Tuesday 24. What would typically have been a work day had been completely overridden by the events of the day before, and while the rest of us were on cryptid care, Eva was working on reverse engineering the Displacer I had recovered. I was still in a funk over yesterday; despite everyone's uninspiring reassurances that I couldn't do more it did nothing to shift the reality of the situation- I had let another cryptid fall into the clutches of Elizabeth's organisation, and whether she was alive or not her influence clearly hadn't died. It was probably for the best that I was just on cryptid care duty today; I had become unsure in my abilities to protect any in the wild from the Amber-Clad.
"Same wires, same connectors, it's an identical model." Eva began, frustration oozing from her voice. She'd deconstructed the alternate Displacer and the parts lay on the table, lining up with perfect accuracy with the blueprints that sat next to them.
"I've looked over them and they fit the blueprints perfectly." Lucy continued, looking the grimmest I've seen her. "The external hardware is a different shape, true, but they'd fit perfectly inside one of our models. It's no wonder that one of ours perfectly interfaced."
"The problem with that is," Eva continued, "The blueprints are my own. I made them personally three or four days before your run with them. There is no theoretical way they could have them. There isn't a single way."
Worried confusion was spread between the faces of us all. Sid spoke first, concern almost visibly rising in his throat.
"Eva, you don't think... you don't think that-"
"No, I don't think any of you are working for the Amber-Clad." Eva confirmed. "None of you have ever been any less than loyal to me, and I thank you profusely for that."
I was glad to know that Eva had enough trust in me to not think I was working for the enemy, so to speak, even if I still couldn't inherently put full trust in her. Despite everything I still knew practically nothing, and if she was willing to hold onto the card for so long, what else could she be hiding.
"So do you think we'll be on fieldwork tomorrow?" Sid asked, breaking the silence and my thought process. I didn't know if I was a hundred percent ready to get right back to fieldwork again so I really wanted to know the answer too. Eva ran the question through her mind for a few seconds before answering.
"There's nothing particularly pressing happening but if you want to go and find something to study that's fine. I'll be scouting this place for hidden cameras, sensors, microphones. Nikki was affiliated with them, who knows if they had her stuff something in here while we were out. Anyway, it's getting late, you should get some sleep."
"You too." Randy asserted. "I'm not letting you get into that state again. You can sleep for tonight, and I'll help you check the facility tomorrow if they're going out hunting."
However he acted on missions be damned, Randy was an expert emotional backer. I didn't know if I really wanted to be hunting anything tomorrow, but if the others wanted to I would just go along. Either way, I had some rest to get before that, so I settled in for the night.
I awoke to the sound of conflict a few rooms over, which pulled me scrambling to my feet and out the door. As I dashed down the corridor I almost collided with Eva, also running from the room in my direction.
"What's the situation?" I asked, as quickly as I could.
"I woke up to something attacking, apelike, it almost looked like it had a beak? Not a Kappa though, that's for sure. It had a hold on my head, it looked like it was-"
Eva was interrupted by the erratic escape of whatever was in her room, as something apelike dashed through the door. It would have stood probably just under my height if it stood fully up, and though it didn't exactly have a beak, it had extended, point like lips. It swerved away from us and dashed down the corridor, Eva and I chased in pursuit but to no avail, it was too fast. Something still didn't feel right though.
"What's the time, Eva?"
"Twelve past six."
She shared the same look of horror I had on my face as we spoke at the same time.
"Sid!"
Sid wasn't breathing when we found him in his bed. His heart was pumping, his skin was warm, his pupils dilated in the light. But no breath entered nor exited his body.
"Randy's the same, Lucy too." Eva responded, more fearful than I'd heard her since the Cherufe, her voice faltering just a little. "They're not dead, but I don't think they're entirely alive, and I can't wake any of them!"
"You think it was the Yokai?" I asked, almost certain but wanting confirmation.
"Absolutely. I... I just have no idea what it was! I've never encountered a Yokai or cryptid like it!"
Panic rose audibly in her throat like a snake rising from a ceramic jar, and though I wasn't exactly Randy, I did what I could to reassure her.
"It's... it's okay. They're still somewhat alive, we... we just don't know what's happened to them."
Eva was still panicking, but she also seemed to be considering options.
"We should start our research."
"Eva I think I've got something!" I called out, trying not to get too excited. I was seven books into old local Yokai research; Eva was nine. I'd finally found something that fits what we saw, at least better than anything else. Eva looked over my shoulder as I read the page.
"Satori, mountainous ape Yokai, known to hunt humans. Tricksters, able to read minds, I think we might have our culprit."
I was happy enough with the result, but Eva shook her head.
"It looks right but it doesn't explain the symptoms. The half death, the lack of breath, and if it was a Satori, they'd have been torn to pieces and eaten. That said it does look like a Satori..."
Eva's face lit up as she tore open one of the books from the pile we had left to search through, flipping rapidly through the pages before landing on one that matched shockingly.
"Satorikai! Yamachichi are mountainous bat Yokai that look like apes with pointed lips! They steal the breath of a sleeping victim, where they then die the next day! Often mistaken for a similar Yokai, the Satori, so also known as the Satorikai! We've found it!"
I pulled out my phone; it was now about ten o'clock in the morning.
"If they die a day after the theft then we have fourteen hours to find the Yamachichi and return their breath." I announced, turning to Eva who was already holstering two tranquilliser guns.
"Then we better get moving."
Speed was of the essence, and I pushed my car to the maximum, tickets and cops be damned. We were touring local mountains to find out which ones showed signs of a Yamachichi being around. I didn't know what we were looking for but clearly Eva did, and after not too long we found what we were looking for.
