Seeking Strays - Chapter 85 - The Hunt (Patreon)

The entire cohort gathered at the entrance to the funhouse. Sylvie’s ears constantly twitched around as she listened for movement inside of the eerie attraction. The yawning grin of the clown that acted as the front door cast deep shadows into the place.

“We found it first!” Vanessa found her spine, and stepped in front of the other four while wagging her finger. It was a brave front. Literally everyone could tell that by the way her legs shook.

”V…” Sylvie just sighed, and shook her head. “You guys figure out what it is yet?”

”Not enough clues to go off of.” Noah shrugged his shoulders. The boy had his halo out, casting a dim red glow down across his messy red hair. His halo was shaped like a shield with stars orbiting it. “You?”

”Same.” It was definitely some kind of canine… Sylvie kicked at the mud lightly. If it was Reyna, she’d probably be able to tell off the scent of the place alone. Right, she needed to add more research to her plans to get stronger quicker. It was the only way she’d be able to take some of the burden off her big sister’s shoulders.

“M-maybe we should call for a temporary truce?” Ryan, Caliber’s Canary, asked. The kid looked just as scared as Vanessa did. Not everyone was as gunho about charging a Calamity.

”You scared?” River shot back. Her Canary just rolled his shoulders. “If you can’t handle the heat, stay out of the kitchen.”

”Yeah! And if you can’t handle the clown, stay out of the clown house!” Vanessa’s strong front turned even stronger, and she moved past the cohort toward the mouth. “Let’s go team Vanilvie!”

”Let’s take the back.” Caliber led the other team of four away from the entrance as Vanessa staked her claim. 

”Sylessa sounds better.” Sylvie took point once more. Out of everyone, she was the best to frontline. Triss was deadly from a range, Vanessa was better as a background support, and River was training to be a rifleman through and through. That just left her to take the front.

Maybe I should swap to a shotgun to double down? Sylvie shrugged and pulled out a notebook from her pocket as they paused at the entrance, and flicked through the pages. She had it narrowed down to three Calamities, though she wasn’t quite sure which one. “What do you guys think?”

”It’s a Redcap. No other reason they’d throw so many pigs out.” River didn’t even hesitate. On the way here, they’d passed by a bloodbath from where one of the previous cohorts fought.

”They could be trying to get us used to gore.” Sylvie pointed out, and thumbed through the pages of her notebook for CE-4183’s entry. Redcap was also what she suspected. 

“W-what if it’s just a really nice, friendly dog that wants head pats?” Vanessa offered. From the look in her eyes, that’s what she desperately wanted it to be.

”Why was I paired with you?” Triss not so quietly asked, making the bunnygirl’s ears droop pitifully.

Sylvie glanced through the notebook, and snapped it closed with a shrug. The moment she did, she let her halo out. It was an undeniably odd sensation. She could feel the halo floating right over her head. For now, Lost Light just gave her a bit of strength. That wasn’t to be looked down on when combined with her claw Aspect, though. 

Her ears twitched up alertly to pick up any other sound from the Calamity to no avail. Instead, she could only make out the aged structures of the amusement park, patter of rain, and soft humming of drones spread out to watch them. Even just one sound cue could’ve helped to find out if it really was a Redcap.

Sylvie’s eyes locked onto one of the spheres floating in the air near-silently. It was one of several keeping watch on them. It was originally a little unnerving to be watched by so many drones, but she’d gotten used to them for the most part. Still, she’d rather rock a bodycam like Quinn then be followed around by a drone.

The walls inside of the funhouse, most of them simple wooden facades, were heavily worn down by the years. Instead of staying inside of the tight spaces of the funhouse’s designated path where an ambush could come at any moment, it was better to move through somewhere with wider sightlines.

“Cover me.” She dropped her rifle into its sling, and blue light gathered at her fists. In an instant, the light shifted into long, deadly wolf claws. With a swipe of her claws and a slam of her shoulder, one of the facades collapsed entirely to reveal a wider staff area hidden away.

Flashlights flicked on from behind her, illuminating the dusty hall that’d been hidden away. Sylvie could see just fine without the lights given her Silver Wolf heritage, but the other students not so much. Her eyes rapidly adjusted to the dim light as she pressed forward.

