Venturing: Canipark

Overnight. The moon hangs above us like some ornament in the bleak skies. Stars surrounded it wherever it goes. With the cold breeze washing over our scales like some water, we gathered ourselves upon the entrance gates of the park. All looking forward through the grassy plains. Staring in silence and anticipation of what we would be seeing that would help us end the case. I was the last to walk towards the entrance gate. For upon my presence, everyone turned to me. I met their eyes. Yet the silence prolonged on. As I joined the small group, I shifted my attention towards the parking lot that was in front of the entrance gate and the park behind it. It was bigger than I had expected. Thousands of white lines created equal distance from one another which allowed vehicles to enter into them without a problem. Yet no vehicles appeared upon the midnight hour of the new day which was odd even for me.

But I tried to ignore it anyway.

As I turned back towards the group, Kyro and Zander were the first to walk up towards me. Their claws rose to their foreheads, saluting me. I just responded with just a nod. Saying nothing more as Kyro took over the conversation and filled my head with the necessary details that our boss, Yang had debrief them about. I constantly nod as if agreeing with them. But lowered my head to the ground as I pondered over something which caught the attention of both dragons at once. For they stopped and blinked, lips were sealed in silence as their eyes were onto me. I said nothing in their say for silence. Just another simple nod before drifting my attention leftward and away from them, towards the park. A lone dragon had just arrived upon the scene. Landing upon the ground with its wings folded behind himself. Upon such a arrival, we all turned our attention to it with smiles; knowing who it was however.

Zephyr walked to us. Joining us as he planted his feet upon the grounds underneath himself and rose his head, meeting my eyes. I nodded at him. He responded with his own. The silence returned to us again as I turned my attention back to the entrance gates of the park.

Ahead of us was a huge amount of space where the majority of it was just the grassy plains. A far away park playground was found over the horizon. But deem too small for view from the position of where we had stand. From the distance, only the basic primary colors clashed against one another to create an illusion of a circle, blob or something unnatural to our eyes. It was hard to figure out what that thing is without knowledge of such a park.

I returned my sights back towards the other dragons. All eyes were upon me now as I hanged my head and nodded silently. With some spoke words to them, “Just remember your assigned positions of this park." “We are to clear this park in seconds, maybe in record time if we are lucky." Kyro stated, following my voice. Everyone else nodded including Zephyr as we all splitted up amongst ourselves into teams, spreading out through the largest park settling before us. I headed leftward together with Natty where we had found a river immediately afterwards. It was at a good distance away from the entrance gates, perhaps far additionally from the cabin at the very end of the river however. As we had spotted it, we landed adjacent to it. We folded our wings and glanced upon the waters of the river, noticing quickly our reflection against it. We were in silence, yet out feet were noisy as we had went to follow the river down towards somewhere.

We bypassed some trees, some playground parks that we had not noticed however until we had arrived safely upon the lake before us. “Here we are." I say with a grin, turning towards Natty as she stayed in silence. Nodding as she met my eyes in silence and glanced away back towards the river and lake to her side and in front. “Luckily, I never brought my bathing suit." “You did not need one however." I countered as she laughed so suddenly, headed forth to the edge of the lake and kneeled. She stretched her neck further out, noticing her reflection against the lake as she peered upon the surface of the waters. As she investigates the river and lake, I turned my attention towards the surroundings of both things. Noticing the trees closer to the lake than the river as my head was tilted to the side. These trees were different than the normal trees that I had seen back upon Vaster however or from the grassy plains of the park too. With their branches hanging lower than normal, perhaps due to the weight of the leaves or something else. The color of the branches and the bark of the trees looking similar; but were in different shades of the same color. The leaves itself was not leaves when I squinted my eyes, taking a second look upon them.

