All Jude wanted to do was chase after Alvin, that's all he ever wants to do as soon as theres a chance that Alvin might not come back, and even though this time he knows that Alvin will come back its still hard to listen to Yurgen's words.
Jude sat waiting impatiently for Yurgen to give them the news on the whereabouts of Alvin and Elize.
"This is taking much too long." Rowen says stroking his beard with worry.
"Y-you don't think that Alvin..turned on us?" Jude looks at Milla hoping she'll give an answer he'll want to hear.
"..." Milla lets out a stressed sigh.
"How could I have let Elize leave her seat like that? If I had just noticed sooner..." Leia couldn't help but blame herself for the situation.
Jude stands facing her. "It's not your fault Leia."
"But..." Leia looks down, and at that moment Yurgen bursts through the door.
"We found their trail!"
Milla the first to chime in."Where does it lead?"
"We were too careless. They've gone into the Royal Hunting Grounds."
"Where is it?" Jude asks with anticipation.
"It's a forest near the city that kings have used for their private hunting grounds for generations. It's a sprawling primeval place. The Kitarl Clan looks after it."
"Thank you Yurgen!" Jude shows his excitement to finally know where Alvin might be.
"The Hunting Grounds teem with dangerous monsters. Please be extra careful." Yurgen says with concern.
With that the party travels to the Hunting Grounds. While the team searches they come to an old broken down laboratory and find Elize's foot prints. They look around trying to find some other traces of Alvin and Elize coming up short. They walk through one of the many doors to one of the old labs and see Elize on her knees crying, Alvin badly wounded on the ground against a box.
Jude runs up to Alvin checking him over.
"Alvin! Pull yourself together,Alvin!" He places his hand on Alvin's shoulder with concern.
"Hmpf, the gangs all here. I thought this was up to me." He winces the pain from his wounds shooting through his body.
"I'll heal you right away." Jude places both of his hands on Alvin's wounds gently healing them as the party worries about Elize.
Elize runs to Milla bawling her eyes out. "What should I do?"
"What's wrong?" Milla asks with concern. "You appear unhurt."
"And look Teepo's here too." Leia walks over to Teepo picking him up. "Glad you're okay."
"Hey! Let's play! But first, give me a name!"
"Huh?" Leia just stares at Teepo as he keeps repeating the same fraise over and over. Elize just cries.
"What's going on?" Milla questions.
"One of the Exodus agents ripped something out of Teepo, and that's all he's been saying since." Alvin states weakly.
"So he really was just a machine all along. A toy." Jude hangs his head saddened by the discovery.
"A toy?" Elize whimpers.
"Yeah a stuffed animal designed to move and talk by itself." Jude states coldly.
"H-he wasn't a toy. He was my friend."
"Alvin, what happened to the Exodus agents?" Milla glances in Alvin's direction.
He lifts his head weakly. "I killed one of them. The other gave me the slip."
"Good work." Milla then releases Elize walking away from the heartbroken child and stomps on the device that the agent left behind.
"What about Teepo?"
"If we can get back whatever they pulled out of him, maybe he'll go back to normal?" Jude walks up to Leia taking Teepo into his arms.
"When did the Exodus agent leave?"
"Ages ago." Alvin chimes in.
"Then the trail is cold. Trying to retrieve whatever they took will be a waste of time. We need to get moving." Milla states coldly.
"But, couldn't you do both? Can't you help?" Elize sniffles.
"If you wish to search for Exodus, I wont stop you. But that means we'll have to part ways."
"Very well, lets get back to the city." Rowen says concerned for both Elize and Alvin.
When the party heads back outside they encounter Jiao and his dogs. He questions why they are there and admits that this lab is where Elize was raised. Apparently Alvin had been there before aswell, he had been investigating the boosters that they had been making there he also lets the party know that Teepo is actually a booster, third generation to be specific.
"A booster reads the mind of its owner and speaks aloud his or her thoughts." "So all this time Teepo was just saying what's on Elize's mind?" Jude says causing the party to hang their heads.
"That's not true! Teepo was talking on his own! Teepo...you might just be a machine but you're still my friend, right?"
"Nope, I'm just a machine Elize." Teepo states bluntly.
"No! You're my friend!"
"Nope, you are mistaken. I'm just a device that verbalizes your thoughts!"
"Elize I'm sorry." Jude frowns.
Teepo then starts asking Jiao questions about Elize's parents. They find out that her parents had been killed by a bandit when Elize was just 4 years old.
"I'll never see them again. Not Mother, not Father, not even Teepo."
"I know how bad this must-" Leia gets interrupted by Elize.
"You still have your parents and friends!"
"As if these people could ever understand how you feel." Teepo speaks.
Elize runs off Leia chasing after.
As the party moves on after them, Jude and Alvin talk quietly between themselves.
"How bad is your wound?" Jude looks at Alvin concern filling his eyes.
"Well, I failed at the job I was sent to do, and now you guys are here. The wound to my pride might be mortal." He says holding his hand to his head running it through his hair.
"And now you've betrayed Exodus, too" Jude frowns at Alvin's situation.
Alvin smirks. "Yeah, well, don't worry about that. For all you know, I might've even staged all that." He teases.
"you're just the traitor type, aren't you?" Jude smiles lightly.
"Yupp, that's just who I am."
"Well, regardless, thanks for risking your life for us." Jude smiles wholeheartedly.
Alvin frowns to himself then puts on a fake smile."My my. You really are the honors-student type." he smirks.
"Yeah. That's just who I am." Jude smiles resting a hand on Alvin's back. "I really am glad you're okay Alvin, I don't know what I would've done if you had've been seriously hurt."
Alvin hushes him with a finger lightly pressed to his lips."Don't worry Jude, I'm not going anywhere. Not yet anyway" He winks at him smiling.
"What do you mean not yet?!" Jude frowns.
"Well I might go to the inn and rent a room...I think we have some making up to do, heh."
Jude punches Alvin in the arm. "It's not funny to joke like that Alvin...but yes, we do have some making up to do." He blushes smiling, Alvin placing his arm across Jude's shoulders.
"I am sorry about before. I didn't mean to come off so cold, but, I have my reasons for not letting people in, I don't really remember what it feels like to have someone care for me so much, I'm scared that if I let you in too close then one of us might end up getting hurt, but I do love you Jude. No matter what happens. I'm sorry for hurting you." He couldn't even look at Jude while saying all of this. He didn't think that he deserved him but Jude wouldn't let himself be pushed away, and Alvin was thankful for that.