The island had reached New Orleans swiftly, the ruined city looked abandoned by both people and hope. The only light coming from the very outskirts, from the people that either refuses to leave or belong to criminal organisations.
Fortunately for the ones that refuse to leave, with the Explorer's Guild there they're still able to earn money and a reputation. Every now and then they're hired to go to another state before coming back with the rewards.
It's quite possibly the only thing that keeps them sane.
The skyscrapers in the distance have been torn apart and collapsed in on themselves, after being abandoned for so long their structural integrity wouldn't last long. Especially with the attacks from aquatic beasts every so often. Although they don't target the buildings; when fighting against another beast the surroundings are always under threat from the damage.
"It really has been abandoned," Lachlan remarked by the edge of the island. He was standing there along with the rest of the group, Marie, Valentina, Pedro, and Elena. They looked in awe at the ruins of the city, with the sunlight hitting the building the right way they could see light beams pass through the holes.
The overgrowth began to climb the walls, the roads have cracked and ruptured along with the pathways. The riverside has basically been completely destroyed, the trees were broken in half while any houses or buildings have been smashed apart.
"Should we really set up a branch here? I know there are still people and everything but it just doesn't feel right." Phoebe was concerned about the location, Marie had informed everyone of the residents of New Orleans. Phoebe wasn't too keen on making a branch here to help feed them. And although no one else spoke up it was obvious most of them agreed.
"What are you talking about, this is exactly the place where it's best to start a business!" Marie shouted abruptly. "Although it isn't exactly a nice business strategy, with the people here already in such desperate circumstances staff would be easy to find and there would be plenty of customers wanting good food."
"That kind of feels wrong," Phoebe muttered quietly. She wasn't alone either, something just felt off about exploiting people's situation to make money. Granted, just about every big brand did it before the evolution.
"Yes, it will feel wrong but remember, you're giving them both food and money. It's a win-win situation, not to mention there would be a lot more requests for the Explorer's Guild when it comes to hunting, so you're also providing jobs," Marie explained.
"She is right," Flynn stepped into the conversation. "Not only does it provide any current Explorer's Jobs, but it also gives people that aren't strong the chance of making money by getting employed. Not to mention just helping out won't be enough, sure it'll keep them on their feet for a month or so but then they'll be back to struggling. Giving residents a means of living is a great way to help."
"Well if you put it that way I suppose it does sound good," Phoebe said as she backed off. She couldn't argue against the logic, she too knew that temporary support won't be enough. Phoebe also knew that being in the industry they need to do such things to advance steadily.
"Alright, you can all deal with that, I'm going to stay on the island and do a bit of testing," Lachlan said before taking off. The group stared at his fleeting figure, disappearing above the treeline and past the mountains.
"What's he doing?" Simon asked as he tilted his head curiously.
"Probably going to do a few tests on the gravity stones and the spatial gate; he really wants to go through and explore but he also doesn't want to put the entire island at risk of collapsing due to it," Phoebe answered.
"Fair enough, he's probably jealous of my Wildfire," Simon said proudly. "We'll go do our things and let him do his things, and since he's doing it for the sake of the island we can also help out once we've finished down in the city."
Responding with a nod they all lept off the island; Marie had to be grabbed and pulled off the island because she was too afraid to jump. Just the sight of them being so high in the air made her slightly nauseous. Chloe was the on to pull her off, carrying Marie in one arm she carried them through the air.
...
In another area on the island, Lachlan had just landed on Anne's research laboratory. If there was anyone with the most experience in conducting experiments it should be Anne. Although there was plenty of things he could do by himself he doesn't want to miss anything that could jeopardise the island.
Walking into the laboratory Lachlan saw the screens were all lit up. Anne had set up hidden cameras around the edge of the island, hidden on treetops and in bushes they were heavily hidden. She wasn't worried about any human intruders but was instead interested in the beast intruders.
There were beast limbs just about covering every inch of the lab; Anne had continued experimenting with the limbs. Seeing if there was a way to use the blood of a beast to help a human, as their blood is far stronger and superior. There were also some rather unique ones as well; a flying spider had landed on the island a few days ago yet none of them noticed. Anne had taken care of it with technology, saying that the spider was a glass canon.
Lachlan never got to see it alive so he wasn't able to determine whether or not the flying spider was a high grade or not. If that was so then it could mean many other beasts would grow wings in the future, which would make the skies slightly more unsafe.
"Hey Lachlan, what do you need from this old one." Anne was relaxing on her chair, looking at the screens that were analysing the spider's venom, she was wondering if she could make stronger anti-venoms, possibly saving humanity from the fear of venomous bites.
