Venturing:  Lights Skies

“The door is stuck." I called trying to opened the doors with the knob as I found myself grunting and groan at times with frustration emerging upon my own face and snout. “Here let me." I heard someone spoke behind me and I turned around glancing at Zander who stepped forth, replacing me onto the front of the door as he set his tools to the side and tested the knob. For immediately, he went right to work after noticing that the door would not opened and he hummed alongside the silence as he digged through his toolbox which he set besides himself. I watched him work in silence before shifting my head away from his work; towards the midnight hour surrounding us while exhaling a breath and smiled yet only faintly at the time.

Midnight had washed over our fair town where every citizen was glue to their beds. Leaving the streets, roads and sidewalks empty. Crickets had started chirping around this hour while the sounds of sirens rang in our ears. I closed my eyes, flapped my wings to gain some cold air which cause some shivers from Zander as he called out towards me. “Sorry." I commented responding towards the black dragon as he glared at me. I turned around so my back was towards him, my mind pondering over the briefing that our chief had given us at the time. I pondered about the thief, but shook my head knowing about so little information that we were given at the time. So with a exhaled of a breath, I turned towards the door and Zander. Hearing the door clicked opened.

“There." “Great work." I say, pleased by his efforts as Zander acknowledged it with a nod before heading through the doors. I followed behind him, questioning about his tool box being left in the cold. But his claw shook violently, dismissing the question at hand while I closed the door behind me and turned towards the hallway in front of us. The first thing we had noticed was the darkening short hallway in front of us. Whereas lights faded at our sides, leading us towards the door in front of us. It leads towards a room where three large white tables stretched from wall to wall. A door was towards the right side of the room and the leftmost table. I motioned Zander, nudging my claw towards the right side and he nodded his head before following my order. We split up, each picking a path that was created by the three tables in front of us and headed down them.

Blank computers were towards our sides. None of which were working either however. Even a flick of the mouse that was upon the pad beneath it never work to bring the computers up anyway. It had startled me that had caused my mind to pondered at this time; but my head shook. Noticing how trivial it was however. I moved down the line, fixing my attention towards computer after computer. Till I reached the other side of the room. I turned towards Zander, his head shook also. Acknowledging the fact about the computers being blank screens with nothing able to bring forth their awakeness, I frowned wondering about it. But Zander shook his head, “I think it had to do something with the electricity here." “The power?" I questioned him as he nodded slowly. Watching him move towards me, then towards the door on the other side. He grabbed the knob and tilted it towards the side, opening the door which revealed a path outside. A cold burst of air flew into the room, dropping the warm temperature inside a few degrees as me and Zander shivered so suddenly.

Yet the black dragon stepped outside, I walked following behind him and headed out the door also as it closes behind us. Quietness entered our minds and ears as we rose our heads and glance at the horizon that is now before us. A hallway with flickering lights above. Green lockers were off to the sides; a series of six maybe seven of them. A fake tree was in between the lockers as always. No more brown doors appeared as our eyes stretched far and glance towards the side, hoping to see more classrooms or something there. Thus, Zander and I turned to one another, nodded before he started moving and I grabbed hold onto the walkie that was upon my waist suddenly. For I pressed the button, relaying the information we found plus the current position as to where we are right now. Releasing the button, gained static as Natty's voice was called out towards us, acknowledging the information brought while bringing in her own information.

“There is an ATM connected towards the ATM inside of the canidae realm. I am trying to get this to work but the device is unresponsive however." “Cannot get it to work?" I questioned, Natty answered “Yeah." “Should we sent someone-" “No, I think it had to do with the black cable that I am seeing upon the ground." “Get it towards a nearby socket." I ordered while me and Zander continued moving forward, following the dark hallway with flickering lights as our eyes upfront stared to the horizon. Often times, glancing to the sides staring down onto the lockers and trees that were there too. “Got it." I heard Natty responded before the walkie fell silent as Zander shook his head; a sigh escaped from his snout while his eyes closed so suddenly. Upon this was when I questioned him, but he waved it off suddenly before following it up with a statement.