"There, on the ground!" Eva pointed, as we were close to the base of the third mountain we had checked. I didn't know what the flattened grey thing was, but to me at least, it somewhat resembled roadkill.
"Is that some sort of dead animal?" I asked, disgusted. Eva ecstatically nodded.
"It's a weasel, drained of blood. Drained by a Nobusuma, almost definitely, which are bat Yokai."
"Like the Yamachichi!" I yelled in glee.
"Precisely, in fact Nobusuma turn into Yamachichi when they're old enough. But we have to be careful. You can see what they did to that weasel, never mind what they could do to you."
I for one didn't fancy being a hearty snack, but at the same time I didn't mind losing blood if it helped the rest of the team. Grabbing my gear, I began my ascent.
The hike was going smoothly when I had my first encounter with the aptly titled 'wild quilt'. We'd been hiking without end for a while, neither of us having the casual conversation I had become accustomed to, we had too much focus on the mission for that. All thoughts of last mission's failure were out of the window; I could be thinking about failure now. If I saved the others now, that was my redemption. If I failed, I might as well quit. It was the lack of conversation for the most part that left us hyper aware enough to notice the rustling of branches behind us and prepare. Despite our intentions we were too late to catch the threat before it latched onto my face and began clawing my scalp and biting my forehead. A dampened thud of pain came as Eva slammed the back of her tranquilliser gun into the winged flap that covered my eyes. Something that looked like a large squirrel fell to the ground and off of my face, hissing and scampering off.
"Badly hurt?" Eva compassionately asked. I rubbed my face where her gun had impacted and wiped the blood from my other minor wounds.
"I'm fine, let's just keep on moving." I reassured. The scratches only really stung a little, and even if I didn't know whether Yokai could carry diseases, I'd take all the shots I needed when we got back. So, even more aware, we continued forward, until we got our second sighting of the Yamachichi.
Eva held me back before I could step forward further. Feeling the mood of the situation, I ducked into the mountain's canopy of forest trees. There it sat, plaintive and in front of our gazes. The hairy, gaunt but muscular body and the pointed straw like lips of the breath drinker that attacked our facility. It was clear that both of us wanted to jump it right there but we also both knew that planning would be essential for the best chance. If we didn't get it first attempt we might be too late by our next encounter. Eva silently motioned for me to circle further around to opposite her, taking a rifle to create a dual assault from both sides. Soundlessly I crept around the resting primate, making sure I would not be discovered, not as if my life depended on it but because I knew my friend's lives did. Both of us were in position and ready to attack, when to my dismay and horror, the all-too-familiar sounds of rustling branches came from the tree above me. Then more rustling began, all across the forest or so it felt like. And then, with no more provocation than the falling of a leaf, the horde fell.
Screeching fanged things swooped at my body from every angle. A stray shot from Eva whizzed past my head as the Yamachichi caught wise and began to flee. I swiped wildly around my head, trying to clear my face. Blood from the new scratches on my forehead flowed down my brow and seeped into my eyes, painting my view red. Eva didn't seem to be doing much better; she was just as drenched in blood, her normally well-to-do top bun shredded and hanging limply at the side of her head, dyed a dark crimson. Finding my current flailing fruitless, I began swinging my unloaded weapon by the barrel, stumbling towards Eva and when I finally reached her to find her doing bad, supporting her by the arm as I limped forward. I didn't know where to exactly, but just the nearest safe space. To my hope, a cave was just up ahead, small entrance, easily defendable. I limped towards it, Eva in tow, ignoring as best I could the ever growing amount of bite marks all across my body, until I finally reached it's dark maw. Eva was the one in worst condition so I rolled her in first, before following on. I had barely enough time to chuck a net over the opening before I fell victim to my condition and blacked out.
I had no idea how long it had been, but I awoke, feeling none the better and quadruple the amount of unease. The net seemed to have been shifted slightly, the cave disturbed. I rose unsteadily to my feet, supporting myself against the cave wall. As I wiped the blood and sweat from my eyes and they adjusted to the darkness, I began to come to the horrifying realisation that we weren't alone in here. With Eva's head clasped in it's arms, it's body hunched over hers but it's face pointed directly at me, I made eye contact with the Yamachichi.
It dropped Eva's head back down on the ground and leapt at me; in my injured state I barely stumbled out of the way in time. I hadn't lost the tranquilliser gun in the chaos, so propping myself against the wall I loaded a dart into it. The Yamachichi flailed, and knocked the gun spinning across the cave floor. I fell to my hands and knees and crawled towards it; the Yamachichi grabbed my leg and I kicked it in it's hideous mouth. Grabbing the gun, I used it to push myself to my feet, placing my back to the opposing wall, I aimed, and as the Yamachichi ran at me again for a second blow, I fired the dart, which sank into it's chest just as it collided with me, knocking us both to the ground as I blacked out again.
"Come on, get up, we need to move."
Eva was feebly shaking me. We were still in the cave, the Yamachichi was still out cold. Fortunately I seemed to have caught it in the act before it had taken Eva's breath away. Everything still hurt but again I struggled to my feet.
"What time is it?" I meekly asked.
"Late, but I think we have time. Come on." Eva informed, pulling out a return circuit from her pocket. I dragged up the Yamachichi before we found ourselves back in the shop. The clock told us we had six minutes. We dragged the sleeping ape down the stairs and the corridors, until we reached it's last victims.
"What do we do? Just hook the mouth back up?" I asked. Eva shrugged, so with no better option I pressed it's proboscis-like mouth to Lucy's, and I sighed with relief when she began breathing again before waking up. We just about managed to get Sid and Randy back on their feet too, before the Yamachichi began to stir, but together the five of us managed to get it to containment before it became an issue. I barely thought as I finished my nightly routines, doused myself in Phoenix tears, and collapses into bed.