Earthbound: Champions of the Future

Chapter Twenty Seven

~ Syo's POV ~

Everybody split up after they realized we were surrounded. Naoma had to stand to the side with me, since her staff had been taken, meaning she couldn't fight anymore. Kireina slashed endlessly at the arachnids, many tiny legs flying everywhere as they were detached from their bodies. Akuro giggled as she pinned one spider underneath her foot, lightly poking it with her own sword.

Emi splayed her fingers out in front of her, sending a huge gust of wind hurtling towards a group of ten Armourachnids. They were taken off their feet and, with a loud screech, sent flying into the air. Ciar sent a blast of PSI Fire in their direction, causing the flying spiders to burst into flames.

Ciar frowned as an Armourachnid attached itself to his leg, the spikes on the end of it's many legs digging into his skin. "PSI Freeze Gamma!" Ciar cried with a growl, pointing at the offending spider. It was encased in ice and fell to the ground. Ciar stepped on the ice angrily, shattering pieces of frozen water and spider everywhere.

I breathed a sigh of relief when all of the Armourachnids had been taken care of. "Great job, you guys!" I congratulated. "We managed to break them in no time!"

"Even so, this does bring up a concern." S'yan frowned, his arms crossed. "For us to be so suddenly ambushed like this, and with large numbers... the enemy must know where we currently are."

"Do you mean... someone's following us?" Akuro suggested.

"That is a possibility," S'yan responded. "However, it could also mean that somebody is giving the enemy information behind our backs."

"So... you're saying that there could be a traitor?" Azura asked. I gasped; a traitor? Someone here might be our enemy in disguise?

"If there is a traitor, then finding them should be easy." Emi said before turning to glare at Naoma. The latter gulped and stepped away.

"What's that look for?!" I demanded. "You don't suspect Naoma, do you?!"

Emi clenched her fist and advanced towards Naoma, but a figure stood in between them, scarf whipping in the wind. "We cannot possibly assume a traitor's identity just yet," Gandamu said. "Whatever you are planning to do, halt immediately, or I shall have to use force against you."

The two glared at each other for a few seconds before Emi sighed. "Fine. Let's just keep going. I don't have time for this." The brown haired girl stormed past us and continued down the road towards the city. Naoma sighed as she watched everyone follow after Emi.

Everyone else was way ahead of us when it was only myself, Naoma and Gandamu stood on the desert road. Naoma hesitated before turning to the other teenager. "Um... do you think I'm really a traitor working for Enigma?"

Gandamu didn't respond immediately. He glanced away, his bandaged hand gripping his arm tightly before he spoke. "There is no evidence that a traitor exists at all." He said. "The royal panther could be mistaken."

Naoma grinned. "Do you mean the royal... painther?"

Gandamu sighed and walked ahead swiftly, determined on leaving us behind. I facepalmed as Naoma began yelling and running after him, waving her arms around madly. "H-Hey! Don't leave me here on my ooooooown!" She yelled.

"That's what you get for making that awful pun..." I muttered, following after them myself.

~ ~ ~

I gasped and glanced around as we exited the burning desert road and entered the city of Sathamborn. There were skyscrapers at every turn and rich looking people strolling down the streets in their fancy suits and dresses. There was a park to the south, near the edge of the city, but that seemed to be the only presence of plant life.

"These people all look like snobs," Naoma commented. "Hopefully we can avoid talking to any of them. Let's just find the place and move out."

"Not yet." Emi interrupted. "There's... something I need to do."

Kireina raised an eyebrow. "Whatever it is, it's distracting to our main mission. It can wait."

"No, it can't." Emi snapped. "You lot can do whatever you want. You don't even have to wait for me. Just... I just need to do this."

Emi left, storming towards one of the skyscrapers. The rest of us were left in a confused huddle.

"Syo," Naoma whispered. "Do you think you could follow Emi, find out where she's going and tell us when you get back? I admit I'm a bit curious to see what about this place has her so worked up."

"Okay!" I nodded. I cut through the air as I chased after Emi, who had disappeared from the building's entrance. I flew into the building, hiding behind a potted plant when a man in a suit almost saw me. I spotted Emi's wavy hair heading towards the elevator, so I chased after her before the doors closed. I managed to worm my way inside and jump into her pocket. She didn't notice, luckily.

Emi stood silently still inside the elevator, her arms crossed. With a ding, the doors rolled open and Emi stepped out. I was shoved around with her movements, my face planting into the material of her jacket several times.

Emi eventually began to slow down. I stuck my head out of her pocket to see her standing in front of a room. It appeared to be a library or study of some sort, judging by the rows of books that I could see through the window in the door. Emi pushed the door open and stared straight ahead of her.

She was staring at the solitary man stood inside the room. He looked young; around Emi's age. His short, smooth hair was red and his blue eyes were framed by thin glasses. He wore a white shirt underneath a black tailcoat, his trousers and shoes also being a midnight black. His hands were covered by brown leather gloves.

The red haired man hadn't yet noticed Emi's presence. "Laurent Chalondra." Emi said, breaking the silence and making the man turn around. I frowned in response: did these two know each other...?

"Congratulations. You can learn names." 'Laurent' replied rather bluntly. "Is there something you needed or-"

Emi cut him off with a sigh. "You still have that shrewd attitude, I see. I'm not surprised."

Laurent frowned. "Have... we met before?"

Emi hesitated before replying, looking almost hurt. "Do you really not remember me?"

Laurent paused until his blue eyes slowly widened. "Emi...?" He whispered.

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don't you just hate it when your evil dad takes away your only hope of defending yourself against a horde of spiders and p much everything else in the world

same

AceAttorneyFan over and out!