Senator Cortex.
Ripto was in the building.
"Heir to the Samaritans, I want you to please move out of the way so I can get my hands on the fifth member."
"Why should I tell you?" Blaze shouted back. "You want to take my friends just so you can torture them and make fun of! You have no right to call yourself a sorcerer! Besides, we faced enough with that purple monster that tried to ransack the White Dragonfly district. Can't you give us time to relax?"
She growled over at the monster, bringing out one of her hands to flicker a small flame upon one of her fingertips. That showed itself as an intense light among Ripto's eyes, knowing that she could get dangerous if she casts a more potential fire spell.
But having seen that she didn't intend to throw it, he gritted his teeth slightly and pointed his golden sceptre straight towards the cat. An intense glow of red magical energy was forming upon its tip.
"Your time is running out", he spoke with a cackle in his voice. "There is no way you will even survive if you don't follow my orders. If you don't move away from the door, your memory will be turned into melted cheese!"
Ripto's sceptre charged with a significantly brighter glare than Blaze's flamed finger. She reacted by removing the flame from her hands and looking on at Ripto, her face looking more intense as the power glowed.
Yet, she held tightly towards the door, and continued to grit her teeth while showing as many acts as bravery as she could. She then pointed her head straight forward and leered straight at the creature, her tail starting to twitch more cautiously than the usual.
"Make me!" she cried with a brash tone.
Ripto gave off a cackle as he took a step back and brought the sceptre behind his back as if he was going to lure it as a fishing line. That left the reflection of his action to show into Blaze's eyes, as the group were left to watch on with wide-eyed expressions.
"Blaze!!" Darkwing called out for her in the background.
Ripto stood there, pointing his head up and breaking into sinister laughter. "You've just sealed your fate!"
With a devious glare, Ripto sent a powerful red and white beam towards Blaze. It ended up striking her body, causing her to get lifted into the air due to the intensity and force of the beam itself.
And then, as soon as the light died down, Blaze was freed, but her body was dropped to the floor, limper than a rag doll. The sight of that happening left Ripto to leer as he walked up to her to inspect her further, but…
"Ripto, what are you doing?"
The question caused his eyes to widen at the sound of the voice. That caused him to blink and slowly turned around. And there, he was surprised by the sight of Senator Cortex making his appearance.
He withdrew his laser gun and pointed it straight on at Ripto, whom retaliated with a slightly shaken look as he pointed his sceptre on at him. Why the Senator was acting the way he was must have meant that something might have gone wrong, he thought to himself.
And then, the Senator reacted by shooting his laser straight on at him, whom reacted by using the rod proportion of the sceptre to deflect the shot to the ceiling and cause a smoked hole straight above him.
"Senator Cortex!" Ripto exclaimed.
Ripto further growled at him as he pointed his sceptre straight forward once more. There, Cortex reacted by using his laser to deflect any attack that could be launched from the sceptre. Yet, all that came from the orange creature was a set of words.
"Why are you hanging around with those miscreants? You clearly stated from the start that those were your opposing force for the entire operation!"
"I know, and we worked together to attempt to seize their efforts", Cortex reminded his comrade. "But now, they've come to realise the truth."
"The... the truth?"
Ripto's eyes widened at the sound of Cortex's response. Maybe they already knew that the mutant they fought was Ariel himself, he thought again. The very vision left a stream of perspiration to come down his face.
He reacted by stepping forward once more, but this time it got to the point that he jumped up onto one of the Diner's chairs and leered towards the Senator, with his one free hand being clenched tightly, as if he was squashing a tomato.
"You told them about Ariel's true intentions, have you?" he growled towards the Senator.
"Why should it care if I did or didn't? The fact remains that the boy's in the prophecy, and now that he's destined to follow it, we don't need to worry about a thing!"
"But we had a deal! Even if we didn't get the kid, we were supposed to grab the throne from Ariel and take over the city, leading it into a more glorious leadership!"
"A democracy like that would only make things worse in the long run", replied Cortex as he folded his arms. "Only the boy in the prophecy can provide pure peace to this city and the outside world that follows around it!"
Cortex focused his attention straight to Fletch, leaving him to end up hiding underneath one of the tables, his remaining eye starting to quiver gently among the gentle light underneath. His facial expression suddenly showed that he was prone to shake any second.
Spidey managed to follow suit by crouching underneath the table with him, outstretching one of his hands as he did so, brushing gently upon the back of Fletch's head. The boy was left to turn towards him, his face starting to develop confusion.
"What's he talking about?"
"I think I have an idea on what they're referring to", replied Spidey. "If we get out of this scrap alive, then maybe I'll share the details with you."
"SILENCE!!!"
The shout caused them both to look towards Ripto, or rather, his feet given their current viewpoint. But the viewpoint was soon changed to Blaze, as all of a sudden she was seen rising from the floor by herself.
