Venturing: Underno

The skies darkened as we gathered in front of the stationed. Everyone was silent, no one spoke a thing to one another while our eyes stared out towards the horizon before we pulled it back towards each other. The lights from the lamps on the side of the roads lit up and illuminated the roads and skies a bit. The moon hang high above our heads. Kyro crossed his arms and growled; his eyes narrowed while looking over to Ling who started off the conversation between us, “So. The three realms have already been covered in goo and we are the last defense against our culprit who has announced he is after us." A pause while her eyes shifted to each and every one of us, “This culprit is a raven. A crafty fella who had invented the goo which had covered all three areas. Leaving us with no other allies other than ourselves and each other." “The only problem was," I started, picking up from where Yang had left off as all eyes fell to me while I continued speaking, “We do not know where he is attacking. We only know that he was after an object; something shiny that we have hidden within Vaster town or something of his relatives have left behind. There are three targets he is after…"

I rose my claw and pointed to the desire interesting targets. One was northwest from where we are; the other was Southeast and was nearby. The last was pointed directly towards our station. A few gasps emerged from my fellow coworkers with their eyes widened in surprise. Yet none of them responded to the following silence that came afterwards. “Once we have identified the true target before the raven's arrival, we need to rig it with a trap that will prevent him from escaping at once. Only do so when needed. We only have made enough for each of us." I turned to Yang who nodded silently in response to me and stepped forward to the other four dragons before handing them off something upon their claws. They glance at it momentarily; inspecting the gadget that was settled before them as me and Yang fell silent but kept our eyes towards them. For after a while, they nodded and set it aside while looking to us. I flicked my head to Yang as she continued speaking,

“Ling and I will check out the Southeast area. Kyro and Zander you are ordered to head to Northwest. Stay here, Natty." “Aw why?" She frowned, stomping her foot against the ground in response while Kyro and Zander chuckled to themselves, but fell silent when I started smiling upon them. When all joking aside was done and over with, our unit spread our wings. Then flew off onto our desired assigned spots with the intention to see any sorts of clues that would aid in our quest in trapping the raven at all. As I flapped my wings alongside with Yang, I was also pondering the thought about her being my mate. I had blushed red rose upon remembering that I had not dated for at least twenty years, and I pondered if Yang felt the same way. Looking over towards her, I had saw that she was laser focus upon capturing the raven that her eyes were narrowed. Her muscles were tight with her wings flapping faster than before. I struggled to catch up with her as we fast approached our assigned area. For once we drew close towards it, we tuck our wings and dive bomb towards the surface of it. Landing softly upon the grounds with our wings folded the instant we touched the grounds; we rose our heads high and glanced over at the building. But only I gasped in response.

“You are kidding Ling…" I muttered to myself while my eyes widened, and my face heated up with surprise. “This place of all the important places therein?" “Well, it does make sense however…" Yang replied with a soft smile upon her face, glancing over to me before returning to the front of the school door. We fell silent afterwards as we started heading to the school door where we grabbed onto the silver handles and swung it opened. Thus, entering inside. We found ourselves upon the hallways; large, tilted windows were to our right sides. Clearly seeing the cafeteria that was abandoned already. The school hallways were dark and empty. A series of lightbulbs flashes in the distance, showing a set of staircases that ascended to the next floor above. We looked at one another for a moment, but only Yang found herself smiling as she walked forward with me tailing her. We walked through the halls and up the stairs, reappearing ourselves upon another short hallway. Another one was crossing it too as we soon approached it. “Ling. Go head down that halls over there. We will meet once we reach the corners." “Alright," I started, acknowledging her while she nodded “Remember to check the doors to, Yang." “Yeah yeah…" She muttered with a groan, but her face brightened. I chuckled warmly before we split up.