— — —

I watched my little sister enter the funhouse as I bit at my finger nail. Regeneration applied to my entire body, so no matter how much my sharp teeth nipped at my thumb, it always came back after a few minutes. They were just superficial wounds anyway.

On the screen, Sylvie’s claws tore through a section of the wall. Instead of heading down the pathway into a maze, the group of four directly bypassed it by. From my side, a reporter asked, “Is that her ability?”

“It’s her Apex Aspect,” I clarified.

“Oh, right… Vanessa had one too, then?” The reporter asked.

”I think she called it endless energy?” Quinn said back hesitantly. She was right, though. It was certainly a fitting Aspect for the girl. Endless was a little misleading, though. It only lasted for as long as she could maintain her aspect, so it was closer to a back up battery then being truly endless.

“What’s Sylvie’s ability, then?” A different reporter asked. 

This is it! The question I’ve been eagerly awaiting for, and the start of my little sister’s growth. Sylvie’s ability was strong in a sense, and weak in another. It could be good, but she was restricted to whatever power people believed she had. We tested it quite heavily. If someone believed she was a pyrokenetic, she could summon fire. If someone believed she had super strength, she had super strength. 

At the moment, her ability was truly fluid. The more people that knew about it, the stronger it’d get. On the other hand, the more people that knew about it, the more fixed her ability would get. She could swap it up now, but Lost Light’s effect would be set in stone later.

Naturally, such an ability forced her to face where she wanted to take her future early on rather than having a straightforward path like most Awoken. I was there every step of the way to help her work through the literally limitless ways she could take her power.

“Lost Light,” I said simply. “She can turn hope into magic.”

It was a simple, easy description Sylvie came out with. She didn’t want to block her future growth into something simple like pyrokenesis. Rather than that, she came up with an idea to make Lost Light endlessly versatile. Rather than belief creating a power set in stone, she wanted that belief to be a fuel source for a variety of powers. 

”Interseting.” “What kind of hope? Her own? Or is this a magical girl situation where the power of friendship charges her up?”

Laughter went through the crowd. A frown sprung to my lips at the way the reporter put that. It almost felt derogatory. Before I could say something, Quinn beat me to the punch. “Closer to an Arcanist, though without the long spell casting and rituals. At the moment, I think she’s using magic to strengthen herself?”

A murmur went through the crowd. Several people speculated about the true extent of her power. Bryce said, “sounds like she might even be on par with Beacon if she manages to become a star.”

My sister being a star… I still couldn’t quite wrap my head around that. I’d be lying if the thought didn’t make my tail twitch around, though. Everyone would see just how wonderful she was just like I did. Better yet, with each fan she’d grow even stronger. 

She didn’t have to start from scratch either. I didn’t like being famous, but maybe I could start reaching out to the public to show off Sylvie? Tidebreak had a pretty big fan club, so that could be a good place to start. If I could just corrupt—ahem, show everyone how great my sister was, it’d be worth the hassle of dealing with people.

I shook my head, and refocused on the camera feeds. Quinn really had gone on the drones, giving us a full panoramic view of what was happening live. It allowed us to watch with perfect clarity as the students got closer and closer to the lurking Redcap.

— — —

“Spread out.” Sylvie’s nose twitched. The heavy and familiar scent of blood hung thick in the air. Did the Calamity already manage to kill someone? Wait, no, that was impossible. There was no way the Calamity slipped the leash already. Probably more pigs.

They’d rushed through the funhouse to try to get to the Calamity first. Although none of them acknowledged it, their half of the cohort burned with competitive spirit. Having two Apexes with enhanced senses gave them the confidence to rush head first toward danger without worry about an ambush. ‘Sides, if they were right, Redcaps weren’t known for ambushes.

The teenage Silver Wolf’s ears arched forward toward the sound of wet crunching. Although neither of the Canaries could hear it, Vanessa’s face was entirely pale as they approached. “I hear something ahead.”

“Me too.” Sylvie’s eyes narrowed, and she lifted her rifle higher. They turned one last corner, revealing a scene of slaughter. 

A wooden facade, just like in several other places throughout the funhouse, had collapsed to reveal a puzzle room. Mauled pig corpses lay all around the room, leaking enough blood to make the air feel thick. It was just like the scene they saw on the way through the amusement park.