“What are those?" I questioned Natty as she rose her eyes from the lake waters, turning to where I was pointing towards. She answered me without hesitation, yet with a frown also however, “Those are whispers woods." “Like a tree from a certain game?" “Do not get us copyright, please." She counter back at me and I stayed silence, nodding rather quickly as I joined her at the lake. I lowered my head, eyes upon the surface of the waters as my voice was dropped to a low one. She sudden respond to me, showing a different kind of voice as she rose her claw and pointed down into the lake surface below us. “I thought I saw something there. But due to how dense the water was, it seems impossible." “What you see?" “Bones of canines and reptiles alike; perhaps a bit more a dog could buried upon his backyard however." “Bones?" I questioned without hesitation or thinking as I glance back upon the surface for another look. Indeed, I saw something pure white underneath all that thick and dense waters that I thought that I was just seeing things however.

My eyes squinted, but shook my head while closing my eyes afterwards. Then leaned back with my claws hanging behind me, digging against the ground while raising towards the bleak skies above. A pause of silence had fallen between us. Yet turning towards Natty, it had seemed that she was more interested in that pile of bones below. So with an exhaled of a sigh, I spoke perhaps muttering to her “We will get Kyro or someone else to gather those bones from the lake. For now, we need to see how the others are cooping up with this case of a mess." “Where shall we look?" Natty questioned me, sharply ripping her eyes off from the river surface. Turning her attention towards me as I smiled rather faintly. Thus, we rose to our feet. Our wings spread again and flew off eastward, away from the forest, lake and river. Towards somewhere simple and perhaps easy on our brain than the ripples of the water lake however. As we had arrived onto our destination, rather quickly than I had expected, we landed upon the grounds. Behind a small cabin that was in front of us as we circled around and headed forth to the entrance where Kyro and Zander were located.

We were a bit surprise into seeing the two, already done with their investigation of the cabin that Natty insisted me on having a lovely chat with them at once. I nodded, leaving her be as i went through the cabin door. Entering into what seems to be a pitch dark room. I turned on my flashing which illuminated the room a bit and frantically searched about. The cabin room was smaller. Much smaller than the normal looking rooms beforehand at different other parks however. It was even messer too that I never knew if the two officer dragons had anything to do with it or it was someone before them and they left it as it is. With a growl and some narrowed eyes, I peered through the mess before me as I weaved through it like a sea. Navigating myself towards the very end of the cabin where a box was upon the surface of the ruined exposed table. The table reached from one wall of the cabin to the other. It was ruined and exposed to the natural air that i started seeing some marks imprinted upon its surface. Ignoring the table at least for a moment, I turned my attention towards the box and reached out for it.

I grabbed onto its flaps and pulled it downward. It suddenly ripped and break apart from it. I was startled that I flinched but kept my claws upon the broken flaps before letting them go. Dropped to the grounds on either side of me, I rose my head back to the box in front of me and take a step forward. Grabbing onto the edge of the box, I tilted it towards me and looked inside. Despite the pitch darkness inside, I noticed something colorful contrasting the black and I went to dig my claws inside the box. Pulling out what seems to be the missing body parks of canines and reptiles. It had everything from arms, legs, head and even the feet, paws and claws. The head's eyes were closed or wide opened which disturbed me at best as I found myself uncomfortable and grossed out by them. I dropped the heads inside the brown box instead and stepped away from it, shivering as a result.

As my eyes closed, reopening again, I turned back towards the surroundings of the cabin walls. I had noticed a lot of junk about. But something amongst that junk had caught my eye however. A saw laid upon the grounds adjacent to a dead lanturn. The saw's teeth were dried blood mixed with dirt. The handle of the saw was darkest of brown perhaps exposed to the air for too long however. As I found myself staring upon it, I frowned and shook my head. My eyes closed and avert from the saw just as the door opened and revealed to be Kyro, Zander and Natty. All three were looking directly upon me as I have met their eyes so suddenly. As Kyro stepped inside the cabin walls, I walked towards him in response. Grabbed tightly against his collar of the uniform that he was wearing and brought him up towards me, I whispered into his ear. Directing his attention towards the saw at the ground and he answered  “No, never saw that saw beforehand. This place was clean when we had arrived. So we thought about messing up the place in order to-" “Enough." I growled, shutting him up completely as he looked at me without hesitation, “Ling?" “We saw body part inside of that box. That saw is the connection to that because of the mixture of blood and dirt upon the teeth of that weapon." “You really think that a saw is a weapon?" “Well what else would it be?" I counter back, growling with my fangs expose to him as he backed off again and held his claws between us.