The halls were dark and impossible to see anything around about. Yet while the hallway was long wide and dark; I saw a series of pattern set before me. To my sides were the green lockers and a brown door that was perhaps lock at the time being. It was not important to me when I saw something sparkling at the end of the halls. I blinked before running across the halls to reach it, there for ignoring my own's suggestion. Thus, when I reached the end of the halls; I peer upon the white flooring below my feet and spotted a shiny shard glass standing before me. I lowered myself to snatch it from the ground and raised my claw towards my face, inspecting the object that was in my claw. It was indeed a shard, invisible to the naked eye. But it was sharp. As I set the shiny shard upon my pocket, I turned back towards the reality that was now surrounding me and gaze upon the last two brown doors that were settled upon my eyes. Both were numbered two four seven and two five six. I stepped close to the door numbered two four seven and peered inside. The classroom was lit it was as if a class was happening there. But upon further inspection, I had noticed that no one was around. Much like the school, the classrooms were empty also. But the chairs, desks and the blackboard were still there.

I frowned as I stared onto the objects but remained silent, unsure of myself of what to make with this. I stepped back from the classroom door and turned my attention towards the other one. Although I was hesitate into peering through the window classroom door remembering that all the classrooms were the same no matter what, I still willed myself into doing it. Thus, peering inside, I had noticed how the classroom lights were turned off. The desks and the chairs were gone. Yet the blackboard was there. Dry white sticky goos were all over the floor. I blinked surprise before stepping away; my face remained hot while I thought about the goos. I shook my head afterwards and headed to the corner of the halls. There, I spotted Yang who was waiting for me as I soon approached her. She turned her head towards me and smiled; before waving off. I responded with my own. As we regrouped, we discussed our findings. “I found this." I responded, reaching into my pocket and grabbed a shard of glass. I showed it towards her, she nodded “I found the same thing. But upon closer inspection; they are not really glasses however." “They are not?" I tilted my head to one side as she nodded in response towards me, “No. They are shards of a gem or something special. Remember Ling, these are the sparkly things that a raven could have but never had the time to do so." “Because it might be scared of other things." “Not only that." Yang reminded me, “Maybe, this raven had dropped something here." “Do you think that the raven had come here before?" I asked, remembering the time we had gathered all the ravens for protection against Chaos and other enemies that came close towards the town. A slight nod came from Yang, although for sure, I knew she was confused as I am.

Regardless, we decided to retreat to the school main halls again. Reaching the doors, we grabbed onto their handles and pulled them to the side. We exited from the school yards reemerging upon the cold breeze winds that waits for us from the outside. I yawned smacking my lips remembering myself how I did not sleep these past few days. As a headache returned in reminder, I turned my attention towards the yard and the stadium that was a few feet from where the school and us stand. It was huge. Four colorful flags unfurl themselves from the tip of the stadium. Yet it was hard to see what those flags' colors were. As I tilted my head a bit and getting the attention of Yang who was looking at me funny, I pointed towards the stadium and responded, whispering to her “Could we check out the stadium, maybe?" “Why? The raven surely would not be targeting that anyway." Yang argued, “But the stadium is part of the school; is it not?" I countered her. She pondered for a bit before nodding her head slightly and smiled faintly, “Yeah. The stadium is part of the school; lets go see what we can find from that area." “I hope its a shard or something." I muttered underneath my breath, clearly unimpressed by what I had found before. We turned right from the school sidewalks and headed forth towards the entrance of the stadium.

As we entered in; we were surprise by how the stadium was huge compared to how big it was from the inside. Thousands of seats were settled surrounding us. All were colored in one. Leaving nothing left for uniqueness. The railings were the same color as the seats. But what was odd about the seats and railing was the black chosen color. I tilted my head and wondered if this was a clue; I nudged Yang and pointed to the seats and railing momentarily and she answered with a shake of her head, stating the obvious. Our time in the stadium was short live however when we saw nothing popping out onto us. Knowing that is the time for our departure, we took it right off the spot and started to head towards the front of the stadium when we spotted Natty already waiting for us. Surprise by her visit, we were shocked to see she also have a shard upon her claw. She also spoke about Kyro and Zander; already having their interview in progress with Doe Collax, the deer and the CEO of REC. We nodded responsively to her as she smiled upon the news; the change the subject entirely while pointing to the school questioning us.

