Chapter 20- Investigators for (Sorta) hire
September 11th, 7:37-ish pm
I stretch my legs out, feeling a lot less cramped as I feel the grass on my fur. I yawn and I end up turning onto my side. I groggily open my eyes, peering around the area I see one around. It fills a warmth inside me as I simile. I like this kind of aloneness, this kind of dark is perfect for me as o begin to sulk into it more.
upon seeing the sight in the corner of my eye I get up in a frenzy.
"GAH! DAMN IT" I ended up blurted out loud as I got up quickly as I did, now feeling quite dizzy
The Sun was beginning to set, and I see the Purple atmosphere wash into the sky into a wave of innumerable colors. It was a beautiful sunset, but it wasn't just a joyful sight for me. I am to be home before sunset and I have no time to enjoy it.
I quickly try to ordinate myself, and I set off for home as quickly as possible with my mind filled with worry. I shouldn't have taken a nap, I didn't even think much about it. It just happened! The best I can do is to make it home, the faster the better as I know they must be worried sick about me. How long did I nap? 2 maybe 3 Hours?
The Run home is only 10 minutes or less. So I made it there in good time at the pace I was going at. I felt a ever-increasing sack of worry in my stomach grow and grow, I felt like slowing down to think of a game plan. But that would only be slowing the inevitable.
I jump up the porch steps as quickly as possible and I jump up onto my hind legs to open the front door
"…I'll just get into the car and do a quick look around. Oh, whew. He's back" I heard my father say while sitting on his big brown puffy chair per usual.
My mother, looking concerned comes over. While I try to not make eye contact, trying to keep myself upright. I need some water
"Where have you been? You've been out a while. Are you okay?"
I quickly nod, hopefully responding to her last question
"Your furs quite the mess, are you sure your feeling alright? You look pretty dazed" my mom said, as I walked into the kitchen
"I'm just getting some water first," I said, as I went to my bowl full of water and started to drink from it. It's humiliating. But I've realized it's one of the easiest ways for me to drink, and at this point, I don't care.
"Want to write on some paper?" My mother asked, "it really helps you know." My mother said as put it and the required materials on the floor
I come on over to her, and begin to scribble.
"Took nap, overslept. My mistake. im good"
My mother looked relieved to get some information, and she looked to understand the situation better.
"Heh, I bet you enjoyed it? If you want to nap outside, try to do it in the backyard, please. You had me really concerned"
I noted that information, this situation turned out than I expected. Heh.
The Rest of the night went well and later that night I browsed Reddit (mostly R/Elementals, which just popped up I saw.) Though I was only on it for some small amount of time before the server crashed yet again. The Balkan Countries are seemingly on the hinges of Collapse. Bulgaria has announced the temporary movement of its Capital and Government personnel from Sofia to Varna and will seek closer ties to their northern neighbor, Romania, as both of them have most of their infrastructure destroyed, and the only way they could continue to exist is through cooperation. As the majority of the former Human workforce is now dealt down to paws or other forms, most jobs cannot be really held up the way they were before. extra supplies can only hold a population for so long. Hopefully, as Powers aren't used for killing and we stop being literally killing machines for 5 minutes, we can put our powers to use and actually make a better society. peh, Like that, will ever happen.
One thing is certain when I was online. It's just pretty much frickin "Elemental this, Elemental that" everywhere. you can escape it. Most of them are just very hypey over the simplest of things. there are also rumors on the media about Prince Charles becoming an Elemental, we have not heard anything confirming nor denying it from the United Kingdom and we have not yet seen a true public appearance. I don't remember if I saw this before, but New York State is now under Martial Law, along with Illinois due to the worsening condition of Chicago to quell the flames. There has been mass destruction within the streets and to the buildings. There have been attempts to calm things down, but all it takes is one Elemental to pose a serious threat. Donald Trump has also Tweeted out "Law and Order within the Democrat ran cities is not being kept! we need to act fast people, or America will fall! This is our future's at stake!
France has announced, possibly in further response to what happened in Paris, the exclusion zones project has been aborted, but the ones that were already built now serve as a refuge for homeless Elementals. Elementals are also now banned in the 10 biggest cities of France, only unless a family member still has a human living in the city to do some paperwork in order to get a special ID card for elemental allowing it to live in the same house as his guarantor and roam in a restricted area around the house. there has been made an exception with the Eiffel Tower. Outside these cities, both Humans and Elemental are considered as equal to the basic laws, Elemental are not allowed to use moves near any building, with the exceptions of emergency cases, in areas specially made for (and officially approved), for legal and governement works.
Though my time on it was short, I love how the Internet can give a voice to me, I can type and have my words be presented just like any human on it. Maybe I should try that with my parents sometimes through text, in fact I will most definitely will.
I had normal rest of the night, I had actually started to listen to classical music. It really makes me feel good and helps me to concentrate. It's just atmospheric to me
September 13th, around 3:00pm. Entrance of the factory.
