Loomian Legacy: Veils of Shadow

Chapter 20

After practically gobbling up their lunch at the Loomian Center (when you battle a lot, you get pretty hungry right after), everyone prepared to head off to Route 8.

"What do you think is on the other side of the gate?" Nadia asked as they headed to the left side of the fork.

"There's a resort there," Musa started, "I checked it out once when I was on my way to Silvent. It's very nice."

"A resort?!" Angel exclaimed, eyes lighting up. "I've never been!"

"The cabins are pretty scattered, though, so it's more of a camp thing than a resort...but Sepharite citizens do rent them out to get away from the city." replied Zinx. "Anyway, there's a laboratory owned by POLUT Corp. there that researches Loomians under the water in Route 8. It's harmless, though, so we can go check 'em out anytime."

Nadia nodded and took in all the info her friends knew. "So what you're saying is, the most notable places are the resort and the lab." Both Musa and Zinx nod. "Ohoho, this is getting interesting." She looks forward with a noticeable glint in her eyes. Angel whoops in the back, screaming about the resort.

When they passed the Route 8 gate, Nadia and Angel were a little surprised that the city connects to Route 8 by a short brick tunnel. Zinx and Musa had just walked past them, since they've seen this before.

After the tunnel, the path splits, one side being dirt and leading to the rest of the route and the other continuing straight before it stops abruptly at the river. The straight path was steel, with openings covered by chain-link, showing the water flowing underneath.

Nadia could barely see them, but Goppies and Ampoles lazily swim about, some peeking up, spotting the trainers, others seeing them and swimming away as fast as possible.

Zinx urges them to continue the route, saying there'll be cooler stuff later. The others shrug at each other and follow anyway.

The path then stops at a long boardwalk, and a peek over the edge confirmed that Lucy, Mabel, and Jake were at the pier, which made everyone sigh in relief. When they stepped down to the lower parts, Angel sees Lucas pacing back and forth on the wood.

"Oh hey, it's Lucas!" Angel shouts, loud enough for the blonde to notice them coming towards him. He smiles brightly at them.

"You guys made it!" He cheers. "How was whatever you had to do?"

Nadia scrunches her nose in discomfort. "It was...hectic."

Lucas nods. "Oh okay, I won't question it any further. Anyway, we just got here, and I think you already know by now, but we found Jake. He's over there, talking with the others." He points towards the end of the boardwalk.

"Yeah, we saw. Well, let's go then." Musa gestured, and the five of them walked to the pier, where Mabel, Lucy, and Jake were standing in a huddle before Mabel spotted them and tapped Lucy on the shoulder. Lucy glances in Mabel's line of sight and straightens up.

"Oh, good, everyone's here now." Her shoulders sag in relief. "You took care of whatever happened, yes?"

"Yeah, everything's good now. Hopefully nothing more happens in Sepharite." Nadia answers back.

"Okay, but what took you so long?" Mabel steps in front of them, but shushes Angel with her finger before she had the chance to speak. "Actually, that doesn't matter. The good thing is we're all here and Jake is safe."

Nadia sighs at this.

Lucas looks at Jake. "So what happened to you, Jake?"

Jake scratches his head at this. "Well, let's just say I have a sense for when something is amiss. I knew something wasn't right about POLUT Corp. after our tour. Did some snooping around, but didn't want to drag you guys into it."