"Lo and behold, the heir of one of the Samaritans is now under my control", said Ripto with a deep and menacing vocal tone. "You guys will surely perish before you even have a chance to make your move."
Cortex reacted by clenching one of his fists and leering back at the monster again. "Ripto, that's just playing dirty, you-"
"So long, suckers!"
With that, he pointed his rod into the air, allowing a platform of energy to show up above him, leaving him to ascend to the ceiling. At the same time, Fletch and Spidey came out from underneath the table and looked on at Blaze, while the others focused on the orange monster.
"Ripto!" Cortex called out with a snarl. "Come back!"
Jade stepped in front of the Senator, placing one of her hands in front of his eyes. "We don't have time for this. We need to fight!"
Jade pointed towards Blaze, whom at that point was seen standing on two feet. Her eyes were still closed upon standing up, yet as soon as she gained her position she opened them rapidly, showing that her eyes had changed from their regular gold color to a stained copper red.
The glare on her eyes was easily reflected upon the other team members, whom were seen leering back at her. As unfortunate as it sounded for her to end up getting manipulated the way she was, action needed to be taken.
Jade clenched one of her fists tightly, keen to strike. "Let's go!"
She raised her Dai-Jo straight into the air and summoned a bright wave of sky blue shock wave energy around her. She then made her dash towards Blaze and used her staff to strike the cat as much as she could.
After much time passed, the energy between the Dai-Jo and Blaze's body started to become more intense. And all of a sudden, several flickers of fire were seen starting to cover her body, burning stronger over time.
"Watch out, flames coming down!" Jade warned the others with caution.
And with that, a bright wave of red energy was seen coming through the room, causing Jade to raise her stick straight into the air as she waited for the energy to calm down. As soon as it faded, she brought herself onto one knee, using the Dai-Jo to support her.
"I'm on for it! "
From the back of the room came Ratchet, his arms out-stretched as he made his way towards the cat. He withdrew his wrench, twirled it around like a majorette's stick and side-stepped to the left slightly before making his move.
A leap forward and a hop onto the ground left him to come towards Blaze in the matter of seconds. He tried to strike her with his wrench, but she responded by several cartwheels around the lombax himself.
"She's almost too fast to combat! I need backup!"
"How about we try a triangle formation?" Joanna proposed from the sidelines.
Ratchet gave out a zombie-like blink. "A what?"
Ratchet looked on at Joanna with a confused glance, whom responded by bringing out one of her pistols into the open. Cortex soon came next to her, withdrawing his own laser as he made his move.
With a smile showing, he made his way towards the two of them, and altogether they made their way to alternate points around the room, surrounding Blaze as if they were points on an equilateral triangle.
"Let's go!" all three of them exclaimed in unison.
Together, they pointed their weapons – a pistol, a laser gun and an N60 - straight on at the cat, and fired whichever shots would manage to come through. The reaction of the bullets among one another caused a series of electric sparks to show across her body.
They soon became that intense, the room soon managed to get swallowed by an intense glare of white light. The gunners used their other hands to try and shield their eyes as that came to happen.
The light soon faded out, and they placed their hands down, glad to see that the glare was starting to calm down. Yet, expecting to see Blaze struggle, she was still seen standing up, as if the event never happened.
"She seems to be almost invincible to all this!" Cortex retaliated while putting his laser gun away. "What gives?"
"I fear that Ripto's magic is stronger than it sounds!" whimpered Fletch. "This isn't looking good!"
"Leave it to me!"
Sora managed to wade his way through the tables before leaping his way over a series of chairs and making her way towards the cat. He pointed his keyblade straight at her and started his attacks.
This time he was able to strike Blaze's body, but with the way that she was using her arms to protect herself from any significant blows, the amount of damage that he inflicted could be seen to be very minimal.
But before Sora could strike her again, Darkwing was seen making his way near him. But instead of wading through the tables, he attempted to jump over them, only to result in several rolls as he stumbled off them.
"Darkwing, get back here!" Sora called out to him.
"She seemed vulnerable at the back! I swear I can get her back there just like that!"
He then made a leap straight to the walls once more, with his cloak trailing steadily within the calmer areas of the room. That left Sora no choice but to try and retaliate with the keyblade as she tried to attack him.
They clashed long and hard in the following few moments. Yet, it seemed as if it was going to end grimly, as Blaze soon surrounded Sora with herself at a nearby wall. He then growled back as he took a tighter grasp upon his keyblade, ready to attack again.
"Give me strength!"
He made a push onto Blaze, causing her to take several steps back. And then, he pointed his keyblade straight at her, causing a glare of yellow energy to end up showing upon the weapon's tip.
He then launched the attack – a stream of lightning. Blaze retaliated by cart wheeling out of the way again, only to strike an unsuspecting Darkwing in the middle of an aerial kick. It struck him straight on the chest.