"I've made it, hopefully early," I thought as I made a rough estimate of the time. "as I see he is not present yet. So I shall wait."
I go over to one of the walls of the building and I lean against it, minding my own business.
Cyan and I had arranged the last day to meet up at around 3:00 to 3:30 to conduct a thorough investigation of the area, our first location is past the shack and into an abandoned makeshift skatepark thingy. he changed his mind on going alone because He wanted a buddy so if he finds any valuable information he has someone he back him up and validate him. along with me helping to carry back any stuff he might find.
He actually made it to the underpass the day I gave him the map. But he told me he got the creeps and just straight up left.
The Plans simple, We had shared our collective information yesterday on the whole situation. This Umbreon in question if it has to resort to stealing food and supplies and pretty much anything it can get its paws on. it has to be most likely a loner. Possibly with the same situation as Steven. Or maybe it does has a home, there's nothing confirming nor denying that currently. but homeless is what we are thinking is the case.
If it's homeless, it has to have a hideout or at least a shelter of sorts. If we can find that, we can get some information and maybe get a stop to this and help it, though I have no idea how we are really going to do that. I think the plan is to just look around as I don't even think Cyan has even thought that far ahead yet in this regard.
The abandoned Skatepark is one of the locations we have noted it could be. we are going to it first because of the sounds I heard with Steven so it's high on the list. We will simply scout the area, plus it's going to be hella fun, I was already thinking of checking that place out so it's killing two birds with one stone.
Hopefully, we don't get into any chunky business with those shack idiots.
"H-Hey, are you Umbreon going with Cyan?" Said A Cheeky voice near me, I glance slowly to the Vaporeon
"Yeah." I said getting off the wall "What to you need? My names is Jack"
"Ah Yeah, I think I've talked with you before. You're the Umbreon who questioned me on the whole thing with your friend.
"Yep."
"My name is Charlie, the same guy who 'apparently' leaked the location of the shack to you and I want to at least sorta redeem myself in a way to my friends, as they are concerned about that whole thief thing. So If I helped you two out and end up getting some information and I report it back to them, that will most definitely show them!"
"Hmm, interesting."
"As you guys are going near it, I should also come along to see if it's secure at least. A check-up per say?"
"So you want to come along?"
"I mean if you two don't mind."
"I don't mind." I said "I seriously doubt Cyan would mind."
"Awesome!" Charlie said standing near the wall right next to me nonchalantly "I won't do anything and I won't be annoying"
"Sooooooooo…"
"When will Cyan get here?" He asked
"Eh, dunno. We both wanted to make it flexible and not putting any pressure on the other, you see anywhere an actual working clock here?"
"I mean you could ask someone probably if had they anything to tell the time"
"Yeah, I guess so then. Though I'm not normally the one to try to interfere with other people if necessary, I just don't to cause an awkward situation for myself. But either way, he'll be here eventually"
"You want to do anything while we wait?" He asked, "or you doubt that we would even have the time to do so." Charlie said
"I mean, he will probably be 5 minutes, it's not that long of a wait. I don't know…" I said, browsing the room of anything of interest
"What's it like being an Umbreon!" He said, "I haven't talked with one!"
"I think your glowing is pretty sick."
I lowly laugh, "Well, uh thanks. But I'm not special, I'm boring."
"What about the moon stuff you do you?" Charlie curiously asked "Are you conscious? Do you sleep? What does it feel like!"
"Man I hate questions like these"
"It feels pretty good, It's highly beneficial I do such thing as I think I practically run on it sometimes."
"Beautiful," I said
"Huh?" Charlie asked
"if I had one word to describe all of it, it's beautiful. It brings me awe. Nothing better than a stary night with the moon. It's truly hard to describe to someone who cannot feel it…but it's beautiful. It's something to cherish"
"Interesting, so you feel a connection with the moon?"
"What?…No no, not really…well, eh…I dunno. It just looks beautiful."
"Alright fine I feel sorta feel a connection, it's just there for me
"I mean I may be insane but I'm an Umbreon so it's probably normal and I'm overconcerned. I wish I could've explained it better. But at this point, I don't care about any resemblance of my formal 'Humanity'"
"What do you mean?" Charlie asked
"Like, yaknow. We ain't humans. We are Elementals. I've given up my humanity, it sounds like a 'oh noes biggie deal' but it's seriously not."
"What do you mean by 'given up your humanity?"
"I don't associate as one. There are keen differences between an Elemental and a Human. Saying you are 'human' only weighs you down, your trying to be something you can't be."
"Well there's still human in all of us, you can't just deny your not a human on the inside. if we didn't have that. We would be nothing more than animals or raccoons eating garbage."
"We would not think or feel as complex as we do now, we literally can have a conversation. But we have paws and mussels. You describe a being like us and you don't exactly think of a complex thinking being."
