"So, can you smell anything from this?"
"Sniff-Sniff-I think I got something! Follow me!"
Louis once again does his best to chase after Jeanne; at least this time she is going a bit slower, seemingly being careful not to make too much noise, so as Louis follows, he does his best to step only where Jeanne has put her paws already, as if doing a little game or dance.
Over time Jeanne runs slower and slower, getting more careful with her steps and changing closer to her standing "battle werewolf" form, or at least what Louis came to think of it as; after some more moments, she signals Louis to stop.
Louis gets close by and taps her back as if to ask what's up; in response, Jeanne flinches and stands up straight and starts to morph back into a human.
"Pffft! D-Don't touch there! It's ticklish!" Jeanne says while grabbing her side.
"Sorry! So, are we there? Something around here?"
"Uh… Yeah! I think…? From one of the items there was the smell of a person who wasn't in that group back then; I think that one might be close by! There should be a hideout or something around here…?"
Jeanne looks around the area but can't seem to find anything. Louis investigates as well, but he hasn't learned any tracking skills he can use with aura.
"Jeanne, maybe there is something hidden with sorcery or something of the sort? Should we try to call Laura or something?"
"Humpf, I can probably still figure something out! Give me a moment!"
Jeanne pulls a spell tag from her pocket and her soul string goes towards it, trying to cast it.
*Dispell*
The tag is then set ablaze!
But it then fizzles out…
"Oh…"
"Did it work?"
"I guess? It might be that there isn't anything here after all…?"
"Where is the last spot you smelled anything?"
"Let's see…" Jeanne morphs into a human with wolf features and starts sniffing the air.
"Close to this tree here…?"
Louis goes there and starts looking, syncing his soul with his body while focusing on his eyes.
After careful observation, there seems to be something like a golden shining beside the tree.
"There is definitely something here!" Louis points with enthusiasm.
"Where? Where? Are you messing with me?" Jeanne looks to where he is pointing but doesn't see anything.
"Here! It's like a… golden line or something? Can you lift me up?"
"Uh… Sure?" Jeanne morphs and lifts Louis up so he can touch the line.
"OK! I am going to try something!" As Louis touches and pokes the line, it feels like some solid piece of steel; by focusing on his aura, he grabs the line but, due to being at a weird angle, doesn't quite see what he is doing.
"Are you doing ok over there?"
"Yeah, I think I figured it out! Try to, uh, let me go. I think it might fall down with just my weight or something?"
"Well, it's something you found, I guess; try not to get hurt!"
Jeanne kneels down and releases Louis, but he is just hanging in the air.
"…"
"Y-You are… levitating?"
"There is something here! I swear!"
"This seems like some aura bullshit. I think it is about time we call someone after all!"
"You are right… Maybe we try the flare thing? Can you pick it from my pocket? I am not sure if I can find this thing again if I let go…"
"Yeah, give me a sec… got it!"
"Ok, huh… Think I can just… pull myself up from this spot…?"
Jeanne stops trying to light the flare and looks up with curiosity. "…? Well… Can you?"
As Louis pulls up, the golden light seems to expand into some sort of cube with a dark center; the closer he looks, the deeper the center feels and the brighter the sides. Once he seems to touch his nose on the square, it feels like he is being pulled in!
"ACK!" Louis is getting dragged inside of the square; once half of his torso is in, his screaming stops and his legs flail outside, seeming like half a person is dangling in the air.
"LOUIS! NO!" Jeanne drops the flare and goes full morph to grab his legs with a vice-grip and tries to pull him out!
It didn't even take a moment after she started pulling, and the other side seemingly pulled with double the strength, enough power to drag Jeanne inside as well.
Inside the golden tunnel, both Louis and Jeanne were getting chucked around left and right; inside, there was apparently no air, and they couldn't breathe.
After the most busted roller coaster ride of his life, Louis feels the floor hit his face, and barely a second later Jeanne falls on top of him in full werewolf form, way more battered, bruised, and bleeding than Louis.
"OW OW OW, DAMN IT! I SHOULD HAVE JUST CALLED SOMEONE RIGHT AWAY!"
"Aw… Hey, can you give me some space, please?"
"I can't even move right now! Everything hurts!"
"I, uh, I am crawling out; give me a moment…"
Every movement Louis made caused Jeanne to respond with a yelp or groan in pain.