“Nothing interesting was in there." I started, “The place was dark and almost impossible to see anything inside. Yet we found a shard much like yours. I wonder if we put it together, something would happen." “Like a ruby or emerald?" Natty suggested, tilting her head to one side as Yang nodded “Yeah, either of those two I'd be surprise about." Natty snorted before asking again, “What else?" “Well I saw one of the classrooms being lit up and the other plunged in darkness. I had always wondered what that meant." “Two classrooms in different environments?" Yang asked me, clearly interested in what I was spring up. I nodded at her and explained in further detailed. Detailing how the two classrooms were different from one another other than the shading of light. How the blackboards' drawings were different and amongst other things that I could recall from memory. As the dragoness stand there in disbelief, all I heard was the silence that came afterwards. Thus after a while came Yang's voice. Firstly, she was smiling for who knows what then breaks into a laugh while grabbing onto my shoulders and spoke excitedly jumping in place. “This is perfect!" “What do you mean?" I questioned her, clearly seeing not the full picture anymore and wondering what she was pondering,

“Clearly the two classrooms were telling you something interesting, Ling." Yang answered me after calling down for a few seconds, “Alright?" I responded, although doubtful about what she would say to me, “The electrical light system. There is a pattern that we are blinded to see ourselves." She turned to Natty and grabbed upon her shoulders responding, “Quick! What happened to the lights at the police station?" “They were dark. It was rather impossible to see anything inside there." Natty started with a frown, worried about Yang's excitement but at the same time worried about her lunch being throw up from her stomach, “Luckily, a flashlight was station in front of the door of the police department. But I slipped upon it and fell. Luckily, nothing was injured." She smiled, laughing weakily while I glared at her. “Be more careful, Natty." I rolled my eyes and exhaled clearly stressed and a bit disappointed in our eyesight while I lowered my eyes to the grounds afterwards. Another pause of silence came before our ears perked up hearing wings faintly entering our system. We shifted our attention towards the source of the noise, spotting Kyro and Zander flying towards us. For by the time they landed, Yang was the first to greet them with a question. She was calmer than initially which was a plus for us, however.

“It was lit." Zander responded proudly, with a claw curled upon his chest as he looked upon the rest of us with a chest outward and stomach in kind of expression. We looked at him but made no response to me as he growled at us, but we made no response back. As Zander looked on with disappointment upon his face, Yang pondered a bit before nodding her head and turned to me. “It seems that we are to turn of the electrical grid momentarily and see where our culprit's target lies. Other than that…" She turned around towards Zander and Kyro before questioning them about the shard. Kyro nodded his head and took it out from his pocket while the rest of us smiled afterwards. Yang clapped her claws together and smile too before stepping to the side. I stepped forth and spoke to my unit. “Alright. Everyone is here. We are to place the shards upon the floor. We do not know what these would make or what it will show us. This, other than the electrical grid plan, is what we have ongoing. Let us confirm our suspicious and reveal the answer showed.

Everyone else nodded their heads and fell to silence while, one by one, we place the gem shards right adjacent to one another upon the floor. The shards responded with a bright glow that beamed up into the bleak skies above us. It shimmers for a few moment; its brighten light continued illuminating the surrounding black road surfaces around us. Zander and Natty stepped back from the glows; clearly rubbing their eyes from staring directly at it after a while. Then the glow stopped; the brightness decreases and dimmed before something else showed up instead. Me, Yang and Kyro leaned forward and glance at the mirror, wondering what it was showing us.  It showed us a map of the entire town. Three red dots emerging in different spots and in different pulses. One of the three was going faster. The other one of them was much slower than the others. Raising our heads, we looked at one another. Silence and confusion emerged between us as we pondered the message that was settle before our eyes. Yet before anyone could speak, Yang clapped her claws together and caught our attention as she smirked confidently at us. “Alright. Now that we got an… er.. Answer." She air quoted the word, “Time for the next phase. Where is the electrical grid?" “Located North from where we are standing, deep within Vaster town." “Right there?" Zander responded, tilting his head to one side as many of us nodded our heads before spreading our wings. Yang stopped all of us together and narrowed her eyes as she motioned Kyro to come with him.