"Well, I do. I do now. Because times have changed, your associating being "human" with morality and interactiveness"
"We think, we feel, we love. Saying we are 'human minded' is downplaying us and gives people power over us to say we are not "human minded" We are as complex as any human, maybe even more. If Aliens came to earth and could understand the meaning of language, would we call them 'human minded'?"
"But the fact is you were a human, correct?"
"Not anymore." I said "What? Do you really still cling onto humanity?"
"Yes, it's important we don't forget our values and concept of reality."
"Pah, you're in denial. Absolute denial. You will learn. You will learn that you are not a human, and you are an elemental."
"It's not like I don't accept being an Elemental, or deny I am I one. But giving up what makes you, you. Is something horrible to be done." Charles responded
"AYYYYYY" I heard Cyan said, as he entered and came close to us
"I'm happy we were able to plan this! Oh! Looks like you made a new friend" Cyan said
Charles moves on from our little argument and introduces himself
"I'm Charlie. Nice to formally meet you" Charlie said as he Shook one of Cyans feelers "I wanted to check if I could come along with you two on your little…investigation?"
"Sure! You can come along. The more the merrier! Nice to meet you as well! My name is Cyan, and I'm sure you have talked with Jack"
"Yep," Charlie said "He told me the basics already, I won't be an annoyance to you, right?"
"Nope! Not at all!" Cyan said, then turning to me "Thanks for relaying it all to him Jack."
"It's fine, no need to thank me" I responded
"Well, ill just follow you guys then," Charlie said "Just to confirm we are going past the shack?"
"Rightly so."
"Alright, thanks again Cyan," Charlie said
"It's all good! If you two are ready, as I am. Let's get to it!"
Charlie, Cyan, and I then left the building, Cyan suggested we take it slow and have fun to not waste energy. I started to lead them through the shortcut Steven had shown me, as an attempt to make the trip safer and more efficient.
"What's it like to have ribbons Cyan! They must be so cool!" Charlie asked
"Heh…They're really helpful for daily life. It also really helps me with my parents as well, I've been slowly been learning to sense their emotions with them, and Ive feeling the best I've felt in a while. I'm really connecting with them."
"So would you think if you were pink, would you still mind it?"
"Honestly it was a pretty petty problem, really thinking about it. Sure Pinky may be a girly color for some, but like…I've realized. Who the hell cares? Of course, I'm a shiny and I'm more bluish. But even if I was normal colored I would've learned to be chill with it"
"Even having bows, I don't really mind them as much as I used to. As for my feelers, or some call them Ribbons, are extra limbs for me to grasp things with, hell pretty extendable as well. I can still play the Wii with motion controls with my Sister pretty normally"
"…it's a feeling of normality for me. It's the best of both worlds."
"Ah." I said, "How's your sister been?"
"She's been doing good, We have been working together a lot on the progress of my abilities to feel and understand emotions, along with my other powers. Though I don't know any real 'moves at this time." Cyan said
"Doin stuff like this and interacting has brought me such joy. I never really got to do stuff like this before. Now, look at me go! One place to another! Movin movin moving!" Cyan continued
"Yeah. This entire transformation thingamajig was pretty shit, and the repercussions of it as well. But I just like doing this to get a damn break from it all."
"Very well spoken." I said "I've been able to make new connections, it's a new life. New gifts and opportunities. I'm an Umbreon now, I should move on some things."
"Really brings a new meaning to 'New Year, New me?'" Cyan said with a chuckle
"Though that doesn't really work because it's September." He added
"Eh, doesn't matter," Charlie said, "it's still funny."
I saw the light of the sun appear, we made it out of the shortcut. We took a right (when I was with Rin I took a left) and we went out on our way to the Levi. Though 2/3s of the way there, before we could get onto it Charlie wanted to show us something
"Hey guys!" Charlie said, "I want to show you something, over here!" He said running off in front of us. I was going to say something but Cyan quickly ran after him as well so I followed suit as well.
"Oh, we are currently near my was the same spot I looked onto the river on the first day I first started to go out." I thought
"Woah! Neat!" Cyan said going up to the small chain link fence, putting his feelers into them as he looked out
"See those rocks down there?" Charles said "Well those rocks cover pretty much this entire hill downwards into the river. If you jumped this fence and were an idiot and fell down. It would most definitely leave more than a mark."
"But with what I saying, See those specific rocks down there?" He said pointing downwards with his paw "that's where I used to hang out a lot. I actually tried going into the river abit."
"That's pretty dumb," Cyan said, "you could've been swept away, but of course continue."
"Well, the water isn't that good to breathe with from the 5 minutes I did. Lots of junk. Or maybe I'm just not man enough to actually take it, because I know people sometimes fish here."
"It was pretty funny seeing Arias reaction to it that one time. She literally yelled out and we all pretty much laughed at her, but she then made me do it, and then I learned it was pretty much justified…heh"
"I'm actually near my house right now sorta." Charlie continued "Eventually we just sorta followed down the River and found a hidden like area"
"One time we had browsed the area a lot, and we found like an abandoned skate park thing, not only that it also looked there were walls scattered around, and things inside trees. I think it could've been a BB gun or airsoft arena.