"Yeeeargh!" he screeched as if he was being cooked alive.
Several sparks went through his body, as well as the energy causing his body to flash from a regular form to a hand-made x-ray. The shock caused him to end up dropping to the floor, shaking from the impact.
"I told you not to get too close!" growled Sora.
Darkwing looked up at him with his facial expression showing pain. "What else can I do - stand around like a human statue?"
Sora sighed while shaking his head. Though it could be appreciated that Darkwing was trying to help attack Blaze, the thunder attack strike was the price that could be taken for being rash in the heat of battle.
Not long after that, the group tried to make their attacks on her one by one. Fletch tried his best to use whatever powerful attacks from his spear could inflict any damage, with Spidey trying to utilise his web stream into all sorts of combinations.
Ratchet, Joanna and Cortex tried to shoot more bullets as they did before, with Jade continuing to cast magic from her Dai-Jo, Sora utilising his keyblade and Darkwing trying to attack her from behind, but no matter what she was too fast to even take the damage or got too defensive to take any significant damage.
"Great, she can't STILL be standing!" Spidey shouted bitterly. "How are we supposed to bring her down?"
The cat was left to leer at the group a little bit more. She held her hands side by side, causing two sets of fireballs to burn brightly upon her hands, the glow of which flickering easily upon Fletch's remaining eye.
But… before she could do anything, the flames suddenly vanished. Her ear started to twitch, and she then proceeded to make her glance back towards the secured door. She saw the padlock, hanging there calmly within the Diner's current atmosphere.
And with that, she showed a flame upon one of her fingertips. She quickly turned towards the door and launched a shot of fire towards the padlock; once there, it struck it down with ease, causing it to fall off the hinges and the door to slightly open.
"Great!" Ripto cheered from above. "The door's unlocked! I knew the fifth Samaritan wouldn't be too safe in there, wouldn't he now?"
Ripto gave off a cackle as he gently drifted further down towards the ground on his electric platform. All that Fletch could do was watch with a wide-eyed look upon him, leaving him to make his way towards the door.
Several thoughts went through his head as he got into his guarding stance. Who are the Samaritans? Were Blaze and the rest of her team intending to protect "him", whoever it was? And what kind of connection did she have?
"Wolf! Boba!" Ripto brawled towards the door. "Get in there at once and seize him!"
"I don't think we'll let you get away with this!" Jade cried back.
"Taunt all you want, height must surely be your weakness!"
"It's definitely not mine!" Spider-Man shouted cheerfully.
"What?"
Ripto gave off a wide-eyed expression as he tried to hover straight towards the ceiling via his electric platform once again. But Spidey soon managed to catch up by using his web stream to hoist himself straight towards the stone archway.
Once there, he ended up looking upside down, his eyes soon meeting up with Ripto's, the latter showing a fearful expression as he looked on at him. Shaking, he pointed his sceptre straight onto him, ready to make his move.
He fired a wave of bright crimson energy from his sceptre, but Spidey soon reacted by swinging straight underneath the orange monster. He soon held onto the ceiling from the other side, with his arm outstretched, ready to counter.
"Get out of here!"
Before Ripto could attack again, he was instantly taken a hold of by the chest, leaving Spidey to manipulate him to however he pleased. With one of his hands controlling a web stream holding Ripto, he used the other to descend to the floor.
And with as much force as possible, he towed Ripto straight to the floor, landing with a thud among the wooden floor surfaces. Spidey gave off a confident smile as he continued to make further humiliation out of him.
He used the web to tow the creature around like a yo-yo, causing him to get bruises upon his face. Several seconds later, he was left on the floor, getting stuck to the ground with a thicker intake of web substance.
"There we go!" Spidey spoke with a tone of triumph.
"But how do we snap Blaze out of this?" Fletch whimpered at the unlocked door.
"There's only one other option left - the source!"
Spider-Man pointed straight towards Ripto, leaving Fletch to focus upon him. He tried to think back upon how he managed to control his magical energy to control Blaze, and in his mind, an idea struck.
Fletch looked straight towards the floor, and right near Ripto's feet, he managed to see the sceptre that he managed to control Blaze with. Having identified the target, he started to make his walk.
"If you say so..."
Holding tightly onto his spear, he made his way towards the sceptre. As he walked, he tried to send forth a sickle of white light energy towards it, hoping to calm the energy down. All that resulted was the sickle to be reflected and left to strike the ceiling.
He then tried to pick it up, where he felt an eerie feeling of tense energy surround his hand. With a growl, he looked straight back up towards the ceiling, with his hands continuing to shake as time passed.
"Die!"
Without further instinct, he threw the sceptre straight towards the hole in the ceiling, before pointing his spear straight at it. Further sickles shot from them caused them to be rebound further among the surface, unfortunately.
