Loomian Legacy Veils of Shadow

Versus Vantacorp

"So that's what it was." Lucy realized through bites of her waffle. It was the morning after they had stormed POLUT Corp, fought Protogon, and retrieved the third corrupt stone piece. After introducing Noah to his new friends and traveling companions, everyone went back to their rooms for some well-deserved rest. Now, they were all getting a late start to their day with breakfast at midday in a subpar diner. Everyone had gotten the same plate, even Embit. Thane had only gotten the same thing because he couldn't read the menu, the Via earbud was charging, and he was too subconscious to ask any of his friends to read the menu to him.

Thane nodded. "The stone pieces scattered across the region infect a person or Loomian with a virus or something. Makes them stronger, and rabid." While Mabel and the twins had overheard Thane's explanation the previous day, the boy thought it would be best to re-explain everything. Mabel leaned back in her chair. "We've seen the reports of vicious Loomians popping up all over the place, but when we ran into that Umbrat, we had no idea what made it like that." Thane hummed. "Now you know, that Umbrat touched one of the corrupt stones, probably the one Vanta had before he found it. You guys freed it from control when you battled and beat it." Lucy sighed in relief. "Oh man, that's good. I thought we were leaving the poor thing to death."

Lucas suddenly spoke up. "Oh man, I didn't think we'd all be connected to this in some way before meeting each other." Thane paused and considered this with a pouted lip. "That is pretty strange."

Jake leaned forward, his serious expression catching the attention of everyone minus Thane, who couldn't see it. "What do we do now? We need to be on the same page." He looked around and dropped his voice to a whisper, forcing everyone to lean in close. "We all worked together to storm POLUT Corp. and get the third stone piece." He looked around again. "But that won't stop Vanta, we hurt him, but he'll bounce back quickly. I've dealt with people like him before. You don't just stop them with one attack." While everyone looked on with seriousness, Mabel looked enamored. "I already agreed to go with Thane and help him get all the stones back, but you guys haven't agreed to anything."

The twins looked ready to ponder it, but before the trio could agree on anything, Mabel decided for all three of them. "We're also going to help!" She said, a bit too loudly, causing everyone to wince as some heads turned to them. Thane looked down for a moment. He hoped that getting these four involved wouldn't backfire on him.

After the group had gotten breakfast the group returned to the Trainer Station. Thane thought that the group would be hanging around each other for the rest of the day, but he was wrong. About an hour after breakfast, Jake left to go to a local gym, Gym Rats, and Mabel opted to go with him. The twins also left to buy more groceries and supplies. They were running low, and now that Thane, Jake, and their combined Loomians would be traveling with them, they would need more supplies than before. Lucas insisted he could go alone, but Lucy eventually forced herself into the grocery run.

With everyone out and about doing their own things around the city, it left Thane alone in the Trainer Station. For a moment, he pondered whether or not he should go onto Route 7 to train up his team for the rematch with Faust, but decided against it. He and his team were still exhausted from the battle the night before, and in all honesty, were feeling just as lazy.

So, Thane just retreated to his room, released his Loomians, placed the charging Via earbud on the nightstand, and jumped into bed. Although Thane and his Loomians hadn't felt tired throughout breakfast, and they all had a late start to their day, as soon as they got comfortable, a blanket of sleep fell over them.

Thane wasn't sure how long he slept for. What he was certain about, was the landscape of his unconscious mind. His mind has conjured up the core memories of his travels so far, his victories, and his defeats. For the first time since the fight that robbed his sight, he saw in color. Thane's body shook slightly as he relived the memories, and from the shadows, a brown face watched.