Kid

98

Once the Travellers had subdued the elves at the base, everybody ventured into the forest in search of Kid. They followed the way the goblins had gone, which wasn't that hard to spot because they left a trail of broken branches among the scattered footprints on the ground.

They weren't that hard to track.

Neon stayed on the ground while most of the agents remained in the air following the trail. He was accompanied by Jason, Cameron and Jesse.

All the girls seemed swifter in the trees, as did Nicky and Harold.

Jesse could smell the goblins, and they had an overwhelming smell that was only achieved if they had only ever bathed in each other's filth. Half the time he had his nose pinched to keep the stench at bay, only to be whacked by Jason because they needed him to make sure Kid was still with them.

Neon continued to follow the Ringleader, mainly out of fear of being lost. Looking around, he found the trees rather dense and nature to be a freaking pain in the backside. He didn't mind nature, he was sure to some people it was great, but him and plants did not mix. It was like they were always out to get him and were often unreliable when it came to climbing in the city. He remembered one day in Delco City, he had somehow found himself in the backyard of a snobby rich family. After picking the diamonds off the dog's collar he made an escape out the backyard to get away before he set off anything alarms.

The walls were too tall to scale, and were smooth and flat, so foot holes and hand holes were a big no. The only way out was either to take a chance and go to the front yard, or climb this tree that dripped from one side to the other.

The branch broke.

The dog started barking.

The owners of the house called the police.

Neon had to hide in a sewage pipe to evade them.

This scenario accounted for most things that involved using nature around Delco city, and while it may have been more the atmosphere's fault more than the plants themselves, Neon didn't trust them too often. He was more of a technology man.

But in this case, he stopped where he was while others continued on. He turned his head away from the pathway of destruction the goblins had given them and stared at big footprints in the ground. They certainly weren't caused by the small feet of goblins, these were huge!

Whatever it was seemed to start walking towards the trail of goblins, stopped, and walked back where it came from.

Neon kneeled down to one of the footprints and went to touch them, but his hand was snatched away by Jason, who was now kneeling beside him. He gestured for Neon to stand and back away as Jason examined them himself. "Troll tracks..." he mumbled as his other agents slowly appeared beside and behind him. Mary stood next to the Ringleader. "Mary, why is this unusual?"

Mary would've lied if she said she didn't appreciate the odd question from Jason. "Trolls don't normally venture this close to the base." She reached down and touched the soil, it was like dried up mud, "A swamp troll especially."

Jason smiled as he tilted his hat, "Correct, my dear." He abandoned his walking stick to the ground, stripped one of his hands of his gloves, and rested it on the soil.

Everybody gave him some space, not wanting to crowd his mental thought.

He opened his eyes, and they glowed a ruby red. Through his own eyes, Jason watched as a troll stood exactly where he kneeled, and seemed to be looking at something. The whole image was blurry, like the signal was weak or the image was in mist and rain. The troll was like a white ghost as his large arm reached down to something on the ground.