Luckily enough, many of them managed to strike the ceiling, causing more bits of rubble to end up falling down. Several larger planks started to crash down at Fletch's feet, leaving him to show a more cautious look during the event.
Blaze was seen making her jump through some of the falling rubble, trying her best to evade getting hit as well. But there was a larger slab in the middle of the room that soon detached and came crashing down to her at a blistering speed.
"Blaze!" Darkwing exclaimed with concern.
It was all too late. She was instantly struck on the head, causing herself to end up falling towards the ground, screaming with pain. Eventually, the screams stopped, causing her to just collapse to the floor, head first.
Darkwing made his run towards her, showing a concerned glance upon his face as he tried to take a hold of her. He saw upon her head that the amount of bruises that were formed from the fight was starting to develop heavily, leaving him to show a more morbid look than the usual.
As that happened, Fletch stepped towards the rod, which by then had once again fallen to the ground. Feeling anguished that he failed to destroy it he kicked it around the floor and pointed his spear over at Ripto.
"Give it up, Ripto", taunted the boy. "Your days are numbered."
"There's no way you'll say that about myself. What about the true victim of the matter?"
He cackled as he turned towards the door. Fletch paid his attention and saw what happened while he was away from guarding it. The door itself was swung wide open, with only a dim brown light being shown inside it.
The sound of fisticuffs was heard from inside, with several male screams and grunts being head from inside. With his hands shaking slightly, he made his dash straight towards the door, hoping to see what was inside.
But before he could, an intense glow of lilac light formed inside, instantly blinding Fletch in his remaining eye and leaving him to cover it with one of his hands while crouching to the floor. A cold and sickly force started to fill the air, to the point that Cortex was left to get to the ground on all fours, struggling to cope through the energy wave.
"Such... powerful dark magic...!"
Sora soon got affected, clutching his head with his hands. "It almost felt like the same power we felt when you kidnapped Jak back at the Imaginaries...!"
Sora then brought himself down before, feeling uneasy due to the amount of energy that was sent through the building. All that the group could do was try to see their way towards the door and wonder what was going on inside.
And then, the door was kicked open. Out from the room itself, there came two figures with purple cloaks, just like Dimitri, Axel, Praxis and Courtney before them. Once again their faces were obscured by the thick hoods they donned.
"We have the Samaritan, Ripto", informed the smaller one of the two. "We'll be sure to return to the stronghold with this one."
"Excellent, but do it quick before you get fried!"
The taller one looked back towards its master. "Yes sir!"
They made a brief stop towards Ripto and saluted, with the smaller one being able to carry the crystal like a football as he did so. A couple of seconds passed, and then he took a tight grasp upon the crystal with both hands before running again.
Ripto soon made his following by using the electric platform he rode upon to travel with the two purple cloaked figures. Though Fletch looked as if he didn't have a clue to what was going on, he knew that they couldn't escape from their escapade inside the Diner.
"Get back here!"
He made his way outside, where he saw Ripto and his henchmen making their way up the slope towards the plaza. With his hands shaking moderately, he made his dash straight towards them, trying to catch up with every stride.
But before he could even do anything, an intense red and purple shield shone around Ripto and the henchmen. He tried to pierce his spear through the shields nonetheless, but the point was bounced off the edge like a thimble on jelly.
Fletch was left to rebound and fall upon his back, as he saw Ripto and his henchmen vanish inside the shields, leaving nothing but an empty space where they once ran. All that the boy could do was sighing as he sat up.
"I don't understand what they were doing, but this doesn't sound too good", he said with his voice trailing off suddenly. "Wait a minute-!!"
His eyes widened, as he thought back towards Blaze's purpose on guarding the door. With her around, and the attacks on HQ, he instantly thought about whom that "Samaritan" was, his face draining white with panic.
"FOX!!!"
With a gasp, he started to make his run straight back towards the Diner, being careful to keep his hat on and maintain his footing at the same time. As soon as he reached the door, he leapt over the ruins that were left behind and made his way towards the door to the room of mirrors.
He started to search through the fallen mirrors, trying to find any trace of Fox. He almost gave up hope by the time he reached some mirrors near the back windows, when a hand touched his shoulder. He turned around, and there he was.
Fox McCloud was safe and sound.
"Fox!" Fletch started to cry with happiness. "You're okay!"
"I certainly am", he replied while placing his arm around the boy's neck. "Wolf and Boba overpowered us almost completely. I don't know how they fought like that, but regardless of what happened they succeeded in their capturing plot here. We're really sorry."
Fletch looked up at Fox, their expressions both looking moderately grim. "Capturing?"
Fletch looked confused. It seemed as if Fox wasn't the Samaritan in question. That left him to look around the room, trying to see if there was anything more unusual relating to his current surroundings.
