"Rush, nothing's here." she bemoaned softly to her red wolf-dog. "Maybe I was just going insane earlier or something. Any way, let's head back toward Cinq Ville- I'm hungry, I'm half starved. Let's go."
But her mutt stayed put. If it could talk to her right now, it would either be a 'keep looking, we're getting close' or 'maybe you're right, but let's look around a few more moments please'. She didn't feel like doing either, so she started to head back.
"Good byyyye Rush!" she carelessly called over her shoulder. The wolf-dog stood at attention for this, then made a leap toward her- knocking her from behind for them both to fall to the ground. In a small amount of pain, the girl craned her neck around to get a look at her mutt.
"So nice of you to join us." she remarked with a snide smirk. Rush replied with a happy bark.
. . .
The girl followed her wolf-dog to the baker in Cinq Ville. Lucia, the baker, had made something so sweet smelling that the young girl could nearly feel her stomach growl in protest.
"Hey Alia!" Lucia greeted once she was close enough. It was a game to the baker to call the girl the wrong name, and she didn't like it one bit.
"It's Aile." the girl told him in a flat tone. "It's not short for anything, it's just Aile."
"Right, right. Sure it is." Lucia dismissed playfully with a wave of her hand. "Hey, have you ever found that guy that used to come with you? What was his name? Oba... Over..."
"I don't know where he is." the girl said, shrinking a little. "And if it weren't for you always reminding me of him, I would think that I only dreamed him up..."
"Trust me kid, it's hard to not forget a Reploid like that. Walking around like he's Mega Man X or something, I'd hate to say that the dog's a good substitute, but it's kinda true when you think about it."
Rush looked up at Lucia innocently as he panted away.
"I suppose you master duo would like something to eat?" Lucia then asked, reaching down to scratch Rush behind the ear.
"I'm hungry, I'm half starved," Aile agreed. "What do you want me to do?"
"Well..." the baker then said thoughtfully, "Some guy dropped this thing earlier. Maybe you could return it to him for me?"
Aile watched as Lucia went inside her bakery to get something, and ended up coming out with a white stuffed animal, shaped like a cat. As Aile carefully took it from Lucia, she noticed that it had little green wings attached to it.
"A stuffed animal?" Aile asked, giving the stuffed cat a squeeze, allowing herself to giggle at it. "It's really cute- really soft too. Why would anyone drop it?"
"Dunno." Lucia told her, sounding just as confused. "The guy mentioned something about a test, qualification certification, and a HQ. It might have been intended to go through quality control or something. Looks kind of old to me, though, so I don't know why they would do that. But they were heading toward the transerver down the road; you think you can take it to them for me kid?"
"Sure." Aile agreed, holding the stuffed cat even tighter. "You'll make me some curry while I return it, won't you?"
"Of course Alia." Lucia teased.
"It's Aile." the girl retorted. She then looked down at Rush. "Come on Rush," she said to him, "We need to get to the transerver quick."
The wolf-dog looked up at her and gave a confirming bark before the two bolted out the door. Lucia looked back at them and smiled with a small shake of her head. An odd couple those two, but definitely inseparable.
It didn't take long for Aile and Rush to reach the transerver room in Cinq Ville. Inside waiting was some guy dressed in a green uniform. Assuming that this was who dropped the stuffed cat -as seeing he seemed to be a bit nervous about something- Aile walked over to him.
"Hello sir," the girl greeted cheerfully, "I think you dropped this earlier...?"
The green guy (a Guardian, as the back of her mind told her for some reason) looked up at her and nearly jumped out of his skin.
"Vent...? Already?!" he declared, sounding surprised. "You still have two more Guardians to..."
Aile gave the green guy a tilt of her head, her face scrunching into an expression of confusion as the green guy realized that she wasn't who he thought she was. Bashfully, the green guy started to blush at his mistake.
"S-sorry miss..." he apologized, "You look a lot like someone else I'm supposed to see... Heh..."
"Is this yours?" Aile asked again, holding the stuffed cat up. Seeing it, the green guy visibly relaxed.
"Yes." he sighed. "Yes it is. I thought I lost it for good for awhile, the commander was going to have my head if I lost it again..."
"Is it important?" Aile questioned as she handed the stuffed cat over. The guy took it from her carefully and in gratefulness.
"Our commander's had it for a long time- it also happens to be one of her most prized possessions." he affirmed. "It's older than you, maybe even older than I am."
"Ah, I see." Aile nodded. "I'm glad we were able to return it to you. Aren't we Rush?"
Her dog did not answer because he was no longer at her side. Without a second thought, forgetting to say good bye to the green Guardian, Aile rushed out of the transerver room and quickly scanned the immediate area for Rush.
"Rush!!" she shouting, cupping her hands to her mouth. "Rush where did you go?"
From a distance, Aile could hear her troublesome dog bark. Starting out in a walk before breaking into a run, Aile ran toward the bark, still calling out Rush's name in every version possible. When she caught up to that annoying mutt, she was going to kill him.
. . .
Meanwhile, Vent was counting with his fingers how many more Guardians he had to find. He had found... three, so far. So he had... two more to find. Right?
Distracting him from his thoughts, he heard the barks of some dog come closer and closer to him until something red bounded on him without mercy.
"Hey, get off of me!" Vent demanded as the red thing started to lick his face without signs of stopping. "Get off of me! Stop!"
Complying, the red thing stopped licking him long enough for Vent to sit up. "Ye-uck." the boy bemoaned as he wiped the thing's slobber off of him. Getting enough away from his eyes, Vent focused his vision to see a red wolf-like dog sitting in front of him, tail wagging and looked as innocent as a lamb.
"You look like you're in trouble." Vent remarked to it. "Treble. I bet your name's Treble, isn't it?"
The dog gave its reply in a happy woof before leaping onto Vent again to lick his face.
"Alright, alright! Get off please!" Vent protested. It took a bit longer for the dog to get off this time, but he did. "Hey," Vent then suggested as an idea came to him, "Could you help me find the last two Guardians?"
Treble gave a bark that Vent assumed was a 'yes' before he started to bound toward one of the buildings. Excitedly hopping in place, waiting for Vent to follow him, Treble gave impatient woofs and barks to alert Vent that he knew exactly what he was looking for.
'Are you really going to take advice from a dog?' Model X questioned, not judging, but genuinely curious.
"It's worth a shot, isn't it?" Vent asked in return. "Besides, what could possibly happen by following a dog around?"
YOU ARE READING
Metempsychotic
FanfictionIt was early- way too early for 14 year old Vent. He had no right to complain though, he asked to come. He just didn't think that it would be this early in the morning. With the thoughts of a friend recently gone missing, Vent goes out with his care...