PMD: Stargazer Chronicles

Overlord- Fallen Explorers

Vibrations rolled through Furret Abigail's head, spurring her awake from her sleep. She held her head and groaned.

"Abigail," a soft voice murmured, "wake up. Hey."

Abigail opened her eyes. Victini Anne floated over her head. The darkness made it hard to see.

"I know you're on vacation," Anne whispered, "and I'm sorry. Something came up, and it'll concern you. You're going to want to follow me to the Hub."

Okay..." Abigail muttered. "Why didn't you... call?"

"Didn't want to startle you. Sorry again."

"It's fine. I'm good."

A minute or so passed until they left.

Abigail walked with Anne with tiredness still in her eyes. The metallic hallways hurt her eyes when she had just been asleep, even though the lights were much dimmer at night. During the elevator ride, Abigail held her eyes in her paws, trying to alleviate the tingling, burning sensation.

The darkness in the Nightlight Hub alleviated it when she didn't look up at the screens lining the walls. She focused her eyes down as her feet echoed on the floor. She didn't get a good look for who else was in there, making frantic typing sounds on keyboards. The click-clack of the keys echoed louder than usual throughout the room.

Anne continued to float ahead to the front mess of screens and stopped in front of them. Abigail squinted her eyes, but gave up on trying to make sense of the screen.

"So, what's up?" Abigail asked. "I might need a coffee first, but I can dive right into whatever it is after that.""

"We can't dive right into this one," Anne explained. "We haven't gone public yet, but Zen's been kidnapped."

In an instant, an electric chill rushed through Abigail's veins. The burning sensation in her eyes stopped as she looked up at Anne. Adrenaline had snapped her awake. The light of the monitors over their heads highlighted her tense, blue eyes.

"Don't panic," Anne quickly added. "Let me explain."

Abigail breathed in and out. She trembled and nodded. "O-okay..."

"He went out to get you some candy and whatnot, and he didn't tell Yellow Clan since he thought it'd be quick. The Ambipom snagged him, then sent a text bargaining message. It said that they'd give Zen back."

"What do they want?" she asked quietly.

"That's all they said," said Anne. "It said they'd give Zen back and put a meeting place. They didn't ask for anything. We're meeting in an hour and a half at an old residential area. We can't send scouts to check it out at Zen's risk, and we can't find any old construction records on the area since it's so old."

"Keep trying."

As Anne looked past Abigail, she turned around.

Shiny Zoroark Aaron stood with his arms crossed. His eyes were stiff and flat, but he was wide awake.

"Sorry, Abigail," said Aaron. "I should've gone with him. I just didn't want to interfere with his play."

"Are your guys' parents awake?" Abigail asked. "And where's Gawain?"

"No. They'll just stress out, and it'll hopefully be resolved by morning when we tell them. Just Yellow Clan and high-ranking Nightlights know. If Gawain knows, he'll insist on coming, too. The less risk, the better."

Abigail looked up towards Anne. "How did you let this happen? Again?"

"We messed up just once on a minor detail, and it cost us," she said. "I don't have any experience or training with being a leader, or an Overlord. I did the best that I could."