"I need your help with some experiments I want to try out. It shouldn't take long, only ten or so minutes if even that," Lachlan replied as he took a few steps forward and took a look at the screens. "So, have you gotten any closer in creating an anti-venom?"
'Surprisingly I actually have; that flying spider possessed a few components needed for the current anti-venom I'm working on," Anne replied with joy. She loved creating things of science, whether it be technology or cures; cause she knew they could be used to help people.
"That's great, how much longer till you think you could experiment with it?" Lachlan asked. Although he was curious as to how she would test it, they didn't have any small mouse to inject with venom or anything.
"It'll probably be another half a year before I'm able to assemble a good anti-venom; the problems with testing can be sorted out afterwards," Anne said, she knew what Lachlan was thinking about. It was also an issue she would have to deal with when the time comes.
Standing up she turned to Lachlan. "Alright, let's go do your experiments, I don't have a lot of spare time so we should hurry. And no, that is not consent for you to grab me and drag me through the skies as the speed of sound."
She was monitoring the cameras almost 24/7, she had seen the fright Lachlan gave Marie during her first time flying. Anne thought it was reckless and irresponsible; although she trusted Lachlan's abilities Lachlan wouldn't know how Marie would react to suddenly being brought into the air.
Lachlan faintly laughed. "Alright, I won't be doing that. You also have a stone of your own so go at your own pace. Granted, since you're in a rush I would suggest not going too slow."
By the time they reached the top of the staircase Lachlan had leapt off and was gone with the wind. Anne sighed as she shook her head before taking a graceful step off, she floated in the air peacefully before taking off at a moderate pace.
Unlike the others, she was quite weak, not to mention old.
By the time she reached the orphanage Lachlan was seen leaning against the cave wall, his heel tapping against the ground rapidly as his arms were crossed. When he saw Anne had finally made it over Lachlan rushed over.
"Alright, so do you know about spatial gates? Has anyone told you yet?" Lachlan asked in a rush. He was slightly hoping someone had taken the time to explain to Anne that there's a spatial gate in the cave and about the properties of the gate.
"Nope, I think I heard you all mention that name a couple of times but I have no idea what it is," Anne said as she scratched her head.
"Okay, so spatial gates are tears in space that connect to points in the universe or possibly universes. There's a spatial gate inside the cave, connecting to Aaron's world which is much larger and more dangerous than ours. Now, I want to know if gravity stones still work when someone goes through the gate," Lachlan explained very quickly and briefly to Anne.
"Alright, but you don't want to experiment yourself because you might be putting everyone's lives at great risk with the chance of the island crumbling down on the ground below," Anne added on. Lachlan nodded vigorously.
"Okay, let's begin," Anne walked into the cave, handing her gravity stone to Lachlan who was going to wait outside. Once she walked in far enough she just disappeared into the darkness, Lachlan could no longer sense her through any means.
Holding onto the stone he felt no changes to the gravity, not even the slightest. He suddenly remembered that he was still holding onto his gravity stone, the one being used to constantly nullify the island's gravity whenever he was on it.
Taking it out his pocket he gave it very specific commands, heavily limiting the stone's area of effect. Once that was done he tossed it away and the stone floated off into the distance. Although he had to bear the full force of the cave's gravity he's done it before. Not to mention now, he's a lot stronger.
Looking back at Anne's stone he still felt no difference in the gravity. He waited for a couple of minutes before Anne walked back out of the gate. "So, were there any changes?"
"Nope, none at all," Lachlan replied.
"Well, there's your answer. It seems that gates do in fact cut off your connection with the stone, I suppose we're going to have to do with another way if you really want to go back to the other side," Anne said mysteriously.
"Come on, don't hold back on me Anne and just spill it," Lachlan said impatiently.
"What if the original stone works differently from normal stones, and that more then one person can take control of the stone," Anne suggested something Lachlan hadn't even thought for a second possible.
Lachlan thought about it momentarily. "I suppose it's a feasible idea, we'll test it out now so we can be certain whether or not that theory is true or not. Do you want to be the one to try?"
"You know, you're quite the trusting one aren't you?" Anne said as she shook her head. "Although I could and it wouldn't be a bad idea since I'm always on the island. I'm not sure if the others would trust me so much, aside from the research on intelligent beasts and mutated children, I haven't done anything good for you all."
"But those very things are the reason I trust you; granted, sure you could be bad, however, it'll only take a second for us to end your life if I were, to put it bluntly," Lachlan explained coldly. "Although I don't think your bad because of how much you've helped us over the time you've been here."
