My dreams were chaotic to say the least. Flashes of memories of past encounters with the Cult kept resurfacing, along with the death of Mira. Clara kept popping up along with my other friends. Fears of their deaths were brought to life within the nightmare, jerking me awake.
"Eep!" A girl with long black hair who was passing by me with a tray nearly fell over, the mugs falling over the side. Before the dark liquid or glass touched the ground however, a psychic force stopped them midair. They floated back up and landed neatly on the tray, the liquid falling back in with a satisfying plop. An Espurr tottered over, purring as she rubbed against the girl's leg.
"Sorry," I apologized, rubbing the back of my head sheepishly.
"No no," she shook her head, violet eyes wide. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I nearly spilled your drink after all." She held out her free hand. "I'm Emma and this is Mimi." She gestured to the Espurr cuddling against her leg.
"I'm Zeno," I shook her hand. "Pleasure to meet you, Emma." She wore a ragged blue blouse matched with an orange skirt along with black leggings and orange shoes. Her curly black hair was tied into poofy pigtails and their was a yellow M patched into her blouse. She smiled sweetly as she handed me a mug of coffee, then headed over to where Looker was sitting at a desk, writing something with a pen.
Looking around Looker's office, I noticed a fridge on one wall with a large map of Lumiose hanging next to the sink beside the fridge. There was a little sitting area with wooden barriers and the front door had multi-colored rectangular windows that continued up to the ceiling, where a strip of checkered tiles spanned around the room. In the very back was where the couches were. They looked old and worn and didn't match the decor of the room, so I assume they were here before Looker moved in here and he hadn't had the time to move them out. Alex, Robert, and Preston were laying on three other similar faded green couches, but upon closer inspection, I realized Preston was awake and staring at the ceiling blankly.
Taking a quick sip, I set the mug down on the floor and headed over to Preston. I knelt and he glanced at me. "You okay?" I asked.
"Yeah," he nodded, sitting up, rubbing his eyes. "Just..." He shook his head miserably. "I feel like a failure."
"It's not your fault," I told him firmly, standing. "And we're going to find her. Then you can offer your thanks to Clara."
Preston only nodded, still looking downcast. Emma nodded to me as she walked past and offered Preston a mug. Hearing a groan, I looked to see Robert sitting up. He glanced at me. "Everything hurts man."
"That's what you get for jumping out of a helicopter and onto a giant Wailord," I patted him on the shoulder and he winced.
"Not too rough," he complained, laying back down, then glanced to see Preston finally taking the coffee. "Hey. Room service please." He yelped as a couch cushion slammed into his chest.
"Ignore him," Alex leaned over the back of her couch, glaring at Robert. Her hair was messy after sleeping on the couch all day. Since we had met up on the beginning of our journey in this region, the red highlights in her hair had faded somewhat. As if she knew what I was thinking, she lifted a faded red strand. "Yep, I need to get this redone. Or go with something different." She fell back onto the couch with a huff. "How are you not sore, Zeno?"
"I'm used to this sort of thing," I shrugged, heading over to Looker, trying not to show just how sore I was really feeling as I moved. His sleek oak desk was a jumbled mess of papers, his lamp dangerously close to falling. "You find anything?"
"Some sightings of people in purple cloaks," he sighed, not looking up as he signed his signature on the bottom of a paper and moved it on top of a messy pile. He folded his hands and looked up at me. "It's going to be hard finding them in the state Lumiose is in. I hear there's around half of the vines still protruding from one thing or another. I'm sorry to say this, but we might not be able to find any solid leads until the city is cleaned up, and that's if we're lucky."
I grunted, turning away. "I'll go out myself then."
I stepped out of the office, breathing in the evening air. It looked like we had slept through the whole day.
"Oh, you heading out as well?" Emma asked as she closed the doors behind her.
"Yeah," I nodded, looking down the broken street to my right. I could see the tip of a vine sticking out of a gaping hole in a building twenty feet away, workers along with a Machamp and Doublade breaking through it. "I need to find a friend."
Emma nodded. "I hope you find them. If Looker asks, tell him I had something I needed to do. I feel bad he just lets me stay here for free and doesn't make me pay for anything." She looked embarrassed. "So I figured I need to do my part, even if he insists otherwise. It's the least I can do."
"I'll tell him," I promised. "Be safe. There might be... Well, just be careful."