All of a sudden, Darkwing's chest started to glow from green to purple. He took out the source of the glow from his coat – Spyro's copy of Ariel's Emblem. And there, he saw the green and purple glow surrounding it, followed by a pair of menacing eyes, fading as quickly as it came. Fletch paid witness to it, and very quickly he knew what it meant.
Spyro the Dragon was the Samaritan in question.
"Spyro!" Fletch gasped deeply. "Not you too!"
Having understood what happened, he ended up bringing himself down onto all fours, lowering his head onto the cold floor below. Darkwing looked on at him, placed the emblem back in his pockets and crouched down next to the boy.
"It's…" he paused while showing a shaken voice tone. "It's my fault! I failed you guys when you were in trouble. What kind of noble figure am I to cope with that?"
Fox came and stepped over him, his shadow covering the boy's head. "Fletch, calm down. You managed to do your best. And we are very grateful on your input in driving Ripto and his henchmen away. You haven't failed at all."
Fletch looked up from his position, and saw Fox crouching down in front of him. He was seen placing his hand gently upon his cheeks, stroking gently and trying to calm his nerves. The boy reacted with a light blink.
"You were a very big favor to us", said Fox in a gentle brotherly tone. "Trust me."
Fletch looked down gently, at the rest of his body, and then his spear. The thought crept to him – without his presence in the city, things could have ended up being so much worse than they were. He gave off a light sigh and turned back towards Fox.
"I suppose you're right", Fletch replied quietly.
Darkwing smiled back at him and gave Fletch a light embrace as he stood up on two feet once more. Yet, that didn't change his perplexed expression. His eyes focused around the room, upon the windows, and then back towards his comrades.
"But…" he recomposed himself. "What would Ripto want with Spyro? And what's all this about him pairing up with Senator Cortex? This is confusing!"
"Spidey walked towards him from the right, outstretching his arm as he did so. "I know this is so much to take in right now, but maybe we should stick around for the night and see if we can get our bearings together."
Spider-Man went towards him and placed his arm around Fletch's neck, causing the boy to look on at him and gave off a light blink. His partner showed a thumbs up gesture from his hand, as if to say "trust me; I'm a comic strip character".
"Okay, Spidey", Fletch accepted. "But even though, I seem to feel more insecure than the usual, and it's not just homesickness this time."
"You'll be okay."
With further confusion, Fletch placed his hands around Spidey, trying to take in the complete change of events going on around him. There, they soon walked out of the diner together; ready to embrace the evening light once more.
From outside one of the buildings across the street, Coco was seen making her walk, her face looking just as shaken thanks to the assault on the diner. She gave off a cautious blink before paying attention to Fletch and his group.
With a light smile, she opened the door of the building that she came out from, leaving them all to make their way inside. It was then known amongst the group that that was where their lodgings would be for the night.
---
Several hours passed. Fletch tried his best to sleep that night, yet in spite of being in a more comfortable position than the previous few nights, he was seen tossing and turning, with his own thoughts taking over his mind.
"I don't get this... the Samaritans? Heirs? Rivalry to Ariel's throne?"
He turned towards one side, trying to think less of the thoughts that came around him. Yet in spite of that, he barely felt drowsy. His heart was pumping at the same speed as an Olympic athlete, and several strands of sweat were coming down his forehead.
"All I came here for was the chance to reclaim Han and Akumi, but now I've gone for almost a week without them."
Thinking more about his friend and sister, he ended up turning towards the other side of the bed, where he saw Darkwing and Ratchet snoozing together. Whichever one was actually the snoring one was anyone's guess.
"What can actually be going wrong? And what kind of figure am I a prophecy of?"
His lip continued to quiver as he tried to lie upon his back. Yet all that did was exposing the entirety of his head into the moonlight outside. A faint glare of teal was seen creeping across him from the shoulders up.
"I just wish this isn't leading to anything too crucial, otherwise I doubt I'd get out of this place alive."
He finally resorted with pulling the bed covers over his head. It seemed like it was a good idea thanks to him being still for several seconds, yet after that, he continued to shake with fear once more.
---
Day 5
Coco's Diner, Rosemary Fields District - 11:50AM
In spite of the sun being almost close enough to signal lunch time, Fletch and the others ended up settling for a late breakfast. Most of them were keen, with Fox, Darkwing and Ratchet fighting against each other for the waffles layered out and Jade and Joanna taking their time with their grapefruit and coffee.
Fletch tried his best to consume his croissants, but the thoughts from the night before remained deep within his mind. He was, however, given some comfort from Sora, whom managed to help him consume at least one of the set that was layered out in front of him.
Spidey, Coco, Bill, Ted, Cortex and the members of Scarlet Wolf that were currently with the team were within the room of mirrors. This time, one of the mirrors had a cloth pulled over it, resting Blaze upon it. She had barely moved from the attacks from the previous night.
