Nine – On the Road

"How did you and Ava meet?" Gen asked as the 4 (C, Ava, Gen, and Joule) were walking down the street from where Luciform was.

"We met at the Surface; she was caged up, with her friend…I think you already know." C answered.

"So you took her out of the cage?" Gen asked.

"Yeah, the alarms went off from there…it was pretty violent from there."

"Hm…really?"

"Yes, it was," Ava responded. "It felt great fighting for the first time." She grinned a little bit.

"So you haven't fought over there at the Surface?" Gen asked.

"No, it was just sitting around and testing," Ava responded.

"Hm; hard to say if that was good or not."

"The tests that I got weren't that severe, but the ones that Amber was."

"How severe were they?" Joule asked.

"I don't know," Ava responded, "But she always came back out of breath and tired." Her grin faded away.

"Oh," Joule looked down.

"You seem to know a lot of Amber," Ava said.

"I don't want to talk about it," Joule said. He avoided eye contact with her.

"Did you know about this?" C asked to Gen.

"No, I didn't," Gen responded, "I don't fully know who Amber is."

"Oh, okay." They reach a corner of a street. "So where are we going?"

"We go to the other side," Gen started, "and go left. From there, we walk out."

"Oh right," C interrupted, "we got some people trying to hunt me down."

"What?" Gen asked. He turned to C, "Why?"

"I'm a dead man, literally. They would probably want to search me out…or something like that."

"Hm…this could be a little fun… Do they come out at random times?"

"I don't know; they've appeared once, one of them a sniper."

"Okay…well I'll help you out on them. One way or another." The 4 run across the road, no vehicles on the road. They reach the other side and turn left.

"So where did you get the jacket?" C asked, pointing at the main yellow and design black jacket.

"What this?" Gen asked.

"Yeah."

"Oh. Luciform."

"Oh…okay."

Back in the Surface…

A worker comes in the office, General looking out at the window. "Sir," the worker said. General turned around looking at the worker. "We have the locations of where the boy was last seen."

"Where?" General asked.

"He was last seen in the City of Lenvry. He was walking out of a costume store with someone with white hair and a Jolteon."

"White hair? Is he old or what?"

"He doesn't have a cane or anything…I'm guessing not."

"Okay…so where are they heading off to?"

"They are walking off from Lenvry, unknown to where they could be heading off to. It's my guess to say that they are heading to the nearby city."

General didn't seem sure, "Which is…?"

"The nearest city would be Lenston. It's hard to say why they are heading there."

"Alright then…send a few minors to them, dismiss."

"Yes sir." The worker walked off from the office. General turned back at the window. We need to know more—damn it!

"Scratch that! Get back over here!"

The roads of Lenvry…

They have walked for about 10 minutes now, now no longer in the downtown portion of Lenvry. They are walking along the side of the highway.

"C'mon," Gen said, "Over here. Walking along the highway would take longer instead of the forest." He walked in the forest, with Jolteon following behind him. C looked at Gen, wondering if he should follow him. Ava looked at C.

"I would follow him," Ava said. "If he knows the streets and the land, then I would follow him." Ava followed Gen and Jolteon. C followed, being the last one to follow up. He walked in the forest, not knowing what to expect. He looked around the forest.

"You seem to be a little worried," Gen said. "Were you attacked in the forest before?"

"Not exactly," C responded, "But the sniper was in the forest."

"Oh, okay." Gen kept walking forward.

"How long will it take to get to the next city?" C asked.

"About 2 hours or so," Gen responded, "By foot."

"At least it isn't by car…" C responded lowly.

"So we are gonna be here for a while. It's still day out, so we might reach to the city before night."

"What's the city called?" C asked.

"I think it's called…Lenston. If not, then I don't know. I haven't been there in a long time; I can't remember the last time I've been there."

"But you know the way to get there?"

"I just don't remember the name." Gen kept walking forward. C kept looking around, seeing for whatever is suspicious. He eventually stopped caring and looked down. He saw that Joule kept looking back at Ava. What the hell is he trying to do? C thought.

Just then, something seemed to slam on C, him falling down. The other 3 turned back, shocked. "You okay?" Gen asked.

C stood up, "Yeah, I'm alright. I didn't know what that was…" The same thing slammed on C again; a yellowish—tannish blur. It slammed him down again. The other 3 saw the attack.

"What the hell was that?" Gen asked.

"You don't need to know," a voice responded. The 3 looked around, C barely getting up. A Sandshrew appeared right in front of them, motioning his claws. C looks around, seeing something pop out of the background. The object was moving, nearer to the Sandslash. It was covered up in leaves; it was a person in a cloak.

"Who are you?" C asked.

"You don't need to know," he responded. He took off his cloak, revealing his clothing. It was a black armor with elbow pads and knee pads. His face wasn't shown; he wore a mask with a black visor. His voice showed no accent. "You will probably only see me once, so what is the point of giving everything out if you don't need it in future reference?"

"So is that why you covering up your face?" Gen asked.

"This is trademark," the man responded, "This is what I'm most known of. Others may have their own trademark, they might not. I'm sure you won't need to know trademarks, even if you make it out alive."

"Damn straight we'll make it out alive," Gen responded.

"Don't be so sure…" the man responded. The Sandslash then jumped, rolling into a ball, charging at the 4.

The jacket is mainly yellow with the wrist ends, bottom ends and cut, and the collar ends black.