She nodded. "I will." She turned and headed down the opposite street I had been looking down and turned a corner and was out of sight. Sighing, I shoved my hands into my pockets, wondering where I should start looking. I winced as my stomach growled and someone let out a chuckle as I heard the door open behind me again.
"Someone's feeling a bit peckish," Alex joked, punching me lightly on the shoulder. "How about we all get something to eat before we go looking. I know you're worried, but we can't rescue Clara if we're not at our best."
"She's right," Robert agreed, nodding wisely as he stepped out and stood on my other side. "Come on, we'll get food to-go somewhere."
I sighed, giving them a small smile. "Fine, you guys know best."
"You know," Alex said as we headed down the street. "We haven't lost. Clara's still alive and probably fuming over how long we're taking to rescue her."
I chuckled despite myself. "You know, you're probably right."
"I'm always right," Alex grasped my hand.
"Can I get in on the action as well?" Robert asked, clasping my hand with both of his, giving both of us a wide grin. Alex flicked him in-between the eyes and he let go, rubbing the spot she had hit. "You know, you're no fun sometimes."
Night had fallen upon Lumiose City by the time we finished eating. We had already searched several blocks, occasionally helping with destroying vines. Every alley we came across was explored fully, but there was no sign of anything that might be a potential clue. The search was made harder by the fact that we weren't exactly sure what we were looking for.
"C'mon," Robert jerked a thumb down an alley we had almost passed by. "I don't think we searched this one yet." I could see he was trying to be optimistic for our sake, but we all knew this search was going to turn up nothing.
Our footsteps echoed around us and small scuffling noises told us the Pokemon who made their home here in the dirty darkness were disturbed by our presence. The buildings loomed around us, dark against the minimal light that was beaming from Prism Tower nearby, part of it visible from within the alley.
Crunch. I jerked my head around to see Robert standing in the middle of the square space we had entered. He had one foot raised, glanced back at us, then lowered his foot again. Crunch.
"We may have something," Robert murmured, flicking on a flashlight and shining it down on the ground. The light glinted off fragments of glass laying together, most crushed into dust on a manhole.
"Why would glass be here?" Alex knelt, then glanced up around us. Robert moved the light around, examining all of the building walls. There were few windows and none were broken. Then the beam settled on a part of the wall that had a gash in the bricks. The gash spread diagonally from the top and past a window with broken glass. Robert waved the light around the ground and sure enough, there were pieces of brick laying near the glass.
"Looks like something sliced down the building," I muttered.
"Yes, but why?" Alex squinted at the gash. "Could it have been a vine?"
"Nah," Robert shook his head, walking closer to the wall to look up at the wound. "Too small. Besides, I would think the vine would have likely punctured the wall itself. Maybe..." He backed up until he was against the opposite wall, staring up at Prism Tower. "I think I know what did this, though it's just a theory."
"Well spit it out," Alex hurried him on.
"Remember that woman in the suit I fought in the tower?" Robert asked.
"Yeah, you said she fell out of the building," I nodded. "Why?"
"I never saw her land," Robert reminded us. "And I can see the hole from here. Which leads me to believe that she must've gotten to this alley and broke her fall by clinging to the building."
"A human made that groove?" Alex raised an eyebrow.
"I told you she had superhuman strength," Robert held up finger. "She broke through the ground beneath me and created that hole in the side of the tower."
"Okay, we might have found out where this woman ended up," I said. "But that doesn't help with finding Clara and the cultists."
"Well," Robert knelt next to the glass again, but before he could say anything, a scream entered the alley from the street. I didn't even glance at the others before rushing out, releasing Greninja as I went. I skidded to a halt once back on the sidewalk, glancing to the right. There was someone standing in the middle of the street and a person laying on the ground several feet away.
"Hey!" I shouted, taking a step forwards. The person turned to face me, their face covered by a helmet with a glowing E on the front display. Faster than I could register, she sent out a Malamar before kneeling and picking up the worker that was slumped on the ground. She shouldered him as Malamar lashed out with his tentacles. Greninja shoved me aside, blocking the attacks with a blade.
Ninetales rushed past, but the woman leaped into the sky, landing on top of a building.
"What!?" I blinked as she began running.
"C'mon!" Robert rushed past me. "I told you she had superhuman abilities!"
