“In your heart?” Michael asked tentatively. He pushed down Terry’s walkie-talkie.

“Something like that,” Chomby said. “Hard to explain, but I need to go tell Xenon!”

“Woah there, Chomby. I don’t think that’s a good idea. You’re not seriously thinking of going to save Xenon, are you?” Michael walked between Chomby and the door.

“But I solved the mystery! I figured it out!” Chomby said. “Please, it’s important.”

“It’s also important that you stay safe.” Michael looked at Terry and flicked his head toward the door. Chomby was assuming Michael was asking for backup.

Terry finished his doughnut and stood up. “Do you really think it’s so important that putting your life at risk will be worth it?”

Chomby thought about it for a moment. He looked down at his hands. He’d just received one of the biggest revelations of his life. It was definitely life-changing. He had both an excitement and fear within him. He was excited to have put the pieces together to create a logical outcome… but he was afraid of what it entailed.

The only person who would understand was Xenon. He’d been with Chomby from the start, and he even promised he wouldn’t stop until they figured it out. No matter how Chomby looked at it, this idea upset him. He was grateful for Xenon’s willingness to help, but he couldn’t understand why Xenon was going so far out of his way to help Chomby. If Chomby were in Xenon’s shoes, he would have just helped with the initial question and then left. This wasn’t because he had no desire to help, but there isn’t much he would have been able to do anyway. Running solely based on amnesia and next-to-no leads would’ve been impossible. So why was Xenon still a part of this? Why did he put himself in danger?

Chomby didn’t know. He couldn’t pretend to figure it out. At the end of the day, he could only make an assumption. Xenon was missing Sarge.

“Yes, Terry, it is important.” Chomby clenched his fists and looked up at the two. “My friend risked his life just so that I could be happy, and I can’t let it end this way.” Chomby shook his head. “He needs to know how much he helped me. And he won’t know that if he’s… gone. I don’t want him to die, sure, but if he does… I don’t want him to die thinking that he didn’t help me!”

“He could already be dea-” Terry started to say. Michael elbowed him and scowled.

“And what if he isn’t?” Chomby barked. “Am I just going to treat it like Schrodinger’s cat? He could be alive or dead, but we won’t know until we get a call from whomever saying he is?!” Chomby stamped his foot in the ground. “I’m begging you two to let me go! If he’s alive, maybe I can save him. If he’s going to die, then I need to talk to him. Whatever the case, I. Need. To. Go. NOW!”

Michael’s tone changed. Though he was acting light-hearted before, his expression became contemplative and serious. He spent a moment to talk it over with Terry before leaving the room to go talk with Stacy. He returned five minutes later. Stacy agreed to let Chomby go. The only caveat was there were no available personnel to give him a ride at the moment. He asked if Michael could. Michael said his and Terry’s vehicle were out of order, so they mainly just did office work while it was being repaired.

Chomby understood and immediately left. He knew that there was no time to waste. Once he made it outside, he felt the chill night air surround him. There were no cars on the roads tonight. Most of the house lights in the neighborhood were turned off. The air felt eerie.

He exhaled sharply and watched his breath disappear into the air. He began to run. “Guess it just got cold enough. Wonderful.”

He remembered the address of the meeting spot. It had been branded at the top of his mind ever since Bark gave him the card. Since then, he and Xenon went over the directions to the location and mapped out anywhere they could. All he needed to do was get there now. But was running fast enough? He knew the police station was a decent drive away from his house, so it would take the same amount of time to go from here to the meeting spot. What was he supposed to do? Maybe he could have looked for a ride, but would people be up at this hour?

Chomby knew what he had to do. He grabbed a hold of his ears and began to pull them backwards. He didn’t know how long he could keep up the speed boost, but any amount of distance he could make in a shorter time was good.

Chomby felt the world around him slow down as his legs started hitting the ground harder and faster. He wasn’t sure how slow time was supposed to be going, but he certainly felt fast. He looked at his phone and watched the seconds go by. By the time a single second passed, he noticed he’d made it almost a whole block.

