Venturing: Gonna Dough

“Great! I am starving!" Kyro said as we entered through the doors. We felt the cold blast of fresh air washed down upon us as we entered. Gazing upon our surroundings with the chattered behind us. I smiled only faintly while staring before nodding towards Kyro who walked forth to the counter up front and leaned against it, setting his arm onto the surface of the counter. He looked around hoping to find someone around. As he commits to the search, I motioned the others to walk with me. THey had complied and darted for one of the closest seats adjacent to the door from the right of us. Thus we sat upon the seats and chairs, shifting ourselves towards the right in hopes of squeezing more bodies upon them as we settled for a well deserved break.

Zander, Albania and Ozkun were having a conversation about something. I typical ignored them as I never wanted to get roped in whatever they were chatting about. I looked over to my right, gazing down onto the surrounding parts of the building in front of me and observed instead of chatting away. I still see Kyro by the counter; he was still looking a bit worried and anxious now for his body was tensed and he seems to be breathing a bit deeply however. As his wings folded, his head darted about. Meeting my eyes accidentally; he averted his eyes and kept front to the counter in front of me. But nevertheless kept silent between us. I was equally worried for him that I had wanted to stand up and occupied him for the period of time. But Albania's tail was upon my own, preventing me from picking myself up and glued me to the chair that I was sitting upon. I exhaled a breath and closed my eyes, turning my head to the front of the table and the chair in front of me. Raised my arms high so they were touching the bottom of my chin and kept silent.

Time was ticking by. Our stomachs were growling loudly. Zander was still chatting away with the other two officers besides him and Kyro was still hanging the counter, looking a bit miserable. With Natty besides him however all the way through, the red dragon looked a bit pleased with her but decided to speak something that was upon his mind. My ears flickered upon the new conversation that loomed the air, however I tried my best to ignore it while darting my eyes upon the surrounding establishment that was around me, doing my best to ignore everything including the talks. I had quickly noticed that the establishment of the restaurant was abandoned and empty. Nothing was around and no one was here to do the order. As I flinched upon this newfounding discovery, I turned my attention towards Albania and spoke, yet whispering only towards her as the other two caught wind of what I was saying.

Albania's tail was easing off from my own which allowed me passage to get up and stretch myself. An opportunity that I had decided to commit towards and did so as well while I decided to heed towards Kyro and Natty who were still in line. For upon encountering them, I raised my claw upon their eyesights and they turned their attention towards me, with curious looks upon their faces. I spoke, informing them of what was going on upon the establishment and Natty quickly nodded; getting caught in the attention of her now aware surroundings. “But why was it abandoned?" “We should figure that out right now." I growled at her, my eyes narrowed and shifted away. Gazing back upon the counter in front of us then toward somewhere else as I started hearing someone get up from their seats and moving forth towards somewhere else. I spotted, Zander Albania and Ozkun already doing so as they disappeared behind a stack full of black crates before me. Entering through the counter's entrance, they appeared before us. Kyro, was the first to noticed it and walked up towards them. Placing his claws upon the counter before him as me and Natty take his back.

“Something is wrong." I heard Zander started, shifting his attention towards the back of the establishment. “I see no other official employees or the manager himself here. The place is practically empty for some strange reason." “Why was it empty and abandoned? That is our first question." I growled with eyes narrowed for interest as Zander nodded to acknowledge that question, motioning with his claw towards Ozkun and Albania. Both of which stepped away from the black dragon and move themselves deeper through the counter room before them. They disappeared, seconds after our conversation with Zander as the black dragon himself folded his claw behind his back. He looked worried despite his straightened back as his wings were folded; his eyes darted to me Kyro and Natty. The trio of dragons who stared at him in response. A pause of silence fell between us before shortly afterwards, Kyro slammed his claws against the surface of the counter and growled angrily.

But before he could get some words in, I saw Natty already grabbing him from behind and pulled him off the counter. She was very quick and responsive knowing full well that her mate would go apeshit if anything is not done very quickly, a personality trait that he kept himself with that no one but us knew about however. As the pair of dragons started struggling with one another, I turned my attention away from the conflict and Zander himself; shifting my attention leftward towards the trio of bathrooms that was on the other side of the building. In front of me was the woman's bathroom; adjacent to that was the boys and something else's bathroom. All three of them had blue large circle signs attached to them with white symbolism upon those circles. But what those symbols meant is very unknown even to me. While I tried my best to ignore it, I often find myself turned towards them and unconsciously walking up towards the trio of bathrooms. For once I had reached them, I looked upon each of the symbols and started for the one that most matches me.