It was until then, when her hand started to stir.
"She's coming to!" Courtney exclaimed from one side of the mirror. "I just hope she hasn't faced too many concussions on the attacks from last night."
"I hope not", nodded Axel. "To see that fight has almost changed my mind completely about the Scarlet Wolf team as it currently stands."
With a growl, Axel ended up making his way towards the door, trying his best to control any fire that was seen burning within him. All it caused was an ember that only just missed Ratchet's tail, causing the lombax's eyes to widen.
That caused the group around the breakfast table to make their way straight towards the room of mirrors. They all surrounded Blaze, whom finally was able to sit up from her position and look on at the others. Her eyes, though they looked confused, were restored to their regular gold color.
"What..." she tried to speak. "What are you all doing here?"
Fletch brought his hands out, gesturing and speaking at the same time. "Blaze, we saw what happened to you last night. You were really worse for wear."
The cat's expression became more sorrowful. "I know."
She looked down with regret showing upon her eyes, as if she paid witness to a grave event. Yet, her words ended up creeping steadily within Fletch's mind, causing him to take a step forward and point his head towards her.
"You... know?"
"But I thought that Ripto took possession of you, dude!" Bill commented while flicking his wrists.
"He did", Blaze replied, "but I was still able to see everything so clearly."
She gave off an anguished sigh as she brought her arms onto the cloth and pushed herself onto the floor. Carefully yet certainly, she ended up walking among the floor, though there was a stagger in her footsteps.
And then, she made another casual step, this time she managed to turn around towards the others, expressing a wide-eyed glare upon the rest of the team around her. She then brought out her hands, ready to speak again.
"See, this is something that I should have mentioned sooner - the legend of the Seven Samaritans of Theoropolis."
"Seven... 'Black-Sabbath-ans'?" Ted asked, mishearing Blaze's statement.
"I was waiting for an explanation on this", Fletch spoke with a more determined tone. "What's going on?"
Blaze walked back towards the cloth-covered mirror and sat herself down onto it. Once there, she looked straight on at the rest of the team around her, her eyes slowly twitching and her tail steadily moving from one direction to another.
"Many eons before Ariel even came to power" she began to lecture, "the city was watched over by seven Samaritans of separate states of the city. They have been experienced on a common platform between them, and have held enough power to govern the city themselves though not to the point of a complete democracy."
The majority of the group nodded along to her words, leaving them to look straight on at her, wanting to know more about the Samaritans. Fletch showed a light blink, still wondering why they haven't been fully emphasized up until now.
As that happened, Blaze ended up kneeling up from her position on the mirror. This time, she placed a hand to her chest, trying to feel for something. She then placed both feet on the floor again, focusing on the rest of the group.
"They all wore these green emblems around their neck, to show that they are. Those that followed them wore red ones."
She then placed one of her hands upon her collar, revealing a gold chain inside it – similar to chains held by Axel and Praxis, except it was significantly smaller. And just like them, there was a gem inside it – a red one, nonetheless.
"So that's why you refused to tell Ripto anything", Fletch spoke with a breezy tone filled with wonder. "But what's going on with this whole Samaritan business anyway?"
"The only way to truly govern the world is to bring them all together and harness enough power to affect not only the city but the outside world too", Blaze explained with her voice quivering once again. "That's why that idea has been a separate existence and lesser knowledge among the lower rank Theoropolis citizens. But now that it's coming to light, Ariel's been on the way to seek them for himself. As far as I know he ended up taking Crash Bandicoot, but as we saw from Cortex defending three of the others from him, it could still be anyone's prize. Even now I feel insecure over assisting those just learning the myth, if only in danger of what either Ripto or Ariel could do next."
She lowered her head once again, knowing for sure that she could be in an insecure place to end up assisting anyone in spite of her rank within the city. With a light twitch of the nose, Fletch came to her and stroked her gently on the back.
As he did that, he thought carefully about Blaze's words – how could seven special personnel around the city be powerful enough to cause unstable power being unleashed when they all come together, he thought to himself.
"So let me get this straight. Ripto's going around looking for seven people with green emblems, wanting to dominate the city. And he might have used Cortex while he was at it?"
The Senator growled at Fletch's direction, his gums clearly showing. "I said we were a team!"
"Ahem, sorry."
Cortex retaliated by bringing out his laser in haste. There, Fletch took cover behind a mirror, worried that he'd fire. A pull of the trigger happened… and nothing came out. It might have been emptied from the battle they faced, the boy thought.
As the Senator ended up shaking his fists with frustration and sitting upon one of the upturned mirrors, Fletch re-emerged and brought himself back amongst the crowd of people, determined to find more answers.