"I remember how I heard sometime a lot of more older kids, not talkin our age but like seniors and like maybe college students before the transformation did their own shit up there. Dunno what happened to them now" Cyan said
"Well we sorta took apart some already combined pieces of walls and materials, we actually found some old-ass tools as well. We worked together one day with what we had available and made ourselves our little hideaway."
"It was mainly seeing what pieces of walls worked best, and what balanced and stood upright. Over time we just took stuff we found from the side of the river and added onto it"
"Heh, It was really fun," Charlie said
"Rightfully so." said Cyan "Now I do hope you haven't gotten too attached to it, it's probably not made that well."
"Nahhhhh. Its probably going to be fine for a while. Just one important lesson for both of you to know. If you want something to be personal…don't say information about it. I've learned that the hard way with the fact you two know about and anyone with 2 brain cells can find it if they really tried"
Charlie quickly ran to the very side of the fence where it started to end, and did some maneuvering to get over it
"Here! I'll show you a faster way to get to it! Down this way! We are going under the highway!"
"Awesome!" Cyan said quickly moving toward Charlie, while I noticed a 'Do not move past this point sign' it's probably there for safety reasons, but in all honesty who the hell cares at this point. Because I sure don't!
"Oh, well. I guess taking a special route will be neat." I said instead of jumping directly over it and just moving to one of its edges and going around it. (Yep, just going around it) Then quickly catching up to them.
"Just be very careful to not slip going down these rocks," Charlie said
"Yeah, wouldn't want to get a twisted ankle," I said
"Heh, and it would be quite a tumble falling down these" Cyan Added on. "About 20ish feet down to the waterbed"
"Well, just don't be dumb. That's what I always say" Charlie said
Across the massive River and looking abit to the left I could see the city of Gladbrook, with its buildings making a scenic skyline, well at least for me
"Wow, I haven't been able to see it from this angle before. This is sick." I said
"Yeah, it really is sick"
"Normally when I cross the river on the highway I l just sorta look down on this area, and can barely even see it. Now I get such a closeup."
We made it down to where the water was about a couple of feet from us and it was pretty swampy and I stayed on the rocks, not wishing to go near any water. I especially don't like mud, But Charlie doesn't really seem to care as he goes about freely in it.
"This part is pretty swampy, Cant really trust the ground as it may be extremely wet and you could sorta fall though." Charles said "but that's only if you come out where I'm at, where you can see I'm pretty much walking in it"
"Hmm…" I heard from Cyan as one of his feelers picked up a random can and examined it, then threw it farther away
"How does it feel?" I ask
"Pretty fine, I suppose" Charlie said coming back onto the rocks, leaving behind Muddy pawprints on them and leading us again
We move along, hugging the rocks. We made it the other side of the levee where it keeps the water out, where last time with Steven I was on it. We continued and we passed the small boat launch I've never really seen used before, maybe it's only used when the river is high.
"Woah" I said as I stopped with the others
The area ahead is a lot darker green, and a lot more nature filled. The area was now shaded more as well and pretty dark, as the rumbling overpass was now above us.
"Right this way!" He said going directly into the brush
"…uh, is this a smart idea? wouldn't it be easier to the more open way?"
"Eh." Cyan said to me as he followed Charlie into it
"…Eh? Okay I guess we're going in then. "
The 'path' was pretty much just some small more flatted nature and grass, as sticks and branches of leaves fly into my face sometimes as Cyan moves through them.
"Don't worry, this is a small part." Charlie said and eventually stopping and showing us one of the concrete pillars which kept the bridge up and sat on the small slab around it for a moment
"…I'm going to have to check myself for ticks after this." I heard Cyan mutter to himself
"Nice small spot, Isn't it?" Charles said "nice en peaceful I guess. Except for the constant rumble and noise" he then got up and kept moving
"Alright, it's up ahead out of this brush."
We exit the massive leaves of green, though the dark setting remained, presumably from the trees.
"Heh, neat." Cyan said "Your glowing dimly Jack"
"Oh" I look at myself "Oh yah I am, cool"
"This area looks so much better, for the water is not as swampy" Cyan commented "even the shoreline for lack of a better-word here is better, allot more evened out."
"Heh, thank you. Its a nice pleasant shade of dark.
"Ah, it truly is a pleasant shade of dark." I thought with a grin forming as I took it all in more "it's so comfyand welcoming"
"I've learned is an environment Umbreons love to be in!"
"Right ahead to the right is the shack just to let you two know, oh! I'll tell you and show you so many cool things!" Charlie said, jumping lowly with glee "Nice real introduction for you two for it!"
We continued forward, hidden within the brush of the trees I managed to see a glimpse of rusty shack. It seemed to use some trees near it as something to use as a small pole to lean on sorta.