The buildings on the left street side soon faded to a line of trees. This meant he was skirting the forest. He was getting closer. He could feel his breathing became heavy. He wasn’t sure how long he was supposed to increase his speed in this way, but he knew his exhaustion was ramping up quickly. Once it was almost impossible to concentrate on running anymore, Chomby flicked his ears up and felt the world speed up again. He keeled over and dropped his hands to his knees.

Breathing heavily, Chomby looked up. He noticed he’d stopped under a street light. It lit up the street enough for him to see his immediate surroundings. To his right, he could see a line of houses. Most lights were turned off at this point. He then noticed the forest to his left. The line of trees made it impossible for him to see anything beyond that. It felt intimidating.

Chomby spent the next few minutes catching his breath. Once he felt rested enough, he looked at his phone and pulled out the digital map. It took a few moments to load, but once it did, his heart skipped a beat. He was here. Already?

He decided to give the area another long look. It still seemed very unassuming. The long row of houses, the line of trees, the black road…. To most people, this intersection was nothing special. It was just another point to cross in their day to day lives. This wasn’t the case for Chomby.

He turned toward the forest and began walking. From this point on, he wasn’t sure what he was looking for. He only had Sarge’s case file, his plans with Xenon, and the information the police department provided him. In all cases, nothing really told him what he needed to be aware of.

“What am I supposed to do now?” He asked himself aloud.

“Perhaps I can help?” a voice said from behind Chomby.

He instantly spun around and kicked off the ground to distance himself from whomever just spoke. Because he was all-too-familiar with their voice by now, he knew it was Bark.

“What do you want, Bark?” Chomby snarled. He saw that Bark was currently wearing a dark gray hoodie. He was also wearing a black-colored wolf mask over his eyes.

“Don’t be so hostile,” Bark said. “This is our meeting spot, after all!” Bark gestured to the intersection.

“But it’s not the time we agreed to. Why are you here?” Chomby felt like he needed to defend himself, so he took a deep breath and prepared a sonic blast.

“I figured you’d come around at this time.” Bark chuckled and pulled out his phone. “You’re actually here almost right on cue! Had to drink a few coffees so I could stay awake.”

“You bugged me! You creep!” Chomby yelled. “Xenon found the device on my neck. The heck did you do with him, anyway?”

“He’s not hurt, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Bark said. “I think you need to lower your voice a bit, though. It’s too early in the morning to make a disturbance.”

“I think YOU need to tell me where Xenon is, Bark.” Chomby placed one of his feet behind him and took an even deeper breath. “Or, so help me, I will blast you to Kingdom Come!”

“If it’s anything like that test of speed you had, I’d prefer to not get violent.” Bark flipped through his phone for a moment. He then pressed something Chomby couldn’t see and put the phone up to his ear. Chomby could hear a faint ringtone.

“Hm?” Bark said. “Oh, hey, Patty! Yeah! I’m here with the harbinger! They’re worried about their friend.” Bark pressed another button and pulled the phone away from his face.

Bark apparently put the phone on speaker mode, as Chomby heard a low-toned female voice speak. “He’s fine. Though, a bit tied up at the moment! He’s helping us set up the ritual!”

Bark smiled. “Thank you, Patty. We’ll be there soon!” bark put his phone away and looked back at Chomby. “See? He isn’t hurt.”

“Why would he be helping you with the ritual?” Chomby asked. “Why would he want anything to do with you?”

Bark shrugged. “I guess he had a change of heart.” He started walking toward Chomby. Chomby backed away. Bark seemed to notice this and pointed behind Chomby. “Site’s this way! We’ll go say hi to your friend. I’ll show you he isn’t hurt. And, if I’m wrong, you can sonic blast me to your hearts content!”

Chomby stood his ground but watched as Bark sidestepped past him to continue down the road into the forest. Chomby felt like this was a trap. But, between having no leads, and worrying about Xenon, he didn’t have much of a choice on what he should do. All he hoped was that Xenon was still alive.

~~~~~

Here's the next chapter!

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Story/Art/Chomby/Xenon/Sarge (C)  Juntarhenogu Me