"I think I seem close, but how are we supposed to stop this from happening? And what does this have to do with totally annihilating Ariel though?"
"That's the point", Blaze replied while looking on at the boy. "When he has all this power, he can completely overthrow both Ariel and the Senate and look over the city himself."
"I wouldn't be surprised after what I've seen from Ariel recently", Cortex sighed troublingly.
The group then all turned towards Cortex, whom by now showed a very grim expression. Fletch thought hard about his words from the John Moors district – witnessing his deeds from the first hand must have been very difficult for him.
"But I'm more concerned about my position in the Senate - what if the Chancellor decides to throw me off and replace me with someone more truant?"
His face started to express frustration. His fists shook gently, and then he made his way towards the window, bashing his head several times against it. On the last rebound, he struck the back of his head and slid down towards the floor.
"I can't believe I'm having worse luck than black cats under a ladder."
"Don't worry about it", reassured Fox from a nearby mirror. "I'll keep feeding as much news as possible to Senator Hare. We'll do everything we can to clear your name."
"You will?"
Cortex looked up, and saw Fox stepping over him. His tail was seen waving around gently, and his facial expression showed a confident glare upon it. He extended his hand, with all of his digits being spread out amongst one another.
The senator brought his hand towards his, and it was there that Fox towed him straight up. He looked closer into his eyes – there was something about his clover green eyes that could tell him that he meant business.
Fox placed his hand around Cortex's shoulders, the touch being soft enough to be able to make them look towards each others' eyes, as if one was in need of help and the other was a brotherly figure.
"Thanks… Fox."
Fox gave off a smile back towards the Senator, whom continued to look onto his eyes with a ray of light starting to show itself upon their minds. They then released their grip on each other and walked back towards the crowd.
Fox managed to make his way towards Coco, whom was seen standing near the doorway, holding a frying pan and a bar of soap. As soon as he came to her, she instantly turned towards him.
"Coco, you don't mind if we use the warehouses of your diner as a new HQ after Blaze's Tailors got demolished?"
Coco looked down insecurely. "I feel tentative over this. But I'll see if I can let you try it out."
She gave off a shaky sigh, knowing for sure that that could be the day that could see her diner completely change. She then gave off a deep sigh and made a walk back to the main room, going back to her duties.
As soon as she vanished out of view, Fox made his turn towards Fletch, whom by then was seen sitting on an upturned mirror and scraping his feet upon the floor. He came to the boy and sat down with him.
"Fletch, I advise you to keep going on your journey and keep looking around for other potential Samaritans. So far we've learnt that five have been lost, and it won't be long until the other two are brought together at this rate."
Fletch looked straight up at Fox, his remaining eye glowing in the light. "I will."
The boy gave off a semi-enthusiastic salute, jumped off the upturned mirror and firmly settled his feet upon the ground. He then looked on at his companions individually, one by one – Sora, Darkwing, Jade, Spider-Man, Ratchet and Joanna.
He gave off a whistle and ushered them towards the door, leaving them to follow him and make their way outside. As soon as they did so, they instantly vanished in the intense sunlight that was seen from the diner's main room.
All the remaining personnel stood near the door and looked on. Though they have seen that Fletch has faced a new purpose in his venture by tracing Samaritans to stop any further city corruption, everything would still remain the same as far as the amount of danger involved is concerned.
---
The group soon managed to reach the barrier that lead towards the White Dragonfly district. Once there, Darkwing went into his pockets and pulled out both emblems at the same time, in order to pass through the barrier.
By that time, the dragonflies were back to their duty as acting like street lamps around their immediate surroundings. Yet thanks to the purple cloud still floating around the ruins of Blaze's Tailors, many of them glowed more melancholy colors than the usual.
Even passing by the building, Fletch's attitude suddenly changed from his usual adventurous stance towards a tenser one. Shaking his hand, he ended up taking a grasp hand onto one of Sora's for reassurance.
"I just can't believe we're towed into this mess", Fletch sighed.
Sora looked down with a concerned look. "Fletch? Is there something wrong?"
The boy looked on at the key bearer, then at Blaze's tailors, then at the two emblems that Darkwing was holding in his hand. By that time he was seen putting them away on the hope that they may not be needed any time soon.
"I would easily say so", Fletch replied. "If these green stones are emblems of the Samaritans, why didn't anyone tell us before?"
"Maybe they didn't want to tell anyone", said Jade with a slightly less optimistic tone. "Or even if they did, they've either been sworn to complete secrecy, or kept quiet out of fear of Ariel, just like Blaze said."
Fletch and Sora, though they didn't have the expressions to agree, both nodded in unison. For them, it seemed like a bigger mystery that could take a longer time to unravel than finding out the truth behind Ariel.