Charlie started lead us directly to the entrance, inwhich i immediately heard him Scream
"WHAT WHAT THE ?! WHAT IN THE ING SHIT!"
"Hoo boy." Cyan said as Charlie immediately ran up to it, running around it frantically
The Entire thing was thrashed, their Junk was everywhere. Scattered around, torn, ripped, shambles.
"No No No No! What the hell happened!" Charlie said looking at everything, inspecting it all, picking up some remains to look at it further. "Who the hell did all this! Why though! What's the reason!" He went inside and I heard more loud ranting from him
"Damn, Poor guy" Cyan said picking up an old comic book, or the remains of one, he then looks back to me
"Though, he should've expected something like this to happen eventually."
"An unfortunate case of Karma" I Said "though I don't think I should even call it Karma, as no one really deserves this. I mean he did tell it to a lot of people about this place and really just put this location in jeopardy because of that. But still. Doesn't change the fact it's unfortunate"
"Yo Charles! I don't suggest to go in there right now, we don't even know yet if there is damage to the thing itself!"
"Shit, the mattress is gone, that Bastard!" Charlie said inside
I went around the side of the building to check for damage, I see some major damage has been done. Almost like something continuously rammed into it like a pushing bag or threw something Blunt. I dared not to even put my paw onto it
"There's major damage, don't touch it."
"Charlie, get the hell out of there, it's not safe." Cyan said
"Okay Okay Okay, Chill the hell out! Jeez" Charlie said "What the hell do we fricking do now! This is horrible! I'll say that Thief Umbreon did it! I'll fricking Kick it's merry Ass!"
"I'll kick its ass so hard it will just straight up want to get the hell out of our business and get a goddamn life!" Charlie's then faces us
"You two. Go do your investigation and find some fricking answers to this mess right now. I'll stay here to make sure nothing else comes by, and that the Umbreon doesn't take more shit for seconds!"
"Alright then" Cyan said, "at least we have more of a motive to investigate" he then turned to me and said, and I started to walk away from the Shack
"I'm sorry for whatever you lost, now don't go in there. Don't be stupid. We will hopefully find some resolve for you." Cyan said, then quickly walking backup to me, we were now wandering farther from the shack, hoping to get onto the dirt path was with Steven before.
"Maybe we can get paid for this shit." I said
"Arnt we doing this for fun?" Cyan said "I mean, maybe for Glory?"
"I doubt it, I think you are over exaggerating the word 'Glory' this is just a small little case, I highly doubt any human even knows about this. I bet the most we get for even finding the whatevers location is a few compliments and favors from people" i said
"Aye. But that's the kind of Glory I mean, plus also for the trill of it. Though from the wreckage of that poor place over there has risen the stakes I may add"
"Well, at least no one can really be mad at me from that little shack posse. Even if we stopped now"
The entire 'path' is becoming more rugged, We are getting quite even deeper. The ground becoming more and more Dirtier, it was almost like soft on my paws. The Dirt seemed to even crack abit
"Hey Jack? Look at this!"
"Hm?"
On the Dirt path, there is a long trail of something being dragged in the dirt. looking forwards, I see it continues.
"Huh. Neat." I said then looking at Cyan "Man, that was stupidly easy."
"…Maybe too easy?"
"Dont jinx it, It was probably dragging something back to its lair. Honestly it's stupid for making a mistake like this."
"I mean how else would it get something to its base? We can't exactly carry all that much"
"Nevermind that. This will lead us right to it. I point ahead "Goes on for awhile I see as well."
"Let's just follow it and see where it goes."
Cyanand I continued onwards, closely following the easy to follow path that was mistakenly made for us. It wasn't all that pretty as well, as the whole landscape has now turned to very…Alienist feel
"Jack, do you have any idea what's happening to the dirt? It's all cracky and there's…not much really here. It's Barren.
"I don't know, but it's strange ass shit" I said as one of my front paws gets stuck in some Mud that I swear looked just like the rest of this environment. as I deviated from the dragging point, "Frick…" I said as I tried to pull it out
"Look out for the mud, it seems really suck you in. Gah, god damn it.
I pull my paw out of the mud which had uncomfortably had gotten pretty high up my foreleg, gross
"Heh, at least it blends in with your fur better than mine. I have Cyan and White fur!…hence the name heh."
"So. what's the plan Jack?"
"Huh?"
"The Plan? We possibly found their location, should we infiltrate it? Take a little Looksee? Or should we just locate it and leave."
"…hmm. We don't want to get attacked by it. Maybe just sneak around for a bit, see if it's around. If no one is there at the present moment, we go in, and go out in seconds. Sound good?"
"Sounds like a great plan."