"Alright, I'll give it a try," Anne said before her eyes constricted from the sudden force of something pulling her away. Lachlan had grabbed hold of her the moment she said yes, bringing her through the air at 150km/h.
A gravity stone was following close behind them the entire way, Lachlan had commanded it to do so.
When they reached the centre Lachlan quickly brought Anne to the entrance, the root, ever so slightly off the ground. And the plethora of high-grade gravity stone beneath it. Holding up his hand the gravity stone smacked right into it.
Lachlan grabbed hold of it and placed it into his pocket. He then brought Anne through the cave, until the reached the hole where the origin stone is.
Anne looked over the edge, her eyes widened at the sight of a gravity stone so large. Holding her hands just above the hole she gave herself a small cut on her index finger. The droplet of blood fell slowly before accelerating.
"Oh yeah, you need more than one droplet of blood to take control over it." Lachlan swiftly remembered that the origin worked slightly different to normal stones. Lachlan had given it quite a bit of blood.
"Don't worry I'll eventually get to it, I'm not exactly young and full of youth anymore, and I'm certainly not like your group that can heal much faster than the average human either," Anne complained at Lachlan's rushing.
Lachlan sighed before going over to the cave walls and leaning on it. He waited patiently before he heard Anne gasp, she came running over to Lachlan with eyes of joy.
"It worked! It actually worked!" Anne shouted joyfully. "And it seems to work in a ranking system, the first one to take control obviously gets the most dominant control and it goes down from there. So if you're not here it falls to my command, if we get the others to drop some blood on there then if I'm not here it'll fall to their command."
"That's some great news, some absolutely wonderful news I was wanting to here," Lachlan replied happily as he could now travel between the worlds without worry. "Now then, set your command to allow the island to fly, we'll check it out ever so slightly."
Anne nodded before they left the stone and went back to the gate. Lachlan walked through the cave, once the cave exit disappeared behind him he walked back through. Anne was standing there with her thumbs up and a wide grin. "It works."
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Once he found that out he was ready to sprint through the portal and explore the world. However, he didn't want to just disappear on everyone right away. Not to mention he wanted to spend some time with both Sarah and Phoebe before he leaves, he might not return for a while.
Taking in a deep breathe Lachlan grabbed hold of Anne and brought her back to her laboratory slowly. He took it rather easy; he could see Sophie and Sarah playing with each other in front of the huts. Maddie was nearby, resting in the shade as she kept an eye on the two.
When he landed Maddie jumped in fright, she began hyperventilating and looking up she relaxed slightly at the sight of Lachlan. She wasn't expecting anyone else to be nearby as she thought they all went down to the city.
"What's up Lachlan? Why aren't you with the others?" Maddie asked curiously. She could see that Lachlan was staring at Sarah, a bright, warming smile was plastered across his face.
Turning his attention to Maddie Lachlan answered her questions. "Nothing much, I was just doing a bit of experimentation with the help of Anne. As of right now, I'm thinking of spending some time with Sarah and Phoebe."
"So does that mean you are going to take Sarah down to the city?" Maddie asked, thinking Lachlan was slightly irresponsible. "You do remember that this run-down city is the headquarters of criminal organisations right? It certainly isn't a place you bring a child."
"Don't worry I know, and I'm not going to stay in the city but instead go visit the national parks and lakes to relax. I'll probably try and get Pedro or Elena to whip up a quick meal for us to eat for lunch," Lachlan explained his plan. He had looked at the maps Flynn had bought at Houston, and the national parks were surprisingly low on the ranking. It seems the dangers from the open waters deterred most land beasts away.
'Alright, have fun. I'll probably bring Sophie to the orphanage and have her socialise with the others," Maddie said as she stood up, stretching her muscles and cracking her knuckles.
Walking over to Sophie she picked her up and threw her into the air before catching Sophie and bringing her into her arms. "Alright Sophie, it's time to go and hang out with the other children. Lachlan's going to spend some quality time with Sarah."
"Okay mummy." Sophie held on tight as she snuggled her head into Maddie's arms. Maddie took off into the skies, heading towards the orphanage, slowly disappearing over the mountain range.
Sarah came running over to Lachlan and slammed in his legs. She placed her feet on Lachlan's as she wrapped her arms around Lachlan's leg. "Walk Lachlan walk."
Lachlan smiled brightly as he took very small legs, carrying Sarah forward with his legs. She began laughing loudly as they moved, she smiled brightly as her grip on Lachlan's legs tightened. "Lachlan, are you taking me down to the city with Phoebe?"