Once Louis got up and checked on Jeanne, he noticed she was hurt all over; as he didn't feel too bad, he expected her to be doing better.
"That thing hit you pretty badly! I got the first aid kit with me! Hang in there!"
"Wait! Check around first; we don't know if this place is safe or where we are right now. I can manage; check around for a bit!"
With a quick glance Louis can tell this seems to be some sort of storage room; if this was a commonly used place, some guard would have noticed the ruckus they just made.
Louis then whispers, "More importantly, if we can get you up and going as fast as possible, the better; this seems to be a back door of sorts."
"Ok, so, uh, be quick; overall, it is best if we try to contact the rest of the team… Ugh…" Jeanne shrinks back into a human, and she seems more battered than ever, with a bleeding nose and a black eye. As soon as Louis gets the medkit out, he starts the cleaning process and passes ointment.
"No need for bandages; if, when I morph back, the wounds start closing faster anyway, and I might need to turn back anyway, they would rip."
"Ok, understood."
"Louis, do a quick check on the compass; I dropped the flare, and we need to know how far we are from the rest."
With a quick look at his multitool, Louis sees that the dots seem way closer than when they were checking the cars.
"I think… The tunnel sent us way farther than expected… seems like everyone is close? Wait, even the teacher is coming close now! She probably joined the instructor and Laura!"
"I think I am hearing some noise way up! Louis, Just give me a moment to catch my breath here, carefully go outside, and try to meet with the instructor and the others. I'll check around here first. If this is their emergency exit, someone has got to block it."
"I can't just leave you hurt here alone! I…" Louis feels Jeanne's hand grab his right shoulder and stops speaking.
"Louis, this is an order as a captain. Just go."
"…Understood." After one last check-up on Jeanne, who is waving at him, Louis gets up and makes his way to the door. The storage room is not too big, maybe just double the size of his dormitory. The door to this place is not even locked. After looking through the keyhole and checking for sounds around the place, he opens it, as he thinks there is no one around.
The place seems to be some rustic meeting room, with a medium-sized table and seven chairs, very messy with random trash dropped around; one of the chairs seemed fancier than the others.
Besides the door from the storage room, there is a door to each side of the room. Louis hears noises from the door to his right, so he figures he should check the one on the left first and then the one in the front.
[If I am getting in a fight, hopefully it's on the last door; they seem busy on that side, so they might not notice whatever I do in the other rooms.]
Going carefully to the left door while crouched, he notices it's open as well; once he goes inside, a pure white sight startles him for a second!
[Toilet… Next…]
Making his way to the door to the front carefully again, this time the door is closed.
The noises coming from the door to the right intensify; sooner rather than later he is going to have to deal with whatever is going on there.
[No time to doubt!]
Louis syncs his aura to his body and slams the door with everything he can, breaking the door down.
"Hiie!" Louis hears someone gasping from the inside; it seems to be a simple office with books and documents.
[Security in this place is kinda flimsy once we got here; I think there is someone under the table!]
"Get out of there and get on the floor! Right now!" Louis says in a firm voice, loud enough for the person under the table but hopefully low enough so anyone in the other rooms can't hear.
"I am sorry! I am just a middleman! Please have mercy!"
"Don't worry, I am just going to tie you up. This place is totally surrounded, so don't try anything; everyone is coming in." Louis bluffs while hoping this is actually what is happening.
"Yes…! I am sorry! Understood!" The man who surrendered lies on the floor and puts his hands on his back.
"How many allies do you know who are still around?" Louis asks while binding the person.
"About 20 guys and a professional aura merc went out over half an hour ago to target intruders, and no one came back! I am not stupid; I can tell we are busted already. We shouldn't have tried to mess around in the area of the crow!"
[Crow…?]
After finishing tying up the trafficker, Louis decides to head to the final door; after opening it, booming sounds start to grow louder and louder.
Climbing up a ladder towards the noises, he opens up some sort of trapdoor. To which he sees something he doesn't think he will ever forget for the rest of his life.
Debris everywhere, to what seemed to be a building, bodies scattered left and right, A golden armored figure, fighting some weird, lanky, tall, black-feathered figure.
To then feel something poking the back of his head.
"Huh…?"
"Hey, kid! How didya come up from there?"
It was the instructor. Doing a pistol hand with her gauntlet.