Chapter 20 - Encounters

Standing at the entrance of the dark alleyway, I felt a slight shiver run down my spine. Even after mostly getting over my fear of the dark, I still had trouble keeping it in check, but this was the only other way we could go from this street. I felt Niko grab onto my hand, giving me a smile as we started to walk into the black depths.

From the moment we stepped foot into the alleyway, I could already feel the oppressive feeling that was natural to a city alleyway. Clotheslines swung above us in the softly-blowing wind while the ground beneath our feet was stained with dirt and grime that had coalesced together for who knows how long. The red-bricked walls of some of the buildings we walked past were in desperate need of cleaning as dirt and mud streaked down them.

I chuckled softly, "Man, this feels so much like the city I grew up in…"

Niko looked up at me, a mixture of concern and disgust on her face, "Was it really this dirty? I feel so gross just looking at everything…"

"Heh heh...don't ask questions if you don't want to know the answer." I said as we rounded a corner, "And besides, I don't think this is nearly as bad as-"

Before I could finish, I was suddenly hit by a really strong headache, causing me to stumble. I could hear the soft crackle of static as my vision blackened. I thought I could make out an image… it looked like an animal of some kind with the most defining feature being a small yellow oval on what I guessed was its forehead. In fact, it looked to be the same color as Niko's eyes. I didn't have time to process the image entirely before it vanished as quickly as it came, the headache vanishing with it.

I took a second to get my bearings again before a shuddering gasp caught my attention. I looked over at Niko to see her trembling. Apparently, this vision wasn't just my own.

I grabbed onto to Niko and kneeled in front of her, "Niko? You okay?"

Her eyes were wide and her breathing was ragged as she started to come back from having that vision, "A-Alan…?"

"Did...Did you see that too?"

She nodded, "Y-Yeah…M-My vision went blank for a second...and then I saw something?"

"I think we both just shared a vision…" I brushed away the hair in front of Niko's face and placed my hand on her forehead. "Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm a little woozy, but I'm ok…" I breathed a sigh of relief and pulled my hand away, the hair brushing over her yellow eyes as she spoke again, "I wonder what that was about…Was it like the visions you've had before?"

I scratched my head, "It...sure felt like it...but I didn't hear that voice again. Plus it lasted a lot shorter than the others."

I looked down the hallway as I tried to piece together what could've caused that vision. An animal with a yellow orb on its forehead...I had no clue what that could mean.

I sighed and stood up, "Let's just keep moving. Stay close to me, just in case it happens again."

Niko shifted the lightbulb around, making sure it was secure before she grabbed onto my hand again. Just as I took another step, I felt a wave of warmth wash over me. It felt like it came from further down the alley, past a corridor that lead deeper into the shadows of the buildings that surrounded us. I let my curiosity get the better of me as Niko and I walked down towards a flight of stairs that led down into a small cove. The warmth was becoming more and more noticeable the closer we got to it.

Reaching the bottom, we were greeted by a small army of cats huddled around a robot, one that looked more like a furnace than like the other robots we've seen. The warmth was emanating from it and I could see that many of the cats that laid on top of it had fallen asleep.

I peered over at Niko and grinned, "Friends of yours?"

She just rolled her eyes and walked over to the cats, leaning down to stroke one of them, it purring in delight.

"[Oh, another cat.]" the robot droned in a metallic voice, "[Are you lost?]"

"Me?" Niko said, pointing at herself innocently.

The robot tilted its head, "[Do you wish to join us?]"

Her brow furrowed as she increasingly became more and more confused, "Join...your cats?"

"[Yes.]"

I started to chuckle as Niko moaned that she wasn't a cat, giving me a very unamused look once she noticed my fit, which only made start to laugh harder.

"[You have cat eyes.]" the robot pointed out.

"My eyes are normal people eyes...Well, normal back home!"

"[Your hat is shaped like a cat.]"

"But I'm just a person!"

"Oh, just wait until he sees what's under the hat, Niko." I joined in, still having trouble suppressing my laughter.

Her cheeks turned red as I lightly poked her cat ears that were hidden away beneath her hat. I could have sworn I saw one of the indentations wiggle around, "Alan, you're embarrassing me…"

My laughter finally ceased as I wrapped my arm around her, "Sorry, Niko. I've probably given you enough of a hard time about you being a cat." I smirked, "Though if you really WERE a cat, you'd probably be a pretty adorable one."

Even with the red light that lit up our surroundings, I could still see her blush spread across her face as she smiled sheepishly. I could hear the robot laughing as well from the sound of it.

"[You are still welcome here. I protect lost people as well.]"

I looked over at the robot, letting Niko have the time to save face, "Thanks, but we're not lost...At least, not yet." I said. The robot nodded as he returned his attention to the cats, "By the way, if you don't mind me asking, is this warmth coming from you?" I asked.

"[Yeah. Warmth was my original purpose.]"

"That's a nice purpose!" Niko chimed in. Her blush was now gone, only to be replaced by a yawn.

"[Oh, you look tired. Do you wish to rest?]"

"I can't sleep now! Alan and I have stuff to do!"

"[I see. Good luck, then.]"

We took our leave and headed back towards the other corridor we passed, following it until it led to a larger alleyway. The way in front of us spilled in light from the city, suggesting that we were nearly out of this alleyway maze.

There was a doorway closeby leading to a flight of stairs that seemed to ascend into the building it was connected to, so we ventured up there first. It led us to another small cove, though this one looked much more lived in. Glass jars littered the floor and the only pieces of furniture were a bed with a very patchy blanket, a desk with empty coffee cups laying on top it, and a small drawer which had a small picture frame and a flower pot with a note that said: "Thank you for working so hard, Mr. Lamplighter!"