"Yes I am; then we're going to go sightseeing in the national wildlife parks. You don't have to worry, there's not much danger there and any of the dangers there can be easily beaten by your big brother now can't they?" Lachlan leaned over and picked Sarah up, placing her on his shoulders.
"No, they can't!" Sarah shouted as she held up her hands. Lachlan held onto Sarah's legs firmly to make sure she doesn't fall off. Taking off they flew straight up before flying off the island, heading towards the outskirts of the city.
Lachlan could see the group, just leaving the Explorer's Guild building. The building looked rather old like it was made in the 80s with thick stone slabs. The roof looked brand new, likely been replaced by something more solid to protect the ones working in the building.
Landing on the ground by the building Lachlan walked up to the group. They were busy talking to each other and discussing how they were going to build their branches here.
"We should have it by the Explorer's Guild, that way, whenever someone brings back a kill we could directly buy it from the guild," Flynn suggested. Everyone in the group nodded and looked around at the nearby buildings. Most of which were normal houses.
"What about there?" Zoe was pointing towards an open plot of land roughly 20 metres wide and 30 metres long, it was most likely going to used to build a house but the evolution came before anything could come into fruition. "There's enough room for both businesses."
"Now we have the location, what about the materials used for building?" Marie asked. "Although we could see steel, there aren't many steel manufacturers nor are they any close. As for food and stone, if the walls aren't thick enough the beasts could easily tear through them like it's nothing."
"What if we build it underground?" Simon suggested. "You know, similar to what the whole city of Houston is doing. Should we build a whole system underground that connects to places with the largest gatherings of people, it could be used as both shelter and a safe path straight to the food."
"That's a great idea!" Flynn said loudly. The whole group agreed as it solved both problems. If they make the underground system low enough into the ground then it's almost already impenetrable, not to mention safe.
As the group were discussing Phoebe walked over to Lachlan, she raised an eyebrow at the sight of Sarah on Lachlan's shoulders. Normally, whenever they visited a place the main group would go down and scout things out before Lachlan or Chloe would even consider bringing down the children.
Seeing her frown Lachlan walked up and explained himself. "I'm planning on making my way into the other world, I've already sorted things out with Anne who now also has control over the origin gravity stone. So, with all things considered I wanted to make the most of the time I have and spend it with my two favourite people."
"Alright, so what do you have planned?" Phoebe asked as she placed her hands on her hips. "As you can see there aren't exactly many things to do here, it's basically a ghost town."
"There are a few national wildlife parks, all low in danger ranking. How about we go there and have a picnic or something along those lines?" Lachlan asked. "None of us has done anything like that in over two years, I think it'll be fun and relaxing."
"Alright, but instead, let's do it like a camping trip. Startup a wood fire, one of us can go get some meat and we barbeque it," Phoebe suggested her own idea. "Although it may not seem like it; I was pretty big into camping trips back before the Earth evolved."
"Nah, I could surprisingly see that actually," Lachlan said as he nodded, slightly puckering his lips, lowering his eyebrows. "As for me, I've never gone camping before the world evolved, used to spend most of my time at home or mucking around with friends around the streets."
"I could see that." Phoebe nodded with a smile and likely chuckled. "Now, let's get going; since we only have roughly half the day left to do this."
Nodding Lachlan held onto Sarah firmly as both he and Phoebe took off into the air. The group didn't mind at all, they didn't need either Lachlan's or Phoebe's assistance in anything they were currently doing.
Lachlan decided against going to a majority of the wildlife parks near New Orleans, most of them were swamps that were likely filled to the brim with crocodiles. Something Chloe would probably very much enjoy.
Instead, they were flying a bit away to get to Kisatchie National Forest. Although Lachlan wasn't sure, he hoped it had the perfect setting for this picnic. He wanted a wide, open area just by the streams. Surrounded by large trees, the leaves, used for shade.
That's what he wanted, and fortunately, that's exactly what he managed to go.
When they got there they hovered above for a little while, searching for a spot to head down to. That's when Lachlan found the spot he was dreaming of; although the trees were much larger, there was still a decent amount of space by the stream to set up the fire.
Going down they landed on the ground and summoned their beasts, Phoebe let Faith stay in the stream as it wasn't able to fit on the ground. The rest of the tames relaxed with them as Phoebe was setting up the wood.
Once she was done she glared at Lachlan and raised her eyebrows. "Come on, you don't expect me to start the fire as well, especially when there's someone that can do it so easily."