“Look up ahead Ling." “Seem like something is there at the end of the halls, huh?" I commented with a small smile, nearly laughing as he turned his head facing me. “No at the end of the halls was a staircase leading farther away into the hallway that we were in. What I am talking about is that red arrow at the floor." I blinked, then turned my head towards him. Back again towards the front before lowering my eyes to the floor. There I saw it, a red arrow pointing forward. But also, there was something else too. A red outline box with a four letter word spelled inside that box. I stopped and allowed Zander to walked a bit ahead as he turned towards me suddenly with a tilted head and his eyes raised suddenly. For just as he was about to questioned me, I pointed towards the red outline box speaking out so causally. “What is with that red box saying 'bank'? I wonder if our thief is planning to steal from there." “If so, we should perhaps alert the other dragons standing by. Sure they'd be itching to join the investigation at most." I laughed, nodding at him. “Including Ozkun, Albina, Takai and Maujur." “Yeah them." Zander smiled while I lifted up my walkie, speaking right onto the speaker so suddenly.

“We need officers to investigate or protect the bank. Southward and a little towards the left from the center line running down from our town." I ordered as Zander shift his attention to me and shook his head, “Such vague words, Ling." He commented to a whisper as he continued onward. I pretended not to hear him except that I reacted towards him with a small playful smile before following him down the hallways where we saw nothing but the same things and the exit doors on the other side of the halls. We immediately exited out and back towards the midnight that fallen upon our fair town. With the silence and the door closing behind us, I exhaled a breath and lifted my eyes towards the black skies above while Zander spreading his wings suddenly and rose from the ground, leaving me behind a short while as he headed southward to join the rest of the officers at the bank.

I stayed at the rooftops for a little while, listening to the ringing in my ears as the cold winds blew against my warm scales making me flinched and shiver upon their biting. My thoughts were turned towards the following clues that we had; yet somehow I felt we were not even closer towards our goal. I pondered over the link of the clues; creating assumptions and theories that could perhaps make anymore sense. But a short white later had caused a headache upon my head which suddenly snapped me from my thinking and onto reality. Around the same time my walkie was alive once again; Natty's voice spoke out from its speakers requesting my assistance for something intriguing. As my ears perked upon the interest of such, I grabbed my walkie and raised it towards my snout. Acknowledging her as my wings were spread, heading Northward towards where that pink dragoness was however.

It was an hour and a half when I had arrived upon Natty's location. Landing upon the grounds which created vibrations underneath me while the dragoness before me turned her head over her shoulder, smiling as she caught my sight. I waved towards her in silence and so sudden while walking forth towards her. She stepped to the side and lowered her claw, pointing down upon some weird combination at a strip of paper. “I found this on the ATM, I had wondered what this had meant." “Looks like a bunch of Is and Os however." I commented glancing at the strip at first glance while she nodded in kind, adding onto that comment “Yeah, that was what I thought at first too. But looking at it closely, they show a set of numbers." “Which is?" I asked, glancing at her while she revealed the numbers she wrote down onto her pad. “ '3, 2, 4, 8' I had wondered what this would be used for however." “Maybe a combination lock or something." I say immediately, before looking back onto the strip of paper again “You did say that this actually came from the ATM, right?" She nodded her head,

Immediately, I got up onto my feet and turned my attention towards the machine in front of us. As I spoke towards Natty questioning about the ATM, she shook her head answering me so suddenly and was directive too however. “The machine was not working; I could not find a plug in for that black spinal cord however." “Should we return it towards a nearby building and have it work then?" I questioned her, she shook her herald again. “The machine is heavy. Would take two dragons to take it or a truck or something heavy." “Like a truck?" I asked repeating her second suggestion before she frowned answering me again, “There is no trucks around this area." “Thought we knew that however." I say dejected. Nonetheless, we walked towards the machine. Raised it from the grounds with our claws poking holes upon the side of the machine after we had stepped to either side of it. We spread our wings and hovered leftward, towards a nearby building that was closest to our proximity. Thus, we shoved through the doors and entered into the darkest room inside.

The room itself was empty. Nothing was in here anyway. We settled the machine upon the center of the room while I glanced around it. I had indeed noticed how clean and empty the room was; with nothing else standing out interesting in the opened. A brown desk was towards my side; a pair of doors opposite of that brown desk. Each having their own symbol of dragon and dragoness. Adjacent to the pair of doors was a waterjug settled upside down, for its waters was drained into the white machine who owns two small wheels dotted with color. Blue for cold, red for hot or warm. As I found myself staring around the room, my ears stretched to the side upon hearing Natty calling my name that I turned to face her as she pointed towards the brown desk behind me. “Try there. I bet you that there is an outlet that we can use." “Alright." I say without hesitation as I snatched the black tail of the machine and stretched it far. I was as bit surprise that the tail was long and thing, flexible too however after I jumped over the brown desk.