"But remain silent at all times, I may add" Cyan added
We continue following the dragging trail, as the grass and trees begins to slowly reappear as we were now leaving the Dirty landscape behind. And the dirty Path we used to follow it is slowly dissipating. As I about to mention the fact the path is gone. I see our next location We have almost made it to the former small personal Bike Park
I see the mounds of Packed Dirt, ramps and other things slowly come into view, which are packed tightly for them to be stable enough for anythingto stand or do tricks on. There's small courses all over the place, even the trees are scattered around them as well. Guiding them into natural turns.
The entire area is very open, even with the shade of the trees on both try to stay out of clear sight and end up hugging up onto the back wall of a half roundabout ramp like thing on our left. Removing us from view as we Crouch down with lots of space for cover
"We can easily just jump from one course to another, Hiding along the walls or edges of them." I whispered
"Let me get a quick look of our surroundings, okay? So we have a better idea of our current predicament and where we should go." Cyan responded, as he moved over to where our current cover end and sticked his head out abit and peered out
One of his Ribbon Signaled a 'come here' like action. As I moved up near him and his head came back into cover.
"Everything looks clear. Let's not dillydally" as he ran out towards another piece of equipment, and I sorta awkwardly quickly followed and hugged the wall with him. The tension for me had lowered, I think we are going to be alright.
He looked out again and immediately went back, and swiftly backed up against our coveri n apparent distress.
One of his ribbons was pointing out of where we were hiding toward the front of us and he was quickly nodding, we were not alone.
"Oh shit" I thought, trying to remain hidden
It seems like the idea of hiding behind cover first really payed off. Which in all, was common sense. 'Will it hear us even if we whisper? How far away is it?"
I go to his ear and I begin to whisper, "where is—" But before I even got to finish, one of his feelers covers my mouth tightly with almost like a death glare in his eyes
I hear the dirty, gravelly footsteps of something almost directly infront of us then i hear it now like it was moving past us
One of Cyans feelers to grabs my Forleg, and jerks me around the corner of the thick ramp we were behind. I quickly shake off his feeler which was latched onto me with a small 'grr'. we now were on the side of it, than the backside, we were couched extremely lowly.
I hear the footsteps move past us, as Cyan peeks his head up quickly and back down again in the direction of the footsteps. We wait, until they are gone and i can no longer hear them. Cyan whispers "come on."
we both end up running in the opposite direction of which Cyan saw the creature. We end up finding a small wooden structure of two walls. which covered us from multiple angles. (all the 'walls' we had before were the back, and sides of multiple ramp and roundabout like structures)
It finally feels like we can speak, though I'm pretty high on adrenaline at the moment
"…It's…past us now." Cyan said "I don't think it saw us. It would've attacked us if it did, right?"
"No, No I don't think it saw us. Holy shit mate…" I responded
"It walked past us, you were being an idiot and I had to drag you behind the corner because if it looked to its left…right…ugh, I don't know my directions well, Well it would've seen you!"
"Well I didn't know when specifically it was coming. I didn't see it at all. Did you get a good look at it?"
"No…I didn't get a specially good view, you know since we would've gotten caught. It was wearing something though, something black or grey…I dunno."
"Okay, we don't know when it will return. It might be returning back to the watery Shack or some shit for all we know. But with the risk we took hiding gave us a reward, free reign! Come on we're wasting time!" Cyan said walking out
'…he really likes just running out with no indication doesn't he?' I thought
"Alright, on our imaginary list of sorts for things to do. We need to find its shelter, or whatever."
"The ground is now currently dusty and dirty. the path is probably still out there, we need to find it, though we probably ran away from it already." I said
"Have no fear!" Cyan said running up a small compacted sandy dirt hill "I'll just run up this hill and I'll find it!"
I go up with him and start to peer around
"I think it's best to look around, couldn't find anything."
"Fair."
Cyan and I decided to split up for a short moment, I ran through the little courses while looking and had a bit of fun with them. They were really well made, though some parts seem to be uneven."
"Huh, I think I found something." Spotting the dirt trail
I brushed aside a bush on the edge of the entire 'park' if you would even call it that. and past it, I found a small triangular ramp (which appears to be dug out a-bit for more space) tucked away, with a stick-like pole in the ground infront of it and a corner wall piece. them both supporting a small darkened tarp which laid on top. It has one small wall on the side of the ramp, resting on the side more towards the back portion of the ramp
"Oh…wow." I said to myself going under it, making sure not to step on anything
"YO! I FOUND IT CYAN" I yelled out, before continuing my search.
I found a worn down mattress, so that's what it was dragging! it was laid on the ground. along with near it some Paintball Guns, a toolbox, which I then opened to see within some small amounts of food. A small metal lantern tucked in the corner.
"Oh, what's this?"
I find an old black and white checkered backpack, it looks almost completely ruined, but I look inside to see some small notebooks. I drag one out and I open it to see writings!
"Ha-ah! This is some good shit!" I didn't read the first page, and I flip through it to see how much there is. There's a lot to it! This is gold!
I pull out another one, I check through it. It doesn't have as much and it ends with allot more empty pages. Darn.