Lachlan smiled and chuckled as he raised a hand. A small ball of fire gentle floated from his hand onto the wood, setting it alight. Sarah immediately ran up to the fire and held out her hands, feeling the warmth it emitted from itself.
"Lachlan, come over here and do what I'm doing, it feels so nice," Sarah said as she turned her head towards Lachlan. Her bright eyes filled with joy as her whole body was warming up by the fire.
Walking over Lachlan felt the fire. The warmth it radiated was something he hadn't felt in a while, it was almost scorching hot but it felt nice as well. Although they had the wind stones they didn't give off the same feeling, as the fire didn't blast them with hot air.
Lachlan squatted right behind Sarah and held his arms out above her head. Spreading open his hands he moved his fingers, wriggling them around. Lachlan realised how much their group was adapted to the cold weather, as sometimes, they didn't bother to set up a campfire during the days that they were sleeping on the beach.
Phoebe came over to Lachlan and squatted down, leaning over she rest her head on Lachlan's shoulders. "How about you get one of the birds to go and get something for all of us to eat? Tell them to make sure it's a large beast."
'You heard her, who's up for it?' Lachlan asked all his beasts telepathically. All of them were currently behind him, they were doing nothing but staring around at the forest and stream.
'I'll do it father' Disaster was surprisingly the first to volunteer for the job, he seemed rather excited as well. 'I'll make sure to bring back something none of us will be able to finish eating.'
Taking off Disaster nearly blew out the fire, fortunately, Lachlan made sure to take control over the fire to stop that. The fire continued to blaze onwards, as it was burning through the small sticks that Phoebe had set up.
Lachlan stood up abruptly, surprising Phoebe who was resting her head on him. He walked over to the side where one of the surrounding trees were and looked up at the branches. Bending his knees he shot up, swiftly reaching the branch without a problem.
The branch was dark brown, it was as thick as the average person's thigh. Placing his hand on it Lachlan used his control over the wind and blasted out a blade. Slicing the branch from its tree.
Falling down Lachlan fell down with it, slightly slower than it as well. It slammed into the ground, creating a loud thumping sound as it snapped in half from the impact. Lachlan used precise wind control to cut the branch into much smaller pieces, perfect size for the wood fire.
He brought a piece over and tossed it on before returning to his original position. Phoebe sighed before resting her head on Lachlan's shoulders again, she wrapped one arm around Lachlan's neck and held out the other to the fire.
They spent their time in that position before Disaster came back with his kill. It was a large boar, just ever so slightly smaller than the intelligent beast Simon had killed.
Aaron walked up to it and sliced it into individual parts, the beasts got the largest chunks as they needed it while Lachlan, Phoebe, and Sarah got pieces that weighed roughly 2 - 3 kilos.
Lachlan made a thin but strong stuck out of one of the wooden pieces, he started cutting up the meat with slow blades of wind and sticking it onto the stick. He was creating a kebab.
Phoebe and Sarah stared at Lachlan with wide eyes, or more specifically, they were staring at the kebab in his hands.
Lachlan sighed before creating a few more sticks, he swiftly cut off their pieces of meat, turning them into kebabs before placing them around the fire. They then waited and every so often Lachlan for turn the side facing the fire.
The three began to talk about life and everything going on. Sarah had decided that her future goal was to make a bunch of friends and create a group similar to Lachlan's and Phoebe's.
The two laughed as told Sarah that is was a great idea, but then Lachlan told her that she would need to spend more time with the children at the orphanage if she ever wanted a chance of that ever happening.
She gladly agreed to Lachlan's suggestion, telling them that she's managed to form closer bonds to the children she was once with at Mount Barker.
Time passed quickly, Lachlan's beasts were no longer standing but rather, they were huddled up behind the tree, forming a sort of shield around them.
Lachlan could see through the gaps in the tree branches that the sun was getting low, darkness was beginning to consume the forest. Standing up he brushed any dirt of his butt. "Alright, we should probably get going the sun's getting real low and I'd rather not spend the night sleeping in the wilderness."
Lachlan then walked over and lifted up Sarah. She was already asleep, her head tilted as though she was dead but Lachlan could clearly hear her breathing.
Carrying her like a princess Lachlan unsummoned his tames, Phoebe did the same before they returned to the island to sleep with each other. Lachlan used the wind stone to create a warm, comforting atmosphere inside the hut as he and Phoebe went to sleep.
The others returned from the city an hour later, all of them looked exhausted and stressed. They barely even talked as they swiftly returned to their huts to get some sleep; they had a long day of constructing and there were so many more problems than they expected.
Hope You Enjoyed!
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