I planted my feet upon the grounds, fixing my attention towards the white wall in front of me. I began looking for that outlet that Natty was suggesting about. FInding it already, I shoved the plug inside and the machine behind me began humming which startled the pink dragoness however. I turned around and glanced at the machine while hoping over the brown desk and joining with Natty afterwards. As she joins up front towards the screen in front, she lowered her head down and spotted a few buttons upon the surface in front of her. “There are words onto those screen buttons." I commented, pointing to them as Natty silently nodded her head and went to pressed a button. She went on to play with the machine; testing out each button in accordance in hopes of getting onto the screen that she had wanted. But she grew frustrated as time went on by and I found myself glue towards the screen too, sharing her frustration while the surroundings fell dead silent around us.

It had taken a long time before the screen popped up a search bar before us. Black words appeared above it, forming a sentence that tells a direction of what we were suppose to do. Seeing this, I prompted Natty to type in the symbols of the strip paper that we had found in front of the machine. She acknowledged it with a nod, smiling only faintly as she went on to pressed upon the search bar. A keyboard appeared underneath the search bar and the words as she went on to type. In the meanwhile, I grabbed onto my walkie and pressed the button. Sending a question to all that had hear this as I pondered about the progress we had so far. I heard was this:

Zander, Kyro had returned back to the station researching about the red arrow. They had gain no progress so far and only had a bunch of photoshop or real life arrows around the realms. Nothing new that would gain their attention however.

Ozkun, Takakai and Maujur gave nothing as their report. Only stating about patrolling the area until such information is given for them.

I explained everything what was going on between me and Natty. With everyone's silence, I prompted myself to speak. Informing them about the machine being hooked up onto a nearby plug inside a building that was closest towards our original position. “Anything yet, Ling?" I heard Zander questioned me, I spoke back towards him “Nothing- wait, Natty said she had some information." I turned back towards the screen after Natty's claws tapped upon my shoulder. As me and her looked onward, she noticed a bunch of plus and minus in a certain pattern: + - + + -. “We found a pattern; but we are uncertain what this would do." “That must be the directions as to where our thief had went however." Suggested Kyro, “Fly high and above the town, pinpoint where these symbols would lie and start from there." “Where shall we start?" I heard Natty spoke through my walkie as Kyro smiled warmly before responding to her, “From where you guys are now."

Finding our objective, me and Natty drove ourselves out from the building. Despite me questioning about the machine being turned on for anyone that would gain access towards it for their purposes only. Yet Natty fell silent, her head shook in response towards my concern for as we returned towards the outside realm of the building, we spread our wings immediately and flew into the air. The cold rushes between my wings as I shivered so suddenly; we rose deeply into the air, finding the town below us shrink into a certain size until we were certain that we would be able to see the whole view however. For from there was when we hovered and flapped our wings in constant rhythm as we studied the map below us. From a birds eye view, the entire town was complex with streets going left and right or straight up and down. It had made my head spin just by looking at the roads below us. Yet it never deterred Natty however as she continued resetting herself upon the building's entrance below us and continued onward following the pattern we had gathered from the machine.

We had tried almost everything. But the roads seemed to be in conflict with us. Almost everywhere we go, was either a deadend or a mistake shape of a road and often times than not, we had to return back towards start. We had committed to this for nearly an hour; my wings were starting to strain from the constant rhythm. My head ached and I am starting to feel my whole body numb just by the cold air swirling around us. I had growled towards Natty who was also starting to feel the effect too. For we flew towards the rooftops of the building, folded our wings and rested for a while. I spoke towards the walkie, informing our recent break as Kyro acknowledged it suddenly and the walkie went dead afterwards. I exhaled a breath and rose my head towards the skies. Watching the stars that I had not seen for four pages prior as I chuckled and flicked my tail towards the side with a thought in ponderance about Yang. As my mind dwelled upon her, I spotted Natty already stepping forth towards the edges of the rooftops and glanced outward to the horizon.