Atop one of the corpses, a beast ravenously tore into one of the already dead pigs. It was a hairless dog-like monstrosity—one she instantly identified as a CE-4813 Redcap. It was hard to miss with that ugly head that looked like it’d been peeled away to reveal pulsating flesh. Sylvie’s lip curled at the sight, revealing a flash of her canines. 

The flashlights from behind her panned across the monster, causing it to freeze mid bite. Before it could even turn around, River opened fire behind her. A spray of bullets slammed into the monster, quickly followed by several more as the rest of them started to shoot. 

The Redcap staggered under the onslaught. The first couple of bullets easily slammed into it before it lunged to the side. Blood trickled out of a few open wounds. It flowed back after a second as if time was reversing. It was quickly joined by blood surging up from the nearby corpses to actively regenerate the bullet wounds.

The only one that didn’t immediately start spraying was Vanessa as her shaking hands struggled to turn the safety off of her gun. By the time the girl managed to flick her SMG’s safety, the Redcap was already charging at them.

The fumble ended up being a blessing in disguise. The other three had unceremoniously sprayed down the monster at first chance, leaving a gap in their fire while they needed to reload. She managed to get her safety off just in time to provide covering fire.

’Course, the jittery White Rabbit didn’t land a single shot in her panic. She started firing, and promptly ended up aiming at the roof as she totally failed to control the recoil. The spraying lead slowed the Redcap’s approach ever so slightly as it tried to dodge, though.

Sylvie dropped her rifle into her sling, and jumped in front of the Redcap before it could approach the three behind her. Her claws snapped out, tracing the Calamity’s side and forcing it to focus on her. Blood dripped off her blue claws as they easily sunk into the Calamity thanks to her enhanced strength.

”Grrrr!” The Redcap abruptly shifted targets. Uncaring for its injuries, it chomped forward to catch her tail as she tried to dodge away. 

”Syl!” River shouted in warning as a new mag clicked back into place.

How the hell does Reyna make this look so easy?! Sylvie braced herself as she tried to pull her tail away. At any moment, she expected pain to flood up through her. The Redcap’s sharp teeth snapped shut on her limb with horrifying force. 

Instead of terrible pain, though, white energy flowed over her tail thanks to Vanessa’s Expedition. The warding effect totally blocked the injury. Sylvie let out a heavy breath, and whipped her tail away before the ward faded.

Behind her, the darkness of the funhouse was pushed back once more as a dozen bullets slammed into the confused Redcap’s side. Unless they could inflict a fatal injury, though, its injuries would just regenerate as long as it had access to blood. 

The Redcap lunged at her once more like a broken record. She didn’t shy away for a second, and slammed her fist into its head. Her claws sunk into its jaw, and the sheer strength surging through her body thanks to Lost Light and Expedition snapped its head to the side. 

A low whine broke through the Redcap’s throat like it was just a pitiful dog. Her claws ripped out chunks of meat that slowly wormed back into place thanks to the Calamity’s active regeneration. 

Gunfire suppressed the creature, tearing bloody trials through its body. The heavy stench in the air grew even thicker as it staggered toward her with a weakened swipe of its claws. 

Gotcha. Sylvie lunged forward and caught its paw. In a technique taught to her by Reyna, she flipped the hound onto its side and totally destroyed its balance. Strength surged through her as her halo pulsed brighter and brighter. More and more candles filled it in, each one seeming to grant her muscles more umph.

Sylvie’s claws ripped through the monster’s throat in a brutal display. She relaxed as she inflicted the fatal injury—only for the Redcap to slam her to the ground with its shoulder. This wasn’t a simulation where the monster’s health drained to zero and stopped. Its eyes filled with spite as it threw the last of its strength into a brutal chomp at her throat.

Tong!

Red energy encased her throat just before it could clamp down. The other four had finally arrived on the scene. Noah held his arm outstretched as his Awoken ability, Red Guard, protected her from taking the brutal attack. 

”Get off!” Sylvie shouted. She pushed it off with all her might, throwing the heavy Calamity back. It collapsed heavily onto one of the pig’s corpses. With Sylvie out of the way dozens of bullets slammed into it, stealing away the last of its life.