"I thought this was going to be useless! I'm surprised it's still even on me." I looked at my small little makeshift backpack, which is uncomfortable. I should look on Amazon or something if they make dog packs or some shit.
"Nice find Jack!" Cyan said as came in.
"I got some notebooks! It's perfect!"
I excitedly flip through the pages to show Cyan how much information there is.
"Wow." He goes over me to read some of it "The pages are pretty unruly, I think this was soaked once. All this information in here is pretty sad not gonna lie." Cyan said
"This will give us so much information! We will really be able to learn so much about it, out of anything we could've taken back, this has to be the best thing we could've gotten! We can read these when we get back."
I shove them both into my pack
"For now, let's nab them both and get the hell out of here! Big gains Cyan! Big gains."
Cyan and I after that quickly Snuck out of the place, We discussed where we should go. If we should back to Charlie or go straight back to the Factory, mainly we didn't want any avoidable run-ins with the Thief after our close call with it.
We decided to swiftly trek back to the Shack to see if Charlie is still there and if we could take him back, though for all we know he could be fighting off the thief
I end up seeing him still near it, the entire shack has completely collapsed. Charlie is currently sitting and he quickly spots and waves at us seemingly quite agitated. His face looks slightly darkened
"You nincompoops! I got a fricking ShadowBall to the face because of you two!"
Cyan and I look at each other, confusedly
"She just came over out of nowhere and…and started to insult me saying that I shouldn't be upset over a 'hunk of scrap collapsing' and fricking knocked it over saying it's revenge!"
"She said like oooooooo minding your own business this…don't take my shit that. my only thing to sleep on…"
"Then she got me right in my face and simply walked off!"
"You guys were supposed to prevent something like this to happen!"
"Well, frankly. This was completely way out of our control…also it's a she what now?"
"Yeah, turns out the Bastard is female."
"It doesn't matter now Charles, since we have…this!"
I whip out one of the notebooks which fall onto the ground and I quickly pick it up and held it up highly
"Entire secret journal of the Thief in question. It's a gold mine."
"It's actually pretty sad from what I saw, though it's also really interesting," Cyan said
Charles grabs the notebook out of my paw with his mouth and throws it down to look around it to see if it's legit, flipping through it with his paw
"Ah-ha! This is Perfect!"
"…I mean it's just a journal. There was nothing better to take for research, what were we going to do, take nothing? We're here to learn about the thief. This is all harmless,"
"Yeah. But you can't take it Charlie, don't think of running off with it" Cyan said
"…you know, since this bastard literally has been a major pest for pretty much all of us. We could like, totally leak this and it will probably make it stop."
One of Cyans feelers snatches it away
"Yeah. Not doing that. Look I know she completely destroyed your little passion project here, but…like…come on man."
"Well how will it stop otherwise? Come on, come on now. Do you guys got an answer? We have spent weeks with this thing!"
"Look, just shut up, shut up. This has completely taken a 180."
"Look please…I-I'll even give money?"
"…How much?" I asked
"I'll see you some other time Charlie" Cyan said starting to walk away with one of the notebooks still in feeler "but we really need to get going. Sorry about your face man. Come on Jack, let's move"
"Oh. Uh, Sure. I'm coming. Uh I'm sorry about your whole thing here…I don't know what else to say. Again sorry." I quickly said to Charlie, and I was compelled to catch up with Cyan
"You guys can't just cheat me out like this! you're leaving me with nothing!"
"…Just keep moving." Cyan whispered to me, "Righ'up this little hill, we can get back on the dirt path."
"…"
"I Don't care! I Didn't need you two anyways! You self-centered pricks!"
"Just don't look back at him…"
"…We Just straight up betrayed him. He has nothing for resolve"
"Big whoop. He has a real house. He was going to leak this Personal information. In which I don't even think it's perfectly right we have even taken this in the first place."
"It was the only thing there Cyan. It was the only thing. Let's just read it, since we have it. It'll probably be really cool and neat most likely as well. Then we will just…place it back probably?"
He shrugs. "Let's just read the whole thing when we get back together. We can split the two notebooks we have and take one home…we can determine the fate of them at a later date or possibly when after we read them and then decide."
"Sounds good with me, all I want is to read them."
We are currently made it back at the Factory, I was still feeling really quite down by the whole thing, this isn't really good for my stress. I felt bad for Charlie, but Also Cyan has a point in what he said earlier. I bet the thief was probably out trying to get food or something. The excitement of being able to actually be able to read this is going away
Cyan and I go to where Steven usually sleeps and keeps his supplies on the second floor for our little 'reading session' though Steven is not currently present it seems
Cyan carefully sets one of the notebooks onto the floor, I pull out mine and do the same I lay down into a comfortable spot
"Jack, remember. We are trying to help it, this may be a bit of an extreme I know. But it will give us a better idea of its situation."
"Whatever Charlie was going to do was something very counterproductive."