Her eyes followed the roads during our break. She was silent going into this however that I wondered if she ever takes a break at all. But shaking my head, I closed my eyes so suddenly and laid down upon the grounds beneath me, opening them again to stare at the skies once again and allowed my thoughts to continue running wild. However, it never took long before Natty's gasp started me that i sat back up onto my tail and fixed my attention towards her as her eyes met with mine. Getting up onto my feet, I only smiled faintly as I spoke towards her “Guess you figure it out huh? Where it leads to then?" “You are not going to believe this at all; but please bring everyone straight towards the museum." “The museum?" I asked, my head tilted to the side with a small smile exposing the warmth and friendliness of me. I nodded slowly before bringing my walkie high, speak into the walkie while me and Natty flew North straight towards the destination as to where we were suppose to be.

It had taken longer than before when everyone was gathered in front of the museum. We all stared upon its entrance, staring down onto the door locked before us. As Zander frowned, Kyro and Ozkun walked forth towards the doors and grabbed onto the knob. Pulling it back until the door opened by results which had startled us however. Kyro shook his head, waving it off while he and Ozkun waltz inside. The rest of us followed inward, noticing how dark and tranquil the surroundings was however. We were upon the large room, two hallways were stretched to the sides. Leading into destinations that we would not know about. Staring down onto the two hallways, I motioned everyone to lead their attention towards them and pick a path to their own thinking. For just as I had suspected, almost half of our unit headed right. The rest started for the left. I joined the left to even things out and we all headed in.

I was together with Kyro, Ozkun and Maujur. All three expressing nothing as their ears were stretched and listened. We walked along the hallway as it went far into the horizon. Pale walls reached towards the horizon alongside the halls too it seems. With strange looking paintings hanged upon those walls as well. We stared up ahead, ignoring the paintings that were to our sides. Walking with footsteps crunching the solid soft grounds underneath us, we ended up upon the end. Another large room sinked into our eyes as we fan out and looked about. The room was a mess. There was indeed a crack in the wall; large enough for the moonlight to sink through and invade the darkened room a bit. Though it never fully illuminate it at once however, we never cared. A few steps away from the crack in the wall stands a white large stone. It had tilted over one of the artifacts upon the ground; shattering its protected glass while the object in question was stole however.

“Figures." I commented, muttering underneath my breath acknowledging it at hand. While Kyro and Ozkun walked towards my side, lowering their eyes gazing at the object that I was commenting about. They were a bit surprise into seeing such object taken from its spot as they turned to one another then towards me, I shrugged stating nothing else. The rest of the investigation went on without a hunched. For all we had found was a white stone. I even called the rest of the unit wondering what they had found too. “Not much." Started Zander as a pause in silence followed it behind, I prompted him which caused him to answer immediately “Just a bag of money. Nothing more here." “Not just the money this thief had stolen?" Questioned Maujur while Kyro crossed his arms and frowned, “This is tricky." “Interesting too however." Kyro said additionally, much to our surprise. However, in the end; we gathered up upon the main room once again where we compared our notes to one another.

Truly as Zander had said, nothing was interesting over on their side of the museum. For old artifacts was stolen, paintings became misplace and everything else remaining remained where they were. However, I began to wondered about the stolen items and the white stone found adjacent to the crack. As I motioned towards Zander, he followed me down as sI backtracked to that room once again. Entering back upon the room, I pointed down onto the open hole on the other side and he walked forth towards it. Crouched and stared at it momentarily before fixing his attention towards me, “Yeah that is big enough for a stone to enter in. What kind of a stone is it?" “White smooth one." I informed him, pointing towards the white stone adjacent to me. Zander turned towards it in response; inspecting it at once as he turned it over and over again. Reaching a solid conclusion, he spoke back towards me. “Seems like this is a big stone. Someone heavy would have to carry it and push through the cracks of the building to create such a mess." “Think you know who?" I asked as he raised his head towards me and suggested,

“Try any dragon or species that had interest in sumo wrestling, wrestling in general or had lifted weights. Look for any dragon or species with big muscles on arms; legs and body. Carrying perhaps either six or twelve pack. Additionally…" He trailed and gaze away while flapping his wings once to cool the environment surrounding him. “Get a Dragoness to distract him with. Dragons, especially drakes themselves love to show off against dragoness. Never knew why however." “Got it." I answered with a nod as we returned to the group afterwards.