Greninja blasted Malamar away, but a red beam sucked the Psychic type away towards the woman. Nodding to Alex, we took off after Robert, who was trying to keep pace with the woman. I motioned with two fingers and Greninja leaped onto a building, running across the rooftops. We startled a group of workers who had pitched tents next to their work zone and the Machamps roared at us angrily. Nimbly leaping over the rubble, we turned on the street heading away from Prism Tower. Alex and I had caught up to Robert at this point, but the woman was still gaining distance on us, Greninja firing two shurikens, but this woman flipped into the air, dodging them. She then leaped and disappeared into an alley.
"I got this!" Alex ran ahead with her Ninetales. "Will-O-Wisp!" Ninetales fired two ghostly fires that hung in the alley, giving us a bit of light. There wasn't anyone we could see and when Robert huffed his way over, he shined his flashlight in, but there was no one.
Greninja leaped down into the alley and shook his head at me. Ninetales breathed the Will-O-Wisp back into her maw and we headed inside. Most of the alleys in Lumiose looked the same, narrow entrances and a square area between the buildings. Sometimes there were other pathways leading out to different streets, so they served as useful shortcuts.
"The heck!?" Robert exclaimed, waving the beam around. To Alex, he said, "You know, you could've just waited for me to use the Flashlight. What was the point of Will-O-Wisp?"
"In case she tried to run at us through the alley," Alex retorted. "It was a great tactic."
"Both of you be quiet," I ordered, looking around the alley. Everything seemed perfectly normal. A leaking pipe ran up one wall, a steady drip forming a puddle in a dip in the ground. The windows looked fine around us, so even if we hadn't heard one breaking, she hadn't escaped through one. There was also no broken glass this time in the center, just a manhole.
"You think she went down there?" Robert voiced the question in my head.
I nodded. "Seems like the only way she could've gotten out of here." Kneeling, I placed my fingers in the holes of the metal disk and lifted it. It came up easily and I looked down into the darkness. Robert and Alex came over, the flashlight lighting up the bottom. There was a murky layer of water down there, looking as inviting as a graveyard full of Gastlys and Haunters.
"Eww." Alex pinched her nose. "That's disgusting." The smell wasn't so great either.
Robert glanced sideways at Alex. "Probably best if you don't use any Fire moves down there. You might blow up the city." He moaned in pain as Alex hit him in the head. "You know, hitting me is a serious problem of yours. You should see a psychiatrist for that. Hitting is not a good way to vent your frustration and ang- Hey, what are you doing!?"
"Going in," I told him without looking at him, as I lowered myself on the ladder. I dropped down onto the moldy concrete, a rusted railing separating me from the river of sludge. Greninja leaped down beside me, looking around cautiously. I glanced up and held out my hand. "Torch."
"It's called a flashlight," Robert grumbled, handing it down. "Just because we're in Kalos doesn't mean we should call it a "torch"." Ignoring him, I swung the light down both tunnels, seeing nothing. Across the river was another walkway and an opening that lead into further darkness. "You know, I have a great idea." Robert poked his head into the sewer, then screwed up his face. "Yeah, that's rank."
"What's your idea?" Alex asked, hitting him on the back.
Robert grumbled something, then, "How about we report this to Looker? This woman is a part of Team Flare and I would love to have backup if we were going into a sewer. Who knows what could happen down here."
"You know, I hate to admit this, but he's right," Alex pushed him away. "Besides, I thought we were looking for Clara."
I gritted my teeth. But they were right. But yet, something felt off. My sixth sense was tingling and I felt a sense of foreboding. One glance with Greninja told me he felt the same. But the search for Clara had to come first. I aimed the beam down the tunnel one last time before deciding to head back up. Then the beam hit something on the wall several feet away that caught my eye.
"Zeno?" Alex asked as I started moving away from the ladder. "Where are you going?"
"Hold on," I told her. "I think..." I could see scratches on the wall. At first I didn't know why I needed to get a closer look, then I realized that sense of foreboding was getting stronger. My heart was pounding as I stared at the marking. An eye with arrows spreading outwards from it, an image that filled me with absolute dread. I glanced once more down the dark sewer tunnel and the shadows seemed alive now, reaching out towards me with malicious intent. I shuddered, but I squared my shoulders. The Cult was down here somewhere, I was sure of it.
"And so is Clara," I narrowed my eyes into the darkness, daring something to appear. "We're coming for you, my friend."
We move closer and closer to the end. It'll be sad to see LDOC go, but I also can't wait for the new project I have planned probs immediately after this book is finished, which you all won't want to miss. I'll even give a teaser for it in the Epilogue when it's published. I'll probably work on getting more updates for Dark out as well for those who are eagerly awaiting that. But until then, Chaos awaits. Toodles