A long silence fell between us before I held myself back and shook my head a bit. I found myself frowning, eyes returning back towards that box behind us as I pondered about the body parts found inside. For then at the end of the silence, I whispered to Kyro revealing what we had found upon the river and its lake. “We found bones. White pure bones underneath the surface of the lake." Upon this, Kyro was shocked. But he remained in silence as he allowed me to continue speaking which I did. I spilled everything that we knew. But only that white bones. We never saw anything inside the river nor the path that it leads us straight towards the lake at its end. I hanged my head and shook it upon the following silence as I felt a claw upon my shoulder, I rose my head and met his eyes as he smiled faintly at me before departing from the cabin. I walked to follow him down.

So now we knew two things however. The white bones at the lake and the body parts inside the box. But this only left a question for us which Natty expressed it upon her words, “Where is the rest of the body? The brain and body." “Its curious to see why our culprit rather use these body parts of a canine and reptile than the two most important things." I commented while Kyro nodded with a faint smile upon his face as if agreeing with me as we gathered around in front of the cabin's door. Natty nodded too but remained silence as she looked between us, giving off small but important details that were related towards the two clues that we had seen so far. We had an ongoing discussion that sometimes breaks into smaller different pauses of silence as if we had nothing else to reveal or discuss. This kind of conversation does happened between us dragons, at least for quite some time however too. For by the end of our conversation, we were upon the silence. Neither of us had any chance to take as either of our words would bring us to a different topic or circle again to a previous discussed topic at hand. I frowned. But remained in silence while the others avert their eyes away from me.

We were upon the peace of silence as our ears heard the crickets chirping somewhere in the distance. Ringing echoed in my ear additionally as Natty flapped her wings. Kyro and Zander hanged their heads and pointed their snouts upon the grounds beneath us. Eyes closed as if they were thinking about something; perhaps unrelated to the case at hand. For the longest time in peace and silence had Natty obnoxiously exhaling a breath and shaking her head as she looked over to me. “Where are Ozkun, Takati and Zephyr? The trio was suppose to meet us here for a debriefing right?" I shook my head, “We are all to meet at the entrance gates of the park again. But it had seemed that they had indeed finished up for some reason too." “They have?" Questioned Kyro as Zander perked his ears up and glanced towards me, I nodded back at them and smiled. Grabbing onto my waist as I spoke towards them in response “Yeah. I have not heard from either of them ever since." “Guess they accomplished their task then, we should go and meet up with them then." Started Natty as she, along with everyone else spread their wings and take to the black skies overhead. Flying southward and back towards the entrance of the gates where indeed the remaining three dragons were located.

But to our surprise, they seemed a bit occupied with something. As we landed adjacent to them and perhaps at a distance, we walked up towards them. Kyro tapped upon their shoulder. Takati was the first to quickly notice us as she smiled in response towards us, mainly towards Kyro in turn while Zander crossed his arms. I stepped forth between them and spoke, “What have you guys found?" “Inside the park?" Questioned Ozkun after looking up from whatever she and Zephyr were looking at, “There is a flag near the cabin over to the right of the entrance gates. Its doors were closed however, so it was hard. Perhaps impossible to enter through its doors without trespassing inside." “Another cabin?" Kyro asked, tilting his head to one side as he glance to Ozkun who nodded, “Yeah. Came as a surprise, even for us. I do not even know which is the real or fake cabin anymore." “Why were there two? Instead of one?" I asked towards Kyro and Ozkun. Both of which shrugged, saying nothing more as the silence fell between them. I exhaled a stress exhale before turning back to Ozkun, nodding as I was curious about something else.