With Kyro and Yang departing from us, the remaining stay put as the bells rang in our ears. Zander was startled; but the rest of us remained where we were standing as our heads turned to the black skies again in the following silence. Many questions resided upon my mind. Much of it were the map and three pulsing dots that we saw from the shards. The few others were to the electrical grid. I exhaled a breath and shook my head, closing and opening my eyes in synchronized order while pondering. The silence fell, loomed over our heads as we heard crickets chirping in the night. Zander and Natty growled with time passing on, their feet stomping against the grounds beneath them while their eyes stare upon the flooring. In the next minute or so, we heard the rushing of the winds and turned our attention to Kyro who had returned. I stepped forth towards the red dragon as his eyes shifted to me. I spoke, “Well? What is the results?" “We do not know yet. She sent me here to check out every building upon our assigned quarters." “Again" Shrieked Zander as he burst into flames, growling at the red dragon but he ignored him and kept going, “Ling, go with Zander and head for the North quarter of the town. I stick with Natty for the South." “Great. I am stuck with the seasick dragon here…" Zander responded sarcastically while we split ourselves into two groups in accordance to Yang's offer. Then peeled ourselves off and headed straight onto our assigned groups.

“Nothing yet it seems." Responded Zander as we landed upon the ground. “Come on Loverbird, let just head back to headquarters." “We just started, Zander. Why are you such in a hurry for?" I responded to him, he just grumbled and crossed his arms. Narrowing his eyes as he groaned in despair as I growled irritated while shouting at him in a firm voice, “Fine. Just take the other half of the North side then and patrol there. I will be here checking the other side of the North half then." “Fine." Zander remarked before running off towards the other side, “Hope you find anything there, Zander." “Sure sure…" He muttered after me, disappearing once he was out of my sights. I exhaled a breath and shook my head while peering my eyes towards my surroundings and marched onward. Now alone and staring down upon the roads set before me, I grabbed my pistol and poised it upward. I was on the move, heading straight first down the road I was in before peering my eyes and ears towards a nearby building.

All the buildings down the road were in the darkness. Pitch black with no lights shimmering from the rooms therein. To the foreigners that visited our city, this might meant that no one was home or the residents that owned the place were now asleep. It was really hard to tell without knocking onto their doors or being here that we already memorized the place. Regardless of my ramping, I started heading forward and move myself closer to the police station that was nearby from the area I was assigned to. I headed down the road. Feeling the soft vibrations in my ears coming from the footsteps generated on the grounds below me. I kept pushing and bypassing the alternative roads that were to my sides. All of which were leading into the darkness where I was certain that the raven would pop out of and kill me. The buildings were pale and sometimes white like snow. A couple of billboards were station upon the sidewalks, pointing directly to the sides of the building. Did I ever mentioned that the buildings were tall, almost like skyscrapers that reached upon the black skies above? I continued walking, aiming my eyes upon the alternative roads with false hope of seeing someone there. Hopefully that it was just an ally and not the raven.

After a couple of twists and turns, I returned to the police station. I was in front of it staring down onto the large room before me and the windows. The brown door was unlocked; but closed. I had noticed also that the lights were turned on inside the large room too. I snatched my walkie from my pocket and pressed the button. “I found the station. No one is inside it. But the lights are on now. Seems like this might be a potential target for our culprit here." “It may be…" I heard Yang trailed. The others followed up upon their report while I fell silent and kept glancing upon the large well lit room again. When all was well said and done, I heard Yang ordered out from the walkie itself. “The raven is coming. Everyone head back towards Natty's palace. We will reside there for the meantime." “What about a trap set for-" Zander protested but was cut off when Natty spoke out of tune. “Already taken care of. We did it already while the boys set out to scout." “You did what?" Growled Zander. But Natty did not encourage the black dragon further. The walkie cut off afterwards while I snorted. I drew my head back and laughed to myself while spreading my wings and take to the skies once again. Heading South towards Natty's palace once again.