The boy's bathroom, upon the right of the girls however. Thus entering in, I gaze upon the small room. I flinched in anticipation of expecting something rotten and dirty inside of the bathroom; but I smelt nothing at all however. It was very weird; but I am not one to complained however. Deciding to head forth through the bathroom, I spotted a green door on the other side. I opened it and entered right on in; gazing towards my left. Spotting a white toilet and a bag of money in front of it. The bag was leaning upon the toilet. Something was tied upon the top of the bag; what it was is very unknown, but I never once tried to ignore it as I grabbed onto it and pulled myself out from the stall. Running back towards the door at the front of the bathroom door and back upon the restaurant floor once again where the others were having a conversation about something. Something unusually.

Upon my arrival, Zander and Ozkun were the first to quickly noticed my arrival towards the group. They greeted me with a claw raised adjacent to their face as I mirrored them in kind before narrowing my eyes upon each and every one of them which they noticed as their eyes were attached towards the bag of money that I was holding however. “A bag of money? Where was that at?" “The bathroom. Boys section." I explained, “Why was it at the boys? Should it not be inside the cash register-" “I do not know." I frowned, never saying anything more than that. As everyone's attention was towards the cash bag that I was holding, we heard something banging faintly inside the counter room. We turned heads and gaze into the founding darkness before us while Zander narrowed his eyes and rearmed himself with his pistol. He motioned his team forth as they entered through the darkness in front of us, leaving me, Kyro and Natty alone while we looked at one another before gazing back upon the counter in the following silence that followed us.

Not a single word had came from our throats since Zander's team had entered and disappeared into the darkness. Our eyes were turned in attention towards it. However, the silence was broken when Kyro mentioned about the bag of money that I was holding. Quickly returning to the reality from the list of questions that popped into my mind, I held upon the bag in question and shook my head. “I never knew if it was really a bag of money or something else just to fool us. But do you want to find out regardless?" “It is a clue, is it not?" Kyro questioned me curiosity as I responded to him with a nod. I settled the bag upon the ground; Kyro and Natty walked up towards it and I grabbed hold onto the edges of the bag before pulling them apart. Thus opening it, we all looked inside. But we were disappointed to see that the bag contained popcorn instead of real cash. As Kyro and Natty held their heads and exhaled a breath, raising their heads towards the ceiling above us, I stared at the popcorn in question. Then without thinking or hesitating, I shove my claw inside the bag.

I never knew why I committed to the job. It was like instinct however like something popped into my mind and flick a switch; driving me to heed upon its request and find out what was really hiding inside the bag after all. Stretching my claw deeper inside the bag; diverting all the popcorn inside to other places. I grabbed onto something inside; it felt wet that it moist my claw. I flinched; yet my body shivered upon contact while I snatched whoever  or whatever was inside and pulled. Out came a wet dragon tongue. It felt sharp with little mountains attached upon the surface off such tongue. Kyro and Natty were the first to noticed it, quickly reeling their heads back and frowning as their bodies responded accordingly. “Is that what was hiding inside? That is gross!" Cried Kyro, I nodded to the red dragon with a sudden frown while setting the tongue upon the counter. I dove my claw back inside the bag again searching for something. Eventually finding it seconds later and pulled it out; revealing a small bag with a dollar sign attached to the center of it.

“This is what we are looking for." I heard Natty responded with arms crossed her chest, I nodded silently at her before setting the smaller bag upon the counter, adjacent to the dragon tongue too. After diving my claw into the bag again and finding nothing inside of it after a few seconds or more, I retract my claw and shook my head. Informing the other two about my findings as they acknowledged it and shifted their attention back towards the counter. When I was done searching and informing Kyro and Natty, Zander came back with his team. Revealing themselves from the darkness again. This time, Zander was the one smiling proud as Ozkun and Albania set their finding upon the counter. Adjacent to where we had found the tongue and small bag of money upon. They turned their attention towards it and glance sideways towards me, I shook my head and responded by pointing towards the dead body that they had found. As Zander was speaking, I stared at the body.