"I still can't believe that Spyro has become a victim of this though", Sora responded semi-bitterly. "But still, we're just easily determined to make sure that we will restore order around here. By getting the other two Samaritans on our side, we will easily stop Ripto from taking over this place, and that will give us more time to track down Ariel and confront him."
In a pinch, Sora ended up punching the air, his expression starting to show a more light-hearted stance upon him. But in spite of the burning determination, some of the others around him looked puzzled.
"What I don't get is how Ripto's expected to gather all the Samaritans together", blinked Darkwing. "If Senator Cortex spoke the truth with Crash being in Ariel's hands, how is he expected to rule the city with not all of the Samaritans together?"
Ratchet took a side step towards the duck and clicked one of his fingers. "While not quite at the maximum power, six active Samaritans still sounds like a lot of power to harness. You never can tell with a sorcerer like him."
Ratchet gave off a hesitant blink and looked on towards Darkwing. After what they saw at the diner last night, it can easily be agreed that Ripto is very powerful to tackle head on. But as far as Fletch was concerned, his face showed a similar puzzled look, yet by the way he was looking up at the sky, there was a different purpose.
"I just wish I knew why some people see Ariel as a figure that changed the city, or a figure that just completely spoilt it. I mean, Ripto purely wants to annihilate him. But even if we do stop him, how will we find out what Ariel's really like? And why is he some sort of mutated monster?"
"That reminds me", said Spidey with regret. "We were too busy last night for me to tell you more about him. I promise I'll explain more on our journey."
Fletch nodded with a lightly determined look, knowing that he might get answers. But it didn't take long for the expression to drop, as he ended up stopping at the same crossroads that separated him from the Green Goomba, John Moors and the Yellow Echidna Districts.
"But..." Fletch started to twitch his feet. "Where are we supposed to go? Blaze didn't tell us anything about who the other two Samaritans are."
He looked upon the others. They all looked as puzzled as each other – unlike the spear, which could easily detect Ariel... there was no sign of any indication of ease when it comes to tracing any Samaritans.
"Hey!"
Fletch turned towards the sound of the voice. "Wait, that's Praxis!"
Fletch looked towards the south, and saw the district barrier getting opened up in the distance. And true to his word, he saw Praxis making his way across the district, trying to run as fast as he could.
By the time he finally managed to catch up with Fletch, he ended up coming to a complete stop, placing his hands on his knees, bending down and gasping for breath. As soon as he found room to speak again, he raised his head and looked at the boy.
"Fletch! I know you're about to traverse the city again but I have something for you."
Fletch brought his eyes straight towards Praxis's chain, making eye contact with the red gem that was etched into it. "Let me guess, it's about the Samaritans, right?"
Praxis took a tight grasp upon the emblem for himself, and gave off a light nod. It was a sign of confirmation – just like Blaze, he too was a Samaritan Heir, though his reaction to the subject manner looked more optimistic given his facial expression.
"I saw that Blaze was too afraid to guide you to another Samaritan, and I just couldn't leave you without a direction. So I will easily point you to the pizza shack at the Green Goomba district. One of your goals should be right there."
Fletch nodded with a broad grin starting to show on his face. "Got it, thanks."
And so, they all turned towards the west, where they saw a passageway with several interlinking green pipes going all around it. According to the signposts around the area, that could be the way forward.
Fletch took a step forward, and saw that the pipes extended into a significantly darker area of the district. His face showed fear, leaving him to turn back towards Praxis… only to see him making his way back the way he came.
"Please give Mario my best wishes!" he shouted as he ran back towards the southern barrier. "I know he needs it!"
Fletch's eye started to twitch. "...Mario?"
Fletch thought carefully. Surely that name sounded familiar, he thought to himself. And then, it finally struck him – he was told back at the Imaginarium that he was the Guardian before he resigned his post to Jak.
He looked straight towards the other group members, knowing that if he has some link to the Samaritans, then it had to be worth the visit. But as far as last night was concerned, it may not be an easy task.
"I just hope that the remains of Scarlet Wolf don't get there first", he spoke with moderate tension. "Let's head on out!"
And so, Fletch pointed straight on towards the dark passageway towards the Green Goomba district. Altogether, they made their walk below the green inter-linking pipes, ready to witness what was ahead.
They faced a corner to the left, and right ahead of them, another district barrier was seen. Darkwing had problems trying to detect the emblems to pass the door, to the point that they ended up dropping by his feet.
Regardless, they both managed to light up upon touching the floor, leaving him to take a hold of them and utilise them against the barrier. It opened up, leaving the group to pass through to the next area.
A dark cloud was seen showing itself ahead, ready to signal a sudden change of weather as they would continue their journey, Regardless of what happened, they have a mission to stick by and clear in addition to tracing the missing personnel.
No one knows what Mario would do to help them. Yet, it'll be by tracing his pizza shack that would be the key to the next phase in their journey.
-end of chapter-