"I know that you would sorta understand the whole situation more, judging by how you have helped Steven with Food and such." Cyan said
"Yeah, but that's just Steven. I know both of their situations are similar, but I can't be the guy who gives free shit to everyone because I don't have infinite shit."
"Yeah, but If Steven wasn't supported by you, he would've probably done the same thing as the thief."
"In all honesty. We should've actually should've asked the thief about its situation"
"So why didn't you? We were both there, it was scary as hell I know. I feel like now we are getting into something over our heads here man" I responded
"Let's just get through reading this first, together." Cyan said, "We can just read these, we can forget about everything else."
General readings ensues, as I look through the entries. I seem to be slightly luckier as it seems I got the larger one and its first couple of entries. The paw-writing was terrible.
The Thief's name is Ava, it explains the only reason why she was even doing this whole thing was because she was bored in some of the more introductory part of the paragraphs to come.
Ava, in her writings, explained that she was just having a "perfect, all glittery and sparkly kind of life. If I did not make it apparent enough, that was sarcasm"
She transformed into an Umbreon at the skate park thing, and from what I could understand from the writing. Thought it was neat and such, and Generally just wanted to live a new life as something cool and mysterious and just simply live there. She explained it was an escape sorta from her home life and that the new form just makes it better to be alone and that it's a "mask from her former self"
Looking ahead, I could very much see that the tone of the writing got less and less of excitement and awe, and more of anxiety and plain old suffering, along with the complaining of a pencil which she found on the side of the road. Ava wasn't even able to go back home because she tried to go back days later but was pretty much kicked out due to the transformation and didn't even recognize her. Though she still tries to break in and take stuff, but stopped after she got chased out after she saw her father got a gun.
The entires of the rest of them are her personal victories, failures, and ideas. Including lots of maps from Oliver whom she refers to now as a "business partner" that she frequently meets with him for good locations to loot along with a better pencil for once.
She got colored paper from him once in a trade. Whom she which used to make her seem like a Shiny Umbreon as some sort of disguise to watch and observe easier, using sap to put on fake rings over her real ones. At farther away and sometimes even up close if you weren't paying attention it could fool you.
Ava, starts explains in the beginning of her new "manifesto" of pretty much that humans are horrible, unsympathetic, and relentless creatures. That we Elementals need to Make sure we never end up like humanity, and that "we are the next generation of this earth." It goes into a lot of Posthumanism and transhumanism and that it has happened naturally. that our powers and abilities outshine the human scar that they have made, That we are the ones to stop digging the hole deeper and that humans are the shovel.
Reading ahead, she's becoming more and more unstable and is losing hope that she will even survive until the end of this month. Even worse. Weeks.
"Hey Jack, it seems like I got the more recent one. Turns out the Shack group actually took her mattress in one of their 'looting sessions'"
"Wait really?"
"Yeah look at this" Cyan showed me the page in question
"Turns out they have been having a mini stealing war of each other's shit."
"Hah. Sorry, That was funny how you worded it. But yeah I highly doubt that's helping her situation of being really unstable"
"Yeah…hmm, she found the discarded Mattress in the woods covered in filth and bugs, she tried washing it in the river but the only thing she got out of it was a wet mattress. Though we were able to see it in person, it's not that big."
"It seems like she didn't write in it yet for today with getting her mattress back."
"Heh, she also planned to swift the blame of it all onto the Umbreon who took that employee's hat that one time. Well, she messed up and accidentally was in the same room with him and blamed herself for not planning enough. And to watch out for the Flareon that lives there to not get her face burned off"
"How was yours, Jack?"
"It was really cool actually, though we are dealing with one unstable Bre. Reading through it…we shouldn't have taken them in the first place. I feel like I was abit of a hypocrite dealing with all this, but at least we have an idea of how she's doing."
"So when should we return them? I don't exactly want to go back today."
"Yeah, me neither. What should we do with the notebooks for now?"
"I don't really want my parents seeing me with a notebook coming home and somehow reading it see all that. Maybe you can take it?"
"Eh. Sure fine. I will. I'll probably just hide somewhere."
"Okay, sounds good. We can just return them to her sometime close by in the future and apologize, and see if there's anything we can do…within limits." I said
"Sounds good with me Jack. I think we should call it off for the day." Cyan said getting up with both of the notebooks in his feelers
"Same for me as well. Thanks for the great day Cyan, it sure was a…trip I may say. I'll see you some other time"
"I'll see ya some other time as well, for now. Farewell." Cyan said leaving me to my own business
'I'm going to head home now as well I thought as I got up and soon eventually went down the ladder, but I wondered where Steven was, so I found Jorden the Furret and I asked him if he had seen him
"I have not, sorry dude. I don't anyone here as seen him in a while, and judging he lives here it's sorta strange. But you probably heard he wants to go find better locations, so if he left he would've told us, and taken his stuff with him. Which is stranger."
"He is pretty much has been missing for the most part. haven't seen him"