A Lumen Ripple | An Elemental Story

Chapter 25 - In Plain View

A familiar ding occurred to her right, causing her to sharply look over. She was relieved to find a tram headed in the same direction about to depart. Careless about the busy street, she ran through it to get to the tram in time. She ran in front of cars as they sped by, some barely stopping in time. Horns blared, and drivers roared.

"Ey! Watch it, Sparky!" one barked.

"Get off the road!" another concurred.

Alas, she didn't care one bit about the dangers of the road. The only thing important to her at that moment was the tram moments from departing.

Seeing that the tram doors were closing, she quickly ran at it and leapt, barely making it on as they closed.

Now on board, she let out a huff and puff in relief, refocusing on the direction she was headed in. She made her way to the front as best she could to get a clear view.

Luckily for her, the bus was still headed in the same direction - borderline holding up traffic as a result. She sighed in relief, then quickly lapsed back into anger.

As if her anger had gotten bad enough, the bus divulged from the path, turning to the right. Ember sharply stared at it as it did, and it became very clear that the tram was headed in another direction.

She scrambled about in hopes to abort and get off. She looked over to the doors out of the tram, running up to it. She stood in stance, clawing both hands in it and beginning to jimmy it open. To her surprise - and the shock of the onlookers - it opened while the tram moved along.

Thankfully, it wasn't moving too fast, so it was easy for Ember to jump out and be on her way. She did so, barely managing to stick a landing on the road. She recomposed herself, resuming her careless running across the road, dodging cars and the like after the bus.

She safely returned to the footpath ahead. To her surprise, this street was just as busy as the last, filled to the brim with more dodgy-looking folks to boot.

This street is busy as well, full of more dodgy folks walking up and down it. Thankfully for her, the double-decker bus made another stop just up ahead.

"If you'll look either side..." the voiceover began.

She picked up pace once more in catch-up.

Just a bit further down the road, a rather familiar trio giddily stumbled out of one of the bars.

"Then I said 'You better watch yo' mouth, bushy-beard!" one said.

The other two laughed in tandem, holding their knees.

Suddenly, an angry Ember swiftly ran past the three, causing them to stare at her in wonder.

"Yo, is that--" one began.

"LB's chick?!" another added.

"Aye-- I gotta see this." the third reckoned.

Intrigued by the familiar flame, the trio began to blindly follow in the shadows.

Unknowing, Ember ran along far ahead. Arriving just near the bus, she sharply skidded to a halt, staring up and down the bus, catching her breath.

Luckily for her, there was a clearer view of the bucket-hat-wearing Wade doppelganger on the top deck. She grimaced angrily, clenching her fists.

The bus parked to the side of the busy street, along with an argumentative amount of blaring horns from impatient drivers.

Ember did her signature set of 3 short huffs and puffs, sliding her hood on and jogging up to it. She remained staring at the top of it, just to make sure her Wade target wasn't moving an inch.