It was indeed a dragon. But had no wings somehow. Its scales were replaced by orange red fur. The tail of the dragon became a bit more bushier than normal as I knew that dragons never had any fur upon them, except for furred dragons that we had found elsewhere upon the Order realm. While that was a topic for another time, I continued my observations upon the dragon. The body was big; well tone and had muscles upon its ribcage. It perhaps looked handsome in the eyes of other female dragons. Knowing that there is no ring upon this dragon tells us that he is not married; rather single. But it does not prove that he might have a potential mate already that might lead us towards his arrival of death however. I walked up towards the body, and laid my claw upon the belly of the beast. I felt how cold it was like ice that I flinched and retracted my claw very quickly however. Kyro knowing that the body was cold thanks to me, takes a step back away from it. Zander, Natty and Ozkun laughed a bit while I rolled my eyes in annoyance and motioned Zander. He nodded and kept talking.

Zander informed us that the dragon was a journalist. Indicated by the camera that he was holding onto with his two claws. Ozkun grabbed the camera and pulled away from the journalist dragon. He settled it upon the surface of the counter and pressed the white button at the top. The camera turned on; showing a blue shard bird logo for a few seconds before it disappeared. Then it showed afterwards, Zander's and Ozkun's bodies as Ozkun stretched his claw outward towards the device, pressing upon something at the backside of the camera. I quickly noticed that it was some switch that he was pressing and I waved him off before leaning forth; pulling the switch downward as the camera screen switched to documentary. I heard gasps emerging from Kyro and Natty as their eyes went big; they looked to one another but no response came afterwards as I turned the camera over so it was facing me and the pair behind me, allowing Ozkun to do his thing with the camera.

It had taken a few seconds at best before Ozkun turned the camera screen back towards me. All three of us stared upon the screen, quickly noticing upon the opened door and someone shaded in black standing in it. His eyes were pure white and small however. No smile was upon it too. The body of the shaded guy was a dragon like the rest of us however. He had wings; larger than all of us combined. “So the store owner was a dragon?" Kyro questioned, commenting upon the picture before them as Zander shook his head, “No. We have believed that this dragon is just a coworker of the original owner of this store." “Notice how he is not smiling at all," Started Natty pointing towards the face of the dragon, “He must not like working here." “Or," I suggested otherwise, “He never liked killing anyone inside the store. What is the food that they served here?" I questioned, raising my head towards Zander who pointing towards the left side of the store, “Check it out yourselves." He says. We all turned to where he was pointing at and was surprise into seeing a posture set upon our eyes.

It was attached to the wall; big pictures and their prices were adjacent to one another. Yet the price text was written in black and was bold. The pictures themselves were equally disgusting however. Showcasing a series of dragon meat; dragon ribcage and legs. Others include the stuffy wings and skull of the dragon head. As me Kyro and Natty gagged nearly vomiting, Zander slowly nodded his head and muttered something underneath his breath with a frown that escaped his sorrowed face. “Yup." “What kind of monster would do this?" Natty exclaimed, “The kind of monster that is willing to commit murder." I chimed in with no hesitation nor giving Zander, Ozkun or Albania any time to speak as they stared at me in silences, before breaking into a smiles. “Regardless…" I frowned, the taste of vomit lingered in my mouth as I felt sick to my stomach; I tried my best to ignore it and spoke, ordering everyone. “Regardless, we now know the synopsis of this store and its murderous owner however. We still had to find out about the journalist's death. How did he die and is our journalists out there also dead too?" “Guess we had to split up once again huh?" Suggested Kyro while Zander chuckled, “You never like being in a meat house?" “Not when there's death everywhere!" He chimed in, complaining to the black dragon.

I nodded agreeing with Kyro while I spoke after the two have their short conversation, “Kyro and Natty head North. Albania and Ozkun head southward. Find any stores, find the journalists and bring out the evidence as to their deaths." “In the meanwhile…" Zander muttered underneath his breath, having his fun with Kyro as he watched everyone else acknowledge the order and heed themselves out the door; disappearing from our eyes as I turned towards the black dragon, “We find ourselves that weapon used." “Would not take long I presumed." A small smile escaped the dragon as I laughed shaking my head, “Indeed. Now come on. Due to the wound that the dragon journalist was hit with; I am willing to bet that this weapon is in the kitchen somehow." “That easily?" Questioned Zander, I shook my head “Just a guess. There are others that can be used to inflict a small but deep wound however." And with that, we fell to silent as we entered back onto the darkness once again.