“Do you guys see a flag anywhere within the park?" “What flag?" Questioned both Kyro and Ozkun as they turned to face me so suddenly. I stayed silent, tilting my head to one side as I asked them “You guys saw no flag?" “There was not one however." Kyro answered back as he frowned, wings hanged back as he turned his head back towards the entrance gates again. Looking out towards the horizon. Within the second silence, my head started forming some questions that my head was starting to ache. Growling lowly, I returned my sights back to the reality of things as I turned towards Kyro and Ozkun as well as the other dragons. “We need to find that flag. It is colored black with a paw mark at the center of it." “There was one like that at the center in front of us," Responded Natty, directing our heads pointing towards the center where a single flag was located, surrounded by the grass and plains. “How did we not see that?" Kyro questioned, a bit surprise while I smiled faintly. But remained silent after all. “It was in front of us this entire time." Answered Natty to Kyro before turning to me, “What do you need from it?" “Just something rather important." I say while flying forth towards that flag.

Indeed it was a short distance away from the entrance gate. For soon I had arrived upon the flag pole in front of me. Up close and personal, it was bigger than I had expected. 'But how was it easier to see from far away?' I thought to myself, before shaking my head and thoughts before returning to the task at hand. The black flag was laid to rest against the brown pole besides it. No winds blew surrounding it in hopes of unwavering it. As I grunted in frustration, I motioned my tail and allowed Zander Kyro and Natty to arrive forth towards me. Stopping rather behind me. “That is rather unprofessional, Ling." Started Zander despite being hit on the side by Kyro who growled at him. I just rolled my eyes and hovered closer to the flag. Grabbing it quickly with my two claws, I forcefully unfurled it as Kyro and Natty stared at it suddenly and silence before either of them spoke out, exclaiming in the silence at hand. “That is not a paw print. That is a directional pad!" “A what?" Me and Zander synchronized as we turned our attention towards both dragons who kept their eyes at the flag.

Yet Kyro was the first to speak, explaining to us about a directional pad that was used in the early days of our hatch hood. I just tilted my head to one side, listening to what he was explaining about. Then shortly into the silence, I nodded my head and faintly smiled towards him. Looking back towards the flag as I questioned him, “So what does the directional paws mean to you then?" I saw indeed a paw in front of me. Four smaller circles were overtop of the bigger body. The color of the paw was white. Pure white like the bones that we saw at the lake beforehand. Inside each of the four smaller circles was an black arrow. It was easier to see due to the white background. Each of the arrows point at a different location. Left, Up, Right and Down. There were even some weird gibberish labeling each of the circles too. With the black background before the white paw print, it had indeed trigger something inside my mind.

First, I had remembered about the white bones both me and Natty had saw upon the lake shores. They were canine or reptile bones. Pure white too same as the paw print upon the flag. Next came that cabin; it was pitch dark and messy that it was rather impossible to see or navigate inside without some sort of flashlight. According to Kyro and Zander, at the end of the cabin was a brown box sitting overtop of the exposed air of a table. Inside the box was a bunch of canine or reptile body parts. The flash was still intact upon the bones. I stayed silent while I process this whole; but then something clicked in my brain. I let off a gasp as my claws released its grip from the flag that I was holding. Zander Kyro and Natty all gasped in shocked; but pointed their eyes to me with curious than anger as I explained my theory to them.

However, before I could; our walkie opened up with static and the voice of Ozkun came from the speakers. Explaining about Zephyr who had suddenly appeared in front of them and upon the entrance gates. Additionally, she did stated about a turmoil happening at Vaster which sparked our interest as all three of us look upon one another. A mixture of smiles, dread, frowns and angerment were drifted between the three dragons in front of me as I just looked onto them with a concern look upon my face. But I lifted my walkie from my waist, pressed onto the button at the side of it before answering Ozkun.

“We will be there. Sit tight."