Lyn ripped open the metal doors leading deeper into the ground, a mixture of red and blue energy wrapped around them briefly before dispersing.
“Come along.”
Alexia and Deveron followed behind them closely.
“Little Star. Be a dear and shine some light.” Lyn glanced back to Alexia. The deeper they went, the darker it became, and Alexia merely complied, lifting her hand up, forming a tiny white dwarf star. A perfectly controlled miniature star, the temperature of which tamed exceptionally well.
Eventually, the group arrived at what seemed to be a vast underground system of tunnels. Lyn continued down, stepping onto what appeared to be rusting train tracks.
“Isn’t this the city’s old transit network?” Deveron asked.
“Yes, but it's been rusting away and crumbling for two decades now.” Lyn stopped looking around the relatively spacious tunnel. If anything, this felt more like an underground water dam with how high the ceiling reached. There were even pillars scattered about holding it up, some still lighting up on the ends.
“Are you sure this isn’t a flood drain?” Alexia looked up, noticing railings and walkways linking these pillars.
“It’s certainly an oddity. The foundation will be alerted to this.” Lyn provided.
“But, we saw foundation members escort Reynolds the entire time. From what it looks like, the foundation is in on it.” Alexia glanced around, trying to see any direction they took Reynolds.
“Did the group that took him have anything strange about them?”
“Well… They had a strange E symbol on them.”
“... I see. Then, we’re dealing with the foundation indeed, but one that does not correlate with my branch, let alone any other.”
“And here I thought the foundation had its mess together.” Deveron looked down one of the tunnels feeling a slight tremble in the ground.
“Far from the truth, the organization is world-spanning. You have the main branches and many off-shots.”
“Is this one of those off-shoots?” Deveron asked.
“No, this branch is far more dangerous. They deal with mess and filth normally, underground business. I can only assume they took your teacher now because he has some sort of connection with some shady dealings.”
“Heh. Maybe we should let them take him.”
“Don’t be like that, Dev. We do owe him.”
“You owe him, not me. Though, it seems Ms.Tournament stopper isn’t going to let them get away with it.”
Lyn stopped for a moment, then glanced up at one of the railings heading into the side of the upper levels of the tunnel. The group of priests and foundation members escorted Reynolds through one of the doors leading into a bigger complex. A few of them stopped glancing down at the light shining from below.
“Polita… Slow them down. That or get them out of here. Please, no killing.” One of the priests advised a hooded figure. While the rest left through the same door, one lingered. The woman from before now removed her robes, revealing a suspender outfit strapped to a plaid skirt. On her outfit were two gun holsters, one around her shoulders and the other on her leg, two pistols present.
Polita didn’t say much and merely let out an annoyed hum. Her halo changed to green before shifting immediately to red.
“I have my reasons. Tell you what, you kids can deal with the warper. I’ll get your teacher back.”
“So much for keeping us safe, heh.” Deveron started to stretch, looking up at the strange halo girl.
“Come now, I told you when you followed me, you’d stop being an adolescent.” Lyn jumped high into the air, landing a few inches away from Polita. Whose halo turned from red to blue, their expression becoming more concerned when Lyn landed near them. But, the moment Lyn turned chasing after the others, she didn’t bother to stop them.
Instead, the blue halo changed to yellow the moment she let out a sigh of relief. Then, back to red — A punch to Deveron’s face sent him skidding across the floor. Polita warped instantaneously between Deveron and Alexia, pulling out one of her pistols as taking a shot at Alexia.
Increasing the white dwarf's heat, the bullet melted to the ground before coming into contact with her. Only to fling the star at Polita! A sound similar to a zipper being undone occurred when Polita warped out of the way.
“Tch! Come on, I’ve had to deal with a time stopper, an oracle, and many more. You warping won’t get you t-” Alexia was shut up by Polita, putting her in a choke-hold.
Deveron finally sat up from behind, punched only to be hit by the same star alexia flung directly in the face. The energy from the star, after making impact, immediately turned into stardust scattering around him. Deveron’s body started to emit steam, his fists embolden with power.
“Grrargh!” Alexia struggled to break free from Polita’s hold, only to bite down onto the woman's hand. Polita grimaced, letting go of Alexia, only to feel the burning sensation of heat on her left side; a familiar zipper sound occurred as Deveron warped to her side, dishing out a punch five times as strong.
Letting out a rather sharp yelp, Polita’s voice sprung up finally but sounded more like a bird getting shot. Polita lost her balance even hearing a bone-breaking sound in her left rib. The woman flung off to the other side of the tunnel.
“Whew~.She almost choked me out.”
“Ease up, Alexia. Can’t have you being knocked out before the next match.”
Polita rose from her position, holding their side, clearly with a broken rib. Wincing their gaze to the two in front of her, she didn’t really have an idea or grasp on their singularities yet. So with nothing better, Polita’s halo turned from crimson to pink, showcasing a dazzling smile to the two as dust and dirt swept around them.
Alexia stomped the ground creating a force that uplifted stone to knock Polita. By the time the stone reached her, she had already warped away within the dust and dirt.
“Hmph. Hold on!” Deveron grabbed Alexia by the waist, mustering up enough strength to jump to the top of the railings. “WHA-” Alexia felt a pain in her stomach from Deveron gripping them hard. Setting them down, Deveron looked down, amazed at how high he jumped only to move ahead in the direction Lyn went.
“H-Hang on.” Alexia struggled a bit to get back on her feet. Realizing Deveron also took a bit of her energy in the process. A few seconds went by, and she followed after them. With both of them giving chase again, they realized the entire area was starting to change again. Going from a more rigorous and tightly maintained hallway to a decrepit hallway breaking apart and withering away at the weather.
Before long, the two soon enough ended up outside city limits coming out of an abandoned sewer tunnel.
“Did we take a wrong turn?” Alexia asked.
Deveron wasn’t having any of it. It seemed Polita warped the two to a different location. “ARGH?! We’re even further away from the tournament now?!”
“Ah…Well, let’s just hope Lyn caught up to them.”
A chilling wind blew past Alexia and Deveron. At the same time, they devised a plan on how to get back to the tournament but flying there put a strain on Alexia since she’d be doing all the work. Either way, both of them were conflicted on what to do next without any lingering trace of Lyn nor Reynolds.