It was a straight path through the dense darkness surrounding us. Surrounding us were, the kitchen appliances and other stuff that was scattered across the counter floor however. As our eyes searched around, looking for a kitchen knife that was perhaps hidden here somewhere, we had found other interesting things too. A bread knife; a spatula for another. Tong that was dipped inside the silver sink adjacent to the big wide pot which was sitting overtop a heating thing underneath it however. As we averted our eyes and walked deeper into the darkness, we had not realized that we had reached the end of the halls. For in front of us was a white huge door; Zander motioned me which I nodded. We took up positions on either side of the white door before Zander promptly kicked the door wide. But instead of rounding off hitting against the wall behind it, the door fell down to the grounds underneath us as we stormed right on inside.

“Great." I frowned, glancing around the place. “More darkness." “It is not that all too bad however." Chimed Zander, gazing back onto me with a smile opposite of mine as his attention was thrown everywhere around the darkness before us, “We just have to find some sort of light." “I thought you already searched this place too?" I questioned him, “I never did. Ozkun and Albania were giving off shivers of nervousness when approaching this place. I never committed into going alone in fear that some culprit or insane dragon or reptile might attack me before running off-" “Right…" I trailed rolling my eyes at him before taking a step forth and rearmed myself with my pistol. “Come on." I urged Zander who took up arms too and moved as a unit behind me. The darkness was overwhelming our senses to the point that we were getting nervous and anxious about any sort of noise that would come for us. With the silence looming over our heads as we inched ourselves forth into the depths of darkness, I paused in my steps allowing Zander to hit me from behind. I staggered and stepped a few steps forth before regaining myself, I glared down onto him. He never said anything else.

However, just as we were about to continue our investigation; we heard a light flick and snapped our heads towards the front, arms high with pistols aiming down onto the horizon. We were tensed, awaiting for whomever might come. But darkness and silence worked against us; setting us up for deafness. I frowned, realizing this and motioned Zander who nodded in silence. We resumed our walk forward. Inch by inch until we spotted a black phone before us. I stopped and pause for long while Zander behind me muttered about something; something that I ignored. Releasing one paw from the pistol I was holding, I reached for the phone. Snapping my claw upon the body of it, I pulled the phone back from its slot and held it up upon my ear.

At first, I heard ringing and static came afterwards. While my ears flinched upon the sounds, I continued staying quiet while the obnoxious continues happened. Then it stopped after a while and something started breathing through the microphone of the phone, prompting me to speak. “Who is this? Who are you? What do you want?" A million more question were blurted out all underneath a second. Within that second too however, I also found myself growling, getting agitated while my voice increased further and deeper. Sooner than I later expected, I found myself screaming and demanding like a spoiled hatchling that Zander forcefully pulled the phone away from me and held it up towards his own ear. He nodded a couple of times then settle the phone back upon its slot once again. I growled angrily at the dragon while he held his gaze up towards me. We fell to silent seconds afterward, his lips split upon his snout as he choose his words very carefully.

“It is the culprit. The merge is happening and we are not part of it however. Leave Order before it happened then come back after a while or we give you a phone call. Once again we are replaced." “Who are we being replaced by?" I questioned Zander who hang his head and exhaled a breath, muttering underneath his breath preventing me from being able to hear it however. As I gaze onto him in silence, I shook my head and firmly objected to the claim which shocked the poor dragon however. “Chief Yang would not want it either too, we are the VPD. We protect what is ours and hold accountable of others that stand before us. I bet you that the caller was from Chaos; perhaps from that famous group that we were against this while time I do believed." “Think they are the culprit behind the killing of a journalist?" Zander questioned me, I firmly nodded. “Hopefully the others are done soon." I changed the topic rather sooner with a smile reassure upon my face as he looked upon me with that worryness. We heed out from the hallways; out from the darkness and back upon the counter once again. Heeding a few steps out onto the door, landed us upon the outside where the cold nipped against our scales. Making only Zander shiver upon the attack as I chuckle at him silently, then nodded my head. Zander did so as well.

We spread our wings and takes to the skies where the impeding merge would set to happen. Thus upon those words, I only growl and snarl as thoughts popped onto my head onto that conversation with Zander. Remembering that a certain red fox was responsible for all the hardship inside of Chaos and the rest of the realms outside of it; I knew somehow he is going to pay. Big time.