I hummed, "Guess this room is where that guy stays. It's pretty cozy actually...if a bit dirty."

"Hey, Alan?" Niko called to me. I could see she was looking at a box that was in the middle of the room, "There's some big plastic disks in here...They look like they're supposed to go in something?"

I picked one up from the crate and looked it over, "Hmm...they actually kind of look like lenses."

"Are...we going to take them with us? They look kinda heavy to me…"

I grabbed another one of the lenses and lifted it over my head, "They're actually pretty light..." I put both of them back in the box, "But, I think we should leave them here for now until we figure out where they need to be. Plus, I don't think I could fit all four of them in my pack," I said.

Niko opened her mouth, but her eyes quickly snapped to something behind me, followed by a small patter of footsteps come from the stairs. I quickly looked down the flight of stairs. At the bottom, I saw the white tail end of a small animal run around the corner.

My curiosity got the better of me again and I motioned for Niko to follow after me as I ran down the stairs to chase after whoever had been spying on us. Arriving back in the alleyway, I could see the animal further down the alleyway before it turned into another corridor. I raced after it, Niko following behind me, and entered the room that I saw the animal run into.

I stopped in my tracks soon as I set foot in the room. It was another small cove, but this one had a large, real-life tree on display. The lights of the city shined down from above on top of it as its leaves glimmered in the light. Sitting next to the tree was a small, orange fox staring back at me. In that split second, I got a good look at it. It looked like a normal fox, except for the bright yellow orb in its forehead and a bandage wrapped around one of its legs. I heard Niko enter behind me just before the fox quickly ran behind the tree.

"Hey, wait…!" I said, taking a step toward the tree.

"I'm sorry...if you are looking for me." I heard the fox say in a soft, feminine voice, "But, I cannot talk to you. Not now…"

"Huh?"

I didn't hear anything until she spoke again, "But...can you promise me something?"

I was too confused to say anything as she continued, "If...you can find a way to return...please do."

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" I asked. I wasn't sure if she was talking to me or Niko and I definitely wasn't sure what she meant by "return".

No response. Carefully, I snuck around the base of the tree to find...nothing. It was like she had vanished into thin air.

I was stuck staring at the spot where the fox vanished from, my thoughts lingering on what she said.

"Hey, Alan? That fox seemed...familiar.." I heard Niko say as she shuffled up next to me.

I glanced at her, "How so?"

"That vision we both had...That fox kind of looked like what we saw."

It made sense. I hadn't realized until now, but that fox looked exactly like the animal in our vision. The yellow orb on its forehead was a spot-on match, but that begged the question: Why did we have that vision in the first place? And why was she so quick to run away from us?

I rubbed my head. This whole thing was getting weirder and weirder by the second.

"We should probably go, Alan. It doesn't seem like there's anything here." Niko said, tugging my arm.

"Y-Yeah…" I was still unsettled by what that fox said, but there wasn't anything we could do about it. I followed Niko back to the alley and headed down the last corridor, back into the light of the city.

Passing over a bridge that hovered above the lake, we arrived onto another street, similar to the one near the elevator, except this time there were a lot more people in the streets. Most of them surrounded various vendors who seemed to be selling food ranging from my looked like dumplings put into soup to candy that looked like it had been deep-fried and skewered onto a stick. The last one we passed by caught our attention though.

"Hey hey! You two ready for me to blow your mind?" A man with a water cooler for a head called to us. His stand consisted of several pills that looked the same.

I shrugged, prompting the man to continue, "Ok so! I've invented a medicine to prepare everyone for the upcoming shortage! All you gotta do is dissolve one of these pills in water and then you drink the water. After that, you never need to drink again!"

Niko's eyes sparkled, "What!"

"It also makes plants grow faster!"

I almost fell over when I heard that. Niko started giggling at me, acknowledging that this pill was exactly what I had joked about back in the Garden. The vendor happily offered us a free sample and we took it, making sure to visit the Garden one last time before we entered the Tower.

At this point, we had reached the end of the street. There was another large building off in the distance that lay at the end of another pathway, similar to how we reached the library. As we got closer, I started to see the smokestacks that sat on top of the building. If I had to guess, this must be the lab that the girl from the library told me about.

There wasn't anyone outside, so we strode on in. Conveyor belts jutted out from the sidewalls, which led to other rooms. The left room housed a few small lakes of red Phosphor with a scientist typing away at a computer, mumbling something about the luminescence of the Phosphor lessening. The right room housed what looked like 3D-printers. One was currently in use as a robot was being created within it. Aside from a few slips of paper talking about a puzzle, Niko and I walked back into the center room and stood in front of a door being guarded by a robot.

"[IN ORDER TO GAIN FURTHER ACCESS TO THE LABS, YOU MUST PASS THE SECURITY SYSTEM TEST.]"

"The...huh?" Niko faltered.

The robot pointed to a switch on our left, "[YOU MUST CHANGE THE COLOR OF THE LIGHTS INTO A SPECIFIC CONFIGURATION. ALLOW ME.]" It walked over to the switch and pulled it down. Five orange lights turned on, showing us the test that we had to pass.

I sighed in annoyance, "Do we really have to do this?"

The robot simply nodded before proceeding to stand in front of the door again. I groaned. Forcing us to do a puzzle just to get where we wanted to go was one hassle I did not want to go through, especially since we didn't have any other clue where to go.

Niko began poking randomly at the lights, changing them from their orange hue to different colors. With one last grumble, I joined her.

This was going to take a while.

A/N: Here's an earlier than usual chapter. Enjoy!
Again, reviews are very appreciated, no matter how small.